Mongol Invasions of Vietnam (1258-1288 CE)

Three Yuan invasions repelled by Dai Viet; also Champa campaigns (Taylor 1983 context).

Event Details

• Date: 1258, 1283-1285, 1287-1288
• Type: war-series
• Civilizations: southeast-asian-maritime, steppe-central-eurasian

Description

Three Yuan invasions repelled by Dai Viet; also Champa campaigns (Taylor 1983 context).

Quantitative facts and their sourcing

• Invasions in 1258, 1283-1284, 1285 and 1287-1288 (Wikipedia infobox).
• Wikipedia (stub): 1258 Vietnamese dead ~10,000; 1285 ~50,000 Mongol captured; 1288 ~90,000 Mongol killed or drowned. Figures from Vietnamese chronicles; low confidence.
• PRIMARY-SOURCE (read 2026-10-12): Yuan shi 209: Xianzong 7 (dingsi, 1257), 11th month, Uriyangqadai camps north of Jiaozhi; 12th month the Vietnamese are routed and the Mongols enter the capital; Tran Thai Tong flees to an island. So the first invasion begins in late 1257 (Western-calendar crossover into 1258). Dai Viet su ky toan thu 5: 1285 campaign under Toghan (Yuan side "500,000" ordered for 1286-87 per the same annals); 1285 Vietnamese victories including the killing of Sogetu and capture of 50,000+ (Vietnamese claim).

Confidence

low-medium. Numbers marked "Wikipedia-compiled (stub)" come from a secondary aggregator and must be upgraded to page-level scholarly citations before any Official use.

Citations

• yuanshi-209-wikisource-zh [PRIMARY-READ] Song Lian et al. (compilers) (1370). Yuan shi juan 209 (Annan), Chinese text, zh.wikisource revid 2261886; read. Wikisource (zh). https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7209. Read 2026-10-12; location: opening (Xianzong 7) entries.
• dvsktt-5-wikisource-zh [PRIMARY-READ] Ngo Si Lien et al. (compilers) (1479). Dai Viet su ky toan thu, Ban ky quyen 5 (Tran annals), literary Chinese text, zh.wikisource revid 2060893; read. Wikisource (zh). https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E8%B6%8A%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98%E5%85%A8%E6%9B%B8/%E6%9C%AC%E7%B4%80%E5%8D%B7%E4%B9%8B%E4%BA%94. Read 2026-10-12; location: year annotated Zhiyuan 25 (1288), 3rd month.
• taylor1983-birth-of-vietnam [formal] Keith W. Taylor (1983). The Birth of Vietnam. University of California Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL6443454W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• rossabi1988-khubilai-khan [formal] Morris Rossabi (1988). Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4123800W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• wp-mongol-invasions-vietnam [STUB (secondary aggregator)] Wikipedia contributors (2026). Mongol invasions of Vietnam (Wikipedia; secondary aggregator, stub-grade). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Vietnam. Verified 2026-10-11 (resolves).

Review status

SOFT draft. Not Official. Needs editor review of CAD tags (estimated) and page-level citation upgrade.