In 1258, Möngke Khan demanded passage through the Kingdom of Đại Việt (which would expand to become today’s Vietnam) in order to attack the Southern Song from Yunnan. The Trần Emperor refused, setting the stage for an invasion which proved to be the Mongols’ first defeat. Kublai Khan invaded two more times, in 1285 and 1287, both unsuccessfully. The Trần Dynasty’s victories have been summed up this way: “For 30 years, the half-a-million strong Mongol cavalry was held at bay by a small nation of less than 5 million and an army of less than 200,000 soldiers.”
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SOUTHEAST ASIA CENTER
Homepage: https://jsis.washington.edu/seac/
K-12 Resources page: https://jsis.washington.edu/seac/resources/educators/
List of Title VI National Resource Centers by World Region: https://iris.ed.gov/info/applications
Contact information for all NRCs (alphabetically): https://iris.ed.gov/iris/ieps/contactSheet.cfm?program=NRC
