ON THIS DAY ·
Siege of Tsingtao
7 Nov 1914 — Having entered the World War on the Allied side, Japan seizes Germany’s colony in Shandong and intends to keep it. Versailles confirms the transfer in 1919. It is the fate of this port, rather than a battlefield, that brings Chinese students into the streets.
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The moment in context
Yuan Shikai's republic appears on the map as one blue expanse. To understand how precarious that unity was, look at the force on which the president depended. Yuan (the ● at Peking) commanded the Beiyang Army, whose officers owed their positions and advancement largely to him. The republic needed the army, but its commander could use those personal loyalties against the institutions meant to restrain him.
From Yuan Shikai and the early republic, chapter 2 of China in Revolution, 1911–1949 (1915).
The place: Siege of Tsingtao — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — The Beiyang network. Yuan built the Qing's modern Beiyang Army in the 1890s and 1900s. Its commanders' careers depended on his patronage: he promoted and paid them, and…
- The turn — The National Protection War, 25 December 1915. Cai E and the Yunnan leaders raised armies against Yuan's monarchy on 25 December 1915. As other provinces joined them, Yuan's own commanders…
- What it changed — Military rivalry after Yuan. After Yuan's death, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, and Cao Kun were among the commanders who inherited parts of his Beiyang network. They and their…
Then ask the room: Was Yuan Shikai the republic’s betrayer, or a leader overwhelmed by an impossible task? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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