The Tây Sơn dynasty (; , (

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 朝西山;

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

: 茹西山), officially Đại Việt (

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 大越), was an imperial dynasty of Vietnam. It originated in a revolt led by three peasant brothers with the surname Nguyễn, rebelling against the

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...

Trịnh lords Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full na ...

and

Nguyễn lords The Nguyễn lords (, 主阮; 1558–1777, 1780–1802), also known as the Nguyễn clan (; ), were Nguyễn dynasty's forerunner and a feudal noble clan ruling southern Đại Việt in the Revival Lê dynasty. The Nguyễn lords were membe ...

(no relation). The Tây Sơn would later be succeeded by the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

.Kim, p. 359. The Tây Sơn dynasty ended the century-long war between the Trịnh and Nguyễn families, overthrew the

, and united the country for the first time in 200 years. They acknowledged

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

suzerainty and gained recognition from the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

as the legitimate rulers of Vietnam. Under the most prominent of the Tây Sơn brothers Nguyễn Huệ Vietnam experienced several years of relative peace and prosperity. But Quang Trung died relatively young at the age of 40 and his successor Cảnh Thịnh, aged 9, was unable to prevent civil conflict among the Tây Sơn court which allowed the last Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Ánh to retake the south of Vietnam, extinguish the Tây Sơn and establish the

Name

The Tây Sơn dynasty was named after the Tây Sơn district in Bình Định province, the birthplace of the three brothers who established the dynasty. The name "Tây Sơn" means "western mountains" from Chinese 西山 ''Xīshān'' where 西 xi means west and 山 shan means mountain.

History

Background

In the 18th century, Vietnam was

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

ruled by the

, but real power lay in the hands of two warring families, the

of the north who ruled from the imperial court in Thăng Long and the

in the south, who ruled from their capital

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

. Both sides warred extensively for control of the country. Life for the peasants during these times was difficult: ownership of land concentrated in the hands of a few powerful landlords as time passed on. The imperial bureaucracy grew corrupt and oppressive; at one point the imperial examination-degrees were sold to whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. The lords continued to live lavish lifestyles in opulent palaces as the poor grew poorer. While the Trịnh lords had enjoyed peace since the end of the war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn in 1672, the Nguyễn lords regularly campaigned against

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

and later the Kingdom of Siam. While the Nguyễn lords usually won these wars and opened up new fertile lands for the landless poor to settle, the frequent warring cost money, resources, and lives.

Tây Sơn rebellion

In 1769 the new king of Siam Taksin launched a war to regain control of

. He was successful and forced the Nguyễn lords to abandon some of their conquests, such as the Principality of Hà Tiên on the southernmost coast of Vietnam. Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát had also died in 1765, which put power in the hands of the regent Trương Phúc Loan, plunging the Nguyễn court into political crisis. These developments, coupled with heavy taxes and endemic local corruption spurred three peasant brothers—Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ, and Nguyễn Lữ (no relation to the Nguyễn lords) from the village of Tây Sơn, central Vietnam, to revolt in 1771 against the Nguyễn lord Phúc Thuần. The Tây Sơn brothers styled themselves as champions of the people. Over the next year, the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyễn army that was sent to crush their rebellion. The Tây Sơn drew their support from not only poor farmers but also by some indigenous highland tribes. Nguyễn Huệ, the brothers' leader, said that his goal was to end the people's oppression, reunite the country, and restore the power of the Lê emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sơn also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistribute land. In 1773 the Tây Sơn captured the port of

Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon was the capital of the former Bình Định province. As of 2022 its population was 481.110. H ...

, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, lent the uprising their financial support. The Nguyễn, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades. However, their problems were compounded when Trịnh Sâm chose to end the 100-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern-day Huế), the Nguyễn capital. The Trịnh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyễn to flee to Gia Định (now modern day

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

). The Trịnh army continued to march south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The forces arrayed against the Nguyễn were simply too many and in 1776 the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Gia Định and massacred the town's Chinese population. The entire Nguyễn family was killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew, Nguyễn Ánh, who managed to escape to Siam. The eldest Tây Sơn brother, Nguyễn Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trịnh thus became unavoidable.

Conflict with Siam

The Tây Sơn spent the next decade consolidating their control over the former Nguyễn territory. Nguyễn Ánh proved to be a stubborn enemy. He convinced the King of Siam, P'ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of him. The Siamese army attacked in 1780, but in several years of warfare, it was unable to defeat the Tây Sơn army, as gains were followed by losses. In 1782, the Siamese king was killed in a revolt, and less than a year later, Nguyễn Ánh's forces were driven out of Vietnam. In 1785, Siam launched an invasion again and occupied part of the Mekong Delta, but was defeated by Nguyen Hue in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.

Conquest of Trịnh lords

Having vanquished the Nguyễn for the time being, Nguyễn Huệ decided to destroy the power of the

. He marched to the north at the head of a large army in 1786, and after a short campaign, defeated the Trịnh army successfully. The Trịnh were also unpopular and the Tây Sơn army seemed invincible. The Trịnh lord fled north into China. Nguyễn Huệ later married princess Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal later Lê Emperor, Lê Hiển Tông.

Overthrow of Lê dynasty and relationship with Qing dynasty

A few months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone, the Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled north to the

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

of China, where he formally petitioned the

for aid. The Qianlong Emperor agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital Thăng Long. Nguyễn Huệ gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying: In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating the

Lunar New Year Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendar years begin with a new moon and have a fixed number of lunar months, usually twelve, in contrast to lunisolar calendar ye ...

, Nguyễn Huệ's army defeated them at the

Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa The Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa or Qing invasion of Tây Sơn dynasty, Đại Việt (; ), also known as Victory of Kỷ Dậu (), was fought between the forces of the Vietnamese Tây Sơn dynasty and the Qing dynasty in (a place near ...

and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to retreat. The Tay Son were supported by Chinese pirates. Anti-pirate activities were undertaken by a joint alliance between the Qing dynasty and

Gia Long Gia Long (Chữ Hán, Chữ hán: 嘉隆) ( (''Hanoi, North''), (''Ho Chi Minh City, South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynas ...

while Chinese pirates collaborated with the Tay Son. After the battle, Nguyễn Huệ sought to restore the tributary relationship in order to deter a joint Qing- Siam pincer attack and prevent further Qing Chinese attempts to restore the Lê dynasty. Nguyễn Huệ sent a ritually submissive request to the Qianlong Emperor under the name of Nguyễn Quang Bình (also referred to as Ruan Guangping). In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyễn as the King of Annam on the condition that Nguyễn Huệ personally lead a special delegation to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday. For the Qianlong Emperor, the motivation for accepting the arrangement was to retain the Qing's supremacy and stabilize their southern border. Chinese and Vietnamese sources agreed that Nguyễn Huệ sent an imposter with a delegation to Beijing, where they were received with lavish imperial favors. The Qianlong Emperor approved the proposal and bestowed Nguyễn Huệ with the title ''An Nam quốc vương'' ("King of Annam"). The title indicated that Nguyễn Huệ was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam and Lê Chiêu Thống was no longer supported.

War with Nguyễn Ánh and fall

Quang Trung, was resentful. He trained his army, built large warships and waited for an opportunity to take revenge. He also provided refuge to organizations such as the

Tiandihui The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihu ...

and the White Lotus. Chinese pirates, such as Chen Tien-pao (陳添保), Mo Kuan-fu (莫觀扶), Liang Wen-keng (梁文庚), Fan Wen-tsai (樊文才), Cheng Chi (鄭七) and Cheng I (鄭一) were granted official positions and noble ranks under the Tây Sơn empire. All attack plans had to be given up due to Nguyễn Huệ's sudden death. The attack never materialized by the time that Quang Trung died in 1792.'' Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện'', vol. 30 After the Tây Sơn massacred ethnic Han Chinese settlers in 1782, the support of the Qing Chinese shifted towards to the

.Choi
p.35–37
/ref>Choi
p.74–
/ref> After Quang Trung's death, his son Nguyễn Quang Toản was enthroned as Emperor Cảnh Thịnh at the age of ten. However, the real power was in the hands of his uncle Bui Dac Tuyen, who enacted a massive political purge. Many who served under Quang Trung were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening the Tây Sơn. This paved the way for Nguyễn Ánh to capture the entire country within 10 years, with the help of French military adventurers enlisted by French

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Pigneau de Behaine. In 1800, Nguyễn Ánh occupied Quy Nhơn citadel. In 1801, he occupied

Phú Xuân Phú Xuân (富春) was the historic capital of the Nguyễn lords, the Tây Sơn dynasty, and later became the Nguyễn dynasty's capital (renamed Huế). History In 1306, the King of Champa Chế Mân offered Vietnam two Chăm prefectures, Ô ...

, forcing Nguyễn Quang Toản to flee to Thăng Long. In 1802, Ánh besieged Thăng Long. The then 20-year-old Nguyễn Quang Toản escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and the Nguyễn, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, took over the country in 1802. The Nguyễn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty, took complete control of Vietnam, and established the imperial

in 1802. The Nguyễn executed the defeated Tây Sơn leader Bùi Thị Xuân by crushing the body with an elephant. The heart and liver from her body were consumed by soldiers of the Nguyễn.Marr, pp. 211–12.

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tay Son dynasty Vietnamese dynasties Former monarchies of Asia Tributaries of Imperial China