![Phan Dinh Phung manuscript](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Phan_Dinh_Phung_manuscript.jpg)
Phan Đình Phùng (; 1847January 21, 1896) was a
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
revolutionary who led rebel armies against
French colonial
French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many former French colonies, especially those in Southeast Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architectur ...
forces in Vietnam. He was the most prominent of the
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
court scholars involved in anti-French military campaigns in the 19th century and was cited after his death by 20th-century nationalists as a
national hero
The title of Hero is presented by various governments in recognition of acts of self-sacrifice to the state, and great achievements in combat or labor. It is originally a Soviet-type honor, and is continued by several nations including Belarus, Ru ...
. He was renowned for his uncompromising will and principles—on one occasion, he refused to surrender even after the French had desecrated his ancestral
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
s and had arrested and threatened to kill his family.
Born into a family of
mandarins from
Hà Tĩnh Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
* Hà Kiều Anh, ...
, Phan continued his ancestors' traditions by placing first in the metropolitan imperial examinations in 1877. Phan quickly rose through the ranks under Emperor
Tự Đức
Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, 嗣 德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm , also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled ...
of the
Nguyễn dynasty, gaining a reputation for his integrity and uncompromising stance against corruption. Phan was appointed as the Imperial Censor, a position that allowed him to criticise his fellow mandarins and even the emperor. As the head of the censorate, Phan's investigations led to the removal of many incompetent or corrupt mandarins.
Upon Tự Đức's death, Phan almost died during a power struggle in the imperial court. The regent
Tôn Thất Thuyết
Tôn Thất Thuyết ( 尊 室 説; 12 May 1839 in Huế – 1913 in Longzhou) was the leading mandarin of Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn dynasty. Thuyết later led the Cần Vương movement which aimed to restore Vietnamese i ...
disregarded Tự Đức's will of succession, and three emperors were deposed and killed in just over a year. Phan protested against Thuyết's activities, was stripped of his honours and briefly jailed, before being exiled to his home province. At the time, France had just conquered Vietnam and made it a part of
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
. Along with Thuyết, Phan organised rebel armies as part of the
Cần Vương movement
The Cần Vương (, Hán tự: , ) movement was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1889 against French colonial rule. Its objective was to expel the French and install the Hàm Nghi Emperor as the leader of an independent V ...
, which sought to expel the French and install the boy Emperor
Hàm Nghi
Emperor Hàm Nghi (, vi-hantu, lit. "entirely right", ar, هام نغي; 3 August 1872 – 4 January 1943), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch, also Nguyễn Phúc Minh, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty. He reign ...
at the head of an independent Vietnam. This campaign continued for three years until 1888, when the French captured Hàm Nghi and exiled him to
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
.
Phan and his military assistant
Cao Thắng Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
* CA Oradea, Romanian football club
*CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
*Canadian Assoc ...
continued their guerrilla campaign, building a network of spies, bases and small weapons factories. However, Cao Thắng was killed in the process in late 1893. The decade-long campaign eventually wore Phan down, and he died from dysentery as the French surrounded his forces.
Court official
Phan was born in the village of
Đông Thái in the northern central coast province of
Hà Tĩnh. Đông Thái was famous for producing high-ranking
mandarins and had been the home of senior imperial officials since the time of the
Lê dynasty. Twelve consecutive generations of the Phan family had been successful mandarinate graduates.
All three of Phan's brothers who lived to adulthood passed the imperial examinations and became mandarins.
Early on, Phan indicated his distaste for the classical curriculum required of an aspiring mandarin. He nevertheless persevered with his studies, passing the regional exams in 1876 and then topping the metropolitan exams the following year.
[Marr, p. 61.] In his exam response, Phan cited Japan as an example of how an Asian country could make rapid military progress given sufficient willpower.
Phan was never known for his scholarly abilities; it was his reputation for principled integrity that led to his quick rise through the ranks under the reign of Emperor
Tự Đức
Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, 嗣 德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm , also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled ...
.
He was first appointed as a district mandarin in
Ninh Bình Province, where he punished a Vietnamese
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
priest, who, with the tacit support of French missionaries, had harassed local non-Catholics. Amid the diplomatic controversy that followed, he avoided blaming the unpopular alliance between Vietnamese Catholics and the French on Catholicism itself, stating that the partnership had arisen out of the military and political vulnerabilities of Vietnam's imperial government.
Despite this, the
Huế
Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...
court eventually removed Phan from this post.
Phan was transferred to the Huế court as a member of the censorate, a watchdog body that monitored the work of the mandarinate. He earned the ire of many of his colleagues, but the trust of the emperor, by revealing that the vast majority of the court mandarins were making a mockery of a royal edict to engage in regular rifle practice.
Tự Đức later dispatched Phan on an inspection trip to northern Vietnam. His report led to the ousting of many officials who were deemed corrupt or incompetent, including the
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
of the northern region.
[Marr, p. 62.] He rose to become the Imperial Censor (Sino-Vietnamese: ''Ngự Sử''), a position which allowed him to criticise other high officials and even the emperor for misconduct.
Phan openly criticised
Tôn Thất Thuyết
Tôn Thất Thuyết ( 尊 室 説; 12 May 1839 in Huế – 1913 in Longzhou) was the leading mandarin of Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn dynasty. Thuyết later led the Cần Vương movement which aimed to restore Vietnamese i ...
, the foremost mandarin of the court, believing him to be rash and dishonest.
[Karnow, p. 121.] Aside from his work in rooting out corruption, Phan also compiled a historical geography of Vietnam, which was published in 1883.
[Goscha, p. 24.]
Despite his prominent position in the
Nguyễn dynasty, little is known about Phan's personal stance on Vietnamese relations with France, which was in the process of colonising Vietnam.
France had first invaded in 1858,
[McLeod, p. 43.] beginning the
colonisation of southern Vietnam. Three provinces were ceded under the 1862
Treaty of Saigon, and a further three in 1867 to form the colony of
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
. During the period, there was debate in the Huế court on the best strategy to regain the territory. One group advocated military means, while another believed in the use of diplomacy in addition to financial and religious concessions. By the time of Tự Đức's death in 1883, the whole of Vietnam was colonised, henceforth incorporated with
Laos and
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
into
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
.
Upon his death in 1883, the childless Tự Đức had named his nephew,
Kiến Phúc
Kiến Phúc (, 12 February 1869 – 31 July 1884) was a child emperor of Vietnam, who reigned for less than 8 months, 1883–1884, as the 7th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty.
Biography
Born in 1869, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng, he ...
, as his successor,
rather than
Dục Đức
Dục Đức (, ; born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái, 23 February 1852 – 6 October 1883), was Emperor of Vietnam for three days, from 20 to 23 July 1883. He was the fifth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and father of Emperor Thành Thái, who ruled ...
, his most senior heir. Tự Đức had written in his will that Dục Đức was depraved and unworthy of ruling the country.
[Chapuis, p. 15.] However, led by Thuyết, the regents enthroned Dục Đức under the pressure of the ladies of the court.
Phan protested against the violation of Tự Đức's will of succession and refused to sanction anyone other than Kiến Phúc. Lucky to escape the death penalty, Phan was stripped of his positions.
Later, Dục Đức was deposed and executed by Thuyết on the grounds of ignoring court etiquette, ignoring the mourning rites for Tự Đức and having affairs with the late emperor's consorts.
Phan again protested the regents' actions and was briefly imprisoned by Thuyết, before being exiled to his home province.
Revolutionary career
Cần Vương
Phan rallied to the cause of the boy Emperor
Hàm Nghi
Emperor Hàm Nghi (, vi-hantu, lit. "entirely right", ar, هام نغي; 3 August 1872 – 4 January 1943), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch, also Nguyễn Phúc Minh, was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty. He reign ...
—the fourth monarch in little over a year—after an abortive royal uprising at Huế in 1885.
Thuyết and fellow regent
Nguyễn Văn Tường
Nguyễn Văn Tường ( vi-hantu, , 1824–1886) was a mandarin of the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam. He is known for installing and dethroning three emperors in 1883–84: Dục Đức, Hiệp Hoà, and Kiến Phúc.
Biography
Tườ ...
had enthroned
Hiệp Hòa after disposing of Dục Đức. However, the new emperor was wary of the regents' behaviour and attempted to avoid their influence, leading Thuyết to organise his execution. The teenage
Kiến Phúc
Kiến Phúc (, 12 February 1869 – 31 July 1884) was a child emperor of Vietnam, who reigned for less than 8 months, 1883–1884, as the 7th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty.
Biography
Born in 1869, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng, he ...
ascended the throne, but was poisoned by his adoptive mother
Học Phi—one of Tự Đức's wives—whom he caught having intercourse with Tường.
[Chapuis, p. 17.] Kiến Phúc was thus replaced by his 14-year-old brother Hàm Nghi. In the meantime, the French concluded that the regents were causing too much trouble and had to be disposed of.
Thuyết had already decided to place Hàm Nghi at the head of the ''
Phong Trào Cần Vương'' (Aid the King Movement), which sought to end French rule with a royalist rebellion. Phan helped the cause by setting up bases in
Hà Tĩnh and creating his own guerrilla army.
Thuyết had hoped to secure support from the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
of China,
[Chapuis, p. 21.] but Phan thought that Vietnam's best chance of effective support came from
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
.
Gia Long, the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty and great-grandfather of Tự Đức, had married his sister off to the King of Siam. He had also used Siam as a base-in-exile during his quest for the throne in the 1780s.
However, direct appeals to the Siamese government only yielded a few pack trains of firearms and ammunition.
In preparation for the revolt, Thuyết had been building up an armed base at
Tân Sở Tân Sở citadel was a secret military base in central Vietnam that was built in the 1880s. It was built up by Tôn Thất Thuyết
Tôn Thất Thuyết ( 尊 室 説; 12 May 1839 in Huế – 1913 in Longzhou) was the leading mandarin of E ...
for over a year.
[Chapuis, p. 20.]
In any case, the Cần Vương revolt started on July 5, 1885, when Thuyết launched a surprise attack against the colonial forces after a diplomatic confrontation with the French.
[Karnow, p. 99.][Chapuis, p. 19.] Thuyết took Hàm Nghi northwards to the Tân Sở mountain base near the border with Laos after the attack failed. The campaign was launched when the emperor issued the Cần Vương edict that had been prepared by the regent.
Phan initially rallied support from his native village and set up his headquarters on Mount Vũ Quang, which overlooked the coastal French fortress at Hà Tĩnh. Phan's organisation became a model for future insurgents. For flexibility, he divided his operational zone into twelve districts.
His forces upheld military discipline and wore uniforms.
[Chapuis, p. 93.] Phan initially used the local
scholar-gentry
The "gentry", or "landed gentry" in China was the elite who held privileged status through passing the Imperial exams, which made them eligible to hold office. These literati, or scholar-officials, (''shenshi'' 紳士 or ''jinshen'' 縉紳), al ...
as his military commanders. Their first notable attack targeted two nearby Catholic villages that had collaborated with French forces. Colonial troops arrived a few hours later, quickly overwhelming the rebels and forcing them to retreat to their home village, where the retribution was heavy.
Phan managed to escape but his elder brother was captured by the same former viceroy of northern Vietnam who had been removed from office as a result of Phan's critical report. The disgraced official was now a French collaborator, serving as the governor of
Nghệ An Province.
The strategy of attempting to pressure Phan into capitulating was a classical strategy of coercion. The French used an old friend and fellow villager to make an emotional and deeply Confucian appeal for Phan to surrender in order to save his brother, his ancestral tombs and his entire village. Phan was reported to have replied:
(Original Vietnamese)
Nay tôi chỉ có một ngôi mộ rất to nên giữ là nước Việt Nam.
Tôi chỉ có một ông anh rất to là mấy triệu đồng bào.
Nếu về mà sửa sang lại phần mộ tổ tiên riêng mình thì ngôi mộ cả nước ai giữ?
Về cứu sống ông anh của riêng mình thì còn bao nhiêu anh em trong nước ai cứu?
(English)
[Marr, p. 63.]
From the time I joined with you in the Cần Vương movement, I determined to forget the question of family and village.
Now I have but one tomb, a very large one, that must be defended: the land of Vietnam.
I have only one brother, very important, that is in danger: more than twenty million countrymen.
If I worry about my own tombs, who will worry about defending the tombs of the rest of the country?
If I save my own brother, who will save all the other brothers of the country?
There is only one way for me to die now.
Phan was later reported to have simply retorted, "If anyone carves up my brother, remember to send me some of the soup".
However, he held no illusions about the prospect of successfully driving out the French, stating "It is our destiny. We accept it."
This incident and Phan's response are often cited as one of the reasons why he was so admired by the populace and among future generations of Vietnamese anti-colonialists: he adhered to the highest personal standards of patriotism. He identified with a countrywide cause, far removed from the questions of family and region.
Phan's men were well-trained and disciplined, and the military inspiration behind his rebellion was derived from
Cao Thắng Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
* CA Oradea, Romanian football club
*CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
*Canadian Assoc ...
, a bandit leader who had been protected from royal forces by Phan's brother a decade earlier.
They operated in the provinces of
Thanh Hóa
Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanh ...
in the north,
Hà Tĩnh,
Nghệ An in the centre and
Quảng Bình in the south, with their strongest areas being the two central provinces.
In 1887, Phan concluded that his tactics were misguided, ordering his subordinates to cease open combat and resort to guerrilla tactics. His men built up a network of
base camp
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
s, food caches, intelligence agents and peasant supply contacts. Phan traveled to the north in the hope of coordinating strategic and tactical plans with other leaders. In the meantime, Cao Thắng led a force of around 1,000 men with some 500 firearms between them.
Cao Thắng produced around 300 rifles by disassembling and copying 1874-model French weapons that had been captured.
[Goscha, p. 25.] For the purpose of creating such replica guns, they captured Vietnamese artisans. According to French officers who later captured some of the Vietnamese copies, the weapons were proficiently reproduced. The only details in which they were regarded as being defective were in the tempering of the springs, which were improvised with
umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...
spokes, and the lack of
rifling in the barrels, which curtailed range and accuracy.
[Marr, p. 64.]
Nevertheless, the weaponry used by Phan's rebels was far inferior to that of their adversaries, and their inland positions were within firing range of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
.
The Vietnamese could not rely on China to give them material support, and other European powers such as Portugal, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom were unwilling to sell them weapons for various reasons. Thus, Phan had to explore overland routes to procure weapons from Siamese sources—using seafaring transport was impossible due to the presence of the French Navy.
He instructed his followers to create a secret route from Hà Tĩnh through Laos into northeastern Siam; one such route from Mount Vũ Quang was believed to have been created around 1888.
It is unclear if Phan himself went to Thailand,
but a young female supporter named Co Tam was his designated arms buyer in
Tha Uthen, which boasted a substantial expatriate Vietnamese community.
In 1890, the Siamese Army transported around 1,000 Austrian repeating-rifles from Bangkok to
Luang Prabang in Laos. However, it is unclear whether the weapons found their way into Vietnamese hands or whether they were related to Co Tam's activities.
After Cần Vương
In 1888, Hàm Nghi's
Mường bodyguard
Trương Quang Ngọc betrayed him,
[Chapuis, p. 62.] leading to the emperor's capture and deportation to
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
.
Phan and Cao Thắng fought on in the mountainous areas of Hà Tĩnh, Nghệ An and Thanh Hóa. Another 15 bases were built along the mountain to complement the headquarters at Vũ Quang. Each base had a subordinate commander leading units numbering between 100 and 500 men. The operations were funded by local villagers, who were levied with a land tax in silver and rice.
Local bases were supported by nearby villages and excess funds were sent to Vũ Quang. Phan's men foraged and sold
cinnamon bark to raise funds, while lowland peasants donated spare metals for the production of weapons.
When Phan returned from the north in 1889, his first order was to track down Hàm Nghi's betrayer Ngọc.
When he was found, Phan personally executed Ngọc in
Tuyên Hóa.
He then began a series of small-unit attacks on French installations through the summer of 1890, but these proved indecisive. The French relied mostly on district and provincial colonial units to man their perpetually increasing line of forts, which were usually commanded by a French lieutenant.
In late 1890, a French effort to move into the low-lying villages and isolate the populace from the mountainous rebel bases failed. In the spring of 1892, a major French sweep of Hà Tĩnh failed, and in August, Cao Thắng seized the initiative with a bold counterattack on the provincial capital. The rebels broke into the prison and freed their compatriots, killing a large number of the Vietnamese soldiers who defended the penitentiary as members of the French colonial forces. This caused the French to intensify their efforts against Phan, and a counteroffensive was conducted throughout the remainder of 1892, forcing the rebels to retreat back into the mountains. Two of their bases fell and steady French pressure began to break their covert resistance links with lowland villages. This compounded the problems of securing food, supplies, intelligence data and recruits. A ring of French forts continued to be erected, increasingly pinning down Phan's men.
The only notable gain for Phan's forces during this period was the acquisition of gunpowder supplies from Siam.
This enabled them to mix foreign and local powder in a 50:50 ratio, rather than their previous weaker mixture of 20:80.
Late in the year, the burden on Phan increased after the loss of two Cần Vương allies. In September,
Tống Duy Tân—who led the royalists in Thanh Hóa— was captured and publicly executed.
Nguyễn Thiện Thuật
Nguyễn Thiện Thuật (阮善述, 1844–1926), courtesy name Mạnh Hiếu, was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, who commanded armed forces during the anti-colonial struggle.
As a high-ranking official under the Nguyễn dynasty, he gover ...
, who had been active in the northern provinces of
Hưng Yên
Hưng Yên () is a city in Vietnam. It is the provincial capital of Hưng Yên Province and is a third-graded city according to Vietnam's city classification table.
Geography
*Hưng Yên is a delta city. It is located in the south of Hưng Yên ...
and
Hải Dương, fled to
Guangxi in China. The supporters of Tân and Thuật moved south and integrated into Phan's force.
In mid-1893, Cao Thắng proposed a full-scale attack on the provincial seat of
Nghệ An and the surrounding posts. The plan proposed to Phan included diversions to the south and the training of almost 2,000 men in conventional military tactics. Unconvinced of its viability, Phan reluctantly approved the plan.
The troops were eager, but after overpowering several small posts ''en route'', the main force was pinned down while attacking the French fort of No on September 9, 1893. Along with his brother, Cao Thắng was mortally wounded while leading a risky frontal attack with 150 men, and the forces retreated in disarray. Phan regarded the loss of Cao Thắng as a significant one, admitting as much in delivering the eulogy and funeral oration.
[Marr, p. 65.] According to the historian David Marr, there was evidence that Phan clearly realised the advantages and limitations of prolonged resistance.
Although Phan had previously stated that he was not expecting ultimate success,
the guerrilla leader thought that it was important to keep pressuring the French in order to demonstrate to the populace that there was an alternative to what he felt was a defeatist attitude from the Huế court.
[Marr, p. 66.]
Downfall
Hoàng Cao Khải
Hoàng Cao Khải (, ; 1850, Đức Thọ District – 1933) was a viceroy of Tonkin (locally known as Bắc Kỳ), the northernmost of the three parts of Vietnam under French colonial rule. He is best known for his role in helping the French autho ...
, the French-installed viceroy of
Tonkin
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...
, perceived Phan's intent to a degree that his French masters did not.
Khải was from a scholar-gentry family from the same village as Phan.
[Hodgkin, p. 113.] He became the main backer of a determined effort to crush Phan's forces, using every means available: political, psychological and economic.
By late 1894, relatives and suspected sympathisers of the insurgents were intimidated and more resistance commanders had been killed. Communications were disrupted, and the rebel hideouts became increasingly insecure. In an attempt to force Phan to surrender, the French arrested his family and desecrated the tombs of his ancestors, publicly displaying the remains in Hà Tĩnh.
Khải delivered a message to Phan via a relative. Phan sent a written reply, allowing their exchange to be studied. Khải recalled the common origins of the pair and promised Phan that he would lobby Governor-General
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine Louis de Lanessan (13 July 1861– 7 November 1935) was a French statesman and naturalist.
Biography
De Lanessan was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Gironde department of France and entered the French Navy in 1880, s ...
and other French officials for an amnesty in return for Phan's surrender.
[Lam, p. 123.] Khải credited Phan with righteousness, loyalty and dedication towards the monarchy.
According to Marr, "Phan Dinh Phung's reply was a classic in savage understatement, utilizing standard formalism in the interest of propaganda, with deft denigration of his opponent".
Phan appealed to Vietnamese nationalist sentiment, recalling his country's stubborn resistance to Chinese aggression. He cited defensive wars against the
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
,
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
,
Song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
,
Yuan and
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
dynasties, asking why a country "a thousand times more powerful" could not annex Vietnam.
[Lam, p. 125.] Phan concluded that it was "because the destiny of our country has been willed by Heaven itself".
Phan placed the responsibility for the suffering of the people at the feet of the French, who "acted like a storm".
[Lam, pp. 126–127.] After analysing his own actions, Phan concluded with a thinly veiled attack on Khải and his collaborators.
Khải's appeal was rebutted with an appeal to history, nationalist sentiment and a demand that the blame for death and destruction lay with the colonial forces and their Vietnamese assistants. Phan raised the stakes above family and village to the entire nation and its populace.
[Marr, p. 68.]
With Phan's rebuke in his hands, Khải translated both documents into French and presented them to De Lanessan, proposing that it was time for the final "destruction of this scholar gentry rebellion".
In July 1895, French area commanders called in 3,000 troops to tighten the cordon around the three remaining rebel bases.
The insurgents were able to execute ambushes at night, but Phan contracted dysentery and had to be carried on a stretcher whenever his unit moved. A collaborator mandarin named
Nguyễn Thân, who had previous experience in pacification in
Quảng Ngãi
Quảng Ngãi () is a city in central Vietnam. It serves as the capital city of Quảng Ngãi Province. Quảng Ngãi City borders Tư Nghĩa District to the south and west, Sơn Tịnh District to the northwest and Bình Sơn District to the ...
and
Quảng Nam, was drafted in to isolate the insurgents from their supporters in the villages. Cut off from their supplies, the insurgents were left to survive by eating roots and occasional handfuls of dried corn. Their shoes were worn through and most were without blankets.
Phan died of dysentery on January 21, 1896, and his captured followers were executed. A report submitted by the De Lanessan to the Minister of Colonies in Paris stated that "the soul of resistance to the protectorate was gone".
Legacy
![Statue of Phan Dinh Phung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Statue_of_Phan_Dinh_Phung.JPG)
Phan's remains were disturbed after his death.
Ngô Đình Khả
Ngô Đình Khả (吳廷可, 1856–1923 but some sources state 1850–1925) was a high-ranking Catholic mandarin in the Court of the Emperor Thành Thái in Huế, Vietnam. He helped established the Quoc Hoc in Hue and was also a confidant ...
, a Catholic mandarin and father of
Ngô Đình Diệm—the first President of
South Vietnam—was a member of the French colonial administration. Khả had Phan's tomb exhumed and used the remains in gunpowder used for executing revolutionaries. Many historians also accused Nguyễn Thân for this crime but two others, Nguyễn Quang Tô in 1974, then Tôn Thất Thọ in 2017, considered that is oral, fictitious, unofficial information, not historical data with "black ink and white paper".
Phan is widely regarded by Vietnamese people as a revolutionary hero.
Phan Bội Châu
Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of Vietnamese 20th century nationalism. In 1903, he formed a revolutionary organization called ' ...
, regarded as the leading Vietnamese anti-colonial figure of the early 20th century, strongly praised Phan in his writing, with particular emphasis on his defiance of Khải. During Phan Bội Châu's career as a teacher, he strongly emphasised Phan's deeds to his students. In 1941, after returning to Vietnam after decades in exile, the
Marxist revolutionary
Hồ Chí Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Pri ...
, then using the name
Nguyễn Ái Quốc (''Nguyễn the Patriot''), invoked the memory of Phan in appealing to the public for support for his independence movement. Like Phan, Hồ was a native of Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh. In the 1940s, Hồ's
Việt Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
named their self-produced style of grenades in honour of Phan. Since then, Hồ's communists have portrayed themselves as the modern day incarnations of revered nationalist leaders such as Phan,
Trương Định
Trương Định (1820 – August 19, 1864), sometimes known as Trương Công Định, was a mandarin (scholar-official) in the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam under Emperor Tự Đức. He is best known for leading a guerrilla army in south ...
and Emperors
Lê Lợi
Lê Lợi (, Chữ Hán: 黎利; c. 10 September 1384/1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietnam ...
and
Quang Trung
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 ...
, who expelled Chinese forces from Vietnam.
Both North and South Vietnam had prominent thoroughfares in their capital cities (
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
and
Saigon, respectively) named in Phan's honour.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phan, Dinh Phung
1847 births
1896 deaths
People from Hà Tĩnh province
Nguyen dynasty officials
Vietnamese Confucianists
Vietnamese nationalists
Deaths from dysentery