Something To Read About

The <a href=”http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Places/Place/325109″>first Mongol</A> attack on Vietnam occurred in 1257 with later attacks happening later in 1284 and 1287. The attacks were carried out by a leader known as 000Kublai Khan000. The first two attacks were both on the Thang Long Capital (modern day Hanoi). The Vietnamese had anticipated the tasks and evacuated the capital leaving no people for the Mongols to kill, only an empty city to ransack. On the Mongols third attempt in 1287, they were still not successful. The Vietnamese troops and General Tran Hung Dao used the same tactic Ngo Quyen used in 939. Kublai’s forces were defeated when iron tipped steaks were put into the ground. General Dao’s troops then lured the Mongols in like fish and waited for the tide to recede. Kublai’s entire fleet was destroyed, leaving only his army on foot to return home.

In 1428 Le Loi formed the Le Dynasty. The leader followed after Le Loi was Le Thanh Tong, who was considered to be the most influential emperor in Vietnam due to his contribution of poetry and writings. Tong’s army at its highest point had 200,000 men, while Tong ruled over the thirteen provinces within Vietnam’s territory. The Le Dynasty was not filled with good times. There was an ongoing Civil war between Trinh and the Nguyen provinces. The Civil wars lasted from 1627 until 1672. The year 1627 was France’s first engagement with Vietnam. Alexander Rhodes, a French missionary, travels to Hanoi, the capital of the socialists in Vietnam. There he helped the people adapt a written language adapted from characters in the Roman alphabet. This leads to an accurate history of the Vietnamese people instead of a history from only China’s perspective.

The Le Dynasty was defeated in 1788 creating the Nguyen Dynasty, the last Dynasty imperial dynasty in Vietnam. It started in 1771, when the Tay Son were upset at the corruption going on in the Nguyen courts. The brothers called for a distribution of land among the poor people. This caused uproar among local peasants, townspeople, and minority tribes. The Le Dynasty was successfully overthrown after the attack of Trinh Lords in the north. Nyugen Hue declared himself king and ascended the throne as an emperor. After the death of Nyugen Hue he was replaced by his brother Nguyen Anh in 1802, thus starting the Nguyen dynasty that lasted until its downfall in 1945. 

In 1846, there was a formation of a joint Vietnamese and Thai people to protect Cambodia from any invaders. This treaty among the two may have lead to the persecution of multiple priests who came over to the eastern end of Asia, which was largely filled with Buddhists who did not like his teachings. The priest was from France and in response France sent an invading army along with a Spanish fleet. The attack took place in the Da Nang harbor located along the middle of modern day Vietnam. Another factor in the attack may have been Napoleon III’s Second Empire, occurring from 1852 to 1870. Another of France’s motive was to colonize the territory. The attack took place in the Da Nang harbor located along the middle of modern day Vietnam. The French also took siege of Saigon, a fishing town near Laos and Cambodia. The French left behind 1,000 men but the Vietnamese came back with 12,000 men to besiege the French in a town they were trying to control. This siege went on for almost a year lasting from March 1860 to January 1861. Much fighting was over in the Vietnamese territory by the end of 1860. The leader of northern Vietnam, Emperor Tu Duc, decided it would be best to settle the issues with France, thus creating the Treaty of Saigon, signed in 1862. The treaty ceded the provinces of Bien Hoa, Dinh Tuong and Gia Dinh, all of which were located in the south, to France. French commerce was obtaine by the opening of three ports, and French missionaries coming to spread their faith among the already widely Buddhist society. Another Treaty of Saigon was signed in 1874, giving control to France of the remaining provinces. Another treaty signed in 1884, gave France the rights to divide Vietnam into three parts; Tonkin, located through the Red River Delta from the Chinese border to the province of Thanh Hoa and Annam, known as central Vietnam. The Cochin China was a French colony made up of a six Vietnamese provinces in the south by the area of the Mekong River Delta.

 Duiker, William. Historical Dictionary of Vietnam. United States: Scarecrow Press Inc., 1998.

Spencer, Tucker C. Vietnam. United States: The University Press of Kentucky, 1999.