History of Vietnam

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History of Vietnam
Prehistoric Óc Eo culture (1–630 AD)
Ancient Hồng Bàng dynasty 2879 BC–258 BC Thục dynasty 257 BC–179 BC Triệu dynasty 204 BC–111 BC
3rd Chinese domination	602–938

Following the 111 BCE Han conquest of Nanyue, much of Vietnam came under Chinese dominance for a thousand years. The period nonetheless saw numerous uprisings, and Vietnamese kingdoms occasionally enjoyed de-facto independence. Buddhism and Hinduism arrived by the 2nd century CE, making Vietnam the first place which shared influences of both Chinese and Indian cultures.

Independence was regained under

Leveraging its military support for the ascendant Nguyễn dynasty and using the pretexts of protecting religious freedom and trading rights, France conquered Vietnam, dividing its territory into three separate regions, integrating them into French Indochina in 1887. The Second World War brought a 5-year occupation by Imperial Japan. In 1945 Vietnam was proclaimed a republic, but a three-way conflict immediately broke out between communists, anti-communists, and France. In 1949 Vietnam was officially reunified as a partially autonomous member of the French Union. In practice, a communist insurgency led by Ho Chi Minh had established a rival state which exercised authority over the north of the country and some of the south.

In June 1954 Vietnam won full independence, following French defeat by the communists in the north. The next month the country was provisionally divided into two states. Against the background of the Cold War, conflict quickly broke out between a North Vietnam supported by China and the Soviet Union, and a South Vietnam aided by the United States. The war ended with the defeat of the South in 1975 and unification under a communist government in 1976. Vietnam has since normalized its relations with former foes and undergone significant economic development.

Vietnam's modern demography consists of

Early anatomically modern human settlement in mainland Southeast Asia dates back 65 to 10,5 kya (65,000 years ago), during the Late Pleistocene period.^[1] Probably the foremost hunter-gatherers were the Hoabinhians, a large group that gradually settled across Southeast Asia. As part of the Initial Upper Paleolithic wave, the Hoabinhians, along with the Tianyuan man, are early members of the Ancient Basal East and Southeast Asian lineage deeply related to present-day East and Southeast Asians.^[4][5]

An analysis of individuals from the Con Co Ngua site in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam about 6.2 k cal BP, when restricted to Vietnamese comparisons, showed the closest distance to peoples from Mai Da Dieu, followed by present-day Vietnamese populations. Based on craniometric and dental nonmetric analysis, the Con Co Ngua individuals were phenotypically similar to Late Pleistocene Southeast Asians and modern Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians.^[6]

Human migration into Vietnam continued during the

Situated on the southeast edge of monsoon Asia, much of ancient Vietnam enjoyed a combination of high rainfall, humidity, heat, favorable winds, and fertile soil. These natural sources combined to generate an unusually prolific growth of rice and other plants and wildlife. This region's agricultural villages held well over 90 percent of the population. The high volume of rainy season water required villagers to concentrate their labor in managing floods, transplanting rice, and harvesting. These activities produced a cohesive village life with a religion in which one of the core values was the desire to live in harmony with nature and with other people. The way of life, centered in harmony, featured many enjoyable aspects that the people held beloved, typified by not needing many material things, the enjoyment of music and poetry, and living in harmony with nature.[16]

Fishing and hunting supplemented the main rice crop. Arrowheads and spears were dipped in poison to kill larger animals such as elephants.

The

Since around 2000 BC, stone hand tools and weapons improved extraordinarily in both quantity and variety. After this, Vietnam later became part of the Maritime Jade Road, which existed for 3,000 years between 2000 BC to 1000 AD.^{[21][22][23][24]} Pottery reached a higher level of technique and decoration style. The early farming multilinguistic societies in Vietnam were mainly wet rice Oryza cultivators, which became the main staple of their diet. During the later stage of the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, the first appearance of bronze tools took place despite these tools still being rare. By about 1000 BC, bronze replaced stone for about 40 percent of edged tools and weapons, rising to about 60 percent. Here, there were not only bronze weapons, axes, and personal ornaments, but also sickles and other agriculture tools. Toward the closure of the Bronze Age, bronze accounts for more than 90 percent of tools and weapons, and there are exceptionally extravagant graves – the burial places of powerful chieftains – containing some hundreds of ritual and personal bronze artifacts, such as musical instruments, bucket-shaped ladles, and ornament daggers. After 1000 BC, the ancient peoples of Vietnam became skilled agriculturalists as they grew rice and kept buffaloes and pigs. They were also skilled fishermen and bold sailors, whose long dug-out canoes traversed the eastern sea.

According to a Vietnamese legend which first appeared in the 14th century book

Great numbers of metal weapons and tools excavated at various Phung Nguyen culture sites in northern Indochina are associated with the beginning of the

Văn Lang, Âu Lạc, and the Hồng Bàng dynasty. The local Lạc Việt community had developed a highly sophisticated industry of quality bronze production, processing and the manufacturing of tools, weapons and exquisite Bronze drums. Certainly of symbolic value, they were intended to be used for religious or ceremonial purposes. The craftsmen of these objects required refined skills in melting techniques, in the lost-wax casting technique and acquired master skills of composition and execution for the elaborate engravings.^[28][29]

Đông Sơn drum from Northern Vietnam

The Legend of

Văn Lang kingdom to victory against the Ân invaders from the north, saves the country and goes straight to heaven.^[30][31] He wears iron armor, rides an armored horse and wields an iron sword.^[32] The image implies a society of a certain sophistication in metallurgy as well as An Dương Vương's Legend of the Magic Crossbow, a weapon, that can fire thousands of bolts simultaneously, seems to hint at the extensive use of archery in warfare. The about 1,000 traditional craft villages of the Hồng River Delta near and around Hanoi represented throughout more than 2,000 years of Vietnamese history the national industrial and economic backbone.^[33] Countless, mostly small family run manufacturers have over the centuries preserved their ethnic ideas by producing highly sophisticated goods, built temples and dedicated ceremonies and festivals in an unbroken culture of veneration for these legendary popular spirits.^[34][35][36]

Âu Lạc kingdom (257–179 BC)

Main articles: An Dương Vương, Cổ Loa Citadel, and Âu Lạc

By the 3rd century BC, another Viet group, the

Cao Bằng Province).^[37]

After assembling an army, he defeated and overthrew the eighteenth dynasty of the

Văn Lang to Âu Lạc and established the new capital at Phong Khê in the present-day Phú Thọ town in northern Vietnam, where he tried to build the Cổ Loa Citadel

(Cổ Loa Thành), the spiral fortress approximately ten miles north of that new capital. However, records showed that espionage resulted in the downfall of An Dương Vương. At his capital, Cổ Loa, he built many concentric walls around the city for defensive purposes. These walls, together with skilled Âu Lạc archers, kept the capital safe from invaders.

Nanyue (179 BC–111 BC)

Main articles: Nanyue and Triệu dynasty

In 207 BC, the former Qin general Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà in Vietnamese) established an independent kingdom in the present-day Guangdong/Guangxi area of China's southern coast.^[38] He proclaimed his new kingdom as Nam Việt (pinyin: Nanyue), to be ruled by the Zhao dynasty.^[38] Zhao Tuo later appointed himself a commandant of central Guangdong, closing the borders and conquering neighboring districts and titled himself "King of Nanyue".^[38] In 179 BC, he defeated King An Dương Vương and annexed Âu Lạc.^[39]

The period has been given some controversial conclusions by Vietnamese historians, as some consider Zhao's rule as the starting point of the Chinese domination, since Zhao Tuo was a former Qin general; whereas others consider it still an era of Vietnamese independence as the Zhao family in Nanyue were assimilated into local culture.^[40] They ruled independently of what then constituted the Han Empire. At one point, Zhao Tuo even declared himself Emperor, equal to the Han Emperor in the north.^[38]

Chinese rule (111 BC–AD 939)

Main article: Vietnam under Chinese rule

First Chinese domination (111 BC–AD 40)

Main article:

First Chinese domination of Vietnam

In 111 BC, the Chinese

Quảng Bình to Huế. While governors and top officials were Chinese, the original Vietnamese nobles (Lạc Hầu, Lạc Tướng) from the Hồng Bàng period still managed in some of the highlands. During this period, Buddhism was introduced into Vietnam from India via the Maritime Silk Road, while Taoism and Confucianism spread to Vietnam through the Chinese rulers.^[41][42][43]

Trưng Sisters' rebellion (40–43)

Main articles:

Trưng sisters' rebellion

In February AD 40, the

Trưng Nữ Vương). In 43 AD, Emperor Guangwu of Han sent his famous general Ma Yuan (Vietnamese: Mã Viện) with a large army to quell the revolt. After a long, difficult campaign, Ma Yuan suppressed the uprising and the Trung Sisters committed suicide to avoid capture. To this day, the Trưng Sisters are revered in Vietnam as the national symbol of Vietnamese women.^[44]

Second Chinese domination (43–544)

Main article:

Second Chinese domination of Vietnam

Learning a lesson from the Trưng revolt, the Han and other successful Chinese dynasties took measures to eliminate the power of the Vietnamese nobles.

Lu Yin and 8,000 elite soldiers to suppress the rebels.^[49] He managed to pacify the rebels with a combination of threats and persuasion. According to the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Complete Annals of Đại Việt), Lady Triệu had long hair that reached her shoulders and rode into battle on an elephant. After several months of warfare she was defeated and committed suicide.^[50]

Early Cham kingdoms (192–7th century)

Main articles: Lâm Ấp, Xitu, and Quduqian

At the same time, in present-day

Bình Thuận). The Cham developed the first native writing system in Southeast Asia, oldest surviving literature of any Southeast Asian language, leading Buddhist, Hindu, and cultural expertise in the region.^[51]

Funan kingdom (1st century–627)

Main article: Funan

In the early first century AD, on the lower

Zhenla around AD 627, ending the kingdom of Funan.^[52]

Kingdom of Vạn Xuân (544–602)

Main article: Early Lý dynasty

In the period between the beginning of the Chinese

reconquered the kingdom.^[53]

Golden Age of Cham Civilization and wars with Angkor Empire (7th century–1203)

Champa from 7th to 13th century

Champa and the region during the 9th century

Crown of Champa (7th-8th century)

Head of Shiva made of gold-silver alloy (10th century)

Dong Duong Bodhisattva sculpture (9th century)

The Cham Lâm Ấp kingdom, with capital located in Simhapura, became prosperous through benefiting from the ancient maritime trade routes from the Middle East to China. The wealthy of Lâm Ấp attracted attention from the Chinese Empire. In 605, emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Empire ordered general Liu Fang, who had just reconquered and pacificed northern Vietnam, to invade Lâm Ấp. The kingdom was quickly overwhelmed by the invaders who pillaged and looted Cham sanctuaries. Despite that, king Sambhuvarman of Lâm Ấp (r. 572–629) quickly reasserted his independence, beginning the unified period of Champa in 629.^[54]

From the 7th to the 10th centuries, the Cham controlled the trade in spices and silk between China, India, the Indonesian islands, and the

Abbasid empire in Baghdad

. They supplemented their income from the trade routes not only by exporting ivory and aloe, but also by engaging in piracy and raiding. This period of prosperity and cultural flourishing is often referred to as the golden age of Champa.

In 875, a new Mahayana Buddhist monarch named

Vietnamese invasion in 982 murdered the ruling king Jaya Paramesvaravarman I (r. 972–982).^[56] A Vietnamese usurper named Lưu Kế Tông took advance of unsettling situation and seized Indrapura in 983, declared himself the king of Champa in 986, disrupted the Cham kingdom. In Vijaya (present-day Binh Dinh) from the south, a new Hindu dynasty was founded in 989 and relocated Cham capital to Vijaya in 1000.^[57]

Champa and the emerging

Yasodharapura (Angkor) and defeated them at the Battle of Tonlé Sap.^[61]

The new Cambodian ruler, Jayavarman VII, arose to power, repelled the Cham and began his conquest of Champa in 1190. He finally defeated the Cham in 1203 and put Champa under Khmer governance for 17 years. In 1220, as the Khmer voluntary withdraw from Champa, a Cham prince named Angsaraja proclaimed Jaya Paramesvaravarman II of Champa and restored Cham independence.^[62]

Champa expanded its commerce to the Philippines in the 1200s. The History of Song notes that to the east of Champa through a two-day journey lay the country of Ma-i, at Mindoro, Philippines; while Pu-duan (Butuan) at Mindanao, need a seven-day journey, and there were mentions of Cham commercial activities in Butuan.^[63] Butuan resented Champa commercial supremacy and their king, Rajah Kiling spearheaded a diplomatic rivalry for China trade against Champa hegemony.^[64] Meanwhile, at the nation of the future Sultanate of Sulu which by then was still Hindu, there was a mass migration of men from Champa and they were locally known as Orang Dampuan, and they caused conflicts (which were then resolved) with the local Sulu people. They became the ancestors of the local Yakan people.^[65][66]

Third Chinese domination (602–AD 905)

Main articles:

Third Chinese domination of Vietnam and Annan (Tang protectorate)

During the Tang dynasty, Vietnam was called

Bắc Ninh, Annam became a flourishing trading outpost, receiving goods from the southern seas. The Book of the Later Han recorded that in 166 the first envoy from the Roman Empire to China arrived by this route, and merchants were soon to follow. The 3rd-century Tales of Wei (Weilüe) mentioned a "water route" (the Red River) from Annam into what is now southern Yunnan. From there, goods were taken over land to the rest of China via the regions of modern Kunming and Chengdu. The capital of Annam, Tống Bình or Songping (today Hanoi) was a major urbanized settlement in the southwest region of Tang Empire. From 858 to 864, disturbances in Annan gave Nanzhao, a Yunnan kingdom, opportunity to intervene the region, provoking local tribes to revolt against the Chinese. The Yunnanese and their local allies launched the Siege of Songping in early 863, defeating the Chinese, and captured the capital in three years. In 866, Chinese jiedushi Gao Pian recaptured the city and drove out the Nanzhao army. He renamed the city to Daluocheng (大羅城, Đại La

thành).

In 866, Annan was renamed Tĩnh Hải quân. Early in the 10th century, as China became politically fragmented, successive lords from the Khúc clan, followed by Dương Đình Nghệ, ruled Tĩnh Hải quân autonomously under the Tang title of Jiedushi (Vietnamese: Tiết Độ Sứ), (governor), but stopped short of proclaiming themselves kings.

Autonomous era (905–939)

Main articles: Tĩnh Hải quân, Khúc clan, Dương Đình Nghệ, and Kiều Công Tiễn

Since 905, Tĩnh Hải circuit had been ruled by local Vietnamese governors like an autonomous state.

Cổ Loa

and effectively began the age of independence for Vietnam.

Dynastic period (939–1945)

The basic nature of Vietnamese society changed little during the nearly 1,000 years between independence from China in the 10th century and the French conquest in the 19th century. Viet Nam, named Đại Việt (Great Viet) was a stable nation, but village autonomy was a key feature. Villages had a unified culture centered around harmony related to the religion of the spirits of nature and the peaceful nature of Buddhism. While the sovereign was the ultimate source of political authority, a saying was, "The Sovereign's Laws end at the village gate". The sovereign was the final dispenser of justice, law, and supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as well as overseer of religious rituals. Administration was carried out by mandarins who were trained exactly like their Chinese counterparts (i.e. by rigorous study of Confucian texts). Overall, Vietnam remained very efficiently and stably governed except in times of war and dynastic breakdown. Its administrative system was probably far more advanced than that of any other Southeast Asian states and was more highly centralized and stably governed among Asian states. No serious challenge to the sovereign's authority ever arose, as titles of nobility were bestowed purely as honors and were not hereditary. Periodic land reforms broke up large estates and ensured that powerful landowners could not emerge. No religious/priestly class ever arose outside of the mandarins either. This stagnant absolutism ensured a stable, well-ordered society, but also resistance to social, cultural, or technological innovations. Reformers looked only to the past for inspiration.^[70]

Literacy remained the province of the upper classes. Originally, only Chữ Hán was used to write, but by the 11th century, a set of derivative characters known as Chữ Nôm emerged that allowed native Vietnamese words to be written. However, it remained limited to poetry, literature, and practical texts like medicine while all state and official documents were written in Classical Chinese. Aside from some mining and fishing, agriculture was the primary activity of most Vietnamese, and economic development and trade were not promoted or encouraged by the state.^[71]

First Dai Viet period

Ngô, Đinh, & Early Lê dynasties (939–1009)

Main articles: Timeline of early independent Vietnam, Ngô dynasty, Đinh dynasty, and Early Lê dynasty

Further information: Anarchy of the 12 Warlords

Ngô Quyền in 939 declared himself king, but died after only 6 years. His untimely death after a short reign resulted in a power struggle for the throne, resulting in the country's first major civil war, the

Ninh Bình Province). In relations with China since Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, Vietnamese dynasties had considered their leaders "kings" although they had still implicitly considered their leaders emperors.^[73]

In 979, Emperor Đinh Tiên Hoàng and his crown prince

Đinh Toàn, to assume the throne. Taking advantage of the situation, the Song dynasty invaded Đại Cồ Việt. Facing such a grave threat to national independence, the commander of the armed forces, (Thập Đạo Tướng Quân) Lê Hoàn took the throne, replaced the house of Đinh and established the Early Lê dynasty. A capable military tactician, Lê Hoan realized the risks of engaging the mighty Song troops head on; thus, he tricked the invading army into Chi Lăng Pass, then ambushed and killed their commander, quickly ending the threat to his young nation in 981. The Song dynasty withdrew their troops and Lê Hoàn was referred to in his realm as Emperor Đại Hành (Đại Hành Hoàng Đế).^[74] Emperor Lê Đại Hành was also the first Vietnamese monarch who began the southward expansion process against the kingdom of Champa

.

Emperor Lê Đại Hành's death in 1005 resulted in infighting for the throne amongst his sons. The eventual winner, Lê Long Đĩnh, became the most notorious tyrant in Vietnamese history. He devised sadistic punishments of prisoners for his own entertainment and indulged in deviant sexual activities. Toward the end of his short life – he died at the age of 24 – Lê Long Đĩnh had become so ill, that he had to lie down when meeting with his officials in court.^[75]

Lý dynasty, Trần dynasty & Hồ dynasty (1009–1407)

Main articles: Lý dynasty, Trần dynasty, and Hồ dynasty

See also: Timeline of the Lý dynasty

When the emperor Lê Long Đĩnh died in 1009, a palace guard commander named Lý Công Uẩn was nominated by the court to take over the throne, and founded the Lý dynasty.^[76][77] This event is regarded as the beginning of another golden era in Vietnamese history, with the following dynasties inheriting the Lý dynasty's prosperity and doing much to maintain and expand it. The way Lý Công Uẩn ascended to the throne was rather uncommon in Vietnamese history. As a high-ranking military commander residing in the capital, he had all opportunities to seize power during the tumultuous years after Emperor Lê Hoàn's death, yet preferring not to do so out of his sense of duty. He was in a way being "elected" by the court after some debate before a consensus was reached.^[78]

The Lý monarchs are credited for laying down a concrete foundation for the nation of Vietnam. In 1010, Lý Công Uẩn issued the

Dali kingdom's Vajrayana Buddhism traditions also had influences on Vietnamese beliefs at the time. Lý kings adopted both Buddhism and Taoism as state religions.^[84]

The Vietnamese during Lý dynasty had one major war with Song China, and a few invasive campaigns against neighboring Champa in the south.^[85][86] The most notable conflict took place on Chinese territory Guangxi in late 1075. Upon learning that a Song invasion was imminent, the Vietnamese army under the command of Lý Thường Kiệt, and Tông Đản used amphibious operations to preemptively destroy three Song military installations at Yongzhou, Qinzhou, and Lianzhou in present-day Guangdong and Guangxi, and killed 100,000 Chinese.^[87][88] The Song dynasty took revenge and invaded Đại Việt in 1076, but the Song troops were held back at the Battle of Như Nguyệt River commonly known as the Cầu river, now in Bắc Ninh province about 40 km from the current capital, Hanoi. Neither side was able to force a victory, so the Vietnamese court proposed a truce, which the Song emperor accepted.^[89] Champa and the powerful Khmer Empire took advantage of Đại Việt's distraction with the Song to pillage Đại Việt's southern provinces. Together they invaded Đại Việt in 1128 and 1132.^[90] Further invasions followed in the subsequent decades.^[91]

Tây Đô, capital of Dai Viet from 1397 to 1407. UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cannonball with size 57 mm, produced during Trần dynasty, 14th century.

Toward the declining Lý monarch's power in the late 12th century, the Trần clan from

Trần Cảnh and eventually had the throne transferred to Trần Cảnh, thus begun the Trần dynasty.^[94]

Trần Thủ Độ viciously purged members of the Lý nobility; some Lý princes escaped to Korea, including

Nôm

script, a system of writing for Vietnamese language. The Trần dynasty also adopted a unique way to train new emperors: when a crown prince reached the age of 18, his predecessor would abdicate and turn the throne over to him, yet holding the title of Retired Emperor (Thái Thượng Hoàng), acting as a mentor to the new Emperor.

During the Trần dynasty, the armies of the

In 1288, Venetian explorer Marco Polo visited Champa and Đại Việt. It was also during this period that the Vietnamese waged war against the southern kingdom of

Champa from 13th century to 1471

Champa at its zenith during the reign of Po Binasuor (r. 1360–90)

Po Klong Garai temple, built by king Jaya Simhavarman III (r. 1288–1307)

Sculpture of Garuda, Vijaya, 13th century

Cham temple in Duong Long (12th century)

After having been restored from Khmer domination in 1220, Champa continued to face another counter-power from the north. After their invasion of 982, the Vietnamese had been pushing war against Champa in 1020, 1044, and 1069, plundered Cham capital. In 1252 king

The new Mongol Yuan threat soon dragged two hostile kingdoms Champa and Dai Viet close together. The Yuan emperor Kublai demanded Cham submission in 1278 and 1280, both refused. In early 1283 Kublai sent a sea expedition led by Sogetu to invade Champa. The Cham retreated to the mountains, successfully waged a guerrilla resistance that bogged down the Mongols.[101] Sogetu was driven to the north, and later killed by joint Cham–Vietnamese forces in June 1285. Although having repulsed the Mongol yokes, the Cham king sent an ambassador to the great Khan in October 1285.^[102] His successor, Jaya Simhavarman III (r. 1288–1307), married with a Vietnamese Queen (daughter of the ruling Vietnamese king) in 1306, and Dai Viet acquired two northern provinces.^[103]

In 1307 the new Cham king

A Fujianese communal house in Hội An. Originally a Vietnamese Buddhism temple, it remains Lê's architectures.

The old city of Hội An, Central Vietnam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, founded in 1470 during Later Lê period.

In 1418,

The Lê kings carried out land reforms to revitalize the economy after the war. Unlike the Lý and Trần kings, who were more influenced by Buddhism, the Lê kings leaned toward Confucianism. A comprehensive set of laws, the Hồng Đức code was introduced in 1483 with some strong Confucian elements, yet also included some progressive rules, such as the rights of women. Art and architecture during the Lê dynasty also became more influenced by Chinese styles than during previous Lý and Trần dynasties. The Lê dynasty commissioned the drawing of national maps and had Ngô Sĩ Liên continue the task of writing Đại Việt's history up to the time of Lê Lợi.

Overpopulation and land shortages stimulated a Vietnamese expansion south. In 1471, Đại Việt troops led by king Lê Thánh Tông invaded

The Lê dynasty was overthrown by its general named Mạc Đăng Dung in 1527. He killed the Lê emperor and proclaimed himself emperor, starting the Mạc dynasty. After defeating many revolutions for two years, Mạc Đăng Dung adopted the Trần dynasty's practice and ceded the throne to his son, Mạc Đăng Doanh, and he became Thái Thượng Hoàng.

Meanwhile,

Red Seal Ship that conducted trade in Vietnam

Five tigers by Hàng Trống painting

, Hanoi, 17th century

In the year 1600, Nguyễn Hoàng also declared himself Lord (officially "Vương", popularly "Chúa") and refused to send more money or soldiers to help the Trịnh. He also moved his capital to Phú Xuân, modern-day Huế. Nguyễn Hoàng died in 1613 after having ruled the south for 55 years. He was succeeded by his 6th son, Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên, who likewise refused to acknowledge the power of the Trịnh, yet still pledged allegiance to the Lê monarch.^[118]

Trịnh Tráng succeeded Trịnh Tùng, his father, upon his death in 1623. Tráng ordered Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên to submit to his authority. The order was refused twice. In 1627, Trịnh Tráng sent 150,000 troops southward in an unsuccessful military campaign. The Trịnh were much stronger, with a larger population, economy and army, but they were unable to vanquish the Nguyễn, who had built two defensive stone walls and invested in Portuguese artillery.

The Trịnh–Nguyễn War lasted from 1627 until 1672. The Trịnh army staged at least seven offensives, all of which failed to capture Phú Xuân. For a time, starting in 1651, the Nguyễn themselves went on the offensive and attacked parts of Trịnh territory. However, the Trịnh, under a new leader, Trịnh Tạc, forced the Nguyễn back by 1655. After one last offensive in 1672, Trịnh Tạc agreed to a truce with the Nguyễn Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần. The country was effectively divided in two.

Jesuit missionary in Vietnam.

18th century Vietnamese Catholic cross

Dutch narration about North Vietnamese officials

Thousand-arms-and-eyes Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva wooden statue in Bút Tháp temple, Bắc Ninh province

Buddhanandi statue of Tây Phương temple, Hanoi. Both are examples of highly-defined style of Vietnamese wood carving.

The

Various European efforts to establish trading posts in Vietnam failed, but missionaries were allowed to operate for some time until the mandarins began concluding that Christianity (which had succeeded in converting up to a tenth of the population by 1700) was a threat to the Confucian social order since it condemned ancestor worship, among other practices. Vietnamese authorities' attitudes to Europeans and Christianity hardened as they began to increasingly see it as a way of undermining society while Catholics claimed that the authorities misunderstood their loyalism and patriotism.^[127]

Between 1627 and 1775, two powerful families had partitioned the country: the Nguyễn lords ruled the South (Đàng Trong) and the Trịnh lords ruled the North (Đàng Ngoài). The Trịnh–Nguyễn War gave European traders the opportunities to support each side with weapons and technology: the Portuguese assisted the Nguyễn in the South while the Dutch helped the Trịnh in the North. The Trịnh and the Nguyễn maintained a relative peace for the next hundred years, during which both sides made significant accomplishments. The Trịnh created centralized government offices in charge of state budget and producing currency, unified the weight units into a decimal system, established printing shops to reduce the need to import printed materials from China, opened a military academy, and compiled history books.

Meanwhile, the Nguyễn lords continued the southward expansion by the conquest of the remaining

In 1771, the

The Tây Sơn army commanded by Nguyễn Huệ marched north in 1786 to fight the Trịnh Lord,

In 1784, during the conflict between

Nguyễn Vietnam (1802–1945)

1838 map of Vietnam published by Jean L. Taberd

Meridian Gate of Imperial City of Huế, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Emperor Gia Long (r. 1802–1820)

Seal of Emperor Gia Long

Tomb of Minh Mạng

Tomb of Khải Định

Flag Tower of Hanoi

After defeating the Tây Sơn, Gia Long unified Vietnam under the Nguyễn dynasty in 1802.^[136] The early Nguyễn emperors had engaged in many of the constructive activities of its predecessors, building roads, digging canals, issuing a legal code, holding examinations, sponsoring care facilities for the sick, compiling maps and history books, and exerting influence over Cambodia and Laos.

Gia Long tolerated Catholicism and employed some Europeans in his court as advisors. His successors were more conservative Confucians and resisted Westernization. Minh Mạng began centralizing his authority according to neo-Confucian principles and sought to neutralize Catholic influence.^[137] Minh Mạng, as well as the succeeding Nguyễn emperors Thiệu Trị and Tự Đức, brutally suppressed Catholicism and pursued a 'closed-door' policy, perceiving the Westerners as a threat, following events such as the Lê Văn Khôi revolt when a French missionary, Joseph Marchand, was accused of encouraging local Catholics to revolt in an attempt to install a Catholic emperor. Catholics, both Vietnamese and foreign-born, were persecuted in retaliation. There were frequent uprisings against the Nguyễns, with hundreds of such events being recorded in the annals. Trade with the West slowed during this period. The persecution of Catholics and the imposition of trade embargoes were soon used as excuses for France to invade Vietnam.

According to a 2018 study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution covering Vietnam-China relations from 1365 to 1841, the relations could be characterized as a "hierarchic tributary system".^[138] The study found that "the Vietnamese court explicitly recognized its unequal status in its relations with China through a number of institutions and norms. Vietnamese rulers also displayed very little military attention to their relations with China. Rather, Vietnamese leaders were clearly more concerned with quelling chronic domestic instability and managing relations with kingdoms to their south and west."^[138]

The

After the Vietnamese

In Cambodia, which was also part of Indochina like Vietnam, the French restored the Kingdom of Cambodia as a Protectorate from its previous invader, Thailand,^[142] which had invaded and devastated the country. This act also fulfilled a past promise by Spanish-Philippines to restore Cambodia,^[143]a promise that was ultimately realized by the French and Vietnamese,^[144] and both peoples being mostly Catholics. In 1887, Vietnamese protectorates and Cochinchina colony became parts of the French Indochinese Federation.

Guerrillas of the Văn Thân movement and Cần Vương movement killed around a third of Vietnam's Christian population during the resistance war.^[145] Decades later, two more Nguyễn emperors, Thành Thái and Duy Tân were also exiled to Africa for having anti-French tendencies. The former was deposed on the pretext of insanity and Duy Tân was caught in a conspiracy with the mandarin Trần Cao Vân trying to start an uprising. However, lack of modern weapons and equipment prevented these resistance movements from being able to engage the French in open combat. The various anti-French started by mandarins were carried out with the primary goal of restoring the old feudal society. However, by 1900 a new generation of Vietnamese were coming of age who had never lived in precolonial Vietnam. These young activists were as eager as their grandparents to see independence restored, but they realized that returning to the feudal order was not feasible and that modern technology and governmental systems were needed. Having been exposed to Western philosophy, they aimed to establish a republic upon independence, departing from the royalist sentiments of the Cần Vương movements. Some of them set up Vietnamese independence societies in Japan, which many viewed as a model society (i.e. an Asian nation that had modernized, but retained its own culture and institutions).^{[citation needed]}

There emerged two parallel movements of modernization. The first was the

As the French suppressed both movements, and after witnessing revolutionaries in action in China and Russia, Vietnamese revolutionaries began to turn to more radical paths. Phan Bội Châu created the Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội in Guangzhou, planning armed resistance against the French. In 1925, French agents captured him in Shanghai and spirited him to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940. In 1927, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (Vietnamese Nationalist Party or VNQDĐ), modeled after the Kuomintang in China, was founded, and the party launched the armed Yên Bái mutiny in 1930 in Tonkin which resulted in its chairman, Nguyễn Thái Học and many other leaders captured and executed by the guillotine. ^[149][150]

During

On March 9, 1945, the Japanese removed Vichy France's control of Indochina. Under Japanese military occupation, emperor

Both the Viet Minh and right-wing government of France showed their toughness.

During the period 1946–1950, France held the advantage on the battlefield in Indochina. However, in China,

Between 1953 and 1956, the North Vietnamese government instituted various agrarian reforms, including "rent reduction" and "land reform", which resulted in significant political oppression. During the land reform, testimony from North Vietnamese witnesses suggested a ratio of one execution for every 160 village residents, which extrapolated nationwide would indicate nearly 100,000 executions. Because the campaign was concentrated mainly in the Red River Delta area, a lower estimate of 50,000 executions became widely accepted by scholars at the time.^{[238][239][240][241]} However, declassified documents from the Vietnamese and Hungarian archives indicate that the number of executions was much lower than reported at the time, although likely greater than 13,500.^[242] In the South, Diem went about crushing political and religious opposition, imprisoning or killing of thousands.^[243]

Along with the split between northern and southern Vietnam in geographical territory came the divergence in their distinctive choices for institutional political structure. Northern Vietnam opted for a centralized bureaucratic regime while the south was based on a patron-client mechanism heavily relied on personalized rule. During this period, due to this structural difference, the north and south revealed different patterns in their economic activities, the long-term effects of which still persist today. Citizens that previously lived in the bureaucratic state are more likely to have higher household consumption and become more engaged in civic activities; the state itself tends to have the stronger fiscal capacity for taxation inherited from the previous institution. The Diệm's regime in particular and anti-communist South Vietnam in general were dictatorial and pseudo-democratic, but not totalitarian and much more open than the communist North. The fall of Diệm's effective regime in November 1963, although bringing about democratization, weakened anti-communist South Vietnam.^[245]

As a result of the

On 2 July 1976, the communist states in North and South Vietnam were officially re-united into a single

The harsh postwar crackdown on remnants of capitalism in the South led to the collapse of the economy during the 1980s. With the economy in shambles, the communist government altered its course and adopted consensus policies that bridged the divergent views of pragmatists and communist traditionalists. Throughout the 1980s, Vietnam received nearly $3 billion a year in economic and military aid from the Soviet Union and conducted most of its trade with the USSR and other Comecon countries. In December 1986, Nguyễn Văn Linh, who was elevated to CPV general secretary the following year, launched a campaign for political and economic renewal (Đổi Mới). His policies were characterized by political and economic experimentation that was similar to simultaneous reform agenda undertaken in the Soviet Union. Reflecting the spirit of political compromise, Vietnam phased out its re-education effort. The communist government stopped promoting agricultural and industrial cooperatives. Farmers were permitted to till private plots alongside state-owned land, and in 1990 the communist government passed a law encouraging the establishment of private businesses.^[275][276]

Both Vietnam and China planned the normalization of their relations in a secret summit in Chengdu in September 1990, and officially normalized ties on 5 November 1991, right before the fall of the Soviet Union a month.^[277] In February 1994, the United States lifted its economic embargo against Vietnam,^[278] and in June 1995, the United States and Vietnam normalized relations.^[279] After American President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam in November 2000, a new era in relations between the two countries began. No other U.S. leader had ever officially visited Hanoi and Clinton was the first to visit Vietnam since the 1975 fall of Saigon.^[280] Vietnam has become an increasingly attractive destination for economic development. Over time, Vietnam has played an increasingly significant role on the world stage. Its economic reforms have significantly changed Vietnamese society and increased Vietnamese relevance in both Asian and broader international affairs. Also, due to Vietnam's strategic geopolitical position near the intersection of the Pacific and Indian oceans, many world powers have begun to take on a much more favorable stance towards Vietnam.

On 11 January 2007, Vietnam became the 150th member of the

However, Vietnam also faces disputes, mostly with Cambodia over their shared border,^[284] and especially with China, over the South China Sea.^[285] In 2016, President Barack Obama became the 3rd U.S. Head of State to visit Vietnam.^[286] His historic visit helped to normalize relations with Vietnam. This improvement of U.S-Vietnam relations was further increased by the lifting of a lethal arms embargo, allowing the Vietnamese government to buy lethal weapons and modernize its military.^[287]

On 27–28 February 2019, the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit was held between North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. president Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam.^[288]

Vietnam is expected to be a newly industrialized country, and a regional power in the future. Vietnam has been named as one of the Next Eleven nations, a term describing eleven economies which could have BRIC-like potential to rival G7 nations.^[289]

In 2021, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, was re-elected for his third term in office, meaning he is Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades.^[290]

In 2023, a three-person collective leadership was responsible for governing Vietnam. President Vo Van Thuong (since 2023),^[291] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (since 2021)^[292] and the most powerful leader Nguyễn Phú Trọng (since 2011) as the Communist Party of Vietnam’s General Secretary.^[293]

During a visit to Vietnam on 10 September 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden visited with General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng. Following this, the Vietnamese government recognized the relationship between the United States and Vietnam as a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership", emphasizing the increasing importance of bilateral links between the two countries.^[294]

• Economic history of Vietnam
• History of Asia
• History of Southeast Asia
• List of Vietnamese dynasties
• Politics of Vietnam
• Vietnam under Chinese rule
• French Indochina
• North Vietnam
• South Vietnam
• Vietnamese nationalism
• Communism in Vietnam
• Lịch sử nước An Nam (text)
• Việt Nam sử lược (book)