Capture of Nam Định (1883)
The Capture of Nam Định (27 March 1883), a confrontation between the French and the Vietnamese, was one of the early engagements of the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86). In a brief campaign in the last week of March 1883, Commandant Henri Rivière captured the citadel of Nam Định, the second-largest city in Tonkin, with a flotilla of gunboats and a battalion of marine infantry.
| Capture of Nam Định | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Tonkin campaign | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| France |
Nguyen dynasty Black Flag Army Qing dynasty | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Henri Rivière |
Vũ Trọng Bình Lê Văn Điếm Hồ Bá Ôn Vĩnh Thông Chất | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
6 gunboats 500 marine infantry 20 Cochinchinese riflemen 60 sailors |
6,200 Vietnamese soldiers 600 Chinese soldiers under Black Flag command | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 Gunboat lightly damaged 4 men wounded (1 died of wounds on May 13th) |
Unknown but Heavy 98 guns captured | ||||||
Rivière's seizure of Nam Định marked a significant escalation of French ambitions in Tonkin, and had important consequences. China began to covertly support the Vietnamese government in its opposition to French colonization. Chinese involvement in Tonkin ultimately resulted in the nine-month Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885).
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