Trịnh–Nguyễn War
Trịnh-Nguyen War (1627 - 1673) - A long war waged between the two ruling families in Vietnam.
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Working Together
Both the Trinh and the Nguyen families were decended from close friends and aides to the hero-king Le Loi who freed Vietnam from Chinese rule and started the Le Dynasty in 1428. By 1520 a succession of weak or evil kings had brought the country into a state of civil war (see Le Dynasty's civil war). For the next 20 years the Trinh and Nguyen families fought as allies against the userper Mac Dang Dung. In theory, they both were fighting on behalf of the Le King (Lê Trang Tông) but in reality, the King was a figurehead with little or no power.
Working Apart
The prime mover in the period from 1525 onwards was Nguyen Kim. His daughter married the young head of the Trinh family Trinh Khiem. Around 1530, the rebels were forced into exile in Lan Xang (modern-day Laos but they gathered a new army and captured some southern provinces. In 1545, Nguyen Kim was assassinated and his son-in-law, Trinh Khiem, took control over the Royal army. 13 years later (in 1558) Trinh Khiem gave the rulership over the southern-most province of Quang Nam to Nguyen Hoang, the son of Nguyen Kim and his wife's brother. The ill-will between the two families dates from around this time.
For the next 55 years, Nguyen Hoang ruled Quang Nam. He gradually asserted his control over the province and extended his control south into the remaining Champa lands. Periodically, he sent military forces north to help the Trinh in their long fight against the Mac Dynasty. In 1570 Trinh Khiem died and was succeeded by his second son Trinh Tung. Tung was a very vigorous leader and he captured Hanoi from the Mac king in 1572. However, the Mac King (Mac Mau Hiep) recaptured the city the next year. 20 years later, Trinh Tung, again captured Hanoi and executed the Mac king (1592). The next year Nguyen Hoang went personally to the court, he brought money and an army to help destroy the remaining Mac armies.
Once the Mac were defeated, the Trinh became increasingly unhappy with the independece of Nguyen Hoang who ruled as an independent prince in the south. For reasons that are unclear in 1600 the old Nguyen ruler broke relations with the Trinh court and gave himself the title Vuong (Prince or King). Nguyen Hoang finally died in 1613 and the new leader of the Nguyen, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen, continued his father's policy of defiance. Nguyen Phuc Nguyen also initiated friendly relations with the Europeans who were now sailing into the area. A foreign trading post was set up in Hoi An. By 1615 the Nguyen were producing their own bronze cannons with the aid of Portuguese engineers.
The First Campaign
In 1620, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen officially refused to send taxes to the Court in Hanoi. A formal demand was made to the Nguyen to submit to the authority of the court, and it was formally refused. In 1623 Trinh Tung died and was succeeded by his son Trinh Trang. Now Trinh Trang made a formal demand for submission, and again Nguyen Phuc Nguyen refused. Finally in 1627 open warfare broke out between the Trinh and the Nguyen. For four months a large Trinh army battled against the Nguyen army but were unable to defeat them.
While the Trinh ruled over a much more populous territory, the Nguyen had several advantages. First, they were on the defensive. Second, the Nguyen were able to take advantage of their contacts with the Europeans, specifically the Portuguese, to purchase advanced European weapons and hire European military experts in fortifications. Third, the geography was favorable to them, as the flat land suitable for large organized armies is very narrow at this point of Vietnam; the mountains nearly reach to the sea.
After the first assault, the Nguyen built two massive fortified lines which streched a few miles from the sea to the hills. The walls were built north of Hue near the city of Dong Hoi. The Nguyen defended these lines against numerous Trinh offensives which lasted till 1672. The story from this time is that the great military engineer was a Vietnamese general who was hired away from the Trinh court by the Nguyen. This man is given the credit in Vietnam for the successful design of the Nguyen walls.
Against the walls the Trinh mustered an army of 100,000 men, 500 elephants, and 500 large ships (Dupuy "Encyclopedia of Military History" pg. 596). The initial attacks on the Nguyen wall was unsuccessful. The attacks lasted for several years.
Later Campaigns
In 1633 the Trinh tried an amphibious assault on the Nguyen to get around the wall. The Trinh fleet was defeated by the Nguyen fleet at the battle of Nhat-Le.
Around 1635 the Trinh copied the Nguyen and sought military aid from the Europeans. Trinh Trang hired the Dutch to make cannons and ships for the Royal army. In 1642 and 1643 the Trinh army attacked the Nguyen walls. With the aid of the Dutch cannons, the Trinh army broke through the first wall but failed to break through the second. At sea, the Trinh, with their Dutch ships, were defeated by the Nguyen fleet with their Portuguese ships.
Trinh Trang staged yet another offensive in 1648 but at the battle of Truong Duc, the Royal army was badly beaten by the Nguyen. The new Le king died around this time, perhaps as a result of the defeat. This now left the door open for the Nguyen to finally go on the offensive.
Nguyen Offensive
The Nguyen launched their own invasion of Vietnam in 1653. The Nguyen army attacked north and defeated the weakened Royal army. Quang Binh Province was captured. Then Ha Tinh Province fell to the Nguyen army. In the following year, Trinh Trang died as Nguyen forces made attacks into Nghe An Province. Under a new Trinh Lord, the capable Trinh Tac, the Royal army attacked the Nguyen army and defeated it. The Nguyen were fatally weakened by a division between their two top generals who refused to cooporate with each other. In 1656 the Nguyen army was driven back all the way to their original walls. Trinh Tac tried to break the walls of the Nguyen in 1661 but this attack, like so many before it, failed to break through the walls.
The End of the Fight
Finally in 1672, the Trinh army made a last effort to conquer the Nguyen. The attacking army was under the command of Trinh Tac's son, Trinh Can, while the defending army was under the command of Nguyen Phuc Tan's son Prince Nguyen Phuoc Thuan. The attack, like all the previous attacks on the Nguyen walls, failed. This time the two sides agreed to a peace. With mediation supplied by the government of the Kangxi Emperor, the Trinh and the Nguyen finally agreed to end the fighting by making the Linh River the border between their lands (1673). Although the Nguyen nominally accepted the Le King as the ruler of Vietnam, the reality was, the Nguyen ruled the south, and the Trinh ruled the north. This division continued for the next 100 years. The border between the Trinh and the Nguyen was strongly guarded but peaceful.
See the Trinh Lords for more information about the Trinh.
See the Nguyen Lords for more information about the Nguyen.
Conquest of Hue - 1775
The long peace came to an end in 1774. At the time, the Nguyen were under heavy assault from the Tay Son brothers and part of their army had been defeated in recent fighting in Cambodia. The result was, the army in the north defending Hue was weak. Trinh Sam, one of the last Trinh Lords and ruler of the north, launched his attack on the Nguyen November 15 1774. For the first time, the Nguyen walls were broken and captured. In February of 1775, the Nguyen capital of Hue was captured by the Royal (Trinh) army. After some fighting with the army of the Tay Son, a treaty was signed and the Trinh army left the destruction of the Nguyen to the southern rebels. 12 year later the Trinh Lords would be thrown out of Vietnam by the youngest and most popular of the Tay Son brothers.
Sources
- Southeast Asia to 1875 by Sanderson Beck (downloaded May, 2006)
- The Encyclopedia of Military History by R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy. Harper & Row (New York).
- Encyclopedia of Asian History. 1988.
- Coins of Vietnam - with short historical notes
- Vietnam, Trials and Tribulations of a Nation by D. R. SarDesai, pg. 38, 1988 ISBN 0941910040
- Tay Son Web Site by George Dutton (out of time period but has a good map of historic Vietnam and a supurb bibliography).