Unit Name: | Royal Vietnamese Army |
Dates: | 938–1789 |
Country: | Kingdoms of Jinghai and Đại Việt |
Branch: | Royal Guards Siege Elephant Cavalry Infantry Navy |
Type: | Army, Navy |
Role: | Military force |
Size: | 250,000 men at its height in 1471 |
Commander2 Label: | Political Leader |
Commander3: | Vietnamese Emperor |
Notable Commanders: | Ngô Quyền, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, Lê Hoàn, Lý Thái Tông, Trần Quốc Tuấn, Lê Lợi, Lê Thánh Tông |
Battles: | Battle of Bạch Đằng (938) Sino-Vietnamese Wars (981, 1059, 1075-1076, 1406-1427, 1789) Cham–Vietnamese wars Khmer–Vietnamese War Mongol invasions Laotian–Vietnamese War Dutch–Nguyen war (1637–1643) |
The Royal Vietnamese army was the primary military body of the Vietnamese states of Jinghai and Đại Việt and the armed forces of the Vietnamese monarchy from 938 to 1789. It was disbanded and succeeded by the Imperial Vietnamese army of the Nguyễn dynasty in early 19th century.
Conscription was firstly introduced and used in Vietnam by king Lý Thái Tông in 1042. For a detachment of 50 men, 30 were sent back to their native villages for rice cultivation. The soldiers did receive some largesse at the same time as they were expected to do some farming of their own. The Royal Vietnamese army at wars grew from 30,000 in 967 to about 80,000 in 1075; 100,000 in 1285; 120,000 in 1377 and 250,000 in 1471.