Khmer–Cham wars

Vietnamese war elephant and soldiers pottery figure

Around 950, the Khmer under Rajendravarman II pillaged the temple of Po Nagar (Kauthara) and carried off the statue of the goddess.[1] In 965, the Cham King Jaya Indravaman I restored the temple at Po Nagar and reconstructed the statue of the goddess to replace the one stolen by the Khmer.[2][1]

In 1074, Harivarman IV became king of Champa, had close ties to Sung China, made peace with Dai Viet but provoked war with the Khmer Empire.[3][4][5] In 1080, a Khmer army attacked Vijaya and other centers in northern Champa. Temples and monasteries were sacked and cultural treasures were carried off. After much misery, Cham troops under King Harivarman were able to defeat the invaders and restored the capital and temples.[6] His raiding force penetrated Cambodia as far as Sambor and the Mekong, where it destroyed all religious sanctuaries.[7] Also in previous years Đại Việt reorganized her royal army, equipped them with cavalries and catapults.[8]

Depiction of a naval battle between the Cham and the Khmer on the Bayon relief

In 1127, Suryavarman II demanded Vietnamese king Lý Dương Hoán to pay tribute for the Khmer Empire, but the Vietnamese refused. Suryavarman decided to expand his territory northward into Vietnamese territory.[9] The first attack was in 1128 when King Suryavarman II led 20,000 soldiers from Savannakhet to Nghệ An but were routed in battle.[10] The following year Suryavarman continued skirmishes on land and sent 700 ships to bombard the coastal areas of Đại Việt. In 1132, he persuaded Cham king Jaya Indravarman III to join with him attack Đại Việt, briefly seizing Nghệ An, pillaged the coastal districts of Thanh Hoá.[7][10]

In 1136, the Vietnamese force under Đỗ Anh Vũ counterattacked the Khmers with 30,000 men, but later retreated.[9] The Cham thereupon made with the Vietnamese, and when Suryavarman renewed the attack, Jaya Indravarman refused to cooperate with the Khmers.[7] After failed attempt to seize seaports in southern Đại Việt, Suryavarman II turned to invade Champa in 1145, and sacked Vijaya, ending the reign of Jaya Indravarman III, and destroying the temples at Mỹ Sơn.[11][12][13] They occupied northern Champa until 1149, when they were drove out by Jaya Harivarman I from Panduranga.[11] Harivarman reunited the kingdom. A royal pretender, Vamsaraja, attacked Harivarman with highland troops but was failed and escaped to Đại Việt.[14]

After securing peace with Đại Việt in 1170, Cham forces under Jaya Indravarman IV invaded the Khmer Empire through land with inconclusive results.[14] In 1177, however, his troops launched a surprise attack against the Khmer capital of Yasodharapura from warships piloted up the Mekong River to the great lake Tonlé Sap in Cambodia, and killed the Khmer king Tribhuvanadityavarman.[15][16][17] Multiple-bow siege crossbows were introduced to Champa from Song dynasty in 1171, and later were mounted on the backs of Cham and Vietnamese war elephants.[18][19] They were deployed by the Cham during the siege of Angkor, which was defended only by wooden palisades, led to the Cham occupation of Cambodia for next four years.[18]

In 1190, the Khmer king Jayavarman VII appointed a Cham prince named Vidyanandana who had been educated at Angkor to lead the Khmer army. Vidyanandana defeated the invaders and proceeded to occupy Vijaya and to capture Jaya Indravarman IV, whom he sent back to Angkor as a prisoner.[20][21] Adopting the title of Shri Suryavarmadeva (or Suryavarman), Vidyanandana made himself king of Panduranga, which became a Khmer's vassal. He made Prince In, a brother-in-law of Jayavarman VII, "King Suryajayavarmadeva in the Nagara of Vijaya" (or Suryajayavarman). In 1191 a revolt at Viajaya drove Suryajayavarman back to Cambodia and enthroned Jaya Indravarman V. Vidyanandana occupied Vijaya, killed both Jaya Indravarman IV and Jaya Indravarman V, then "reigned without opposition over the Kingdom of Champa,"[21][22] but he declared his independence from the Khmer Empire.

Khmer armies under Jayavarman VII continued campaigning against Champa until the Chams were finally defeated in 1203.[23] The Khmer later also had double bow crossbows mounted on elephants, which Michel Jacq Hergoualc’h suggest were elements of Cham mercenaries in Jayavarman VII's army.[19] The Khmer sent the Cham king Suryavarman into exile.[24] Jayavarman VII added Champa into his empire as a province, until the Chams regained independence in 1220.[25][13] Followed the Khmer voluntary evacuation of Champa, a Cham prince of the old royal line took over the reins of government peacefully and proclaimed himself Jaya Paramesvaravarman II and restored Champa's sovereigns.[26][22]

• Sino–Cham war
• History of the Cham–Vietnamese wars