Tự Đức

Tự Đức ( 嗣 德 )
Prince name	Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm ( 阮福洪 任 )
Personal name	Nguyễn Phúc Thì ( 阮 福 蒔 )
Born	September 22, 1829
Died	July 19, 1883
Term of office	November 10, 1847 to July 19, 1883
Ara designation	Tự Đức ( 嗣 德 )
Temple name	Dực Tông ( 翼 宗 )
Posthumous name	Anh Hoàng Đế ( 英 皇帝 )
Resting place	Khiêm Lăng ( 謙 陵 )
Era period	February 5, 1848 to January 27, 1884

Emperor Tự Đức ( Hán tự : 嗣 德 ; born September 22, 1829 in Huế ; † July 19, 1883 ibid) was the fourth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty , he held this office from November 10, 1847 until his death. His real name was Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, as an acronym he chose T Är Ärc .

biography

Tomb Tự Đức

Graphic representation of the grave complex

The son of Emperor Thiệu Trị was born on September 22, 1829 and succeeded his father on November 10, 1847 to the throne. However, his era began with a rebellion. This had its cause in the repressive policies of the previous emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty, but it was only the circumstances of the election of Tự Đức as emperor that gave the dissatisfaction a leader and a royal legitimized one: Thiệu Trị had passed his more moderate eldest son Hồng Bảo in the line of succession and instead given the throne to Tự Đức, who was known for his faithful Confucianism , dislike of foreigners, and innovation.

Crown Prince Hồng Bảo became the leader of a rebellion against Tự Đức. It relied on different forces. On the one hand, there were Confucian scholars who said that by ignoring the eldest son, the family hierarchy had been dishonored. On the other hand, there were leftover supporters of the Lê dynasty , which many still saw as the legitimate dynasty of Vietnam. Finally, there were the peasants, who were outraged by the Nguyễn taxation and the usually corrupt mandarins , but also by the Catholic missionaries and converts to Christianity. Tự Đức quickly suppressed the rebellion with military force. His mother, Empress Dowager Tự Đứ , dissuaded him from having his brother executed, but Hồng Bảo committed suicide in prison.

politics

Emperor Tự Đức continued the policy of his predecessors: he decoupled Vietnam from the outside world and rejected all attempts to modernize the country. Reports of his personal life show a distinguished and educated man, but his policies led to conflict with European powers, especially France, which Vietnam was unable to win. He suppressed all foreigners, especially the Christian community, whose religion he called a "perverse doctrine". The Christian Mandarin Nguyễn Truong To tried unsuccessfully to convince Tự Đức that this was a suicidal policy. However, he assumed that the revolutionary turmoil of 1848 would prevent France from intervening, but he was wrong.

France used the persecution of Christians as a pretext and attacked from southern Vietnam. The Nguyễn Army fought valiantly for some time, but their antiquated weapons and strategies posed no threat to the French, who suffered more from the climate and disease than from the opposition. As the French troops moved closer and closer to him, Tự Đức called his Chinese master, the Qing emperor, to help. This is how the Sino-French War came about . In the Battle of Hanoi , the French defeated the Chinese and their allied Black Flag pirates . China gave up its position as feudal lord of Vietnam and recognized France as the ruling power in the region.

In addition, there were renewed internal rebellions that became customary for the Nguyễn dynasty. There were literally hundreds of minor rebellions and uprisings against the Nguyễn government. The repression of Christian missionaries was also a great source of disturbance, including the execution of a Spanish bishop, which led to the fall of Saigon to the French. According to an order from 1848, Tự Đức called on all Vietnamese Catholics to revoke their religion, otherwise they would be branded on the face with the mark of heresy and lose all rights and privileges. This suppression called all European powers together against Vietnam and Tự Đức has given up all hopes of getting help from the outside world for Vietnam as a victim.

When further rebellions broke out and the French advanced to the capital, Tự Đức feared for his power. He preferred an agreement with the French to put down the rebellion. Although he expected France to demand humiliating concessions from him, the rebels would want to depose and / or kill him. Tự Đức ceded most of the southern part of Vietnam to France as Cochinchina in the Treaty of Saigon and the following treaties , and accepted the status of a French protectorate for his country. This caused a great stir. Many, like the famous mandarin Trương Công Định , refused to recognize this treaty. They continued to fight for the defense of their country, condemning Tự Đức for abandoning parts of their homeland.

Emperor Tự Đức no longer experienced the worst effects of colonization on his country. Since he was the last to rule it independently, he is often viewed as the last emperor of Vietnam. With his breath of death he is said to have cursed the French - at least according to legend.

successor

As a result of a smallpox disease, Tự Pc was impotent , so that despite a huge harem of women in his palace, he had no children. Therefore he adopted three of his nephews: Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái ( Dục Đức ), Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ ( Đồng Khánh ) and Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng ( Kiến Phúc ).

But when it came time to find a successor, his eldest adoptive son, Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái (Dục Đức), was not the first choice, as he was considered to be addicted to games, untalented and slightly mentally disabled, but the youngest of the three, Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng (Kiến Phúc). Nevertheless, Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái was enthroned as emperor ( Dục Đức ) after T nach Đức's death in 1883 . It is controversial who the two Tự Đức had chosen as their successor. He might have chosen Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái (Dục Đức) to spare his adoptive sons what had happened to him and his brother Hồng Bảo.

Web links

Commons : Nguyễn Dực Tôn  - collection of images