A Bloody Rebellion by an Army of Women
Unique among armed rebellions, the Trung sisters’ forces were made mostly of women. With those predominately female armies, the rebel siblings seized numerous Chinese forts and citadels, and chased out or defeated their garrisons. Within a few months, China’s authority in Vietnam was broken, the Chinese were forced out of the country, and Trung Trac was proclaimed queen. Although greatly outnumbered, the siblings managed to keep the invaders out of for three years. Eventually, however, the Chinese concentrated a massive force to recapture Vietnam.
In 43 AD, the Trung sisters were finally defeated in battle. Captured, they were decapitated by the Chinese, who then reasserted their control over Vietnam. Although their independent state proved short lived, the Trung sisters successfully planted the seeds of Vietnamese national identity. Conventional wisdom in Vietnam has it that if the Trung sisters had not rebelled and fought against the Chinese, Vietnam would have been wholly absorbed and dissolved into China, and there would be no Vietnamese nation today.
