Dai Viet · 938-1428

Dai Viet: holding off two empires

In 938 the Viet won independence from China at the Bach Dang River. Over the next five centuries Dai Viet beat back Song, Mongol and Ming armies while borrowing Chinese schools and laws. Students explore how a small kingdom held off giants.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1100 to AD 1492
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 938 the Viet won independence from China at the Bach Dang River. Over the next five centuries Dai Viet beat back Song, Mongol and Ming armies while borrowing Chinese schools and laws. Students explore how a small kingdom held off giants.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how Dai Viet won and kept its independence from Chinese dynasties between 938 and 1428.
  • Describe Dai Viet's resistance to the Mongol invasions.
  • Explain how Dai Viet both borrowed from China and resisted it.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1100

The Red River delta

Open the map in 1100 and find Đại Việt in the Red River delta. Which much larger state lies to its north?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 938

Bach Dang

Zoom in on the mouth of the Bach Dang River, near Ha Long Bay. Invading fleets were destroyed here in 938 and again in 1288. How could tides and wooden stakes beat a fleet?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1492

Growing south

Drag the slider to 1492 and compare Đại Việt with 1100. In which direction did it grow, and at whose expense?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why would a small kingdom next to a giant empire both copy it and fight it?
  2. How did Dai Viet use its rivers, tides and hills against bigger armies?
  3. The same river, the Bach Dang, saw two great victories 350 years apart. Why there?
  4. The Tran rulers let the enemy take their capital and then fought back. Why might giving up a city win a war?
  5. Dai Viet grew south at Champa's expense. How might the Cham people tell this story?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Genghis Khan, whose grandsons tried three times to conquer Dai Viet. Let students take turns ruling. Then switch sides: how did Dai Viet's leaders beat a much bigger army?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.