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104-478: Franco-Spanish victory Cobelligerent: [REDACTED] Charles Rigault de Genouilly [REDACTED] François Page [REDACTED] Léonard Charner [REDACTED] Louis Bonard [REDACTED] Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez The Cochinchina campaign was a series of military operations between 1858 and 1862, launched by a joint naval expedition force on behalf of the French Empire and

208-577: A French colonial empire in Indochina was not taken until 1858. In 1857, the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức approved the execution of two Spanish Catholic missionaries. This was neither the first nor the last such incident and on previous occasions the French government had overlooked such provocations. But this event coincided with France dispatching a military expedition to China during the outbreak of

312-526: A British ship and still flew the British flag at the time of its detention, though its registration had expired. Its captain, Thomas Kennedy, who was aboard a nearby vessel at the time, reported seeing Chinese marines pull the British flag down from the ship. The British consul in Canton, Harry Parkes , contacted Ye Mingchen , imperial commissioner and Viceroy of Liangguang , to demand the immediate release of

416-399: A Franco-Spanish garrison of around 1,000 men at Saigon. The Franco-Spanish division struggled to consolidate its position after the capture of Saigon . Jauréguiberry's small detachment suffered substantial losses in a surprise attack on a Vietnamese fortification to the west of Saigon on 21 April 1859 and was forced to remain inside its defence perimeter thereafter. Meanwhile, the outbreak of

520-417: A French gunboat leaving Mỹ Tho with a company of infantry aboard suddenly exploded. Casualties were heavy (52 men killed or wounded) and the French suspected Vietnamese sabotage by insurgents directed by the governors of Vĩnh Long Province . Ten days later, Bonard anchored off Vĩnh Long with a flotilla of gunboats and eleven transport vessels and disembarked a Franco-Spanish landing force of 1,000 troops. In

624-405: A city of considerable strategic significance as a source of food for the Vietnamese army. The expedition was approved, and in early February, leaving capitaine de vaisseau Thoyon at Da Nang with a small French garrison, Rigault de Genouilly sailed south for Saigon with a powerful naval flotilla and a Franco-Spanish landing force. On 17 February 1859, after forcing the river defences and destroying

728-524: A half years, and although there was little fighting disease took a heavy toll of the allied expedition. The siege eventually ended with the unopposed evacuation of the French garrison in March 1860. Shortly after his capture of Da Nang, Rigault de Genouilly cast around for somewhere else to strike the Vietnamese. In January 1859 he proposed to the navy ministry an expedition against Saigon in Cochinchina,

832-716: A heavy toll. Realising that the French garrison at Tourane was not to achieve a strategic success shortly, Charles Rigault de Genouilly pondered options of operations in either Tonkin or Cochinchina in October 1858. As an expedition to Tonkin would require a rather unlikely large-scale uprising by the Vietnamese Christians to have any chance of success, in January 1859 he proposed to the Ministère de la Marine an expedition against Saigon in Cochinchina. This city

936-475: A joint French and Spanish expedition under his command landed at Da Nang and captured the city. The allies expected an easy victory, but the war did not at first go as planned. Vietnamese resistance was more stubborn than had been expected, and the French and Spanish found themselves besieged in Da Nang by a Vietnamese army under the command of Nguyen Tri Phuong. The Siege of Đà Nẵng lasted for nearly one and

1040-466: A long siege by a Vietnamese army under the command of Nguyễn Tri Phương . Allied reinforcements only replaced losses leaving a small force, that occasionally attacked sections of the Vietnamese positions, but were unable to break the siege. The Siege of Tourane lasted for nearly three years and despite relative little combat, casualties among the Franco-Spanish troops were high, as diseases took

1144-685: A midshipman in 1827, and served in the Morea expedition aboard the frigate Fleur de Lys during the Greek War of Independence . In 1828 he was transferred to Résolue , and took part in operations against pirates in the Greek archipelago. Promoted enseigne de vaisseau in 1830, he participated in the French invasion of Algiers and the forcing of the Tagus in 1831. In 1832 he served aboard Ducreuse during

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1248-467: A population of over 1,000,000 by less than 6,000 troops, resulted in the British and French forces suffering 15 killed and 113 wounded. 200–650 of the defenders and inhabitants became casualties. Ye Mingchen was captured and exiled to Calcutta , India, where he starved himself to death. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, there was a possible attempt to poison John Bowring and his family in January, known as

1352-466: A series of forts and stockades along the Saigon river, Rigault de Genouilly captured Saigon. The allies were not strong enough to hold the enormous Citadel of Saigon , and on 8 March 1859 blew it up and set fire to its rice magazines. In April Rigault de Genouilly returned to Da Nang with the bulk of his forces to reinforce Thoyon's hard-pressed garrison. On 8 May 1859 he personally led a French attack on

1456-495: A siege by superior numbers from March 1860 to February 1861. Realising that they could hold only either Saigon or Tourane, the French evacuated the garrison of Tourane in March 1860, bringing the Tourane campaign to an unsuccessful end. In early 1861, the war with China ended as the admirals Charner and Page were now free to return to Cochinchina and resume the campaign around Saigon. A naval contingent of 70 ships under Charner (who

1560-558: A small flotilla of gunboats, advanced on Mỹ Tho from the north along the Bao Dinh Ha creek, and between 1 and 11 April destroyed several Vietnamese forts and fought its way along the creek to the vicinity of Mỹ Tho. Le Couriault de Quilio gave orders for an assault on the town on 12 April. However, a flotilla of warships under the command of Admiral Page, sent by Charner to approach up the Mekong river to attack Mỹ Tho by sea, appeared off

1664-709: A treaty from the Qing court, and on 20 May 1858, captured the Taku Forts , stormed Tianjin , and threatened the capital Beijing . The Qing asked for peace, and signed the Treaty of Tientsin with Great Britain and France in 1858. However, the Xianfeng Emperor refused to ratify the treaty, after which the Qing general Sengge Rinchen restarted the war with the British and French that month. Allied reinforcements sailed from Hong Kong , and his troops were defeated. As

1768-764: Is thicker than water ", and provided covering fire to protect the British convoy's retreat. The failure to take the Taku Forts was a blow to British prestige, and anti-foreign resistance reached a crescendo within the Qing imperial court. Once the Indian Mutiny was finally quelled, Sir Colin Campbell , commander-in-chief in India, was free to amass troops and supplies for another offensive in China. A 'soldiers' general', Campbell's experience of casualties from disease in

1872-577: The Arrow incident (and the British military response) became the subject of controversy. The British House of Commons on 3 March passed a resolution by 263 to 249 against the Government saying: That this House has heard with the concern of the conflicts which have occurred between the British and Chinese authorities on the Canton River; and, without expressing an opinion as to the extent to which

1976-608: The Austro-Sardinian War ended by early 1860 the French were again at war with China and Page had to divert most of his forces to support Admiral Léonard Charner 's China expedition. In April 1860, Page left Cochinchina to join Charner at Canton . Meanwhile, in March 1860, a 4,000 strong Vietnamese army began to besiege Saigon. The defence of Saigon was entrusted to capitaine de vaisseau Jules d'Ariès . The 1,000 men strong Franco-Spanish garrison in Saigon had to resist

2080-705: The Austro-Sardinian War tied down large numbers of French troops in Italy. In November 1859, Rigault de Genouilly was replaced by Admiral François Page , who had been instructed to obtain a treaty with focus on the protection of the Catholic faith in Vietnam and not to seek any territorial gains. In early November Page began negotiations, which, however, proved to be unsatisfactory. The Vietnamese, aware of France's distraction in Italy , refused these moderate terms and spun out

2184-659: The Convention of Peking with the alliance on 24 October 1860, thus ratifying the Treaty of Tientsin and bringing the Second Opium War to an end. During and after the Second Opium War, the Qing government was also forced to sign treaties with Russia, such as the Treaty of Aigun and the Convention of Peking . As a result, China ceded more than 1.5 million square kilometres (0.58 million square miles) of territory to Russia in its north-east and north-west. With

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2288-525: The Esing Bakery incident . However, if it was deliberate, the baker who had been charged with lacing bread with arsenic bungled the attempt by putting an excess of the poison into the dough, such that his victims vomited sufficient quantities of the poison that they had only a non-lethal dose left in their system. Criers were sent out with an alert, preventing further injury. When known in Britain,

2392-619: The Kingdom of Spain against the Nguyễn period Vietnamese state . It was the opening conflict of the French conquest of Vietnam . Initially a limited punitive expedition against the persecution and execution of French (and to a lesser extent Spanish) Catholic missionaries in Đại Nam, the ambitious French emperor Napoleon III however, authorized the deployment of increasingly larger contingents, that subdued Đại Nam territory and established French economic and military dominance. The war concluded with

2496-509: The Qing Empire , which had also provided help. Gia Long contended that the French government had failed to honor the Treaty of Versailles (1787) and assist him in the civil war since those who had helped him, such as Pierre Pigneau de Behaine , were volunteers and adventurers, not officials. Advanced fortification methods and technologies had already been adopted and implemented as trained Vietnamese planners had successfully reproduced

2600-678: The Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War, was fought between the United Kingdom and France against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major conflict in the Opium Wars , which were fought over the right to import opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing and the forced legalisation of the opium trade. It caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with

2704-525: The Second Opium War . France used these forces to subsequently intervene in Indochina. In November 1857, Napoleon III , emphasizing the rationale of Mission Civilisatrice , authorised Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly to lead a punitive expedition against Vietnam. In September 1858, a joint French and Spanish naval expedition force landed at Tourane (Da Nang) and captured the town. The Franco-Spanish force anticipated an easy victory, but

2808-512: The fall of Vĩnh Long seriously worsened the strategic situation for the Court at Huế and in April 1862 Tự Đức announced that he wished to make peace. In May 1862, following preliminary discussions at Huế, the French corvette Forbin anchored off Tourane where a Vietnamese delegation was to arrive in order to conclude peace. The Vietnamese were given three days to produce their ambassadors. The sequel

2912-425: The siege of Sebastopol , where he was in command of the French marines ( fusiliers-marins ). In 1857 Rigault de Genouilly sailed aboard the frigate Némésis to join the naval armada assembled by Admiral Léonard Charner for the Second Opium War , and was placed in command of the French naval division. During the campaign he took part in the blockade of Macau and captured Canton . After this success he served at

3016-597: The American and Chinese governments signed an agreement for U.S. neutrality in the Second Opium War. Throughout 1857, British forces began to assemble in Hong Kong, joined by a French force. In December 1857 they had sufficient ships and men to raise the issue of the non-fulfilment of the treaty obligations by which the right of entry into Canton had been accorded. Parkes delivered an ultimatum, supported by Hong Kong governor Sir John Bowring and Admiral Sir Michael Seymour , threatening on 14 December to bombard Canton if

3120-563: The British a day later. With the Qing army devastated, the Xianfeng Emperor fled the capital and left behind his brother, Prince Gong , to take charge of peace negotiations. Xianfeng first fled to the Chengde Summer Palace and then to Rehe Province . Anglo-French troops began looting the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) and Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) immediately (as they were full of valuable artwork). After

3224-414: The British bombarding at intervals, causing fires. On 5 January 1857, the British returned to Hong Kong. On 3 March 1857, the British government lost a Parliamentary vote regarding the Arrow incident and what had taken place at Canton to the end of the previous year. This defeat led to a general election in April 1857 which increased the government's majority. In April, the British government asked

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3328-579: The British faithfully and cheerfully... At the assault of the Peiho Forts in 1860 they carried the French ladders to the ditch, and, standing in the water up to their necks, supported them with their hands to enable the storming party to cross. It was not usual to take them into action; they, however, bore the dangers of a distant fire with great composure, evincing a strong desire to close with their compatriots, and engage them in mortal combat with their bamboos." After taking Tianjin on 23 August 1860,

3432-656: The British were delayed by the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , they followed up the Arrow Incident in 1856 and attacked Guangzhou from the Pearl River . Viceroy Ye Mingchen ordered all Chinese soldiers manning the forts not to resist the British incursion. After taking the fort near Canton with little effort, the British Army attacked Canton. The capture of Canton, on 1 January 1858, a city with

3536-744: The Chinese capital. The Anglo-French forces insisted on landing at Taku instead of Beitang and escorting the diplomats to Beijing. On the night of 24 June 1859, a small group of British forces blew up the iron obstacles that the Chinese had placed in the Baihe River. The next day, the British forces sought to forcibly sail into the river, and shelled the Taku Forts. Low tide and soft mud prevented their landing, however, and accurate fire from Sengge Rinchen's cannons sank four gunboats and severely damaged two others. American Commodore Josiah Tattnall III , though under orders to maintain neutrality, declared " blood

3640-582: The First Opium War is considered to have been the beginning of modern Chinese history. Between the two wars, repeated acts of aggression against British subjects led in 1847 to the Expedition to Canton which assaulted and took, by a coup de main , the forts of the Bocca Tigris resulting in the spiking of 879 guns. The 1850s saw the rapid growth of Western imperialism . Some of

3744-442: The First Opium War led him to provide the British forces with more than enough materiel and supplies, and casualties were light. The Third Battle of Taku Forts took place in the summer of 1860. London once more dispatched Lord Elgin with an Anglo-French force of 11,000 British troops under General James Hope Grant and 6,700 French troops under General Cousin-Montauban . They pushed north with 173 ships from Hong Kong and captured

3848-488: The French and Spanish rejected Le's offer of an alliance against Tự Đức, the insurgents in Tonkin were able to inflict several defeats on Vietnamese government forces. The end of the war with France and Spain allowed Tự Đức to overwhelm the insurgents in Tonkin and restore government control there. Le Bao Phung was eventually captured, tortured and put to death. Charles Rigault de Genouilly Charles Rigault de Genouilly

3952-481: The French intended to fully enforce their conditions of military and colonial dominance. Tự Đức's minister Phan Thanh Giản signed a treaty with Admiral Bonard and the Spanish representative Colonel Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez on 5 June 1862. The Treaty of Saigon required Vietnam to legalize the free practise of the Catholic faith within its territory, to cede the provinces of Biên Hòa , Gia Định and Định Tường and

4056-462: The French squadron of evolutions ( escadre d’évolutions ) in the Mediterranean. He was navy minister from 20 January 1867 to 4 September 1870, replacing Justin de Chasseloup-Laubat . He also became Minister of War on 13 August 1869, succeeding Adolphe Niel . He only held the position for a few days, and was replaced by Edmond Le Bœuf on 21 August 1869. Rigault de Genouilly turned down

4160-470: The French to seek a sphere of influence in Tonkin. Nothing came of this suggestion, however, and Tonkin ultimately fell under French control also, becoming a French protectorate in 1883. Perhaps the most important factor in Tự Đức's decision to make peace was the threat posed to his authority by a serious uprising in Tonkin led by the Catholic nobleman Le Bao Phung, who claimed descent from the old Lê dynasty. Although

4264-491: The Government of China may have afforded this country cause of complaint respecting the non-fulfilment of the Treaty of 1842, this House considers that the papers which have been laid on the table fail to establish satisfactory grounds for the violent measures resorted to at Canton in the late affair of the Arrow, and that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the state of our commercial relations with China. In response,

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4368-593: The Pacific coast, where Russia founded the city of Vladivostok in 1860. On 20 May, the British were successful at the First Battle of Taku Forts , but the peace treaty returned the forts to the Qing army. In June 1858, shortly after the Qing imperial court agreed to the disadvantageous treaties, hawkish ministers prevailed upon the Xianfeng Emperor to resist Western encroachment. On 2 June 1858,

4472-540: The Royal Navy blasted a hole in the poorly defended and inadequate city walls. The troops entered Canton, with the flag of the United States being planted on the walls and residence of Ye Mingchen by James Keenan, the U.S. Consul. Losses were three killed and 12 wounded. Negotiations failed and the city was bombarded. On 6 November, 23 war junks attacked and were destroyed. There were pauses for talks, with

4576-512: The Saigon river, the French and Spanish captured Saigon. French marine infantry stormed the enormous Citadel of Saigon , while Filipino troops under Spanish command repelled a Vietnamese counterattack. The allies lacked the manpower to hold the citadel and on 8 March 1859 demolished it and set fire to the rice granaries. In April, Rigault de Genouilly returned to Tourane with the bulk of his forces to reinforce Thoyon's hard-pressed garrison, leaving capitaine de frégate Bernard Jauréguiberry with

4680-627: The Summer Palace. In a letter, he explained that the burning of the palace was the punishment "which would fall, not on the people, who may be comparatively innocent, but exclusively on the Emperor, whose direct personal responsibility for the crime committed is established". On 18 October, British soldiers burnt the Old Summer Palace, the French refusing to assist. The razing of the buildings took two days, with imperial property in

4784-404: The Treaty of Nanjing, British authorities granted the vessels British registration in Hong Kong. In October 1856, Chinese marines in Canton seized a cargo ship called the Arrow on suspicion of piracy, arresting twelve of its fourteen Chinese crew members. The Arrow , which had previously been used by pirates, was captured by the Chinese government and subsequently resold. It was then registered as

4888-463: The United States of America and Russia if they were interested in alliances, but both parties rejected the offer. In May 1857, the Indian Mutiny became serious, and British troops destined for China were diverted to India. which was considered the priority issue. France joined the British action against China, prompted by complaints from their envoy, Baron Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros , over

4992-487: The Vietnamese fort's garrison could at no time be established and the missing American sailors could not be found, the USS Saginaw retreated towards Hong Kong on the same day. The Capture of Mỹ Tho was the last military operation under Léonard Charner as commander of the Cochinchina expedition. He returned to France in the summer of 1861 and was replaced by Admiral Louis Adolphe Bonard , who arrived in Saigon at

5096-638: The Vietnamese guerrillas threatened the French troops as on 22 June 1861 the outpost at Gò Công was, although unsuccessfully, attacked by 600 Vietnamese insurgents. On 31 July 1861 the Vietnamese fort protecting Qui Nhơn city was destroyed by the USS ; Saginaw , a warship of the United States Navy . Under the command of Captain James F. Schenck a task force had been dispatched to Cochinchina in search of missing American citizens and sailors of

5200-602: The Vietnamese siege lines at Da Nang. The attack achieved limited success, but the French were unable to break the siege. In October 1859 Rigault de Genouilly, whose actions in Cochinchina had been severely criticised in France, was replaced by Admiral François Page, who was instructed to obtain a treaty protecting the Catholic faith in Vietnam but not to seek any territorial gains. Between 1862 and 1864, following his return to France, Rigault de Genouilly served first aboard Bretagne and then aboard Ville de Paris as commander of

5304-492: The Vietnamese siege lines, defeating marshal Nguyễn Tri Phương in the battle of Ky Hoa . Nonetheless, the Vietnamese forces vehemently and skillfully defended their positions, which resulted in considerable allied casualties. The victory at Ky Hoa allowed the French and Spanish to regain the operational initiative. In April 1861, the city of Mỹ Tho southwest of Saigon fell to the French. An assault force under capitaine de vaisseau Antoine Louis Le Couriault du Quilio, supported by

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5408-499: The Western powers were no longer traditional wars, but part of a looming national crisis. On 8 October 1856, Qing officials seized the Arrow , a British-registered cargo ship, and arrested its Chinese sailors. The British consul, Harry Parkes , protested, upon which the viceroy of Liangguang , Ye Mingchen , delivered most of sailors to the British on 22 October, but refused to release the rest. The next day, British gunboats shelled

5512-676: The Whig Prime Minister Lord Palmerston attacked the patriotism of the Whigs who sponsored the resolution, and Parliament was dissolved, causing the British general election of March 1857 . The Chinese issue figured prominently in the election, at which Palmerston won an increased majority, silencing the voices within the Whig faction who supported China. The new parliament decided to seek redress from China based on

5616-525: The Xianfeng Emperor ordered the Mongol general Sengge Rinchen to guard the Taku Forts (also romanized as Ta-ku Forts and also called Daku Forts) near Tianjin. Sengge Rinchen reinforced the forts with additional artillery pieces. He also brought 4,000 Mongol cavalry from Chahar and Suiyuan . The Second Battle of Taku Forts took place in June 1859. A British naval force with 2,200 troops and 21 ships, under

5720-438: The afternoon and evening of 22 March, the French and Spanish assaulted the Vietnamese batteries entrenched before Vĩnh Long and captured them. On 23 March they entered the citadel of Vĩnh Long. Its defenders retreated to a fortified earthwork at My Cui 20 km (12 mi) to the west of Mỹ Tho, but were soon overrun and forced to flee. Vietnamese casualties at Vĩnh Long and My Cui were heavy. The loss of Mỹ Tho and Biên Hòa and

5824-469: The alliance's forces advanced toward Beijing, Parkes and a number of British and French officers were captured as hostages, and some were tortured or murdered. These events prompted Lord Elgin to order his soldiers to loot and burn the Old Summer Palace as soon as they captured Beijing. The emperor and his entourage fled to Rehe , while Prince Gong stayed to conduct the negotiations, signing

5928-487: The allied demands, the emperor having fled to Chengde on 22 September. British and French troops entered Beijing, where the Treaty of Tientsin was ratified by the Convention of Peking . At the time, the largest encyclopedia ever compiled in world history was the 1408 Ming Dynasty Yongle Encyclopedia , most of which was looted or destroyed by foreign soldiers during the sack of Beijing, leaving only 3.5 percent surviving volumes today. The British, French and—thanks to

6032-526: The bishops and priests were either French or Spanish and many Vietnamese disliked and suspected this sizable Christian congregation and its foreign leaders. The French clerics increasingly felt responsible for the communal safety as tension built up gradually. During the 1840s, persecution or harassment of Catholic missionaries in Vietnam by the Vietnamese emperors Minh Mạng and Thiệu Trị evoked only sporadic and unofficial French response and decisive steps towards military incursions and an eventual establishment of

6136-596: The blockade of the Dutch coast in the Belgian War of Independence . He was promoted lieutenant de vaisseau in 1834. In 1843, he assumed command of the corvette Victorieuse on the China and India Seas station, and took part in an expedition to explore the Yellow Sea. On 25 April 1847 Victorieuse and Gloire ( capitaine de vaisseau Augustin de Lapierre), which had been sent to Da Nang (Tourane) to negotiate for

6240-402: The campaign did not go as planned. The Vietnamese Christian community did not rise in support of France, as Bishop Pellerin had confidently predicted they would, and a well organized Vietnamese military resistance was more formidable than expected. The French and Spanish, who had captured the city in a marine assault found themselves in no position to progress further inland and were pinned down in

6344-423: The capture of the Hai River forts and accompanied the Anglo-French expedition to Tianjin . In November 1857, in response to the execution of two Spanish missionaries by the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức and the failure of a diplomatic mission to Huế led by Charles de Montigny, Rigault de Genouilly was authorised by the French emperor Napoleon III to launch a punitive expedition against Vietnam . In September 1858

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6448-428: The city governor at his post in order to maintain order on behalf of the victors. The British-French alliance maintained control of Canton for nearly four years. The coalition then cruised north to briefly capture the Taku Forts near Tianjin in May 1858. The United States and Russia sent envoys to Hong Kong to offer military help to the British and French, though in the end Russia sent no military aid. The U.S.

6552-425: The city of Canton . The British government decided to seek redress from China and dispatched a naval force led by Michael Seymour , and France joined in the action, citing as its reason the murder of a French missionary in China. After coordination with each other, the British and French stormed Canton in December 1857. Ye was captured and the governor of Guangdong surrendered. The alliance then moved north to demand

6656-439: The colony of Cochinchina with its capital Saigon. In 1864 the three southern provinces ceded to France were formally constituted as the French colony of Cochinchina . Within three years, France's new colony doubled in size. In 1867 Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese government to cede the provinces of Châu Đốc , Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long to France. The Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức initially refused to accept

6760-444: The command of Admiral Sir James Hope , sailed north from Shanghai to Tianjin with newly appointed Anglo-French envoys for the embassies in Beijing. They sailed to the mouth of the Hai River guarded by the Taku Forts near Tianjin and demanded to continue inland to Beijing. Sengge Rinchen replied that the Anglo-French envoys might land up the coast at Beitang and proceed to Beijing but he refused to allow armed troops to accompany them to

6864-564: The conclusion of the war, the Qing government was able to concentrate on countering the Taiping Rebellion and maintaining its rule. Among other things, the Convention of Peking ceded the Kowloon Peninsula to the British as part of Hong Kong . The terms "Second War" and "Arrow War" are both used in literature. "Second Opium War" refers to one of Britain's strategic objectives, legalizing the opium trade . China's defeat also opened up all of China to British merchants, and exempted foreign imports from internal transit duties. "Arrow War" refers to

6968-453: The conquered Vietnamese provinces to organise resistance. Charner responded on 19 May by officially declaring a state of siege in the Saigon and Mỹ Tho provinces. French units roved through the Cochinchinese countryside, fanning popular resistance by the brutality with which they treated suspected insurgents. Although Charner had ordered his forces to restrain from violence against peaceful villagers, his orders were not always obeyed. Occasionally

7072-418: The corvettes Primauguet , Laplace and Du Chayla , eleven screw-driven despatch vessels, five first-class gunboats, seventeen transports and a hospital ship. The squadron was accompanied by half a dozen armed lorchas purchased in Macao. These reinforcements eventually provided the allies with troops for tactical maneuvers at Saigon. On 24 and 25 February 1861, the French and Spanish successfully assaulted

7176-434: The crew, and an apology for the alleged insult to the flag. Ye released nine of the crew members but refused to release the other three. On 23 October, the British destroyed four barrier forts. On 25 October, a demand was made that the British be allowed to enter Canton. The next day, the British began to bombard the city, firing one shot every 10 minutes. Ye Mingchen issued a bounty on every British head taken. On 29 October,

7280-404: The elaborate 18th century Vaubanesque citadel of Saigon built by French engineers. French missionaries had been active in Vietnam since the 17th century. Although the ultimate goal of a Catholic Vietnamese emperor had yet to be achieved, by the middle of the 19th century a community of 600,000 Roman Catholic converts existed in Annam and Tonkin according to Bishop Pellerin. However, most of

7384-457: The end of November 1861. A mere fortnight later Bonard mounted a major campaign to overrun Đồng Nai Province in reprisal for the loss of the French lorcha Espérance and all her crew in an ambush. The provincial capital Biên Hòa was captured on 16 December 1861. Admiral Bonard's forces proceeded by capturing Vĩnh Long on 22 March 1862 in a brief punitive operation of Vietnamese guerrilla attacks on French troops around Mỹ Tho. On 10 March 1862

7488-405: The establishment of French consulates. Tự Đức was only prepared to concede on the free exercise of religion and rejected all others. The war continued and after the fall of Mỹ Tho the French added Mỹ Tho province to the list of territorial demands. Increasingly less able to confront the French and Spanish forces in open combat, Tự Đức was forced to shift to guerrilla warfare and sent his agents into

7592-511: The execution of a French missionary , Auguste Chapdelaine , by Chinese local authorities in Guangxi province, which at that time was not open to foreigners. The British and the French joined forces under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour . In late 1857, a joint British and French army attacked and occupied Canton (today Guangzhou ). A joint committee of the Alliance was formed. The Allies left

7696-528: The founding of the French colony of Cochinchina and inaugurated nearly a century of French colonial rule in Vietnam in particular and Indochina in general. During the mid-nineteenth century, European powers quickly overran and annexed large portions of the world to their colonial empires . France was one such nation, and sought opportunities to expand its influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Vietnam

7800-415: The imperial emissary and word arrived that the British had kidnapped the prefect of Tianjin. Parkes was arrested in retaliation on 18 September. Also captured were a number of British and French officers, Sikh soldiers, and a journalist from The Times . Parkes and the others were imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated. The prisoners had been tortured by having their limbs bound with rope until their flesh

7904-594: The islands of Poulo Condore to France, to allow the French to trade and travel freely along the Mekong River, to open the ports of Tourane, Quảng Yên and Ba Lac (at the mouth of the Red River) to trade and to pay an indemnity of one million dollars to France and Spain over a ten-year period. The French placed all acquired territories under the administration of the Marine Ministry , thereby establishing

8008-562: The legalising of the opium trade , the exemption of foreign imports from internal transit duties, the suppression of piracy, the regulation of the coolie trade, permission for a British ambassador to reside in Beijing, and that the English-language version of all treaties takes precedence over the Chinese language one. To give Chinese merchant vessels operating around treaty ports the same privileges accorded to British ships by

8112-426: The men were not released within 24 hours. The remaining crew of the Arrow were then released, with no apology from Viceroy Ye Mingchen who also refused to honour the treaty terms. Seymour, Major General van Straubenzee and Admiral de Genouilly agreed the plan to attack Canton as ordered. This event came to be known as the Arrow Incident and provided the alternative name of the ensuing conflict. Though

8216-501: The merchant ship Myrtle . The ship encountered cannon fire from the fort's garrison upon entering and anchoring at Qui Nhơn harbour. The Saginaw flew a white flag of neutrality, signalling no hostile intentions, but the fire continued. Eventually Schenck gave orders to withdraw to a secure position and responded with an hour long bombardment. Fire from the fort ceased after forty minutes and its walls collapsed shortly after. US forces reported no damage or casualties. As communication with

8320-501: The name of the vessel which became the starting point of the conflict. The war followed on from the First Opium War . In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking granted an indemnity and extraterritoriality to Britain, the opening of five treaty ports , and the cession of Hong Kong Island . The failure of the treaty to satisfy British goals of improved trade and diplomatic relations led to the Second Opium War (1856–1860). In China,

8424-535: The negotiations in the hope that the allies would cut their losses and abandon the campaign altogether. On 18 November 1859 Page bombarded and captured the Kien Chan forts at Tourane, but this allied tactical victory failed to change the stance of the Vietnamese negotiators. The war continued into 1860. During the second half of 1859 and throughout 1860, the French had failed to bring about a decisive breakout or made any territorial gains at Tourane and Saigon. Although

8528-682: The offer of command of one of the French fleets during the Franco-Prussian War and resigned as navy minister on the fall of the Second Empire after the battle of Sedan . One of his last acts as navy minister was to order naval personnel and gunboats to take part in the Siege of Paris. After his resignation he retired to Spain to live out his last years. He died in Barcelona in 1873. The square next to Saigon River in Saigon

8632-519: The outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle in Tongzhou (also romanized as Tungchow). On 21 September, at Baliqiao (Eight Mile Bridge) , Sengge Rinchen's 10,000 troops, including the elite Mongol cavalry, were annihilated after doomed frontal charges against concentrated firepower of the Anglo-French forces. The French army arrived at the Summer Palace outside Beijing on 6 October, followed by

8736-492: The port cities of Yantai and Dalian to seal the Bohai Gulf. On 3 August they carried out a landing near Beitang (also romanized as "Pei-t'ang"), some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the Taku Forts, which they captured after three weeks on 21 August. Southern Chinese laborers served with the French and British forces. One observer reported that the "Chinese coolies", as he called them, "renegades though they were, served

8840-587: The release of Parkes and the surviving prisoners on 8 October, the extent of their mistreatment became apparent. The destruction of the Forbidden City was discussed, as proposed by Lord Elgin, to discourage the Qing Empire from using kidnapping as a bargaining tool, and to exact revenge on the mistreatment of their prisoners. However, an attack on Beijing was ruled out, as this had already been presented as threat for other terms. Elgin decided on burning

8944-469: The release of two French Catholic missionaries, were attacked without warning by several Vietnamese vessels, in an incident known as the Bombardment of Tourane . The two French ships fought back, and with their superior armament rapidly destroyed their attackers. In August 1847 Victorieuse ran aground on the coast of Korea, but Rigault de Genouilly was exonerated from blame by a court of enquiry. He

9048-560: The report about the Arrow Incident submitted by Harry Parkes. The French Empire , the United States , and the Russian Empire received requests from Britain to form an alliance. In June 1858, the first part of the war ended with the four Treaties of Tientsin (Tianjin), to which Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. were parties. These treaties opened 11 more ports to Western trade. The Chinese initially refused to ratify

9152-533: The schemes of Ignatiev—the Russians were all granted a permanent diplomatic presence in Beijing (something the Qing Empire resisted to the very end as it suggested equality between China and the European powers). The Chinese had to pay 8 million taels to Britain and France. Kowloon was ceded to the British owned Hong Kong. The opium trade was legalized and Christians were granted full civil rights , including

9256-637: The shared goals of the Western powers were the expansion of their overseas markets and the establishment of new ports of call. The French Treaty of Huangpu , and the American Wangxia Treaty , both contained clauses allowing renegotiation of the treaties after 12 years of being in effect. In an effort to expand its privileges in China, Britain demanded that the Qing authorities renegotiate the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842), citing its most favoured nation status. The British demands included opening all of China to British merchant companies,

9360-532: The town on the same day. Mỹ Tho was occupied by the French on 12 April 1861 without a shot being fired. In March 1861, shortly before the capture of Mỹ Tho , the French again offered peace terms to Tự Đức, which were considerably harsher than those offered by Page in November 1859. The French demanded the free exercise of Christianity in Vietnam, the cession of Saigon province, an indemnity of 4 million piastres , freedom of commerce and movement inside Vietnam and

9464-655: The treaties. The major points of the treaty were: On 28 May 1858, the separate Treaty of Aigun was signed with Russia to revise the Chinese and Russian border as determined by the Nerchinsk Treaty in 1689. Russia gained the left bank of the Amur River , pushing the border south from the Stanovoy mountains . A later treaty, the Convention of Peking in 1860, gave Russia control over a non-freezing area on

9568-435: The validity of this cession, but eventually recognized French dominion over the six provinces of Cochinchina in the 1874 Treaty of Saigon , negotiated by Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre after the military intervention of Francis Garnier in Tonkin. The Spanish, who had played a junior role in the Cochinchina campaign, received a share of the indemnity but made no territorial acquisitions in Vietnam. Instead, they were encouraged by

9672-445: The vicinity also destroyed. Most accounts say that the Old Summer Palace was burnt for three days and three nights. Both Britain ( Second China War Medal ) and France ( Commemorative medal of the 1860 China Expedition ) issued campaign medals. The British medal had the following clasps: China 1842, Fatshan 1857, Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1858, Taku Forts 1860, Peking 1860. On 24 October, the emperor's brother, Prince Gong , conceded to

9776-553: Was an uncolonised and independent nation which became the main focus of French geopolitical and imperialist aspirations that were part of the broader trend of Western imperialism in Asia . Certain elements of the French establishment argued that the Vietnamese emperor Gia Long owed France greater goodwill for the assistance that the Kingdom of France had provided him with in his struggle against his Tây Sơn dynasty opponents. However, Gia Long felt neither bound to France nor to

9880-523: Was born and raised in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime , France, into a family with naval connections. His father was a naval engineer and his mother, Adélaïde-Caroline Mithon de Genouilly, was the niece and adopted daughter of Claude Mithon de Genouilly , a naval commander during the American War of Independence . Rigault de Genouilly entered the École Polytechnique in 1825. He entered the navy as

9984-555: Was called a vaisseau mixte to distinguish it from purpose-built steam ships such as Napoléon . He conducted extensive tests on Charlemagne , for which he received the thanks of the admiralty. In 1853 he was appointed flag-captain of the ship of the line Ville de Paris by Admiral Hamelin and took part in the bombardment of Odessa on 22 April 1854, one of the early naval actions of the Crimean War . Promoted contre-amiral (rear admiral) in 1854, he served with distinction in

10088-515: Was described by Colonel Thomazi, the historian of the French conquest of Indochina: On the third day, an old paddlewheel corvette, the Aigle des Mers , was seen slowly leaving the Tourane River . Her beflagged keel was in a state of dilapidation that excited the laughter of our sailors. It was obvious that she had not gone to sea for many years. Her cannons were rusty, her crew in rags, and she

10192-603: Was involved in a minor concurrent conflict during the war, though it ignored the UK's offer of alliance and did not coordinate with the Anglo-French forces. In 1856, the Chinese garrison at Canton shelled a United States Navy steamer, and the U.S. Navy retaliated in the Battle of the Pearl River Forts . The ships bombarded then attacked the river forts near Canton, taking them. Diplomatic efforts were renewed afterwards, and

10296-412: Was lacerated and became infected with maggots, and by having dung and dirt forced into their throats. Several were executed by beheading, their corpses fed to animals. Captured coolies who had worked for the allies were buried up to their necks and left to dogs. The Anglo-French forces clashed with Sengge Rinchen 's Mongol cavalry on 18 September at the battle of Zhangjiawan before proceeding toward

10400-518: Was named after him, and his statue was also erected there. However, in 1945 the statue was abducted and then in 1955, the square was also renamed Mê Linh Square . The French Navy aviso Rigault de Genouilly was named for Charles Rigault de Genouilly. Second Opium War [REDACTED]   United Kingdom [REDACTED] France [REDACTED]   United States The Second Opium War ( simplified Chinese : 第二次鸦片战争 ; traditional Chinese : 第二次鴉片戰爭 ), also known as

10504-608: Was now in charge of all land and sea forces) and 3,500 soldiers under the command of General de Vassoigne were transferred from northern China to Saigon. Charner's squadron was the most powerful French naval force in Vietnamese waters prior to the creation of the French Far East Squadron on the eve of the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). It included the steam frigates Impératrice Eugénie and Renommée (Charner and Page's respective flagships),

10608-424: Was of considerable strategic significance as a source of food for the Vietnamese army. The expedition was approved, and in early February Rigault de Genouilly sailed south for Saigon, leaving command of Tourane to capitaine de vaisseau (captain of the ship) Thoyon with a small French garrison and two gunboats. On 17 February 1859, after breaking the river defences and destroying a series of forts and stockades along

10712-461: Was promoted captaine de vaisseau in July 1848, and served on a commission charged with studying the defences of Havre. He then became chef de cabinet of the navy minister Joseph Grégoire Cazy. Between 1849 and 1851 he was captain successively of the paddle steamer frigate Vauban and of Charlemagne , the first screw-driven French battleship converted from a sailing ship. This type of conversion

10816-412: Was towed by forty oared junks and escorted by a crowd of light barges. She carried the plenipotentiaries of Tự Đức. Forbin took her under tow and brought her to Saigon, where the negotiations were briskly concluded. On 5 June a treaty was signed aboard the vessel Duperré , moored before Saigon. The expedition had turned out to be longer and costlier than initially thought and from a position of strength

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