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The Taiping Rebellion ( 1851 - 1864) was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, a clash between the forces of Imperial China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, who was also a Christian convert. Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million civilians and army personel. The rebellion is named after the revolutionaries' name Heavenly Kingdom of Great/Perfect Peace or Tàipíng Tiānguó (太平天國, Wade-Giles T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo), which lasted as long as the revolutionaries.
Hong Xiuquan gathered his support in a time of considerable turmoil. The country had suffered a series of natural disasters, economic problems and defeats at the hands of the Western powers, problems that the ruling Qing dynasty did little to lessen. Anti- Manchu sentiment was strongest in the south, and it was these disaffected that joined Hong. The sect extended into militarism in the 1840s, initially against banditry.
The persecution of the sect was the spur for the struggle to develop into guerrilla warfare and then into full-blown war. The revolt began in Guangdong Province, the Imperial forces attacked but were driven back. In August 1851, Hong then declared the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping with himself as absoluteAbsolutism is a political theory which argues that one person (generally, a monarch) should hold all power. This is often referred to as the " Divine Right of Kings", implying that a ruler's authority stems directly from God. Prominent theorists associate ruler. The revolt spread northwards with great rapidity, taking NanjingNanjing (, Pinyin: Nanjing, Wade-Giles: Nan-ching Postal System Pinyin: Nanking is the capital city of Jiangsu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is situated in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at 32°03'N, 118°47'E. Nanjing is the second in March 1853Events January 19 Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome January 21 Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope folding machine January 29 Napoleon III marries the Spanish Countess Eugenie at the Tuileries March 4 Inauguration of US president Fra, killing 30,000 Imperial soldiers and slaughtering thousands of civilians. The city became the movement's capital and was renamed Tiānjing (天京, in Wade-Giles: T'ien-ching) (Heavenly Capital).
The rebellion's army was its key strength. It was marked by a high level of discipline and fanaticism. They typically wore a uniform of red jackets with blue trousers and grew their hair long (長毛 Chángmáo).
The fighting was always bloody and extremely brutal, with little artillery but huge forces equipped with small arms. By 1856, the Taiping armies numbered just over 1 million. Their main strategy of conquest was to take major cities, consolidate their hold on the cities, then march out into the surrounding countryside to battle Imperial forces.
At the Third Battle of Nanking ( 1864) over 100,000 were killed in three days.
Within the land that they controlled, a theocraticTheocracy is a form of government in which the governmental rulers are identical with the leaders of the dominant religion. In a theocracy, governmental policies are either identical with or strongly influenced by the principles of the majority religion, and highly militarised rule was established.
But the rule was remarkably ineffective, haphazard and brutal -- all efforts were concentrated on the army, and civil administration was very poor. Rule was established in the major cities but the land outside the urban areas was little regarded.
In its first year, the Heavenly Kingdom made coins that are 23 mm to 26 mm and around 4.1 grammes. On the front, they read The Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping, (太平天国), where "Kingdom" was written in simplified Chinese; on the back, Holy Treasure (聖寶).
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