Dai Viet (The Southeast Asian Way)

Dai Viet, formally the Kingdom of Dai Viet is a nation in Southeast Asia. Dai Viet is bordered by Siam and Lan Xang to the west and China to the north. Its capital and largest city is Thang Long, which has been the capital for over 1000 years. The largest ethnic group are the Kinh (Viet). Dai Viet is one of the wealthiest countries in Asia.

General
Dai Viet's recorded history stretches back to the mid-to-late 3rd century BCE, when Văn Lang and Âu Lạc were established. Prehistoric Dai Viet was home to some of the world's earliest civilizations and societies.

However, the country was conquered by the Han dynasty of China for over 1000 years until Ngô Quyền defeated the Southern Han, bringing back independence for Dai Viet after a millennium of Chinese dominance. After that, Ngô Quyền proclaimed himself king of the country but soon died. The country fell into instability as the 12 warlords fought against one another. Đinh Bộ Lĩnh then defeated the warlords and became the first emperor of the Đinh dynasty. Đinh Bộ Lĩnh was assassinated and the next emperor, Đinh Phế Đế, gave the throne to Lê Hoàn, establishing the Early Le Dynasty. Lê Hoàn campaigned against the Song Dynasty and succeeded. The next emperor, Lê Long Việt was murdered by his brother, Lê Long Đĩnh as he stole the throne. Lê Long Đĩnh implemented many brutal policies that pushes the people into misery. After Lê Long Đĩnh died, the Lý dynasty was established and the capital was moved to Thang Long. Peace and stability was established as the country began developing feudalism. The Ly army attacked the Song dynasty and repelled the following Song invasion. The Ly dynasty came to an end when Emperor Ly Hue Tong had no male heir and Emperor Ly Chieu Hoang was forced to marry Tran Canh by Grand Preceptor Tran Thu Do, thus establishing the Tran dynasty. During the Tran dynasty, the Tran army repelled three Mongol invasions.The final emperor of the dynasty was Thiếu Đế, who at the age of five years was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his maternal grandfather, Hồ Quý Ly. Taking advantage of this situation, the Ming dynasty invaded and occupied Dai Viet for 20 years until Le Loi uprose and brought back independence for Dai Viet, establishing the Le dynasty, which has ruled Dai Vie ever since.

During the Later Lê dynasty, under Lê Thánh Tông, the country campaigned against Lan Xang in the Dai Viet–Lan Xang War and captured its capital Luang Prabang, in which later the city was totally ransacked and destroyed by the Viet. He made further incursions westward into the Irrawaddy River region in modern-day Burma before withdrawing. He also invaded and ransack Champa's capital. Dai Viet during Le Thanh Tong's reign was marked by prosperity and the height of feudalism.

The Later Le dynasty also marked the first time that firepower was heavily used in the military.

Advancing southwards and wars with Siam
By the 17th century, another force rose to power in Southeast Asia. That force was the Siamese kingdom. After gaining independence from Burma, Siam was able to grow militarily and economically and expand in the region.

The Kingdom of Lan Xang was severely weakened by the previous Burmese attacks. The state of the Lan Xang royal court was unstable. Taking advantage of this situation, Taskin wanting to expand in the region, sent diplomats to Lan Xang and demanded them to become a Siamese vassak. Despite the power of the newly rose Siamese kingdom, King Ong Boun of Lan Xang refused to fall under Siamese surzenity. In return, Taksin then launched an attack on Lan Xang in 1779. From the Phitsanulok and Chaiyaphum provinces, Siamese forces marched into Lan Xang. As Siam couldn't attack on the southern front of Laos due to the block of a Cambodian province; they attack on the west to take key cities and most importantly the capital of Vientiane. However, they saw fierce defense by the Laotian. As they couldn't held on, Ong Boun asked for help by the neighboring Dai Viet kingdom. Emperor Lê Dụ Tông saw Siam as a threat and saw that if they managed to liberate Lan Xang, it can be used as a barrier between northern Dai Viet and Siam.

On January of 1780, Dai Viet launched an attack with Viet and Lao troops trained in eastern Lan Xang. By then Vientaine had already fell to the Siamese and the Siamese continued march on westward. Dai Viet sent two units from Hung Hoa and Tran Ninh to Lan Xang to held off the Siamese advance. Another unit starting in Quang Nam would occupy southern Lan Xang and then march northwards to support the other two units to push back the Siamese. The reason was there was little to no Siamese infantry in Southern Lan Xang and the flatter region made it easier for troops to advance than the mountainous north.

The Siamese was surprised by the Dai Viet counter attacks and were heavily pushed back. By two months, they have lost many western provinces and couldn't take Luang Phabrang. The Viet almost liberated Vientiane and all of Lan Xang when another counter-attack by the Siamese was launched to push back the Viet.

Eventually, a peace treaty was signed with both sides claiming victory. The Siamese annexed Vientiane and western provinces of Lan Xang while the rest of Lan Xang became a Dai Viet protectorate.

Lan Xang was given autonomy by the Dai Viet emperor but became subjected to Dai Viet. Lan Xang didn't need to pay tributes each year but was force to let Dai Viet dominace their economical, military and political state.

Following the 17th-18th century, Champa was slowly annexed to Dai Viet after a series of military conquest. The Cham people was forced to follow Viet traditions and culture.

Modern history
During the 16th-17th century, adding to the Chinese, Japanese and Korean merchants, European merchants fleets from such Portugal, Netherlands, Britain and France began coming to trade in Dai Viet. Multiple trading ports were established by the Europeans. Due to Dai Viet's location, lying next to the busy South China Sea trade route. This made Dai Viet had several of the busiest harbors and trading ports in Asia. This also made more Christian missoinaries come into the country and spread Christianity. They built churches and translated the Nom script to the Latin alphabet. Europeans presents the officials and lords several European goods.

Much of Maritime Southeast Asia and South Asia was under European dominace at that time. Due to the importance of Dai Viet's location, it was necessary for the country to avoid European dominance. The emperor reformed some policies, mostly focused on the military and economy. His policies included boosting agriculture and handicraft to trade with European goods and weaponry. Besides rice and corn, they also boosted production of coffee, sugar, rubber, black pepper, etc. along with ceramic products and silk. In Lan Xang, land reclaimation were done to make crops for agriculture acivities.

The army was well-organized and with modern weaponry and equipment. In 1788 the army strength had risen to a total of around 100,000 troops and the military personnel had raised since then. A number of schools, univeristies and hospitals were built. Western experts were invited to disseminate knowledge and technology.

In 1932, following the Siamese coup, a coup was conducted to make Dai Viet a constitutional monarchy. Trần Trọng Kim was the first Prime Minister of Dai Viet. During World War II, being distanced from the warfare, Dai Viet and other countries in the region focus on producing and exporting food and weapons to combatants. This had helped developing Dai Viet economy as well as other countries.