page_title: Treaty of Huế (1883)
section_title: Main features of the treaty
hierarchical_section_title: Treaty of Huế (1883) / Main features of the treaty
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of François-Jules Harmand (1845–1921), the French civil commissioner-general for Tonkin, on taking up his post in June 1883.
context_page_description: The Treaty of Huế, concluded on 25 August 1883 between France and Vietnam, recognised a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin. Dictated to the Vietnamese by the French administrator François-Jules Harmand in the wake of the French military seizure of the Thuận An forts, the treaty is often known as the 'Harmand Treaty'. Considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles, the treaty was never ratified in France, and was replaced on 6 June 1884 with the slightly milder 'Patenôtre Treaty' or 'Treaty of Protectorate', which formed the basis for French rule in Vietnam for the next seven decades.
context_section_description: The Treaty of Huế gave France everything it wanted from Vietnam.  The Vietnamese recognised the legitimacy of the French occupation of Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its royal house and its court survived, but under French direction.  France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Huế, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese king, a concession that the Vietnamese had never before been prepared to make (Article 11).  To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuận An forts and the Deo Ngang mountain chain on the border between Annam and Tonkin (Article 3).  Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Cochinchina and Tonkin.  The French cancelled the country's debts (Article 26) but required in return the cession of the southern province of Bình Thuận, which was annexed to the French colony of Cochinchina (Article 2).  At the same time the northern provinces of Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return, the French undertook to drive out the Black Flags from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River (Article 23).  These were hardly concessions since they were planning to do both anyway.
caption: François-Jules Harmand (1845–1921), architect of the Treaty of Huế
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