Gia Long 嘉隆
Emperor of Vietnam
Emperor Gia Long
Emperor of Nguyễn Dynasty
Reign	1802–1820
Predecessor	Tây Sơn Dynasty
Successor	Minh Mạng
Spouse	Tống Thị Lan Trần Thị Đang Lê Thị Ngọc Bình
Full name
Nguyễn Phúc Chủng Nguyễn Phúc Noãn Nguyễn Phúc Ánh
Era name and dates
Gia Long: 1801–1820
Posthumous name
Thế Tổ Cao Hoàng đế
Temple name
Thế Tổ
House	Nguyễn Dynasty
Father	Nguyễn Phúc Luân
Mother	Nguyễn Thị Hoàn
Born	8 February 1762
Died	3 February 1820(1820-02-03) (aged 57)
Burial	Thien Tho Tomb

This article contains Vietnamese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of chữ Nôm, chữ Hán and chữ Quốc Ngữ.

Emperor Gia Long (8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (Hán tự: 阮福映, often referred to simply as Nguyễn Ánh^[1]), was an first Emperor of Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam. Unifying what is now modern Vietnam in 1802, he founded the Nguyễn Dynasty, the last of the Vietnamese dynasties.

A nephew of the last Nguyen Lord who ruled over southern Vietnam, Nguyen Anh was forced into hiding in 1777 as a fifteen year old when his family was slain in the Tay Son revolt. After several changes of fortune in which his loyalists regained and again lost Saigon, he befriended the French Catholic priest Pigneau de Behaine. Pigneau championed his cause to the French government—and managed to recruit volunteers when this fell through—to help Nguyen Anh regain the throne. From 1789, Nguyen Anh was once again in the ascendancy and began his northward march to defeat the Tay Son, eventually moving by 1802 to the border with China, which had previously been under the control of the Trinh Lords. When this was over, he had reunited Vietnam after centuries of internecine feudal warfare with a greater land mass than ever before, stretching from China down to the Gulf of Siam.

Gia Long's rule was noted for its Confucian orthodoxy. He repealed Tay Son reforms and reinstated the classical Confucian education and civil service system. He moved the capital from Hanoi south to Huế as the country's populace had also shifted south over the preceding centuries, and built up fortresses and a palace in his new capital. Using French expertise, he modernized Vietnam's defensive capabilities. In deference to the assistance of his French friends, he tolerated the activities of Roman Catholic missionaries, something that became increasingly restricted under his successors. Under his rule, Vietnam strengthened its military dominance in Indochina, expelling Siamese forces from Cambodia and turning it into a vassal state.

Early years[link]

Pigneau de Behaine, the French priest who recruited armies for Nguyen Anh during the war against the Tay Son.

Born on 8 February 1762,^[2] Nguyen Anh was the son of Nguyen Phuc Luan and Nguyen Thi Hoan. Luan was the designated heir of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat of southern Vietnam. However, a high-ranking mandarin named Truong Phuc Loan changed Khoat's will of succession on his deathbed, and installed Luan's younger brother Nguyen Phuc Thuan on the throne in 1765. Luan was jailed and died in the same year.^[3][4][5]

However, Thuan lost his position as lord of southern Vietnam and was killed during the Tay Son rebellion led by the brothers Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Hue and Nguyen Lu in 1777.^[6] Nguyen Anh was the most senior member of the ruling family to have survived the Tay Son victory, which pushed the Nguyen from their heartland in central Vietnam, southwards towards Saigon and into the Mekong Delta region in the far south.^[7][8][9] Nguyen Anh fled to Ha Tien on the southern coastal tip of Vietnam, where he met Pigneau de Behaine,^[10][11][12] a French priest who became his adviser and played a major part in his rise to power.^[12] Together, they escaped to the island of Pulo Panjang in the Gulf of Siam.^[7][13] Pigneau hoped that by playing a substantial role in a Nguyen Anh victory, he would be in position to lever important concessions for the Catholic Church in Vietnam, helping its expansion in South East Asia.^[14]

In late-1777, the main part of the Tay Son army left Saigon to go north and attack the Trinh Lords, who ruled the other half of Vietnam. Nguyen Anh stealthily returned to the mainland, rejoining his supporters and reclaimed the city.^[15] He was crucially aided by the efforts of Do Thanh Nhon, who had organized an army for him,^[16] which was supplemented by Cambodian mercenaries and Chinese pirates.^[17] The following year, Nhon expelled further Tay Son troops from the surrounding province of Gia Dinh, and inflicted heavy losses on the Tay Son naval fleet. Taking advantage of the more favorable situation, Nguyen Anh sent a diplomatic mission to Siam 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. Nguyen Anh sent Nhon to help the uprising, which saw Ang Non defeated decisively and executed.^[16]

Nhon returned to Saigon with high honor and concentrated his efforts on improving the Nguyen navy. In 1780, in an attempt to strengthen his political status, Nguyen Anh proclaimed himself Nguyễn vương (Nguyễn king or Nguyễn ruler in Vietnamese).^[18][19] Then, in 1781, Nguyen Anh sent further forces to prop up the Cambodian regime against Siamese armies who wanted to reassert their control.^[8][16] Shortly thereafter, Nguyen Anh had Nhon brutally murdered. The reason remains unclear, but it was postulated that he did so because Nhon's fame and military success was overshadowing him. The Tay Son brothers reportedly broke out in celebration upon hearing of Nhon's execution, as Nhon was the Nguyen officer that they feared the most. Nhon's supporters rebelled, weakening the Nguyen army, and within a few months, the Tay Son had recaptured Saigon mainly on the back of naval barrages.^[16][17] Nguyen Anh was forced to flee to Ha Tien, and then onto the island of Phu Quoc. Meanwhile, some of his forces continued to resist in his absence.^[20]

In October 1782, the tide shifted again, when forces led by Nguyen Phuc Man, Nguyen Anh's younger brother, and Chau Van Tiep drove the Tay Son out of Saigon.^[20][21] Nguyen Anh returned to Saigon, as did Pigneau.^[20] The hold was tenuous, and a counterattack by the Tay Son in early 1783 saw a heavy defeat to the Nguyen, with Nguyen Man killed in battle.^[8][20] Nguyen Anh again fled to Phu Quoc, but this time his hiding place was discovered.^[20] He managed to escape the pursuing Tay Son fleet to Koh-rong island in the Bay of Kompongsom. Again, his hideout was discovered and encircled by the rebel fleet. However, a typhoon hit the area, and he managed to break the naval siege and escape to another island amid the confusion.^[17][20] In early-1784, Nguyen Anh went to seek Siamese aid, which was forthcoming, but the extra 20,000 men failed to weaken the Tay Son's hold on power.^[17] This forced Nguyen Anh to become a refugee in Siam in 1785.^[20][22] To make matters worse, the Tay Son regularly raided the rice growing areas of the south during the harvesting season, depriving the Nguyen of their food supply.^[10] Nguyen Anh eventually came to the conclusion that using Siamese military aid would generate a backlash amongst the populace, due to prevailing Vietnamese hostility towards Siam.^[11]

Pigneau and French assistance[link]

Portrait of Prince Canh, the eldest son of Gia Long, in France, 1787.

Deflated by his situation, Nguyen Anh asked Pigneau to appeal for French aid, and allowed Pigneau to take his son Nguyen Phuc Canh with him as a sign of good faith.^[14][20][23] This came about after Nguyen Anh had considered enlisting English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish assistance.^[24] Pigneau advised against Nguyen Anh's original plan to seek Dutch aid from Batavia, fearing that the support of the Protestant Dutch would hinder the advancement of Catholicism.^[14] Pigneau left Vietnam in December,^[20] arriving in Pondicherry, India in February 1785 with Nguyen Anh's royal seal. Nguyen Anh had authorized him to make concessions to France in return for military assistance.^[25] The French administration in Pondicherry, led by acting governor Coutenceau des Algrains, was conservative in outlook and resolutely opposed intervention in southern Vietnam.^[25][26] To compound the already complex situation, Pigneau was denounced by Spanish Franciscans in the Vatican, and he sought to transfer his political mandate to Portuguese forces. The Portuguese had earlier offered Nguyen Anh 56 ships to use against the Tay Son.^[27]

In July 1786, after more than 12 months of fruitless lobbying in Pondicherry, Governor de Cossigny allowed Pigneau to travel back to France to directly ask the royal court for assistance.^[23][26][28] Arriving at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles in February 1787, Pigneau had difficulty in gathering support for a French expedition in support of Nguyen Anh.^[26] This was due to the parlous financial state of the country prior to the French Revolution. Pigneau was helped by Pierre Poivre, who had previously been involved in seeking French commercial interests in Vietnam.^[26][29] Pigneau told the court that if France invested in Nguyen Anh and acquired a few fortified positions on the Vietnamese coast in return, then they would have the capability to "dominate the seas of China and of the archipelago", and with it, control of Asian commerce.^[29] In November 1787, a treaty of alliance was concluded between France and Cochinchina—the European term for southern Vietnam—in Nguyen Anh's name. Pigneau signed the treaty as the "Royal Commissioner of France for Cochinchina".^[23][29] France promised four frigates, 1,650 fully equipped French soldiers and 250 Indian sepoys in return for the cession of Pulo Condore and Tourane (Da Nang),^[23][26] as well as tree trade to the exclusion of all other countries.^[8][23][28] However, the freedom to spread Christianity was not included.^[23][29] However, Pigneau found that Governor Thomas Conway of Pondicherry was unwilling to fulfill the agreement;^[28][30] Conway had been instructed by Paris to determine when to organize the aid, if at all.^[23][30] Pigneau was thus forced to use funds raised in France to enlist French volunteers and mercenaries.^{[22][26][30][31]} He also managed to procure several shipments of arms and munitions from Mauritius and Pondicherry.^[10]

Meanwhile, Nguyen Anh had stayed in Siam with a contingent of troops until August 1787. His soldiers served in Siam’s war against Bodawpaya of Burma.^[8][32] Having consolidated their hold on southern Vietnam, the Tay Son decided to move north to unify the country. However, the withdrawal of troops from the Gia Dinh garrison weakened them their hold on the south.^[27][32] This was compounded by reports that Nguyen Nhac was being attacked near Qui Nhon by his own brother Nguyen Hue,^[33] and that more Tay Son troops were being evacuated from Gia Dinh by their commander Dang Van Tran in order to aid Nguyen Nhac. Sensing Tay Son vulnerability in the south, Nguyen Anh assembled his forces at home and abroad in preparation for an immediate offensive.^[11] Nguyen Anh secretly left Siam and headed for southern Vietnam, but he failed in his first attempt to recapture Gia Dinh. He eventually succeeded in taking My Tho, made it the main staging point for his operations, and rebuilt his army. After a hard-fought battle, his soldiers captured Saigon on 7 September 1788.^[32] Eventually, Pigneau assembled four vessels to sail to Vietnam from Pondicherry, arriving in Saigon on 24 July 1789.^[34] The combined forces helped to consolidate Nguyen Anh’s hold on southern Vietnam.^[8][32][35] The exact magnitude of foreign aid and the importance of their contribution to Gia Long's success is a point of dispute. Earlier scholars asserted that up to 400 Frenchmen enlisted,^{[9][22][26][31]} but more recent work has claimed that less than 100 soldiers were present, along with approximately a dozen officers.^[36][37]

Consolidation of southern Vietnam[link]

The French officers enlisted by Pigneau helped to train Nguyen Anh's armed forces and introduced Western technological expertise to the war effort. The navy was trained by Jean Marie Dayot,^[32] who supervised the construction of bronze-plated naval vessels.^[36] Olivier de Puymanel was responsible for training the army and the construction of fortifications.^[31][32][38] He taught the troops various methods of manufacturing and using European-style artillery and introduced European infantry formations and tactics.^[36] Pigneau and other missionaries acted as business agents for Nguyen Anh, purchasing munitions and other military supplies.^[28] Pigneau also served as an advisor and de facto foreign minister until his death in 1799.^[38][39] Upon Pigneau's death,^[31] Gia Long's funeral oration described the Frenchman as "the most illustrious foreigner ever to appear at the court of Cochinchina".^[40] Pigneau was buried in the presence of the crown prince, all mandarins of the court, the royal bodyguard of 12,000 men and 40,000 mourners.^[40][41]

Fortifications[link]

Layout of the original citadel.

Following the recapture of Saigon, Nguyen Anh consolidated his power base and prepared the destruction of the Tay Son. His enemies had regularly raided the south and confiscated the annual rice harvests, so Nguyen Anh was keen to strengthen his defense. One of Nguyen Anh's first actions was to ask the French officers to design and supervise the construction of a modern European-style citadel in Saigon. The citadel was designed by Theodore Lebrun and de Puymanel, with 30,000 people mobilized for its construction in 1790.^[42] The townfolk and their mandarins were punitively taxed for the work, the laborers were worked so hard that they revolted. When finished, the stone citadel had a perimeter measuring 4,176 meters in a Vauban model.^[42] The fortress was bordered on three sides by pre-existing waterways, bolstering its natural defensive capability.^[43] Following the construction of the citadel, the Tay Son never again attempted to sail down the Saigon River and try to recapture the city—its presence having endowed Nguyen Anh with a substantial psychological advantage over his opponents.^[44] Nguyen Anh took a keen personal interest in fortifications, ordering his French advisors to travel home and bring back books with the latest scientific and technical studies on the subject.^[45]

Agrarian reform and economic growth[link]

With the southern region secured, Nguyen Anh turned his attention to agrarian reforms.^[46] Due to Tay Son naval raids on the rice crop via inland waterways, the area suffered chronic rice shortages.^[47] Although the land was extremely fertile, the region was agriculturally underexploited, having been occupied by Vietnamese settlers only relatively recently. Furthermore, agricultural activities had also been significantly curtailed during the extended warfare with the Tay Son. Nguyen Anh's agricultural reforms were based around extending to the south a traditional form of agrarian expansion, the đồn điền, which roughly translates as "military settlement" or "military holding", the emphasis being on the military origin of this form of colonization. These were first used during the 15th century reign of Le Thanh Tong in the southward expansion of Vietnam. The central government supplied military units with agricultural tools and grain for nourishment and planting. The soldiers were then assigned land to defend, clear and cultivate, and had to pay some of their harvest as tax. In the past, a military presence was required because the land was being seized from the conquered indigenous population. Under Nguyen Anh's rule, pacification was not usually needed but the basic model remained intact. Settlers were granted fallow land, given agricultural equipment, work animals and grain. After several years, they were required to pay grain tax. The program greatly reduced the amount of idle, uncultivated land. Large surpluses of grain, taxable by the state, resulted.^[46]

By 1800, the increased agricultural productivity had allowed Nguyen Anh to support a sizeable army of more than 30,000 soldiers and a navy of more than 1,200 vessels. The surplus from the state granary was sold to European and Asian traders to facilitate the importation of raw materials for military purposes, in particular iron, bronze, and sulfur. The government also purchased castor sugar from local farmers and traded it for weapons from European manufacturers.^[14] The food surplus allowed Nguyen Anh to engage in welfare initiatives that improved morale and loyalty among his subjects, thereby increasing his support base. The surplus grain was deposited in granaries built along the northward route out of Saigon, following the advance of the Nguyen army into Tay Son territory. This allowed his troops to be fed from southern supplies, rather than eating from the areas that he was attempting to conquer or win over. Newly acquired regions were given tax exemptions, and surrendered Tay Son mandarins were appointed to equivalent positions with the same salaries in the Nguyen administration.^[14]

Naval buildup[link]

The French Navy officer Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau served Emperor Gia Long.

Nguyen Anh used his new base to improve his inferior navy, which was much smaller than the Tay Son fleet and hitherto unable to prevent their rice raids.^[47] Nguyen Anh had first attempted to acquire modern naval vessels in 1781, when on the advice of Pigneau, he had chartered Portuguese vessels of European design, complete with crew and artillery. This initial experience proved to be disastrous. For reasons that remain unclear, two of the vessels fled in the midst of battle against the Tay Son, while angry Vietnamese soldiers killed the third crew.^[47] In 1789, Pigneau returned to Vietnam from Pondicherry with two vessels, which stayed in the Nguyen service long-term. Over time, Vietnamese sailors replaced the original French and Indian crew under the command of French officers. These vessels became the foundation for an expanded military and merchant Nguyen naval force, with Nguyen Anh chartering and purchasing more European vessels to reinforce Vietnamese-built ships. However, traditional Vietnamese-style galleys and small sailing ships remained the majority of the fleet. By 1794, two European vessels were operating together with 200 Vietnamese boats against the Tay Son near Qui Nhon. In 1799, a British trader by the name of Berry reported that the Nguyen fleet had departed Saigon along the Saigon River with 100 galleys, 40 junks, 200 smaller boats and 800 carriers, accompanied by three European sloops.^[47] In 1801, one naval division was reported to have included nine European vessels armed with 60 guns, five vessels with 50 guns, 40 with 16 guns, 100 junks, 119 galleys and 365 smaller boats.^[47]

Most of the European-style vessels were built in the shipyard that Nguyen Anh had commissioned in Saigon. He took a deep personal interest in the naval program, directly supervising the work and spending several hours a day dockside. One witness noted "One principal tendency of his ambition is to naval science, as a proof of this he has been heard to say he would build ships of the line on the European plan."^[48] By 1792, fifteen frigates were under construction, with a design that mixed Chinese and European specifications, equipped with 14 guns. The Vietnamese learned European naval architecture by dismantling an old European vessel into its components, so that Vietnamese shipbuilders could understand the separate facets of European shipbuilding, before reassembling it. They then applied their newfound knowledge to create replicas of the boats. Nguyen Anh studied naval carpentry techniques and was said to be adept at it, and learned navigational theory from the French books that Pigneau translated, particularly Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. The Saigon shipyard was widely praised by European travelers.^[48]

Despite his extensive reliance on French officers on matters of military technology, Nguyen Anh limited his inner military circle to Vietnamese. The Frenchmen decried his refusal to take their tactical advice. Chaigneau reported that the Europeans continually urged Nguyen Anh to take the initiative and launch bold attacks against Tay Son installations. Nguyen Anh refused, preferring to proceed slowly, consolidating his gains in one area and strengthening his economic and military base, before attacking another. Over time, Nguyen Anh gradually reduced the military role of his French allies on the battlefield.^[36] In the naval battle at Thi Nai in 1792, Dayot led the Nguyen naval attack, but by 1801, a seaborne offensive in the same area was led by the Nguyen Van Truong, Vo Duy Nguy and Le Van Duyet, with Chaigneau, Vannier, and de Forsans in supporting positions. The infantry attack on Qui Nhon in 1793 was conducted, according to Nguyen historiography, in cooperation with "Western soldiers".^[36] The same source recorded that by 1801, Nguyen operations in the same area were directed by Vietnamese generals, whereas Chaigneau and Vannier were responsible for organizing supply lines.^[36]

Unification of Vietnam[link]

Vietnamese "Tirailleur" soldiers of the Nguyen Dynasty.

In 1792, the middle and the most notable of the three Tay Son brothers, Nguyen Hue Quang Trung, who had gained recognition as Emperor of Vietnam by driving the Le Dynasty and China out of northern Vietnam, died suddenly. Nguyen Anh took advantage of the situation and attacked northwards.^[39] By now, the majority of the original French soldiers, whose number peaked at less than 80 by some estimates, had departed.^[36][37] The majority of the fighting occurred in and around the coastal towns of Nha Trang in central Vietnam and Qui Nhon further to the south in Binh Dinh Province, the birthplace and stronghold of the Tay Son.^[10][11] Nguyen Anh began by deploying his expanded and modernised naval fleet in raids against coastal Tay Son territory. His fleet left Saigon and sailed northward on an annual basis during June and July, carried by southwesterly winds. The naval offensives were reinforced by infantry campaigns. His fleet would then return south when the monsoon ended, on the back of northeasterly winds.^[44] The large European wind-powered vessels gave the Nguyen navy a commanding artillery advantage, as they has a superior range to the Tay Son cannons on the coast. Combined with traditional galleys and a crew that was highly regarded for its discipline, skill and bravery,^[49] the European-style vessels in the Nguyen fleet inflicted hundreds of losses against the Tay Son in 1792 and 1793.^[49]

In 1794, after a successful campaign in the Nha Trang region, Nguyen Anh ordered de Puymanel to build a citadel at Duyen Khanh, near the city, instead of retreating south with the seasonal northeasterly breeze. A Nguyen garrison was established there under the command of Nguyen Anh's eldest son and heir, Nguyen Phuc Canh, assisted by Pigneau and de Puymanel. The Tay Son laid siege to Duyen Khanh in May 1794, but Nguyen forces were able to keep them out. Shortly after the siege ended, reinforcements arrived from Saigon and offensive operations against the Tay Son duly resumed. The campaign was the first time that the Nguyen were able to operate in Tay Son heartland during an unfavorable season. The defensive success of the citadel was a powerful psychological victory for the Nguyen, demonstrating their ability to penetrate Tay Son territory at all times of year. The Nguyen then proceeded to slowly erode the Tay Son heartland.^[44]

Heavy fighting occurred at the fortress of Qui Nhon, until it was captured in 1799 by Nguyen Canh's forces.^[31][32] However, the city was quickly lost and was not regained until 1801.^[38][39] The superior firepower of the improved navy played the decisive role in the ultimate recapture of the city, supporting a large overland attack.^[49] After the capture of their stronghold at Qui Nhon, the Tay Son, led by Quang Trung's son Quang Toan, came quickly. In June, the central city of Hue—the former capital of the Nguyen—fell and Nguyen Anh crowned himself emperor, under the reign name Gia Long, which was derived from Gia Định (Saigon) and Thăng Long (Hanoi) to symbolize the unification of north and south Vietnam.^[31][39][50] He then quickly overran the north, with Hanoi captured on 22 July 1802.^[51] After a quarter-century of continuous fighting, Gia Long had unified what is now modern Vietnam,^[39] and elevated his family to a position never previously occupied by Vietnamese royalty.^[39] Vietnam had never before occupied a larger landmass. Gia Long became the first Vietnamese ruler to reign over territory stretching from China in the north, all the way to the Gulf of Siam and the Ca Mau peninsula in the south.^[14] Gia Long's then petitioned the Qing Dynasty of China for official recognition, which was promptly granted.^[39][52] The French failure to honour the treaty signed by Pigneau meant Vietnam was not bound to cede the territory and trading rights that they had promised.^[53]

Rule[link]

Gia Long's rule was noted for its strict Confucian orthodoxy.^[54] Upon toppling the Tay Son, he repealed their reforms and reimposed a classical Confucian education and civil service system. He moved the capital from Hanoi in the north to Hue in central Vietnam to reflect the southward migration of the population over the preceding centuries. The emperor built new fortresses and a palace in his new capital. Using French expertise, Gia Long modernised Vietnam's defensive capabilities. In deference to the assistance of his French friends, he tolerated the activities of Catholic missionaries, something that was increasingly restricted by his successors. Under Gia Long’s rule, Vietnam strengthened its military dominance in Indochina, expelling Siam from Cambodia and turning it into a vassal. Despite this, he was relatively isolationist in outlook towards European powers.

Administrative structure[link]

Le Van Duyet, the longest-serving and the last military protector of the four provinces of Cochinchina.

During the war era, Nguyen Anh had maintained an embryonic bureaucracy in an attempt to prove his leadership ability to the people. Due to the incessant warfare, military officers were generally the most prominent members of his inner circle.^[55] This dependency on military backing continued to manifest itself throughout his reign.^[55] Vietnam was divided into three administrative regions. The old patrimony of the Nguyen formed the central part of the empire (vùng Kinh Kỳ), with nine provinces, five of which were directly ruled by Gia Long and his mandarins from Hue.^[39][55] The central administration at Hue was divided into six ministries: Public affairs, finance, rites, war, justice and public works. Each was under a minister, assisted by two deputies and two or three councillors.^[39] Each of these ministries had around 70 employees assigned to various units.^[55] The heads of these ministries formed the Supreme Council. A treasurer general and a Chief of the Judicial Service assisted a governor general, who was in charge of a number of provinces.^[56] The provinces were classified into trấn and dinh. These were in turn divided into phủ, huyện and châu.^[56] All important matters were examined by the Supreme Council in the presence of Gia Long. The officials tabled their reports for discussion and decision-making. The bureaucrats involved in the Supreme Council were selected from the high-ranking mandarins of the six ministries and the academies.^[55]