Bạch Đằng River

The Bạch Đằng River (, ), also called Bạch Đằng Giang (from , ), the White Wisteria River, is a river in northern Vietnam, located near Hạ Long Bay. It flows through Yên Hưng District of Quảng Ninh province and the district Thủy Nguyên of Haiphong.

It is the best river way to access Hanoi from the south of China, through the Nam Triệu Mouth, the Kinh Thầy River, the Đuống River, and then the Red River to Hanoi.

Bạch Đằng River battles

The Bạch Đằng River has been the site of three important battles in Vietnamese history:

• the battle of 938 where Ngô Quyền defeated an attack by the Southern Han, resulting in Vietnamese independence.
• the battle of 981 where Lê Đại Hành defeated the Song dynasty.
• the battle of 1288, where general Trần HÆ°ng Đạo employed the tactics used in 938 to drive out the Mongol invaders.

In each of these three battles, stakes in the Bạch Đằng river were used as defensive obstacles. The first time was in 938, as part of Ngô Quyền's battle strategy. Archaeologists discovered several of these ancient stakes.

References