Background
During the 18th century, Vietnam was under the nominal rule of the officially-revered, but politically-ignored Lê Dynasty. Real power was in the hands of two warring feudal families, the Trịnh Lords of the north who controlled and ruled from the imperial court in Hanoi and the Nguyễn Lords in the south, who ruled from their capital Huế. Both sides fought each other for control of the nation, while claiming to be loyal to the king.
Life for the peasant farmers was difficult. Ownership of land became more concentrated in the hands of a few landlords as time passed. The Mandarin bureaucracy was oppressive and often corrupt; at one point, royal-sanctioned degrees were up for sale for whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. In contrast to the people, the ruling lords lived lavish lifestyles in huge palaces.
The decades-long war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn had ended in 1673, and life for the northern peasants was fairly peaceful. However, the Nguyễn Lords engaged in a regular series of wars with the weak Khmer Empire, and later, the fairly strong state of Siam. While the Nguyễn usually won, and despite the fact that the new lands they conquered offered new opportunities for the landless poor, the frequent wars took a toll on their popularity.
Read more about this topic: Tay Son Dynasty
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