Ok here we go (stretch arms, crack fingers). Thread on the creation of South Viet Nam.

Preamble:

✦ it's a complex history w lots of people & events but this is twt so i will try to make it not so khô or khổ or khó to read, so I might attempt some humor and cat pics. I ask for forgiveness if it's not to your taste. (I'll put book recs if that's more your thing.)

✦ this is going to be a long thread and I will not be able to write it all in one sitting. Plus, given the sensitivity of the topic I try to double and triple check everything before I tweet, so I will be slow

✦ history is always more nuanced than what the texts say. This thread cannot and will not be a complete record. I will only attempt to go over the major and salient events. I am also constantly learning so if I missed something pls let me know. I do not know it all.

✦ I'm writing this primarily for ppl w/ ancestral connections to VN so I might add screenshots of Viet memes, viet jokes, vpop MVs, etc. I recognize non-Viet people will probably read this and you can ask clarifying questions but w/ respect, you are not the primary audience

Ok that's prolly enough preamble for now.

I've tried to figure out where to start and how far to go back in history bc everything is a result of something that happened before.

To talk about South VN, I think we have to go back to 1802 first.

In 1802, Việt Nam took a shape closest to what we know as Việt Nam today. It was not called Việt Nam but rather Đại Nam, or Đại Nam Quốc.

(Prior to that it was the Tây Sơn dynasty w three areas of control which I won't talk about here.)

There's a recent movie about Vua Quang Trung / Nguyễn Huệ, the second vua of the Tây Sơn dynasty from 1788 until 1792 you can check out here tho:

His death also lead to the downfall of the Tây Sơn dynasty and the beginning of Nhà Nguyễn

here's some fanart of Quang Trung and his wife Ngọc Hân công chúa

She suffered a lot and her story is so tragic ugh I won't go into it here but seriously read about her and draw her if you're an artist I want more Ngọc Hân art pls

Ok back to 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, or Gia Long defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty and established Nguyễn triều or Nguyễn Dynasty.

It would last for 143 years and end with Bảo Đại in 1945.

Here they are side by side:

That prev art of Gia Long painting "Viet Nam" is somewhat misleading.

Gia Long originally wanted to call the newly unified nation Nam Việt, from An Nam & Việt Thường which were in ancient Chinese records for northern & southern VN to symbolize the unification of the country.

However, the Qing Jiaqing Emperor didn't think this was a good idea bc it's the same name as the ancient kingdom Nam Việt (Nanyue), which contained present-day Guangdong, belonging to China. So they changed it to Việt Nam.

Watch story of yanxi for more of this period in China.

Oh right! I forgot to mention that Gia Long joined the Imperial Chinese Tributary System, where VN would acknowledge China's dominance by bringing tributes every year.

This was for external diplomatic reasons. Internally VN did not see China as superior but rather a peer.

Kinda out of scope for me to go into here but relo btwn China and Viet Nam has always been ebbs and flows of power and never one way and the name Đại Việt Quốc reflected this from 968 to 1804.

Here's Đinh Bộ Lĩnh the first Viet emperor who named us Đại Việt.

I need to take us on a detour here and talk about like... five of 15 names for each person in royal Viet history and it makes reading Viet history v confusing.

(Same if you read/watch wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan. Like why does everybody in The Untamed have so many names?)

Different king names:
✦ Thụy hiệu - posthumous name
✦ Miếu hiệu - like posthumous name, used in temple
✦ Niên hiệu - era name
✦ Tên húy/tục danh - name given by parents, only close family members can use, otherwise disrespectful/impolite
✦ Thế thứ - order of birth

For example:

✦ King name: Gia Long

✦ Thụy hiệu: Khai Thiên Hoằng Đạo Lập Kỷ Thùy Thống Thần Văn Thánh Vũ Tuấn Đức Long Công Chí Nhân Đại Hiếu Cao Hoàng Đế.

✦ Miếu hiệu: Thế Tổ

✦ Name at home: Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, Nguyễn Phúc Chủng, Nguyễn Phúc Noãn

Here is a list of ALL the kings in the past 2000 years and their dozen names EACH: https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vua_Vi%E1%BB%87t_Nam

(lmao I'm sorry if you wanna learn Viet history )

Anyway, let's go back to Gia Long, the Nguyễn dynasty's founder.

He had a little help from a French Jesuit missionary named Pigneau de Behaine. Pls remember him bc he would be the first of many French actors interested in our little part of the world.

Pigneau de Behaine arrived in Hà Tiên in 1766 to establish a seminary.

Hà Tiên borders Cambodia in South VN. This is what it looks like.

This was where this thằng Tây befriended the future king Gia Long on Phú Quốc or a nearby small island.

This thằng Tây bishop saw that French control of Indochina would offset British control in India.

He went back to France to ask for help.

The 1787 Treaty of Versailles was signed to help Nguyễn Ánh/ Gia Long to defeat the Tây Sơn brothers & rule VN.

In the treaty, Louis XVI promised to supply 1650 troops. In return Nguyễn Ánh promised to give the French Poulo Condor or Côn Sơn island, concession of Đà Nẵng, & exclusive trading rights.

Remember this treaty bc it WILL come back and bite us. In the meantime here's Côn Sơn.

The treaty was signed, but the French never actually followed through. Pigneau de Béhaine never got any troops and had to scramble to hire some private mercenaries to help Nguyễn Ánh.

Here's a picture of yet another treaty colonizers signed and then broke.

And yettt, about 60 years later, this treaty would be used to justify the French invasion of Đà Nẵng and then colonization of Việt Nam.

I should mention that calling it the French colonization of "Việt Nam" is maybe somewhat sloppy and hard core historians will probably be all tsk tsk tsk with me.

After Gia Long called it Việt Nam in 1802, it was then called Đại Việt in 1813, and then Đại Nam in 1820.

The French called VN Tonkin, Annam, & Cochinchina for the three administrative regions they split up.

It was when Trần Trọng Kim & Hồ Chí Minh used "Việt Nam" for the nation states in 1945 that the name "stuck."

Remember Trần Trọng Kim. We'll come back to him & the flag.

I need to take a break but here are Hồ Hoàn Kiếm in Hà Nội and Hồ Con Rùa in Sài Gòn. Missing VN hour is open.

And here are all the names for VN since 2879 BCE: https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1c_t%C3%AAn_g%E1%BB%8Di_c%E1%BB%A7a_n%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_Vi%E1%BB%87t_Nam#:~:text=Sau%20khi%20cu%E1%BB%99c%20T%E1%BB%95ng%20tuy%E1%BB%83n,h%E1%BB%99i%20ch%E1%BB%A7%20ngh%C4%A9a%20Vi%E1%BB%87t%20Nam

Ok my mì gói is cooking so I need to clarify something in case it creates a misunderstanding: it was not solely due to help from that French bishop that Vua Gia Long was able to defeat the Tây Sơn brothers, unify all of VN, and establish the Nguyễn dynasty.

Historians point to a bunch of factors, including Tây Sơn factions infighting & rivalries, low morale, the loss of Vua Quang Trung, and the massacre of Chinese people in SVN in 1782, which was pivotal bc it shifted Chinese support to Nguyễn Ánh to help him capture SVN.

I mentioned the French bishop helping Vua Gia Long bc the treaty he helped set up in 1787 had the direct consequence of leading Napoleon III to invade VN in 1857, and they captured Sài Gòn in 1859 after a two-year siege

Here they are firing at Đà Nẵng and capturing SG.

Ok bbl I’m gonna eat my gourmet mì gói I hope you’re eating something ngon

Hé lô again. Thank you for following and reading this thread. I hope it's useful to you. It's lunch time so I'll write a bit more but a reminder this'll go for a while.

(When we have gay space communism I'll spend all day writing fun threads about our history but until then...)

In the last episode we saw:

✦ The fallof the Tây Sơn Dynasty bc of territorial rivalries & loss of a talented leader

✦ The beginning of the Nguyễn Dynasty w/ Vua Gia Long (Nguyễn Phúc Ánh) who literally built it from the ashes as the only survivor of his captured family

✦ We met Pigneau de Behaine or Pi-nhô đờ Bê-hen , who helped Nguyễn Ánh appeal for French military aid and got the Treaty of Versailles signed in November 1787

✦ This manipulative Scorpio treaty was NOT honored but later used to invade VN

Here's NA's son in France:

We're gonna get to French colonization in a bit bc it's really crucial to understanding Viet nationalism & revolution & the American War, but I need to tell you about the Nguyễn emperors & the conditions of VN under them first.

Here's outside Imperial City in Huế before Tết

13 Nguyễn Emperors, 1802-1945:

✦ Gia Long, 1802–20

✦ Minh Mạng, 1820–41

✦ Thiệu Trị, 1841–47

✦ Tự Đức, 1847–83

✦ Dục Đức, 1883 (reign lasted 3 days)

✦ Hiệp Hòa, 1883 (4 mos)

Agh i'm sorry for all these names & dates. Here's inside the Huế Imperial City.

✦ Kiến Phúc, 1883–84 (reign lasted 8 mos)

✦ Hàm Nghi 1884–85 (dethroned after one year bc rebelled)

✦ Đồng Khánh, 1885–89 (french puppet)

✦ Thành Thái, 1889–1907

✦ Duy Tân, 1907–16

✦ Khải Định, 1916–25

✦ Bảo Đại, 1926–45

Here's Vua Hàm Nghi in Algeria:

Alright let's take a little pause from all the names and dates and admire this amazing MV "Không thể cùng nhau suốt kiếp" by Hòa Minzy, portraying the tragedy of vua Bảo Đại and hoàng hậu Nam Phương.

Some more pics of Hoà Minzy portraying hoàng hậu Nam Phương, (born Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan), the last empress of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Viet royal regalia includes a lot of gold and bright yellow to signify richness, high status, and nobility. Some historical sources even say only the emperor could wear a certain color of gold/yellow bc only he was equal to the Sun. You can see this in that MV.

Here are some Nguyễn Dynasty royalty regalia.

you can see more at: https://www.facebook.com/vietnam.empresses/photos_all

The royal yellow/gold color is important to know bc throughout Viet history a lot of dynasties used this color for their flag. This is the argument many south vn'ese use for calling the svn one a "heritage flag."

You can check out my thread on flags here: https://twitter.com/ximuoicay/status/1347002505931100162?s=20

First pic: flag under the Nguyễn Dynasty

2nd pic: a screenshot of a screenshot from someone's word doc lol which shows flags from these dynasties:

✦ Trưng
✦ Ngô
✦ Đinh
✦ Tiền Lê
✦ Lý
✦ Trần

The argument from those against the flag w base yellow/gold is that it represents chế độ phong kiến, or feudalism, and monarchism, where wealth and power are concentrated at the top.

Pic: contrast btwn rich mandarins & poor peasants during the Nguyễn Dynasty in 1915

Anyway, I got ahead of myself a little bit! We're still in the 1800s, and during the first four Nguyễn emperors' rule, the peasants were already suffering due to floods, droughts, and crop failures.

The Nguyễn kings alleviated the peasants' suffering with land policies, including granting communal land (Ruộng công, or Công điện) to villages.

If a king wanted to recover that land, he would estimate their value and paid the farmers accordingly.

Gia Long brought back a land policy from vua Lê Thái Tổ (1428-1433) called Chế độ Quân điền, or Equal-field system.

It was a system meant to put a limit on how much land an individual could own and distribute land to those that didn't have enough.

Pic: monument of vua LTT

This system DID NOT mean everyone gets the same amount of land, just that you would get the same amount with people of the same social status. For common people, males from 18-60 got more land than those over 60.

But everybody got their khẩu phần đìền, "personal share land."

The land a farmer got would be reverted back to state's property for redistribution when they reached 60 or upon death.

The personal share land would be redistributed every four years in proportion with how many farmers were farming on that land, and how much land was farmable.

In addition, land was given for other communal uses:

✦ salary land: for soldiers as part of salaries
✦ tax assistance land: to help the poor pay their taxes
✦ study land: to pay teachers and supply students w materials
✦ orphans and widows land: land for orphans and widows

This land system came from China, and in China as well as VN, it began to break down with population growth, corrupt officials, multiple grants to the same person for merit to the court, false reports, etc.

Problems definitely existed but were generally controlled bc the population was small enough for these land policies and government enforcement.

For example, in 1839 in one single edict, half of the private land in Bình Định was redistributed and converted to communal land.

This land system was 100% not equitable. Dukes and marquis and counts and barons got lots of land. Civil officials > military officials > local officials > common people. Males 18-60 got more than over 60. Etc.

But this system worked for the time being.

Until the French...

Ok good time to take a break for me here, but here's a thread on the story of sầu riêng stemming from the time that Gia Long ruthlessly went after survivors of the Tây Sơn dynasty, causing social upheavals. https://twitter.com/ximuoicay/status/1334610952369491968?s=20