Vietnam History from 1000 A.D. to 1900.

Vietnam's independence ended in the mid "19th century" 19th century when the country was colonized by the "French Empire" The French administration enacted significant political and cultural changes to Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed, and Christianity was introduced in Vietnamese society.

The country of Vietnam was reborn as an independent state after its one thousand years as a Chinese province during the tenth century of our era. One of the many bloody encounters between Chinese imperial and Vietnamese rebel soldiers in the Red River valley took place in the year 939 that would break the Chinese rule over Vietnam and create an independent non-Chinese state. The Vietnamese conquered the Chinese on land, and water, driving them out of their country.

It was from 1010 A.D.to 1887 A.D. that much of the Vietnamese history was filled with different battles and Chinese dynasties attempting to reign in power.The first Le king died in 1005, and it was after several months of fighting among the princes, that the king's third son took the throne. It was only for three days in which this son ruled that he was assassinated by his younger brother. This younger brother's reign was a long and torturous four years. The last Le king died in 1009. His death ended the Early Le Dynasty which had been marked by a series of battles against China in the North, and against the Champa in the South.

The nineteenth century started off very nicely for Vietnam. It was at the beginning of the nineteenth century that thrity years of civil war had come to an end and the country was becoming more powerful than ever as a united country with larger territory and a population than ever before. Vietnam had shown its strength by steadily growing at the expense of Cambodia. Vietnam was able to do this even while the the Tay Son and Nguyen Anh had used up a great deal of its strength. While Vietnam thought they had the most power during this time, they were wrong in the fact that the power was actually in the hands of two feuding families. These two families were the Trinh Lords of the north who controlled the king and ruled from the court in Hanoi and the Nguyen Lords in the south, who ruled from their capital at Hue. These two families fought for control of the nation, while they both also claimed to be loyal to the king.

"Cambodia was in fact no longer a fully independent country but rather a vassal of Vietnam."(Bubbinger,270) It was during this time that once the the new territories in the South were settled and the new lands put to full use, that the Vietnamese would have an abundance of food. "Vietnam's independence was respected by China, and her new borders were in little danger of attack by her Indochinese neighbors, all of whom were inferior to Vietnam in population and weaker in military strength."(Buttinger,270)

In 1771 the Tay Son brothers started a rebellion in which caused heavy warfare for the next thirty years. Nguyen Hue, who was one of these brothers reigns as Quang Trung. The fact that Nguyen Hue was the younger brother of Nguyen Nhac, who was leader of the Tay Son Movement, Nguyen Hue played a very important role as general. Nguyen Hue's important role as general was especially evident during the defeat of Xiem aggressors at Rach Gam-Xoai Mut front in 1785. In 1786, Nguyen Hue and his troops moved into Thuan Hoa and cleared the Trinh army out of Phu Xuan. This action of force only lated for a few days. With the victory impetus, Nguyen Hue then expanded the operation to the North. After destroying the Trinh autocratic authority, Nguyen Hue handed over authority to Le King and withdrew his troops back to Phu Xuan.

It is during the late 1800's and into the 19th century that the French begin to take their course upon the Vietnamese. The first foreign armed intervention in Viet-
nam was not a French initiative, but came from American. This man was John Percival. "He
arrived in 1845 at Danang on the USS Constitution with the purpose of freeing
French bishop Lefebvre who had been sentenced to death by the Thieu Tri
government. He kept all local mandarins as hostages against the release of the
French priest. Because the Vietnamese refused to bow at his unorthodox diplo-
macy, Percival found himself caught in a kind of dilemma."(Chapuis,47) Percival eventually released his prisoners and left. Five years later, in 1850 Joseph Balestier, head of an American mission, traveled to Danang in order to apologize for Percival's actions. The Vietnamese refused to send his message to To Doc.

In 1856, French Captain Leheur de Ville sur Arc, was another who came to bombard
Danang and left. Later, de Montigny, the French consul in Siam, arrived in
Danang. de Montigny requested freedom of religion and commerce. All his requests were rejected on the terms that the religious freedom the Catholics asked for themselves, had been denied to others. It was after these Frech missionaries attempted to make religious reform that reformers, revolutionists, and revolts began to take place in Vietnam leading into the 19th century.



Buttinger, Joseph. The Smaller Dragon. A Political History of Vietnam. New York:Frederick A Praeger, 1958

Chapuis,Oscar. The Last Emperors of Vietnam: From To Doc to Bao Dai. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000