Siege of Tourane - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Tourane expedition had tied down French resources unprofitably and drained French manpower, and the eventual evacuation of Tourane was an embarrassing confession of failure. Tu Duc was immensely encouraged by the outcome of the siege, and had the news of the allied evacuation proclaimed throughout Vietnam.

In the long run, however, the failure of the expedition made no difference to the course of the war. The military stalemate around Saigon was broken in 1861, when the ending of the war with China freed French military resources for action in Vietnam, by an important French and Spanish victory at Ky Hoa. The allies now began to gain the upper hand. In April 1861, My Tho was captured. In early 1862 the French captured Bien Hoa and Vinh Long. These victories forced the Vietnamese to sue for peace in April 1862. By then the French were not in a merciful mood. What had begun as a minor punitive expedition had turned into a long, bitter and costly war. It was unthinkable that France should emerge from this struggle empty-handed, and Tu Duc was forced to cede the three southernmost provinces of Vietnam (Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh and Dinh Tuong) to France. Thus, casually, was born the French colony of Cochinchina, with its capital at Saigon.