Battle of Bình Lệ Nguyên

The Battle of Bình Lệ Nguyên (Vietnamese: Trận Bình Lệ Nguyên, Chữ Nôm: 陣平厉原) was a battle between invasion Mongol forces led by Uriyangkhadai and Đại Việt forces led by king Trần Thái Tông. The battle took place on the field of Bạch Hạc, now is located in Vĩnh Phúc province, northwest of Hanoi in the date 17 January, 1258. The Mongol army defeated nearly entire Vietnamese army but failed to capture Trần Thái Tông as he escaped by boat to the capital Thang Long, which was captured by the Mongol five days later.[4]

Battle of Bình Lệ Nguyên (1258)
Part of the First Mongol–Vietnamese War
Date17 January 1258
Location
21°28′N 105°45′E Bạch Hạc, Vĩnh Phúc province, Northern Vietnam
Result
  • Mongol victory
    * Trần Thái Tông abandoned capital Thang Long.[1]
Belligerents
Đại Việt Mongol Empire
Commanders and leaders
Trần Thái Tông
Trần Thủ Độ
Lê Tần		 Uriyangkhadai
Cacakdu
Aju
Strength
Unknown, 200 war elephants[2] 3 Mongolian tumens[3]
~ 15,000–21,000 cavalry archers
20,000 Yi troops[3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown but heavy Unknown

Uriyangkhadai led successful campaigns in the southwest of China and pacified tribes in Tibet before turning east towards Dai Viet by 1257.[5] In the autumn of 1257, Uriyangkhadai addressed three letters to Vietnamese king Trần Thái Tông demanding passage through to southern China.[6] After the three successive envoys were imprisoned in the capital Thang Long (modern-day Hanoi) of Dai Viet, Uriyangkhadai invaded Dai Viet in December 1257 with generals Trechecdu and Aju in the rear.[6]

Battle

The Mongol cavalry steadily advanced toward Dai Viet through the mountainous terrain between Yunnan plateau and the Red River delta as Vietnamese king Trần Thái Tông raised alerts to evacuate the capital and ordered blacksmiths to manufactured weapons. Dai Viet had been peace for many years, and so to the first invasion of the Mongol, the Vietnamese weren't well prepared to resist. In the cold winter night of 17 January 1258, the king led the army and 200 elephants and met Uriyangkhadai's army on the field of Bạch Hạc, Bình Xuyên county, 32 kilometers northwest of capital Thăng Long, but failed to try blocking the Mongol advance. Thanked for his skillful general Lê Phụ Tần, the king was able to escort on a junk, sailed away the south while the Mongol horse archers chasing and firing at his damaged junk. Five days later the Mongols arrived the emptiness city of Thăng Long, and found two dead Mongol envoys in the prison. Spring came in February 1258 as temperature rises, the Mongol army destroyed the Royal Vietnamese palace and then retreated back to Yunnan.[2] King Trần Thái Tông, after had resided on an island for a month[3], returned to the capital.

Aftermath

In March 1258, crown prince Trần Hoảng became the next ruler of Đại Việt as his father Trần Thái Tông retired. In the next year, Trần Thánh Tông sent envoys to Dadu, submitted and paid tributes for Mongke Khan.[3]

See also

References
  1. Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Bản Kỷ, Kỷ Nhà Trần, mục Thái Tông Hoàng đế chép trận đánh diễn ra ngày 24 tháng 12 năm Đinh Tỵ.
  2. Taylor 2013, p. 124.
  3. History of the Yuan Dynasty, vol. 209
  4. Taylor 2013, p. 123.
  5. Rossabi, Morris (2009). Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0520261327.
  6. Lien, Vu Hong; Sharrock, Peter (2014). "The First Mongol Invasion (1257-8 CE)". Descending Dragon, Rising Tiger: A History of Vietnam. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1780233888.

Sources
  • Taylor, K.W. (2013), A History of the Vietnamese, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521699150


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