Bạch Đằng Battlefield Examined

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Abstract

The Mongols created the world’s most powerful empire in the thirteenth century, conquering China and establishing the Yuan dynasty. Their military power was in doubt, however, after failed naval invasions in Japan and Vietnam. According to historical records, the Vietnamese tactics used against the Mongolian Armada were designed to prevent them from reaching the mouth of Bach Dang River by using hidden stakes that were driven into the riverbed in secrecy. Using the large difference in tides, the Vietnamese successfully lured the enemy fleet into the trap, destroying or capturing perhaps as many as 400 vessels. Since the 1950s, approximately 700 years after this watershed event, Vietnamese archaeologists have discovered a number of large wooden stakes in the midst of reclaimed paddy fields along the Bach Dang River. Excavations and research were conducted which led to the identification of several stake-yard sites believed to be dated to the battle that took place in 1281 C.E., however, no remains of ships have been identified to date.

In 2009, a group of scholars from the Institute of Archaeology at Hanoi, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, and the Maritime Archaeology Program at Flinders University joined the archaeological investigations of these stake-yard sites with a focus on studying the battle strategy used by the Vietnamese and identifying ship remains from the battle. This joint paper will present an intermediate result of this international cooperative project in maritime archaeology in Vietnam at the naval battle site related to the thirteenth century Mongolian invasion of the country. The team has identified several new areas of concentrated stakes and the distribution pattern may lead to better understanding of the battle and the possible location of shipwreck sites.

Context 

In 1271 AD Kublai Khan, the fifth emperor of the Mongol Empire (1260-1294), became the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China. On several occasions, from 1274 AD onwards, Kublai Khan dispatched armies aboard fleets of ships in attempts to expand the empire’s hegemony and extend his rule into East Asia (Japan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam). Two highly significant locations associated with these attempted Mongol invasions have been identified – along coast of Takashima Island and in Bach Dang River. These are places where historically important naval battles are known to have taken place, in each case resulting in the defeat of the Mongolian fleets by the local people. In addition, archaeological and material culture remains associated with the fleets and battles have been found at both locations. One area is located off the shores of Takashima Island in the northwestern Kyushu Islands of Japan where Mongol invasion fleets are believed to have been sunk by a large typhoon during the invasion in 1281 AD. The other area is located on the Bach Dang River in northern Vietnam (under the control of the Dai Viet from 1054 to 1804) where a river/estuary naval battle took place in 1288 AD. 

History of the naval battle at Bach Dang

Vietnamese historical records including Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Ngo 1993) and An Nam chi luoc (Le 1961), as well as Chinese dynasty chronicles such as Yuan Shi mention the 1288 AD naval battle at Bach Dang. Later historians, poets, and others have also written accounts of the battle. Although many accounts mention the battle, the real story is often shrouded behind myths and legends. Detailed knowledge about the battle is limited due to the scarcity of primary historical records. Therefore, since the 1950s and 1960s, it was realized that a general study of the geology, geomorphology, inscriptions, legends and archaeology was needed to more fully reconstruct the story of this event.

In general terms, the history of the battle entailed the story that having successfully taken the capital Thang Long (now Hanoi), the Mongol invaders found themselves trapped in an empty city without supplies. They soon decided to abandon the capital and retreat, but the Dai Viet had decided to fight a decisive naval battle with the invaders. The Vietnamese forces, under the command of Tran Hung Dao and his generals, lay in wait for the invasion fleet knowing that they would have to return to China through an estuary at the mouth of the Bach Dang River. Tran Hung Dao was victorious and many of the Mongol ships (perhaps numbering in the hundreds) were burned or lost during the battle.

The majority of historical sources agree that the principal tactic used by the Vietnamese forces was to prevent the fleet from reaching the open sea and trap them by using hundreds of secretly planted large wooden stakes that had been sharpened to a point and driven into the riverbed at low tide (referred to as stake yards). These stakes were probably covered at high tide and became uncovered as the tide fell. This particular technique had also been used in the area on two previous occasions in 938, when Ngo Quyen defeated the Southern Han army, and in 981, when Le Hoan ordered stakes to be placed to block the Song army. 

The 1288 AD battle at Bach Dang River is widely considered to be a milestone in the history of Vietnam as an independent nation and has shaped the current culture of Vietnam. Tran Hung Dao is highly revered as the most able general in the history of Vietnam. Since the battle, a number of shrines and temples that worship Tran Hung Dao have been established, including in the Yen Giang commune on Ha Nam Island. Some of these locations are related to myths and legends associated with him. Some of these worship centers, such as the Vua Ba Temple and the Trung Coc shrine, are large or well known (Phuong 2009) while others are much smaller and less well known. The religious aspects of this research are important and the creation of the cult of Tran Hung Dao, his many shrines, and his cultural impact and importance to Vietnam provide a compelling contemporary aspect to the project.


Some findings

Each of the monuments, stake yards, and the ancient topography that lies hidden beneath the modern landscape of the Bach Dang Battlefield in Yen Hung district, Quang Ninh province reveals a part of the Vietnamese strategy to defeat the Mongols. There are 3 major stake yards where the distribution, nature and dimensions of the stakes have been identified and recorded: the Yen Giang, the Dong Van Muoi (DVM) and the Dong Ma Ngua (DMN) sites. It first appeared that the stakes might have been placed between the ancient islands and navigational hazards in order to create an effective ‘wall’ preventing the vessels from travel through the channels and into the open sea. This was deduced from the positions of the stake yards sandwiched between natural hazards (Figure 4). The excavations at the DVM and DMN sites, however, seem to suggest that it was not a simple wall that the Vietnamese created. When constructing such a wall around the waterways and islands, one must also consider how to prevent the enemy from landing and taking control of the land. As a result, a more complex arrangement of stakes may be expected.