Tay Son Uprising

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Freddie Wells Essay #1 Geography 64 9/30/13 The Tay Son rebellion has played a key role in defining the shape of Vietnam’s political and cultural direction since its occurrence in the late 18th century. A movement defined by the uniting of the peasants under the Tay Son brothers to disrupt the oppressive political regime of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Tay Son uprising represents a defining alteration in the history of the Vietnamese people. Through his work, The Tay Son Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth Century Vietnam, George Dutton offers revolutionary analysis and insight into a time of immense change for the country of Vietnam. His book explores new avenues of theory about the era, examining the reasons for the rebellion and its effect on the direction of modern Vietnamese society as a whole. To understand why the Tay Son rebellion occured and the importance of its timing, Dutton’s The Tay Son Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth Century Vietnam extensively outlines the sources of dynamism that led to the drastic changes of lifestyle in Vietnam that are still felt today. As Western influence began to spread into Vietnam throughout the mid to late-eighteenth century, the full effects of the outside sources began to be felt throughout Vietnamese society. Religion and trade from European contacts began to foster a growing competition to gain the allegiance of the Vietnamese people from the early years of the Nguyen-Trinh civil war, with even more outsiders pouring into the region during the postwar period. Christian influence in the region caused much tension into the Tay Son years, and “underlying this tension was a tendency among missionaries to regard the Tay Son as illegitimate rulers” (Dutton, 182). These European missionaries found themselves on the front lines of a divisive society in the midst of Tay Son conflict, and contributed
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