Duy Tân
| Duy Tân | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor of Đại Nam | |||||||||
 Emperor Duy Tan | |||||||||
| Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty | |||||||||
| Reign | 1907–1916 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Thành Thái | ||||||||
| Successor | Khải Định | ||||||||
| Born | 19 September 1900 Huế, Việt Nam | ||||||||
| Died | 26 December 1945 (aged 45) Lobaye, Ubangi-Shari, French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African Republic) | ||||||||
| Burial | An Lăng Huế, Việt Nam | ||||||||
| Spouse | Imperial Noble Consort Mai Thị Vàng 3 French domestic partners | ||||||||
| Issue | Yves Claude Vinh-San, Prince Bảo Vàng 4 other sons and 5 daughters | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | Nguyễn Dynasty | ||||||||
| Father | Emperor Thành Thái | ||||||||
| Mother | Concubine Nguyễn Thị Định | ||||||||
| Signature | .svg) | ||||||||
| Duy Tân | |
|---|---|
| Vietnamese name | |
| Vietnamese alphabet | Duy Tân |
| Hán-Nôm | 維新 |
| Duy Tân | |
| Vietnamese alphabet | Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San |
|---|---|
| Hán-Nôm | 阮福永珊 |
Emperor Duy Tân (born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San; 19 September 1900 – 26 December 1945), was a boy emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty and reigned for 9 years between 1907 and 1916.
Life
Early childhood
Duy Tân (at the time, known by his birth name, Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San) was son of the Thành Thái emperor. Because of his opposition to French rule and his erratic, depraved actions (which some speculate were feigned to shield his opposition from the French) Thành Thái was declared insane and exiled to Vũng Tàu in 1907. The French decided to pass the throne to his son Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San, despite the fact that he was only seven years old. The French hoped that someone so young would be easily influenced and controlled, and thus raised to be pro-French.
Reign 1906-1916
The efforts on the part of the French to raise the prince to support them largely failed. Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San was enthroned with the reign name of Duy Tân, meaning "friend of reform", but in time he proved incapable of living up to this name. As he became older he noticed that, even though he was treated as the emperor, it was the colonial authorities who were actually obeyed. As he became a teenager, Emperor Duy Tân came under the influence of the mandarin Trần Cao Vân, who was very much opposed to the colonial administration. Emperor Duy Tân began to plan a secret rebellion with Trần Cao Vân and others to overthrow the French.
In 1916, while France was preoccupied with fighting World War I, Emperor Duy Tân was smuggled out of the Forbidden City with Trần Cao Vân to call upon the people to rise up against the French. However, the secret was revealed and France immediately sent troops there, and after only a few days, they were betrayed and captured by the French authorities. Because of his age and in order to avoid a worse situation, Emperor Duy Tân was deposed and exiled instead of being killed. Trần Cao Vân and the rest of the revolutionaries were all beheaded. Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San was exiled with his father to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
Exile in Reunion Island
Prince Vĩnh San continued to favor national liberation for Vietnam in exile. During World War II he resisted the Vichy Regime until the Liberation of La Réunion, after which he joined the Free French Forces and became a low-ranking naval officer on the French destroyer Léopard, serving as radio officer. He then joined the Free French army as a second lieutenant in December 1942, receiving successive promotions to lieutenant (1943), captain (1944), major (July 1945) and lieutenant-colonel (September 1945).[1]
Plane crash in Central Africa
When France was facing defeat by the Viet Minh, and the regime of Emperor Bảo Đại proved incapable of gaining any public support, French leader Charles de Gaulle talked to Prince Vĩnh San, who was still very popular in the Vietnamese public memory for his patriotism, about returning to Vietnam as Emperor. However, he died in a plane crash in Central Africa on his way home to Vietnam in 1945 and the great hopes of many died with him - as a patriotic challenge to Hồ Chí Minh.[2] For his wartime service, the French posthumously awarded him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Officer's Médaille de la Résistance, also appointing him a Companion of the Ordre de la Libération.[1]
Reburial in Vietnam
In 1987, his son, Prince Bảo Vàng, and the royal family of Vietnam accompanied his father's remains, which were removed from Africa and brought home to Vietnam in a traditional ceremony to rest in the tomb of his grandfather, Emperor Dục Đức.[3]
In 2001, Prince Bảo Vang wrote a book titled Duy Tân, Empereur d'Annam 1900–1945 about his father's life.[4]
Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him.[5]
References
- ^ a b The Nguyen Phuoc Dynasty Genealogy, page 9, http://4dw.net/royalark
- ^ David G. Marr Vietnam: State, War, and Revolution (1945-1946) 2013 p615 "From September 1945, de Gaulle had considered the idea of touring Indochina following a triumphant Show of force, accompanied by Prince Vĩnh San, the former boy Emperor Duy Tân .. "
- ^ CÉRÉMONIE DINHUMATION A HUE Viet Nam at vinhsan.free.fr
- ^ Presentation du livre sur l empereur Duy Tan at vinhsan.free.fr
- ^ Vietnam Country Map. Periplus Travel Maps. 2002–03. ISBN 0-7946-0070-0.
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- Child rulers from Asia
- 1899 births
- 1945 deaths
- Nguyen dynasty emperors
- Vietnamese nationalists
- Vietnamese revolutionaries
- Vietnamese exiles
- Military personnel of the Free French Naval Forces
- Free French military personnel of World War II
- French Army officers
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Africa
- Companions of the Liberation