The Third Battle of Nanking in 1864 was the last major engagement of the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
in the
Qing Empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. With the fall of Nanking (now spelled
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
), the capital of the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rebellion came to an end. The
Hunan Army
150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army
The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called '' tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebellion in Qing China ( ...
, an unpaid and barely fed
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
commissioned by the Qing Empire, lost all their discipline and committed mass-scale random murder,
wartime rape
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as War looting, spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has ...
,
looting
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
and
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
against the civilians of
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
, seen as "rebels".
100,000 "rebels" were reported dead by
Zeng Guofan, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army.
Prelude
In June 1863 Qing Gen.
Bao Chao
Bao Chao (; Styled Chun Ting 春霆) (1828–1886) was an eminent Han Chinese official, military Captain General, of the late Qing Dynasty in China. He raised the Xiang Army to fight effectively against the Taiping Rebellion and restored the st ...
took Jiufu Island () and the Taiping Army lost control of the entire northern shore of the
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
. Imperial Gen. Bao Chao subsequently led his force across the river and camped on the southern bank outside the Shence () Gate of Nanking. In September
Zeng Guofan's younger brother, Gen.
Zeng Guoquan, attacked and took the Shangfang Bridge () region southeast of the city and the Jiangdong Bridge () region to the southwest. Zeng Guoquan continued his quest in the suburbs of Nanking, and by early November had succeeded in taking regions including Shangfang Gate (), Gaoqiao Gate (), Shuangqiao Gate (), Qiqiaoweng (), Muling () Pass and Zhonghe Bridge (). The Taiping Army had therefore lost all of its positions in the southwestern part of the
Purple Mountain Purple Mountain may refer to:
China
* Purple Mountain (Nanjing), a mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu
Ireland
* Purple Mountain (Kerry), a mountain in County Kerry
United States
* Purple Mountain (Alaska), a mountain in Alaska
* Purple Peak (Col ...
. By mid-November regions including Chunhua (), Jiexi (), Longdu (),
Hushu
Hushu Subdistrict (), known as "Little Nanjing", is a subdistrict located in Jiangning District of Nanjing, Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, ...
, Sancha Town () had fallen under the Qing army's control. At the same time the Imperial navy commanded by Imperial Adm. Peng Yulin () and his deputy, Yang Yuebin (杨岳斌, also known as Yang Zaifu 杨载福), took important regions including
Gaochun
Gaochun District (), formerly Gaochun County () until January 2013, is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China. The southernmost of Nanjing's districts, bordering the province of Anhui to the south and west, it spans ...
and Eastern Dam (Dong Ba 东坝) with the help of Bao Chao's forces. By late November the Taiping garrison at
Lishui
Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to ...
had surrendered to the Qing army. As a result, the Taiping army was evicted from the region within 50 miles of Nanking. On November 25, Zeng Guoquan and his subordinate, Gen. Xiao Qingyan (), deployed troops at the
Ming Xiaoling
The Ming Xiaoling () is the mausoleum of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain, located east of the historical centre of Nanjing. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tom ...
. The only links to the outside left were the Shence and Taiping Gates.
On December 20,
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
returned to Nanking from
Danyang and urged
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
to abandon the Taiping capital the next day. However, this suggestion was not accepted by Hong, who took overall command of the operation. He declared that anyone who disobeyed him and God would be immediately executed. This doomed the Taiping army and Nanking by creating widespread discontent and, coupled with other factors, eventually over 200,000 Taiping troops went out of Nanking and surrendered to the Imperial Chinese army during the course of the battle. Those who refused to surrender but were also upset by Hong's decisions chose to break out while they still could, when the siege was still incomplete. Hong, Li and others were unable to stop such acts. On February 28, 1864, Tianbao () Castle at the highest peak of the
Purple Mountain Purple Mountain may refer to:
China
* Purple Mountain (Nanjing), a mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu
Ireland
* Purple Mountain (Kerry), a mountain in County Kerry
United States
* Purple Mountain (Alaska), a mountain in Alaska
* Purple Peak (Col ...
fell under the Qing army's control. On March 2, Zeng Guoquan deployed his troops to Shence and Taiping Gates. The siege of Nanking was completed.
The battle
On March 14,
Zeng Guoquan attempted his first attack on Nanking using ladders, but this was beaten back by the defenders. The imperial army then changed tactics, digging a total of ten tunnels at Chaoyang (), Shence and Jinchuan () Gates, and the defenders in turn countered by digging tunnels of their own and building a secondary wall behind the first. Five days after the death of
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
on June 1, 1864,
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
was finally put in charge of all military and political affairs, but it was already too late—the fate of the city and its defenders was sealed.
On July 3, Dibao Castle (地保城, nicknamed Dragon's Neck 龙脖子) on the Purple Mountain fell into the Qing army's hands. This strategic location enabled the Qing to build several dozen artillery positions to bombard the entire city, thus suppressing the defenders' firepower and providing cover for other preparations to take the city. One tactic of the attackers was to fill the space between the city wall and the mountain ridge at the Dragon's Neck with earth, sand, logs, rocks and grass, so the land surface was raised to the height of the city wall, thus paving the way to attack the city. Another was to dig tunnels just 200 feet away from the city wall so that they could be filled with explosives to blow up the wall. Operations within such close proximity of enemy fire were possible due to sufficient covering fire, thanks to the taking of Dibao Castle. The defenders' attempts to disrupt the preparations were continuously beaten back with heavy losses due to withering fire from the attackers. Two weeks later the preparation was complete.
Realizing the final attack was coming, on the night of July 18,
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
ordered more than 1000 defenders to disguise themselves as attackers to sneak out of the city to destroy the tunnel, but the attackers were not fooled and beat back the thousand-man formation. The following afternoon at 1:00 the attackers detonated the explosives in the tunnel under Taiping Gate, the wall breaking and flying 2–10 km far down, killing several hundred people and collapsing a large section of the city wall. The defenders put up a fierce fight, but were unable to drive back the attacking force of 60,000. The attackers divided into four fronts after entering Nanking as previously planned:
*The central front led by imperial Gen.
Li Chendian
Li Chenden (; 1838 - 1864) was an eminent military general during the late Qing Dynasty in China. He joined the Xiang Army and fought effectively against the Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or ...
attacked toward
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
's palace
*The right front led by imperial Gen. 刘连捷 (Liu Lianjie) pushed toward Shence gate to link up with imperial Gen. Zhu Nangui ()'s force, which entered the gate via ladders; after the two teams had joined forces, they would attack westward toward Lion Mountain (Shizishan 狮子山) to take Yifeng () Gate.
*The central-left front led by imperial Gen. Peng Yuju () attacked toward Tongji () Gate.
*The left front led by imperial Gen.
Xiao Fusi
Xiao may refer to:
* Filial piety (), or "being good to parents", a virtue in Chinese culture
* Xiao (flute) (), a Chinese end-blown flute
* Xiao (rank) (), a rank used for field officers in the Chinese military
* Xiao County (), in Anhui, China
...
() attacked toward Chaoyang and Hongwu gates.
The street fights were fierce and bloody and the resistance was much tougher than expected. The attackers' artillery cover had to stop for
fear of injuring their own. The defenders were very stubborn and expected to inflict heavy casualties on the attackers and hoped to drive them back outside the city.
After the fall of Chaoyang Gate, the defenders' morale collapsed and imperial Gen. Luo Fengyuan () was able to break his force into the city from Jubao () Gate, while imperial Gen. Li Jinzhou () was able to break into the city from () Gate, linking up with forces led by imperial Gen. Peng Yuju (). At the same time, imperial Adm.
Huang Yisheng Huang or Hwang may refer to:
Location
* Huang County, former county in Shandong, China, current Longkou City
* Yellow River, or Huang River, in China
* Huangshan, mountain range in Anhui, China
* Huang (state), state in ancient China.
* Hwang Riv ...
() led the imperial navy in taking Zhongguan () and then took the remaining fortresses still in the defenders' hands at the river banks, and helped imperial Gen. Chen Ti () take two Shuixi () and Hanxi () gates. By the evening every gate of the city was firmly in the hands of Qing forces.
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
immediately returned to
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
's palace after the defeat at the Taiping Gate in the morning, and took Hong's son with him to escape via Hanxi gate. However, Li's force of several thousand were beaten back with heavy losses by imperial Gen. Chen Ti's troops and was forced to go to Qingliang Mountain (). At night
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
's remaining force of 1000 went to Taiping Gate, disguised themselves as Qing soldiers and successfully escaped toward the
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum via the section of collapsed city wall because the Qing troops were busy looting and did not bother to stop them. After massive looting the city was set on fire, which lasted until July 26, 1864.
Massacre
"The vaunted discipline of the
Hunan Army
150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army
The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called '' tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebellion in Qing China ( ...
broke down completely when Nanjing fell. The militia soldiers were unpaid and barely fed, and with this total victory in their final objective—after years of bitter campaign away from their families and their homes,
..younger women were dragged off and the remaining able-bodied men were forced into service as porters to carry away huge loads of loot from the city—gold, silver, silks, furs, jade. Even some of
Zeng Guoquan’s own aides who entered the city to investigate the looting were robbed and beaten by roving gangs of Hunan soldiers. First the soldiers set fire to the palaces; then they burned the homes."
Aftermath
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
did not get far after his initial breakout.
Zeng Guoquan sent out a cavalry force of 700 after him and Li lost contact with
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
's son. Most of the Taiping army's commanders failed to escape: Lie () King Li Wancai () was captured on July 21, at Chunhua () Town, while Zhang () Lin Shaozhang () and Junior Western King () Xiao Youhe () was killed at
Hushu Town
Hushu Subdistrict (), known as "Little Nanjing", is a subdistrict located in Jiangning District of Nanjing, Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the P ...
on the same day. On July 22,
Li Xiucheng
Li Xiucheng (; 1823 – August 7, 1864) was a military rebel commander opposing the Qing dynasty during the Taiping Rebellion. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of ...
himself was captured alive near Square Mountain (Fangshan 方山). On July 28, the overall commander of the battle, Zeng Guofan, reached
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
from
Anqing
Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...
and ordered Li to write his confession; he was executed after its completion on August 7. Only Zun () King
Lai Wenguang
Lai Wenguang (賴文光, 1827–1868), born in Mei County (now Meixian District), Guangdong, and later worked in Guangxi, was an eminent military leader of the Taiping Rebellion and Nian Rebellion, and known during his military tenure as the King ...
succeeded in breaking out with his 3,000 cavalry to eventually join and lead the
Nien Rebellion
The Nian Rebellion () was an armed uprising that took place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) in South China. The rebellion failed to topple the Qing dynasty, but caused immense economi ...
, during which he continued to fight for another four years.
The success of the Qing Army was partially due to the advanced weaponry adopted, namely firearms. The first Chinese indigenously built
bolt-action
Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed).
Most bolt-action ...
single-shot rifle appeared in 1864, and although they were few in number, proved themselves over other firearms and certainly over ancient weapons such as
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
s,
sabre
A sabre ( French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...
s,
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...
s and
lances. The third battle of Nanking was a testing ground for the first modern Chinese firearms used in battle.
References
*
Franz H. Michael
Franz H. Michael (1907–1992) was a German-born American scholar of China, whose teaching career was spent at University of Washington, Seattle, and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Michael's research began with publications concerning ...
, ed.''The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents'' (Seattle,:
University of Washington Press
The University of Washington Press is an American academic publishing house. The organization is a division of the University of Washington, based in Seattle. Although the division functions autonomously, they have worked to assist the universit ...
, 1966). 3 vols. Volumes two and three select and translate basic documents.
* Translated and condensed from the author's publications in Chinese; especially strong on the military campaigns, based on the author's wide travels in China in the 1920s and 1930s.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Battle Of Nanking
Conflicts in 1864
Rebellions in the Qing dynasty
Nanking 1864
History of Nanjing
Massacres in China
1864 in China
March 1864 events
April 1864 events
May 1864 events
June 1864 events
July 1864 events