An extract from the suicide note of Hoang Dieu, the Nguyen governor of Hanoi who took his own life after the French captured the city in 1882:

“In the second month of this year, many French battleships sailed toward northern Vietnam and most of them moored not far from Hanoi. The population of the citadel became uneasy at their approach.

I ventured to think of Hanoi as a pass opening to all the regions of northern Vietnam. It is certainly a strategic stronghold. Were this place to fall into enemy hands, the rest of the territory would sooner or later follow suit. For this reason, I both sent instructions secretly to the governors of the neighbouring provinces to warn them and memorialised the throne to ask for reinforcement. Several times, however, Imperial edicts rebuked me for excessive concern with military matters or for not knowing the proper way to resist the enemy.

I searched myself and found that I was not in command of any real power. Nevertheless, I could not with decency forsake my duties as I am, after all, an important official. Conforming my conduct to that of my predecessors, I maintained an unwavering loyalty to the Emperor…

While our plans and preparations for defence were still indefinite, the enemies suddenly broke their earlier agreement. On the seventh day (April 24th 1882) they submitted their ultimatum and on the following day, they unleashed the main force of their troops against the citadel. The enemy troops surrounded us, numerous as ants. The Western cannon exploded, deafening as thunder. In the city, fire spread over all the houses in every street. In the citadel, fear wrung the heart of the whole population.

Although I had just recovered from an illness, I made every effort to command our troops. We killed more than one hundred enemy soldiers. We succeeded in defending the citadel for longer than half a day. But what else could we have done?”