21. A Revolt Led by Armies of Women
The Trung sisters’ revolt was unique among armed rebellions in that their armies were made mostly of women. With those predominately female forces, the rebel siblings seized numerous Chinese forts and citadels, and chased out or defeated their garrisons. Within a few months, Chinese authority in Vietnam was broken, the Chinese had been kicked out of the country, and Trung Trac was proclaimed queen. The sisters led Vietnamese armies against the Chinese, and although their forces were greatly outnumbered, the siblings managed to keep the invaders out of Vietnam for three years.
Eventually, however, the Chinese concentrated an overwhelmingly massive force to recapture Vietnam, and in 43 AD, the Trung Sisters were finally defeated in battle. Captured, they were beheaded by the Chinese, who then went on to reassert their control over Vietnam. Although their independent state proved short-lived, the Trung sisters had nonetheless managed to plant the seeds of Vietnamese national identity. Conventional wisdom in Vietnam has it that there would be no Vietnamese nation today had it not been for the Trung sisters. Had they not rebelled against the Chinese, it is believed that Vietnam would have been wholly absorbed and dissolved into China, and would today just be another Chinese province.