peashooter85:The Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Rebellion,The American Civil War was the bloodiest

peashooter85:The Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Rebellion,The American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in American history, costing around 600,000 lives from 1861-1865.  Many southern cities were destroyed and the south suffered political and economic turmoil for over the next decades known as the Reconstruction Period.  However, while this was occurring in America, in China a civil war was also occurring that would lead to the slaughter of 20-30 million people and would become one of the most destructive wars in human history.    Starting in the 1830’s, a Chinese commoner named Hong Xiquan began having a series of visions from God.  Xiquan had learned of Christianity from English missionaries, but had never become a faithful follower.  However, over the next decade he had more visions, and over time he became convinced that he was a brother of Jesus Christ.  He began preaching all over southern China and by 1850 he had amassed a following of 30,000 faithful followers.  A force of Imperial troops were sent to destroy the new sect, but amazingly Xiquan’s Christians were able to route the soldiers and overthrow the local magistrate.      Xiquan declared the foundation of “The Heavenly Kingdom of Transcendent Peace” and millions of Chinese, disgruntled by the rule of the Manchu Emperors, rallied around the new kingdom.  Xiquan’s goal was to establish God’s kingdom within China, which included the overthrow of the empire, the banning of all religion except Christianity, the suppression of private commerce, and the socialization of property.  By 1860 half of southern China was controlled by the Heavenly Kingdom, which had amassed an army of 2-3 million troops.      One of the reasons that war was so deadly was because both side were evenly matched, leading to a long stalemate.  The Chinese Empire was an ancient empire that was slowly stagnating, while the Heavenly Kingdom was a new nation that was chaotic and disorganized.  Since neither side could get the upper hand on the battlefield, both sides turned to scorched earth total warfare, attacking civilian supporters rather than engaging in direct military confrontation.  Both sides conducted numerous incidents of mass murder, rape, and looting.  As armies traveled they would burn and destroy fields of crops to deprive the enemy of food.  Millions died of starvation, disease, and famine as a result.    After 1860 the Chinese Empire began to get the upper hand and The Heavenly Kingdom was starting to collapse.  In 1864 the capitol of the Heavenly Kingdom, Nanjing, was captured by Imperial troops.  Hong Xiquan was thought to have either died of illness or committed suicide.  Without the leadership of Xiquan, the kingdoms prophet and holy leader, the kingdom immediately fractured.  Warlords divvied up the remnants of the army and created their own small kingdoms all over the four corners of China. In August of 1871, the last rebel army was defeated, and China was once again reunited under Manchu rule.    -- source link

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