Page 179 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1956 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The Great Wall of China at
Simatai. The wall was built over
the centuries to keep Mongol
invaders from the north out of
China and was not very effective.

(1644–1912). Militarily, they organized them-
selves into companies that were known by the
color of their banners (hence this system was
known as the Banner system), and they incor-
porated conquered troops into similar units.
With these troops the Qing rulers soon
extended their control over the Mongols and
Tibetans, and under the great Kangxi emperor
(1654–1722; reigned 1661–1722) even lim-
ited Russian expansion eastward with the Treaty
of Nerchinsk (1689).
The reign (1735–1796) of the Qianlong
emperor (1711–1799) marked the high point of
the Qing dynasty, after which it rapidly declined.
Increasing Western presence in China led even-
tually to military conflict; two Opium wars (one
with the British in 1839–1842; one with the
French in 1856–1860) demonstrated the weak-
ness of the Qing, whose Banners had lost their
fighting edge and whose firearms had not been
updated since they were first gained from Por-
tuguese and Dutch traders in the 1600s. Foreign
governments encroached on Chinese sover-
eignty with impunity.The great Taiping Rebellion (1850– Communist rebels. Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), the
1864) further exposed Qing weakness; it was only put Nationalist leader, used German advice and equipment to
down with aid from Western powers (the United States blockade the Communist base camp in the mountainous
and the British) and privately organized Chinese armies. southeast, and in October 1933, Mao fled with 90,000
The so-called Boxer Rebellion (1900), which had an anti- supporters on the famous Long March first southwest,
Western bent and emphasized martial arts, was also put then west, north, and eventually northeast, where 8,000
down with international aid. In 1912 the last Qing survivors straggled into Yan’an in Shaanxi. At that point
emperor abdicated, and China became a republic, albeit Chiang was reluctantly persuaded to put aside his quar-
one plagued by regional warlordism and foreign spheres rel with the Communists and to join with them to fight
of influence. the Japanese.
With the end of World War II, China’s civil war
Wars of the resumed in earnest. The Nationalists had support from
Twentieth Century the United States, which opposed Communism, but the
Japan’s imperialist visions led it to seize Manchuria in Communists had greater popular support and better mil-
1932; its aggression in China did not end there, however, itary tacticians in Lin Biao (1907–1971?) and Zhu De
and by 1937 the two nations were in a state of war. (1886–1976). In accordance with Mao’s theories of guer-
Equally pressing in the eyes of the Chinese Nationalists— rilla warfare, the People’s Liberation Army operated in
the nominal government of China—however, were the small groups, seeking to overwhelm isolated detachments