Vietnam has a very long and narrow country, with the narrowest point of only 50 kilometers from east to west and 1,600 kilometers from north to south. Vietnam’s plain area is less than 20%, mostly mountains, hills and forests. However, 96 million people are crowded in this land with complex terrain.
▲Vietnam topographic map
The northern region of Vietnam had been under Chinese rule for a long time in ancient times. It was not until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that officially broke away from Chinese rule and established the Vietnamese regime. Vietnam is bounded by the vast sea to the east, dense tropical rainforests and the Changshan Mountains to the west, and China is its strong neighbor to the north. Therefore, for him, the country's territorial expansion can only be achieved by continuously attacking southward. However, even with such a long and narrow land, it took Vietnam many centuries to successfully expand.
1. The two heroes of the north and the south: the independence of Vietnam and Champa
After Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries in 221 BC, he continued to expand outwards and sent hundreds of thousands of troops to conquer Baiyue in the south. After pacifying Lingnan, the Qin Dynasty established Guilin County, Nanhai County, Xiang County to rule the area. Xiangjun at that time included the northern and central region of today's Vietnam. After the death of Qin, the former Qin general Zhao Tuo took advantage of the chaos in the northern Central Plains to integrate the three southern counties and established himself as king, known as " Nanyue " in history.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroyed the South Vietnam Kingdom, he continued to set up counties and counties to govern Vietnam. From then on until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, although there were still intermittent rebellions, they did not completely break away from Chinese rule.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty quickly fell into a situation of separatist vassals and towns. Warlords who refused to accept the central government's conscription appeared in many places across the country, including the Jiaozhou established by the Tang Dynasty in northern Vietnam. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Southern Han Dynasty, which was separatist in Lingnan, fought many wars with the local wealthy families in Jiaozhou, but they were never able to conquer it. In 939, the local general of Jiaozhou Wu Quan defeated the invading Southern Han army in Bai Dangjiang and proclaimed himself king after the war, laying the foundation for the independent establishment of Vietnam.
▲The picture shows Ding’s collar portrait. After Wu Quan's death, a long period of internal strife broke out in the country, and 12 smaller separatist forces emerged. In 968, the Din tribe leader, one of the local powerful families in northern Vietnam, ended the separatist situation, officially proclaimed himself emperor, and named the country "Da Quyue", completing the process of establishing an independent country in Vietnam.
Before the independence of northern Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam There already existed an ancient country - Champa. Champa, also known as Linyi and Champa , was built by the Cham people who were good at sailing. During the Han Dynasty, it was once included under Chinese rule. It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the Xianglin County District of Rinan County killed the local governor and proclaimed herself queen, and Champa (then called Linyi) became independent under Chinese rule.
Because Champa is located in mountains and hills, there is not much arable land, which severely limits its agricultural development. Therefore, it has not developed a centralized country similar to northern Vietnam. And unlike Vietnam, which has deeply accepted Confucianism and Han culture from China, Champa is connected by sea and land to India in the South Asian subcontinent . Therefore, the early society and state construction were deeply influenced by the culture from India, and were created on the basis of Sanskrit. Champa writing.
▲The treasure ship used by Zheng He during his voyages to the Western Seas. Cham, located in the south-central part of Vietnam, is one of the countries visited by Zheng He's fleet
After independence, Cham relied on the advanced navigation technology learned from the Malays, took advantage of its outstanding offshore advantages and many excellent The harbor became an important transit station on the ancient Maritime Silk Road.
However, Champa’s seaport taxes and agricultural taxes are simply not enough to maintain the basic operation of a country. Therefore, ancient Champa often used its superior geographical location to carry out pirate and plunder business, and this obviously seriously affected the relationship between Champa and surrounding countries. Relations became an important factor in the Vietnam War.
▲The blue line is the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and Champa is located at one of the transfer stations.
2. The Hundred Years' War between Vietnam and Vietnam
Since the end of the 10th century AD, Vietnam has basically established its feudal system. In order to obtain more territory and In order to plunder more wealth and to maintain its independent status and ensure that the country forms a military deterrent to neighboring countries, it actively expands to neighboring countries.
At the beginning of Vietnam's founding, it was at war with the Song Dynasty. However, as a small country, Vietnam was always unable to compete with its powerful neighbor in the north. Therefore, it quickly surrendered and paid tribute to the Song Dynasty. Although there were intermittent wars in the next few hundred years, in general, Vietnam Most of the time, they chose to pay tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty. Since Vietnam cannot expand to the north, then occupying the city in the south is undoubtedly a convenient direction of expansion.
▲11th century Indochina sketch: Green is Champa, gray is Cambodia’s Angkor Dynasty, yellow is Vietnam Li Dynasty
During the rule of Vietnam Li Dynasty (1009-1225), Vietnam’s invasion of Champa was almost Never stopped. Under the fierce offensive of Vietnam, which occupied the fertile land of the Red River Delta in the north, Cham was once unable to resist. The rulers of the Li Dynasty also regarded launching wars of occupation as a means to consolidate their rule.
▲The statue of Li Taizu Li Gongyun located in Hanoi . Starting from Li Gongyun, the founding emperor of the Li Dynasty, three generations of ancestors and grandsons launched wars and appointed their heirs to personally lead the army to the front line to command operations.
In the mid-14th century, under the leadership of King Zhi Peng'e, Champa's country reached its peak and took advantage of the Ming court's creation. He took advantage of the opportunity and vigorously marched north, which once brought Vietnam to the brink of national subjugation. At this time, Zhi Peng'e was unfortunately killed in the naval battle due to a traitor in Champa. Because of this, Cham was once again at a disadvantage in the Vietnam-Cham war.
By the mid-15th century, Champa's national power had become increasingly weak, reaching the point where it was difficult to protect itself. In 1471, the Le Shengzong of the later Le Dynasty once again sent troops to conquer Champa in the south, and successfully occupied the capital of Champa, Jhapan City, and killed its king. This was also a decisive battle in the Vietnam-Occupation War. After the war, Vietnam set up administrative agencies in the old land of Champa and introduced a large number of immigrants.
With the defeat of Champa in this battle, Champa was no longer able to resist the Vietnamese invasion. In 1477, Vietnam again conquered the south and defeated Champa. After two southern expeditions, Vietnam annexed four-fifths of Champa's territory and divided it into three small countries: Huaying, Nanpan, and Champa. Since then, Cham has completely become a puppet of Vietnam and can only be at the mercy of Vietnam.
▲During the Zheng-Nguyen dispute in Vietnam in 1650, the only remaining territory of Champa (dark green)
16-At the beginning of the 17th century, domestic disputes continued in Vietnam, and a confrontation between the north and the south also emerged, and three small countries such as Champa also took this opportunity To survive. However, when the Nguyen ruler in southern Vietnam stabilized the domestic situation, he found an excuse to attack Champa, annexed the remaining land of Champa, and pushed a large area of Vietnam's territory southward.
Facing the newly occupied Cham territory, the ancient Vietnamese government quickly adopted a policy of assimilation of the Cham people. Not only were Champa's old rules and regulations destroyed by Vietnam, but its socioeconomic culture also underwent major changes, and free movement was prohibited. Under Vietnamese rule, the Cham people were reduced to a second-class ethnic group and were severely exploited by the Vietnamese.
3. Vietnam’s ambitions
The successful annexation of Champa did not completely dispel Vietnam’s territorial expansion ambitions. Laos and Cambodia have become Vietnam’s new expansion directions. Since the Dinh Dynasty (the end of the 10th century), Vietnam has been constantly looking for excuses to invade Laos.
However, ancient Laos happened to be sandwiched between many power centers in ancient Southeast Asia. When Siam, Myanmar and other countries also tried to penetrate their influence into Laos, Vietnam's expansion in Laos became unsustainable. Therefore, ancient Laos could only survive as a buffer zone between powerful countries in Southeast Asia for a long time. It was not until the 19th century that Vietnam took advantage of the anti-Siam uprising of Vientiane in Laos to conquer most of its territory.
▲The largest territory of the Lancang Kingdom in Laos (1354–1707)
And Laos is also a barrier of Changshan Mountains and alpine rainforests, actively resisting aggression and expansion from Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam will not be able to completely annex Laos for a long time, only Sporadic territorial gains.
For Vietnam, it will take centuries to completely occupy and assimilate Champa, not to mention the difficulty of annexing Laos. Therefore, after Vietnam annexed Champa, its main expansion direction was in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula. It is worth mentioning that this is also the land that Siam covets.
▲In Indochina around 1540, Cambodia had become a vassal state of Siam very early, and Siam was also in a period of rising national power at this time. Since Vietnam intervened in Cambodian affairs in the 17th century, Siam and Vietnam have waged a centuries-long battle for control of Cambodia.
▲The Mekong Delta plain centered on Saigon in southern Vietnam is one of the most fertile lands in Southeast Asia. Rice can be harvested seven times in two years. Therefore, for ancient Vietnam, it was a must-win territory
In the 17th century, the Nguyen ruler in southern Vietnam married his daughter to the King of Cambodia, and the latter, instigated by a Vietnamese concubine, allowed Vietnamese refugees to come to Saigon (today's Ho Chi Minh City) ) and its surrounding lands, and allowed the Vietnamese to collect taxes there.
However, as the number of Vietnamese immigrants increased, Vietnam gradually turned away from foreigners and placed the local area completely under Vietnamese rule. In the mid-17th century, Vietnam used the northern heavy industry as the vanguard of its invasion of Cambodia, and invaded a large amount of land in a short period of time.
At first, Vietnam exerted political influence on Cambodia through the Cambodian court, pretending to be friendly and using both soft and hard tactics. In the face of Vietnam's disguised goodwill attitude, Cambodia had no choice but to actively move closer to Vietnam in order to avoid becoming a vassal of Siam again.
Soon, Vietnam's influence on Cambodia was increasing, and it also began to try to gain further benefits by supporting puppets. The Cambodian court has also been in turmoil due to external interference.
▲ An important building built by the Nguyen Dynasty , the Forbidden City in Hue was a work of the Nguyen Dynasty that imitated the Forbidden City in Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Vietnam's growing influence in Cambodia undoubtedly caused Siam's uneasiness, and Siam also began to try to rebuild its relationship with the Forbidden City in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Control of Cambodia.
As the Nguyen ruler in Vietnam was overthrown by the Tay Son uprising army, the Nguyen clan Nguyen Phuc Anh even had to flee west to Siam, asking for help from their former enemies. It was not until Nguyen Phuc Anh relied on the help of French colonists to reunify Vietnam that Vietnam further accelerated its invasion of Cambodia and ended Siam's last control of Cambodia.
▲During the reign of Emperor Minh Ming (1820-1841), the general territory of the Nguyen Dynasty
In the first half of the 19th century, the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam reached its peak. It not only controlled the Cambodian royal family, but also gradually established state and county officials in the local area through gradual encroachment, and at the same time brought the Cambodian army to the country. Under the command of the Vietnamese, even Cambodian clothes and hairstyles were forcibly Vietnameseized.
However, in 1864, with the further penetration of French power in Southeast Asia, Vietnam also faced French colonial aggression. While Vietnam was overwhelmed, Cambodia was also included in the protectorate of France. At this point, the struggle between Siam and Vietnam over control of Cambodia finally came to an end.
▲In order to compete for the suzerainty of Vietnam, the Qing government and France broke out the Sino-French War in Vietnam. The picture shows the fierce battle between the two armies in Lang Son drawn by foreigners
After the French gained a foothold in Southeast Asia, they reorganized the "French Indochina Federation" based on Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, of which Vietnam was divided into three parts. ——Cochinchina ( Nanqi , southern Vietnam), Annam (Chongqi, central Vietnam), Tokyo ( North Qi, northern Vietnam). The national boundaries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were also clarified during this period, and Vietnam formed a long and narrow land pattern.
It is worth mentioning that in view of Vietnam's own good socio-economic development conditions, it received deliberate support from the French government during the French Indo-China Federation, forming a political and economic situation in which Laos and Cambodia supported Vietnam. However, the French government did not fully integrate Laos and Cambodia into the administrative divisions of Vietnam. This resulted in Vietnam not being able to inherit the international legal principles of the French Indochina Federation in the future. Such policies of the French colonial government undoubtedly greatly enhanced the Vietnamese's desire to control Laos and Cambodia.
▲In 1883, the Nguyen Dynasty signed the "Treaty of Hue" with the French government. With the signing of this treaty, Vietnam's sovereignty was taken over by France and it became a French protectorate.
After World War II, the Vietnamese drove away the French colonists and the American interference forces and completed the reunification of the country. However, the Vietnamese also started to develop again. ambition to establish hegemony in Indochina. Later, Vietnam's invasion of the Khmer Rouge was one of Vietnam's efforts to rebuild the Indo-China Federation.
Vietnam’s long and narrow territory is actually a reflection of the “Southern Advance” policy established at the beginning of its founding. For Vietnam, expanding its territory southward is the optimal solution. It can avoid a head-on confrontation with its powerful neighbor in the north, and it can also avoid crossing the Truong Son Mountains and going deep into the inland areas of the Indochina Peninsula alone. This is indeed the case. Through continuous expansion to the south, Vietnam has acquired one of the most fertile lands in Southeast Asia- the Mekong River Delta. This allows Vietnam, even with a large population, to still earn foreign exchange earnings by exporting grains.
Author: Texas Red Wolf
Editor: Thomas (Tang)
