Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa
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Qing invasion of Đại Việt | |||||||
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Part of Tây Sơn wars and Ten Great Campaigns | |||||||
A depiction of the Battle at the Thọ Xương River (present-day Thương River), engraving, co-produced by Chinese and European painters. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Qing dynasty Lê dynasty | Tây Sơn dynasty | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Sun Shiyi Xu Shiheng † Shang Weisheng † Zhang Chaolong † Li Hualong † Qingcheng Wu Dajing Cen Yidong † Tang Hongye Lê Chiêu Thống Hoàng Phùng Nghĩa | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
20,000–200,000 Chinese troops[note 1] Perdue: 10,000 Chinese and 100,000 Le loyalists (militia)[3] |
100,000 (50,000 regulars, 20,000 newly recruited militia) 100-300 battle elephants 350 cannons[5] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Charles La Mothe claims: 40,000–50,000 killed?[6] At least 3,400 prisoners[7] | Over 8,000 killed[8] |
The Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa or Qing invasion of
Background
Since the 17th century Vietnam was divided into two parts: the southern part was
After the capture of Phú Xuân (modern Huế), Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, a renegade of Trịnh's general, encouraged Nguyễn Huệ to overthrow the Trịnh lord. Huệ took his advice, marched north and captured Thăng Long (modern Hanoi). In 1788, Lê Chiêu Thống was installed the new Lê emperor by Huệ. Huệ then retreated to Phú Xuân.[10]
However, Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh became the new regent just like the Trịnh lords before. After learning about the actions of Chỉnh, an army under Vũ Văn Nhậm was sent by Huệ to attack Thăng Long. Chỉnh was swiftly defeated and executed. Lê Chiêu Thống fled and hid in the mountains. Nhậm could not find the emperor, so he installed Lê Duy Cận as a puppet prince regent. Not long after Huệ executed Nhậm, he replaced him with the generals Ngô Văn Sở and Phan Văn Lân.
Meanwhile, Lê Chiêu Thống never abandoned his attempt to regain the throne.
What motivated the Qing imperial government to interfere in Vietnam's domestic affairs has always been disputed. Chinese scholars claimed that the Qianlong Emperor simply wanted to restore the Lê emperor and rule all Vietnam, seeking no territorial gains.[11] Vietnamese scholars on the other hand have argued, that Qianlong Emperor intended to make Vietnam a vassal: China would station troops in Vietnam and install Lê Chiêu Thống as its puppet king.[12][13][14]
Qing invasion
Two army contingents invaded Vietnam in October of the year Mậu Thân (November, 1788). The
The size of the interventionist army was various; according to the Hoàng Lê nhất thống chí, Sun Shiyi allegedly exaggerated that his army numbered up to 500,000.[15] Boisserand, a French missionary, in a letter to MEP on 14 March 1789, claimed that the Chinese army was roughly 36,000 men.[16] The Đại Nam thực lục speaks 200,000 Chinese.[17] Missionary Charles La Mothe gave an estimate for the Chinese force at 300,000 men.[18] Peter C. Perdue gives a figure of 10,000 Chinese and 100,000 Vietnamese Le loyalist militia.[3]
A sizeable force under Sun Shiyi approached Lạng Sơn and in order to put pressure on the Tây Sơn forces, Sun announced that there was a much larger Qing army yet to come. He also promised that who ever helped the Chinese army, would be installed the future regent just like the Trịnh lords before. As a consequence Lê dynasty supporters took up arms against the Tây Sơn army.
The Chinese defeated the Tây Sơn army in Lạng Sơn and Nguyễn Văn Diễm (阮文艷) fled, while Phan Khải Đức (潘啓德) surrendered. The Chinese swiftly pushed further towards the south, threatening the unprepared Tây Sơn army, which dispersed in all directions. Nguyễn Văn Hòa (阮文和) rallied the remnants of the army and occupied
Having assessed the situation Ngô Văn Sở ordered Lê Duy Cận to write a letter to Sun Shiyi. Cận described himself as a popular ruler and tried to persuade Sun to retreat, which was rejected by Sun. Realizing the Tây Sơn army could not stop the Chinese army from marching towards Thăng Long, Ngô Thì Nhậm suggested that the Tây Sơn army should retreat to Tam Điệp and seek aid from Phú Xuân (present day Huế). Sở accepted his idea. Troops in Sơn Nam, Sơn Tây and Kinh Bắc retreated to Thăng Long. Sở gathered them, then abandoned Thăng Long and orderly retreated to Tam Điệp. However, Phan Văn Lân did not agree. Lân then led a troop to attack the Chinese army at the Nguyệt Đức River (present day Cầu River), but was utterly beaten by Zhang Chaolong and fled back. Sở concealed the fact. In Tam Điệp, Ngô Văn Sở sent Nguyễn Văn Tuyết to Phú Xuân to ask for aid.
On November 29 (December 16, 1788), the Chinese army marched across the Nhị River (present day Red River). They occupied Thăng Long the next morning without meeting any resistant.[19] On November 24 (December 21, 1788), Sun Shiyi installed Lê Chiêu Thống as "king of Annam" in Thăng Long. Sun regarded himself as the patron of the Lê rulers and looked down upon Lê Chiêu Thống. It was whispered among the Vietnamese that they never had a monarch as unworthy as this before. Lê Chiêu Thống increasingly disappointed his supporters as he reportedly was narrow-minded and exceptionally cruel, who had cut off the legs of his three uncles, whom had surrendered to Tây Sơn army before. He had also cut open the wombs of pregnant princesses alive, who had married Tây Sơn generals.[12]
Tây Sơn reinforcements march north
On November 24 (December 21, 1788), Nguyễn Văn Tuyết arrived in
) he inspired his soldiers with an epic address:Fight to keep our hair long!
Fight to keep our teeth black!
Fight so that our enemies won't have a single wheel to come back!
Fight so that our enemies won't have a single armor to come home!
Fight so that history knows this heroic Southern country is its own master!
His men, encouraged, expressed their approval and quickly marched on. Meanwhile, the Chinese generals had after a few facile victories become overconfident and looked down upon the Tây Sơn army. Huệ, who had noticed it sent an envoy to sue for peace. Sun ordered Huệ to retreat to Phú Xuân, but Huệ ignored.
Huệ arrived in
Battle
The Qing armies decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival and then march further south to capture Phú Xuân (present day Huế) on January 6 of the next year (January 31, 1789). As the Vietnamese New Year (Tết) was generally celebrated on the same day, the Chinese generals assumed that the Tây Sơn army would not attack during the holidays. Subsequent events, however, would prove that they were wrong.
The Tây Sơn army crossed the Giao Thủy River (present day
Đặng Xuân Bảo or Nguyễn Tăng Long was the first general to enter Thăng Long followed by Nguyễn Huệ and his main force and recaptured the city.
The army under Wu Dajing reached
Because of his rapid victory over the Qing interventionists, Nguyễn Huệ was nicknamed by some contemporary missionaries as "new Attila" or "new Alexander."[22]
Aftermath
Seven days later, Sun Shiyi arrived in Guangxi. There, he met Lê Chiêu Thống. According to the Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục, Sun comforted Lê Chiêu Thống and promised that he would gather new troops and reinstall him.[citation needed] Lê Chiêu Thống and his supporters were accommodated in Guilin.
The irate
In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyễn Huệ as the king of Annam on the condition that Huệ personally lead a special delegation to Beijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday.[23] For the Qianlong Emperor, the motivation for accepting the arrangement was to retain the Qing's supremacy and stabilize their southern border.[23] Chinese and Vietnamese sources agreed that Nguyễn Huệ sent an imposter with a delegation to Beijing, where they were received with lavish imperial favors.[23] The Qianlong Emperor approved the proposal and bestowed Nguyễn with the title An Nam quốc vương ("King of Annam"). The title indicated that Huệ was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam and Lê Chiêu Thống was no longer supported.[23]
Nguyễn Huệ was resentful, trained his army, built large warships and waited for an opportunity to take revenge on Qing dynasty. He also provided refuge to prominent
After a 1782 massacre of Chinese Han settler was carried out by the Tây Sơn, the support of the domestic Chinese shifted towards to the Nguyễn lords.[27][28] The Nguyễn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty thanks to Chinese community support, took complete control of Vietnam, and established the imperial Nguyễn dynasty in 1802.[13]
Cultural influence
The Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa is considered one of the greatest military victories by the Vietnamese people. In China it holds rank among the "Ten Great Campaigns" that took place during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
The Vietnamese victory is seen as the next step after the Burmese
Gallery
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Battle at Gia-quan and Ha-Ho
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Battle at Tam-dy and Tru-huu
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Battle at the River Tho-xuong
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Battle at the River Thi-cau
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Battle at the River Phu-luong
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Victory banquet of the emperor to greet Nguyen Quang-Hien, the envoy of Nguyen Hue
See also
- Đống Đa Mound
- Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút
- Tây Sơn military tactics and organization
- Ten Great Campaigns
- Draft History of Qing
- Đại Nam thực lục
- Sino-Burmese War (1765–69)
- Ming conquest of Đại Ngu
- Mongol invasions of Vietnam
Notes
- Footnotes
- ^ The Chinese strength was disputed. Qing Shilu (Veritable Records of Qing) mentioned 20,000 Chinese troops.[1] Đại Nam thực lục (Veritable Records of Đại Nam) mentioned 200,000 Chinese troops.
- Citations
- ^ Guo & Zhang, p. 523-526
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 48.
- ^ a b Perdue 2011, p. 120.
- ^ Trương Hữu Quýnh, Phan Đại Doãn, Nguyễn Cảnh Minh, Đại cương Lịch sử VN, Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục, năm 1997. Trang 442 (English: Truong Huu Quynh, Phan Dai Doan, Nguyen Canh Minh, General History of Vietnam, Education Publishing House, 1997. Page 442)
- ^ Giả thuyết cuộc hành quân thần tốc của Hoàng đế Quang Trung, Báo Bình Định, mục Văn hóa, ngày đăng 27/01/2017. Truy cập ngày 21 tháng 8 năm 2018. (English: Theory of the speedy march of Emperor Quang Trung, Binh Dinh Newspaper, Culture section, dated January 27, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2018.)
- Missions Etrangères de Paris, 20 January 1790.
- ^ Quang Trung-Nguyễn Huệ Nhà xuất bản Văn hóa Sài Gòn-Đặng Phương Nghi phần Quang Trung dưới mắt các nhà truyền giáo phương Tây p292 (English: Quang Trung-Nguyen Hue Saigon Culture Publishing House-Dang Phuong Nghi: Quang Trung's part in the eyes of Western missionaries p298)
- ^ Quang Trung-Nguyễn Huệ Nhà xuất bản Văn hóa Sài Gòn-Đặng Phương Nghi phần Quang Trung dưới mắt các nhà truyền giáo phương Tây p292 (English: Quang Trung-Nguyen Hue Saigon Culture Publishing House-Dang Phuong Nghi: Quang Trung's part in the eyes of Western missionaries p292)
- ^ Tucker, p. 20: "Quang Trung promised to treat humanely all Chinese who surrendered and many did so.53 The Vietnamese know this series of victories as the Victory of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa, the Emperor Quang Trung's Victory over the Manchu, or the Victory of Spring 1789. It is still celebrated as the greatest military achievement in modern Vietnamese ..."
- ^ a b Perdue 2011, p. 119.
- ^ Guo & Zhang, p. 519-523
- ^ a b c d e "The First Tet Offensive of 1789". HistoryNet. December 6, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ a b c d "SINO-VIETNAMESE RELATIONS, 1771-1802: FROM CONTENTION TO FAITHFUL CORRELATION". Research Gate. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ "Tay Son Uprising (1771-1802) In Vietnam: Mandated By Heaven?". Research Gate. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 105, HLNTC 2:162.
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 105, Boisserand to Blandin, 14 March 1789, MEP 746, 237.
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 105, DNTL 2:515.
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 105, La Mothe to Blandin, July 1789, MEP 692, 135.
- ^ Dutton 2006, p. 106.
- ^ a b Dutton 2006, p. 107.
- ^ Perdue 2011, p. 120. "Suddenly, during the New Year celebrations, while Sun’s troops were drinking, Nguyễn Huệ attacked in force, using elephants to bring heavy cannon to bear on the city"...
- ^ Dutton 2006, pp. 2–3.
- ^ ISBN 9780674727991.
- OL 2381407M.
- ^ Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện, vol. 30
- ^ "Maritime violence and state formation in Vietnam: Piracy and the Tay Son Rebellion, 1771–1802 (book chapter, 2014)". Research Gate. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
- ^ Choi, p.35–37
- ^ Choi, p.74–
Bibliography
- Tucker, Spencer (1999). Vietnam. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-0966-4.
- Choi Byung Wook (2004). Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820-1841): Central Policies and Local Response. SEAP Publications. ISBN 978-0-87727-138-3.
- Dutton, George Edson (2006). The Tây Sơn uprising: society and rebellion in eighteenth-century Vietnam. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2984-0.
- Perdue, Peter C. (2011), "Embracing victory, Effacing Defeat: Rewriting the Qing Frontier Campaigns", in Larry, Diana (ed.), The Chinese State at the Borders, UBC Press, pp. 105–125, ISBN 978-0-77484-087-3
- Phan Huy Lê (1998). Một số trận quyết chiến chiến lược trong lịch sử dân tộc ta (in Vietnamese). Nhà xuất bản Quân đội Nhân dân.
- Guo Zhenduo; Zhang Xiaomei (2001). Yue nan tong shi (in Chinese (China)). China Renmin University Press. ISBN 978-7-300-03402-7.