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Taiping Rebellion

Period
1850–1864
Sides
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom vs Qing
Battles
15

The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was a civil war in late imperial China fought between the ruling Qing dynasty and the rebelling Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It was the deadliest civil war in history and the second-deadliest conflict in history overall. Estimates of the war's death toll range from 20–30 million, around 5–10% of the total Chinese population at the time, to 73–100 million, around 25% of the population. The Rebellion is widely considered to be the most important event in 19th-century Chinese history, and although the kingdom was defeated, the victory came at a great cost to the Qing dynasty's economy and political stability.

Sources: Wikipedia — Taiping Rebellion · CC BY-SA 4.0

Battles 15

  1. 1851

    Jintian Uprising

    The Jintian Uprising was an armed revolt formally declared by Hong Xiuquan, founder and leader of the God Worshippers, on 11 January 1851 during the late Qing dynasty of China. The uprising was named after the rebel base in Jintian, a town in Guangxi within present-day Guiping. It marked the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion.

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  2. 1852

    Battle of Changsha (1852)

    The Battle of Changsha was fought in the early years of the Taiping Rebellion throughout 1852. After defeating Qing forces in Guangxi, the Taipings advanced into neighboring Hunan province. The city was heavily defended and a delay in the Taiping advance allowed Qing forces to reinforce the city. The first attempt to advance north was stopped at an ambush at the Suoyi ford in the Xiang River, where over 10,000 Taiping sailors and soldiers were killed.

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  3. 1852–1853

    Battle of Wuchang

    The Battle of Wuchang occurred in 1852 during the Taiping Rebellion in Wuchang, part of the modern-day city of Wuhan.

    View on the mapWikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

  4. 1853

    Battle of Nanjing (1853)

    The Battle of Nanjing (1853) began after the fall of Wuhan on March 8, 1853, and ended with the fall of the capital city of Nanjing on March 19, 1853, to Taiping troops, a few days after the Qing government evacuated the city.

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  5. 1853–1855

    Northern Expedition (Taiping Rebellion)

    The Northern Expedition was a failed campaign by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom against the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. Its purpose was to capture Beijing and then complete an encirclement of northern and western China. Launched in May 1853, the Northern Expedition would travel from Jiangsu to Zhili before being destroyed in early 1855.

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  6. 1856

    Battle of Jiangnan (1856)

    The First rout of the Jiangnan Battalion took place between 1853 and 1856 when the Qing government raised the Green Standard Army to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The action involved Qing forces surrounding the city of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

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  7. 1858

    Battle of Sanhe

    The Battle of Sanhe was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion, occurring in 1858. During this battle, the elite troops of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army were lost, along with one of its most capable commanders, Li Xubin as well as Zeng Guofan's brother Zeng Guohua.

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  8. 1860

    Battle of Jiangnan (1860)

    The Battle of Jiangnan, also known as the Second Rout of the Jiangnan Battalion took place in 1860 between the Qing dynasty's Green Standard Army and the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion. The Green Standard Army twice attempted to besiege Nanjing, capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but was unable to break through. To break the siege of Nanjing, the Taiping forces maneuvered to divert Qing forces by sacking Hangzhou, before quickly moving back to Nanjing to counter-encircle the Qing siege forces and routing the Green Standard Army garrison completely, breaking the siege of Nanjing.

    View on the mapWikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

  9. 1860–1861

    Battle of Anqing

    The Battle of Anqing (安慶之戰) was a prolonged siege of the prefecture-level city of Anqing in Anhui, China, initiated by Hunan Army forces loyal to the Qing Dynasty against the armies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The siege began in September 1860 and ended on September 5, 1861, when imperial forces under the command of Zeng Guoquan breached the walls of the city and occupied it.

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  10. 1861–1862

    Battle of Shanghai (1861–1862)

    The Battle of Shanghai (太平軍二攻上海) was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion that occurred from June 1861 to July 1862. British and French troops used modern artillery on a large scale for the first time in China. Cannon fire inflicted heavy casualties on the Taiping forces, whose commander Li Xiucheng was wounded in the left leg by a shot fired from a cannon.

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  11. 1861

    Occupation of Ningbo

    The Occupation of Ningbo was the five-month period in 1861 and 1862 during which the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom successfully occupied the city of Ningbo during the Taiping Rebellion. British and French support eventually allowed the Qing to retake the city.

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  12. 1862

    Battle of Cixi

    The Battle of Cixi or Battle of Tzeki (慈溪之戰) was an armed engagement in the Taiping Rebellion fought between the Ever Victorious Army of the Qing dynasty and forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on September 21, 1862, at Cixi. The battle, which was won by the Ever Victorious Army, resulted in the mortal wounding of Frederick Townsend Ward, the American mercenary who founded and commanded the force. Ward's death after the battle led to the succession of Henry Andres Burgevine as commander of the Ever Victorious Army and initiated a period of decline for the force.

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  13. 1863

    Siege of Suzhou

    The Battle of Suzhou was fought on 6 December 1863 between the Anglo-Qing army and the Taiping army. This battle was also for known the Suzhou Massacre, in which by the command of Li Hongzhang, 10,000 rebels were executed.

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  14. 1864

    Third Battle of Nanjing

    The Third Battle of Nanjing in 1864 was the last major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Empire. With the fall of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rebellion came to an end. The Hunan Army, an unpaid and barely fed militia commissioned by the Qing Empire, lost all their discipline and committed mass-scale random murder, wartime rape, looting and arson against the civilians of Nanjing, seen as "rebels". 200,000–300,000 "rebels" were reported dead by Zeng Guofan, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army.

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  15. 1864

    Battle of Changzhou

    Battle of Changzhou occurred during the Taiping Rebellion. It was won by the Qing dynasty, who regained control over all of Jiangsu.

    View on the mapWikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Earlier and later events nearby

  1. 1279Battle of Yamen
  2. 1288Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288)
  3. 1757Qing restricts Western trade to Canton
  4. 1850–1864Taiping RebellionThis page
  5. 1997Handover of Hong Kong

Who ruled this land

States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.

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