The Black Flag Army (Chinese: 黑旗军; pinyin: Hēiqí Jūn; Vietnamese: Quân cờ đen) was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, who crossed the border from Guangxi province of China into Upper Tonkin, in the Empire of Annam (Vietnam) in 1865. They became known mainly for their fights against French forces in cooperation with both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities. The Black Flag Army is so named because of the preference of its commander, Liu Yongfu, for using black command flags.
Read more about Black Flag Army: The Rise and Fall of The Black Flag Army, Flags of The Black Flag Army
Other articles related to "black flag army, black flags, black, flags":
... The Black Flag Army was mauled in both these battles, but was not seriously damaged as a fighting force ... at Phu Sa on 14 December and Son Tay on 16 December, the Black Flags were unable to prevent the French from storming Son Tay ... and Vietnamese contingents at Son Tay, the Black Flag Army bore the brunt of the fighting, and took very heavy casualties ...
... Liu Yongfu evidently had a personal preference for the colour black, having dreamt in his youth that he would one day become a 'general of the black tiger' ... The Black Flag Army is named from the colour of Liu's command flags ... mention that Liu Yongfu's personal command flags were very large, black in colour, and rectangular ...
... Nearly all these casualties were suffered by Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army ... The fighting at Son Tay took a terrible toll of the Black Flags, and in the opinion of the British observer William Mesny broke them once and for all ... After the fall of Son Tay Liu retreated with the Black Flag Army to Bac Ninh, but made little attempt to coordinate the movements of the Black Flag Army with those of the Chinese forces at Bac Ninh ...
Famous quotes containing the words army, black and/or flag:
“It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.”
—Sun Tzu (6–5th century B.C.)
“There with vast wings across the canceled skies,
There in the sudden blackness the black pall
Of nothing, nothing, nothing—nothing at all.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;
Bravest of all in Frederick town,
She took up the flag the men hauled down;”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)