What Up, Nerds?
A lot of people actually know a good deal about the Chinese Revolution.
You may not be surprised to hear that the last dynasty of the Chinese empire, the Qing, fell as recently as 1911. You may know how the Chinese Nationalist Party's Republic of China ruled China for many years afterwards by using a loose confederation of self-interested warlords. You may know that this coalition fought against the weak and small Chinese Communist Party and tried to wipe it out. And it almost succeeded.
But then everything changed when the Japanese Nation attacked. They conquered the east and committed war crimes that are well remembered to this day. Eventually the Chinese helped the Americans crush the Japanese Empire.
Almost immediately the Chinese Communists and the Nationalists went to war with each other. And in a very short period the tiny Communist sphere defeated the Nationalists' incompetent and corrupt Republic of China. They replaced it with the Peoples' Republic of China, and the R.O.C. retreated to Taiwan.
There is infinity history in the story of the Chinese Revolution. Successfully telling that story would take months.
But what I want to do is look at just one crazy and awesome guy from the early days of the Republic of China. He isn't incredibly well known, but he should be.
The Qing Empire was crumbling under the weight of its incompetent administration. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager fought, died, and were replaced. Political machinations bubbled. In all of this there was a man who rose to become very prominent in the empire's waning days. He was a general by the name of Yuan Shikai. He was good at imperial politics, and he used the rough times to build himself an army that was loyal to himself alone.
This army soon became the most dominant military force in the nation. In 1911 the anti-imperial revolution started in south China. The imperial government in the north didn't really have its own army so Yuan's was the only one that might be able to put down the rebels. Similarly the republican Chinese rebels had a very weak military, and begged Yuan to join them. The team that Yuan picked was the one that would win.
Yuan played it cool while both sides worked themselves into a fit trying to get him to join them. After he'd waited long enough he finally seemed to take a side. He showed up in the Imperial court and offered to accept the position of Prime Minister. He also offered to act as regent for the boy-emperor and gave the old regent the boot. This let him install his own men in all the top positions of imperial government.
The revolutionaries were totally freaking out that they were going to be crushed by Yuan's huge army. Sun Yatsen—the first elected president of the Chinese republic—sent messages begging Yuan to join the revolution.
Yuan laughed at the revolution's pleas. And then immediately he offered to force the boy-Emperor resign as long as the revolutionaries made him their president. The republicans were torn, but given that the alternative was death they eventually accepted. Yuan made the young Emperor resign.
And Yuan got himself elected as the second president of the Republic of China.
Yuan was supposed to set up the national capital at Nanjing, but said "screw that," faked a coup, and used national security as an excuse to stay at the old imperial capital of Beijing.
The very next year the Chinese Nationalist Party won the parliamentary elections in a landslide. Their candidate for prime minister was a dynamic politician who planned to jealously guard the Parliament's power. He looked specifically to western nations like the United States with the tradition of divided powers. Yuan was less interested in this concept and decided he'd like to have all the power as president. So he had the prime minister elect killed. When the nationalist parliament tried to take power from him, he attacked their party structure, threw them into disarray, and suppressed them. At this point weren't nobody going to try to call out Yuan because he still had the army and had shown he didn't mind assassinating inconvenient people.
Now Sun Yatsen, the first republican president, fled to Japan. He called for another revolution, this time against Yuan. Yuan used the army to destroy this second revolution, dissolved almost all the institutions of the new republic, replaced them with his own "council of state" and seized control of the bureaucracy.
Yuan officially repressed the Nationalist Party. He had himself elected president again, to a longer term. He placed military governors in control of all the provinces since the military was his base of power. Then he rewrote the constitution to his liking. But as he assumed more power his popularity started to decline, especially since he was conciliatory to the unpopular and aggressive Japanese Empire.
In 1915 Yuan took it to the next level. He convened a handpicked Assembly which voted to make him emperor. He pretended to decline at first, and then accepted the position when the assembly "insisted." He declared the new Empire of China, declared him self to be the "Great Emperor of China," declared the "Era of Constitutional Abundance," and changed the flag to something really stupid looking.
Well Yuan had just f*cked up big time. You see the people had actually wanted a republic, which is why they had fought for it. So they denounced him. The international community didn't have any respect for the long-wimpy institution of the Chinese Empire. So they ignored him. And Yuan's army, which he had always relied on, thought he was trying to abandon them. So they abandoned him.
The provinces all started to declare themselves independent. They raised an army with the stated goal of restoring the republic. But since Yuan had placed military governors in control they really just seized local power and started to act like warlords. Yuan's army didn't care enough for him to actually fight the rebels. After eighty three days on the throne Yuan officially abandoned the Imperium. The great Empire of China had lasted for less than a quarter year.
This was not enough for Yuan's growing number of enemies though. The Republic of China was now officially restored but Yuan was still president. The revolutionaries demanded he should resign the presidency too. He refused to quit and the war closed in on him for two and a half more months until he died of Kidney failure. The broke out the next day. Yuan was buried ceremoniously in a lavish tomb, but it was raided and stripped by the Nationalists a few years later.
And that is how one man gave the revolution success, got himself run over by it, and left the country as a patchwork of feuding warlords who would plague it until the final victory of the Communists.
A lot of people actually know a good deal about the Chinese Revolution.
You may not be surprised to hear that the last dynasty of the Chinese empire, the Qing, fell as recently as 1911. You may know how the Chinese Nationalist Party's Republic of China ruled China for many years afterwards by using a loose confederation of self-interested warlords. You may know that this coalition fought against the weak and small Chinese Communist Party and tried to wipe it out. And it almost succeeded.
But then everything changed when the Japanese Nation attacked. They conquered the east and committed war crimes that are well remembered to this day. Eventually the Chinese helped the Americans crush the Japanese Empire.
Almost immediately the Chinese Communists and the Nationalists went to war with each other. And in a very short period the tiny Communist sphere defeated the Nationalists' incompetent and corrupt Republic of China. They replaced it with the Peoples' Republic of China, and the R.O.C. retreated to Taiwan.
There is infinity history in the story of the Chinese Revolution. Successfully telling that story would take months.
But what I want to do is look at just one crazy and awesome guy from the early days of the Republic of China. He isn't incredibly well known, but he should be.
The Qing Empire was crumbling under the weight of its incompetent administration. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager fought, died, and were replaced. Political machinations bubbled. In all of this there was a man who rose to become very prominent in the empire's waning days. He was a general by the name of Yuan Shikai. He was good at imperial politics, and he used the rough times to build himself an army that was loyal to himself alone.
 |
| Also, he looked like a total badass. (Pic from Wiki) |
This army soon became the most dominant military force in the nation. In 1911 the anti-imperial revolution started in south China. The imperial government in the north didn't really have its own army so Yuan's was the only one that might be able to put down the rebels. Similarly the republican Chinese rebels had a very weak military, and begged Yuan to join them. The team that Yuan picked was the one that would win.
Yuan played it cool while both sides worked themselves into a fit trying to get him to join them. After he'd waited long enough he finally seemed to take a side. He showed up in the Imperial court and offered to accept the position of Prime Minister. He also offered to act as regent for the boy-emperor and gave the old regent the boot. This let him install his own men in all the top positions of imperial government.
The revolutionaries were totally freaking out that they were going to be crushed by Yuan's huge army. Sun Yatsen—the first elected president of the Chinese republic—sent messages begging Yuan to join the revolution.
Yuan laughed at the revolution's pleas. And then immediately he offered to force the boy-Emperor resign as long as the revolutionaries made him their president. The republicans were torn, but given that the alternative was death they eventually accepted. Yuan made the young Emperor resign.
And Yuan got himself elected as the second president of the Republic of China.
 |
| "At last I can fulfill my dream of becoming president. Which I've had since I decided against declaring myself the Emperor twenty minutes ago." (Pic from Wiki) |
Yuan was supposed to set up the national capital at Nanjing, but said "screw that," faked a coup, and used national security as an excuse to stay at the old imperial capital of Beijing.
The very next year the Chinese Nationalist Party won the parliamentary elections in a landslide. Their candidate for prime minister was a dynamic politician who planned to jealously guard the Parliament's power. He looked specifically to western nations like the United States with the tradition of divided powers. Yuan was less interested in this concept and decided he'd like to have all the power as president. So he had the prime minister elect killed. When the nationalist parliament tried to take power from him, he attacked their party structure, threw them into disarray, and suppressed them. At this point weren't nobody going to try to call out Yuan because he still had the army and had shown he didn't mind assassinating inconvenient people.
Now Sun Yatsen, the first republican president, fled to Japan. He called for another revolution, this time against Yuan. Yuan used the army to destroy this second revolution, dissolved almost all the institutions of the new republic, replaced them with his own "council of state" and seized control of the bureaucracy.
Yuan officially repressed the Nationalist Party. He had himself elected president again, to a longer term. He placed military governors in control of all the provinces since the military was his base of power. Then he rewrote the constitution to his liking. But as he assumed more power his popularity started to decline, especially since he was conciliatory to the unpopular and aggressive Japanese Empire.
In 1915 Yuan took it to the next level. He convened a handpicked Assembly which voted to make him emperor. He pretended to decline at first, and then accepted the position when the assembly "insisted." He declared the new Empire of China, declared him self to be the "Great Emperor of China," declared the "Era of Constitutional Abundance," and changed the flag to something really stupid looking.
 |
| Really stupid looking. (Pic from Wiki) |
Well Yuan had just f*cked up big time. You see the people had actually wanted a republic, which is why they had fought for it. So they denounced him. The international community didn't have any respect for the long-wimpy institution of the Chinese Empire. So they ignored him. And Yuan's army, which he had always relied on, thought he was trying to abandon them. So they abandoned him.
The provinces all started to declare themselves independent. They raised an army with the stated goal of restoring the republic. But since Yuan had placed military governors in control they really just seized local power and started to act like warlords. Yuan's army didn't care enough for him to actually fight the rebels. After eighty three days on the throne Yuan officially abandoned the Imperium. The great Empire of China had lasted for less than a quarter year.
 |
| Goddamn Yuan, you done messed up. (Pic from Wiki) |
This was not enough for Yuan's growing number of enemies though. The Republic of China was now officially restored but Yuan was still president. The revolutionaries demanded he should resign the presidency too. He refused to quit and the war closed in on him for two and a half more months until he died of Kidney failure. The broke out the next day. Yuan was buried ceremoniously in a lavish tomb, but it was raided and stripped by the Nationalists a few years later.
And that is how one man gave the revolution success, got himself run over by it, and left the country as a patchwork of feuding warlords who would plague it until the final victory of the Communists.
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