1st Edition
Black Flags in Vietnam The Story of a Chinese Intervention
Black Flags in Vietnam (1968) examines nineteenth-century conflict between China, Vietnam and France. For the first thousand years of its history, Vietnam had been an integral part of China, and during subsequent centuries of self-rule had acknowledged Chinese suzerainty. In the 1850s, France, seeking a base for the political and commercial penetration of southern China, occupied Saigon and the Mekong Delta, hoping to navigate the river. This plan failed, and they turned instead to the Red River, which flows from China through northern Vietnam to Hanoi and the sea. China, weakened by years of domestic strife, seemed in no position to protect her vassal. Then, by a strange quirk of fortune, a band of Chinese freebooters, the Black Flags, who had crossed into Vietnam in search of pillage, defeated two French expeditions. In 1884, Peking went to war.
1. The Birthpangs of Vietnam 2. Martyrs and Mandarins 3. ‘With opium in one hand…’ 4. The First French Offensive 5. The French Explore 6. The Black Flags 7. Jean Dupuis 8. Francis Garnier 9. China – Divided Counsels 10. Halliday Macartney and the Marquis Tseng 11. China’s Suzerainty Challenged 12. Henri Rivière – Tragedy Repeated 13. Hue Capitulates 14. The Rage of Liu Yung-fu 15. Peace or War? 16. France: the Day of Glory 17. Formosa and Tongking 18. Catastrophe 19. The Aftermath
Biography
Henry McAleavy