Gia Long

Quang Trung stimulates Vietnam's war-ravaged economy by encouraging trade and crafts, ordering the recultivation of fallow lands, reducing or abolishing taxes on local products, and resettling landless peasants on communal lands in their own villages.

Quang Trung also establishes a new capital at Phu Xuan (near modern Hue), a more central location from which to administer the country.

He reorganizes the government along military lines, giving key posts to generals, with the result that military officials for the first time outrank civilian officials.

Vietnamese is substituted for Chinese as the official national language, and candidates for the bureaucracy are required to submit prose and verse compositions in chu nom rather than in classical Chinese.

Nguyen Anh adopts the reign name Gia Long in June 1802 to express the unifying of the country—Gia from Gia Dinh (Saigon) and Long from Thang Long (Hanoi).

As a symbol of this unity, Gia Long changes the name of the country from Dai Viet to Nam Viet.

For the Chinese, however, this is too reminiscent of the wayward General Trieu Da.

In conferring investiture on the new government, the Chinese invert the name to Viet Nam, the first use of this name for the country.

Acting as a typical counterrevolutionary government, the Gia Long regime harshly suppresses any forces opposing it or the interests of the bureaucracy and the landowners.

In his drive for control and order, Gia Long adopts the Chinese bureaucratic model to a greater degree than any previous Vietnamese ruler.

The new capital at Hue, two kilometers northeast of Phu Xuan, is patterned after the Chinese model in Beijing, complete with a Forbidden City, an Imperial City, and a Capital City.

Vietnamese bureaucrats are required to wear Chinese-style gowns and even adopt Chinese-style houses and sedan chairs.

Vietnamese women, in turn, are compelled to wear Chinese-style trousers.

Gia Long institutes a law code, which follows very closely the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1911) model.

Under the Gia Long code, severe punishment is meted out for any form of resistance to the absolute power of the government.

Buddhism, Taoism, and indigenous religions are forbidden under the Confucianist administration.

Traditional Vietnamese laws and customs, such as the provisions of the Hong Due law code protecting the rights and status of women, are swept away by the new code.

Taxes that had been reduced or abolished under the Tay Son are levied again under the restored Nguyen dynasty.

These include taxes on mining, forestry, fisheries, crafts, and on various domestic products, such as salt, honey, and incense.

Another heavy burden on the peasantry is the increased use of corvée labor to build not only roads, bridges, ports, and irrigation works but also palaces, fortresses, shipyards, and arsenals.

All but the privileged classes are required to work on such projects at least sixty days a year, with no pay but a rice ration.

The great Mandarin Road, used by couriers and scholar-officials as a link between Gia Dinh, Hue, and Thang Long, is started during this period in order to strengthen the control of the central government.

Military service is another burden on the peasantry; in some areas one out of every three men is required to serve in the Vietnamese Imperial Army.

Land reforms instituted under the Tay Son Are soon lost under the restored Nguyen dynasty, and the proportion of communal lands dwindles to less than twenty percent of the total.

Although chu nom is retained as the national script by Gia Long, his son and successor Minh Mang, who gains the throne upon his father's death in 1820, orders a return to the use of Chinese ideographs.

Quang Trung dies in 1792, without leaving a successor strong enough to assume leadership of the country, and the usual factionalism ensues.

By this time, Nguyen Anh and his supporters have won back much of the south from Nguyen Lu, the youngest and least capable of the Tay Son brothers.

When Pigneau de Behaine returns to Vietnam in 1789, Nguyen Anh is in control of Gia Dinh.

In the succeeding years, the bishop brings Nguyen Anh a steady flow of ships, arms, and European advisers, who supervise the building of forts, shipyards, cannon foundries and bomb factories, and instruct the Vietnamese in the manufacture and use of modern armaments.

Nguyen's cause is also greatly aided by divisions within the Tay Son leadership, following the death of Quang Trung, and the inability of the new leaders to deal with the problems of famine and natural disasters that wrack the war-torn country.

After a steady assault on the north, Nguyen Anh's forces take Phu Xuan in June 1801 and Thang Long a year later.

Nguyen Nhac seizes Qui Nhon, which becomes the Tay Son capital, in 1773.

By 1778 the Tay Son have effective control over the southern part of the country, including Gia Dinh (later Saigon).

The ruling Nguyen family are all killed by the Tay Son rebels, with the exception of Nguyen Anh, the sixteen-year-old nephew of the last Nguyen lord, who escapes to the Mekong Delta.

There he is able to gather a body of supporters and retake Gia Dinh.

The city changes hands several times until 1783, when the Tay Son brothers destroy Nguyen Anh's fleet and drive him to take refuge on Phu Quoc Island.

Soon thereafter, he meets with French missionary bishop Pigneau de Behaine and asks him to be his emissary in obtaining French support to defeat the Tay Son.

Pigneau de Behaine takes Nguyen Anh's five-year-old son, Prince Canh, and departsfor Pondichery in French India to plead for support for the restoration of the Nguyen.

Finding none there, he goes to Paris in 1786 to lobby on Nguyen Anh's behalf.

Louis XVI ostensibly agrees to provide four ships, sixteen hundred and fifty men, and supplies in exchange for Nguyen Anh's promise to cede to France the port of Tourane (Da Nang) and the island of Poulo Condore.

However, the local French authorities in India, under secret orders from the king, refuse to supply the promised ships and men.

Determined to see French military intervention in Vietnam, Pigneau de Behaine himself raises funds for two ships and supplies from among the French merchant community in India, hires deserters from the French navy to man them, and sails back to Vietnam in 1789.

The Tay Son have in the meantime overcome the crumbling Trinh dynasty by 1786 and seized all of the north, thus uniting the country for the first time in two hundred years.

The Tay Son make good their promise to restore the Le dynasty, at least for ceremonial purposes.

The three Nguyen brothers install themselves as kings of the north, central, and southern sections of the country, respectively, while continuing to acknowledge the Le emperor in Thang Long.

In 1788, however, the reigning Le emperor flees north to seek Chinese assistance in defeating the Tay Son.

Eager to comply, a Chinese army of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) invades Vietnam, seizes Thang Long, and invests the Le ruler as "King of Annam."

This same year, the second eldest Tay Son brother, Nguyen Hue, proclaims himself Emperor Quang Trung.

Marching north with one hundred thousand men and one hundred elephants, Quang Trung attacks Thang Long at night and routs the Chinese army of two hundred thousand, which retreats in disarray.

Immediately following his victory, the Tay Son leader seeks to reestablish friendly relations with China, requesting recognition of his rule and sending the usual tributary mission.

The Nguyen, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, make peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades.

However, their problems are compounded when Trịnh Sam chooses to end the one hundred-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern day Huế), the Nguyen capital.

The Trịnh army captures the city, forcing the Nguyen to flee to Gia Định (later called Saigon).

The Trịnh army continues to head south and the Tay Son army continues its conquest of other southern cities.

The Nguyen are unpopular at this time, and the forces against them are too powerful.

The Tay Son army captures Gia Định, the last Nguyen stronghold, in 1776, and massacres the town's Han Chinese population.

The entire Nguyen family is killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew, Nguyen Ánh, who manages to escape to Siam.

While they say they want to restore power to the Lê, one of the brothers, Nguyen Nhạc, proclaims himself Emperor in 1778.

A conflict with the Trịnh is thus unavoidable.

The Tây Sons will spend the 1780s consolidating their control over the former Nguyen territory.

Nguyen Ánh proves to be a stubborn enemy, having convinced the King of Siam, P'ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of him.

The Siamese army attacks in 1780, but in several years of warfare is unable to defeat the Tây Son army, as gains are followed by losses.

The Siamese king is killed in 1782 in a revolt, and Nguyen Ánh's forces are driven out of Vietnam less than a year later.

Nguyen Huệ, having vanquished the Nguyen for the time being, decides to destroy the power of the Trịnh.

He marches north at the head of a large army in 1786, and after a short campaign, defeats the Trịnh army.

The Trịnh are also unpopular and the Tây Son army seems invincible.

The Trịnh clan flees north into China.

Huệ marries Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal Lê Emperor, Lê Hiển Tông.

The Lê Emperor, realizing that his hope of retaining power has gone, flees north a few months later to the Qing Empire, where he formally petitions the Qianlong Emperor for aid.

Qianlong agrees to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and in 1788, a large Qing army marches south into Vietnam and captures the capital Thăng Long (present Hanoi).

Nguyen Huệ gathers a new army and prepares to fight the Qing army.

He addresses his troops before the battle saying: “The Qing have invaded our country and occupied the capital city, Thăng Long. In our history, the Trưng Sisters fought against the Han, Đinh Tiên Hoàng against the Song, Trần Hưng Đạo against the Mongol Yuan, and Lê Lợi against the Ming. These heroes did not resign themselves to standing by and seeing the invaders plunder our country; they inspired the people to fight for a just cause and drive out the aggressors... The Qing, forgetting what happened to the Song, Yuan and Ming, have invaded our country. We are going to drive them out of our territory.”

Nguyễn Huệ's army defeats the Qing in a surprise attack at the Battle of Đống Đa while the army is celebrating the Lunar New Year, and forces them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to flee to Qing-controlled China.

Nguyen Huệ has won the battle, but eventually submits himself as a vassal of the Qing Empire and agrees to pay annual tribute.

Tay-Son rebel forces had recaptured Saigon in 1783 and forced Nguyễn Ánh to flee across the river to Siam.

While in exile, Nguyễn Ánh wishes to retake Gia Định and push the Tây-Sơn rebels out.

One of Anh's generals, Chau Van Tiep, had persuaded the King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke of Siam to provide Nguyen Anh with support troops and a small invasion force.

In mid-1784 Nguyễn Ánh, with twenty thousand to fifty thousand Siamese troops and three hundred warships, had moved through Cambodia, then east of Tonle Sap (Toh Lay Sap in Thai) and penetrated the recently annexed provinces of Annam.

Twenty thousand Siamese troops had reached Kiên Giang and another thirty thousand had landed in Chap Lap, as the Siamese advanced towards Cần Thơ.

Later that year the Siamese captured the former Cambodian province of Gia Định, where they committed atrocities against Việt settlers; this made some locals turn their support to Tây Sơn.

The Tay Son reinforcements led by Nguyễn Huệ march south from Quy Nhon and arrive in Cochin China territory soon after.

Hue avoids a direct attack on a strong Siamese force at Sa Dec and tries to set up a trap.

Nguyễn Huệ, anticipating a move from the Siamese, has secretly positioned his infantry and artillery along the Mekong River (Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút area of present-day Tiền Giang province), and on some islands in the middle, facing other troops on the northern banks with naval reinforcements on both sides of the infantry positions.

On the morning of January 20, 1785, Nguyễn Huệ sends a small naval force, under a banner of truce, to offer to parley with the Siamese.

After so many victories, the Siamese army and naval forces are overconfident.

They go to the parley unaware of the trap.

Nguyễn Huệ's ships dash into the unprepared Siamese troops, preventing their advance or retreat.

In the meanwhile, Tay Son artillery open fire.

The battle ends with a near annihilation of the Siamese force, at least according to Vietnamese sources reporting that all the ships of the Siamese navy were destroyed and only two thousand to three thousand of the original expedition survived to escape back across the river into Siam.

Nguyễn Ánh and his family members escape and will later go to Siam.

Nguyễn Huệ is now in control of a united Vietnam, more than twice as large than before.

He takes the title of Emperor under the reign name Quang Trung.

He distributes land to poor peasants, encourages hitherto suppressed artisans, allows religious freedom, reopens Vietnam to international trade, and replaces Classical Chinese with a Vietnamese vernacular, written with Chinese characters, as the official language.

The ambitious character of Quang Trung is legendary in Vietnamese history.

He orders the melting of Vietnamese coins to make cannons, and hopes to seize the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong.Several stories tell of his ambitious plans and indirect challenge to the Qianlong Emperor.

In an indication of his intention to claim Chinese territory, Quang Trung even proposes to marry one of Qianlong's daughters.

Quang Trung plans the final assault on the remaining base of Nguyễn Ánh around Saigon, both by sea and land, in early 1792.

While waiting for the seasonal winds to change direction into a tailwind to propel his navy, he suddenly collapses and dies of unknown causes at the age of forty.

Many Vietnamese believe that if he had ruled for another ten years, the fate of the country would have been significantly different.

After Emperor Quang Trung's death, his son Quang Toan is enthroned as Emperor Cảnh Thịnh at the age of ten.

The real power, however, is in the hands of his uncle, Bui Dac Tuyen, who enacts a massive political purge.

Many who had served under Quang Trung are executed, while others become discouraged and leave the regime, considerably weakening the Tây Sơn.

This paves the way for Nguyen Ánh to capture the entire country within ten years, with the help of French military adventurers enlisted by French bishop Pigneau de Behaine.

Nguyen Ánh occupies Quy Nhon citadel in 1800, and in 1801 occupies Phú Xuân, forcing Quang Toan to flee to Thăng Long, which Anh besieges in 1802.

Quang Toan escapes, but then is captured and executed, ending the dynasty after twenty-four years, and the Nguyen, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, take over the country in 1802.