---
node: mongol_invasions_of_dai_viet
type: event
slug: mongol_invasions_of_dai_viet
title: "Mongol invasions of Dai Viet"
lead: "The Mongol Yuan attacked Dai Viet three times — in 1258, 1285, and 1287–88 — and each invasion was repelled. Dai Viet kept its independence while resuming nominal tribute."
published: 2026-07-09
updated: 2026-07-09
image_file: mongol_invasions_of_dai_viet.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_B%E1%BA%A1ch_%C4%90%E1%BA%B1ng_1288_map_vi.png"
image_author: "Lưu Ly at Vietnamese Wikipedia"
image_license: "CC BY 3.0"
---

## What happened

The Mongols invaded Dai Viet in 1258 and, under Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, again in 1285 and 1287–88; the chronicles put the later armies in the hundreds of thousands, figures that rest on those sources. Each time the Tran court abandoned the capital Thang Long, scorched the earth, and wore the invaders down with guerrilla war, heat, and disease before counterattacking — under the supreme command of Tran Hung Dao in the later invasions.

The finale came on the Bach Dang River in 1288, where Tran Hung Dao reused Ngo Quyen's stratagem of 938: the Yuan fleet was impaled on hidden stakes and destroyed, and its admiral Omar (O Ma Nhi) was captured.

## Background

The Yuan sought passage and submission from Dai Viet, which lay on the route of its campaigns against Champa and the remnants of the Song.

## Consequences

Dai Viet preserved its independence while resuming nominal tribute to the Yuan court. The victories became foundation stones of Vietnamese national memory.