Sino-French War

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Sino-French War
Part of the French conquest of Vietnam and the Tonkin campaign
Operations of the Sino-French War
Date 22 August 1884 – 4 April 1885 (7 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location Southeast China, Taiwan, Northern Vietnam Result See § Aftermath Territorial changes French protectorates of Tonkin and Annam recognized by China
Belligerents
France	China Black Flag Army
Commanders and leaders
Jules Ferry Amédée Courbet Sébastien Lespès Louis Brière de l'Isle François de Négrier Laurent Giovanninelli Jacques Duchesne	Cixi Prince Gong Pan Dingxin Feng Zicai Tang Jingsong Liu Mingchuan Sun Kaihua Liu Yongfu
Strength
15,000–20,000 soldiers	25,000–35,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
4,200 killed and wounded[1] 5,223 died of disease[2]	at least 10,000 killed[2] unknown wounded[2]

The Sino-French War,^[a] also known as the Tonkin War,^[3] was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885 between the French Third Republic and Qing China for influence in Vietnam. There was no declaration of war.

The Chinese armies performed better than in their other nineteenth-century wars. Although French forces emerged victorious from most engagements, the Chinese scored noteworthy successes on land,^[4] notably forcing the French to hastily withdraw from occupied Lạng Sơn in the late stages of the war, thus regaining control of the town and its surroundings.^[4][5] However, a lack of foreign support, French naval supremacy, and northern threats posed by Russia and Japan forced China to enter negotiations.^[6][5][7]

China ceded to France its sphere of influence over Northern and Central Vietnam, which respectively became the protectorates of Tonkin and Annam. Both sides ratified the Treaty of Tientsin^[8] and no diplomatic gain was reaped by either nation.^[9] On another note, the war strengthened the dominance of Empress Dowager Cixi over the Chinese government but France securing its strategic objective did not prevent the collapse of French Prime Minister Jules Ferry's government for whom the Tonkin Affair was ignominious.

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