Tây Son Dynasty
Encyclopedia
The name of Tây Sơn is used in many ways to refer to the period of peasant
rebellions and decentralized dynasties established between the eras of the Later Lê
and Nguyễn dynasties in the history of Vietnam
between 1770 and 1802. The name Tây Sơn is used to refer to the leaders of this revolt (the Tây Sơn brothers), their uprising (the Tây Sơn Uprising) or their rule (the Tây Sơn Dynasty or Nguyễn Tây Sơn Dynasty).
was under the nominal rule of the officially-revered, but politically-ignored Lê Dynasty
. Real power was in the hands of two warring feudal families, the Trịnh Lords of the north who controlled and ruled from the imperial court in Hanoi
and the Nguyễn Lords in the south, who ruled from their capital Huế
. Both sides fought each other for control of the nation, while claiming to be loyal to the king.
Life for the peasant farmers was difficult. Ownership of land became more concentrated in the hands of a few landlords as time 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. In contrast to the people, the ruling lords lived lavish lifestyles in huge palaces.
The decades-long war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn had ended in 1673, and life for the northern peasants was fairly peaceful. However, the Nguyễn Lords engaged in a regular series of wars with the weak Khmer Empire
, and later, the fairly strong state of Siam. While the Nguyễn usually won, and despite the fact that the new lands they conquered offered new opportunities for the landless poor, the frequent wars took a toll on their popularity.
, launched a war to regain control of Cambodia
. The war generally went against the Nguyễn and they were forced to abandon some of the newly conquered lands. This failure, coupled with heavy taxes and corruption at the local level, caused three brothers from the village of Tây Sơn to begin a revolt against Lord Nguyễn Phúc Thuần.
The Tây Sơn brothers styled themselves as champions of the people. Over the next year, the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyễn army units 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 indigenous highland tribes. The leader of the three brothers, Nguyễn Huệ
, was also a very skilled military leader.
Nguyễn Huệ said that his goal was to end the people's oppression, reunite the country, and restore the power of the Lê emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sơn also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistibute land.
In 1773 the Tây Sơn captured the port of Qui Nhơn
, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, gave the uprising financial support.
The Nguyễn, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades. However, their problems were compounded when Trịnh Sam
chose to end the 100-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern day Huế), the Nguyễn capital. The Trịnh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyễn to flee to Gia Định (later called Saigon).
The Trịnh army continued to head south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The Nguyễn were unpopular at this time, and the forces against them were too powerful. In 1776, the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Gia Định and massacred the town's Han Chinese
population. 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 Lê, one of the brothers, Nguyễn Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trịnh was thus unavoidable.
Having vanquished the Nguyễn for the time being, Nguyễn Huệ 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. Huệ married Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal Lê Emperor, Lê Hiển Tông.
, where he formally petitioned the Qing Emperor Qianlong
(Vietnamese:Càn Long) for aid. Qianlong agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital Thăng Long
.
Nguyễn Huệ gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:
In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating the Lunar New Year
, Nguyễn Huệ's army defeated them at the Battle of Đống Đa and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to flee to China. Even though Nguyễn Huệ won the battle, he eventually submitted himself as vassal of the Qing Empire and agreed to pay tribute annually.
with a Vietnamese vernacular written with Chinese characters, as the official language.
The ambitious character of Quang Trung is legendary in Vietnamese history. He ordered the melting of Vietnamese coins to make cannons, and hoped to seize the Chinese provinces of Guangxi
and Guangdong
. Several stories tell of his ambitious plans and indirect challenge to Qianlong. Quang Trung even proposed to marry one of Qianlong's daughters, an indication of his intention to claim Chinese territory.
In early 1792, Quang Trung planned the final assault on the remaining base of Nguyễn Ánh's around Saigon, both by sea and land. While waiting for the seasonal winds to change direction into a tailwind to propel his navy, he suddenly collapsed and died of unknown causes at the age of 40. Many Vietnamese believe that if he had ruled for another ten years, the fate of the country would have been significantly different.
Pigneau de Behaine
. In 1800, Nguyễn Ánh occupied Quy Nhon citadel. In 1801, he occupied Phú Xuân
, forcing Quang Toan to flee to Thăng Long
. In 1802, Anh besieged Thăng Long
. Quang Toan escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and the Nguyễn, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam
, took over the country in 1802.
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
rebellions and decentralized dynasties established between the eras of the Later Lê
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
and Nguyễn dynasties in the history of Vietnam
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...
between 1770 and 1802. The name Tây Sơn is used to refer to the leaders of this revolt (the Tây Sơn brothers), their uprising (the Tây Sơn Uprising) or their rule (the Tây Sơn Dynasty or Nguyễn Tây Sơn Dynasty).
Background
During the 18th century, VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
was under the nominal rule of the officially-revered, but politically-ignored Lê Dynasty
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
. Real power was in the hands of two warring feudal families, the Trịnh Lords of the north who controlled and ruled from the imperial court in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and the Nguyễn Lords in the south, who ruled from their capital Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
. Both sides fought each other for control of the nation, while claiming to be loyal to the king.
Life for the peasant farmers was difficult. Ownership of land became more concentrated in the hands of a few landlords as time passed. The Mandarin
Mandarin (bureaucrat)
A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.-History and use of the term:...
bureaucracy was oppressive and often corrupt; at one point, royal-sanctioned degrees were up for sale for whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. In contrast to the people, the ruling lords lived lavish lifestyles in huge palaces.
The decades-long war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn had ended in 1673, and life for the northern peasants was fairly peaceful. However, the Nguyễn Lords engaged in a regular series of wars with the weak Khmer Empire
Khmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city...
, and later, the fairly strong state of Siam. While the Nguyễn usually won, and despite the fact that the new lands they conquered offered new opportunities for the landless poor, the frequent wars took a toll on their popularity.
Conquest of the Nguyễn
In 1769, the new king of Siam, King TaksinTaksin
Taksin ; was the only King of the Thonburi Kingdom...
, launched a war to regain control of Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. The war generally went against the Nguyễn and they were forced to abandon some of the newly conquered lands. This failure, coupled with heavy taxes and corruption at the local level, caused three brothers from the village of Tây Sơn to begin a revolt against Lord Nguyễn Phúc Thuần.
The Tây Sơn brothers styled themselves as champions of the people. Over the next year, the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyễn army units 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 indigenous highland tribes. The leader of the three brothers, Nguyễn Huệ
Nguyen Hue
Nguyễn Huệ, also known as Emperor Quang Trung , born in Bình Định in 1753, died in Phú Xuân on 16 September 1792, was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn Dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 1788 until 1792...
, was also a very skilled military leader.
Nguyễn Huệ said that his goal was to end the people's oppression, reunite the country, and restore the power of the Lê emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sơn also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistibute land.
In 1773 the Tây Sơn captured the port of Qui Nhơn
Qui Nhon
Qui Nhơn , also Quy Nhơn, is a coastal city in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of 286 km². Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2009 its population was 280,900. Historically, the commercial activities of the city...
, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, gave the uprising financial support.
The Nguyễn, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades. However, their problems were compounded when Trịnh Sam
Trinh Sam
Trịnh Sâm ruled northern Vietnam from 1767 to 1782 AD. He ruled with the title "Tinh Do Vuong", and was one of the last of the powerful Trịnh Lords. Trịnh Sâm defeated the ancient enemy of the northern state, the Nguyễn Lords in the south...
chose to end the 100-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern day Huế), the Nguyễn capital. The Trịnh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyễn to flee to Gia Định (later called Saigon).
The Trịnh army continued to head south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The Nguyễn were unpopular at this time, and the forces against them were too powerful. In 1776, the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Gia Định and massacred the town's Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
population. 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 Lê, one of the brothers, Nguyễn Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trịnh was thus unavoidable.
Conquest of the Trịnh
The Tây Sơn spent the next decade consolidating their control over the former Nguyễn territory. Nguyễn Ánh proved to be a stubborn enemy. He convinced the King of Siam, P'ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of him. The Siamese army attacked in 1780, but in several years of warfare, it was unable to defeat the Tây Sơn army, as gains were followed by losses. 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.Having vanquished the Nguyễn for the time being, Nguyễn Huệ 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. Huệ married Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal Lê Emperor, Lê Hiển Tông.
Defeat of Qing China
A few months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone, the Lê Emperor fled north to ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, where he formally petitioned the Qing Emperor Qianlong
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...
(Vietnamese:Càn Long) for aid. Qianlong agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital Thăng Long
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
.
Nguyễn Huệ gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:
In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating the Lunar New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
, Nguyễn Huệ's army defeated them at the Battle of Đống Đa and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to flee to China. Even though Nguyễn Huệ won the battle, he eventually submitted himself as vassal of the Qing Empire and agreed to pay tribute annually.
Emperor Quang Trung
Nguyễn Huệ was now in control of a united Vietnam, more than twice as large than before. He took the title of Emperor under the reign name Quang Trung. He distributed land to poor peasants, encouraged hitherto suppressed artisans, allowed religious freedom, re-opened Vietnam to international trade, and replaced Classical ChineseClassical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of 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 ordered the melting of Vietnamese coins to make cannons, and hoped to seize the Chinese provinces of Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
. Several stories tell of his ambitious plans and indirect challenge to Qianlong. Quang Trung even proposed to marry one of Qianlong's daughters, an indication of his intention to claim Chinese territory.
In early 1792, Quang Trung planned the final assault on the remaining base of Nguyễn Ánh's around Saigon, both by sea and land. While waiting for the seasonal winds to change direction into a tailwind to propel his navy, he suddenly collapsed and died of unknown causes at the age of 40. Many Vietnamese believe that if he had ruled for another ten years, the fate of the country would have been significantly different.
Decline and fall
After Emperor Quang Trung's death, his son Quang Toan was enthroned as Emperor Cảnh Thịnh at the age of ten. However, the real power was in the hands of his uncle Bui Dac Tuyen, who enacted a massive political purge. Many who served under Quang Trung were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening the Tây Sơn. This paved the way for Nguyễn Ánh to capture the entire country within 10 years, with the help of French military adventurers enlisted by French bishopBishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Pigneau de Behaine
Pigneau de Behaine
Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau , commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine, also Pierre Pigneaux and Bá Đa Lộc , was a French Catholic priest best known for his role in assisting Nguyễn Ánh to establish the Nguyễn Dynasty in Vietnam after the Tây Sơn...
. In 1800, Nguyễn Ánh occupied Quy Nhon citadel. In 1801, he occupied Phú Xuân
Phú Xuân
Phú Xuân is an historic place in Huế, Vietnam. It was the capital of the Nguyễn Lords, the Tây Sơn Dynasty, and later became a part of the Nguyễn Dynasty’s capital in Huế....
, forcing Quang Toan to flee to Thăng Long
Thang Long
Thang Long can be:*Former name of Hanoi*Thang Long Imperial City...
. In 1802, Anh besieged Thăng Long
Thang Long
Thang Long can be:*Former name of Hanoi*Thang Long Imperial City...
. Quang Toan escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and the Nguyễn, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, took over the country in 1802.
Further reading
- George Edson Dutton: The Tay Son Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam. Honolulu 2006, ISBN 978-0-8248-2984-1
External links
- The First Tet Offensive of 1789 By Spencer C. Tucker
- A Brief History of the Tay Son Movement (1771–1802) by George Dutton (1998) (gdutton@u.washington.edu)