Philippe Marie Henri Roussel, count of Courcy (30 May 1827 – 8 November 1887) was a French divisional general. De Courcy was the governor of Nancy in 1881 which was an important place next to

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

. De Courcy served as the commander of

Tonkin Expeditionary Corps The Tonkin Expeditionary Corps (french: corps expéditionnaire du Tonkin) was an important French military command based in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) from June 1883 to April 1886. The expeditionary corps fought the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86) taki ...

and took part in

Tonkin Campaign The Tonkin campaign was an armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and ...

from 1885 to 1887. He was appointed Protector of Annam. When he arrived at

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 ...

on July 3, 1885, de Courcy summoned

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 ...

and

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 ...

, both were regents of Vietnamese royal court, to his residence for a discussion on the presentation of his credentials to the 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 ...

. Thuyết was inarticulate and was absence on the plea of sick. Tường was good at diplomatic parlance and came to meet de Courcy. After being told that Thuyết was sick, de Courcy's response was that he should have attended the meeting regardless and threatened to arrest him.Oscar Chapuis (2000) ''The Last Emperors of Vietnam: From Tu Duc to Bao Dai'', pg. 19 During the discussion, de Courcy demanded that the central gate should be opened to let French troops go through, and that the Emperor would have to come down from his throne to greet him. Tường replied it was against the principles of Confucianism rite, and demanded that French soldiers should go through side gates, but was rejected by him. Empress Dowager Từ Dụ sent gifts to de Courcy in order to persuade him but was also rejected. Thuyết launched a failure ambush against French and was defeated by him. Thuyết and Hàm Nghi escaped from Huế and took refuge in a mountainous military base in

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 ...

. There, Hàm Nghi called on his people to revolt against French colonists. A large-scale Vietnamese insurgency which now called

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 ...

spread throughout the whole Vietnam until 1889.''

Việt Nam sử lược ( vi-hantu, 越南史略, french: Précis d'Histoire du Việt-Nam, lit. "Outline History of Vietnam"), was the first history text published in the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese alphabet. It was compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Ki ...

'', Quyển 2, Cận kim thời đại, Chương 14 During the emperor's absence, de Courcy appointed Nguyễn Phúc Miên Định (Prince Thọ Xuân) as puppet "Prince Regent" (), and appointed Nguyễn Hữu Độ, Phan Đình Bình, Nguyễn Văn Tường as Grand Secretaries. In September, he exiled Tường to Poulo Condore, and installed

Đồng Khánh Đồng Khánh (, vi-hantu, 同慶, lit. "collective celebration"; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889), born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) or Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟), also known as Chánh Mông (正蒙), was the ...

as new emperor. De Courcy failed to put down Cần Vương insurgency, and was replaced by

Paul Bert Paul Bert (17 October 1833 – 11 November 1886) was a French zoologist, physiologist and politician. He is sometimes given the sobriquet "Father of Aviation Medicine". Life Bert was born at Auxerre (Yonne). He studied law, earning a doctorate ...

in April 1886. He came back to France, and died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in the next year.

References

1827 births 1887 deaths Officers of the French Foreign Legion École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Military personnel from Orléans Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 5th class Governors-General of French Indochina French generals {{France-mil-bio-stub