ABSTRACT
On March 26, 1882, Riviere sailed from Saigon with two ships and two hundred and thirty men, ostensibly to strengthen the garrison of the concession at Hanoi. The instructions he carried impressed upon him the importance of abstaining from all use of force except in case of absolute necessity. On April 25th, heartened by the arrival the day before of another two hundred and fifty French troops, Riviere served an ultimatum on the governor, requiring the immediate surrender of the citadel. When this remained unanswered, the French ships opened fire under cover of which a storming column moved up for the assault, carrying scaling ladders with them. In February 1883, on the heels of Ferry’s accession to power, Riviere, strengthened by reinforcements amounting to seven hundred and fifty soldiers, demonstrated how his masters in Paris were thinking by occupying the port of Hongay, some distance north-eastwards along the coast from Haiphong.
