Wednesday, July 18, 2007

WHO'S WHO IN VIET NAM HISTORY?

The Ngo dynasty

Emperor
Reign Title
939-944 Ngô Vương
Ngô Quyền
944-950 Dương Bình Vương cướp ngôi Tam Kha
950-965 Ngô Nam Tấn Vương
Xương Văn
951-959 Ngô Thiên Sách Vương
Xương Ngập
In a protracted war which ended with the celebrated battle of Bach Dang. General Ngo Quyen vanquished the Chinese invaders and founded the first National dynasty. Ngo Quyen transfered the capital to Co Loa, the capital of Au Lac Kingdom, thus affirming the continuity of the traditions of the Lac Viet people. Ngo Quyen spent 6 years of his reign fighting the continual revolts of the feudal lords. At his death in 967, the kingdom fell into chaos and became known as the land of "Thap Nhi Su Quan", the 12 feudal principlities constantly fighting each other.
Ngo Quyen's Homepage
The Dinh dynasty
968-979 Ðinh Tiên Hoàng Bộ Lĩnh Thái Bình
980 Ðinh Phế Ðế Ðinh Toàn Thái Bình
The most powerful of the 12 feudal lords, Dinh Bo Linh rapidly ruled out the others. He reunified the country and took the imperial title of "Dinh Tien Hoang De" (The First August Emperor Dinh). He negotiated a non-aggression treaty in exchange for tributes payable to the Chinese every 3 years. This set the traditions with China which were to last for centuries. On the domestic front, Dinh Tien Hoang established a royal court and a hierarchy of civil and military servants. He instated a rigorous justice system and introduced the death penalty to serve as a deterrent to all who threatened the new order of the new kingdom. He organized a regular army divided into 10 Dao. Security and order were progressively re-established, inaugurating a new era of "Thai Binh" (peace). He was assasinated in 979 by a palace guard, who according to the Annals, saw "a star falling into his mouth" - a celestial omen heralding promotion. The heir to the throne was only 6 years old.
The earlier Le dynasty
980-1005 Lê Ðại Hành Lê Hoàn Thiên Phúc
1005 (3d) Lê Trung Tông
Long Việt
1006-1009 Lê Long Ðĩnh (Lê Ngọa Triều) Ứng Thiên
Le Hoan dethroned Dinh Bo Linh's heir and proclaimed himself King Le Dai Hanh. He retained the capital in Hoa Luu and succeeded in warding off several Chinese invasions. With peace assured on the northern border, he decided to pacify the South. In 982, Le Dai Hanh launched a military expedition against the Champa kingdom, entered Indrapura (present-day Quang Nam) and burnt the Champa citadel. The conquest of this nothern part of the Champa Kingdom brought about a marked Cham influence on Vietnamese culture, particular in the fields of music and dance. Le Dai Hanh devoted a great deal of energy to developing the road network in order to better administer the countrýs different regions. After 24 years of difficult rule, he died in 1005.
Genghis Khan, original name Temujin (1167?-1227), Mongol conqueror, whose nomad armies created a vast empire under his control, from China to Russia. He was born near Lake Baikal in Russia, the son of Yesukai, a Mongol chief and ruler of a large region between the Amur River and the Great Wall of China. At the age of 13, Temujin succeeded his father as tribal chief. His early reign was marked by successive revolts of his subject tribes and an intense struggle to retain his leadership, but the Mongol ruler soon demonstrated his military genius and conquered not only his intractable subjects but his hostile neighbors as well. By 1206 Temujin was master of almost all of Mongolia. In that year, a convocation of the subjugated tribes proclaimed him Genghis Khan (Chinese chêng-sze, "precious warrior"; Turkish khan, "lord"), leader of the united Mongol and Tatar tribes; the city of Karakorum was designated his capital. The khan then began his conquest of China. By 1208 he had established a foothold inside the Great Wall, and in 1213 he led his armies south and west into the area dominated by the Juchen Chin (or Kin) dynasty (1122-1234), not stopping until he reached the Shantung Peninsula. In 1215 his armies captured Yenking (now Beijing), the last Chin stronghold in northern China, and in 1218 the Korean Peninsula fell to the Mongols. In 1219, in retaliation for the murder of some Mongol traders, Genghis Khan turned his armies westward, invading Khoresm, a vast Turkish empire that included modern Iraq, Iran, and part of Western Turkestan. Looting and massacring, the Mongols swept through Turkestan and sacked the cities of Bukhoro and Samarqand. In what are now northern India and Pakistan, the invaders conquered the cities of Peshawar and Lahore and the surrounding countryside. In 1222 the Mongols marched into Russia and plundered the region between the Volga and Dnepr rivers and from the Persian Gulf almost to the Arctic Ocean. The greatness of the khan as a military leader was borne out not only by his conquests but by the excellent organization, discipline, and maneuverability of his armies. Moreover, the Mongol ruler was an admirable statesman; his empire was so well organized that, so it was claimed, travelers could go from one end of his domain to the other without fear or danger. At his death, on August 18, 1227, the Mongol Empire was divided among his three sons and gradually dissipated. Four of his grandsons, however, became great Mongol leaders in their own right. Genghis Khan's invasions were of great historical importance long after his death, for the Turks, who fled before him, were driven to their own invasion of Europe.
The Ly dynasty
1010-1028 Lý Thái Tổ Lý Công Uẩn Thuận Thiên
1028-1054 Lý Thái Tông Lý Phật Mã Thiên Thành
1054-1072 Lý Thánh Tông Lý Nhật Tôn Long Thụy
1072-1128 Lý Nhân Tông Lý Càn ÐỨc Thái Ninh
1128-1138 Lý Thần Tông Lý Dương Hoán Thiên Thuận
1138-1175 Lý Anh Tông Lý Thiên Tộ Thiệu Minh
1176-1210 Lý Cao Tông Lý Long Cán Trinh Phủ
1211-1224 Lý Huệ Tông Lý Sảm Kiến Gia
1224-1225 Lý Chiêu Hoàng Chiêu Thánh Thiên Chương
Ly Cong Uan was a disciple of a famous monk, Van Hanh, who helped him into power in the Hoa Luu Court. Assuming the name Ly Thai To, the new sovereign inaugurated his dynasty with a change of capital. According to the Annals, king Ly Thai To saw the apparition of an ascending dragon on the site of the future capital and decided to name it Thang Long (Ascending Dragon).
Ly Thanh Tong rechristened the country Dai Viet.
Ly Thai Tong, Ly Anh Tong, and Ly Cao Tong led the Buddhist sects of Thao Duong and founded some 150 monasteries in the region of Thang Long. The Ly dynasty consolidated the monarchy by setting up a centralized government and establishing a tax system, a judiciary system and a professional army. Important public works, including the building of dikes and canals, were undertaken inorder to develop argriculture and settle the population. Vietnamese art and culture thrived during the Ly dynasty.
The Tran dynasty
1225-1258 Trần Thái Tông Trần Cảnh Kiến Trung
1258-1278 Trần Thánh Tông Trần Hoàng Thiệu Long
1279-1293 Trần Nhân Tông Trần Khâm Thiệu Bảo
1293-1314 Trần Anh Tông Trần Thuyên Hưng Long
1314-1329 Trần Minh Tông Trần Mạnh Ðại Khánh
1329-1341 Trần Hiến Tông Trần Vượng Khai Hữu
1341-1369 Trần Dụ Tông Trần Hạo Thiệu Phong
1369-1370 Dương Nhật Lệ (cướp ngôi) Ðại Ðịnh
1370-1372 Trần Nghệ Tông Trần Phủ Thiệu Khánh
1373-1377 Trần Duệ Tông Trần Kính Long Khánh
1377-1388 Trần Phế Ðế Trần Hiện Xương Phù
1388-1398 Trần Thuận Tông Trần Ngung Quang Thái
1398-1400 Trần Thiếu Ðế Trần án Kiến Tân
Tran Hung Dao (1213-1300), Vietnamese general. In 1284, Kublai Khan leads a 500,000-man Chinese army into Viet Nam. Guerrillas organized by Tran Hung Dao virtually destroy the invasion force.
Tran Hung Dao's Homepage
Kublai Khan (1215-94), Mongol military leader, founder and first emperor (1279-94) of the Mongol Yüan dynasty in China, grandson of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and his best-known successor. Kublai Khan completed the conquest of China that was begun by his grandfather. From 1252 to 1259 he aided his brother Mangu Khan in the conquest of southern China, penetrating successfully as far as Tibet and Tonkin. Upon the death of Mangu in 1259 he became the khan, or ruler. Between 1260 and 1279 he succeeded in driving the Kin Tatars out of northern China and in subduing rebellious factions among the Mongols. In 1264 he founded his capital on the site now occupied by Beijing; it was called Khanbalik, which is romanized as Cambaluc or Cambalu. He relinquished all claims to the parts of the Mongol Empire outside China, consolidated his hold on China, and in 1279 established the Yüan dynasty as the successor to the Southern Sung dynasty. He undertook foreign wars in attempts to enforce tribute claims on neighboring states, conquering Burma and Korea. His military expeditions to Java and Japan, however, met with disaster. His name was known all over Asia and also in Europe. The court at Cambaluc attracted an international group of adventurous men, including the famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo. Kublai Khan did much to encourage the advancement of literature and the arts. He was a devout Buddhist and made Buddhism the state religion, but during his reign other religions were also tolerated.
Stern-faced portrait
Bronze seal as authority emblem of Mongol officers
Princess Huyen Tran, married to the King of Champa in 1307. The marriage extended the national territory southwards with the peaceful annexation of the Hue region and at the same time inaugurated the politics and diplomatic marriage.
The Ho dynasty
1400-1401 Hồ Quý Ly
Thánh Nguyên
1401-1407 Hồ Hán Thương
Thiệu Thành
Le Qui Ly, founded a dynasty under his ancestral name of Ho. Under Ho, the competitive examination system for administrators was modified to demand more practical knowledge of peasant life, mathematics, history, the Confucian classics and literature. Legal reforms were undertaken and a medical service established. In 1407, The Ming intervention provoked the fall of the Ho dynasty. During the short period of Chinese occupation that followed, the Vietnamese suffered the most inhuman exploitation.
The later Tran dynasty
1407-1409 Trần Giản Ðịnh Trần Ðế Ngỗi Hưng Khánh
1409-1414 Trần Quý Khoáng
Trùng Quang
The Le dynasty
1428-1433 Lê Thái Tổ Lê Lợi Thuận Thiên
1433-1442 Lê Thái Tông Lê Nguyên Long Thiệu Bình
1442-1459 Lê Nhân Tông Lê Bang Cơ Thái Hòa
1459 Lê Nghi Dân (cướp ngôi) Thiên Hưng
1460-1497 Lê Thánh Tông Lê Tư Thành Hồng ÐỨc
1498-1504 Lê Hiến Tông Lê Tang Cảnh Thống
1504 Lê Túc Tông Lê Thuần Thái Trinh
1505-1509 Lê Uy Mục Lê Tuấn Ðoan Khánh
1509-1516 Lê Tương Dực Lê Oanh Hồng Thuận
1516-1522 Lê Chiêu Tông Lê Ý Quang Thiệu
1522-1527 Lê Cung Hoàng Lê Xuân Thống Nguyên
Le Loi, Vietnamese emperor (1428-1433), established the kingdom of Dai Viet. He organized a resistance movement from his village and waged a guerrilla war against the China's Ming Empire. By employing a strategy of surprise attacks targeting his adversary's weakest points, Le Loi managed to further weaken the enemy and at the same time avoid combat with the superior Chinese forces. His enforcement of strict military discipline ensured that no pillaging was carried out by his troops in the regions under his control and this made him a very popular hero.
Nguyen Trai, poet and strategist, set down the Vietnamese strategy in an essay which subordinate military action to the political and moral struggle, it stated: "Better to conquer hearts than citadels". In 1426, Vietnamese finally routed the Chinese on a field at Tot Dong, west of Hanoị In an accord signed two years later, the Chinese recognized Viet Nam's independence, and apart from a last abortive attempt in 1788, China never again launched a full-scale assault against Viet Nam.
Le Thai Tong, Vietnamese emperor, son of Le Thai To. His sudden death was followed by a decade of confusion marked by intrigues and plots within the Royal Court.
Under his 36 year reign the country prospered as never before. Le Thanh Tong revised the fiscal system, encouraged argriculture and placed great emphasis on customs and moral principles. A writer himself, he founded the Tao Dan Academy and wrote the first volume of national history. He reorganized army won an easy victory over the Champa army in 1471. His farmer-soldiers excelled not only on the battlefields, but also in the fields where they established militarized argricultural communities wherever they went. In this way the national territory was gradually expanded southwards, until finally the Champa Kingdom was completely absorbed and assimilated in 1673.
Alexandre de Rhodes, the misionary who traveled through out Asia in the 17th century. An accomplished linguist, he improvised Portuguese into Quoc Ngu, still in use today, to transcribe the Vietnamese language in Roman letters instead of Chinese ideographs.
Opening page of Alexandre de Rhodes's Latin Annamese religious text
Stamps commemorating Ale

(from viettouch)

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