Francis Garnier in France’s first military adventure in Tonkin (1873)

Abstract

During the first French military campaign in Vietnam, Marie Joseph Francois (Francis) Garnier (1839-1873) played a prominent role. Garnier was a senior official that reflected the adventurous spirits of the French colonialists and was chosen by the Saigon government to lead the first Bac Ky Campaign in 1873. With the Saigon government, Francis Garnier laid the foundation for annexing and pacifying Vietnam, particularly the first Bac Ky campaign. Garnier’s roles involved making a strategic plan for the invasion of Tonking, commanding troops to attack the Hanoi citadel, expanding the military campaign in the Red River delta, and establishing a preliminary administrative system over the captured areas. His death in the Cau Giay battle (December 1873) created massive influences on the political, military and diplomatic nature of French-Vietnamese interactions that finally led to the Gia Tuat treaty (1874).