brainexplor: Taiping Rebellion of 1850-1864: The Opium Conflicts and early Western military influence in China

The Taiping Rebellion is one of the largest and bloodiest Civil Wars in history, seemingly forgotten today, in the 1860’s the small but prominent role played by many Westerners in the conflict was very important in ending the conflict.This conflict is remembered in China and Asia today as a bloody holy war inspired by the desire of some Chinese to escape the Imperial domination of the Manchu minority and to attain religious and cultural freedom.

Named for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom an unrecognized state ruled from 1851-1864 by a charismatic lower nobleman named Hong Xiuquan (b.1814-1864) who claimed to see visions from above and who also claimed to be the blood and spiritual brother of Jesus Christ. Rebel military support swelled in support of Xiuquan allowing for his forces to capture Nanjing in southern China as their capital in 1851, severely threatening the Qing Empire’s rule throughout China for the next ten years.

Hong Xiuquan

The roots of the Taiping Rebellion are grounded in the opening of Chinato Westerners for the first time to import and trade. By the 1840's Chinese port cities were flooded with Westerners, mostly British, French, and Americans. The Chinese absolutely hated the Westerners referring to them almost always as “barbarians”.Imperial Chinaunder the Qing emperors was dieing a slow painful death while the last royal families rapidly lost control of its more than 400 million inhabitants. At least part of China's woes were due to the opium trade which was gaining popularity worldwide, since the British controlled the poppy grown in India and Pakistan they willingly imported opium into China illegally starting the Opium Wars and major addiction crisis as well.

China was first humiliated by the British and her allies from 1839–42 in the First Opium War which opened up general trade concessions to most of the port cities they desired. This was the beginning Opium Wars sagas', critical to the both the prelude and to the beginning of the end of the Taiping Rebellion. It was during the Taiping civil war that an Anglo-French alliance won yet again defeating the Qing and its antiquated navy in the Second Opium War. After landing armies on the mainland and winning a quick and decisive land campaign from 1856–60, the West opened China to greater economic and political exploitation.

Previously throughout the 1850’s the Heavenly Kingdom armiesalmost continuously defeated the Imperial Armies who were poorly equipped, trained, and led by corrupt and inept court favorites & charlatana masquerading as officers and generals. The Opium Wars opened more and more of China to Western trade and the poor performance of the Imperial Army ‘braves’ against the Taiping rebels until the early 1860’s showed (the world) that the Qing would not survive 50 years yet alone 100 years more. The Chinese Empire only survived this war for two reasons; [1] Western aid and arms sales coupled with the aid of many good foreign officers who served the Empire (though some Westerners did support the Heavenly Kingdom because of their Christian ideals.)

The First Opium War

[2] The Taiping were anti-opium and trade and were basically anti-Westerner. This worried the British, the French, and Europe leading to the Second Opium War which inadvertently helped turn the tide in the Taiping Rebellion in favor of the Qing-only after Westerner's were once again allowed safe passage through the ports of Southern China.

Despite the Western powers remaining officially neutral during the Taiping Rebellion, a number of Western officers served with distinction on both sides during the conflict. Two of these men in particular who fought for the Qing Empire were the American Frederick Townsend Ward (b.1831-1862), and the British officer Charles George Gordon (b.1833-1885), who both became legendary figures during their service with the Imperial army legion which overtime came to be known as the Ever Victorious Army (EVA) from 1860-1864.

Charles George Gordon at the Battle of Changzhou 1864

For Gordon it was just the start of legendary career which would end tragically in 1885 at Khartoum, Sudan. For Ward the Taiping Rebellion would seal his legacy as a great military man and 19th century adventurer, who expired on the field of combat perhaps before the prime of his already remarkable career. With modern weapons like Colt's six shot pistols and Sharps rifles, the Chinese soldiers in the EVA became carbon copies of Western armies who’s training was first rate under Ward and then Gordon. Previously both these men had led diverse cadres of French and British sailors, Americans, Chinese levies, Filipinos, and Indian Sepoys in service of the Empire in anti-Pirate units and mercenary squadrons. Ward in particular became a master of making traditional and well trained armed forces out of ranks comprised of levies and soldiers of fortune.

General Gordon and the EVA

The Imperial army with the help of the EVA reversed its earlier retreat and embarrassments by smashing several larger rebel armies mostly without the use of artillery or cavalry, strategically strangling the Heavenly Kingdom with successful sieges and land battles before Hong Xiuquan committed suicide in 1864, as the Taiping Rebellion ended in total failure. Ward’s background was complex but what is known is that he was a New England sailor, an anti-pirate mercenary, filibuster in Mexico for a time, and eventually a mercenary warlord in China. The army which he helped to create, the Ever Victorious Army, were known as the "devil soldiers" among the rebels.

Ward leading his men from the front with two Colt revolvers in his hands. In reality he was almost never armed when in battle preferring to wield his rattan cane opposed to a sabre.

In August of 1860 when Shanghai was besieged by Taiping rebels, a British national and member of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps described seeing a "slight" officer directing some foreign men in arms in the defense of grandstand overlooking a horse-racing track in the British quarter of the city. He described him as "a man of excellent address, mild and gentle in manner, and as kind and warm-hearted as possible. His long hair and slight mustache were dark, and he habitually wore a blue coat tightly buttoned."

Ward in 1861

Above all, Ward and Gordon were men of action and bravery in the face of combat. Ward was a particularly honest man and a stellar leader of soldiers most importantly. He was tough and allegedly had been wounded over 15 times during his service in China. Upon his death he was owed close to 200,000 Chinese taels by his Imperial employers which equals well over a million dollars today. Gordon, an officer in the Royal Engineers who became known as 'Chinese' Gordon for the rest of his life was a man of similar character, though he was most certainly a righteous and religious zealot of sorts.

It was during Gordon's time in the Taiping war that he began to create his impressive record of being a righteous and stubborn man of conviction; known for absolute steadfast service in whatever task, be it civilian or military, in which he took too. For both of these men the Taiping Rebellion became a huge part of the larger Victorian mythos which armors them as larger-than-life adventurers and heroes.

Frederick Townsend Ward was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cixi, September 1862. Upon his death he was succeeded by Charles Gordon. In reality he was killed by a musket ball from a distance while on board the deck of a ship. Rumors spread that he was killed by a European sharpshooter hired by personal enemies.

The Taiping Rebellion was one of the longest, largest, and brutally fought wars in the the study of the 19th or early 20th century conflicts. It is the bloodiest Civil War ever and maybe even the deadliest conflict ever recorded in the modern era. The Rebellion forever altered the Chinese diplomatic and political landscape though it ultimately ensured the survival of the Qing dynasty until the revolution of 1911-1912.

One the most intriguing portions of the Taiping Rebellion was the West's national and private military intervention in the conflict from 1850-1864. Economic exploitation (in the form of Opium and many other trade concessions), general greed and wholesale corruption, and the desire for limited military conquest all played equally important roles in the conflicts which engulfed China as a part of both the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion.

Suggested Further Readings
Devil Soldier: The Story of Frederick Townsend Ward By Caleb Carr (Random House, 1992).