The Treaty of Huế, (Vietnamese: Hòa ước Harmand, Hòa ước Quý Mùi) concluded on 25 August 1883 between Vietnam (Nguyễn dynasty) and France, recognising a French protectorate over Vietnam being divided into Annam and Tonkin. Dictated to the Vietnamese by the French administrator François-Jules Harmand in the wake of the French military seizure of the Thuận An forts, the treaty is often known as the 'Harmand Treaty'. Considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles, the treaty was never ratified in France, and was replaced on 6 June 1884 with the slightly milder 'Patenôtre Accords' or 'Treaty of Protectorate', which formed the basis for French rule in Vietnam until the 1949 Élysée Accords signed between France and emperor Bảo Đại.
The Treaty of Huế, (Vietnamese: Hòa ước Harmand, Hòa ước Quý Mùi) concluded on 25 August 1883 between Vietnam (Nguyễn dynasty) and France, recognising a French protectorate over Vietnam being divided into Annam and Tonkin. Dictated to the Vietnamese by the French administrator François-Jules Harmand in the wake of the French military seizure of the Thuận An forts, the treaty is often known as the 'Harmand Treaty'. Considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles, the treaty was never ratified in France, and was replaced on 6 June 1884 with the slightly milder 'Patenôtre Accords' or 'Treaty of Protectorate', which formed the basis for French rule in Vietnam until the 1949 Élysée Accords signed between France and emperor Bảo Đại.
Background
The treaty was dictated to the Vietnamese in the wake of the French victory at the Battle of Thuận An (20 August 1883) by Jules Harmand, the French civil commissioner-general for Tonkin. The capture of the Thuận An forts exposed Huế to immediate attack and overawed the Vietnamese court. Shortly after the battle, Nguyễn Trọng Hợp, the Vietnamese Minister of personnel, accompanied by Monsignor Gaspar, the French bishop of Huế, concluded a 48-hour armistice with the French. The Nguyễn dynasty agreed to the evacuation of twelve inland forts defending the river, the destruction of their ammunition and the removal of the barrages. Harmand then sailed upriver to Huế aboard a steam launch.
At Huế, Harmand presented a brutal ultimatum to the Vietnamese court, written in a style reminiscent of the Melian dialogue of Thucydides and couched in terms that brooked no compromise. The emperor and his ministers were to have no opportunity to discuss the terms of the treaty or to haggle over individual clauses. They must accept the treaty in full, or the terrible vengeance of France would fall upon them:
If we wanted to, we could destroy your dynasty root and branch and seize for ourselves the entire kingdom, as we have done in Cochinchina. You know very well that this would present no difficulty to our armies. For a moment, you hoped to find help from a great empire on your borders, which has on several occasions posed as your suzerain. But even if such a suzerainty ever existed, and whatever the consequences that might once have resulted from it, it is now nothing but a historical curiosity. Now here is a fact which is quite certain. You are completely at our mercy. We have the power to seize and destroy your capital and to starve you all to death. It is up to you to choose between war and peace. We do not wish to conquer you, but you must accept our protectorate. For your people, it is a guarantee of peace and prosperity. For your government and your court, it is the only chance of survival. We give you forty-eight hours to accept or reject, in their entirety and without discussion, the terms which we are magnanimously offering you. We believe that there is nothing in them dishonourable to you, and if they are carried out with sincerity on both sides they will bring happiness to the people of Annam. But if you reject them, you can expect to suffer the most terrible of misfortunes. The worst catastrophe you are capable of imagining will fall far short of what will actually befall you. The empire of Annam, its royal dynasty and its princes and court will have voted for their own extinction. The very name of Vietnam will be erased from history.
Cowed by the French appeal to naked force, the Vietnamese court gave way immediately, and on 25 August 1883, Vietnamese plenipotentiaries signed a treaty whose terms were dictated by Harmand.
Main features of the treaty
The Treaty of Huế gave France everything it wanted from Vietnam. The Vietnamese re-recognised the legitimacy of the French colonial rule in Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its imperial house and its court survived, but under French direction. France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Huế, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese king, a concession that the Vietnamese had never before been prepared to make (Article 11). To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuận An forts and the Đèo Ngang mountain chain on the border between Annam and Tonkin (Article 3). Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Cochinchina and Tonkin. The French cancelled the country's debts (Article 26) but required in return the cession of the southern province of Bình Thuận, which was annexed to the French colony of Cochinchina (Article 2). At the same time the northern provinces of Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return, the French undertook to drive out the Black Flag Army from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River (Article 23). These were hardly concessions since they were planning to do both anyway.
Text of the treaty (original French)
The original French text of the treaty, in twenty-seven articles, is given below.