User:Donald Trung/June 2022 Nguyễn military infobox

This page serves as "the editing history" of the English Wikipedia page "Military of the Nguyễn dynasty" and is preserved for attribution.


 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1095422790...1095459428 ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:55, 28 June 2022 (UTC).

Draft 2 (Re-organised dates, roles)
忠才 勇畧

忠勇 才畧

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 * Intro.

The military of the Nguyễn dynasty (Vietnamese: Quân thứ; Chữ Nôm: 軍次) were the main military forces of the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to August 1945 when it was dismantled by the August Revolution. The Nguyễn military force was initially formed by Nguyễn Hoàng as a division of the military of the Revival Lê dynasty in 1558 starting out with 3000 soldiers. During this period it was the military forces of the domain of the Nguyễn lords and commonly fought the Trịnh lords who controlled northern Vietnam. During the Tây Sơn Rebellion it was expelled out most of the county by the Tây Sơn dynasty. After the exiled Nguyễn Phúc Ánh returned and defeated the Tây Sơn rebels he crowned himself as the Gia Long Emperor and the Nguyễn military became the national military of Vietnam.

During the French domination period it became two of the five indigenous guards of French Indochina and was turned into a collection police and ceremonial forces. While the Emperor was still nominally the supreme commander actual power fell in the hands of the French administration relegating the Emperor to a rubber stamp office. Following the abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty its military was also disbanded making the Vietnamese People's Army the new national military of Vietnam, which would be administered by the newly established Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Origins (1558–1777)
Initially the Nguyễn military was established when Nguyễn Hoàng brought a force of 3,000 to the Thuận Hóa province. Since 1600 the army would be instrumental for the administration of the state. The armed forces of the Nguyễn lords included infantry (bộ binh), marines (thủy binh), artillery (pháo binh), and the tượng binh.

The infantry and marine forces were armed with a fleet of about 200 warships and many transport boats carrying troops, supplied, and food, the main fighting force of the Nguyễn lords period was the infantry.

The standing army numbered about 40,000 people, when the Trịnh–Nguyễn War broke out, the Nguyễn army amounted to 100,000 people. During this period the Nguyễn army was supplied with firearms by the Kingdom of Portugal.

Nguyễn Phúc Ánh's struggle with the Tây Sơn dynasty (1778–1802)
Following the Tây Sơn insurgency only a small part of the Nguyễn military remained, these were under the command of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh.

Nguyễn Phúc Ánh's forces, headed by the former Nguyễn lord in the Citadel of Saigon, equipped his military forces with the help and training of several French advisors. Though the treaty between Nguyễn Phúc Ánh and Louis XVI in 1787 was never ratified.

The Nguyễn loyalists overcame the Tay Sons in Binh Thuan (1794), Qui Nhon (1799 and 1801), Huế (June 1802), Hanoi (July 1802) to become the first force that able to unify the Vietnamese nation that stretched from Guangxi, China to the Gulf of Thailand, after three centuries of disintegration period.

Independent period (1802–1883)
The military of the Nguyễn dynasty maintained the old organisational structures of the imperial dynasties that went before it. The army of the Nguyễn dynasty was divided into two regular parts, a standing army and a division stationed in the capital called the Imperial Guards, whose main task was to protect the Citadel of Phú Xuân (Huế).

The Imperial army numbered 13,000 men invaded Cambodia in 1809 and 1813 to protect the faction of the king Ang Chan II of Cambodia, established the Viceroy of Cambodia, with Trương Tấn Bửu held the title Viceroy. In 1827 they were mobilised to intervene in the Vientiane Kingdom in Laos. In 1833 when the Chakri Siamese army invaded Cambodia, much of the Nguyen army stationing in Cambodia had to withdraw back to suppress the Lê Văn Khôi revolt and Nông Văn Vân's Rebellion.

As the military of the Nguyễn dynasty held substantial influence in its government, the Minh Mạng Emperor reformed the government to become a civil meritocracy decreasing the dominant role of the military in Nguyễn society.

In 1834 the Minh Mạng Emperor launched a military campaign resulting in the annexation of Cambodia after the Siamese army had been forced to retreat. Minh Mạng died in early 1841. Siam launched the second invasion of Cambodia. Although the Nguyễn army successfully retook Phnom Penh in 1845, the emperor of Vietnam Thieu Tri sought to make peace with Siam. A peace treaty between Siam and Vietnam was signed in March 1847, which resulted in the independence of Cambodia in 1848. Between 1802 to 1862, the Nguyễn army also had faced 405 internal rebellions and revolts from small to large scales, mostly were the Lê Loyalists, ethnic minorities, and princely. The Imperial army gradually lost to France and Spain during the Cochinchina Campaign (1858–1862).

From the Minh Mạng to the Tự Đức period the standing army of the Nguyễn dynasty numbered around 120,000 people. However, due to outdated fighting equipment, poor training, and little attention from the imperial court the Nguyễn army became increasingly backwards in comparison with contemporary military forces, allowing the country to be conquered by the French in 1883.

French domination period (1884–1945)
When the French Republic consolidated its rule over eastern Indochina in 4—5 July 1885, the Imperial army was organised under the Garde indigène (Indigenous Guard), leaving only 8,000~10,000. The functions of the Garde indigène de l'Annam was limited to simple police duties and ceremonial functions, serving under French officers.

During the French domination period the military of the Nguyễn dynasty was divided into two components, namely the Vệ binh (Imperial Guards) and the Cơ binh (Soldiers). The Vệ binh consisted only of the Thân binh force with about 2,000 soldiers in 4 guards (vệ) and 1 army of musicians serving the ceremonies of the Nguyễn court (which employed about 50 musicians). The Cơ binh consisted mainly of infantry and remained to serve in the provinces of the French protectorate of Tonkin, where these forces directly controlled by the provincial heads of the Nguyễn dynasty in Tonkin, but under the supervision of the French resident (公使法, Công sứ Pháp). The Cơ binh had about 27,000 troops, divided into 4 divisions, stationed in the provinces around Hanoi and the Red River Delta.

In 1891, the Governor-General of French Indochina issued a decree to establish a military force directly organised, equipped, and commanded by the French, this force initially consisted of about 4,000 troops. These French commanded troops were stationed in all provinces and districts of Vietnam. With this decree of the Governor-General of French Indochina effectively put an end to the Nguyễn military as the armed forces of the independent imperial state.

In 1933 the Bảo Đại Emperor abolished the Ministry of War (兵部, Binh Bộ) while reforming the structure of the Nguyễn dynasty's imperial court. The Nguyễn dynasty's last Minister of War was Phạm Liệu.

Empire of Vietnam (1945)
Following the August Revolution launched by the Indochinese Communist Party the Nguyễn dynasty was abolished, which also meant that its military was disbanded.

Talk page post

 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:MobileDiff/1095458897&type=revision ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC).


 * == Why I changed the infobox ==

I've restored the "military division" infobox to replace the one to the right of / above here for the following reasons. According to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Government Ministry of National Defense in its article "Lực lượng vũ trang nhà Nguyễn (1558 - 1945)" the Nguyễn military was continuously an organisation from 1558 to 1945, this would mean that the Nguyễn military was a division of the Revival Lê Dynasty's military until 1789 (and technically until 1802, as the Gia Long Emperor still stylised himself as a King within the Lê's Empire until then). Then it was a division of the French Indo-Chinese federation's military apparatus from 1885 until 1945. This means that in its 387 (three-hundred-and-eighty-seven) years of existence it was only a "national military" for 83 (eighty-three), and this is excluding local militias under provincial and communal administration. Also the other infobox allows for way more wiggle room, including engagements, medals, allegiances, Etc. As for the flag of the Nguyễn dynasty Vs. "flags of Colonial Empires", well technically the yellow flag with the French flag in it is the flag of the Nguyễn Dynasty as the two (2) countries of French Annam and French Tonkin and the other flag is the flag of the "independent" Empire of Vietnam.

As for the unsourced dates of disbanding of the army and navy, well this is not true. Yes a large part of the Nguyễn military was converted into French units and also military mandarin commanded local militias under the supervision of French residents, officially the countries of Annam and Tonkin still has their own national militaries which was relegated to police services as the Garde indigène de l'Annam and the Garde indigène du Tonkin, these were nominally still under the Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty and I have a document (on the Wikimedia Commons) where the Bảo Đại Emperor awards a White European officer in the Garde indigène for building a fortress in the Hoàng Sa archipelago indicating that the Nguyễn Dynasty navy was still intact in 1939.

Now from 1891 the command structure put the military under the command of the Governor-General of French Indochina, but legally the Garde indigène was still a part of the apparatus of the French protectorate of Annam and the French protectorate of Tonkin.

Note that the Garde civil indigène de l'Annam and the Garde civil indigène du Tonkin were actually fully French forces and also were relegated to simple police duties. As for after 1891 half of the Nguyễn Dynasty's military was composed out of White people. But I'm talking here about the legal (de jure) status of the Nguyễn military. Also as the Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty still signed off on documents relating to the Garde indigène in Annam until 1945 it's safe to say that he was the de jure supreme commander while the de facto were the Resident-Superior of Annam and the Governor-General of French Indochina.

All divisions like the Imperial Guards, Provincial armies and militias, Siege, Elephant, Cavalry, and Infantry have been documented through photographic evidence after French rule. Again, this article just mostly required additional information being added about this military after 1885 as the original author of this page tried to push a point of view where all institutions of the Nguyễn Dynasty were supposedly disbanded in 1885 with the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin. Also, I'd trust the Vietnamese military historians employed by the Vietnamese Government and foreign military historians more than books about the general history of Vietnam by foreign authors, specialised sources by military experts are better than general sources that might not be well researched in every specific area.

The current infobox also allows for different information like awards and decorations, for example in Chinese cultural countries (China, Japan, Korea, the Ryūkyū islands, and Vietnam) the main military award was the "Cash coin of Honour" while later the French introduced a number of European-style awards.

Overal, the Division of a larger military makes sense for all periods excluding only the 1802 to 1883 period, or 1884 if you want to count the ratification of the Treaty of Huế. And nominally until 1891.

Also, another error to note about the infobox to the right / above infobox is the claim that there was a Governor-General of French Indochina in 1885, this post wasn't established until 1887. This was because with the Treaty of Huế of 1883 and later the ratified one of 1884 the French established the position of "Resident-General of Annam and Tonkin", this was because the French treated the Nguyễn Dynasty as a federation of two (2) countries (Annam and Tonkin) and later the Nguyễn Dynasty became "a federation within a federation" when French Indo-China was established. But nominally speaking the Southern Court maintained nominal independence over military affairs until 1891.

Also note that the Nguyễn Dynasty still had a Ministry of War (兵部, Binh Bộ) until 1933, my hypothesis is that it was merged together with the Ministry of Punishments (刑部, Hình Bộ) to form the new Ministry of Justice (部司法, Bộ Tư pháp) as the Nguyễn Dynasty military was only allowed to perform police duties since 1884, so it would make sense for these two (2) systems to be merged. But again as I don't have any sources to back this up I can't add it here.

Note that I'm planning on writing more about the military institutions of the Nguyễn Dynasty, the military of French Indo-China, and all of their awards, decorations, and medals in the future, but for now I hope that these additions have made it clear that the original (POV-pushing) article was misleading in a lot of ways and deliberately omitted a lot of information. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC).