Sino-French War 1884-1885

France began its creeping conquest of Indochina in 1858 and by 1883 much of what is now Vietnam was under French control. In 1882, the king of Annam (presently central Vietnam) had called upon the Chinese for help in stopping French expansion into his kingdom. The following April French forces seized the city of Hanoi, in Tonkin (presently northern Vietnam), which had been under the protection of Annam; some months later the king of Annam was forced to sign a treaty making his kingdom a French protectorate. The Chinese were concerned about this French encroachment upon their southern frontier and in 1883 dispatched troops to Tonkin to resist the invaders.

The first significant battle between French and Chinese forces took place when French troops attacked the city of Sontay, which was defended by Chinese soldiers and Black Flag mercenaries, on December 14, 1883. After sustaining substantial losses, the garrison surrendered on December 16th. While skirmishing along the frontier continued, negotiations were opened up between France and China. The talks failed and fighting intensified in the summer of 1884. A French naval expedition began operations along the coast of China destroying a Chinese fleet at Foochow (Minhow) on August 23rd. The French fleet went on to capture Chinese forts on Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands in a campaign lasting from October 1884 through March 1885. Meanwhile, fighting in Tonkin escalated. On February 13, 1885, Langson was captured by French troops. On March 24th, Chinese and Vietnamese troops defeated the French at Bang Bo forcing a hasty and poorly planned withdrawal from Langson.

Neither France nor China wanted to continue fighting this undeclared war. In France, near the end of March 1885, a political crisis developed – the Tonkin Affair – questioning the human cost and the economic value of French colonial expansion. Negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin) which was signed on June 9, 1885. France agreed to withdraw from Formosa and the Pescadores Islands and return them to Chinese sovereignty. In return, the peace agreement included Chinese recognition of the French protectorate over Annam and the withdrawal of Chinese troops from Tonkin. However, the Black Flag mercenary army continued to resist the French presence in Tonkin into the next decade. In China, the war demonstrated the inadequacy of Chinese modernization efforts and aroused nationalistic.

References

Clodfelter, 414-5; COW67; EB - Sino-French War; Kohn, 451.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

East Asia

Belligerents

China, France, Vietnamese

Dispute

Territory

Initiation Date

December 14, 1883

Termination Date

June 9, 1885

Duration

1 year, 5 months, 27 days
(543 days)

Outcome

Negotiated Settlement
(French advantage)

Fatalities

Total: 12,100
China: 10,000
France: 2,100

Magnitude

4.1