Black Flag Army in the context of "Brigandage"

Winning hearts and minds is a concept occasionally expressed in the resolution of war, insurgency, and other conflicts, in which one side seeks to prevail not by the use of superior force, but by making emotional or intellectual appeals to sway supporters of the other side.

The use of the term "hearts and minds" to reference a method of bringing a subjugated population on side, was first used by French general and colonial administrator Hubert Lyautey as part of his strategy to counter the Black Flags rebellion during the Tonkin campaign in 1895. The term has also been attributed to Gerald Templer's strategy during the Malayan Emergency.

The Tonkin campaign was an armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and entrench a French protectorate there. The campaign, complicated in August 1884 by the outbreak of the Sino-French War and in July 1885 by the Cần Vương nationalist uprising in Annam (central Vietnam), which required the diversion of large numbers of French troops, was conducted by the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, supported by the gunboats of the Tonkin Flotilla. The campaign officially ended in April 1886, when the expeditionary corps was reduced in size to a division of occupation, but Tonkin was not effectively pacified until 1896.

The Kingdom of Luang Phrabang, also called Kingdom of Luang Prabang was formed in 1707 as a result of the split of the Kingdom of Lan Xang. When the kingdom split, Muang Phuan became a tributary state of Luang Prabang. Over the years the monarchy weakened even more, and was forced to become a vassal various times to the Burmese and the Siamese monarchies.

A French consulate was established in the capital of Luang Prabang in 1885. The kingdom was at this time a Siamese vassal, who feared French plans of annexing of Luang Prabang. A treaty was signed on 7 May 1886 between Siam and France recognizing Siamese suzerainty over Luang Prabang and neighboring Lao kingdoms. France conducted expeditions in the region, searching for the possibility of establishing French territory there. A particularly destructive attack during the Haw wars by the Chinese Black Flag Army in 1887 saw King Oun Kham request French protection. This was accepted and signed on 27 March 1889, against Siamese protest.

Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator.

After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. In early 1917, he served briefly as Minister of War. From 1921, he was a Marshal of France. He was dubbed the French empire builder and in 1931 made the cover of Time. Lyautey was also the first one to use the term "hearts and minds" as part of his strategy to counter the Black Flags rebellion during the Tonkin campaign in 1885.