The Chinese nation that has grown up in the years will have a new look after every revolutionary baptism.
After the coup d'état of Xin You, with the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the political situation in the Qing court gradually stabilized, and the ruling position of Empress Dowager Cixi became increasingly consolidated. After the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Britain, Russia, the United States, Japan, France, Germany and other countries rushed to seize the rights and interests of invading China, and quickly formed a situation of dividing China.
In 1911, a real revolutionary movement broke out on the land of China, the Xinhai Revolution, which once again pushed the Chinese nation onto a brand-new historical stage.
At that time, the cabinet of the Qing Dynasty was already decayed and incompetent, the iron hooves of the imperial powers had trampled into the national territory, and the nation was in a hurry! Some patriots could no longer sit idly by, and they set off a huge anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolutionary movement aimed at overthrowing the feudal autocracy of the Qing Dynasty and striving for the independence of the country and the liberation of the nation.
The flames of the revolution spread rapidly throughout the country, the waves were magnificent and unstoppable, the Qing Dynasty was quickly overthrown, the feudal monarchy was ended, the people's minds were liberated, the idea of democracy and republicanism was spread, and the revolution finally ended with the establishment of a bourgeois republic and the replacement of the feudal dynasty.
The Xinhai Revolution not only promoted the transformation of Chinese society with great strength, but also set a good example for the liberation movements of the nations of Asian countries. It raised the first banner of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, enabled the revolutionary movement to be carried out more extensively and deeply, and the huge-scale "Huangxiao Campaign" directly determined the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1912, just after the footsteps of the New Year, the gunshots of the Battle of Huangxiao began, and the revolutionary army quickly entered a state of readiness, and it was at this time that a major event that shocked history occurred in Nanjing: on January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was officially proclaimed, and a provisional government was established in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president.
Previously, the North-South talks and peace had been deadlocked, and the establishment of the Nanjing government forced Yuan Shikai to re-treat the negotiations cautiously. The negotiations were quickly put on the agenda, the military operations between the North and the South were temporarily suspended, and Li Yuanhong, who was far away in Wuhan, was also ordered to declare an armistice. In this way, the Qing army was given the opportunity to retreat, and the Beiyang Army began to withdraw rapidly.
On January 5, 1912, the Qing army, except for more than 1,000 officers and soldiers left in Hanyang, all the rest retreated to Hankou. The next day, the defenders of Hankou began to retreat in the direction of Huangpi Xiaogan, thus breaking away from the combined siege of the revolutionary army. At this time, Yuan Shikai at the negotiating table gradually became tough, and the Qing court refused all the demands made by the Nationalist Army.
Faced with this situation, Li Yuanhong's military government issued orders to the revolutionary army to prepare for battle, and at the same time, Duan Qirui also transferred the qing army headquarters to Xiaogan, concentrating the main force of the army near Xiaogan and Yangdian. The two armies faced off, and a decisive battle with thick smoke was ready to be launched. On 16 January, the revolutionary army launched a general offensive as planned.
In the midst of the fierce battle between the two armies, the Hubei military government received an armistice order issued by Sun Yat-sen, and it turned out that the Qing court saw that the war situation was unfavorable to itself, and proposed an armistice negotiation to the Nanjing government, and after consultation between the two sides, agreed to extend the armistice for another fourteen days, thus changing the revolutionary army from a strategic offensive to a strategic defense.
On the same day that Sun Yat-sen ordered an armistice, Yuan Shikai met with Empress Longyu and Emperor Puyi with a heavy heart, explaining that the overall situation of the revolution had been decided, and the north and south had to return to the negotiating table. If negotiations fail, then the war will continue. On January 29, the First, Second and Third Armies of the Revolutionary Army launched a full-line assault.
The Third Army was even more the first to bear the brunt of the attack on Xiaogan, where Duan Qirui's general headquarters was located. At the critical juncture, the Qing court again proposed an armistice, and the Nanjing Presidential Office agreed again, and issued an armistice order to the revolutionary army. However, this order no longer worked for the revolutionary army, who was extremely dissatisfied with the government's approach, and the whole army continued to make a surprise attack.
On January 31, the Second Army and the Third Army of the Revolutionary Army continued to attack forward, the First Army captured Yangdian, the Second Army captured Sanchabu, the Third Army captured Xiaogan City, and destroyed the Qing army's general headquarters in Xiaogan, and then occupied the Xiaogan Railway Station, captured a large amount of qing army booty, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties, the army was scattered, and fled north in panic.
On February 2, the Hubei Revolutionary Army recaptured the three towns of Wuhan, Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou, and the Qing officers and soldiers fled and surrendered, and victory or defeat was a foregone conclusion. At this point, after more than a month and nearly 200,000 people participating in the Battle of Huangxiao, the Defeat of the Qing Army ended in the defeat of the Qing army, the Manchu Qing rule was in jeopardy, and the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was counted.
The Battle of Huangxiao was the largest battle in the Xinhai Revolution, in which the revolutionary army invested more than 100,000 people in the most elite troops, and the Qing army also dispatched tens of thousands of the most elite Beiyang main force. This battle was a decisive battle between the most elite troops in the north and the south, and the number of people and the scale of the battle, coupled with the cooperation of battles across the country, ultimately determined the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
On February 12, 1912, the third day after the end of the Battle of Huangxiao, Empress Longyu, who saw that the Qing court had gone, was forced to announce the abdication of the Qing Emperor. On February 13, 1912, Sun Yat-sen submitted his resignation and recommended Yuan Shikai to the Provisional Senate to take over. On February 15, the Provisional Senate elected Yuan Shikai as the provisional president, and it was decided that the provisional government would remain in Nanjing.
After that, Yuan Shikai insisted on moving the capital to Beijing under the pretext of being a soldier in Beijing. On April 1, Sun Yat-sen was relieved of his post in Nanjing. On April 2, the Provisional Senate decided to move the Provisional Government to Beijing, and on April 4, the Provisional Senate decided to move the Provisional Government to Beijing. On April 10, Yuan Shikai was sworn in in Beijing as the second provisional president of the Republic of China.
Resources:
[General History of China", "Xinhai Revolution - Battle of Huangxiao"]