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Đại Việt 大越國 Đại Việt Quốc | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1778–1802 | |||||||||||||
.svg) Map of Đại Việt in the 1790. Tây Sơn-controlled territory Nguyễn Ánh's reclaimed territory in the south | |||||||||||||
.png) Political division of Vietnam at the end of the 18th century: Territory controlled byNguyễn Huệ Territory controlled byNguyễn Nhạc | |||||||||||||
| Status | De jureDuchy (fief) withinLê dynasty ofĐại Việt(1778–1788) Internal imperial system withinQingtributary(1789–1802)[1] Rump state (1801–1802) | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Đồ Bàn(1776–1788) Phú Xuân(1788–1801) Bắc Thành(1801–1802) | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Vietnamese WrittenChữ Nôm script[2](official) | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Vietnamese folk religion,Buddhism,Taoism,Catholicism,Islam | ||||||||||||
| Government | Rebel governance(1771–1778) Absolute monarchy(1778–1802) | ||||||||||||
| Emperor | |||||||||||||
• 1778–1788 | Thái Đức | ||||||||||||
• 1788–1792 | Quang Trung | ||||||||||||
• 1792–1802 | Cảnh Thịnh (last) | ||||||||||||
| Legislature | None (rule by decree) | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Tây Sơn rebellion emerged | 1771 | ||||||||||||
• Nguyễn Nhạc established Tây Sơn dynasty | 1778 | ||||||||||||
• Lê dynasty collapsed | 3 February 1789 | ||||||||||||
• Nguyễn Ánh capturedĐông Kinh | 18 June 1802 | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1800 | unknown, circa 10 million | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Copper-alloy and zinc cash coins | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Vietnam China Laos Cambodia | ||||||||||||
| Nguyễn Tây Sơn | |
|---|---|
| Country | Kingdom ofĐại Việt (Vietnam) |
| Founded | 18th century |
| Founder | Nguyễn Nhạc |
| Final ruler | Nguyễn Quang Toản |
| Titles | |
| Estate(s) | Quy Nhơn,Phú Xuân,Phượng Hoàng Trung Đô |
| Deposition | 1802 |
TheTây Sơn dynasty (Vietnamese:[təjʂəːn];Vietnamese:"Nhà Tây Sơn" or "Triều Tây Sơn", (chữ Hán: 朝西山;Chữ Nôm: 茹西山), officiallyĐại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was an imperialdynasty of Vietnam. It originated in a revolt led by three peasant brothers with the surname Nguyễn, rebelling against theLê dynasty,Trịnh lords andNguyễn lords (no relation). The Tây Sơn would later be succeeded by theNguyễn dynasty.[3][a]
The Tây Sơn dynasty ended thecentury-long war between the Trịnh and Nguyễn families, overthrew theLê dynasty, and united the country for the first time in 200 years. They acknowledgedQing suzerainty and gained recognition from theQianlong Emperor as the legitimate rulers of Vietnam. Under the most prominent of the Tây Sơn brothersNguyễn Huệ (Emperor Quang Trung) Vietnam experienced several years of relative peace and prosperity. But Quang Trung died relatively young at the age of 40 and his successorCảnh Thịnh, aged 9, was unable to prevent civil conflict among the Tây Sơn court which allowed the last Nguyễn lordNguyễn Ánh to retake the south of Vietnam, extinguish the Tây Sơn and establish theNguyễn dynasty.
The Tây Sơn dynasty was named after theTây Sơn district inBình Định province, the birthplace of the three brothers who established the dynasty.[3] The name "Tây Sơn" means "western mountains" from Chinese 西山Xīshān where 西 xi means west and 山 shan means mountain.[4]
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In the 18th century, Vietnam wasde jure ruled by theLê dynasty, but real power lay in the hands of two warring families, theTrịnh lords of the north who ruled from the imperial court inThăng Long and theNguyễn lords in the south, who ruled from their capitalHuế. Both sides warred extensively for control of the country. Life for the peasants during these times was difficult: ownership of land concentrated in the hands of a few powerful landlords as time passed on. Theimperial bureaucracy grew corrupt and oppressive; at one point the imperial examination-degrees were sold to whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. The lords continued to live lavish lifestyles in opulent palaces as the poor grew poorer. While the Trịnh lords had enjoyed peace since the end of thewar between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn in 1672,[5] the Nguyễn lords regularly campaigned againstCambodia and later theKingdom of Siam. While the Nguyễn lords usually won these wars and opened up new fertile lands for the landless poor to settle, the frequent warring cost money, resources, and lives.
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In 1769 the new king of SiamTaksin launched a war to regain control ofCambodia. He was successful and forced the Nguyễn lords to abandon some of their conquests, such as thePrincipality of Hà Tiên on the southernmost coast of Vietnam. LordNguyễn Phúc Khoát had also died in 1765, which put power in the hands of the regentTrương Phúc Loan, plunging the Nguyễn court into political crisis. These developments, coupled with heavy taxes and endemic local corruption spurred three peasant brothers—Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ, and Nguyễn Lữ (no relation to the Nguyễn lords) from the village of Tây Sơn, central Vietnam, to revolt in 1771 against the Nguyễn lordPhúc Thuần.[6]
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 that was sent to crush their rebellion. The Tây Sơn drew their support from not only poor farmers but also by some indigenous highland tribes.Nguyễn Huệ, the brothers' leader, 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 redistribute land.
In 1773 the Tây Sơn captured the port ofQui Nhơn, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, lent the uprising their 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 whenTrịnh Sâm 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 (now modern daySaigon).
The Trịnh army continued to march south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The forces arrayed against the Nguyễn were simply too many and in 1776 the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Gia Định and massacred the town'sChinese population.[7] The entire Nguyễn family was killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew,Nguyễn Ánh, who managed to escape toSiam. The eldest Tây Sơn brother, Nguyễn Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trịnh thus became unavoidable.
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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'yaTaksin, 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. In 1785, Siam launched an invasion again and occupied part of the Mekong Delta, but was defeated by Nguyen Hue in theBattle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
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Having vanquished the Nguyễn for the time being,Nguyễn Huệ decided to destroy the power of theTrịnh lords. He marched to the north at the head of a large army in 1786, and after a short campaign, defeated the Trịnh army successfully. The Trịnh were also unpopular and the Tây Sơn army seemed invincible. The Trịnh lord fled north into China. Nguyễn Huệ later married princess Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal later Lê Emperor,Lê Hiển Tông.
_p347_SCENE_IN_A_CONCHIN_CHINESE_OPERA.jpg)
A few months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone, the EmperorLê Chiêu Thống fled north to theQing Empire of China, where he formally petitioned theQianlong Emperor for aid. The Qianlong Emperor agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capitalThăng Long.
Nguyễn Huệ gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:[citation needed]
The Qing have invaded our country and occupied the capital city, Thăng Long. In our history, theTrưng Sisters fought against theHan,Đinh Tiên Hoàng against theSong,Trần Hưng Đạo against theMongol Yuan, andLê Lợi against theMing. 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.
In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating theLunar New Year, Nguyễn Huệ's army defeated them at theBattle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to retreat. The Tay Son were supported byChinese pirates.[8][1] Anti-pirate activities were undertaken by a joint alliance between the Qing dynasty andNguyễn lordsGia Long while Chinese pirates collaborated with the Tay Son.[9][10][11][12]
After the battle, Nguyễn Huệ sought to restore thetributary relationship in order to deter a joint Qing-Siam pincer attack and prevent further Qing Chinese attempts to restore the Lê dynasty.[1] Nguyễn Huệ sent a ritually submissive request to the Qianlong Emperor under the name of Nguyễn Quang Bình (also referred to as Ruan Guangping).[1]
In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyễn as the King of Annam on the condition that Nguyễn Huệ personally lead a special delegation toBeijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday.[1] For the Qianlong Emperor, the motivation for accepting the arrangement was to retain the Qing's supremacy and stabilize their southern border.[1] Chinese and Vietnamese sources agreed that Nguyễn Huệ sent an imposter with a delegation to Beijing, where they were received with lavish imperial favors.[1] The Qianlong Emperor approved the proposal and bestowed Nguyễn Huệ with the titleAn Nam quốc vương ("King of Annam"). The title indicated that Nguyễn Huệ was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam and Lê Chiêu Thống was no longer supported.[1]
Quang Trung, was resentful. He trained his army, built large warships and waited for an opportunity to take revenge. He also provided refuge to organizations such as theTiandihui and theWhite Lotus. Chinese pirates, such asChen Tien-pao (陳添保),Mo Kuan-fu (莫觀扶),Liang Wen-keng (梁文庚),Fan Wen-tsai (樊文才),Cheng Chi (鄭七) andCheng I (鄭一) were granted official positions and noble ranks under the Tây Sơn empire.[13] All attack plans had to be given up due to Nguyễn Huệ's sudden death.[14] The attack never materialized by the time that Quang Trung died in 1792.[15][16]
After the Tây Sơn massacred ethnic Han Chinese settlers in 1782, the support of the Qing Chinese shifted towards to theNguyễn lords.[17][18]
After Quang Trung's death, his son Nguyễn Quang Toản 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 FrenchbishopPigneau de Behaine. In 1800,Nguyễn Ánh occupiedQuy Nhơn citadel. In 1801, he occupiedPhú Xuân, forcingNguyễn Quang Toản to flee toThăng Long. In 1802, Ánh besieged Thăng Long. The then 20-year-old Nguyễn Quang Toản escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and theNguyễn, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, took over the country in 1802.
The Nguyễn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty, took complete control of Vietnam, and established the imperialNguyễn dynasty in 1802.[19][20] The Nguyễn executed the defeated Tây Sơn leaderBùi Thị Xuân bycrushing the body with an elephant. The heart and liver from her body were consumed by soldiers of the Nguyễn.[21]
