The Thái Nguyên Uprising () or officially Thái Nguyên Mutiny () in 1917 has been described as the "largest and most destructive" anti-French rebellion in Vietnam (then part of French Indochina) between the Pacification of Tonkin in the 1880s and the Nghetinh Rebellion of 1930–31.
History Background
On 30 August 1917, an eclectic band of political prisoners, common criminals and insubordinate prison guards mutinied at the Thái Nguyên Penitentiary, the largest one in the region. The rebels came from over thirty provinces and according to estimates, involved at some point roughly 300 civilians, 200 ex-prisoners and 130 prison guards.Zinoman (2000), p. 57.
The initial success of the rebels was short-lived. They managed to control the prison and the town's administrative buildings for six days, but were all expelled on the seventh day by French government reinforcements.Lâm, Truong Buu. A Story of Việtnam. Denver, CO: Outskirts Press, 2010. According to French reports 107 were killed on the colonial side and fifty-six on the anti-colonial, including Quyến.Hodgkin, Thomas. Vietnam: The Revolutionary Path. London: Macmillan, 1980, p. 213. French forces were not able to pacify the surrounding countryside until six months later.Zinoman (2000), p. 57. Cấn reportedly committed suicide in January 1918 to avoid capture.Marr, D. G. (1971). Vietnamese anticolonialism, 1885–1925. Berkeley, University of California [Press], p. 236. See also Hodgkin, p. 214. Both Quyến and Cấn have since been accorded legendary status as nationalist heroes.Hodgkin, p. 214.
The Thái Nguyên area had already seen resistance from men such as Đề Thám (1858–1913). David Marr characterises earlier traditional anti-colonial rebellions before the Thái Nguyên uprising such as the Can Vuong movement (Save the King) as being led by scholar-gentry whose followings were limited to members of their own lineages and villages.Marr, p. 53. Leaders of these movements were ineffective in mobilising the general population beyond the scope of their influence, and in liaison and coordinating military or strategic activities on a wider scale in other provinces and regions.
Marr argues that the generation of anti-colonial Vietnamese leaders Phan Bội Châu and Phan Châu Trinh after 1900 succeeded in raising questions of long-term modernization and Westernization when they were disillusioned with the mandarin class whose collaboration with the French perpetuated its rule.Marr, p. 275. This generation then looked towards outward influences such as the Đông Du Movement (where Lương Ngọc Quyến, a protagonist of the Thái Nguyên uprising, was a participant) for alternatives.
As the Thái Nguyên uprising occurred in the same period of analysis, the goals of the uprising could be situated amidst this desire for change, whilst still searching for a 'modern' Vietnamese national-consciousness and identity. According to Zinoman, the Thái Nguyên Rebellion was especially noteworthy due to the role which prisons, a product of the colonial era, played in bringing together men from different walks of life to unite for a common purpose.Zinoman (2000), p. 58. Evolution While imprisoned in Thái Nguyên, Ba Quyến got to know that Đội Cấn, one of the Vietnamese sergeants in the local garrison, had considerable experience operating in the Thai Nguyen area and had been plotting an uprising for years.Marr, p. 234.
Quyến convinced Cấn that if an uprising was sparked, reinforcements will arrive to support the rebellion. They aborted two plots to rebel in May and July 1917 for unclear reasons. After that, Trịnh Văn Cấn claimed to be the Grand Commander of Thái Nguyên Restoration Forces (Thái-nguyên Quang-phục-quân Đại-đô-đốc).Một vài nét về con người và sự nghiệp Trịnh Văn Cấn
For the third attempt, the plotters decided to strike after hearing rumours that some of them were to be transferred.Marr, p. 234. On August 30, 1917, Vietnamese guards first assassinated M. Noël, the Brigade Commander. While Cấn asked roughly 150 guards assembled in the barracks to join in the rebellion, another group released 220 prisoners in the penitentiary. Cấn discussed and agreed with Quyến's strategy to hold the town until reinforcements arrive. The rebels then seized weapons from the provincial arsenal, smashed the communication equipment, plundered the provincial treasury, took up strategic positions in the town, established a fortified perimeter and executed French officials and local collaborators.
On the second day, the rebels went out to the streets of Thái Nguyên and announced a proclamation appealing to the population to support a general uprising. They declared their national name to be the Đại Hùng Empire (Đại-Hùng Đế-quốc).The English translation of the proclamation can be found in Lâm, Truong Buu. Colonialism Experienced : Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism, 1900–1931. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan, 2000. An estimated 300 poor civilians joined roughly 200 ex-prisoners and 130 guards, and the rebels were divided into two battalions.
For the next five days, the rebels defended Thái Nguyên against heavy French artillery attacks. Following a French bombing on September 4, the rebels retreated into the countryside after suffering heavy casualties amidst chaos. Quyến was found dead, apparently having been killed in action, while Cấn fled to the Tam Đảo Mountains with some rebels and eluded their pursuers.
Months later, in January 1918, Cấn reportedly committed suicide to avoid capture. In French accounts, Cấn's buried corpse was found through an informant/defector named Si who claimed to have killed Can so as to be pardoned by the French.Zinoman (2000), pp. 66–67. Bent on convincing the Vietnamese populace that revolt was futile, the French were meticulous in tracking down the rebel leaders and claimed only five men eluded "justice".Marr, p. 236.
Personnel Prison guards Leader of the rebel guards Trịnh Văn Cấn was the son of an impoverished rural labourer from mountainous Vinh-Yen province. Cấn joined the Garde Indigene (native gendarmerie) as a youth and served his entire adult life on the remote Tonkinese frontier guarding prisoners and fighting bandits for the French. According to historian Trần Huy Liệu, Cấn's rebellious tendencies were shaped by his admiration of Đề Thám, having failed to track down Đề Thám's bandit gang in the mountainous and forestry terrain in Tonkin. Cấn's father had reportedly participated in the Cần Vương movement in the 1880s. Cấn reportedly contemplated an uprising for years.Marr, pp. 234–236. He spotted the opportunity when the French had grown preoccupied with the war in Europe. Political prisoners The leading Vietnamese anti-colonial party of the early 20th century was the Vietnam Restoration League (VNRL) (Việt-Nam Quang-phục Hội) founded by Phan Bội Châu in 1912. VNRL was involved in several anti-colonial attacks including the Duy Tan plot, a failed attempt to revive the monarchist insurgency.Marr, pp. 216–221. French suppression of VNRL led to influx of political activists into the colonial prison system. Amongst other VNRL figures held in Thái Nguyên, such as Nguyen Gia Cau (Hoi Xuan), Vu Si Lap (Vu Chi) and Ba Con (Ba Nho).Zinoman (2000), p. 83. Quyến was the most prominent as he was the eldest son of the reformist royal official Lương Văn Can and the first Vietnamese participant in the Đông Du Movement. Due to his conviction of involvement in a 1913 bombing attack at Phu Tho, Quyến had been sentenced to hard labor for life and transferred to the Thái Nguyên penitentiary in July 1916. Quyến played a crucial role in the rebellion's execution. First, Cấn deferred to him on military strategy to undertake upon the outbreak of the uprising. Second, Quyến probably provided ideological direction for the rebellion as he was likely the author of the rebellion's proclamation that appealed to popular imaginings of Vietnamese nationalist histories whose symbolic references were characteristic of VNRL discourse. Those include the notions that Vietnamese nation descended from "a race of dragons and fairies", Vietnamese landscape as fertile and "covered with magnificent mountains", Vietnam's long history (4000 years), dynasties rule and sacrifices expended "in order to maintain possession of this land".Lâm, Truong Buu. Colonialism Experienced : Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism, 1900–1931. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan, 2000.
During the rebellion, the rebels hoisted the VNRL flag (five-star red and yellow flag) in the barracks and banners around town proclaimed "Annamese Armies Will Reclaim the Country".Zinoman (2000), p. 83. Various visual symbols (flags, banners, armbands) displayed by the rebels indicated the uprising's close link to VNRL.
Former followers of Đề Thám Thái Nguyên is located in the middle region of Tonkin and vulnerable to frontier banditry given its proximity to the poorly policed Sino-Annamese border. Its mountainous topography also provided shelter and refuge for fugitives, smugglers, brigands and military deserters. The area had been the focus of resistance since the days when Đề Thám and his brigands had been active.Hodgkin, p. 213. Unable to control the banditry that plagued the frontier, Vietnamese officials allied with powerful local bandit chiefs to control the smaller rivals and maintain civil order. The French assumed power in Tonkin in 1884 and collaborated with Luong Tam Ky, leader of the Yellow Flags who took twenty years to catch and kill Đề Thám.Zinoman (2000), p. 78. Given the history of banditry in the middle region, the penal population of Thái Nguyên consisted mainly of gang members and rural brigands. Dozens of Đề Thám's followers were imprisoned at Thái Nguyên. One notable lieutenant of Đề Thám, Nguyen Van Chi (Ba Chi) played an important role in the rebellion, having led one of the battalions of the rebels. These persons had intimate knowledge of the local terrain and were used to hit-and-run tactics of banditry.
Petty criminals and civilian rebels In Thái Nguyên, French companies discovered coal fields and zinc deposits and encountered difficulty in recruiting a local labour force. Transient workers from China became an erratic substitute for employment working at the local mines. Employment contracts were unstable and this in turn was linked to the growth in criminal activities amongst many ex-mine workers and many of them landed up in the Thái Nguyên prison. In the rebellion, roughly three hundred townspeople voluntarily joined with rebels. This group of civilian rebels were believed to be from the most destitute inhabitants of the province (petty criminals, day-labourers, etc.) prone to persuasion of illegal pursuits and rebellion for survival.Zinoman (2000), p. 81.
Influence
Causes (Note : The following information contains many subjective)
In Peter Zinoman's study of the colonial prison system in Vietnam (1862–1940),Zinoman, Peter. (2001). The colonial Bastille: a history of imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862–1940. Berkeley, University of California Press. he situates prisons as decentralized and autonomous institutions ran in different territories in Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina, Cambodia and Laos due to different legal and administrative frameworks, low budgets, and unprofessional staff (divided into small European administrative elite and a large corps of Vietnamese warders) running the prisons. Zinoman argues that the colonial prison was ill-disciplined. The rehabilitative orientation within colonial punishment was absent as there was no discernible effort to reform the prisoners by discipline or provision of "total care".