Thesis (M.A.)--California State University, Fullerton, 2018
Includes bibliographical references
In 1406, the armies of the Ming dynasty (1368--1644) invaded Dai Viet, or present-day Vietnam. Zhu Di, or the Yongle emperor (r. 1403--1424), ousted Ho Quy Ly (1336--1407?) of the Ho dynasty (1400--1407), leading to an occupation of twenty years. Nearly ninety years later in 1494, the French army invaded Naples in southern Italy. Charles VIII (r. 1483--1498) then ousted the Aragonese dynasty, all the while proposing to use Naples as a base from which to start a crusade against the Ottomans. Both conquests did not last long. The Vietnamese defeated their oppressors in 1427. A coalition of European powers forced the French regime back to France in 1495. The French continued to invade Italy until 1559
Based on its comparison within a framework of narrative theory of the public narratives as presented by the Ming dynasty and French monarchy to justify their wars, this thesis shows that despite their geographical, contextual, political, and cultural differences, the Ming and French invasions possessed three major things in common and one disparity: (1) both the Ming emperor and the French kings utilized just war concepts rooted in ideological traditions in their public narratives; (2) these rulers relied on dubious historical claims to justify their wars; (3) internal and foreign ministers exerted tremendous influence on the creation of these wars; and (4) both narratives differed on the prevalence of prophecy, a recurring element in Italy, but not in China nor Vietnam
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2019
