Battle of Yangxia
Battle of Yangxia | |||||||
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Part of Xinhai Revolution | |||||||
Artillerymen of the Revolutionary Army take aim on Qing Army positions during the Battle of Yangxia. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Qing Empire |
Hubei Revolutionary Army TongmenghuiGongjinghui Hunan Revolutionary Army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Yuan Shikai Feng Guozhang Duan Qirui Yinchang Sa Zhenbing |
Li Yuanhong Huang Xing |
The Battle of Yangxia (
Background
On October 10, 1911, revolutionaries in
The Battle of Hankou
Yinchang, a Manchu noble, reached Hankou by rail and attempted to seize control of the city's northern suburbs. On October 18 more than 1,000 revolutionary fighters attacked Liujiamiao, a train station guarding the northern approach to Hankou, but were driven back and retreated to Dazhimen.
Following the setback at Liujiamiao, the Qing court removed Yinchang from command and handed formal power to Yuan Shikai, whose lieutenants in the Beiyang Army, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, headed the 1st and 2nd Armies moving on Wuhan, respectively.[2] On October 26, the Beiyang Army moved swiftly south by rail and attacked the northern suburbs of Hankou with heavy artillery and machine guns. The revolutionaries suffered over 500 killed in action and were also hampered by indecisive leadership from Zhang Jingliang, who was suspected of collaborating with the Qing government.[2] The revolutionaries lost and then regained Liujiamiao, only to lose it to Qing troops on October 27. The Qing armies pressed into the city and the two sides engaged in fierce house-to-house fighting.[2]
On October 28 Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren, two leaders of the Tongmenghui or Revolutionary Alliance, arrived in Hankou from Shanghai to support the revolutionaries.[2] On the 29th Huang led over 1,000 reinforcements to Wuchang, which had 6,000 revolutionaries holding out against superior Qing forces.[2] Due to inferior arms the revolutionaries suffered heavy casualties, but were supported by local residents. In retaliation, Feng Guozhang ordered the razing of Hankou.[3] The fire burned for three days and destroyed much of the city. By November 1 Qing troops controlled Hankou.[2] Both sides suffered casualties in the thousands.
On November 3 Li Yuanhong handed the command of the revolutionary forces to Huang Xing. Their strength was boosted by the arrival of revolutionaries from Hunan.
The Battle of Hanyang
On November 21 the Qing armies launched their invasion of Hanyang. One force bypassed the revolutionaries' defense by striking from Xiaogan further to the west.[2] The two sides clashed at Sanyanqiao. On November 22 another Qing force managed to cross the Han River from Hankou and eventually captured the strategic heights in Hanyang. The revolutionaries twice sent reinforcements from Wuchang across the Yangtze River to Hanyang but suffered heavy casualties en route.[2] Another group of revolutionaries in Wuchang planned to cross the Yangtze River to Hankou and then attack Liujiamiao behind Qing lines, but the commander of this group was drunk and did not join the assault force, which faced heavy Qing artillery barrages from the opposite bank and could not land.[2] The Hunan reinforcements were so disgusted by what they perceived as efforts by the Hubei revolutionaries to preserve their strength, that they left the front lines and returned to Hunan, despite efforts by Li Yuanhong to clarify the misunderstanding.[2] After seven days and nights of fierce house-to-house combat, the Qing forces gradually fought their way into the city center, capturing the Hanyang munitions factory and the revolutionaries' artillery positions on Guishan.[2] On November 27, the revolutionaries retreated from Hanyang.[2] Over 3,300 revolutionary fighters and residents died defending Hanyang.[2]
Cease-fire
At the end of November Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui prepared and submitted plans to Yuan Shikai to take Wuchang.
With the cease-fire of December 1, 1911, the conflict moved from the military arena to the political one. This was a politically calculated decision of Yuan Shikai, who understood that if the revolution, which had him indispensable to the regime, were to be fully suppressed, he would again be destined to retirement. At the same time, at the Battle of Yangxia, he had demonstrated that his Beiyang Army was the most powerful in China. With his personal power at its height, he chose to maneuver politically to place himself at the top of the new political regime.
Significance & aftermath
During the 41-day battle, 13 other Chinese provinces joined the revolution and declared their independence from the Qing dynasty. Peace talks were held in the British concession of Hankou and then moved to Shanghai in late December. The political negotiations eventually led to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor, Puyi, and the formation of a united provisional government of the Republic of China led by former loyalist Yuan Shikai and revolutionaries Sun Yat-sen, Li Yuanhong and Huang Xing. In October 1912 Yuan conferred honors to commanders on both sides of the battle for their contribution to the founding of the Republic. A memorial in Wuhan was built to commemorate those who died, including 4,300 unknown soldiers, in the battle.[7]
Gallery
The Japanese wartime artist T. Minyano created a series of lithographic print illustrations of the battle, which were printed in Japan in 1920.
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Battle of Hankou
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Ambush of Imperial forces at Liujiamiao.
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Battle of Hankou from the Imperial Army lines.
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Battle of Hankou (2)
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Fighting in Hankou's rail yards
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Fighting near Hanyang
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The revolutionary army marches on Wuchang
See also
- Wuchang Uprising
- Xinhai Revolution
References
- ^ Su (1998), p. 43.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u (Chinese) Chen Guangyuan, "武昌起义和阳夏战役述评 (3)" 《军事历史》 Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 2011-03-19
- ^ (Chinese) "阳夏战争:改变中国命运的血战之一[图]" 2010-07-15
- ^ a b (Chinese) "程潜:辛亥革命前后回忆片断"[permanent dead link] 2011-01-19
- ^ a b c (Chinese) Chen Guangyuan "武昌起义和阳夏战役述评 (4)" 《军事历史》 Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 2011-03-19
- ^ "Centenary of China's 1911 Revolution" Archived June 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2010-05-03
- ^ (Chinese) "百年纪念 60余家辛亥后裔代表武汉公祭辛亥烈士" Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 2011-03-29
- Su, Xiao (1998). "Women soldiers of the 1911 Revolution". Women of China. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press: 43.