Đỗ Thanh Nhơn (died 1781) was an 18th-century Vietnamese military commander.

Early life

Details of Đỗ Thanh Nhơn's early life are unknown except that he was a low-ranking naval officer of lord

Nguyễn Phúc Thuần Định Vương Nguyễn Phúc Thuần (1754–1777) was one of the Nguyễn lords who ruled over the southern portion of Vietnam from the 16th–18th centuries. The collapse of the house of Nguyễn lords intensified during Thuần's reign, many ...

The Dong Son army

In the early 1770s, the Tây Sơn revolt broke out and quickly occupied a large part of the Nguyễn Lords’ territory, in the southern half of modern-day

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Moreover, the

Trịnh lords The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...

, who ruled the northern half of the country, sent a large army to attack, which forced Lord

to flee to Trấn Biên (present-day Đồng Nai). The Tây Sơn kept pursuing Nguyễn Phúc Thuần and forced him to call for reinforcements from the Nguyễn garrison in Saigon, but the Nguyễn governor of Saigon could not send his reinforcements in time. This situation gave Đỗ Thanh Nhơn the chance to aid the Nguyễn lord.Phan Khoang, p. 217. In 1775, under the banner of the Nguyễn Lords, Đỗ Thanh Nhơn proclaimed himself ''Đông Sơn Thượng Tướng Quân'' ("Eastern Mountain High General") and gathered an army of 3,000 men, called the Đông Sơn army. Then, Nhơn led his forces in attacking the Tây Sơn and drove them out of Saigon in 1776. After capturing Gia Dinh, Nhơn invited the Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Phúc Thuần back and was highly rewarded. Thereafter, Nhơn conflicted with

Lý Tài Lý Tài ( vi-hantu, 李才, Wade–Giles: ''Li Tsai'', ?–1777) was a general during the Tây Sơn Rebellion. Lý was a Chinese merchant. After the Tay Son rebellion broke out, he organized an army named ''Hòa Nghĩa Quân'' (和義軍, ...

, an

ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

mercenary general of the Nguyễn army, and was forced to flee to Bến Tre where he set up a defensive position. In midspring of 1777, the Tây Sơn defeated the Nguyễn and captured Saigon. Meanwhile, Lý Tài fled and was captured and killed by Nhon's men. Afterwards, Nhon and his army rejoined the Nguyễn. The Tây Sơn kept pursuing the Nguyễn and they captured and executed two Nguyễn lords, Nguyễn Phúc Thuần and Nguyen Phuc Duong and almost all the Nguyễn descendants except a few, including

Nguyễn Ánh Gia Long ( (''North''), ('' South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. His dynasty would rule the unif ...

, the 15-year-old nephew of Nguyễn Phúc Thuần. After the killing of the Nguyễns,

Nguyễn Huệ Emperor Quang Trung ( vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1788 until 17 ...

, one of the three Tây Sơn brothers withdrew his troops to the north, leaving a small army in Saigon. In 1778, taking advantage of the absence of the Tây Sơn's main force, Nguyễn Ánh and Nhơn led an army of Nguyễn loyalists in attacking and recapturing Saigon. Afterwards, Nguyễn Ánh re-established the family's authority in Saigon and proclaimed himseft Đại nguyên súy (Commander-in-chief) of the Nguyễn clan. The following year, Nhơn expelled further Tây Sơn troops from the surrounding provinces of Gia Định, and inflicted heavy losses on the Tây Sơn naval fleet. Taking advantage of the more favourable situation, Nguyễn Ánh sent a diplomatic mission to

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

to propose a treaty of friendship. However, this pact was derailed in 1779 when the Cambodians held an uprising against their pro-Siamese leader,

Ang Non Batom Reachea ( km, បទុមរាជា, born Ang Non ( km, អង្គនន់); 1616–1642) was King of Cambodia from 1640 to 1642. Ang Non was the eldest son of the ''uprayorach'' ( ឧភយោរាជ, "Great Joint King") Outey. ...

. Nguyễn Ánh sent Đỗ Thanh Nhơn to help the uprising, which saw Ang Non defeated decisively and executed. Nhơn returned to Saigon with high honour and concentrated his efforts on improving the Nguyễn navy. In 1780, Nguyễn Ánh proclaimed himself Nguyễn vương (Nguyễn king or Nguyễn ruler) and Nhơn became "''Ngoại hữu, Phụ chính, Thượng tướng công''", the second most-powerful position in the Nguyễn army.

Death

In 1781, Nguyễn Ánh pretended to be ill and asked Đỗ Thanh Nhơn to visit him. Unaware of his leader's trap, Nhơn came to the palace and was killed by Nguyễn Ánh's bodyguards. The reason for this assassination remains unclear, but it was postulated that Nguyễn Ánh did so because Nhon's fame and military success was overshadowing him.Hall, p. 427.Buttinger, p. 235. Although Nguyễn Ánh foresaw the rebellion of Đỗ Thanh Nhơn's supporters following their leader's assassination, he could not prevent it, thus badly weakening the Nguyễn army. Moreover, Nhơn's death also led to the recapture of Saigon by the Tây Sơn rebels shortly thereafter because Nhơn was the Nguyễn officer that they feared the most and the forces were disunited following his death.

In popular culture

Đỗ Thanh Nhơn, along with

Châu Văn Tiếp Châu Văn Tiếp ( 朱文接, 1738–1784), born Châu Doãn Ngạnh ( 朱尹梗), was an 18th-century Vietnamese military commander, best known for his role as a general of Nguyễn Ánh. Early life Born in 1738, Châu Văn Tiếp was a s ...

and

Võ Tánh Võ Tánh ( 武性, ?—1801) was an 18th-century Vietnamese military commander, best known for his role as a general of Nguyễn Ánh, who unified modern-day Vietnam and ruled as Emperor Gia Long. Early life Võ Tánh was born in Phước Tinh ...

, was called "Gia Định Tam Hùng" (Three Heroes of Gia Định) in Vietnamese folk culture.Huỳnh Minh, p. 105.

Notes

;Footnote ;Citations

References

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Do Thanh Nhon 1781 deaths 18th-century Vietnamese people Vietnamese military leaders Mandarins of the Nguyễn lords Year of birth unknown