Tonkin Campaign - Establishment of The French Protectorate (August 1883)

Establishment of The French Protectorate (August 1883)

The arrival of Admiral Amédée Courbet in Along Bay in July 1883 with substantial naval reinforcements further strengthened the French position in Tonkin. Although the French were now in a position to consider taking the offensive against Liu Yongfu, they realised that military action against the Black Flag Army had to be accompanied by a political settlement with the Vietnamese court at Hue, if necessary by coercion, that recognised a French protectorate in Tonkin.

On 30 July 1883 Admiral Courbet, General Bouët and François-Jules Harmand, the recently-appointed French civil commissioner-general for Tonkin, held a council of war at Haiphong. The three men agreed that Bouët should launch an offensive against the Black Flag Army in its positions around Phu Hoai on the Day River as soon as possible. They also noted that the Court of Hue was covertly aiding and abetting Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army, and that Prince Hoang was still in arms against the French at Nam Dinh. They therefore decided, largely on Harmand's urging, to recommend to the French government a strike against the Vietnamese defences of Hue, followed by an ultimatum requiring the Vietnamese to accept a French protectorate over Tonkin or face immediate attack.

The proposal was approved by the navy ministry on 11 August, and on 18 August several warships of Courbet's Tonkin Coasts naval division bombarded the Thuan An forts at the entrance to the Hue River. On 20 August, in the Battle of Thuan An, two companies of French marine infantry and the landing companies of three French warships went ashore and stormed the forts under heavy fire. During the afternoon the gunboats Lynx and Vipère forced a barrage at the entrance to the River of Perfumes, enabling the French to attack Hue directly if they chose.

The Vietnamese asked for an armistice, and on 25 August Harmand dictated the Treaty of Hue to the cowed Vietnamese court. The Vietnamese recognised the legitimacy of the French occupation of Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its royal house and its court survived, but under French direction. France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Hue, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese emperor. To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuan An forts. Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Tonkin and the French colony of Cochinchina. The French cancelled the country’s debts, but required in return the cession of the southern province of Binh Thuan, which was annexed to Cochinchina. At the same time the northern provinces of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return the French undertook to drive out the Black Flags from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River.