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Sphinx
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The uprising was commanded by Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka (a Han subgroup) and the self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ. Its goals were religious, nationalist, and political in nature; Hong sought the conversion of the Han people to the Taiping's syncretic version of Christianity, to overthrow the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and a state transformation.[6][7] Rather than supplanting the ruling class, the Taipings sought to upend the moral and social order of China.[8] The Taipings established the Heavenly Kingdom as an oppositional state based in Tianjing (now Nanjing) and gained control of a significant part of southern China, eventually expanding to command a population base of nearly 30 million people.
For more than a decade, Taiping armies occupied and fought across much of the mid and lower Yangtze valley, ultimately devolving into total civil war. It was the largest war in China since the Manchu conquest of China in 1644, involving every province of China proper except Gansu. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century. In terms of deaths, the civil war is comparable to World War I.[9][5] 30 million people fled the conquered regions to foreign settlements or other parts of China.[10] The war featured extreme brutality on both sides. Taiping soldiers carried out widespread massacres of Manchus, the ethnic minority of the ruling Imperial House of Aisin-Gioro, whom they believed to be demons. Meanwhile, the Qing government also engaged in massacres, most notably against the civilian population of the Taiping capital, Nanjing.
Weakened severely by an attempted coup (the Tianjing incident) and the failure of the siege of Beijing, the Taipings were defeated by decentralized, irregular armies such as the Xiang Army commanded by Zeng Guofan. Having already moved down the Yangtze River and recaptured the important city of Anqing, Zeng's Xiang Army besieged Nanjing during May, 1862. Two years later, on June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died and Nanjing fell during the Third Battle of Nanjing, barely a month later. The 14 year civil war greatly weakened the Qing dynasty, which would collapse less than 50 years afterwards. It exacerbated sectarian tension and accelerated the rise of regionalism, foreshadowing the Warlord Era that would come after another Hakka, Sun Yat-Sen, overthrew the Qing in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution.
For more than a decade, Taiping armies occupied and fought across much of the mid and lower Yangtze valley, ultimately devolving into total civil war. It was the largest war in China since the Manchu conquest of China in 1644, involving every province of China proper except Gansu. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century. In terms of deaths, the civil war is comparable to World War I.[9][5] 30 million people fled the conquered regions to foreign settlements or other parts of China.[10] The war featured extreme brutality on both sides. Taiping soldiers carried out widespread massacres of Manchus, the ethnic minority of the ruling Imperial House of Aisin-Gioro, whom they believed to be demons. Meanwhile, the Qing government also engaged in massacres, most notably against the civilian population of the Taiping capital, Nanjing.
Weakened severely by an attempted coup (the Tianjing incident) and the failure of the siege of Beijing, the Taipings were defeated by decentralized, irregular armies such as the Xiang Army commanded by Zeng Guofan. Having already moved down the Yangtze River and recaptured the important city of Anqing, Zeng's Xiang Army besieged Nanjing during May, 1862. Two years later, on June 1, 1864, Hong Xiuquan died and Nanjing fell during the Third Battle of Nanjing, barely a month later. The 14 year civil war greatly weakened the Qing dynasty, which would collapse less than 50 years afterwards. It exacerbated sectarian tension and accelerated the rise of regionalism, foreshadowing the Warlord Era that would come after another Hakka, Sun Yat-Sen, overthrew the Qing in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution.
