The abdication of Bảo Đại () took place on 25 August 1945, in response to the August Revolution. It marked the end of the 143-year reign of the Nguyễn dynasty, a dynasty under the House of Nguyễn Phúc, and marked the end of the Vietnamese monarchy. The fall of the Nguyễn dynasty led to the end of the Empire of Vietnam cabinet of Prime Minister Trần Trọng Kim, a Japanese puppet government.
A public abdication ceremony was held on 30 August 1945, in which Emperor Bảo Đại handed power over to the Viet Minh. Following his abdication, Bảo Đại became "citizen Vĩnh Thụy", an advisor to the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).David G. Marr Vietnam: State, War, Revolution, 1945–1946, p. 20
On 14 June 1949, the French united French Cochinchina with the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin to form the associated State of Vietnam within the French Union, and reinstalled Bảo Đại as head of state.Philippe Franchini, Les Guerres d'Indochine, vol. I, Pygmalion – Gérard Watelet, Paris, 1988, pp. 399–406 The State of Vietnam was a semi-constitutional monarchy, and Bảo Đại was its monarch, but he was called the Chief of State (Quốc trưởng). His position was supposed to only be temporary until the country would have an elected constitutional parliament. On 26 October 1955, three days after a fraudulent referendum, Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed the formation of the Republic of Vietnam as the successor state to the State of Vietnam, with himself as its first President. This event marked the end of the rule of Bảo Đại.
Background
Vietnam briefly regained its independence from France in 1945, when Emperor Bảo Đại rescinded the 1884 Treaty of Huế. This (temporarily) ended the French protectorates over Annam and Tonkin and created the Empire of Vietnam, which was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan. In response to French and Japanese oppression of the Vietnamese people as well as the Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945, Ho Chi Minh’s communist Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) launched a general uprising against both French and Japanese colonial rule in Vietnam on 14 August 1945.
On 21 August 1945, the Viet Minh sent a telegram requesting the abdication of Bảo Đại. Phạm Khắc Hòe received the telegram and relayed its contents to the emperor. The telegram, sent by “A committee of patriots representing all parties and all segments of the population”, contained the following message: “With the determination of the entire nation who are willing to sacrifice to protect the independence of the nation, we respectfully ask his Imperial Majesty to make a historic gesture of renouncing his power”. It also set an ultimatum of 12 hours for Bảo Đại to abdicate, otherwise they couldn't guarantee that he or his family would survive the August Revolution.
Bảo Đại was surprised by the telegram, as he claimed to be unaware of the revolution and its leaders. He also claimed to be unaware of other significant problems in Vietnam, such as the devastating famine that had killed possibly millions of his subjects in Annam and Tonkin. He attempted to contact United States President Harry S. Truman, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, King George VI, and General Charles de Gaulle for help, but none of them answered. A young tutor of Crown Prince Bảo Long begged for Bảo Đại to take shelter in the Imperial Tomb, but he refused. A small French military squad entitled "Lambda", consisting of 6 men led by French Army captain Castelnat, parachuted 28 kilometers from Huế in an attempt to prevent Bảo Đại from abdicating. However, they were captured by the Viet Minh as soon as their parachutes hit the ground. Bảo Đại later received a second telegram from Hanoi, asking for his abdication.
It is not known with certainty who convinced Bảo Đại to abdicate, although Huỳnh Thúc Kháng or Phạm Khắc Hòe were likely involved. The latter compared Bảo Đại’s situation to that of King Louis XVI of France. Bảo Đại sent a telegram to the Viet Minh, accepting their terms. The telegram contained the following text: "In response to the gentlemen's call, I am ready to resign. In the time of making decisions for the nation, to be united is vital and to be divided is a death sentence. I am willing to sacrifice everything for solidarity to be realised and I expect the leaders of this committee to come to Huế as soon as possible for the transfer of power." The Viet Minh then sent a delegation to Huế to receive the statement of abdication from Emperor Bảo Đại.
Nguyễn Kỳ Nam claimed that Emperor Bảo Đại was indeed aware of the Viet Minh before the revolution, and that a Japanese general had alerted him, claiming that he had gathered intelligence about the secret organisation of Viet Minh revolutionaries all over Vietnam. He reported that Bảo Đại had refused the offer by the Japanese to eliminate the communists because he believed that enough bloodshed had already occurred during the war.
Abdication The imperial edict ending the Nguyễn dynasty was composed by Emperor Bảo Đại, with the help of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Cẩn and Phạm Khắc Hòe on the night of 22 August 1945 at the Kien Trung Palace, within the Imperial City of Huế. The next morning, when the representatives of the provisional government of the DRV (Trần Huy Liệu and Huy Cận) arrived at the palace, Bảo Đại at first gave the declaration to Trần Huy Liệu, but Liệu instead convinced him to hold a formal ceremony announcing his abdication.
Along with the edict declaring his abdication, Emperor Bảo Đại also promulgated an edict which was directed at the imperial family of the Nguyễn dynasty, reminding them of his attachment to the philosophy that “the people are paramount”, and that he would rather be merely a citizen of an independent country than the puppet ruler of an enslaved country. He called on the members of the imperial family to support the government of the DRV, and that they should also work to preserve Vietnam’s independence. The edicts also made it clear that he was transmitting his mandate voluntarily rather than due to any form of coercion.
Bảo Đại’s abdication was officially announced on 25 August 1945, and the August Revolution was proclaimed to be successful. President Ho Chi Minh, along with the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the National Committee for the Liberation of the People returned to Hanoi. Bảo Đại’s abdication also symbolised the end of a military government and the beginning of a civilian government for the DRV.
Ceremony
The abdication ceremony was held on 30 August 1945 outside the Meridian Gate, the main gate to the Imperial City of Huế. Organised by Phạm Khắc Hòe, around 50,000 people attended the ceremony. The three representatives of the DRV that attended the ceremony to formalise the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại were Trần Huy Liệu, Nguyễn Lương Bằng, and Huy Cận. The Meridian Gate was chosen because it was the venue for the most important political events of the Nguyễn dynasty, such as coronation ceremonies.
During the ceremony, Bảo Đại was dressed in his imperial costume (hoàng bào) and wore a yellow turban. According to his memoirs, the audience was in complete silence while Bảo Đại read the proclamation, all of them appeared to be shocked and bewildered. In contrast, Trần Huy Liệu claimed in his memoirs that the crowd was cheering in excitement. Bảo Đại gave his regalia to the representatives of the government of the DRV, symbolically passing the Mandate of Heaven over to the government of the DRV. Bảo Đại handed the hoàng Đế chi bảo (ceremonial seal of the state) over to the 26 year old Trần Huy Liệu, who found it heavy to carry, and the jade-encrusted silver "Sword of the State" to Huy Cận. Bảo Đại transferred other imperial objects to the delegates of the DRV, outside of the ceremony.
After handing over the sword, Bảo Đại asked the delegation if he could also receive something from the delegation to commemorate this event. The delegates were surprised with the request and quickly discussed what to do. Huy Cận improvised and pulled out a red badge with a yellow star that the Thừa Thiên Huế Revolutionary People's Committee gave to members of the delegation, and pinned it to Bảo Đại’s chest. He then loudly proclaimed "Xin đồng bào hoan nghênh công dân Vĩnh Thụy" (Welcome, fellow citizen Vĩnh Thụy).
After the delegates had received the ceremonial items, they held them up so that the people of Huế could observe them. Trần Huy Liệu noted how he and the other delegates had never held more than a few grams of gold before, and were surprised by how heavy the golden objects were, making them exhausted while trying to show them to the people. Trần Huy Liệu then proceeded to read a speech to the audience. In the speech, he declared that the reign of the Nguyễn dynasty — and over a millennium of monarchy in total — had finally come to an end.
The two men responsible for lowering the flags of the Nguyễn dynasty and of the Empire of Vietnam, and hoisting the flag of the DRV — Đặng Văn Việt and Nguyễn Thế Lương — later became prominent officers in the People's Army of Vietnam.
Abdication document/speech According to Vietnam: Blood and Fire
According to Bảo Đại, Dragon of Vietnam
Edict directed at the imperial family of the Nguyễn dynasty Along with the "official abdication" (Chiếu thoái vị), Emperor Bảo Đại also issued another document (imperial edict) for the imperial family attached to it, containing the following text:
Symbolism Transfer of the "Mandate of Heaven" to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam According Brian Michael Jenkins, because of the transfer of the ceremonial seal and sword in 1945 the North Vietnamese believed that they were in possession of the Mandate of Heaven while the Republic of Vietnam did not it. So Jenkins argued that the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong believed that they would be victorious in the Vietnam War because it was "Heaven's will" as only the government with the Mandate of Heaven was the legitimate ruler of the Vietnamese people. Jenkins wrote that he thinks that the senior leadership of the DRV and the Workers' Party of Vietnam believes this as many were the children of Nguyễn dynasty mandarins and were raised in a Confucian environment, rather than from the Proletariat which is why in his opinion the communists often acted more traditionalist than the South Vietnamese. Jenkins also noted that regarding the Mandate of Heaven being transferred through the passing of the Hoàng Đế chi bảo seal and the Sword of the State presented a strong personal motivation for the Communist leadership to pursue victory over the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. This was cited as an important psychological reason why the Communists were so determined to keep on fighting and didn't give up during the Vietnam War when fighting the South Vietnamese and their allies (including the United States).
Transfer of Nguyễn dynasty treasures to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Following the abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty in 1945 Emperor Bảo Đại handed over 3000 antiques (weighing around 800 kilograms), including seals, from the Forbidden City and other royal palaces to the revolutionary government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam following its declaration of independence. As the capital city moved from Huế to Hanoi these antiques were stored at the Vietnam National Museum of History. At the time, only light and small items were selected to move to Hanoi, as heavy items, such as the throne, the Emperor’s palanquin, stone-made screen of the Minh Mạng Emperor, etc. were left in the city of Huế.