[November 4] Thieu Tri, emperor of Vietnam

An imperial edict signed by Thieu Tri

Local Name: Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông
Parents: Minh Mang, emperor of Vietnam, and Ho Thi Hoa
Born: 6 June 1807
House: Nguyen
Predecessor: Minh Mang

Reign: 1841 – 1847
Brief: As an early emperor of Vietnam, Thieu Tri was a conservative, focusing on isolationism and Confucianism in the face of Western imperialism. He was suspicious of outsiders despite a desire to learn about them. The United Kingdom and France were both pushing into Indochina from the west, and Christian missionaries, generally Spanish and French continued to appear in Vietnam, despite bans in place against them. Tri began imprisoning the missionaries, and France responded. In 1843, they invaded Indochina to recover their missionaries and ensure the safety of French explorers. The United States got involved in 1845 when the USS Constitution attempted to free a missionary who was a multiple offender. Two years later, France reached Tourane, a major Vietnamese city, and demanded that missionaries be released and that Tri cease his persecution of them. When Tri ignored the request, the French attacked and destroyed all the coastal defenses of Vietnam as well as much of the Vietnamese fleet. Tri responded by issuing an execution order, which his men fortunately did not put into effect. Tri died shortly afterwards. Not a single missionary was executed during his reign despite his threats.

Date of Death: 4 November 1847
Successor: Tu Duc

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Khalil Sultan, ruler of Transoxonia (1411)

[July 30] Bao Dai, emperor of Vietnam

True Name: Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (阮福永瑞)

Parents: Khai Dinh, king of Annam, and Tu Cung

Date of Birth: 22 October 1913
Royal House: Nguyen
Spouse: Nam Phuong, daughter of Pierre Nguyen Huru-Hao, and Marie Le Thj Binh, among others
Predecessor: Khai Dinh
Reign: 1926 – 1945
Summary: The son of the weak ruler of Annam, the central portion of the French-controlled colony of Vietnam, it was unlikely that Bao Dai would ever wield any real power.  His dynasty, the Nguyen, had ruled in Vietnam since 1802, mostly as rulers of Annam and Tonkin. When he was nine, Bao Dai was sent to France and educated at the Lycée Condorcet and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. His father died in 1926 and the prince took the name Bao Dai (Keeper of Greatness) as his regnal name. Since he was still young, he returned to Paris and continued his studies. He returned in the early 1930s and married Marie-Thérèse Nguyen Huru Thj Lan, a Roman Catholic commoner. Over the next ten years, the couple had five children. Marie-Thérèse was crowned Empress in 1945. Bao Dai also married many other women throughout his life, including a cousin and a Chinese woman.

World War II changed politics in Vietnam in many ways. Most importantly, the French government was taken over by Japanese overlords. While the French retained nominal control, the Japanese controlled most policy. But Bao Dai worked hard during these years to oust the French from Vietnam entirely. The Japanese supported this movement and, in 1945, it succeeded and Bao Dai proclaimed himself the emperor of a fully independent Vietnam. The country quickly joined the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere created by the Japanese. The Japanese retained a Vietnamese prince who was raised by Japanese officials to replace Bao Dai in case Vietnamese politics went a different direction. But things then turned a different way. Japan was defeated in August 1945 and the Vietminh under Ho Chi Minh sought a free Vietnam. Because of his association with Japan, Ho Chi Minh convinced Bao Dai to abdicate the Vietnamese throne, handing political power to the Vietminh. Bao Dai remained as "supreme advisor" to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The new republic only lasted a year. In November 1946, the French returned and ousted the upstart republicans. Vietnam descended into civil war, the true start of the Vietnam War, and Bao Dai fled to Hong Kong and then China. In 1949, the French recalled him to rule as head-of-state rather than emperor. But he only stayed for a few months before returning to France. When the communists won in China in late 1949, the Vietminh was reinvigorated. The United States recognized the Empire of Vietnam under Bao Dai in 1950 even though the former emperor had left. The U.S. began supplying the French and pro-imperial forces in Vietnam as the start of an anti-communist crusade. When the Geneva Accords were signed in 1954 separating Vietnam into Northern and Southern regions, Bao Dai remained head of state in the south, but appointed Ngo Dinh Diem his prime minister and removed himself from politics once again. The next year, Bao Dai abdicated the throne again after a referendum highlighted the people's desire to form a republic. Bao Dai settled in France and Monaco and became a frequent sailor. He was constantly petitioned by both Vietnamese governments during the war to act as a spokesperson, head-of-state, or political unifier. While supporting a democratic republic, he spoke against the United States' military in Vietnam and sought peace. Despite his popularity among the Vietnamese government, the Vietnamese people and the French disliked the former emperor, the former because of his status as a French and Japanese puppet ruler, the latter because he supported the anti-French rebellion. Despite it all, he never had much political power in Vietnam. When he died in 1997, he was largely forgotten by Vietnam. His son, Bao Long, succeeded as the head of the family.

Date of Death: 30 July 1997
Successor: Bao Long (as pretender)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Benedict I, pope of Rome (579)
• Meiji, emperor of Japan (1912)

[February 3] Gia Long, emperor of Vietnam

True Name: Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福映)

Parents: Nguyễn Phúc Luân and Nguyễn Thị Hoàn

Date of Birth: 8 February 1762

Royal House: Nguyễn

Spouse: Tống Thị Lan, Trần Thị Đang, and Lê Thị Ngọc Bình

Reign: 1802 – 1820

Predecessor: Quang Toan

Summary: Gia Long began his life as a refugee, the last of a line of prominent south Vietnamese nobles. In 1777, at the age of fifteen, Gia returned to Vietnam and took command of an army that was created for him through the negotiations of a French priest, Pigneau de Behaine. After some marginal victories, Gia Long proclaimed himself king of south Vietnam in 1781 and sent support to his Cambodian allies who were fighting the Siamese of Thailand. This redirection of his efforts undermined his mission in Vietnam and he was forced to flee once again. A counterattack led by his brother brought Gia Long back to Vietnam but he was forced to flee yet again when his brother was killed. Gia then took the most damaging step, though none knew it then, by enlisting the aide of the French to reclaim Vietnam. Pigneau traveled to France and petitioned the king, and the king acquiesced. He sent soldiers and a fleet and Pigneau discovered that Gia Long had already reclaimed Saigon and was attempting to fortify his hold over south Vietnam. The French forces solidified his rule of the region but he was not emperor yet. Gia Long consolidated his rule and then started north.

The tactics used by Gia Long to conquer Vietnam were modern in design, with much provided by the French. In 1802, Gia Long proclaimed himself emperor of Vietnam at his ancestral capital at Hue, which his forces had just reclaimed. He then sent his forces north, supported by ships and guns, to capture Hanoi in July, thereby ending the rule of his rivals. Gia Long became the first emperor to rule all of Vietnam from China to the Gulf of Siam. Gia Long sought recognition from the Chinese government and was granted it, while meanwhile the French failed to uphold their own treaty, due in part to the French Revolutionary Wars, and thus Vietnam did not have to cede territory to the French. Gia Long's reign was marked with conservative values mixed with modernization. Cambodia was released from its Siamese bondage only to become a vassal state of Vietnam. Diplomacy with Europe was limited and reserved. The major cities of Vietnam were rebuilt and repaired. Gia Long is the predecessor of the current state of Vietnam and he left the throne to his son, Minh Mang, who maintained the state.

Date of Death: 3 February 1820

Successor: Minh Mạng

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