Hoàng Hoa Thám (1858 – 1913) also known as Commander Thám (Vietnamese: Ông Đề-Thám), was a Vietnamese feudal lord of Yên Thế, the leader of the Yên Thế Insurrection that held out against French protectorate in Tonkin for 30 years.
Born Đoàn Văn Nghĩa (段文義）in Tiên Lữ, Hưng Yên, Hoàng Hoa Thám (黃花探) was the better known adopted name whilst his nom-de-guerre was Đề Thám (提探).[1] "Đề" is the shortened form of "Đề đốc" (提督), denoting the rank of a commander, an appellation adopted by Hoàng Hoa Thám as he was never commissioned by the Nguyễn court.[2]
Hoàng Hoa Thám's parents had both died after joining a resistance group in the mountains rallying against the Court of Huế.[3] Seeking anonymity, his paternal uncle fled to the Yên Thế area, changing the family name from Trương to Hoàng.[4]
As the Protectorate consolidated control in Tonkin, French troops under Joseph Gallieni swept thru Yên Thế in 1890-91, routing most of the resistance fighters. Gallieni's campaign however was halted when Đề Thám attacked the railway, seizing trains, supplies and even capturing a local official for ransom. Against Gallieni's wishes, the French authorities agreed to make peace, granting Đề Thám a regional fiefdom. This made him the rallying cry for other anti-French movements. Subsequent military campaigns chipped away at the fiefdom but Đề Thám's exploits and fame proved to be a thorn in the flank of the Protectorate well into the early decades of the 20th century.
Death
Đề Thám's was assassinated in Thái Nguyên by one of his men, Lương Tam Kỳ, on 10 February (or March 18) 1913.
Thám's killer was a former commander in the Black Flag Army who had become an agent for the colonial French in Tonkin.
Legacy
Hoàng Hoa Thám is respected as a national hero in Vietnam.[5] Many buildings and streets are named after him, but also Operation Hoàng Hoa Thám during the Vietnam War.[6]
^Kiều Văn Giai thọai lịch sử Việt Nam - Volume 2 -- 2002 Page 1053 "HOÀNG HOA THÁM* Hoàng Hoa Thám (Đề Thám) quê phú Yên Thế tinh Bắc Giang. Sẵn mang ... Sau đó ông lại theo tòng sự Cai Kinh, lãnh tụ nghĩa quàn vũng Yên Thế, phủ Lạng Thương, được trọng dụng, phong Đề đốc."
^Spencer C. Tucker The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War reprint 2011 paperback p288 "Death. Date: February. 10. or. March. 18,. 1913. Vietnamese nationalist hero who led an uprising against the French. De Tham, also known as Hoang Hoa Tham, was born in 1858 as Truong Van Nghia, son of Truong Van Than and Luong Thi ..."
^David G. Marr Vietnamese Anticolonialism, 1885-1925 1971 p73 "De Tham apparently was a peasant from Hung-Yen, where his father had found reason in the early 1840s [?] to join an ... before the first French penetrations of north Vietnam in 1873 and the Sino-French hostilities between 1883 and 1885."
^Nguyẽ̂n Văn Kiệm Góp phà̂n tìm hiẻ̂u một só̂ vá̂n đè̂ lịch sử cận đại Việt Nam 2003 p357 ""Tên tuổi của Đề Thám đã trở thành như một biểu tượng được trân trọng trong dân chúng An Nam."
^Spencer Tucker 1999 Vietnam - Page 62 "Giáp was not willing to concede defeat and in Operation Hoàng Hoa Thám he tried again."
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