Information AboutTay Son |
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BACKGROUND HISTORY During the 18th Century the country of Vietnam was under the symbolic rule of the officially revered but politically ignored Lê King. Real power was actually in the hands of two warring feudal families, the Trịnh Lords of the North who controlled the King and ruled from the court in Hanoi and the Nguyễn Lords in the South, who ruled from their capital at Huế . Both sides fought each other for control of the nation, while they both claimed to be loyal to the king. Like China at this time, life for the peasant farmers was poor. Most of the land was owned by fewer and fewer people as the years passed. The Mandarin bureaucracy was oppressive and often corrupt; at one point royal-sanctioned degrees were up for sale for whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. The ruling lords by contrast lived lavish lifestyles in huge palaces. The war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn had ended in 1673 and life for the northern peasants under the Trịnh Lords was fairly peaceful. However, the Nguyễn Lords engaged in a nearly constant series of wars with the weak Khmer Empire and, later, the fairly strong state of Siam . While the Nguyễn usually won their wars, and the new lands they conquered offered new opportunities for the landless poor, the frequent wars took their toll on the popularity of the Nguyễn rulers. CONQUEST OF THE NGUYễN In 1769 , the new king of Siam, P'ya Taksin, launched a war to try and regain control over Cambodia . The war generally went against the Nguyễn army and they were forced to retreat from some of the newly conquered lands. This example of governmental failure coupled with heavy taxes and corruption at the local level caused three brothers from Tây Sơn to begin a revolt against the Nguyễn Lord, Nguyễn Phuc Thuan. The three Tây Sơn brothers styled themselves as the champions of the people. Over the next year the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyễn army sent to crush their rebellion. The Tây Sơn had a great deal of popular support, not only from the poor farmers but from some of the minority tribes. Also, the leader of the three brothers, Nguyễn Hue, was a very skilled military leader. Nguyễn Hue said that his goal was to end the people's oppression, reunite the country and restore power to the Lê Dynasty emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sơn also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistibute land. In 1773 the Tây Sơn army captured the city of Qui Nhơn , where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, gave the Tây Sơn army financial support. The Nguyễn, at last recognizing the seriousness of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some lands they had conquered in the previous decades. But now a heavy blow came down. The Trịnh Lord, Trịnh Sam, choose to end the 100 year peace and he sent his army south to attack Phu Xuan (modern day Huế), the Nguyễn capital. The Trịnh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyễn clan to flee to Gia Định (now called Saigon ). The Trịnh army continued to head south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The Nguyễn were not very popular at this time and the forces against them were too powerful. In 1776 the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Saigon. The entire Nguyễn family was killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew, Nguyễn Ánh , who managed to escape to Siam . While they said they wanted to restore power to the legitimate authorities, in 1778 , one of the brothers, Nguyễn Nhac proclaimed himself king. A conflict with the Trịnh now seemed likely. CONQUEST OF THE TRịNH The Tây Sơn spent the next decade consolidating their control over the former Nguyễn lands of south Vietnam. Nguyễn Ánh proved to be a stubborn enemy. He convinced the King of Siam, P'ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of his claim to rule. The Siamese army attacked in 1780 but in several years of warfare, it was unable to defeat the Tây Sơn army. In 1782 , the Siamese king was killed in a revolt and less than a year later, Nguyễn Ánh's forces were driven out of Vietnam. However, he would be back. Nguyễn Hue decided to destroy the power of the Trịnh. He marched north at the head of a large army in 1786 and after a short campaign, defeated the Trịnh army. The Trịnh were also unpopular and the Tây Sơn army seemed invincible. The Trịnh clan fled north into China. Hue married the daughter of the nominal Lê king, Lê Chieu Thong. DEFEAT OF THE MANCHU A few months later, seeing the writing on the wall, the Lê king fled north to China as well. Lê Chieu Thong formally petitioned the Manchu Emperor Qianlong for aid. The old Emperor agreed to restore Lê Chieu Thong to power and so in 1788 a large Chinese army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital Thang Long . Nguyễn Hue gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Chinese army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:
In a surprise attack while the Chinese were celebrating the Tết New Year festival, Nguyễn Hue's army defeated the Chinese at the Battle Of Dong Da and forced them, along with Lê Chieu Thong, to retreat back to China. KING QUANG TRUNG Nguyễn Hue was now in control of a united Vietnam that was much larger than any previous ruler of Vietnam. He took the title of king and gave himself a new name: Quang Trung. The new king distributed land to the poor peasants, encouraged the artisans that had been suppressed, allowed religious freedom, re-opened Vietnam to international trade and abolished Chinese as the official language of the nation. The new official language was Vietnamese written in the script called Chữ Nôm . After only three years of rule Quang Trung died in 1792 and the Tây Sơn Dynasty quickly crumbled after him. The other two brothers began to fight amongst each other for power, although in theory they were both regents ruling on behalf of Quang Trung's son, Canh Thinh. Religious persecutions against Vietnamese Catholics also contributed to unrest. Hearing of the chaos in Vietnam, Nguyễn Ánh again returned to Vietnam, this time with some French and European mercenaries hired by a French Bishop Pigneau De Behaine . The Tây Sơn Dynasty was destroyed and the Nguyễn , the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, took over the country in 1802 . Also noted was the ambitiously minded Quang Trung who ordered the melting of Vietnamese coins to make cannons. He had hoped to "restore" the territories of Guangxi and Guangdong that was a part of Vietnam during the first century AD. Several stories tell of his ambitious indictations and indirect challenge to the Emperor of China Chien Long. Quang Trung even proposed to marry one of Chien Long's daughters; an indication of his intention to claim Chinese territory. Another fact was his indirect prowess over his two brothers, who had less cumulative territory, standing army, and power. Northern Vietnam was still the main powerbase of men, resources, and culture. SEE ALSO |
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