The Taiping Rebellion

A vast civil war in China led by a religious movement that tried to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

Background

Mid-nineteenth-century China suffered from population pressure, floods, famine and the effects of defeat in the Opium War. Resentment of Qing rule and of corrupt officials was widespread, especially in the south.

Course of events

Hong Xiuquan, who believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus, founded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1851. His followers captured Nanjing in 1853 and made it their capital. The Qing finally recovered the city in 1864 with the help of regional armies such as that of Zeng Guofan.

Legacy

The war ranks among the deadliest conflicts in history, with estimates of at least twenty million dead. It weakened the Qing state and shifted power to regional leaders, and it remains a major subject of debate among historians.