At the
Battle of Bạch Đằng River in 938 the
Vietnamese forces, led by
Ngô Quyền, defeated the invading forces of the
Southern Han of
China and put an end to Chinese imperial domination of the Vietnamese. It took place at the
Bach Dang River, near
Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.
In 937,
Liu Yan (called Lưu Nham in
Vietnamese), the
Southern Han ruler, took the chance to intervene in Vietnam again after the death of the Vietnamese patriot
Dương Đình Nghệ. He had been foiled by Dương Đình Nghệ in 931, but now that Dương Đình Nghệ was dead, he thought the time was ripe for another attempt. He placed his own son,
Liu Hongcao (
劉弘操; Vietnamese: Lưu Hoằng Tháo), in command of the expedition, naming him "Peaceful Sea Military Governor" and "King of
Giao." He hastily assembled an army at Sea Gate, where he personally took charge of the reserve force. He ordered Liu Hongcao to embark the army and sail to Giao.
By the time Liu Hongcao arrived in Vietnamese waters with the Southern Han expedition, Liu Hongcao's plan was to ascend the
Bạch Đằng River (
白藤江) and to place his army in the heart of Giao before disembarking; the Bạch Đằng was the major
riverine route into the
Red River plain from the north.
Ngô Quyền anticipated this plan and brought his army to the mouth of the river. He had his men plant a barrier of large poles in the bed of the river. The tops of the poles reached just below the water level at high tide and were sharpened and tipped with iron. When Liu Hongcao appeared off the mouth of the river, Quyen sent out small, shallow-draft boats at high tide to provoke a fight and then retreat upriver, drawing the Chinese fleet after in pursuit. As the tide fell, the heavy Chinese warboats were caught on the poles and lay trapped in the middle of the river, whereupon they were attacked by Ngô Quyền. More than half the Chinese were drowned, including Liu Hongcao. When news of the battle reached Sea Gate with the survivors, Liu Kung wept openly. He collected what remained of his army and returned to
Canton. This victory ended China's long domination of Vietnam and began Vietnam's period of "relative autonomy." Ngô Quyền's tactic would later be copied by
Trần Hưng Đạo against the
Mongols in a later battle at
Bạch Đằng River in 1288.
The Bạch Đằng victory in 938 put an end to the period of Chinese imperial domination. In 939, Ngô Quyền proclaimed himself king of
Vietnam, established his capital at
Cổ Loa (previously a capital in the 3rd century BC) and set up a centralized government.
See also
