Thiệu Trị

Thiệu Trị ( 紹 治 )
Prince name	Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông ( 阮福綿 宗 )
Personal name	Nguyễn Phúc Tuyền ( 阮 福 暶 )
Born	June 16, 1807
Died	November 4, 1847
Term of office	February 11, 1841 to November 4, 1847
Ara designation	Thiệu Trị ( 紹 治 )
Temple name	Hiến Tổ ( 憲 祖 )
Posthumous name	Chương Hoàng Đế ( 章 皇帝 )
Resting place	Xương Lăng ( 昌陵 )
Era period	February 11, 1841 to November 9, 1847

Emperor Thiệu Trị ( Hán tự : 紹 治 ; born June 16, 1807 in Huế ; † November 4, 1847 ibid) was the third emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty , he held this office from February 11, 1841 until his death. His actual name was Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông, as an acronym he chose Thiệu Trị.

Emperor Thiệu Trị was the eldest son of Emperor Minh Mạng . He continued its conservative policy of isolation and entrenchment of Confucianism . Well educated according to Confucian tradition, Thiệu Trị was interested in information about the West, but like his father was very suspicious of all foreign influences.

At the time of Thiệu Trị, Vietnam was increasingly exposed to European influence. One gateway for this was Christian missionary activity. It represented a real danger to the social structure of Vietnam, as it broke the religious ties of the population to the feudal lord and the imperial family, which, according to the prevailing interpretation of Buddhism and the teachings of Confucius, called into question the unquestioning classification into the social system. So there were reasons for Vietnam's rulers to forbid the missionaries from doing their work, to arrest or expel them if they violated them, or to execute them in extreme cases; In addition, these and those who converted to Catholicism were well suited as scapegoats who could be held responsible for the peasant revolts that broke out again and again.

When Thiệu Trị took appropriate measures - in a cautious manner, since he and his court were aware of the risks - the far greater danger became apparent: the alleged persecution of the missionaries was mainly used by France as an excuse to threaten Vietnam militarily. France's intervention in Vietnam began in 1843 when a naval formation under Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille was sent there. This was repeated in 1845, this time the imprisoned missionary Dominique Lefèbvre was to be freed. (He was released and had to leave the country.) The US warship USS Constitution was also involved in this conflict .

The real reason for the French activities towards not only Vietnam, but also Korea and Japan, was the competition with Great Britain for influence in East Asia, especially in China. Great Britain had secured the base in Hong Kong in 1841/42 . French circles hoped to be able to penetrate into the interior of China via the Mekong or the Red River . A separate base in this room also seemed necessary - the first attempt to build it on Basilan failed in 1844/45. At that time, however, France did not yet have a strategy for achieving its goals; the actions were more ad hoc, often at the initiative of the naval commanders. (The long communication path to France prevented coordinated reactions to current events.)

In 1847, Admiral Cécille sent two warships under Captain Augustin de Lapierre , again to liberate Dominique Lefèbvres. (This had returned illegally and was imprisoned again.) The ships reached Tourane on March 23, 1847 ; the French demanded the imperial government to release the French missionaries who had been arrested and to practice Catholicism freely in Vietnam. The emperor could not tolerate such interference, the negotiations dragged on. On April 15, the French fleet attacked the Vietnamese and coastal forts. If Thiệu Tr Wenn had fortified the coast, his forces were hopelessly inferior to the much more modern French. The Vietnamese coastal forts were destroyed and three Nguyễn junks sank, around 1200 Vietnamese fighters died. However, since the attack was not covered by an order from the French government and there was no plan for further action, the French sailed again.

Unlike in Japan, where Matthew Perry's black ships turned into a salutary catastrophe, the rulers of Vietnam learned nothing from the sinking of their fleet. Emperor Thiệu Trị responded by calling all missionaries spies and ordering the shooting of all Christians. However, this was not carried out because it would have led to open war with France. Shortly afterwards the emperor died.

Thiệu Trị, like his predecessor and his successor, did not understand that his country should have caught up with western developments in science and technology - the example of Japan shows that this was possible. The colonization of Vietnam was a necessary result of its failure. This in turn resulted from their inability to question their feudalist system of rule and its ideology, and thus also their own position. At most an intelligent, unprejudiced, assertive and risk-ready emperor could have given Vietnam a different perspective.

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