It was a hard battle to win back control of the country, but it seemed from the outset that the Nguyen were destined to succeed. Much has been made about the French contribution to the Vietnamese civil war, however, this has been largely mis-leading as most French officials were against the enterprise and when the time for battle came, France had other, pressing, internal problems to deal with. They were worried about losing influence in the area to Britain, but the monarchy was almost bankrupt and never lived up to the terms of the treaty.           Pigneau de Behaine, now Bishop of Adran, vowed to lead the effort to aid the Vietnamese on his own. Nguyen Anh's heir, Nguyen Phuc Canh (right) also returned home to fight in the war, despite his young age. During his time abroad he had been given a western education and converted to Christianity. When Behaine returned to Vietnam, he stayed with Prince Canh's army during the campaign. He also brought with him considerable military support. He was able to obtain two ships in India, outfitted with modern weapons and ammunition and also managed to recruit almost 400 French deserters to come with him on this adventure to fight for Nguyen Phuc Anh.

One of these men was Olivier de Puymanel, a young man of 20 years, who trained the Vietnamese forces in modern weapons and tactics, giving them a huge advantage over the Tay Son. Another favorite who rose to great heights was Jean-Baptiste de Chaigneau (left) who commanded the naval ordinance. He married a Vietnamese woman and was eventually made a mandarin by Nguyen Phuc Anh and was excused by special decree from having to kowtow to the Nguyen ruler.        However, important as these contributions were, it is easy to make too much of them. The four hundred French troops fighting on behalf of the Nguyen is hardly considerable when compared to the 50,000 Vietnamese in the Nguyen army. Many of these were Catholic converts, who had been driven into the arms of the Nguyen by the anti-Christian decree of the Tay Son Emperor Canh Thinh and the subsequent appearance of Our Lady of Lavang near Quang Tri. The people had also become bitterly opposed to the oppressive officials of the Tay Son regime, who proved even worse than the most corrupt mandarins of the previous governments.

The war was a series of victories for the Nguyen forces. In 1799 Le Van Duyet (right) captured Qui Nhon, along with the 19-year-old Prince Canh and Bishop Behaine, who died of dysentry during the battle. Qui Nhon was pretty much the "last stand" of the Tay Son regime, and after the fall of that city, it was only a matter of time before the Nguyen soldiers marched all the way to Hanoi. By 1802 it was all over. Nguyen Anh showed no mercy to his enemies and justly rewarded his friends. He also worked to keep his promises and celebrate his accomplishments. His first concern was to cement the unity and independence of the country. He moved the capital from Hanoi to Hue, when he was enthroned as Emperor in 1802. It was the first time in 200 years that the entire country was totally united.

To emphasize this new national unity, the new Emperor chose the name "Gia Long" to mark his reign. This was a combination of the ancient name for Hanoi (Thanh Long) and Saigon (Gia Dinh) to illustrate the unity of the northern and southern regions. He reestablished the traditional relationship with China, which recognized his throne, and secured peace along the northern border. He also named the country Nam Viet, which was written in the Chinese court as Viet Nam. He also took steps to establish a traditional, Confucian state. In fact, Vietnam eventually had more mandarins per peasant than even China. He also established the mandarins road to link the northern and southern extremes of the country and improve transportation and communication with the capital city.

The new Emperor Gia Long also had to take actions regarding the French. To his close friend Bishop Behaine he honored with the most lavish and colorful funeral ever given to a foreigner in the history of Vietnam. He also spurned every effort of the French to claim concessions promised to them in the treaty signed between Louis XVI and Gia Long. The Emperor realized that it was Behaine, not the French government, who kept the promises of support. France had not delivered the support they promised, so he felt no obligation to turn any rights or territory over to them. Out of respect to Behaine however, he did allow the spread of Christianity throughout his reign, although its increasing success caused him some worry. He honored those Frenchmen who had aided him, but was also quick to dismiss anyone who showed signs of putting French interests ahead of Vietnamese interests.           Emperor Gia Long quickly set to work building his ideal Confucian monarchy, which he had promised to the people in south so many years before. He set the trend of traditional, principled leadership for the Nguyen Dynasty. In general, the Nguyen were anxious to avoid the potential rivalry of an elite class of powerful land owners. As such, they established communal lands for farmers and by and large taxes were extremely light under the Nguyen kings until the arrival of the French colonial administration. Although a few pretend claimants to the Le dynasty remained, and there was the usual trouble of bandits and border skirmishes, the people of Vietnam were firmly united from north to south for the first time in two centuries, a well-functioning Confucian government structure had been established, there was a powerful army, a secure succession and peace with the Chinese. To mark these great accomplishments in 1813 Gia Long changed the name of the country back to the traditional name "Dai Viet" to illustrate that the glory days of the Vietnamese "Golden Age" had returned. In all, the Nguyen dynasty and the united Vietnamese empire was off to a good start.