Emperor Đồng Khánh ( Hán tự: 同慶 ; also known as Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ, 阮福膺祺 ; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889 ) was the ninth Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam.

Khánh allowed Minh to stay on as a token head of state in order to capitalize on Minh's public standing, but Khánh had the real power.

In the meantime, Khánh had four of Minh's colleagues tried and put under house arrest on purported charges of promoting neutralism and a truce with the communists.

After a power struggle, Khánh had Minh exiled.

Khánh later claimed that he had built up intelligence infrastructure to weed out the Vietcong under Diệm, but that Minh's MRC had disbanded it and released communist prisoners.

This came after the Buddhists had lobbied Khánh to remove General Dương Văn Đức from command of IV Corps ; Đức had responded with a failed coup attempt, along with Lâm Văn Phát, on 13 September.

Khánh ’ s action nullified a counter-plot involving Hương that had developed during the civil disorders that forced him from office.

In an attempt to pre-empt his deposal, Hương had backed a plot led by some Đại Việt-oriented Catholic officers, including Thiệu and Có, who planned to remove Khánh and bring Khiêm back from Washington.

The U. S. Embassy in Saigon was privately supportive of the aim as Taylor and Khánh had become implacable enemies, but they did not fully back the move as they regarded it as poorly thought out and potentially a political embarrassment due to the need to use an American plane to transport some plotters between Saigon and Washington, and as a result, they promised asylum only for Hương if necessary.

All emperors since Đồng Khánh were chosen by the French and had only a symbolic position.

Also, whereas Đồng Khánh had tried to be friendly with the French, Emperor Thành Thái took a course of passive-resistance.

In the meantime, this only intensified US efforts to engineer a coup, and many of Khánh ’ s colleagues — mostly Catholic Đại Việt supporters — had by then privately concluded that he was set to pursue a deal with the communists.

Many of whom felt that Khánh thought of himself as the " Sihanouk of Vietnam "; the Cambodian monarch had managed to avoid the Cold War for the time being by shunning both communist and anti-communist blocs.

Mậu began to seek out other slighted officers, including Khiêm, Generals Khánh and Thi, who had returned from exile after Diêm's death.

According to a CIA assessment, Khánh had been " consistently favorable to U. S. programs and advice ".

Despite this, by daybreak, Khánh had taken over without a shot being fired.

Khánh had them put under house arrest and later charged them with neutralism.

In a morning radio broadcast Khánh said he had conducted the coup because of the junta's failure to make progress against the Vietcong.

In August 1964, after Khánh decided to take more power for himself by declaring a state of emergency and introducing a new constitution, Buddhists launched protests against the new junta, claiming that there was a plot to revive the Diêm era by predominantly Catholic groups such as Cần Lao veterans and Đại Việt supporters, pinpointing Khiêm and Thiệu, both Catholics who had been favoured by Diêm.

Khiêm's lack of public action was seen as tacit support for the coup ; A U. S. Embassy log during the coup claimed that the Thiệu and Khiêm " seem so passive that they appear to have been either tacitly supporting or associated with his move by Đức and Phát ", and that Khiêm had " issued expressions of firm support for Khánh somewhat belatedly ", as control was eventually reestablished.

By the end of the year, Khánh had prevailed in the power struggle with Khiêm and Minh.

:* In 1963 – 65, there were numerous coups and short-lived governments, several of which were headed by Dương Văn Minh or Nguyễn Khánh.

Minh lasted only three months before being toppled by Nguyễn Khánh, but assumed power again in April 1975, two days before surrendering to communist forces.

Khánh and his colleagues spread rumours to American officials that Minh and his colleagues were about to declare South Vietnam's neutrality and sign a peace deal to end the war with the North.

Khánh overthrew Minh and his colleagues on 30 January 1964, in a bloodless coup, completely catching the MRC off guard.

Khánh used the coup to enact retribution against Minh, Đôn, Kim, Đính and Xuân.

Khánh later persuaded Minh to remain as a figurehead head of state.

However, Khánh soon sidelined Minh.

The junior officers were set free when Minh demanded that Khánh release them in return for his service.

Many senior officers, in particular the Catholics, such as Khiêm and Thiệu, decried what they viewed as a handing of power to the Buddhist leaders, They then tried to remove Khánh in favour of Minh, and recruited many officers into their plot.

Thiệu and another Catholic General, Nguyễn Hữu Có, called for the replacement of Khánh with Minh, but the latter refused.

However, after further deadlock, Khánh, Minh, and Khiêm were put together in a triumvirate to resolve the problem, but tensions remained as Khánh dominated the decision-making.

Khánh's concessions to the Buddhists sparked opposition from Khiêm and Thiệu, who tried to remove Khánh in favour of Minh, recruiting other officers.

Thieu and another Catholic, General Nguyễn Hữu Có, called for the replacement of Khánh with Minh, but the latter refused.

Minh reportedly claimed that Khánh was the only one who would get funding from Washington, so they support him, prompting Khiêm to angrily say " Obviously, Khánh is a puppet of the US government, and we are tired of being told by the Americans how we should run our internal affairs ".

After more arguing between the senior officers, they agreed on 27 August that Khánh, Minh, and Khiêm would rule as a triumvirate for two months, until a new civilian government could be formed.

Khánh dominated the decision-making, sidelining Khiêm and Minh.

In 1832, under the rule of emperor Minh Mạng, this area was renamed Khánh Hòa and was divided into two districts which included four counties: Phủ Diên Khánh inclusive of Phước Điền and Vĩnh Xương county ; Phủ Ninh Hòa inclusive of Quảng Phước and Tân Định county.

However, these moves only served to weaken Khánh as large demonstrations and riots broke out in the cities, with majority Buddhists prominent, calling for an end to the state of emergency and the abandonment of the new constitution, as well as a progression back to civilian rule.

In the first week of February, Taylor told the leading officers that the U. S. was not supporting Khánh, and they thought that Khiêm was a possible replacement although not among the most preferable.

Khánh was assisted by Generals Trần Thiện Khiêm, who controlled the forces around Saigon, Ðỗ Mậu and Nguyễn Chánh Thi.

After this trouble, the French decided to enthrone Bửu Đảo as he was the son of the monarch who was the most submissive Nguyễn collaborator with the colonial regime, standing with the French colonizers and opposing any independence movements, Emperor Đồng Khánh.

To take away the legitimacy of Hàm Nghi, the French enthroned Nguyễn Cảnh Tông, who took the era name of " Đồng Khánh ".

While they waged guerrilla warfare against the French occupation forces, the French replaced Hàm Nghi with his brother, Emperor Đồng Khánh, who was enthroned as the Son of Heaven.

Her father was Thân Trọng Huề, who became Vietnam's minister for national education, and her mother was a daughter of Emperor Đồng Khánh.

Khánh was highly regarded by Harkins, who thought of him as " the strongest of all corps commanders ".

Along with Emperors Dục Đức and Đồng Khánh, he had been taken in by Tự Đức who was unable to have children of his own.

Afterward, it was the Trần clan who helped Lý Cao Tông and Lý Sảm restore the throne in Thăng Long ; therefore, the Emperor appointed several members of the Trần clan for high positions in the royal court such as Tô Trung Từ, who was an uncle of Trần Thị Dung, or Trần Tự Khánh and Trần Thừa, who were Trần Lý's sons.

Besides Trần Quốc Tuấn, other notable generals of the Trần Dynasty during this time were Prince Nhân Huệ Trần Khánh Dư who destroyed the logistics convoy of the Yuan navy at the Battle of Vân Đồn or general Phạm Ngũ Lão who took charge of ambushing prince Toghan's retreating troops.

On 16 February 1965, Quát was appointed Prime Minister by junta head General Nguyễn Khánh, who was forced to step down after a coup on 19 / 20 February and exiled Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ led the junta that oversaw the civilian cabinet.