Message from jwyss

[Anonymous]

The Taiping Rebellion is thought to have been one of the bloodiest revolutions in world history with 20 to 30 million dead give or take a few. Its leader and instigator was a Cantonese clerk named Hung Hsiu-chuan, who fell into a trance after failing his civil service exams, saw Heaven, and was inspired to rebel against the Manchu. Confucious, what happened? He established the Taiping Tienkwo, the Heavenly Dynasty of Perfect Peace, and, based on his notions of Christianity, set out to rid China of idols. The Taipings captured more than a third of China from their capital in Nanking, smashed several Qing armies, but were horrible administrators ravaging the countryside they captured. At their height, the revolutionaries threatened Pekin and Shanghai.

The China campaigns of this period saw the participation of two of my favorite Victorian heroes, Brigadier General Harry Flashman, VC, KCB, and Major General Charles "Chinese" Gordon. Flashman was sent as an intelligence officer by Lord Elgin to the Taipings to determine their intentions towards Shanghai. The British, because of their treaty with the Qing, were attempting to remain neutral, but they knew the Taiping needed a port to trade with the outside world. Flashman is captured under a safe conduct after negotiations between the Manchu and the westerners break down over the admission of diplomats to Pekin. Flashman is taken to the Forbidden City and is later housed in the Summer Palace. He escapes, joins the Anglo-French expedition that captures the city and participates in the burning of the Summer Palace at the orders of Lord Elgin. His adventures are almost too incredible to be believed.

I am always surprised that Flashman did not meet Gordon, for he too participated in the burning of the palace. Gordon would become the Achilles of the Taiping Rebellion. He was seconded to command the Ever Victorious Army, a mercenary group organized by the merchants of Shanghai. After winning several battles, he left the army refusing to return after his Imperial allies sacked a city and executed leaders he had promised safety. He was finally induced to return and shut the rebellion down missing only the re-capture of Nanking which he had engineered. Gordon would later die at the seige of Khartoum.
Farwell, Byron. Eminent victorian soldiers: Seekers Glory. New York:W.W. Norton and Co.
1985
Fraser, George, ed. Flashman and the Dragon. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co.
1985