Battle of Bạch Đằng (981)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Bạch Đằng (981) was an important battle in the history of Vietnam's struggle against the domination of China to their north. For centuries China had treated Vietnam as a providence of China. In a preceding battle, the Battle of Bach Dang River (938), China had attacked Vietnam. The Vietnamese forces were led by Ngo Quyen. He embedded spikes in the river with iron tips that sank the enemy's boats, thus defeating China and first ending China's domination of Vietnam.^[1]

In the Battle of Bach Dang in 981 CE, the invasion troops of China's ruling dynasty, the Sung, attacked Dai Co Viet with both a navy at Bach Dang River's mouth and an infantry force at Chi Lang (Lang Son). Le Hoan arranged two ambushes at these sites. The first ambush in Bach Dang destroyed most of the Sung navy and the second wiped out the remaining Sung army and ended the invasion.^{[citation needed]}