Defiance Against European Forces

Date: June 5, 1862 • Location: Paris, France

Vietnamese guerrilla leader Trương Định chose to fight on against European forces, defying Emperor Tự Đức and the Treaty of Saigon.

Trương Định, sometimes known as Trương Công Định, was a mandarin (scholar-official) in the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam under Emperor Tự Đức. He is best known for leading a guerrilla army in southern Vietnam against French forces in defiance of the emperor. He refused to recognise the 1862 Treaty of Saigon that ceded Vietnamese territory to France.