Compared with the Xinhai Revolutionary Army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army was undoubtedly more powerful. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army was vigorous, fighting in more than a dozen provinces, and the number was at least hundreds of thousands. Although the Xinhai Revolution also had various riots at that time, the effect was the Wuchang Uprising. The Wuchang uprising, on the other hand, was not only small in number, but also short in time. However, the Xinhai Revolution soon overthrew the Qing government, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fought for more than ten years, but the Qing government was helpless. What's going on here?
(Taiping Rebellion)
Some people may say that this is because during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the imperial army was still very strong. At the time of the Xinhai Revolution, the imperial army had become very weak.
This statement is not very reasonable, especially the Eight Banner Army of the Qing Dynasty, at the time of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, was actually very corrupt, and basically had no combat effectiveness. On the contrary, at the time of the Xinhai Revolution at the end of the Qing Dynasty, some korean ministers, including Yuan Shikai, actively trained new recruits. Therefore, the strength of the imperial army at that time was, in a sense, unabated.
The strength of the revolutionary army is not as good as that of the Daping Army, and the previous Qing army is not so much different from the Qing army after this, so why is the result so different? What exactly has changed?
I think what has changed is not anything else, but the will of the people.
Let's first look at the situation during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, although in the south of the people, gained great support. However, in the bureaucratic landlord class and the public opinion guidance of the whole society, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not supported.
At that time, the bureaucratic landlords all regarded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement as a mountain thief and a grass riot, believing that they were great rebels who "plotted a great rebellion." They called Hong Xiuquan "Hong Rebellion" and Shi Dakai "Shi Rebellion", believing that the Cult of Worshiping God that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom believed in was a cult that poisoned the common people. They regarded the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as cattle, ghosts, and snake gods, calling them "long-haired thieves." And he was extremely mocked for the things that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had done. The "separation of men and women" in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the things that Hong Xiuquan became emperor after he entered Tianjing, and even the education of Hong Xiuquan and his son were all demonized to the extreme.
(Hong Shung-jeong image)
When the landlord bureaucracy says this, the ordinary people do not understand the truth and think so. Therefore, public opinion is extremely unfavorable to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
At that time, the Qing army was indeed corrupt, and its combat effectiveness was indeed very problematic. In addition to the army commanded by the monk Gelinqin, which also had a certain combat effectiveness, the other Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty was completely vulnerable. However, the local bureaucratic landlords actively organized armed regimes to fight the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan organized the Xiang Army, Li Hongzhang presided over the Huai Army, Zuo Zongtang left the Chu Army, and so on. The Taiping Army was actually wiped out by the armed forces in these places.
What is more important is that, as a general rule, after the bureaucratic landlords have organized their armed forces, the next step is to support themselves and divide the party. For example, in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Sun Jian, Cao Cao and others all became princes of the party, and the country also split.
However, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was extinguished, this situation did not exist at all, and no place was armed with self-respect. It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty actually had strong control at that time.
Let's look at the situation at the time of the Xinhai Revolution.
We also analyze it from two aspects: the support of the bureaucratic landlord class and the guidance of public opinion.
(Xinhai Revolution)
At that time, after the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, almost no one in public opinion said that the Xinhai Revolution was a "conspiracy to rebel against the great", saying that they were "mountain thieves and grass thieves". Even the conservative royalists did not think so. It can be seen that public opinion has undergone a complete change.
Looking at the attitude of the bureaucratic landlords, almost no one organized an army to defend the Qing Dynasty, and even people like Zhang Xun, who was the most loyal at that time, were not very resolute in fighting the revolutionaries. Even less did zeng guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang do before, who intuitively organized landlord armed forces to fight against the Revolutionaries. Instead, the governors and governors of the provinces, as well as some other armed forces, declared their independence and were not under the control of the imperial court.
The Qing government finally saw that the country was already in a state of disintegration, and had to announce its abdication, and the Qing Dynasty stepped out of the stage of Chinese history.
So, how did this change happen? It can only be said that it was caused by the Qing government itself.
Originally, at the time of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Qing government still had great appeal in the whole country, but after that, a series of inactions of the Qing government pushed China into the abyss of semi-feudalism and semi-colony. Whether it is the common people, the landlords, or the rest of society, they are increasingly disillusioned with this decadent government, and fewer and fewer people support them. Therefore, although the strength of the Xinhai Revolution seems to be very weak, the Qing government is like a levee on the verge of collapse, and as long as it is touched, the levee collapses.
Just as the so-called "self-inflicted sins cannot live", the Qing government was actually killed by itself.
(References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Xinhai Revolution)