Kublai Khan, once leader of the Mongols, is known best for being a successful conqueror of the Old World. As ruler of a reunified China since for the first time since the Tang Dynasty, Kublai Khan was great in his victories, yet his efforts to obtain control over the southern China, and what is now northern Vietnam, were failed. This paper will take a look at the three attempts Kublai made on Vietnam, and why the state with such a weak sense of national identity was able to defeat the great conqueror on every strike. By 1225 the Mongols had controlled most of China and Manchuria. Kublai Khan began his rule around the year 1260, replacing his older brother Qan Mongke. In 1276 Kublai had defeated Song China, and henceforth gained rights over …show more content…
He sent prince Toqan with 300,000, a more prepared army than the previous two invasions, to take control of the city, Annam. Tran was able to use a tactic developed by the Nyo Quyen to defeat the Mongols again. The Vietnamese drove tipped stakes into the bed of Bach Dang River and then lured the Mongol fleet towards the river as the tide was starting to lower. The Mongol fleet was either trapped or sunk by the stakes, and the Vietnamese sank over 400 Mongol crafts. The Mongols soon abandoned Champa as an attainable source, but the war in Annam would continue until the end of Kublai Khan’s reign. Kublai Khan failed badly in his attempts to gain control of Vietnam, but it is these attempts that led to Vietnam’s creation of border and cultures. The once disperse nation with little identity became unified through the war with the Mongols. From language, to trade, to tradition and religion, Vietnam could have become a vastly different country if it were have fallen to Chinese influence and control. Kublai Khan may have failed in his attempts to take control over Vietnam and Champa, but his failures set the contingencies of what was to become a new