The Taiping Rebellion was a massive civil war in China between the ruling Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, founded by Hong Xiuquan, a failed examination candidate who believed that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. The movement began in Guangxi province in 1850 and 1851, drew on poor peasants discontented with Qing rule and economic hardship, and promised social reforms and a new moral order, including equality between the sexes. The Taipings captured Nanjing in 1853 and made it their capital, and their armies controlled large parts of southern China. The Qing government, helped by regional armies led by Zeng Guofan and by Western-trained forces, retook Nanjing in 1864. It was among the deadliest conflicts in history, with estimates of the dead running to twenty million or more.
Before and after
- 18 August 1850Death of Honoré de Balzac
- 13 November 1850Birth of Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1851Construction of The Crystal Palace
- 1851Fizeau experiment
- from 11 January 1851 to 1 August 1864Taiping Rebellion
- 1 February 1851Death of Mary Shelley
- 28 June 1851Discovery of 6P/d'Arrest
- from 18 August 1851 to 3 February 1852Platine War
- 18 September 1851Founding of The New York Times
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.