Wuchang Uprising - Leading to the Collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the Establishment of the Republic of China

Wuchang Uprising - Leading to the Collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the Establishment of the Republic of China

 BackgroundThe Wuchang Rebellion of October ten, 1911 started the Xinhai Revolution, which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC).

In 1900, the ruling Qing Dynasty created a modernized army called the "New Army". At the time, the city of Wuchang, on the Yangtze River in the province of Hubei, had the most modern military industry. It began manufacturing weapons and other military equipment for the New Army. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideas extensively influenced the officers and soldiers of the New Army in Wuchang; plenty of joined revolutionary organizations.

UPRISING

The revolt was still thought about merely the latest in a series of mutinies that had occurred in southern China. It was widely expected to be put down quickly, & ended up having much larger implications only because the Qing dynasty delayed action against the rebellion, allowing provincial assemblies in plenty of southern provinces to declare independence from the Qing & declare allegiance to the rebellion.

The rebellion itself broke out by accident. Revolutionaries in the Russian concession of the city had been building bombs, of which accidentally exploded. This led police to inquire in to, & they found lists of Literary Society members within the New Army. Facing arrest, & positive execution, they staged a coup. The local officials panicked & fled, & the army took over the city in less than a day. The revolutionaries then telegraphed the other provinces asking them to declare their independence. Within six weeks, fifteen provinces had seceded.

Sun Yat-sen himself played no direct part in the rebellion. They was travelling in the United States, trying to drum up support from abroad Chinese. They discovered about the rebellion by reading a newspaper document in Denver, Colorado. Within the Revolutionary Alliance, Sun had favored an rebellion in his native Guangdong, citing local anti-Manchu sentiment. Sun's rival within the Alliance, Huang Xing, had favored an rebellion in central China and had been planning an rebellion for late October. The revolutionary leaders were thus caught off guard, leaving the mutineers without a leader. Li Yuanhong was dragged from under his bed and forced at gunpoint to become the leader of the Rebellion, and went on to become the only man to ever serve two times as president of the republican government of Beijing.

Many Chinese had felt that the Qing dynasty had lost the mandate of heaven, & this may have contributed to the revolt. Natural disasters, such as fires & floods, are often thought about portents, & the Yangtze had overflowed its banks in 1911; the revolting troops were situated near that river. Such a floodwater would have had a profound psychological impact on government officials, rebels, peasants, & other Chinese in the vicinity[citation needed]. The floodwater had killed 100,000 people.

The Qing government, led by the regent 2nd Prince Chun, failed to reply for a vital few weeks. This gave the revolutionaries time to declare a provisional government. They were joined by other provincial assemblies. Within a month, representatives from the seceding provinces had met & declared a Republic of China. Sun returned to China on December 25, & though they was chosen provisional president of the Republic of China by the representatives of the sixteen provisional assemblies (an act that angered Yuan Shikai), Sun Yat-sen was aware of Yuan Shikai's military power & so they supported an earlier deal that left Yuan in charge.