Names

Việt Nam

The name (viə̀t naːm, chữ Hán: ) is a variation of (; literally "Southern Việt"), a name that can be traced back to the Triệu dynasty of the 2nd century BC. The term "Việt" (Yue) (越 Yuè) in Early Middle Chinese was first written using the logograph "钺" for an axe (a homophone), in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty ( BC), and later as "越". At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang. In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle Yangtze were called the Yangyue, a term later used for peoples further south. Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC Yue/Việt referred to the State of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people. From the 3rd century BC the term was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular ethnic groups called Minyue, Ouyue, Luoyue (Vietnamese: Lạc Việt), etc., collectively called the Baiyue (Bách Việt, 百越 Bǎiyuè, literally Hundred Yue/Viet; ). The term Baiyue/Bách Việt first appeared in the book Lüshi Chunqiu compiled around 239 BC. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, educated Vietnamese called themselves and their people as nguoi viet and nguoi nam, which combined to become nguoi viet nam (Vietnamese people). However, this designation was for the Vietnamese themselves and not for the whole country.

The form is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình. The name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Hải Phòng that dates to 1558. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (who later became Emperor Gia Long) established the Nguyễn dynasty. In the second year of his rule, he asked the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing dynasty to confer on him the title 'King of Nam Việt / Nanyue' (南越 in Chinese character) after seizing power in Annam. The Emperor refused because the name was related to Zhao Tuo's Nanyue, which included the regions of Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China. The Qing Emperor, therefore, decided to call the area "Việt Nam" instead. Between 1804 and 1813, the name Vietnam was used officially by Emperor Gia Long.

Đại Nam

In 1839, under the rule of Emperor Minh Mạng's, Đại Việt Nam was shortened to Đại Nam (大南, which means "Great South").

Other names

Westerners in the past often called the kingdom as Annam or the Annamite Empire. However, in Vietnamese historiography, modern historians often refer to this period in Vietnamese history as Nguyen Vietnam, alternatively spelled as Nguyễn Vietnam, or simply Vietnam to distinguish with the pre-19th century Đại Việt kingdom.

History

Background and establishment

Origin of Nguyễn clan

The Nguyễn family clan, originated in the Thanh Hóa Province, exerted substantial political influence and military power, in particular throughout early modern Vietnamese history. Affiliations with the ruling elite date back to the tenth century when Nguyễn Bặc was appointed the first Grand Chancellor of the short-lived Đinh dynasty under Đinh Bộ Lĩnh in 965. Nguyễn Thị Anh, a queen consort of emperor Lê Thái Tông served as official regent of Đại Việt for her son emperor Lê Nhân Tông between 1442 and 1453.

dynastys servants

In 1527 Mạc Đăng Dung, after defeating and executing the Lê dynasty's vassal (Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ) in a rebellion and emerged as the intermediate victor and established the Mạc dynasty by deposing Emperor Lê Cung Hoàng of the once prosperous but rapidly declining later Lê dynasty. Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ's son Nguyễn Kim and his Trịnh clan allies remained loyal to the Lê dynasty and attempted to restore the Lê dynasty to power, thereby reigniting the rebellion. After that, both the Trịnh and Nguyễn clan again took up arms in Thanh Hóa province and revolted against the Mạc. However the rebellion was failed and they fled to kingdom of Lan Xang where the king Photisarath allows them to establish the exiled government in Xam Neua. The Lê royalists under Lê Ninh, a descendant of the Royal family, escaped to Muang Phuan (today Laos). During exile, Marquis of An Thanh Nguyễn Kim summoned the people who were still loyal to the Lê emperor and formed a new army to begin a revolt against Mạc Đăng Dung. In 1540, they return to Đại Việt and begin their first military campaign against Mạc dynasty in Thanh Hóa province and capture the province in 1543.

Nguyễns dominion in the south

Lê dynasty was restored in 1539 after the alliance recaptured Thanh Hoa Province and reinstall the Lê emperor Lê Trang Tông in throne. Nguyễn Kim, who had served as leader of the alliance during the 12 year of Lê–Mạc War (from 1533 to 1545) in the period of Northern and Southern dynasties, was assassinated in 1545 by a captured Mạc general (Dương Chấp Nhất). After that, Kim's son-in-law, Trịnh Kiểm who had killed the eldest son of Kim (Nguyễn Uông),then seize control of the alliance. The sixth son of Kim, Nguyễn Hoàng fears that his fate will be like his brother; therefore, he tried to run away from the capital to avoid the next assassination. Later, he asks his sister Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Bảo (wife of Trịnh Kiểm) to ask Kiểm to appoint him to be the governor of far-south frontier of Đại Việt, Thuận Hóa (modern Quảng Bình to Quảng Nam provinces). Trịnh Kiểm think this is the opportunity to remove the power and influence of Nguyễn Hoàng in the capital city so he agreed with the proposal. In 1558, Lê Anh Tông, emperor of the re-established Lê dynasty appointed Nguyễn Hoàng with the lordship of the Thuận Hóa, which had been conquered during the 15th century from the Champa kingdom. This event marked the beginning of division of two powerful families in 1558, Trịnh clan rules as dictatorship in the government of Lê dynasty in the north Đại Việt (Đàng Ngoài) and Nguyễn clan rules the South Đại Việt (Đàng Trong).

Nguyễn Phúc Lan chose the city of Phú Xuân in 1636 as his residence and established the dominion of the Nguyễn lord in the southern part of the country. Although the Nguyễn and Trịnh lords ruled as de facto rulers in their respective lands, they paid official tribute to the Lê emperors in a ceremonial gesture,and recognize Lê dynasty as the legitimacy of Đại Việt.

Nguyễn-Trịnh confrontation

Nguyễn Hoàng and his successors started to engage in rivalry with the Trịnh lords, after refusing to pay tax and tribute to the central government in Hanoi as Nguyễn lords tried to create the autonomous regime. They expanded their territory by making parts of Cambodia as protectorate, invaded Laos, captured the last vestiges of Champa in 1693 and ruled in an unbroken line until 1776.

Tây Sơn–Nguyễn war (1771–1802)

The end of the Nguyễn lords reign

The 17th-century war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn ended in an uneasy peace, with the two sides creating de facto separate states although both professed loyalty to the same Lê dynasty. After 100 years of domestic peace, the Nguyễn lords were confronted with the Tây Sơn rebellion in 1774. Its military had had considerable losses in manpower after a series of campaigns in Cambodia and proved unable to contain the revolt. By the end of the year, the Trịnh lords had formed an alliance with the Tây Sơn rebels and captured Huế in 1775.

Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Phúc Thuần fled south to the Quảng Nam province, where he left a garrison under co-ruler Nguyễn Phúc Dương. He fled further south to the Gia Định Province (around modern-day Ho Chi Minh City) by sea before the arrival of Tây Sơn leader Nguyễn Nhạc, whose forces defeated the Nguyễn garrison and seized Quảng Nam.

In early 1777 a large Tây Sơn force under Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Lữ attacked and captured Gia Định from the sea and defeated the Nguyễn Lord forces. The Tây Sơn received widespread popular support as they presented themselves as champions of the Vietnamese people, who rejected any foreign influence and fought for the full reinstitution of the Lê dynasty. Hence, the elimination of the Nguyễn and Trinh lordships was considered a priority and all but one member of the Nguyễn family captured at Saigon were executed.

Nguyễn Ánh escapes

In 1775, the 13-year-old Nguyễn Ánh escaped and with the help of the Vietnamese Catholic priest Paul Hồ Văn Nghị soon arrived at the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Hà Tiên. With Tây Son search parties closing in, he kept on moving and eventually met the French missionary Pigneau de Behaine. By retreating to the Thổ Chu Islands in the Gulf of Thailand, both escaped Tây Sơn capture.

Pigneau de Behaine decided to support Ánh, who had declared himself heir to the Nguyễn lordship. A month later the Tây Sơn army under Nguyễn Huệ had returned to Quy Nhơn. Ánh seized the opportunity and quickly raised an army at his new base in Long Xuyên, marched to Gia Định and occupied the city in December 1777. The Tây Sơn returned to Gia Định in February 1778 and recaptured the province. When Ánh approached with his army, the Tây Sơn retreated.

By the summer of 1781, Ánh's forces had grown to 30,000 soldiers, 80 battleships, three large ships and two Portuguese ships procured with the help of de Behaine. Ánh organized an unsuccessful ambush of the Tây Sơn base camps in the Phú Yên province. In March 1782 the Tây Sơn emperor Thái Đức and his brother Nguyễn Huệ sent a naval force to attack Ánh. Ánh's army was defeated and he fled via Ba Giồng to Svay Rieng in Cambodia.

Nguyễn–Cambodian agreement

Ánh met with the Cambodian King Ang Eng, who granted him exile and offered support in his struggle with the Tây Sơn. In April 1782 a Tây Sơn army invaded Cambodia, detained and forced Ang Eng to pay tribute, and demanded, that all Vietnamese nationals living in Cambodia were to return to Vietnam.

Chinese Vietnamese support for Nguyễn Ánh

Support by the Chinese Vietnamese began when the Qing dynasty overthrew the Ming dynasty. The Han Chinese refused to live under the Manchu Qing and fled to Southeast Asia (including Vietnam). Most were welcomed by the Nguyễn lords to resettle in southern Vietnam and set up business and trade.

In 1782, Nguyễn Ánh escaped to Cambodia and the Tây Sơn seized southern Vietnam (now Cochinchina). They had discriminated against the ethnic Chinese, displeasing the Chinese-Vietnamese. That April, Nguyễn loyalists Tôn Thất Dụ, Trần Xuân Trạch, Trần Văn Tự and Trần Công Chương sent military support to Ánh. The Nguyễn army killed grand admiral Phạm Ngạn, who had a close relationship with the Emperor Thái Đức, at Tham Lương bridge. Thái Đức, angry, thought that the ethnic Chinese had collaborated in the killing. He sacked the town of Cù lao (present-day Biên Hòa), which had a large Chinese population, and ordered the oppression of the Chinese community to avenge their assistance to Ánh. Ethnic cleansing had previously occurred in Hoi An, leading to support by wealthy Chinese for Ánh. He returned to Giồng Lữ, defeated Admiral Nguyễn Học of the Tây Sơn and captured eighty battleships. Ánh then began a campaign to reclaim southern Vietnam, but Nguyễn Huệ deployed a naval force to the river and destroyed his navy. Ánh again escaped with his followers to Hậu Giang. Cambodia later cooperated with the Tây Sơn to destroy Ánh's force and made him retreat to Rạch Giá, then to Hà Tiên and Phú Quốc.

Nguyễn – Siam alliance

Following consecutive losses to the Tây Sơn, Ánh sent his general Châu Văn Tiếp to Siam to request military assistance. Siam, under Chakri rule, wanted to conquer Cambodia and southern Vietnam. King Rama I agreed to ally with the Nguyễn lord and intervene militarily in Vietnam. Châu Văn Tiếp sent a secret letter to Ánh about the alliance. After meeting with Siamese generals at Cà Mau, Ánh, thirty officials and some troops visited Bangkok to meet Rama I in May 1784. The governor of Gia Định Province, Nguyễn Văn Thành, advised Ánh against foreign assistance.

Rama I, fearing the growing influence of the Tây Sơn dynasty in Cambodia and Laos, decided to dispatch his army against it. In Bangkok, Ánh began to recruit Vietnamese refugees in Siam to join his army (which totaled over 9,000). He returned to Vietnam and prepared his forces for the Tây Sơn campaign in June 1784, after which he captured Gia Định. Rama I nominated his nephew, Chiêu Tăng, as admiral the following month. The admiral led Siamese forces including 20,000 marine troops and 300 warships from the Gulf of Siam to Kiên Giang Province. In addition, more than 30,000 Siamese infantry troops crossed the Cambodian border to An Giang Province. On 25 November 1784, Admiral Châu Văn Tiếp died in battle against the Tây Sơn in Mang Thít District, Vĩnh Long Province. The alliance was largely victorious from July through November, and the Tây Sơn army retreated north. However, Emperor Nguyễn Huệ halted the retreat and counter-attacked the Siamese forces in December. In the decisive battle of Rạch Gầm–Xoài Mút, more than 20,000 Siamese soldiers died and the remainder retreated to Siam.

Ánh, disillusioned with Siam, escaped to Thổ Chu Island in April 1785 and then to Ko Kut Island in Thailand. The Siamese army escorted him back to Bangkok, and he was briefly exiled in Thailand.

French assistance

The war between the Nguyễn lord and the Tây Sơn dynasty forced Ánh to find more allies. His relationship with de Behaine improved, and support for an alliance with France increased. Before the request for Siamese military assistance, de Behaine was in Chanthaburi and Ánh asked him to come to Phú Quốc Island. Ánh asked him to contact King Louis XVI of France for assistance; de Behaine agreed to coordinate an alliance between France and Vietnam, and Ánh gave him a letter to present at the French court. Ánh's oldest son, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, was chosen to accompany de Behaine. Due to inclement weather, the voyage was postponed until December 1784. The group departed from Phú Quốc Island for Malacca and thence to Pondicherry, and Ánh moved his family to Bangkok. The group arrived in Lorient in February 1787, and Louis XVI agreed to meet them in May.

File:Signatures of the 1787 Treaty of Versailles.jpg|Signatures on the 1787 Treaty of Versailles

File:Pigneau de Behaine portrait.jpg|Pigneau de Behaine, the French priest who recruited armies for Nguyễn Ánh during Ánh's war against the Tây Sơn

On 28 November 1787, de Behaine signed the Treaty of Versailles with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Armand Marc at the Palace of Versailles on behalf of Nguyễn Ánh. The treaty stipulated that France provide four frigates, 1,200 infantry troops, 200 artillery, 250 cafres (African soldiers), and other equipment. Nguyễn Ánh ceded the Đà Nẵng estuary and Côn Sơn Island to France. The French were allowed to trade freely and control foreign trade in Vietnam. Vietnam had to build one ship per year which was similar to the French ship which brought aid and give it to France. Vietnam was obligated to supply food and other aid to France when the French were at war with other East Asian nations.

On 27 December 1787, Pigneau de Behaine and Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh left France for Pondicherry to wait for the military support promised by the treaty. However, due to the French Revolution and the abolition of the French monarchy, the treaty was never executed. Thomas Conway, who was responsible for French assistance, refused to provide it. Although the treaty was not implemented, de Behaine recruited French businessman who intended to trade in Vietnam and raised funds to assist Nguyễn Ánh. He spent fifteen thousand francs of his own money to purchase guns and warships. Cảnh and de Behaine returned to Gia Định in 1788 (after Nguyễn Ánh had recaptured it), followed by a ship with the war materiel. Frenchmen who were recruited included Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau, Philippe Vannier, Olivier de Puymanel, and Jean-Marie Dayot. A total of twenty people joined Ánh's army. The French purchased and supplied equipment and weaponry, reinforcing the defense of Gia Định, Vĩnh Long, Châu Đốc, Hà Tiên, Biên Hòa, Bà Rịa and training Ánh's artillery and infantry according to the European model.

Qing China - Lê alliance against Tây Sơn

In 1786, Nguyễn Huệ led the army against the Trịnh lords; Trịnh Khải escaped to the north but got captured by the local people. He then committed suicide. After the Tây Sơn army returned to Quy Nhơn, subjects of the Trịnh lord restored Trịnh Bồng (son of Trịnh Giang) as the next lord. Lê Chiêu Thống, emperor of the Lê dynasty, wanted to regain power from the Trịnh. He summoned Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, governor of Nghệ An, to attack the Trịnh lord at the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. Trịnh Bồng surrendered to the Lê and became a monk. Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh wanted to unify the country under Lê rule, and began to prepare the army to march south and attack the Tây Sơn. Huệ led the army, killed Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, and captured the later Lê capital. The Lê royal family were exiled to China, and the later Lê dynasty collapsed.

At that time, Nguyễn Huệ's influence became stronger in northern Vietnam; this made Emperor Nguyễn Nhạc of the Tây Sơn dynasty suspect Huệ's loyalty. The relationship between the brothers became tense, eventually leading to battle. Huệ had his army surround Nhạc's capital, at Quy Nhơn citadel, in 1787. Nhạc begged Huệ not to kill him, and they reconciled. In 1788, Lê emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled to China and asked for military assistance. Qing emperor Qianlong ordered Sun Shiyi to lead the military campaign into Vietnam. The campaign failed, diplomatic relations with Vietnam were normalized, and the Tây Sơn dynasty began to weaken.

Franco-Nguyễn alliance against Tây Sơn

Nguyễn Ánhs counter-attack

Ánh began to reorganize a strong armed force in Siam. He left Siam (after thanking King Rama I), and returned to Vietnam. During the 1787 war between Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Nhạc in northern Vietnam, Ánh recaptured the southern Vietnamese capital of Gia Định. Southern Vietnam had been ruled by the Nguyễns and they remained popular, especially with the ethnic Chinese. Nguyễn Lữ, the youngest brother of Tây Sơn (who ruled southern Vietnam), could not defend the citadel and retreated to Quy Nhơn. The citadel of Gia Định was seized by the Nguyễn lords.

In 1788 de Behaine and Ánh's son, Prince Cảnh, arrived in Gia Định with modern war equipment and more than twenty Frenchmen who wanted to join the army. The force was trained and strengthened with French assistance.

Defeat of the Tây Sơn

After the fall of the citadel at Gia Định, Nguyễn Huệ prepared an expedition to reclaim it before his death on 16 September 1792. His young son, Nguyễn Quang Toản, succeeded him as emperor of the Tây Sơn and was a poor leader. In 1793, Nguyễn Ánh began a campaign against Quang Toản. Due to conflict between officials of the Tây Sơn court, Quang Toản lost battle after battle. In 1797, Ánh and Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh attacked Qui Nhơn (then in Phú Yên Province) in the battle of Thị Nại. They were victorious, capturing a large amount of Tây Sơn equipment. Quang Toản became unpopular due to his murders of generals and officials, leading to a decline in the army. In 1799, Ánh captured the citadel of Quy Nhơn. He seized the capital (Phú Xuân) on 3 May 1801, and Quang Toản retreated north. On 20 July 1802, Ánh captured Hanoi and end the Tây Sơn dynasty, all of the members of the Tây Sơn was captured Ánh then executed all the members of the Tây Sơn dynasty that year.

Imperial rule (1802–1883)

Overview

In Vietnamese historiography, the independent period is referred to as the Nhà Nguyễn thời độc lập period. During this period the Nguyễn dynasty's territories comprised the present-day territories of Vietnam and portions included Cambodia and Laos, bordered with Siam to the west and Manchu Qing dynasty to the north. Throughout its existence, the ruling Nguyễn emperors established and ran the first well-defined imperial administrative and bureaucratic system across the country, annexed Cambodia and Champa into its territories in the 1830s. Together with Chakri Siam and Konbaung Burma, it was one among three major Southeast Asian powers at the time. Gia Long, was relatively friendly toward Western powers and Christianity. The second emperor after Gia Long, Minh Mạng, ruled for 21 years from 1820 to 1841, a conservative and Confucian Orthodoxy ruler that had been adopted the policy of isolationist, kept the country from the rest of the world for nearly 40 years until the French invasion in 1858. Minh Mạng tightened control over Catholicism, Muslim, and ethnic minorities, resulting in more than two hundred rebellions across the country during his twenty-one-year reign. He also expanded his ambition to modern-day Laos and Cambodia.

Nguyễn Phúc Ánh united Vietnam after a three-hundred-year division of the country. He celebrated his coronation at Huế on 1 June 1802 and proclaimed himself emperor (Hoàng Đế), with the era name Gia Long (嘉隆). Gia Long prioritized the nation's defense, and feared that it could again be divided by civil war. He replaced the feudal system with a reformist Doctrine of the Mean, based on Confucianism. The Nguyen dynasty was founded as a tributary state of the Qing Empire, with Gia Long receiving an imperial pardon and recognition as the ruler of Vietnam from the Jiaqing Emperor for recognizing Chinese suzerainty.

Nguyễn Phúc Ánh immediately sent an embassy to Qing China in 1802 to establish relations with his new kingdom. However, the envoys cited the ancient kingdom of Nanyue (Vietnamese: Nam Việt) to the Qing Emperor Jiaqing to represent their country, that made the emperor dissatisfied, and that Nguyễn Phúc Ánh had to officially rename his kingdom as Vietnam in the next year in favour of the Chinese audience. The country was officially known as The (Great) Vietnamese state (Vietnamese: Đại Việt Nam quốc),

File:HoangVietLoatLe first page.jpg|Hoàng Triều luật lệ, Civil law introduced by Gia Long.

File:Map of Vietnam 1829.jpg|Dai Nam Empire over Indochina in 1839.

File:Soldat cochinchinois.jpg|Depiction of a Nguyen Vietnamese soldier, 1844

The Qing dynasty Jiaqing Emperor refused Gia Long's request to change his country's name to Nam Việt, viewing it as an overambitious claim to the ancient state, and instead changed its name to Việt Nam. "Trung Quốc" (中国) was used as a name for Vietnam by Gia Long in 1805.

After Gia Long, other dynastic rulers encountered problems with Catholic missionaries and other Europeans in Indochina. Gia Long's son, Minh Mạng, was then faced with the Lê Văn Khôi revolt in which native Christians and their European clergy tried to replace him and install a grandson of Gia Long who had converted to Roman Catholicism. The missionaries then incited frequent revolts in an attempt to Catholicize the throne and the country, although Minh Mạng set aside public lands as part of his reforms.

During the 19th century, the Nguyễn maintained tributary relationships with Cambodia and Laos after a series of military campaigns involving the Siamese Rattanakosin Kingdom, including the Cambodian rebellion, Lao rebellion, Siamese–Vietnamese War of 1831–1834, and Siamese–Vietnamese War of 1841–1845. The Nguyễn also expanded further into Champa lands in modern-day southern Vietnam in a continuation of the centuries-long Nam tiến.

Minh Mạng's successors, Thiệu Trị (r. 1841–1847) and Tự Đức (r. 1847–1883) however consecutive faced more serious problems that ultimately decimated the Vietnamese state. In the late 1840s, Vietnam was struck by a global deadly cholera pandemic that killed roughly 8% of the country's population, while continuously isolationist policies and prohibition of trade and contact damaged the country's economy and internal politics. The French Empire of Napoleon III and Spain of Isabell II declared war on Vietnam in September 1858. Facing mighty industrialized France and Spain, the hermit Nguyễn dynasty Empire and its military crumbled as the Franco-Spanish alliance took Saigon in early 1859. A series of unequal treaties followed; the occupied territory became the French colony of Cochinchina in the 1862 Treaty of Saigon, and the 1863 Treaty of Huế gave France access to Vietnamese ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. The Treaty of Saigon (1874) concluded the French annexation of Cochinchina.

The last independent Nguyễn emperor was Tự Đức. A succession crisis followed his death, as the regent Tôn Thất Thuyết orchestrated the murders of three emperors in a year. This allowed the French to take control of the country and its monarchy. Later, the Hue court was forced to sign the Harmand Convention in September 1883, which handover Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and several provinces to the French administration. After the Treaty of Patenôtre was signed in 1884, France annexed and partitioned Vietnam into three constituent protectorates of French Indochina, and effectively turned the ruling Nguyen dynasty court into a vassal monarchy of France. Finally, the Treaty of Tientsin (1885) between the Chinese Empire and the French Republic was signed on 9 June 1885. All emperors after Đồng Khánh were chosen by the French, and only ruled symbolically.

Gia Long period

Nguyễn Ánh (well-known as Nguyen Anh), the only surviving heir of the last Nguyen lord Nguyễn Phúc Thuần, had escaped the Taysons purge in 1777. He was sheltered by a Catholic priest in Rạch Giá, near Gulf of Thailand. Therefore he met a French priest, Pigneau de Behaine in Hà Tiên, and they became comrades. In 1786, the Taysons under Nguyen Hue stormed northern Vietnam, overthrew the ruling Trịnh family who were former enemies of the Nguyen and the old Lê dynasty, then annihilated a large Chinese intervention in Spring 1789. In November 1787, Nguyễn Ánh signed a treaty of alliance with Louis XVI in Versailles, sought military help. With the assistance of the French, Portuguese, Chinese-Vietnamese, Siamese, Chams, and Cambodians, and the command of the loyal talented generals Le Van Duyet and Nguyen Van Thanh, his forces slowly conquered Vietnam from the Taysons, captured Saigon in 1789, Hue in 1801, and Hanoi in June 1802, successfully unified the whole country under his hands by July 1802.

On 1 June, Nguyễn Ánh enthroned as Emperor Gia Long in Huế, whose imperial title emphasized his rule from Gia-dinh region (Saigon) in the far south to Thang-long (Hanoi) in the north. Gia Long claimed to revive the old government system of the bureaucratic state that was built by King Le Thanh Tong during the fifteenth-century golden age (1470–1497), adopted Confucian-bureaucratic government model, and sought unification with northern literati. His first concern was to bring stability over the unified kingdom, and placed two of his most loyal and Confucian-educated figures, Nguyễn Văn Thành and Le Van Duyet as viceroys of Hanoi and Saigon. From 1780 to 1820, roughly 300 French served Gia Long』s court as officials. Under his reign, a system of road connecting Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon with postal stations and inns that laid the foundation for the latter national highway, several canals connecting the Mekong River to the Gulf of Siam were constructed and finished. In 1812, Gia Long issued the Gia Long Code, which was instituted based on the Ch'ing Code of China, replaced the previous Thanh Tong's 1480 Code. In 1811, a coup d'état arose in the Kingdom of Cambodia, a Vietnamese tributary state, forced the pro-Vietnamese King Ang Chan II to offer Gia Long for help. Gia Long sent 13,000 men to Cambodia. He restored the Cambodian monarch to the throne, and began the occupation of the country for the next 30 years, while Siam seized northern Cambodia in 1814.

Seeming a Vietnam with French influences as a potential danger, the British Empire sent two envoys to Gia Long in 1803 and 1804 to convince him to abandon his friendship with the French. In 1808, a British fleet led by William O'Bryen Drury mounted an attack on Vietnamese Red River Delta, but was soon driven back by the Vietnamese navy and suffered several losses. After the Napoleonic war and Gia Long』s death, the British Empire renewed relation with Vietnam in 1822.

Throughout his reign, Gia Long continued to adopt the liberal and tolerant policy of his former rival Tayson. He died in 1819 and was succeeded by his fourth son, Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, who soon became known as Emperor Minh Mạng (r. 1820–1841) of Vietnam.

Rise and expansion under Minh Mạng

Minh Mạng was the younger brother of prince Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh and fourth son of Emperor Gia Long. Educated in Confucian classic since youth age, Minh Mạng became the Emperor of Vietnam in 1820, during a deadly cholera (or plague) outbreak that ravaged and killed 200,000 people across the country. His reign mainly focused on centralizing and stabilizing the state, by abolishing the Viceroy system and implementing a new full bureaucracy-provincial-based administration. He also halted diplomacy with Europe, and imposed religious intolerance.

Minh Mạng immediately shunned relations with the outside world. By 1824, after the death of Jean Marie Despiau, none Western advisors who had served Gia Long remained in Minh Mạng's court. The last French consul of Vietnam, Eugene Chaigneau, was never able to obtain one audience with Minh Mạng. After he left, France made no further attempts. In the next year he launched an anti-Catholicism propaganda campaign, denounced it as a "vicious religion" and "false teaching." In 1832 Minh Mạng turned the Cham Principality of Thuan Thanh into a Vietnamese province. He coercively fed lizard and pig meat to Cham Muslims and cow meat to Cham Hindus against their will to punish them and assimilate them to Vietnamese culture. The first Cham revolt for independence took place in 1833–1834 when Katip Sumat, a Cham mullah who had just returned to Vietnam from Mecca declared a holy war (jihad) against the Vietnamese emperor. The rebellion later quickly lost support from the Cham elites and was overrun by Royal Vietnamese troops with ease. The second Cham revolt started in 1834, led by a Muslim clergy named Ja Thak with supports from the old Cham royalty, highland people, and Vietnamese dissents. Minh Mạng mercilessly crushed the Ja Thak rebellion and executed the last Cham ruler Po Phaok The in early 1835.

In 1833, as Minh Mạng had been trying to take firm control over six southern provinces, a large rebellion led by Lê Văn Khôi (an adopted son of the Saigon viceroy Le Van Duyet) against Minh Mạng in Saigon, attempted to establish the brother of Minh Mạng, Prince Cảnh's line to the throne. The rebellion lasted for two years, gathered support from Vietnamese Catholics, Khmers, Chinese merchants in Saigon, and even the Siamese ruler Rama III until it was crushed by the government forces in 1835. In January, he issued the first country-wide prohibition of Catholicism, and began persecuting Christians. 130 Christian missionaries, priests and church leaders were executed, dozens of churches were burned and destroyed during his persecution.

War with Siam and invasion of Cambodia

Minh Mạng also expanded his empire westward, putting central and southern Laos under Cam Lộ Province, and collided with his father』s former ally-Siam in Vientiane and Cambodia. He backed the revolt of Laotian king Anouvong of Vientiane against the Siamese, and seized Xam Neua and Savannakhet in 1827.

In 1834, the Vietnamese Crown fully annexed Cambodia and renamed it to Tây Thành Province. Minh Mạng placed the general Truong Minh Giang as the governor of the Cambodian province, imposing the policy of assimilating the Cambodians. King Ang Chan II of Cambodia died in the next year and Ming Mang installed Chan's daughter Ang Mey as Commandery Princess of Cambodia. Cambodian officials were required to wear Vietnamese-style clothing, and govern in Vietnamese style. However the Vietnamese rule over Cambodia did not last long as it wasted the Vietnamese economy. Minh Mạng died in 1841, while a major Khmer uprising in the same year with Siamese aid eventually end the Tay Thanh province and his ambition over Cambodia.

Decline of the Nguyễn dynasty

In the next forty years, Vietnam was ruled by two weak emperors Thieu Tri (r. 1841–1847) and Tu Duc (r. 1848–1883). Thieu Tri or Prince Miên Tông, was the eldest son of Emperor Minh Mạng. His six-year reign showed a remarkable decrease in Catholic persecution. The self-sustaining agriculture-based isolationist economy proved insufficient. The population grew from 6 million in the 1820s to 10 million in 1850, severe disasters, epidemics, and famines flawed internal instability. Between 1802 and 1862, the court had faced 405 minor and large revolts of peasants, political dissents, ethnic minorities, Lê loyalists (people that were loyal to the old Lê Duy dynasty) across the country, in many ways contributed to the downfall of the Vietnamese state in the latter half of the 1800s.

In 1845, American warship USS Constitution landed in Da Nang, took all local officials as hostages to demand Thieu Tri to free imprisoned French bishop Dominique Lefèbvre. In 1847 Thieu Tri had made peace with Siam, but got into trouble with France and Britain. In April French navy attacked the Vietnamese navy and sank many Vietnamese ships in Da Nang, also demanding the relæse of Lefèbvre. Angered by the incident, Thieu Tri ordered all European documents in his palace to be smashed, and all European caught on Vietnamese land were to immediate execution. In autumn, two British warships of Sir John Davis arrived in Da Nang and asserted a commercial treaty with Vietnam, but the emperor refused. He died a few days later of apoplexy.

Tu Duc, or Prince Hồng Nhậm was Thieu Tri's youngest son, well-educated in Confucian learning, he was crowned by minister and co-regent Trương Đăng Quế. Prince Hồng Bảo-the elder brother of Tu Duc who was the primogeniture chosen by Thieu Tri-rebelled against Tu Duc in the day of his accession. The coup failed. Under the intervention of the empress mother Từ Dụ, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. Aware of the rise of Western influences in Asia, Tự Đức re-announced the isolationist closed door policy, neither to welcome French or British, American or Spanish embassies, forbid trade and contacts with foreigners and renewed the persecution of Catholics. During Tu Duc's first twelve years, Vietnamese Catholicism faced the worst and bloodiest persecution in history: 27 European missionaries, 300 Vietnamese priests and bishops, and 30,000 Vietnamese Christians were executed and crucified from 1848 to 1860.

In the late 1840s, a cholera outbreak set on Vietnamese soils, via trade with British India. The epidemic quickly spread out of control and killed 800,000 people (8%–10% of Vietnam』s 1847 population) across the Empire. Locusts plagued northern Vietnam in 1854, and a major rebellion in the following year damaged much of the Tonkin countryside. The central government became so weak and unable to maintain its control on Tonkin as strong as the early period.

In the 1850-1870s, a new class of liberal intellectuals emerged in the court, many of them Catholics and had studied abroad in Europe, most notably Nguyễn Trường Tộ, urged the emperor to reform and transform the Empire following the Western model, open Vietnam to the world. Their reform efforts however were usually ignored and rejected by the top Confucian conservative bureaucrats and Tu Duc himself. No significant industrial economy was available at the time except mining to fund the reformists' modernisation progress. Social cohesion was low. 95 percent of the Empire』s population lived in rural areas and depended on agriculture and lasting effects of prolonged isolationist policies which undermining the economy.

French conquest

In September 1858, Franco-Spanish army bombarded and invaded Da Nang to protest against the executions of two Spanish Dominican missionaries. Seven months later, they sailed to the south to attack Saigon and the rich Mekong Delta. The Alliance troops were holding Saigon for two years, while a rebellion of Lê loyalists led by Catholic bishop Pedro Tạ Văn Phụng, who self-proclaimed to be a Lê prince, broke out in the north and escalated. In February 1861, French reinforcement and 70 warships led by General Vassoigne arrived and overwhelmed Vietnamese strongholds. Facing the Alliance invasion and internal rebellion, Tu Duc chose to cede three Southern provinces to France in order to deal with the coinciding rebellion.

In June 1862, the Treaty of Saigon was signed, resulting in Vietnam losing three rich Gia Dinh, My Tho, Bien Hoa provinces, and the Poulo Condoræ Island, open for religious freedom and, along with paying war reparations to France. However, to Queen mother Từ Dụ, the court, and the people, the 1862 treaty was a national humiliation. Tu Duc once again sent a mission to French Emperor Napoleon III, called to revise the 1862 treaty. In July 1864, another draft treaty was signed. France returned the three provinces to Vietnam, but still hold control over three important cities Saigon, My Tho, and Thu Dau Mot. In 1866, France convinced Tu Duc to hand over three remaining southern provinces of Vinh Long, Ha Tien, and Chau Doc. Phan Thanh Gian, the Governor of the three provinces immediately resigned. Without resistance, in 1867 the French annexed the provinces with ease and were turning their attention to the northern provinces.

By the late 1860s, pirates, bandits, remnants of the Taiping rebellion in China, fled to Tonkin and turned Northern Vietnam into a hotbed for their raid activities. The Vietnamese state was on its deep decline and was unable to fight against the pirates. These Chinese rebels eventually formed their own mercenary armies like the Black Flags, and cooperated with local Vietnamese officials, together harassing French business. As France was looking for Yunnan and Tonkin, in 1873, a French merchant-adventurer named Jean Dupuis was intercepted by local Hanoi authority, prompting the French Cochinchina government to set out a new attack without talking with the Hue court. A French army led by Francis Garnier arrived at Tonkin in November. Because local administrators had allied with the Black Flags and mistrusting of Hanoi governor Nguyen Tri Phuong, in late November the French and Le loyalists opened fire at the Vietnamese citadel of Hanoi. Tu Duc immediately sent delegations to negotiate with Garnier, but Prince Hoàng Kế Viêm, governor of Sơn Tây, had enlisted the Chinese Black Flags militia of Liu Yongfu to attack the French. Garnier was killed on 21 December by the Black Flag soldiers at the . A peace negotiation between Vietnam and France was reached on 5 January 1874. France formally recognized Vietnam's full independence from China; France would pay off Vietnam's Spanish debts; French force returned Hanoi to the Vietnamese; Vietnamese military in Hanoi had to disband and be reduced to a simple police force; total religious and trade freedom was ensured; Vietnam must recognise all six southern provinces as French territories.

End of independence (1874–1885)

Just two years after French recognisation, Tu Duc sent an embassy to Qing China in 1876 and re-provoked the tributary relationship with the Chinese (the last mission was in 1849). In 1878, Vietnam renewed relation with Thailand. In 1880, Britain, Germany, and Spain were still debating the fate of Vietnam, and the Chinese Embassy in Paris openly rejected the 1874 Franco-Vietnamese agreement. In Paris, Prime minister Jules Ferry proposed a direct military campaign against Vietnam to revise the 1874 treaty. Because Tự Đức was too preoccupied to keep the French out of his Empire without directly engaging against them, he requested the Chinese court. In 1882, 30,000 Qing troops flooded into the northern provinces and occupied cities. The Black Flags had also been returning, together, collaborating with local Vietnamese officials and harassing French businesses. In March, the French responded by sending a second expedition led by Henri Rivière to the north to quell off the obstacles as their obligation, but had to avoid all international attention, particularly with China. On 25 April 1882, Rivière took Hanoi without facing any resistance. Tự Đức hopelessly informed the Chinese court that their tributary state was being attacked. In September 1882, 17 Chinese divisions (200,000 men) crossed the Sino-Vietnamese borders and occupied Lạng Sơn, Cao Bằng, Bac Ninh, and Thái Nguyên, commissioning for Tự Đức and also themselves to defend against the French aggression.

Backed by the Chinese army and the prince Hoàng Kế Viêm, Liu Yongfu, and the Black Flags decided to attack Rivière. On 19 May 1883, the Black Flags ambushed and beheaded Rivière at the Second battle of Cầu Giấy. News of the death of Rivière spread waves of anger among the French public triggered the national response. The French Parliament quickly voted for the conquest of Vietnam. Tens of thousands of French and Chinese reinforcements poured into the Red River Delta.

Tự Đức died on 17 July. Succession trouble temporarily paralyzed the court. One of his nephews Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái was crowned as Emperor Dục Đức but was, however, imprisoned and executed after three days by the three powerful regents Nguyễn Văn Tường, Tôn Thất Thuyết and Tran Tien Thanh for an unclear reason. Tự Đức's brother Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Dật succeeded on 30 July as Emperor Hiệp Hòa. The senior Censorate official of the court Phan Đình Phùng denounced the three regents for their irregular handling of Tự Đức's succession. Tôn Thất Thuyết blasted Phan Đình Phùng and sent him back to home, where later he led a nationalist resistance movement against the French for ten years.

To knock Vietnam out of the war, France decided to take a direct assault on the city of Hue. The French army split up itself into two parts: the smaller under General Bouët stayed in Hanoi and waited for reinforcement from France while the French fleet led by Amédée Courbet and Jules Harmand sailed to Thuận An, the sea gate of Hue on August 17. Harmand demanded the two regents Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết to surrender Northern Vietnam, North-Central Vietnam (Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh) and Bình Thuận Province to French possession, and to accept a French résident in Huế who could demand royal audiences. He sent an ultimatum to the regents that "The name Vietnam will no longer exist in history" if they would resist.

On 18 August, French battleships began shelling Vietnamese positions in the Thuận An citadel. Two days later, at dawn, Courbet and the French marines landed on the shore. By the next morning, all Vietnamese defenses in Hue were overwhelmed by the French. Emperor Hiệp Hòa dispatched mandarin Nguyen Thuong Bac to negotiate.

On 25 September, two court officials Tran Dinh Tuc and Nguyen Trong Hop signed a twenty-seven-article treaty known as Harmand Convention. French seized Bình Thuận; Da Nang, Qui Nhon were opened for trade; the ruling sphere of the Vietnamese monarchy was reduced to Central Vietnam while Northern Vietnam became a French Protectorate. In November Emperor Hiệp Hòa and Tran Tien Thanh were executed by Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết for their pro-French stand. 14-year-old Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng was crowned as Emperor Kiến Phúc. After achieving peace with China through the Tientsin Accord in May 1884, on 6 June the French Ambassador in China Jules Patenôtre des Noyers signed with Nguyen Van Tuong the Protectorate Treaty of Patenôtre, acknowledge confirmed the French dominant over Vietnam. On 31 May 1885, France appointed the first governor of all Vietnam. On 9 June 1885, Vietnam ceased to exist after 83 years as an independent state. Leader of the pro-war faction, Tôn Thất Thuyết and his supporters revolted against the French in July 1885, were forced to retreat to the Laotian highlands with the young emperor Hàm Nghi (Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch), while the French had already installed his pro-French brother Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ as emperor Đồng Khánh. Thuyết called up the nobility, royalists and nationalists to arm for the resistance against the French occupation (Cần Vương movement). The movement lasted for 11 years (1885–1896) and Thuyết was forced to exile in China in 1888. As the Can Vuong movement got suppressed and the French took over the monarchy.

French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin (1883–1945)

French conquest of Nam Kỳ

Napoleon III took the first steps to establish a French colonial influence in Indochina. He approved the launching of a Punitive expedition in 1858 to punish the Vietnamese for their mistreatment of European Catholic missionaries and force the court to accept a French presence in the country. However, the expedition quickly evolved into a full invasion. Factors in Napoleon's decision were the belief that France risked becoming a second-rate power by not expanding its influence in East Asia, and the expanding idea that France had a civilizing mission. By 18 February 1859 France conquered Saigon and three southern Vietnamese provinces: Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Định Tường.

File:Prise de Saigon 18 Fevrier 1859 Antoine Morel-Fatio.jpg|Capture of Saigon by Charles Rigault de Genouilly on 17 February 1859, painted by Antoine Morel-Fatio.

File:L'Illustration 1862 gravure L'expédition de Cochinchine - prise et incendie de Bien-Hao le 18 décembre 1861.jpg|Bombardment of Biên Hòa (16 December 1861).

File:French ships at Danang 1858.jpg|French warships Siege of Tourane (Da Nang), September 1858.

File:Prise de Bac-Ninh.jpg|Capture of Bac Ninh during the Tonkin campaign.

File:Capture ninh binh.jpg|The capture of Ninh Bình by Aspirant Hautefeuille and his sailors

File:Capture of Hai Duong 1873.jpg|French attack on the citadel of Hải Dương.

File:Taking-of-bac-ninh.jpg|Turcos and fusiliers-marins at Bắc Ninh, 12 March 1884

File:French artillery at Gia Cuc.jpeg|A French naval gun, deployed on a dyke, supports a marine infantry attack on the Vietnamese positions at Gia Cuc

File:Warships at Thuan An.jpg|French warships deployed off the Thuan An forts, 18 August 1883

File:Attack on the Thuan An forts.jpg|The attack on the Thuận An forts, 20 August 1883

File:Prise de Son Tay.jpg|The capture of Sơn Tây, 16 December 1883

File:Combat of Nam Dinh 19 July 1883.jpg|Capture of Nam Định, 19 July 1883.

File:CaptureNamDinh.jpg| French troops attack Nam Định fortress.

File:Hunghoa.jpg| Capture of Hưng Hóa

Unequal treaties

By 1862, the war was over and in the Treaty of Saigon Vietnam was forced to concede the three provinces in the south, which became the colony of French Cochinchina. The subsequent 1863 Treaty of Huế also saw the Vietnamese Empire open three ports to French trade, allowed free passage of French warships to Kampuchea (which led to the French protectorate of Kampuchea), allowed freedom for French missionaries, and gave France a large indemnity for the cost of the war. France did not intervene in the Christian-supported Vietnamese rebellion in Bắc Bộ (despite missionary urging) or the subsequent massacre of thousands of Christians after the rebellion, suggesting that persecution of Christians prompted the original intervention but military and political reasons drove continued colonization of Vietnam.

File:Admiral Courbet in Hue.jpg|Admiral Amédée Courbet and Harmand at Huế, August 1883

File:Signature of 1883 Treaty of Hue.jpg|Signing of the Treaty of Huế, 25 August 1883

File:Thống-Chế đã nói - Đại-Pháp khắng khít với thái bình, như dân quê với đất ruộng.jpg|French propaganda painting in Hanoi, 1942

In the following decades Vietnam was gradually absorbed under French control. Further unequal treaties followed. The Second Treaty of Saigon in 1874 reiterated the stipulations of the previous treaty. When both China and France claimed sovereignty over Vietnamese territory, France deemed the treaty unfulfilled and occupied Hanoi in 1882. The 1883 Treaty of Huế led to the rest of Vietnam becoming French protectorates, divided into the Protectorates of Annam and Tonkin. The terms were, however, considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles and never ratified in France. The following 1884 Treaty of Huế provided a softened version of the previous treaty. The 1885 Treaty of Tientsin, which reaffirmed the 1884 Tientsin Accord and ended the Sino-French War, confirmed Vietnam's status as French protectorates and severed Vietnam's tributary relationship with the Qing dynasty by requiring that all of Vietnam's foreign affairs be conducted through France.

After this the Nguyễn dynasty only nominally ruled the two French protectorates. Annam and Tonkin were combined with Cochinchina and the neighboring Cambodian protectorate in 1887 to form the Union of French Indochina, of which they became administrative components.

French rule also added new ingredients to Vietnam's cultural stew: Catholicism and a Latin-based alphabet. The spelling used in the Vietnamese transliteration was Portuguese, because the French relied on a dictionary compiled earlier by a Portuguese cleric.

World War I

While seeking to maximize the use of Indochina's natural resources and manpower to fight World War I, France cracked down on Vietnam's patriotic mass movements. Indochina (mainly Vietnam) had to provide France with 70,000 soldiers and 70,000 workers, who were forcibly drafted from villages to serve on the French battlefront. Vietnam also contributed 184 million piastres in loans and 336,000 tons of food.

These burdens proved heavy, since agriculture experienced natural disasters from 1914 to 1917.

Lacking a unified nationwide organization, the vigorous Vietnamese national movement failed to use the difficulties France had as a result of war to stage significant uprisings.

In May 1916, sixteen-year-old emperor Duy Tân escaped from his palace to participate in an uprising of Vietnamese troops. The French were informed of the plan, and its leaders were arrested and executed. Duy Tân was deposed and exiled to the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

World War II

Nationalist sentiment intensified in Vietnam (especially during and after the First World War), but uprisings and tentative efforts failed to obtain concessions from the French. The Russian Revolution greatly impacted 20th-century Vietnamese history.

File:Abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại ceremony (30-August-1945).jpg| Emperor Bảo Đại gives the royal sword to the representative of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in abdication ceremony in 30/8/1945.

File:THE FRENCH ARMY ON THE WESTERN FRONT, 1914-1918 Q102976.jpg|Company of Vietnamese troops parading for ceremonial investiture with decorations at Etampes in World War I.

File:Koritza 1917 tirailleurs indochinois 05346.jpg|Vietnamese tirailleurs of the 2ème battalion in Korçë, Albania, January 1917.

For Vietnam, the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 was as decisive as the 1858 French seizure of Đà Nẵng. The Axis power of Japan invaded Vietnam on 22 September 1940, attempting to construct military bases to strike against Allied forces in Southeast Asia. This led to a period of Indochina under Japanese occupation with cooperation of the collaborationist Vichy French, who still retained administration of the colony. During this time the Viet Minh, a communist resistance movement, developed under Ho Chi Minh from 1941, with allied support. During a 1944–1945 famine in northern Vietnam, over one million people starved to death.

In March 1945, after the liberation of France in Europe and heavy setbacks in the war. In a last ditch effort to gather support, the Japanese overthrew the French administration, imprisoned their civil servants and proclaimed independence for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, which became the Empire of Vietnam with Bảo Đại as its Emperor. The Empire of Vietnam was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan. After the Surrender of Japan, Bảo Đại abdicated on 25 August 1945 while the Viet Minh launched the August Revolution.

This ended the 143-year reign of the Nguyễn dynasty.

National administration

Government

Emperor

file:Con dấu.jpg|Imperial seal, decorated with a dragon, and its imprint against a red background

file:Imperial headgear Nguyen era NMVH EDAV.jpg|Imperial Crown

The Nguyễn dynasty retained the bureaucratic and hierarchic system of previous dynasties. The emperor was the head of state who wielded absolute authority. Under the emperor was the Ministry of Interior (which worked on papers, royal messages and recording) and four Grand Secretariats (Tứ trụ Đại thần), later renamed the Ministry of Secret Council.

The Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty was an absolutist ruler, which means he was both the head of state and the head of government. The Gia Long Code in 1812 declared the Vietnamese monarch as the universal ruler of all Vietnam; using the Confucian concept Mandate of Heaven to provide monarchs absolute power. Their reign and popular images were judged based on how prosperous the livelihood (民生, dân sinh) of the people and the Confucian concept of chính danh (rectification of names), according to the Confucian biblical Analects, everything has to stay in its right order. Gia Long also perceived the ancient Chinese conception of Hua-yi (Hoa-Di in Vietnamese) and in 1805 he confessed his Empire as Trung Quốc (中国, "the Middle Kingdom"), the Vietnamese term which often refers to China but now was taken by Gia Long to emphasis his Son of Heaven status and the devaluation of China. Following next decades, Confucianism and the Mandate of Heaven theory gradually lost their positions within the Vietnamese officials and intellectuals. When the fourth emperor, Tự Đức, ceded Southern Vietnam to France and called all Southern officials to give up arms, many ignored, disobeyed the Son of Heaven, and continued to fight against invaders. Many dissents viewed him as surrendering and frightened of France. Rebellions against Tự Đức erupted every year from 1860 until he died in 1883.

A dual theory of sovereignty existed in Vietnam. All the Nguyễn monarchs were addresses as hoàng đế (黄帝, Sino-Vietnamese title for "Emperor") in the court while referring himself the first person honorific trẫm (he who give the order). They also used the concept of thiên tử (天子, "Son of Heaven", which is borrowed from China) to demonstrate that the ruler was descended and commissioned by heaven to rule the kingdom. However, in most cases, Nguyen rulers were formally called vua (君, the Vietnamese title for "monarch" or " sovereign ruler") by the ordinary Vietnamese folks. The concept of a divine Son of Heaven has not been dogmatically practiced, and the monarch's divinity was not absolute due to the dual theory. For example, Xu Jiyu, a Chinese geographer, reported that the bureaucrats in the Vietnamese court sat down and even felt free to search themselves for body lice during the court audiences. Gia Long once told the son of J. B. Chaigneau, one of his advisors, that the use of Son of Heaven in Vietnam was an "absurdity" and "at least in mixed Vietnamese-European Company." Once the young crown prince being chosen to succeed, his obligation was to be filial with parents, being well-educated in politics and classics, internalise the morals and ethics of a ruler.

After the 1884 treaty of Huế was signed, the Nguyễn dynasty became two protectorates of France and the French installed their own administrators. Although the Emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty were still nominally in control of the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, the Resident-Superior of Annam gradually gained more influence over the imperial court in Huế. In 1897 the Resident-Superior was granted the power to appoint the Nguyễn dynasty Emperors and presided over the meetings of the Viện cơ mật. These moves incorporated French officials directly into the administrative structure of the Imperial Huế Court and further legitimised French rule in the legislative branch of the Nguyễn government. From this period onwards any imperial edicts issued by the Emperors of Đại Nam had to be confirmed by the Resident-Superior of Annam giving him both legislative and executive power over the Nguyễn government.

In the year 1898 the federal government of French Indochina took over the financial and property management duties of the Nguyễn dynasty's imperial court meaning that the Nguyễn dynasty Emperor (at the time Thành Thái) became a salaried employee of the Indochinese colonial structure, reducing their power to being only a civil servant of the Protectorate government. The Resident-Superior of Annam also took over the management of provincial mandarins and was a member of the Supreme Council (Conseil supérieur) of the Government-General of French Indochina.

Civil service and bureaucracy

File:Mandarin in palace.jpg|thumb|Nguyễn dynasty mandarins in royal palace

file:Dong-duong-3-1514-1598022907-4273-1598079279.jpg|Royal guards in Imperial palace

File:TranhtrieuNguyen-19.jpg|Royal guard

file:Thai-giam.jpg|Nguyen dynasty's eunuchs.

File:Áo tấc bát bảo mãng bào.jpeg|Mandarin (left) in the traditional Ao Dai and mandarin (right) in the royal court dress.

File:Sa Majesté Bao-Daï fit le pèlerinage aux Tombeaux des ancêtres de la Dynastie à Thanh-Hóa, 1932.jpg| Mandarins bow to welcome the visit of emperor Bảo Đại to the ancestral tombs of Nguyễn Clan in Thanh Hóa province, 4/11/1932.

Taxes

Vietnam's monetary subunit was the quan (贯). One quan equaled 10 coins, equivalent to ₫600. Officials received the following taxes (thuế đầu người):

• First senior rank (Chánh nhất phẩm): 400 quan; rice: 300 kg; per-capita tax: 70 quan

• First junior rank (Tòng nhất phẩm): 300 quan; rice: 250 kg; tax: 60 quan

• Second senior rank (Chánh nhị phẩm): 250 quan; rice: 200 kg; tax: 50 quan

• Second junior rank (Tòng nhị phẩm): 180 quan; rice: 150 kg; tax: 30 quan

• Third senior rank (Chánh tam phẩm): 150 quan; rice: 120 kg; tax: 20 quan

• Third junior rank (Tòng tam phẩm): 120 quan; rice: 90 kg; tax: 16 quan

• Fourth senior rank (Chánh tứ phẩm): 80 quan; rice: 60 kg; tax: 14 quan

• Fourth junior rank (Tòng tứ phẩm): 60 quan; rice: 50 kg; tax: 10 quan

• Fifth senior rank (Chánh ngũ phẩm): 40 quan; rice: 43 kg; tax: 9 quan

• Fifth junior rank (Tòng ngũ phẩm): 35 quan; rice: 30 kg; tax: 8 quan

• Sixth senior rank (Chánh lục phẩm): 30 quan; rice: 25 kg; tax: 7 quan

• Sixth junior rank (Tòng lục phẩm): 30 quan; rice: 22 kg; tax: 6 quan

• Seventh senior rank (Chánh thất phẩm): 25 quan; rice: 20 kg; tax: 5 quan

• Seventh junior rank (Tòng thất phẩm): 22 quan; rice: 20 kg; tax: 5 quan

• Eighth senior rank (Chánh bát phẩm): 20 quan; rice: 18 kg; tax: 5 quan

• Eighth junior rank (Tòng bát phẩm): 20 quan; rice: 18 kg; tax: 4 quan

• Ninth senior rank (Chánh cửu phẩm): 18 quan; rice: 16 kg; tax: 4 quan

• Ninth junior rank (Tòng cửu phẩm): 18 quan; rice: 16 kg; tax: 4 quan

Political Organization

Viencomat.jpg|Privy council of Nguyen Dynasty (Cơ Mật Viện: 机密院).

Bole2.jpg|thumb|Ministry of Rites of Nguyen Dynasty (Lễ Bộ: 礼部).

Bolai.jpg|Ministry of administration of Nguyen Dynasty (Lại Bộ: 吏部).

Boho12.jpg|Ministry of Finance of Nguyen Dynasty (Hộ Bộ: 戸部).

Bocong.jpg|Ministry of Public Works (Công Bộ: 工部).

Quan-thoi-nguyen-mau gowc.jpg| Ministry of Laws (Hình Bộ: 刑部).

Imperial Academy of Hue.jpg| Imperial Academy, Huế under Ministry of Education (Học Bộ: 学部).

Quan-che-trieu-nguyen-2.jpg| The cabinet of Emperor Duy Tân, (From left to right), Minister of laws (Tôn Thất Hân), Minister of administration (Nguyễn Hữu Bài) , Minister of rites (Huỳnh Côn), prince Nguyễn Phúc Miên Lịch, Minister of Public Works (Lê Trinh) , Minister of Education (Cao Xuân Dục) .

Viện cơ mật- Tam Toà Huế.JPG| The headquarter of the Privy council.

Tranh-trieu-dinh-nha-Nguyen-07.jpg|Phục mạng ceremony when mandarin receive the edict from the Emperor.

Education system

Leu chong di thi.jpg|Candidates on the way to examination school (1897).

Hoi-dong-thi.jpg|The Imperial examination council.

Giam-khao1.jpg|Examinator from ministry of education in Nam Định (1897).

Giam-khao-tran-si-trac.jpg|Examinator Tran-Si-Trac (1897).

Canh thi 1895.jpg|Exam supervising from the top (1897).

Tan-khoa-du-tiec.jpg|Graduates receive Emperor's feast for passing the exams in Nam Định (1897).

Hoc-tro-ta-on.jpg|Graduates pay gratitude for the French and Vietnamese governors (1897).

Ta-le.jpg|Graduates pay gratitude at the Confucian temple (1897).

Thi-dau.jpg|New graduates receive the graduation uniforms from Emperor in Nam Định (1897).

Bang-vang-ghi-ten.jpg|Candidates checking their names on result boards.

Nghe-ket-qua1.jpg|French Indochina governor Paul Doumer joins the honour ceremony of graduates.

Pension

When mandarins retired, they could receive one hundred to four hundred quan from the emperor. When they died, the royal court provided twenty to two hundred quan for a funeral.

Administrative divisions

Under Gia Long

During the reign of Gia Long, the kingdom was divided into twenty-three quasi-militant protectorates trấn and four military departments doanh. Each protectorate, besides having their own separated regional governments, was under patrol of one greater, powerful unit called Overlord of Citadel, or the Viceroy. For examples, the northern protectorates had Bắc thành Tổng trấn (Viceroy of Northern Protectorates) in Hanoi, and southern protectorates had Gia Định thành Tổng trấn (Viceroy of Gia Định Protectorates) resides in Saigon. Two famously viceroys during Gia Long's reign were Nguyễn Văn Thành (Hanoi) and Lê Văn Duyệt (Saigon). By 1802, these were:

• 16 protectorates under joint-governance from the Viceroys.

• Sơn Nam Thượng (Hanoi)

• Sơn Nam Hạ (Nam Định)

• Sơn Tây

• Kinh Bắc (Bắc Ninh)

• Hải Dương

• Tuyên Quang

• Hưng Hoá

• Cao Bằng

• Lạng Sơn

• Thái Nguyên

• Quảng Yên

• Gia Định or Phiên An

• Biên Hoà

• Vĩnh Thanh (later became Vĩnh Long and An Giang

• Định Tường (Tiền Giang)

• Hà Tiên

• 7 Central protectorates

• Thanh Hoá

• Nghệ An

• Quảng Nghĩa (Quảng Ngãi)

• Bình Định

• Phú Yên

• Bình Hoà (Khánh Hoà)

• Bình Thuận

• 4 departments surrounding Huế, directly ruled by Gia Long.

• Quảng Đức

• Quảng Bình

• Quảng Trị

• Quảng Nam

Minh Mạng and later

In 1831, Minh Mạng reorganised his kingdom by converting all these protectorates into 31 provinces (tỉnh). Each province had a series of smaller jurisdictions: the prefecture (phủ), the subprefecture (châu, in areas whereas having a significant population of ethnic minorities). Under prefecture and subprefecture, there was the district (huyện), the canton (tổng). Under district and canton, the bundle of hamlets around one common religious temple or social factor point, the village làng or the commune (xã) was the lowest administrative unit, which one respected person nominally took care of village administrative, which called lý trưởng.

Two nearby provinces were combined into a pair. Every pair had a governor-general (Tổng đốc) and a governor (Tuần phủ). Frequently, there were twelve governor-generals and eleven governors, although, in some periods, the Emperor would appoint a "commissioner in charge of patrolled borderlands" (kinh lược sứ) that supervising entire northern of the southern part of the kingdom. In 1803, Vietnam had 57 prefectures, 41 subprefectures, 201 districts, 4,136 cantons and 16,452 villages, and then by 1840s its had been increased to 72 prefectures, 39 subprefectures and 283 districts, which an average 30,000 people per district. Cambodia had been absorbed into the Vietnamese administrative system, bore the name Tây Thành Province from 1834 to 1845. With areas having minority groups like Tày, Nùng, Mèo (Hmong people), Mường, Mang and Jarai, the Huế court imposed the co-existing tributary and quasi-bureaucratic governance system, while allowing these people to have their own local rulers and autonomy.

In 1832, there were:

• Three regions and 31 provinces (encompassed modern-day Vietnam):

• Bắc Kỳ (Tonkin)

• # Hanoi

• # Lạng Sơn

• # Cao Bằng

• # Bắc Ninh

• # Thái Nguyên

• # Nam Định

• # Hưng Yên

• # Sơn Tây

• # Hưng Hoá

• # Tuyên Quang

• # Hải Dương

• # Quảng Yên

• # Ninh Bình

• Trung Kỳ (Annam)

• # Thanh Hoá

• # Nghệ An

• # Hà Tĩnh

• # Quảng Bình

• # Quảng Trị

• # Thừa Thiên

• # Quảng Nam

• # Quảng Ngãi

• # Bình Định

• # Phú Yên

• # Khánh Hoà

• # Bình Thuận

• Nam Kỳ (Cochinchina)

• # Biên Hoà

• # Gia Định

• # Vĩnh Long

• # Định Tường

• # An Giang

• # Hà Tiên

• Client/dependent territories:

• Luang Phrabang

• Vientine

• Cambodia

• Jarai chiefdoms

• Chief cities:

• Huế, capital city, population (1880): 30,000

• Hanoi, major city, population (1880): 120,000

• Saigon, major city, population (1880): 100,000

Economy

Society

Culture and Cultural Discrimination

File:La porte du midi (Cité impériale, Hué).jpg|Ngọ Môn (午门), the main gate of the imperial Nguyễn city in Huế.

File:770RueHue.jpg|Huế city, 1875

The Vietnamese at one point viewed cultures that were "non-Chinese" as barbaric and called themselves the Central Kingdom. This occurred after Vietnam had sent a delegate to Beijing, whereupon a diplomatic disaster caused Vietnam to view other "non-Chinese" as barbaric following Qing viewpoints. By the Nguyen dynasty the Vietnamese themselves were ordering Cambodian Khmer to adopt Vietnamese culture by ceasing "barbarous" habits like cropping hair and ordering them to grow it long besides making them replace skirts with trousers. Han Chinese Ming dynasty refugees numbering 3,000 came to Vietnam at the end of the Ming dynasty. They opposed the Qing dynasty and were fiercely loyal to the Ming dynasty. Vietnamese women married these Han Chinese refugees since most of them were soldiers and single men. They did not wear Manchu hairstyle unlike later Chinese migrants to Vietnam during the Qing dynasty.

Subjugation of Champa

Minh Mang engineered the final conquest of the Champa Kingdom after the centuries-long Cham–Vietnamese wars. Cham Muslim leader Katip Suma was educated in Kelantan, returning to Champa to declare a jihad against the Vietnamese after Minh Mang's annexation of the region. The Vietnamese forced Champa's Muslims to eat lizard and pork and its Hindus to eat beef to assimilate them into Vietnamese culture.

Vietnamisation of ethnic minorities

Minh Mạng sinicised ethnic minorities (such as Cambodians), claimed the legacy of Confucianism and China's Han dynasty for Vietnam, and used the term "Han people" (汉人, Hán nhân) to refer to the Vietnamese. According to the emperor, "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han Sino-Vietnamese customs." These policies were directed at the Khmer and hill tribes. Nguyen Phuc Chu had referred to the Vietnamese as "Han people" in 1712, distinguishing them from the Chams. The Nguyen lords established colonies after 1790. Gia Long said, "Hán di hữu hạn" (汉 夷 有 限, "The Vietnamese and the barbarians must have clear borders"), distinguishing the Khmer from the Vietnamese. Minh Mang implemented an acculturation policy for minority non-Vietnamese peoples. "Thanh nhân" (清 人 referring to the Qing dynasty) or "Đường nhân" (唐人 referring to the Tang dynasty) were used to refer to ethnic Chinese by the Vietnamese, who called themselves "Hán dân" (汉 民) and "Hán nhân" (汉人 referring to the Han dynasty) during 19th-century Nguyễn rule. Since 1827, descendants of Ming dynasty refugees were called Minh nhân (明人) or Minh Hương (明 乡) by Nguyễn rulers, to distinguish with ethnic Chinese. Minh nhân were treated as Vietnamese since 1829. They were not allowed to go to China, and also not allowed to wear the Manchu queue.

Costume

The Nguyễn dynasty popularized Chinese Qing clothing. Trousers were adopted by female White H'mong speakers, replacing their traditional skirts. The Qing Chinese Qibao tunics and trousers were worn by the Vietnamese. The áo dài was developed in the 1920s, when compact, close-fitting tucks were added to similar Qibao "Ao Tu Than". Chinese Qipao trousers and tunics were ordered by lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát during the 18th century, replacing traditional Vietnamese Hanfu-style clothes. Although the Chinese trousers and tunic were mandated by the Nguyen government, skirts were worn in isolated north Vietnamese hamlets until the 1920s. Chinese style clothing was ordered for the Vietnamese military and bureaucrats by Nguyễn Phúc Khoát.

An 1841 polemic, "On Distinguishing Barbarians", was based on the Qing sign "Vietnamese Barbarians' Hostel" (越夷会馆) on the Fujian residence of Nguyen diplomat and Hoa Chinese Lý Văn Phức (李文馥). It argued that the Qing did not subscribe to the neo-Confucianist texts from the Song and Ming dynasties which were learned by the Vietnamese, who saw themselves as sharing a civilization with the Qing. This event triggered a diplomatic disaster. The consequence was that non-"Han Chinese highland tribes" and other non-Vietnamese peoples living near (or in) Vietnam were called "barbarian" by the Vietnamese imperial court. The essay distinguishes the Yi and Hua, and mentions Zhao Tuo, Wen, Shun and Taibo. Kelley and Woodside described Vietnam's Confucianism.

Emperors Minh Mạng, Thiệu Trị and Tự Đức, were opposed to French involvement in Vietnam, and tried to reduce the country's growing Catholic community. The imprisonment of missionaries who had illegally entered the country was the primary pretext for the French to invade (and occupy) Indochina. Like Qing China, a number of incidents involved other European nations during the 19th century.

Religion

Although the previous Nguyễn lords were faithful Buddhists, Gia Long was not a Buddhist. He adopted Confucianism and actively prohibited Buddhism. Scholars, elites, and officials attacked Buddhist doctrine and criticized them as superstitious and useless. The third emperor, Thieu Tri, elevated Confucianism as the true religion and while regarding Buddhism as superstition. Building new Buddhist pagoda and temple were forbidden. Buddhist clergies and nuns were forced to join public works in order to suppress the Buddhism religion, its deities and promote Confucianism as the sole dominant belief of the society. However, such embracing a Sinic Confucian culture among the Vietnamese populace whom lived amidst a Southeast Asian infrastructure, pushed the distance between the population and the court far away. Buddhism still made it prevailed in society and penetrating the royal palace. Empress mother, queens, princess, and concubines were devout Buddhists, despite the patriarchy prohibition.

Confucianism itself was the ideology of the Nguyen court, also provided the basic core of classical education and civil examination every year. Gia Long pursued Confucianism to create and maintain a conservative society and social structures. Confucian rituals and ideas were circulations based within ancient Confucian teaching such as The Analects and Spring and Autumn Annals in Vietnamese-script collections. The court rigidly imported these Chinese books from Chinese merchants. Confucian rituals such as cầu đảo (offering heaven for wind and rain during a drought) that the emperor and court officials perform for wishing heaven to rain down his kingdom. If the offer went successful, they had to conduct lễ tạ (thanksgiving ritual) to heaven. In addition, the emperor believed that holy spirits and natural goddesses of his country can also make rain. In 1804, Gia Long built the Nam Hải Long Vương Temple (Temple of Dragon king of Southern ocean) in Thuận An, northeast of Hue in his faithfulness to the spirit of Thuận An (Thần Thuận An), the place where most of cầu đảo ritual was performed. His successor, Minh Mang, continued to build several temples dedicated to the Vũ Sư (rainmaking goddess) and altars for Thần Mây (Cloud Goddess) and Thần Sấm (Thunder Goddess).

Nguyen Truong To, a prominent Catholic and reformist intellectual, launched an attack on Confucian structures in 1867 as decadent. He wrote to Tu Duc: "the evil that has been brought on China and on our country by the Confucian way of life." He criticized the court's Confucian education as dogmatic and unrealistic, promoted for his education reform.

During Gia Long's years, Catholicism was peacefully worshipped without any restriction. Began with Minh Mạng, who considered Christianity as a heterodox religion for its rejection of ancestor worship, the important belief of the Vietnamese monarchy. After reading the Bible (Old and New Testament), he considered the Christianity religion irrational and ridiculous, and praised Tokugawa Japan for its notorious policies on Christians. Minh Mạng also was influenced by anti-Christian propaganda written by Vietnamese Confucian officials and literati, which described the mixing of men and women and liberal society among the Church. The most thing he worried about Christianity and Catholicism was writing texts that proved that Christianity was a means for Europeans to take over foreign countries. He also praised the anti-Christian policy in Japan. Churches were destroyed and many Christians were imprisoned. The persecution got intense during the reign of his grandson Tu Duc, when most of the state efforts were to annihilate Vietnamese Christianity. Unironically, even during the height of the anti-Catholic campaign, many Catholic scholars were still permitted to hold high positions in the royal court.

After a royal edict in late 1862, Catholicism was officially recognised and worshippers obtained state protection. It is estimated that late-19th century Vietnam had about 600,000 to 700,000 Catholic Christians.

Demography

Before the French conquest, the Vietnamese population was very sparse due to the agricultural backbones economy of the country. The population in 1802 was 6.5 million people and had only grown to 8 million by 1840. Rapid industrialization after the 1860s ushered in massive population growth and rapid urbanization in the late 19th century. Many peasants left tenant farms and poured into cities, they were hired by French-owned factories. By 1880 the Vietnamese were estimated back then as high as 18 million people, while modern estimates by Angus Maddison have suggested a lower figure of 12.2 million people. Vietnam under the Nguyễn dynasty was always a multiethnic complex. Nearly 80% percent of the Empire's population were ethnic Vietnamese (called Annamites then), whom language belonged to the Mon-Khmer (Mon—Annamite then) stock, and the rest were Cham, Chinese, Khmer, Muong, Tày (called Tho then), and other 50 ethnic minorities such as the Mang, Jarai, Yao.

The Annamites are distributed across the lowland of the country from Tonkin to Cochichina. The Chams live in central Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. The Chinese particularly concentrated in urbanised areas such as Saigon, Cho Lon, and Hanoi. The Chinese tended to be divided into two groups called Minh Hương (明乡) and Thanh nhân. (清人) The Minh hương were Chinese refugees that had migrated and settled down in Vietnam earlier during the 17th century, who married with Vietnamese women, had been substantially assimilated to local Vietnamese and Khmer populaces, and loyal to the Nguyen, compared to the Thanh nhân that recently arrived in Southern Vietnam, dominated the rice trade. During the reign of Minh Mạng, a restriction against the Thanh nhân was issued in 1827, Thanh nhân could not access to the state bureaucracy and had to be integrated into Vietnamese population like the Minh Hương.

The Muongs inhabited on the hills west of the Red River Delta, although subordinate to the central authority, they were also permitted to bear arms, a privilege not accorded to any other subjects of the court of Hue. The Tay and the Mang live in the northern highlands of Tonkin, both submitted to Hue court along with taxes and tribute, but are allowed to have their hereditary chiefs.

Photography

The first photographs of Vietnam were taken by Jules Itier in Danang, in 1845. The first photos of the Vietnamese were taken by Fedor Jagor in November 1857 in Singapore. Due to the forbidden contact to foreigners, photography returned to Vietnam again during the French conquest and had shots taken by Paul Berranger during the French invasion of Da Nang (September 1858). Since the French seizure of Saigon in 1859, the city and southern Vietnam had been opening to foreigners, and photography entered Vietnam exclusively from France and Europe.

Early photographers active in Vietnam were:

• Octave de Bermond de Vaulx (1831–95)

• Jules-Félix Apollinaire Le Bas (1834–75)

• August Sachtler (?–1874)

• John Thomson

• Wilhelm Burger (1844–1920)

• Émile Gsell (1837–1869)

Commercial studios:

• Clément Gillet (fl. 1863–1867)

• Charles Parant (fl. 1864)

• Pun Lun (f. 1867–1872)

• Đặng Huy Trứ's Cam Hieu Duong Photography Shop (fl. 1869–1874)

• Pun Ky (f. 1870)

• Louis Auguste Gustave Jugant

• Noémie Ary-Jouanne (fl. 1877–1881)

Military

Galleries

File:Une cérémonie de mariage au Tonkin.jpg|1884 drawing of a marriage ceremony in Tonkin

File:ElephantParadeHue.png|Nguyễn-dynasty elephant parade in Huế

Imperial family

The House of Nguyễn Phúc (Nguyen Gia Mieu) had historically been founded in the 14th century in Gia Mieu village, Thanh Hoa Province, before they came to rule southern Vietnam from 1558 to 1777, then became the ruling dynasty of the entire Vietnam. Traditionally, the family traces themselves to Nguyễn Bặc (?–979), the first duke of Dai Viet. Princes and male descendants of Gia Long are called Hoàng Thân, while male lineal descendants of previous Nguyen lords are named Tôn Thất. Grandsons of the emperor were Hoàng tôn. Daughters of the emperor were called Hoàng nữ, and always earned the title công chúa (princess).

Their succession practically is according to the law of primogeniture, but sometimes conflicted. The first succession conflict arose in 1816 when Gia Long was designing for an heir. His first prince Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh died in 1802. As a result, two rival factions emerged, one support Nguyễn Phúc Mỹ Đường, the eldest son of Prince Cảnh, as the crown prince, while other support Prince Đảm (later Minh Mang). The second conflict was the 1847 succession when two young princes Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Bảo and Hồng Nhậm were dragged by the ill-failing Emperor Thieu Tri as a potential heir. At first, Thieu Tri apparently chose Prince Hồng Bảo because he was older, but after hearing advice from two regents Trương Đăng Quế and Nguyễn Tri Phương, he revised the heir at last minute and choose Hồng Nhậm as the crown prince.

Emperors

The following list is the emperors' era names, which have meaning in Chinese and Vietnamese. For example, the first ruler's era name, Gia Long, is the combination of the old names for Saigon (Gia Định) and Hanoi (Thăng Long) to show the new unity of the country; the fourth, Tự Đức, means "Inheritance of Virtues"; the ninth, Đồng Khánh, means "Collective Celebration".

After the death of Emperor Tự Đức (and according to his will), Dục Đức ascended to the throne on 19 July 1883. He was dethroned and imprisoned three days later, after being accused of deleting a paragraph from Tự Đức's will. With no time to announce his dynastic title, his era name was named for his residential palace.

Lineage

Note:

• Years are reigning years.

Family tree

Simplified family tree of the Nguyen Phuc dynasty:

• - Lords of Cochinchina (1550s–1777)

• - Emperors of the independent Vietnamese monarchy (1802–1883)

• - Emperors of French Annam and Tonkin/Emperor of Empire of Vietnam (1885–1945)

Succession line

• 15px Thiệu Trị (1801-1847)

　• 15px Tự Đức (1829-1883)

　• Kiên Thái Vương (1845-1876)

　　• Đồng Khánh (1864-1889)

　　　• 15px Khải Định (1885-1925)

　　　　• 15px Bảo Đại (1913-1997)

　　　　　• Crown Prince Bảo Long (1936-2007)

　　　　　• Prince Bảo Thắng (1943-2017)

　　• 15px Kiến Phúc (1869-1884)

　　• 15px Hàm Nghi (1871-1944)

　　　• (1910-1990)

Images of the imperial family

File:TranhtrieuNguyen-24.jpg|Imperial Palanquin.

File:Tượng đá ở sân chầu Lăng Minh Mạng.JPG|Stone sculptures outside the tomb of Minh Mạng.

File:Thanh Thai riding bicycle.jpg|Emperor Thành Thái (French protection period) in French Indochina riding a bicycle in a magazine issued on 22 January 1898.

Symbols

Flags

The Nguyễn dynasty's national flag or the Imperial flag first appeared during the reign of Gia Long. It was a yellow flag with a single or three horizontal red stripes, sometimes in 1822, it was entirely blank yellow or white. The emperor's personal flag was a golden dragon spitting fire, surrounded by clouds, a silver moon, and a black crescent on a yellow background.

Seals

The Nguyễn dynasty's seal are rich and diverse in types and had strict rules and laws that regulated their manipulation, management, and use. The common practice of using seals was clearly recorded in the book "Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ" on how to use seals, how to place them, and on what kinds of documents, which was compiled by the Cabinet of the Nguyễn dynasty in the year Minh Mạng 3 (1822). The various types of seals of the Nguyễn dynasty had different names based on their function, namely Bảo (宝), Tỷ (玺), Ấn (印), Chương (章), Ấn chương (印章), Kim bảo tỷ (金宝玺), Quan phòng (关防), Đồ ký (图记), Kiềm ký (钤记), Tín ký (信记), Ấn Ký (印记), Trưởng ký (长记), and Ký (记).

Seals in the Nguyễn dynasty were overseen by a pair of agencies referred to as the Office of Ministry Seals Management - Officers on Duty (印司 - 直处, Ấn ty - Trực xứ), this is a term that refers to two agencies which were established within each of the Six Ministries, these agencies were tasked with keeping track of the seals, files, and chapters of their ministry. On duty of the Office of Ministry Seals Management were the correspondents of each individual ministry that received and distributed documents and records of a government agency. These two agencies usually had a few dozen officers who would import documents from their ministry. Usually the name of the ministry is directly attached to the seal agency's name, for example "Office of Civil Affairs Ministry Seals Management - Civil Affairs Ministry Officers on Duty" (吏印司吏直处, Lại Ấn ty Lại Trực xứ).

Since the Nguyễn dynasty period seals have a fairly uniform shape (with or without a handle), the uniform description of these seals in Vietnamese are:

• Thân ấn - The geometric block, or body, of the seal.

• Núm ấn - The handle for pressing the seal down down on texts. In case the seal is shaped like a pyramid, there is no knob.

• Mặt ấn - Where the main content of the seal (symbol or word) is engraved, this area is usually in the face down position. The stamp surface is often used up to engrave letters or drawings.

• Lưng ấn - The face of the seal, where other information about the seal is engraved, usually in the supine position. In the case of the flat-head pyramid seal (ấn triện hình tháp đầu bằng), the flat head is the back.

• Hình ấn - A word used to indicate the impression of the seal on a text.

Seals were also given to people after they received a noble title. For example, after Léon Louis Sogny received the title of "Baron of An Bình" (安平男) in the year Bảo Đại 14 (保大拾肆年, 1939) he was also given a golden seal and a Kim Bài (金牌) with his noble title on it. The seal had the seal script inscription An Bình Nam chi ấn (安平男之印).

In its 143 years of existence, the government of the Nguyễn dynasty had created more than 100 imperial seals. These imperial seals were made of jade, bronze, silver, gold, ivory, and meteorite.

Sun, moon, auspicious clouds, and the Yin-Yang symbol

Like Imperial China and Royal Korea, the Vietnamese used the sun as the "Symbol of the Empire" and auspicious clouds and the Taijitu as "Symbols of the State". The heraldic systems of both the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties were similar to those found in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The sun symbol as a flaming disc in Vietnam dates back to the 11th century and during the Nguyễn dynasty period this symbol was often depicted with pointed rays. The moon symbolised the state, the sun the empire, stars the sovereigns, and clouds the heaven.

The "Achievement of the Empire" and the "Achievement of the State" were identical to their Imperial Chinese counterparts, the "Achievement of the Empire" first appeared in Vietnam during the 11th century and were identical during the Later Lê and Nguyễn periods consisting of two Dragons surrounding a flaming sun, while the "Achievement of the State" is known to have been as used as early as the Trần dynasty period and this early Trần version consists of two Dragons surrounding a lotus flower (a symbol of Buddhism). During the Nguyễn dynasty period the "Achievement of the State" typically consisted of two dragons surrounding a moon or two dragons surrounding a Taijitu, this symbol was commonly found on the caps of high-ranking mandarins. The two dragons surrounding the moon implies that the emperor, or "sovereign", (represented by the dragons) was also the head of state (represented by either the moon or a Yin-Yang symbol). During the period of French domination (法属, Pháp thuộc) these symbols could be interpreted as the French National Assembly (that is: the French people) was the sovereign over the Empire (the dragons), the Nguyễn Emperor now merely being the head of state (moon or Yin-Yang symbol). Moons also appeared on the shields of common Nguyễn dynasty soldiers representing the state, while soldiers of the imperial guards sometimes had shields depicting a red sun showcasing that they were a function of the empire.

Dragons

Dragon motifs appeared on many state symbols during the Nguyễn dynasty period including on imperial edicts, coins, buildings, and the badges of the Imperial Guard. During the Minh Mạng period (1820–1841) dragons on silver Tiền coins were often depicted facing dexter (to the right), while during the Thiệu Trị period (1841–1847) and later these coins depicted dragons guardant (facing forwards). Dragons were considered to be one of the four sacred animals together with the Phượng hoàng (Phoenix), Kỳ lân (Unicorn), and the Linh quy (Sacred turtle). During the Nguyễn dynasty period the depiction of dragons in Vietnamese art reached their zenith and the quality and variety of Nguyễn dynasty dragons was much higher than those of earlier dynasties.

In the third month of the year Bính Tý, or Gia Long 15 (1816), Emperor Gia Long instructed the court to create special clothes, hats, and seals for himself and the crown prince to denote independence from China. These regalia all depicted five-clawed dragons (蠪𠄼𤔻, rồng 5 móng), in Chinese symbolism (including Vietnamese symbolism) five-clawed dragons are symbols of an Emperor, while four-clawed dragons are seen as symbols or kings. To denote the high status of Emperor all monarchial robes, hats, and seals were adorned with five-clawed dragons and ordered the creation of new seals with five-clawed dragons as their seal knobs to showcase imperial legitimacy. Meanwhile, the wardrobes and other symbols of vassals and princes were adorned with four-clawed dragons symbolising their status as "kings".

The two national coats of arms of the French protectorate of Annam would also consist of golden dragons with one being a sword per fess charged with a scroll inscribed with two Traditional Chinese characters Đại Nam (大南) and supported by a single Vietnamese dragon and the other being a golden five-clawed dragon positioned affronté.

Gallery of symbols

File:First flag of the Nguyen Dynasty.svg|Flag of Nguyễn period Vietnam.

File:Golden seal Sắc mệnh chi bảo.jpg|An Imperial seal made during the Minh Mạng period.

File:Roof detail, dragon.jpg|Dragon motifs are found everywhere in imperial buildings.

起源

阮氏家族的历史可追溯至15世纪初越南后黎朝建立时期，他们的先祖都是后黎朝开国君主黎利关系密切的战友与助手。后黎朝建立最初数十年是越南史最为兴盛的时代，然而到了十六世纪初，一连串昏庸暴虐的继承者使后黎朝迅速衰落，民变迭起。1518年，武臣莫登庸开始独揽大权，并在1527年篡位，建立莫朝。阮氏不肯归顺莫登庸。到了大约1530年，阮氏家族的阮淦被迫逃亡至澜沧（今天的寮国），但他集结了一支部队并且攻占了一些南方的省份。1532年，阮淦寻找到后黎昭宗的后人后黎庄宗，并拥立他为后黎朝新君。阮淦为拉拢另一支持后黎朝的郑氏家族，将长女阮玉宝嫁给郑氏家族的郑检。在接下来的十多年里，郑氏与阮氏携手同盟，对抗篡位者莫登庸。在理论上，他们是代表后黎朝而战；但后黎庄宗是阮淦拥立，不过是个没有实权的傀儡。

后来阮淦在1545年被莫朝的奸细毒杀，女婿郑检继承阮淦掌后黎朝军政大权，之后对阮淦后人加以迫害：阮淦长子阮汪被杀害，次子阮潢为求自保，主动要求出镇当时是越南南方边陲的顺化，之后阮潢在接下来的数十年里统治著顺化及广南二地，逐渐地巩固了他的统治，使顺广成为「市无二价，人不为盗，诸国商船凑集之地」，自此成为后黎朝南部稳定的大后方，并不断吸纳从越南北方逃避瘟疫及战祸的平民。阮潢于1613年逝世后，他的继续者阮福源正式与控制后黎朝的郑氏家族割席，号称「阮主」（），名义上归附于后黎朝，但黎皇对之毫无影响力。同时在北方的郑氏家族（郑主）世袭执掌后黎朝朝政，权力不断膨胀，1592年击溃莫朝后，逐渐与阮氏交恶。1627年，郑主郑梉率军南下讨伐阮氏，标志著郑阮纷争的开始，但两军难分胜负。郑梉于1648年计划了另一场攻势，郑军为阮氏所痛击。在双方几次攻势都失败后，1672年，郑军做了最后一次征服阮氏政权的努力，但没能攻破阮军。在清康熙帝的调停下，郑阮停战，各自割据南北越南。

阮氏政权又试图向南扩张领土，和暹罗、真腊、占城等发生频繁的军事冲突，奠定了今天越南中部边境的雏型。广南国后期，社会不稳，贫富悬殊，官员贪污腐败，而连年战乱也使境内百姓不堪其苦。阮福淳即位后，政权又被张福峦控制，张党的贪横残暴，导致广南国境内农民纷纷揭竿而起。1771年，爆发西山起义，郑氏军队和西山叛军合作，在1775年攻陷阮氏都城富春（今顺化），1777年，广南国末代君主阮福旸和大臣商议出逃，但未及逃走就与宋福和等十八位大臣被西山朝军队擒获，阮福淳、阮福旸等人被杀，阮氏政权覆灭。而西山朝之后灭郑主、后黎朝，统一自莫朝之后分裂两百多年的越南。

广南阮氏虽被西山阮氏所灭，但广南阮氏武王阮福濶的孙子阮福映却领导广南复国。

1775年春季北方郑氏军队攻陷富春（今顺化），阮福映随其叔定王阮福淳南逃至嘉定（今胡志明市一带）。1777年定王及新政王阮福旸为西山军所杀，阮福映被推为大元帅，并于1780年称王，据嘉定（今胡志明市一带）与西山军对抗，1782年被西山军击败，流亡富国岛，旋即逃入暹罗求援。1784年与暹罗联军共抗西山朝，但再次为西山军所败，被迫再度流亡暹罗。此后希望藉助法国巴黎外方传教会传教士百多禄的关系来获得法国援助。1787年，百多禄携阮福映的长子阮福景出使法国，并代表阮福映同法国政府签订《法越凡尔赛条约》，规定法国派兵援助阮福映，越南割让沱㶞港（今岘港）和昆仑岛给法国。但是由于法国大革命的爆发，法国最终并没有实质上帮助阮福映，因此阮福映也拒绝履行他在与法国所签订条约中的诺言。1789年乘西山朝内部分裂之机回国，夺取嘉定，之后逐渐平定全安南国境。

独立时期

建立

嘉隆元年五月初二日（1802年6月1日），阮福映建元嘉隆，随后从顺化出发，挥军北上灭西山朝，统一越南，建立阮朝。嘉隆五年五月十二日（1806年6月28日），阮福映正式称帝。

由于黎末以来的大动乱，社会残破，嘉隆帝曾说「一切民情国计，筹画方殷」，致力恢复经济，重建封建架构，稳固政权。嘉隆帝厘定丁税、田税，在歉收之年可酌情宽减。在政治架构方面，嘉隆不设宰相，以六部管诸事，在全国各地分设二十三镇及四营，每镇挑选兵丁以作防务，君主委任亲信担任长官，称为「五军都统」。法律方面，嘉隆颁行《嘉隆法典》（即《皇越律例》），以维护社会秩序。此外又实施科举，尊重儒学，奖励学术，促进教育事业。明命帝时（1820－1840年在位）对中央及地方的官僚系统再作修订，中央设内阁管领诸事，又效法宋朝枢密院及清朝军机处而置机密院，处理重大政务，又划定九品正从官制；改地方各镇为省；对少数民族采取「流官制」，由朝廷派员监督酋长言行。阮朝自嘉隆帝便推行君主集权制，以「四不」为其统治模式，即不设宰相、不选拔状元、不立皇后、不封赐王爵给皇族以外人士。立法、司法、监察、军政、执法之权均操于皇帝。

外交

外交方面，阮朝恢复与中国清朝的宗藩关系，与法兰西王国从交好到交恶，在印度支那半岛则积极增加影响力。嘉隆帝立国之始，便派使到清，自称为「南越国长」求封为「南越国王」，清朝嘉庆帝不认同「南越」二字，改封阮福映为「越南国王」，于是开始以「越南」为国名。

对于法国，因嘉隆帝曾在开国战争中求助于法人，故此阮朝初年优待朝中的法籍人士，并让法国商船到越南贸易。但对于《越法凡尔赛条约》，嘉隆则称法国政府并未履行为由而作废。明命时，禁止欧洲传教士在越南传教，越法关系转差。法国人便对明命有所不满，批评他「将法国人的恩惠抛之脑后，与欧洲人为敌」。对印支半岛上邻国高棉，阮朝继承阮主时期的入侵政策，嘉隆时期便迫使其成为朝贡国，由阮廷册封高棉国王。暹罗拉达那哥欣王国（今泰国）亦企图干涉高棉内政，嘉隆乃派军进驻高棉，由其亲信黎文悦负责率领，又在南荣（即金边）修建城池，以「讋服」暹人，达至阮朝「保护」高棉的目的。到明命时改变高棉的行政区划，使之同化于越南。此外，明命又与暹罗争夺老挝国土，经多次用兵后，阮朝将国界扩张至湄公河，与暹罗接壤。绍治时因南掌寇边，阮廷采取「民聚地辟，边备日完」的方针，在边地增设官署，招募兵勇、土民、清朝商人开垦该区及防范南掌。基于阮廷的积极经略，其领土有所扩张，史称阮朝「奄有安南，一统舆图，幅𢄙所暨，南抵暹、腊，北夹清国，东至海，西逾哀牢。」。

对于外商及对外贸易，阮朝有相关措施。如据《大南实录》载，嘉隆帝规定，外国商船在嘉定经商离开时，官府须对船上每人卖给一百斤米，代价为每人三缗钱。明命时，有意招倈外商，乃对外来商船酌量宽减税项，以示「柔怀远人」。

文化

阮朝统治时期，文化发展蓬勃，当时士大夫自诩为中国文化的继承者，认为越南是「华」非「夷」。阮朝文学得到长足发展，代表作品有阮攸编撰的《金云翘传》，该作品运用字喃及越南独有的「六八体」写成，语言优美，在越南文学史占重要地位。阮朝汉文小说盛行，出现多个类型的作品，著名的有历史演义类《越南开国志传》（阮科占撰）、《皇黎一统志》（吴时俧撰，吴时悠续，吴时任辑编），传奇类作品《新传奇录》（范贵适撰），笔记小说类作品《见闻录》（武贞撰）、《桑沧偶录》（范廷琥、阮案撰），志怪类《慈廉县李天王事迹》、《士王事迹》（作者不详）等等。女性文学有著名诗人胡春香，其作品具有捍衞女性尊严、批判封建道德的思想。在史学方面，有《皇越一统舆地志》（嘉隆时修）、《钦定越史通鉴纲目》（嗣德时修）、每代纂修的《大南实录》，以及潘辉注所撰的《历朝宪章类志》等等。在建筑方面，阮朝修建国都于顺化京城（即富春）模仿中国北京城的规划，皇宫紫禁城亦参考中国紫禁城兴建，规模约为其四份之三，在后世被联合国教科文组织列为世界文化遗产。

内乱

阮朝有多次民众起事。据越共学者指出，起事原因有西山派报复、少数民族起事、农民遭剥削而不满、黎朝旧贵族号召「扶黎」、封建派系矛盾等等。据统计，嘉隆年间（1802－1819年）有民众起事五十次，明命年间（1820－1840年）有二百多次，绍治年间（1841－1847年）有将近五十次，嗣德年间（1847－1883年）有十次。当中较大型的有潘伯鑅起事（1821－1827年），从北圻发展到太平、南定、清化等地，明命调动中、北部各地军队才将之击破；南部有的起事（1833－1835年），一度占据嘉定及南圻六省。这些起事虽终被镇压，但却使阮朝统治备受打击。

法国势力进入

自中英鸦片战争爆发，西力东进，阮氏朝廷也感到「夷狄猖狂」。明命以来法越关系转差，阮朝遂遇上西方列强挑战。1847年（绍治七年）农历正月，法国七月王朝派员到越南要求撤消禁教，当其舰只驶到沱㶞时，认为越人有意施袭，于是开炮轰击，击沉越南战船五艘。事后阮廷加强海防，在广南设镇洋七堡。同年，英国派军舰到沱㶞，向阮廷呈交文书，但阮廷拒收，就在争持之际绍治帝得病去世，嗣德帝继位（1847－1883年在位）。嗣德年间，法国势力逐步进击越南，从1856年（嗣德九年）起进攻沱㶞及嘉定等地，是为「法人取越南之滥觞」。1861年（嗣德十四年）法军在英法联军之役后全力攻打南圻。1862年（嗣德十五年），迫使阮朝签订第一次《西贡条约》，割让边和、定祥、嘉定等地给法国。在法国军事压力下，曾有改革志士阮长祚向嗣德提出学习西方技术、改善政府素质等方案，虽得嗣德帝注意，但遭朝中官员反对，并随著阮长祚去世而作罢。1867年（嗣德二十年）法兰西第二帝国出兵占领南圻西三省（安江、永隆、河仙），法兰西第三共和国成立后，又于1873年（嗣德二十六年）攻陷河内，当时虽有中国黑旗军刘永福援越抗法，在河内的一场大捷中击毙法军将领安邺，但越南官员却态度消极，越共史家陈辉燎指出「法军前进到甚么地方，那里的阮朝官吏就望风归降。」。1874年（嗣德二十七年），越法签订第二次《西贡条约》，其内容为法国承认越南的主权，而阮朝须承认整个南圻为法国领地，并开放河内、施耐汛（即归仁市）等地为通商口埠，法人既夺得领土，又取得在越南境内来往、经商之权。1882年（嗣德三十五年），法国再次出兵，攻打河内，次年（1883年，嗣德三十六年）占领顺安汛，并与阮朝签订《顺化条约》，承认越南为法国保护国。就在阮氏朝廷向法人节节退让的同时，清朝以越南宗主国的身份与法兰西第三共和国就越南问题展开中法战争，越南境内亦掀起激烈的排法运动。

殖民时期

沦为保护国

法兰西第三共和国意图在印度支那半岛（即中南半岛）争夺殖民地，控制整个越南，为此与越南宗主国清朝爆发了中法战争（1883年至1885年）。早在1882年（嗣德三十五年）法国攻打河内时，阮廷就派员到中国求援，清朝派军进入北圻的北宁、山西等地，并有黑旗军协助阮朝。第一次《顺化条约》签订后，顺化阮氏朝廷指示北圻官员不许抗法，但北圻官员不甘，而决心与中国军队抗法。中法战事爆发后，1883年（嗣德三十六年）年底，法军在山西击退黑旗军，次年（1884年，建福元年）年初在北宁击败清军，又派军舰到台湾基隆港作侦察活动，清廷为求与法国「永敦和好」，乃派大臣李鸿章与法方签订《中法简明条款》，清廷愿意撤军及放弃干预法越事宜。法人又与顺化朝廷签订第二次《顺化条约》，重申越南为法国保护国。但不久中法双方军队再起冲突，是为「观音桥之战」（又称「北黎事件」或「北丽之战」），战事再起。法军从海上进攻，重挫清朝福建舰队，次年初（1885年，咸宜元年）攻至台湾基隆、澎湖等地。在陆上，清军一度失利，但老将冯子材于镇南关之役大败法军，法军见清军数量大、自身弹药已尽而撤出谅山，此战失利令法国茹费理政府「不再有多数的支持」而下台。然而清廷无意持续战事，据当时在中国任官的英国人赫德披露，清廷「始终不愿战争，准备谈判」。中法两国遂签订《中法停战条件》，同意履行《中法简明条款》及「即行停战」。清廷指示中国军队因条约已订，且虽在北圻获胜但澎失台危，故必须撤回。越南从此不属中国朝贡国，而归属法国统治。

勤王运动

法国夺取阮朝主权之际，越南朝野爆发勤王运动。1885年，阮朝宗室将领尊室说与咸宜帝离开顺化抗法，颁布诏书呼吁国民「勤王一念，率普同然」、「歼仇敌忾，谁无是心」，反法斗争蔓延「南北两圻诸省」。咸宜帝终在1888年（同庆三年）失败被俘，各地民众仍有起义，声势浩大，如范澎等领导的巴亭起义（1886－1887年）、阮善述荻林起义（1885－1889年）、宋维新雄岭起义（1886－1892年）、潘廷逢香溪起义（1885－1896年）等。越人的勤王运动虽激烈，但缺乏领导组织，且地域及派系分散，而法国殖民政府为平息起义，成立镇压机构、建立兵营、组成军队（越共著作称之为「伪军」）及税务所，以调整自身实力。最终，各地起义军被法国殖民政府所镇压。

殖民政府

法国殖民政府的统治架构，初期的最高长官为总监督（Résident-général，又译统监、钦使大臣、总公使），驻在顺化，其下有北圻设统使、南圻设钦使。1889年（成泰元年）废总监督，改为在南圻设统督、北圻设统使、中圻设钦使，各圻有不同的统治制度，分而治之。在阶级制度上，藉著封建地主管治人民。法国占领越南、柬埔寨、老挝后，于1887年（同庆二年）合并三地为「印度支那联邦政府」，对柬、zh-cn:老;zh-hk:老;zh-tw:寮;zh-sg:寮;进行「越南化」政策，派驻越籍官员及军警，又鼓励越南人移民到柬、zh-cn:老;zh-hk:老;zh-tw:寮;zh-sg:寮;。在军事上，起用越籍士兵，充当正规军及地方军。越共学者指出这是「以越南人打越南」，且越籍士兵薪金较法籍士兵少，可减省经费，并有效补充兵员。

文化

殖民政府于1906年（成泰十八年）起在乡村推行小学教育，以越南国语授课，但当时越南民众仍较多接受私塾教育。1910年代，废除科举。殖民政府进行东方学研究，1899年（成泰十一年）在河内成立法国远东学院，对印支古代文化，如高棉、占婆的研究都有所成就。此外，有部份越南民众在法国殖民统治下，养成抽鸦片、酗酒的习惯。

经济与社会

在经济方面，殖民政府发展水电及交通运输业，号召法国资本家到印支投资经营，但著重商品输出而非资本输出，因而工业、商业发展并不发达。殖民政府在越南开采的资源，如北圻的煤、南圻橡胶，大部份输出到外地或法国，只有很少供给印支本地使用。越南大片土地被殖民政府透过掠夺和强迫买卖等方式夺得，以成立庄园或转给亲法的官僚地主。学者指出这是「沿用封建剥削方法，盘剥越南农民」。此外，当时越南民众须承担相当繁多的税务。

殖民政府为便于输送货物和原料，进行多项交通建设，如南圻巴色河、同耐河和北圻红河、太平河的内河航道、西贡─美萩铁路、河内─谅山铁路、河内─荣市铁路、沱港─东河铁路、西贡─芽庄铁路、滇越铁路等，由法国资本家独揽经营。当中较有名的滇越铁路，据法国人记述，其修筑目的是法人看到中华民国云南资源丰富，便有意「利用印度支那殖民地的地理优势策划进入云南的通道」。

在法属期间，越南社会面貌有所变化。越共史家指出当时的发展：「在农业经济落后的同时，新的资本主义的生产基础出现了。城市的面貌焕然一新」；「由于交通比过去方便了，各个市镇的商业也繁荣起来了。」在大城市，可见到西方文化及新事物传入，据法人记录，西贡有大型酒店、教堂、现代化剧院等设施，河内有甚具规模的新商场，「可与巴黎的大商场媲美」。

反殖民抗争

虽然19世纪晚期的勤王运动失败，但越南民众仍不甘于法国统治。时人对殖民政府多所抨击，指责政府上下人员为非作歹；殖民政府政策未能利民，相反是搜刮民财；越南人民备受酷刑、重赋、知识闭锢之苦。越南民族主义份子在海内外进行反法活动，代表人物有潘佩珠及胡志明。潘佩珠科举出身，1904年（成泰十六年）组成维新会，希望建立君主立宪政体，1905年（成泰十七年）起流亡海外寻求协助，撰写《越南亡国史》一书，后遇到孙中山，研究革命方法，成立越南光复会等组织，策划革命。1925年（启定十年）潘佩珠在上海被捕，法国殖民政府将之押回越南及终生软禁。胡志明早年到国外接触共产主义，1924年至1927年（启定九年至保大二年）期间在中国广州透过《革命之路》及《青年报》等书刊，把马列主义传到越南。1930年（保大五年）受苏联共产国际委托，在英属香港组建越南共产党（后曾改名印度支那共产党、越南劳动党），提出「打倒法帝国主义、封建主义和越南的反革命资产阶级」和「使印度支那完全独立」等口号。

日本统治

二次世界大战期间，越南卷入战争当中。当时侵掠中华民国的大日本帝国军队，觊觎东南亚印支一带的橡胶园、油田等资源，并为了阻截英、美透过法属印度支那运军需品给中国，便欲使印支置于自己控制之下。而法兰西第三共和国在1940年被纳粹德国击败，签订了第二次贡比涅停战协定，印支殖民政府亦力量薄弱及效忠新的德国政权维希法国，日本便趁机进军。起初，日本在1940年（保大十五年）向殖民政府提出停止运送物资给中国国民政府、允许日军经越南北部调兵入华南、驻军在东京（北圻）等要求，殖民政府自知难以抵抗而顺从，但日军仍于该年9月进袭谅山，击败法军，殖民政府不敌，只得让日本在印支据有支配地位。殖民政府的处境，正如越共史家陈辉燎的说法，是维希法国已向纳粹德国投降，既想「死死抓住印度支那殖民地」，又向日本节节退让。此后数年间，印支本土民众、法国殖民者，及日军三方处于互相制衡的状态。

日军取得支配地位后，为达到其战事需要，在越南大规模搜刮粮食，并将大片农地改种蓖麻和各类可用于军需的纤维植物（如棉花、黄麻、桑树、苎麻等），造成严重饥馑。日本的入侵激起越人反抗，印度支那共产党于1941年（保大十六年）组成越南独立同盟（简称「越盟」），旨在推翻法、日的统治。1942年（保大十七年），共党领导人物胡志明在中国境内联系抗日革命者时，被国民政府所捕，囚禁一年馀，其间写有诗集《狱中日记》，当中诗文如《读蒋公训词》里的「百折不回向前进，孤臣孽子义当然」，反映了其思想感情。1944年（保大十九年），越盟得到美国承认，站在盟军一边，越盟负责提供情报，盟军给予武器支援

。

灭亡

1945年（保大二十年）初，日本在菲律宾战况极为不利，担心法国殖民当局会协助美、中进入印支，且发现有法国官员向盟军提供情报、加上盟军已从德国手中解放了法国本土，遂策划政变彻底铲除法国势力。3月9日，日军在印支各地同时进攻法军，是为三九政变。据法国政要戴高乐忆述，他先前就预见日方会突袭，并「希望在印度支那打起来」，因为这有助法国日后讨价还价。最终，日本军全面推翻法属印支殖民政府，支持阮朝保大帝成立「越南帝国」，由陈仲金任首相，实由日军操纵。但日人未能建立完整的统治机构，使越南共产党可乘机发展势力，日本学者白石昌也指出：「排除了法国殖民地支配者及其军队之后，独立同盟的活动比以前更加自由，势力显著伸展。」同年5月，越共组成越南解放军，由武元甲等担任司令部工作。越盟拥有武装后，在北部地区积极活动，据日本二战军人服部卓四郎记述这使日军第38军对美军作战时「备受牵制」。8月，日本宣布投降，越盟发表呼吁国民趁著日军瓦解之际，发动总起义将之推翻，是为「八月革命」。保大帝在午门举行退位仪式，将象徵权力的国玺和宝剑交给越盟代表，标志著阮朝的灭亡。9月2日，越共宣布越南民主共和国独立建国。

君主列表

世谱

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