Black Flags of Vietnam c.1860-c1890

Various remnants of the defeated Taiping movement fled to Vietnam. The Taiping remnants eventually organized themselves into bandit groups that terrorized the local Vietnamese. The Black Flags under Liu Youngfu were the most powerful of such groups. However the Vietnamese government used the Black Flags to suppress the revolting hill tribes, thus earning the Black Flags official military status in Vietnam. Black Flag forces were used again by the Vietnamese government when the French invaded Vietnam. The Black Flag forces constituted for most of the Sino-Vietmese forces in the resulting Sino-French War (1884-85). French forces found an ally among a rival bandit group known as the Yellow Flags. After several engagements, the French conquered Vietnam. Various regular Chinese and Vietnamese troops shredded their uniforms and joined the Black Flag bandit groups during and after the Sino-French War. Even after the defeat of the Black Flags and their backers, various bandit groups under the Black Flag banner still resisted the French. Bandit groups even sacked a few major villages in 1887. Liu Youngfu himself aided the Chinese when the Japanese invaded Taiwan in the 1890s. Liu was however quickly defeated, and Taiwan became part of the Japanese empire.