Nguyễn Văn Tường

Nguyễn Văn Tường (* 1824 ; † 1886 ) was an influential Mandarin at the time of the Nguyễn dynasty . He rose to high official posts under Emperor Tự Beamc and became regent under his successors. After he was involved in the assassination of Emperor Dục Đức , he first took part in the revolt of the Cần Vương movement against the influence of the French colonial power, which was kicked off by Emperor Hàm Nghi , but turned his back on this movement and returned to the court of the imperial city Huế back. He was eventually banished to Tahiti by the colonial government .

Origin and career

Nguyen Van Tuong's father had already been punished for rebellion. He tried to disguise this once when registering for the imperial exams and was punished for it. Despite his background, he became a successful civil servant at Tu Duc's court. He made a special contribution to the control of the trade between Quảng Trị and Savannakhet and thus attracted the attention of Emperor Tu Duc, who in future appeared as his patron.

Civil service career at the court

In 1864 he was appointed Chief of Police of Hue due to unrest during the Imperial Exams. In 1867 he was commissioned to regulate relations with the French in diplomatic negotiations in Saigon. In 1867 he was sent to the mountainous region in the north of Tonkins to fight rebels and bandits in cooperation with forces of the Qing Empire . In 1874 he negotiated the Second Treaty of Saigon with the French, which supplemented the treaty of 1862 . After Tu Duc's death, he was one of the key political players on the difficult question of succession. Together with the other conspirators, he conspired to assassinate the 31-year-old Emperor Duc Duc after three days of reign. Instead, the regents put the youthful emperor Kiến Phúc on the throne. During his reign, Nguyen Van Tuong worked with the Mandarin Tôn Thất Thuyết to build a private army to control the empire and act against the French colonialists. Ton Than Thuyet became the principal architect of the Can Vuong movement after the death of Emperor Kien Phuc, who according to contemporary sources is attributed either poison or disease. Nguyen Van Tuong supported the enthronement and the edict of resistance of the youthful emperor Ham Nghi. In the course of the throne crisis, in which the colonial power deposed Ham Nghi and plundered the imperial palace in Hue, Nguyen Van Tuong returned to Hue as regent, which could be seen as a sign of collaboration. However, he was arrested by the French and exiled to Tahiti , where he died shortly after arrival. On the French side, Nguyen Van Tuong has been linked to attacks against Christians in the course of anti-French protests.

Contemporary Chinese sources from the time of his military service accuse Nguyen Van Tuong of corruption in dealing with bandits.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} K.W. Taylor: A History of the Vietnamese . Cambridge, 2013, pp. 473-477
2. ↑ Pierre Brocheux, Daniel Hémery: Indochina. An ambiguous colonization, 1858-1954 . Berkeley 2009, pp. 43-47
3. ^ Bradley Camp Davis: Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands. Seattle, 2017, p. 97.