2013-08-27, 18:22
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Link #241 | ||
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Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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Mao doesn't have to love his son to want to pass on his throne to him. The concept of a legacy pass on form father to son is very powerful.
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2013-08-27, 18:49
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Link #242 | |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Good point. I'd expect it'd be easier to find out how good the father/son realtionship was by reading Chinese sources. Someday... In the meantime, here's the next update of my timeline, concerning Mongolia. _________________________________________ Negotiating a "Chinese" Mongolia With the fall of Qing Dynasty Mongolia declared independence. Outer Mongolia and the Oirats Mongolians supported this motion, and 39 out of 49 Inner Mongolian khoshuu accepted Bogda Khaans rule. To secure its independence after 1911, the government tried to get recognition from the Great Powers but this failed due to Russian diplomatic maneuvering and lack of international interest. The Russian Empire essentially treated the region as a protectorate. To consolidate its position, Mongolia sent a military expedition to Inner Mongolia, but this was halted due to Russian pressure as well as lack of supply which was also dependent on Russian will. In 1913, the Russians opted for negotiations between Mongolia and China (Beiyang regime) to sort out the issue but the result was disappointing — Mongolia was allowed administration of only Outer Mongolia and small portions Inner Mongolia and Dzungaria, while most of Inner Mongolia nominally became the NROC provinces Rehe, Suiyuan and Chahar. The dream of Greater Mongolia was on the agenda of most Mongolian leaders as they sought every chance to regain these lands. The chance came sooner than thought when the neo-Qing loyalist Zhang Xun promised Inner Mongolia in exchange for political and military support of his push for restoration. Mongolia soon assembled a division which was sent to assist Zhang. But the restorationists were soon defeated by a Beiyang-Federalist joint campaign and driven back to Inner Mongolia. After his defeat Zhang Xun's brutal rule proved untenable for common folk — Mongolians and Chinese alike. The Beiyang regime, with no shortage of internal issues on its plate, made a only half-hearted effort in uprooting Zhang now that he was no longer a major threat. Rehe and Chahar came under partial NROC occupation. Following the Russian Revolution was the rise of a new force which named themselves the People’s Will which was soon transformed to People’s Socialist Party. It was the first political party in Mongolia proper. The leaders came mostly from the ranks of commoners and the middle class and favored socialist and egalitarian ideals. After years of underground activity they decided that the time was ripe for revolution. After fierce debate they sent a delegation to the Soviets. Seeing an opportunity to restore their lost influence after Russian Revolution and Zhang Xun/White faction dominance, the Russians quickly accepted the request and provided significant military assistance. By 1922, with Soviet military assistance the Mongolian Revolutionary Army assumed control and by 1923 effectively destroyed the remainder of Zhang's forces and arrested him. He died in prison two years later. The NROC government, while delighted with the end of Zhang Xun, was alarmed by this dynamic, socialist state that controlled both Outer and Inner Mongolia with Soviet support. Yuan Kewen made complaint with the Soviets, reminding them of the 1913 Mongol-Chinese treaty and demanded the withdrawal of Soviet and MRA forces from Inner Mongol regions. The Soviets politely replied that they would withdraw their troops soon after all parties had come to an agreement. In 1924 a conference between the three countries was held in Zhangyuan, capital of Chahar province which was occupied by troops of all sides. Mongolian representatives demanded full independence with borders keeping the current status-quo, while the NROC wanted the unconditional restoration of Chinese rule over all Mongolia. The differences were so great that agreement couldn’t be reached and conference continued all of six months. During the conference Bogda Khaan died, giving the Soviets the chance to act as brokers of peace. The NROC Government would appoint a governor of Mongolia, while locals would elect their government, which granted them effective autonomy. The idea was initially rejected by both sides, but the Soviets eventually pressured them to agree. The Autonomous Republic of Mongolia would consist of Outer and Inner Mongolia minus Rehe and southern Chahar, which had been earlier seized from Zhang Xun by Beiyang troops. Simultaneously, the Soviets worked to integrate Mongolian and Chinese socialists and mediated the balance of power in the new state. Consensus reached between two sides. The administration would consist of a Mongol prime minister (since the Governor, head of state, was Chinese) and a Chinese deputy. Senior cabinet members and ministers would represent both ethnicities equally. In September 1924 the constitution was drafted and approved by referendum. International reaction was mixed as most Western powers viewed the affair with suspicion while the Soviets and Japanese lauded the smooth creation of the new state as a feat of "fraternal diplomacy". |
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2013-08-28, 10:53
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Link #244 | |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Here is another update, this time to give us a look at stuff going on in China proper. Different components will be treated in more detail in future updates.
The Federation in Peril 1930-1936 Though Wang Jingwei had proclaimed himself as a revolutionary leader, he was considered unsuccessful at creating fervor among the people. Some criticized his understanding of Marxism as too theoretical or too devoted to the Japanese model, which stressed order and retained some notions of societal hierarchy. Whether or not Wang had a choice seems to have been overlooked. Warlords and their men acted much as before, stealing and looting "for the good of the revolution". Around 1930, roughly all of China south of Shijiazhuang, north of Guangdong, and east of Yunnan was a mess. Wang's zone of reliable control comprised much of the southeastern portion of China, but local authorities could only haphazardly be relied on to adhere to revolutionary discipline. "Red militias", units formed based on political orthodoxy, were formed by General Zhang Jingyao, which helped force a political feeling upon entire populations at a grass-roots level, but this method ran entirely counter to the more ordered, lawful reforms implemented in Fujian and Guangzhou along Japanese recommendations. Political infighting caused by increasingly radical elements plagued the late Sun's legislature with administrative deadlocks and stagnant polices. The presence of the well-established Yunnan regime was another factor. In 1933, a revolt broke out in Guangdong, opposing the increasing influence of "revolutionary" warlords. The revolt began as a demonstration which was then armed by the support of a Guangxi general, who in turn appealed to Tang Jiyao, strongman of the Yunnan government. A Yunnanese army struck through Guangxi and threatened link with Guangdong, while confused fighting through Sichuan about the Yangtze turned into an all-out eastward advance. The true effectiveness, or lack thereof, of "revolutionary fervor" was revealed. Villages that had been terrorized by Zhang Jingyao and other radical warlords turned to Tang's forces. Wang Jingwei and the warlords nominally serving him, however, was not altogether incompetent. He gathered together his best and most loyal troops and maneuvered about the mountainous southern landscape, intent on leaving Zhang and the radicals to fend for themselves. The Federation troops reinforced Guangzhou and Fujian, where they could be aided by the Japanese, who now sent advisors and free shipments of weaponry. The Yunnan offensive slowed and fizzled out as they clashed with Zhang and other guerilla warlord fighters and came to the end of their own supply lines. Meanwhile, the peasant communist movement expanded asymmetrically as the front lines changed. In addition, Zhang's forces, which had fled north and taken the ancient capital of Xi'an, turned the province of Shaanxi into a safe haven for radical activity in the general region. A certain Mao Zedong, native of Hunan and a beneficiary of Zhang's sudden ideological conversion, had landed himself control of his own red militia in 1932 and, despite being an intellectual, proved adept at directing all kinds of underground operations in the Sichuan hinterland. Since the Yunnanese offensive he and his crew had been evading more powerful and numerous enemies, relying on the wealth of the land and the will of the local peasantry for survival, as observed by various Japanese advisors who themselves were racking their brains wondering how Marxism might succeed in the rest of Asia. Mao and other units like his were lauded as the "people's revolutionaries" throughout the Federation, and it was in this time that the rudiments of "agrarian proletarian revolution" (無農革命) or Maoism was formulated. However, even as Yunnanese advances were resisted and warlords brought into common cause, the Federation's troubles were not only far from over - they had just begun. Between the Chinese coast and the hinterland were huge gaps. The well-governed, sheltered provinces of Fujian and Guangdong had substantial foreign investment and growing economic, cultural, and intellectual development. The Shanghai International Concessions provided a major outlet for contact and trade with the West. Meanwhile, the rural hinterland had completely missed out on these improvements, having been in turmoil for a generation. Just how great a schism had formed between these two halves of the Federation would be evidenced in the bitter struggles of years to come. ---------------------------------------- Quote:
Last edited by LeoXiao; 2013-08-28 at 18:16. |
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2013-08-28, 20:10
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Link #245 |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Here is a summary of the alternate Russo-Japanese war, which will prepare for those nations turning socialist. Plausibility not entirely guaranteed.
-------------------------------------- THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR 1905-1907 Background 1900-1901: The Boxer Rebellion in China received support from the Empress Dowager Cixi, whose generals attacked the foreign quarters in Beijing. The 8-Nation Alliance, however rapidly defeated the Chinese forces. Cixi was killed by her own men, who surrendered to the Western powers and the Guangxu emperor was restored, though only as a Western-friendly puppet. The nations involved in the Chinese intervention gained concessions and imposed severe punishments upon the Qing government and military, many elements of which began to operate underground, accelerating the collapse of the dying empire. In particular, the Russians and Japanese stationed exorbitant numbers of troops in Beijing and Manchuria. The Russians made substantial investments including the construction of fortresses at the port of Dalny (later Dalian) and throughout Manchuria, and expansion of the Trans-Siberian railway. Japan was seen by the UK to be a natural counterweight to Russia, and so the Anglo-Japanese alliance was signed in 1902. It would last until 1924. 1905: The May Revolt in Beijing caused the Russian garrison to move in to fortify the Forbidden City and key parts of the capital in the pretext of "protecting" the Qing sovereign. The Japanese, feeling understandably threatened by this action, pressed Russia for negotiations regarding the two powers' spheres of influence. The arrogant Russians and the worried Japanese could not reach a satisfactory agreement, and in September Japan declared war on Russia. Combined Japanese Offensive, September 1905 - February 1906 The Imperial Japanese Army launched a two-pronged attack: First the Russian garrison in Korea was surrounded and crushed, then divisions were sent to besiege the fortress of Dalny via the Liaodong peninsula. At the same time, a fleet with marines was deployed to attack the port from the sea. Unfortunately for the Japanese, while their amphibious assault made some headway, the army in Liaodong met fierce resistance in the field from the surprised but rapidly-regrouping Russian forces. Additionally, a second Russian army stood outside Vladivostok, reducing the number of divisions that could be spared to attack Dalny. By late November, both sides had taken high casualties, but Dalny would not fall. At sea, the Russians were conservative - their fleet-in-being could not assume an offensive role. The Japanese army retreated from Liaodong and Dalny was resupplied - the operation to take the port had failed. As winter approached, both sides dug in and began to mobilize greater forces. The Russian Counter-Offensive and Static Warfare, 1906 As spring came, so did new offensives. The Russians were at the end of their supply lines but had a greater technological and doctrinal edge. The Japanese were also short of manpower and the war was not particularly popular, with protests in major Japanese cities. The front was held slightly south of and around the Yalu river, where the defending Japanese enjoyed a defensive advantage due to the terrain. The Russian Baltic fleet, after a long voyage, engaged the Japanese but was beaten back with massive casualties and it retreated to Dalny. In April, Japanese marines landed on Sakhalin and swiftly conquered the island. In May 1906 the Russians launched an offensive with fresh reinforcements. However, the operation was a bloody failure. Japanese generals had meticulously studied the mountainous terrain and possible avenues of attack so as to be able to ambush and encircle advancing Russian units. Fighting was intense and at times highly disorienting for men and officers alike. Japanese troops bled and slowed the Russians for every bit of land they took, but at a terrible human cost. By the battle of Pyeongyang in September, over 100,000 Japanese had been killed or wounded, a number that was to triple by the war's end. In addition, Korean indigenous militias and communities, though of little combat value, generally chose to assist the Japanese. Pyeongyang, 1906-07 The Battle of Pyeongyang, raging from September 1906 to February the next year, was easily the most brutal and hellish period of the war. By this time, both sides were determined not to lose. For Russia, the desire to put the uppity, aggressive Asiatic nation back into her place was still strong, even as doubts about the inevitability of victory had begun to materialize since the war's start and were amplified by the poor performance of the Russian Navy. The Japanese were in a far more desperate situation - Loss of Pyeongyang meant the loss of Korea, which in turn would lead to the isolation of Japan from mainland Asia, the means to protect her long-term interests and, as was widely feared, the loss of her independence. Russian forces had long been preparing for such an offensive that would strike deep into the heart of Korea and break the Japanese. The mobilization, spied upon by local collaborators, did not go unnoticed: to counter the inevitable onslaught, Japan mustered up all her available divisions to assist in the defense of the ancient Korean capital. Numerous tripwires and ambushes were set up on the roads and paths leading to the city, which itself was heavily garrisoned. Meanwhile, daring Japanese units worked behind enemy lines, raiding and sabotaging Russian supplies, convoys, and railways. The Tsarist offensive began with an all-out artillery barrage as Russian crack troops rushed to occupy the city. They were met with fierce hand-to-hand fighting and to a lesser extent, counter-battery fire. As the Russians flooded Pyeongyang and its environs, Japanese troops also maneuvered about the surrounding areas to counterattack relentlessly in hit-and-run operations. The Russians, though they were able to defeat the Japanese in open engagement, could not destroy the enemy's will to draw out the fight. In addition, the supply situation had been getting worse for the invaders, and this only worsened as winter loomed ahead. The Russians never decisively held Pyeongyang and by December were forced into a gradual retreat. Anti-Russian sentiment exploded in Manchuria in the form of anti-Qing rebellion (commoners increasingly saw their Manchu rulers as foreign sellouts), where the Occidentals had been exploiting the locals even worse than usual due to wartime stress. By mid-January, many Russian soldiers had had enough. They refused to be sent back to the front after taking their leave, prompting a riot at the Yaroslavsky Vokzal (train station) in Moscow. In Manchuria, revolt had been quelled by the granting of increased administrative powers for the Chinese authorities. The war itself was, from the perspective of the Tsarist government, no longer worth prosecuting. In early February a cease-fire was declared, and the Russians and Japanese met at Vladivostok to sign a peace treaty, in which Korea and Manchuria were deemed Japanese and Russian respectively, with a demilitarized zone on either side of the Yalu. Sakhalin was ceded to Japan. Aftermath The Japanese media tried its utmost to paint the island nation as the victor and as having successfully defended itself and Korea against the imperialist designs of the Tsar, but the people were not so easily fooled. Returning soldiers were shell-shocked and told horrible tales of desperate fighting and atrocities committed on both sides. Patriotic groups were disappointed at the fact that Japan had hardly gained anything from such an expensive and deadly conflict. Korea had been essentially Japanese before the war and was still Japanese after the war. Sakhalin was a "barren rock" hardly worth the 300,000 casualties that had been sustained. Moreover, it had been the Japanese themselves who had started the conflict, rather than an unprovoked attack by the Russians. The military was increased in size and kept well-funded. Emphasis was placed on artillery and entrenched warfare, as well as infiltration tactics. Conscription continued and was even broadened in scope. An atmosphere of paranoia and hurt national pride arose and was intensified by the media. Dissidence and decadence were cracked down upon, and the antiquated Choshu military clique insisted on the continued domination of the Army. These factors, and the last one in particular, would have salient effects in the radicalization of the Japanese military and the marriage of patriotism with emerging leftist ideology. Last edited by LeoXiao; 2013-08-29 at 06:19. |
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2013-08-29, 02:37
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Link #246 |
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Lumine Passio
 Author
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Age: 18
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Well, I see nothing to complain to that scenario. Although it's weird for Cixi to support Boxer Revolution. And I don't think that would be enough for the Japanese to change their action (I am talking about Zaibatsu and their ambition). But of course, it could be
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2013-08-29, 03:14
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Link #247 |
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Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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Could the two sides afford it? It was suggested once that a reason the Japanese and Russians agreed with Roosevelt's peace treaty in 1905 (Treaty of Portsmouth) was because they were both out of money. That and an early Russian revolution in 1905.
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2013-08-29, 10:04
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Link #248 | ||
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Next update: ______________________________________ SHADES OF CRIMSON: THE SOVIET AND EN'AN REVOLUTIONS 1907-1924 The War of 1911 The Russo-Japanese War had left both belligerents with severe domestic outrage. The Tsarist government and its feared secret police, the Okhrana, cracked down hard on demonstrations and dissidents in the following years up to the War of 1911. With tensions in Europe rising, Tsar Nicholas II gave his security forces free reign in persecuting any groups or individuals they suspected of rebellious or otherwise anti-establishment activity. This led to a campaign of terror as well as increased corruption among the elite. Though the creation of a proto-totalitarian atmosphere may not have been the Tsar's intent, this and the disaster that was the War of 1911 irredeemably taint the legacy of Russia's final monarch. While the state terror suppressed revolutionary activity at home, the Russian Empire faced a formidable array of foreign enemies. None of her relations with other European powers were particularly good due to the Tsar being perceived first as a glutton who wanted the lion's share of the Chinese "cake", and then a brutal despot better suited for the days of Ivan the Terrible. Thus when a conflict in the Balkans led to direct engagement between Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and then German armies, the French and British made no action, preferring to see who would prevail and then act accordingly. This conflict, the War of 1911, as it came to be known, was preceded by a massive modernization of the Russian Army. Tsarist generals had seen the effect of heavy artillery and machine guns, and paid special attention on their deployment. Unfortunately, corruption was rampant and coordination between commanders was hopelessly sabotaged by petty disagreements and ulterior motives. The Russian officer corps in general was affected by elitism and utter disregard for subordinates. Young conscripts were routinely beaten, starved, or otherwise maltreated as their superiors sold off supplies and rations meant for them to such ends as furnishing their headquarters, consuming fine wines, or enjoying the company of expensive prostitutes. In hindsight, it thus comes as no surprise that the vast Russian Army, which looked so mighty on paper, suffered such embarrassing defeats at the hands of a much smaller and, in some respects doctrinally and technologically inferior Austro-German force. The War of 1911 was fought for three years, during which the Russians were continuously pushed back, from Poland and Serbia, then Byelorussia and Ukraine, where the front lines stabilized. Despite many isolated instances of tactical brilliance and bravery, the Russian Army was no match for the well-organized and disciplined Germans and their allies, who took advantage of their adversaries' incompetence. In addition, poor conditions and a pervasive feeling of hopelessness prompted whole units to kill their officers and either desert or surrender outright. In 1913 the Baltic peoples revolted and threw their lot in with the Germans, and an Ottoman invasion into the Caucasus led to uprisings by the myriad southern ethnicities. Aghast, the Tsar ordered hasty reorganizations of the military staff and for the Okhrana to ensure the punishment of "treasonous officers", actions which in practice further paralyzed the war effort. Even the Franco-Russian alliance agreement of 1914 could not salvage the war. With little actual experience in fighting a large-scale modern war, the naive French offensives against the Saar and Ruhrgebiet were easily repulsed. After this failure, the Tsar was detained by his cabinet and coaxed into entering negotiations. In July 1914 representatives of all sides (except the French, who were still trying to rectify the situation at the front) met at and signed the Treaty of Riga, which stripped the Russian Empire of Ukraine, Poland, Byelorussia, the Baltic states, and the Transcaucasia region. It also forbade the alliance of Russia with any European nation and required the creation of a parliamentary system in which the Tsar was to be reduced to a figurehead. Increased German and Austro-Hungarian access to Chinese markets via the Trans-Siberian railroad was also granted. Virtually all Russia was in uproar over the treaty. Patriots considered it treasonous and socialists saw it simply as the ruling class selling out the nation to save their own skins. The reforms promised by the terms also failed to materialize in any meaningful sense. The only difference, many commented, was that the corrupt officialdom no longer had to use the tsar as a puppet to run their unscrupulous activity. A new wave of dissent, like the one seen after the Russo-Japanese war, now swept across Russia. But unlike the last time, the government's ability to simply suppress undesirable elements was now very limited. Returning men, officers, and even agents of the Okhrana found common cause with the message of those they once persecuted. The Soviet Revolution By 1916, the so-called "constitutional government" had proven inept at actually implementing the reforms it had promised, and was in fact passing policies that went counter to those stated goals. An industrial scandal broke out in Moscow and was protested by thousands of workers, who were soon joined by ordinary folk. When troops were sent to crush the demonstration, the soldiers actually turned to the side of the demonstrators in a famous display of solidarity. The Moscow Soviet was formed and soon Tsarist authorities were driven from the metropolis. Following the Muscovite example, similar "Soviets" sprang up all across urban Russia. The Soviets took over the "constitutional government" and began issuing orders to the military. A large contingent sided with the Reds, as the Soviets were known, while officers and personnel still loyal to the old government scattered, mostly eastwards to Siberia and China. Some even famously fled to German-held territories such as Ukraine, where the loyalist government-in-exile was formed. The Tsar himself was apprehended, put on trial, and put under house arrest. The Soviet government spent the next few years consolidating its power and implementing the reforms demanded by the people. A very liberal system was designed to protect workers' rights and improve their conditions. Salient industries were nationalized and entrepreneurial activity closely examined. Separation of church and state was established and civil and military conscription implemented to strengthen the country, which in 1919 was declared the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. The voting population of each subdivision would elect representatives to a local Soviet, which would in turn recommend members for the Supreme Soviet in Moscow. Rule of law was in theory ensured by an independent judiciary while the legislative and executive roles were combined into the authority of the Supreme Soviet. Officially, the USSR was not intended to have an individual head of state or government. The effects of the Revolution could be felt abroad. In France, which was smarting from its defeat by the Germans, a similar attempt to set up a "second Parisian Commune" was crushed after a few days. Workers' demonstrations and strikes also occurred in Great Britain, Germany, and America, and people in Ukraine, Belarus, and the Slavic regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire rose up in a period of short-lived but highly-visible revolts. Soviet-aided partisan activity in some of these regions would continue for over a decade until after the "War of Slavic Liberation". But perhaps the most startling event would be what happened in the Orient, in the Empire of Japan. Workers and Peasants - The Rise of the Ronoto Like Russia, Japanese society had been deeply impacted by the trauma of the war in Korea and Manchuria. Increasingly paranoid, the Japanese government deigned to allow the Choshu military clique to retain hegemony over the Imperial Army. In line with the political decision to raise and maintain strong modern army, conscription was continued even past the war; unfortunately, young soldiers had to train and serve under brutal conditions. Those who had finished their service often had to return to a life of poverty, be it the toils of a farm or a factory. Young officers not from the Choshu clique saw little opportunity to rise in the ranks, regardless their merit. They saw the Choshu hegemony as a reflection of society itself: an inefficient, self-destructive system that would bring the country down with it. As economic and political conditions became worse and worse for the common man, especially the peasants and soldiers, who were the most disenfranchised, various intellectuals and officers took note of this and their theories started becoming more radical in nature as many of them saw hope in the rural and urban poor. Many new soldiers and officers, patriotic and perceiving the capitalist system as the source of their ills, were endeared to the radical left. In the 1910s, two main trends in Japanese leftist thought emerged: the so-called Urban and Rural blocs. The Urban bloc was more intellectually-driven and seen as more faithful to the original intent of the Western writings they studied, while the Rural bloc was more concerned with radical action and a more "organic" progression, by which it was expected that a revolution could happen any day. By 1915, there were two significant leftist parties in existence: The Social Reform Party, founded in 1909, was associated with the Urbanists and the agrarian Workers' and Peasants' Party (Ronoto, 労农党, founded 1915). While the SRP was more successful in urban movements and mobilizing labor forces, the Ronoto found a sort of crass support in the ranks of farmers and soldiers, especially soldiers. By 1920 inroads had been made among factory workers as well, and various scholars were commenting on the future of Japan as being driven by radical revolution. The En'an Reorganization In early 1922, the Taisho emperor and the heir to the throne, Hirohito, were assassinated by Korean anarchists. This led to great distrust of radicalism by politicians and pronounced anti-Korean sentiment in society at large. Fearful of a mass movement like in Russia, however, the Japanese government opts out of a harsh crackdown, instead targeting a few prominent leftist figures and dealing with them in a low-key manner. Ironically, this has little effect on the radical portions of the leftist movement and strengthens their resolve to fight the "elements of reaction". The "elements of reaction" were not as united as the leftist radicals would have their subscribers believe. Many moderate and even conservative politicians and civil servants were against or at least had reservations against the two costly and inconclusive wars that had been fought against Russia. Furthermore, these indecisive wars, coupled with the increased hardship they levied upon the people, worried many patriots, especially soldiers who had fought long and hard only to come home and find their families in destitution. In this way, a radical core materialized from the emerging group of unsatisfied individuals of difficult background. The representation of their concerns, the Ronoto, was banned immediately but continued underground, advocating "unlimited revolution" and "accelerated development of the Japanese nation." The Japanese leadership eventually decided, if very hesitantly, that, after failing to sufficiently satisfy the people for two decades, they would have to make more sweeping reforms to keep the radicals from gaining more influence and thereby threatening civil chaos or even war, as had been the case in Russia. High-level political debates and meetings resulted in the Enan Reorganization. Opposition* parties were permitted, new laws were passed to protect workers and women, and suffrage requirements were relaxed. The characters making up the new era name "Enan"（延安）mean "lasting peace", reflecting the desire for Japan to remain united and not descend like China or Russia into civil war. *= Notably, the Ronoto was not included in the list of permitted parties. Of course, not all in Japan were satisfied with the reforms. Hardliners and those influenced by business obligations did their best to oppose the reform's implementation. The government lost control over some sections of the police and armed forces controlled by rightist officers. This angered the proletarian peoples. They responded with increased strikes and riots. The new Emperor, Chichibu, was only twenty when he was crowned. He had been allowed to continue his studies until graduation in October 1922 from the Central Military Preparatory School. He had been sympathetic to the demands of the people and understood something of the anguish felt by returning soldiers. In September 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Japan, killing 150,000 people. In response to banditry and looting on the part of corrupt police and their criminal affiliates, the young Emperor took military initiative and ordered those who hindered the implementation of the En'an Reorganization to be actively punished. Opinions on the Ronoto, known as the eminent radical organization, were quite polarized. More affluent people and even fellow socialists regarded it as a gang of soldiers-turned-bandits and uppity, uncultured proletarians. However, they displayed a unique sort of solidarity with the earthquake survivors and protected them from the corrupt police and looters. This was made known throughout Japan and improved their image greatly. The En'an Emperor officially removed them from the list of banned organizations and they were able to participate in elections. This gesture of goodwill strengthened the more moderate faction in the party. The rehabilitation of the Ronoto was strongly opposed by conservative segments of society. As the 1924 elections were underway, the Ronoto's moderate candidate was murdered by right-wing thugs. Simultaneously, a reactionary general blockaded the residence of the En'an Emperor and prevented him from leaving, with the excuse that he be in danger as well. The En'an Revolution The Election Incident prompted an uproar and a series of riots. After some time, units of the army sympathetic to the Ronoto attacked first the general who had imprisoned the Emperor and then other enemies. For a couple weeks, chaos reigned as leftist troops marched through cities and countryside killing and arresting "reactionaries" and gathering any support they could find, mostly from the working poor. In Korea, a spontaneous and badly-organized revolt was crushed. Tokyo was controlled by leftist forces and became the location of the Ronoto's headquarters. Occupying Tokyo and various government halls, the Ronoto, now clearly led by uncompromising radicals, declared the planned elections to be null and void and hastily held their own "people's election", winning 90% of the vote. They released the En'an Emperor on the condition that he was to give up his power and claim to divinity, and recognize the "people's election". The 22-year old Tenno could do nothing but comply with these demands. He would continue to reign for another sixty years until his death in 1984. While the Soviet Revolution received some support from the West, due to Germany's new image as a hegemony threatening dominion over the European continent, the radical movement in Japan was seen as an abomination. Granted, the En'an socialists were also far more conscious and overt about the stated aims and anti-Western flavor of their ideology. Foreigners were largely excluded from the country, unless they were Russian or Chinese. The Anglo-Japanese alliance was terminated at the request of both parties. Japanese businessmen deemed public enemies fled the country and told sensational tales of revolutionary brutality. It seemed that a new sakoku or "closed nation" period was in the works. However, relations with Russia and the Federal Chinese, particularly with the latter, were warm. Though the USSR kept Yuan Shikai's, then Yuan Kewen's NROC as something of a client state, the Japanese government deigned to keep quiet about this annoyance. This was because the Japanese economy was now largely dependent on the good graces of the Soviet and Russian authorities. Aside from Siberian raw materials that fed Japanese production, large numbers of Japanese, barred from Manchuria, settled in the Russian Far East. They would come to form a multi-million diaspora.[/QUOTE] |
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2013-08-29, 17:00
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Link #251 |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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This is the first of three parts in a 4000-word update. It will provide an in-depth look at what Grand Marshall Yuan Kewen and his regime are doing to Manchuria.
___________________________________ BEIYANG MANCHURIA 1919-1939  Flag of the National Republic of China, adopted in 1922. Beginnings Since the late 1800s, many Han Chinese had looked to Manchuria (the Northeast) as a new frontier. By the time of the Four Uprisings and the rise of the Two Chinas, the Han far outnumbered the native Manchurians. Farmers and workers from northern and central China, in particular provinces such as Henan, Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, and Anhui, were flooding the vast, empty landscape. As warlords looked to make their power permanent, the entire country was rife with banditry and criminal activity. Manchuria was no exception. The extreme poverty faced by migrant men with dim hopes in life often made them turn to a life of violence. After the end of the Qing and throughout the 1910s, countless bandit gangs had formed in the Northeast, taking advantage of the loss of government. Yuan Shikai's establishment of the NROC legitimatized his Beiyang Army's hold over Beijing and the Northeast. The civil legislation was in fact staffed entirely by Beiyang officers and minor toadies, while the Beiyang high command was vested with actual power and merely made use of the legislature as its mouthpiece. The Beiyang regime set about instituting order across the Northeast. This was done not by upholding laws, but for the most part through military subjugation. Yuan's divisions fell upon and destroyed minor warlords while co-opting the larger ones, such as the army of Zhang Zuolin. If the armed elements of a region pledged their support to the Beiyang troops, that region could hope to receive gifts in the form of the loot plundered from restive ones. In the Anti-Restoration War, for instance, seized goods from Beijing and its environs were hauled off to the Northeast and used as bonus payment for turned bandit and warlord soldiers. By the time of Yuan Shikai's death in 1919, the Beiyang regime had proven itself to be little more than a vast warlord army masquerading as a government. Using violence and bribery to keep other armed groups from challenging its rule while pandering to Western investors, it was disliked by nationalist and leftist intellectuals. These voices, however ardent, were crushed under the boots and bayonets of illiterate fighting men, and the regime remained firmly in place. The rise of Yuan Kewen would establish the sword as mightier than the pen. And before long, it was to be found also that the sword could be used to write in blood. An Army With a Country Yuan's lifelong fascination with the military began early on in his childhood. Having witnessed the destruction wrought by the 8-Nation Alliance in Beijing during the Boxer War and lost his elder brother, Keding, to the conflict, the 11-year-old Kewen was said to have been possessed - part awed, part traumatized - by the sounds of artillery and marching. His father, appalled at the loss of his firstborn, devoted to Kewen a newfound attentiveness. Ever since the foundation of the NROC, Yuan Shikai had intended for his second son to succeed him, and so Kewen was educated and prepared expressly for leadership. He mastered Russian, and instead of a conventional education, was made to command units of increasing size and importance. By 1919, he was a division commander. Even if imbued with an inevitable arrogance, Kewen was a charismatic figure. In his twenties, he had formed his own clique of officer peers - rising Beiyang soldiers, former bandits, and patriotic college graduates looking to serve their country. His status also granted him an audience with numerous foreign statesmen and industrialists. The extensive contacts he landed in this period would prove instrumental in his future political and military career immediately after his father's death. Following the defeat of the Old Officer's Conspiracy in 1920 and the purge of the Beiyang commanders, a total rearrangement of authority had taken place. Senior generals who played direct roles in the conspiracy had been executed, while lesser offenders were sidelined to the command of rural militias. Yuan filled the empty ranks with his peers, most of whom were between the ages of thirty and forty, and Yuan himself was only 31 at the time of his attempted assassination. In a society that afforded such respect and authority to the elderly, he was anxious to build a name for himself and his military. With virtually all of the senior Beiyang officers dead, jailed, or sent to minor posts, the prestige of the army was in peril, to say nothing of the mess that was now the high command. At a 1922 meeting with Guo Songling, Feng Yuxiang, Tong Lin'ge, Zhang Xueliang, and other military peers, Yuan presented his proposals for the future of the military. In order to secure the country, he stated, it was not enough to simply have the means to defeat external enemies. Instead, where adversaries could just as easily sprout up as "a disease of the internal organs" (a reference to Zhang Zuolin's conspiracy), it would be necessary to unite the entire people with a proper attitude towards not just authority, but specifically the military. The centuries-old social and cultural perception of soldiers as little more than bandits would have to change. The idiom "good men do not make soldiers" was to be stamped out. Chinese would have to realize that the country was at war, and that those who did not fight for their country and commander could not be good men. This led to Yuan's stated policy of "All Folk to Arms" (全民皆兵), introduced in 1924 after the abortive "Southern Expedition". Actually bringing "All Folk to Arms" was, however, easier said than done. Even the professional Beiyang divisions had trouble finding the resources to equip itself properly, to speak nothing of the millions of young men and boys were put into militia service in the years 1924-26, ostensibly on a voluntary basis. The truth was laughable. Beiyang personnel scoured the factories and countryside for candidates between the ages of 12 and 30, who were "encouraged" to sign documents, mobilized into units, gathered for some ceremonies, and then sent home and into "reserve". Even uniforms could not be immediately delivered in most cases, and a militiaman's weapon, if he had one, was likely to be nothing more than a beheading knife, a scythe, or just an iron pipe. "Training" tended to consist of group workouts and hikes conducted once or twice a week. Yuan was aware that his new multi-million-man "army" was anything but, and had no intention of actually sending the masses into combat. For the present, his goal was psychological. Making the warrior's occupation a universal one, even if in name only, would effect a cultural shift, and belittling the soldiery would become impossible. In the years of recruitment, the self-titled "Grand Marshall" Yuan and other top generals attended numerous military rallies composed of tends of thousands of recruits, where they gave polemic-filled speeches. The late Yuan Shikai was a disciplined visionary whose surviving second son would see his work through to the end; the old officers were in the same league as the "bandit Federation" that was supposedly condoning warlordism and destroying China's traditional foundations to allow for conquest by foreign powers; the soldiers of the Beiyang Army were heroes who would draw upon the people's strength and labor to march all the way to smash the federalists at Canton. The now-exalted Beiyang troops found themselves in a new social class. Aside from public respect, they also received pay raises, property for their families, and easy access to advantageous civilian positions upon completion of their terms. In 1926, higher education (after 8th grade) was barred to anyone not in service or selected to serve with Beiyang formations. Unlike the ubiquitous "Republican Guard" (the name given to the militias), getting into the Beiyang Army was no easy task. Applicants had to first prove their loyalty and then either martial or intellectual merit. Interestingly, many of the skilled belonged to the "intellectual" category, due to Beiyang service being a requisite for high school or college education. This system, in place until 1930, would lead to the creation of a rather "scholarly" force. Since Yuan had originally planned for parts of the Republican Guard to be brought up to Beiyang standards, by 1930 there was an overabundance of new officers trained for this purpose. In practice, however, like the militiamen they were intended to teach, their status as soldiers was mostly for show. But even if not soldiers in the conventional sense, they would enter battle on a different front. Part 2 of Manchuria 1919-1939, "The Military of Industry", will be up soon. |
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2013-08-30, 13:02
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Link #252 |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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The Military of Industry
Upon gradation, the excess of Beiyang officers were sent to "discipline" Guard units. As noted above, Yuan knew exactly how effective they would be as soldiers, so many formations were re-designated as "Republican Guard engineering units", which was in fact a euphemism for "state labor details. The millions of "soldiers" now set off to "combat" in the fields and factories from whence they had come. All that had changed was their management and temperament. This was an intentional part of Yuan's plan to have "the nation guided by the gun". By 1930, collaboration between generals and industrialists was so universal that the two were often indistinguishable. The aforementioned "engineering units", led by Beiyang officers, slowly developed into de facto corporations that engaged in all sorts of industrial endeavors. Legitimate private businesses were co-opted or forced to give up their assets when faced with sudden visits from squads of army "employees". Wielding the authority of the Republic in their grey fatigues and jackboots, they "mobilized" many a shop or factory for the sake of "national defense". Inside the military-industrial framework, Yuan and his cohorts instituted a comprehensive legal system to regulate economic activity, thus maintaining a satisfactory level of discipline. Military officers risked court-martial if they engaged directly in illicit behavior. Beyond the military, however, the powerless Legislature allowed civil affairs to run amok. Economic crime (and crime in general) was hardly dealt with except by military units, if even then. Drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and slavery were all widespread to some extent, and, if run by civilians, could not be easily prosecuted unless deemed a "military threat". Though officers themselves could not safely break the military laws, they could and did establish contacts with civilian entrepreneurs to make a profit on the side by turning a blind eye to the latter's business for a share of the earnings. Foreigners in particular loved the environment because merely paying off the relevant officers would grant them access to and protection in the Manchurian free-for-all. The higher echelons of the Beiyang military regime loved foreigners; more specifically, they were attracted to their technology and coffers. Higher officers made a point of purchasing expensive German automobiles, constructing Western-style houses and even castles, dining on exquisite French cuisine, bedding Russian emigre women, and flying in American airplanes. There was in particular a special relationship to be had with Russia, most "accessible" of the Western nations. In some cases, entire White divisions had escaped into Manchuria and given up their weapons, or were even directly incorporated into the Republican Army. Ever since the Russian Revolution, the influx of White migrants fleeing the Soviet system had resulted in the arrival of a significant pool of skilled labor as well as wealthy individuals. Their know-how and financial wherewithal was attractive to the resident militarists, perhaps most of all Grand Marshall Yuan himself, who saw the future as being one dominated by industry and technology. Relations with the new Soviet Union were cordial. Yuan and his diplomats were careful not to disturb existing Russian influences in the region, such as control of the Chinese Eastern Railway or the naval base at Dalny (Dalian), which was turned over to the Soviets even before their final triumph in Siberia. 1911 War-era arms and artillery were sold dirt-cheap to the Beiyang Army through the 1920s as the Soviets modernized their own troops. Further to the west, the German Reich had begun to look into opportunities to expand its influence around the globe. Ever since 1900, German Qingdao served as a channel for Sino-German negotiations and business. Not a traditional colonial power, they lacked the military projection to hold on to anything beyond a few African possessions. Manchuria with its fast-growing population and lack of heavy regulation looked like a good area for German industrialists to develop by husbanding the latest European methods with expendable labor. Siemens laid the vestiges of an electrical infrastructure, including power stations, Krupp built steel works and later armaments factories, the newly-founded Daimler-Benz supplied Beiyang officers and government officials with their cars, and Henschel brought in improved locomotives and the new and mobile armored weapon, the ram. The ram, known formally as just "armor", was originally a Russian development of the War of 1911, called the vezdekhodnyye boyevoy poyezd, meaning "all-terrain combat train". The German responded with their own Panzer, and Western observers called the weapons "rams", as they rumbled undeterred by virtually all fire across the front lines. The initial Russian design was a heavily-armed and armored, treaded locomotive with a powerful diesel engine. These behemoths equipped multiple cannons and had a dozen or more operators. Both sides deployed and improved on these war machines throughout and after the conflict. To Marshall Yuan, the ram was a perfect vision of what the wars of the future would look like. While it would be a long time Before China could produce her own such weapons, he saw to it that a number of rams be added to the Beiyang Army and given their own special unit. Additionally, he made plans for a Chinese tractor plant, which would be operational in the late 30s and built with German help. The industry would prove instrumental in both mechanizing Manchurian agriculture and laying the groundwork for indigenously-produced Chinese armor. Aircraft was another area given special attention. Originally used for the rapid transport and prestige of officials and officers, their military usefulness was by no means overlooked. Even by 1916 the elder Yuan had procured several aircraft for the exclusive use of the Beiyang Army. The program was expanded considerably in the early 30s as generals like Zhang Xueliang solicited European and American firms for their planes. While impressive, the Beiyang "air fleet" was not immediately useful except in limited reconnaissance and support roles until the 1940s. The first Chinese-built interceptors would be deployed in 1944, yet even then they would prove lackluster. The Republic's army was an army of laborers and businessmen. For the most part, the average soldiers were more interested in laying railroad tracks and making ends meet, just as they would as civilians, than training or conquest. In 1935, the richest Chinese were either soldiers, criminals, or both. The only legitimate way to success, even in civilian life, was to become a Beiyang officer. The lives of criminals were uncertain and dangerous, while once in the army, one had an ordered system to rely upon. The industrialization of Manchuria under the guidance of military business was looked upon with sad, cynical mockery. Meiji Japan, it was commonly said, had "enriched the country and strengthened the soldiers" (富國強兵), while Yuan and his underlings were "enriching the soldiers and bankrupting the country" (富兵貧國). This overall state of affairs established the soldier, in particular the Beiyang officer, as the arbiter of order and authority. Every family wanted their sons to either get into the Beiyang divisions or build up amiable relations with their superior officers. A family or business with few military connections was likely to be victimized - their property seized, their sons sent to labor details, and their daughters abducted and sold as concubines or to brothels, the last being in part a result of Manchuria's unequal male-female population ratio. Officers and wealthy entrepreneurs made a point of flaunting their fortune by showcasing their collections of women at parties and banquets, while disenfranchised workers and Guardsmen went unmarried. The human trafficking business skyrocketed. Traffickers made deals all over China and beyond, in places like Siberia and Korea to procure girls and young women for slavery. This barbaric practice would sadly continue, largely unchecked, for the next generation. The plight faced by hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of victims would only be acknowledged after the Mainland war had been brought to an end. To be continued in: Part 3 of Manchuria 1919-1939, "Writing in Blood" |
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2013-08-30, 18:48
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Link #253 |
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思想工作
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 32
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Last part of the Manchuria arc.
________________________________ Writing in Blood In the first twenty years of Yuan Kewen's rule, North Chinese society and culture experienced changes just as great as those wrought upon its political and economic scene. For starters, the Manchu natives faced a massive identity crisis as their centuries-old empire fell apart around them and as the Han Chinese settled their ancestral lands. The Qing court had been gradually sinicized over the years, but now, with the end of the dynasty, what did it mean to be Chinese? This issue was debated hotly across the entirety of the former empire and the Northeast was no exception. Zhang Xun's failed Restorationist movement showed that a return to the Qing was out of the question, yet much of the Manchu royalty were still possessed of great wealth and influence. In the seven years after the 1912 founding of the National Republic, they generally sided with Yuan Shikai, whose weak hold on political power disposed him to treating the former oppressors of the Han with leniency in exchange for much-needed support. Yuan himself believed in a unified China under his control, a goal that necessitated a modernized, post-imperial conception of the Chinese nation. As has been explained, the Beiyang Regime under Marshall Yuan Kewen mobilized millions of Manchurian youth under a common banner, and sought to wield military and political power over them through the use of officers, who in turn had, until 1930, exclusive access to conventional higher education. By incorporating as many young men as possible into the military system, even if only nominally, it was hoped that the nuclei of dissent would be nipped in the bud. But the situation was more complicated. The existence of corruption, increasing by rank and effectively institutional in nature, was obvious to just about anyone. Young men in the engineering units soon understood themselves not be soldiers, but workers and thugs in uniform. For the vast majority of them, merely being in the military would not grant them entrance to high school or university. The vaunted privilege of entering the Beiyang divisions was, quite frankly, only available to a fraction of the millions of Republican Guards. For many, distrust of the Beiyang system led them to search elsewhere for solutions. One such "elsewhere", as irony would have it, lay with the foreign missionaries. Since the Opium wars, the Chinese governments had been forced to honor agreements with the Western powers that allowed those spreading the Gospel to proselytize and operate as they wished. Though it was not their preference, both Yuans continued to abide by the old treaties. By 1922, missionaries of virtually all European nations, as well as Canada and the US were active in Manchurian cities and villages. Besides spreading their faith, the missionaries also brought education and some limited technology with them. They opened schools for the poor and often aided those in need, much more than the Beiyang regime or the Republicans would or could. Christianity became a popular faith among the poor, especially farmers and Republican Guards stationed in rural areas to do hard labor. Marshall Yuan recognized the danger and tried to take steps to confine the missionaries to large towns and cities, but in practice this was difficult as spreading the Gospel could be done through word of mouth. The white missionaries found that emphasizing the liberal, egalitarian aspects of Christ made the religion far more appealing than if they simply preached religious doctrine, and at the same time, the destitute and illiterate peasants took the themes of universal salvation and redemption to heart. The sight of these foreign benefactors who had seemingly come halfway around the world and learned their language in order to help find God, had a profound emotional effect. Everyone, rich or poor, healthy or ill, male or female, white or colored, could find their way to salvation through Christ. A 1939 estimate put the proportion of Christians in Manchuria at ten to fifteen percent, or several million. But Christ was not the only symbol of salvation that originated the West. The theories of Karl Marx, the specter of which had failed to take root in Europe but manifested in the form of state socialism in Russia and Japan, had by the 1910s made its way to the Middle Kingdom. In the 1920s historical materialism and revolutionary aspirations had become popular in schools and colleges all over the country, including Manchuria. Adherents of the ideology saw a rotten capitalist dog-eat-dog world around them, full of lies, inequality, injustice, and misery. Religion could only serve the corrupt interests of the ruling superstructure and keep the masses bound in ignorance and suffering, cheated forever out of their fair share in life. This was particularly the case in Manchuria, where capitalist development was in many cases literally driven at gunpoint. Like Christianity, Marxism gained a following in the Northeast. However, its spread was seen much more negatively by the authorities due to its popularity among the educated population (including those to be Beiyang officers) and its specific political agenda of violent revolution. These fears were substantiated when radical members of the Northeast Chinese Communist Party (NCCP, founded in 1924) were found to have allied with bandits in Heilongjiang. Along with several thousand deserters from the Republican Guard, a number of college-educated Beiyang officers had joined their ranks. One of their chief leaders was the civilian Li Dazhao, a Communist from Hebei who had studied in Beijing and emigrated to Manchuria during the Anti-Restorationist War. Li led a cadre of a few dozen young co-ideologues recruited from various schools. Using weapons and supplies stolen from Beiyang depots, they waged sporadic warfare against the regime for a few years until 1928. At first, they were regarded as a minor concern, until a platoon of their fighters launched an attack on a foreign factory in Jilin city. Yuan dispatched Colonel Sheng Shicai from Liaoning and his elite brigade that had fought in Beijing ten years prior to crush the NCCP. Unlike many of his generation of officers, Sheng displayed natural leadership skill in deftly clearing out towns and villages where the communists made their bases by making use of local Republican Guards and informers to corner the Reds, and then surrounding and destroying them directly. Everyone who had participated in the revolt, about six thousand in all, were either killed in battle or beheaded. Li Dazhao barely escaped with his closest "commanders" to Japanese-controlled Korea, where they continued to run the NCCP until 1937 when it merged with Mao Zedong's and Zhang Jingyao's CCP. Li himself returned to China, making the fateful decision to join the Wang Jingwei faction. He would not live to see the birth of the People's Republic, however, as he, along with Wang and many others, would be violently criticized and purged in the 1940s. It was perhaps in apt fashion that Li would be reunited with the Manchurian comrades he had left back on the frozen Manchurian plains nearly two decades prior: beheading by machete. As communist idealism was gunned down in rural Heilongjiang, Manchurian society continued to pull the cart of industrialism forward with bleeding feet. By the early 1930s, the poor stayed poor, the rich continued to profit, the soldiers abused the poor in hopes of themselves becoming rich, and the scholarly gradually resigned themselves to study the philosophy of machine guns and bank accounts. Opium addiction, a favorite subject of the new vernacular novelists, was still widespread among all except the combat ranks of the Beiyang and the clergy. In the dark, soot-filled, gang-ruled cities, there remained these two possibilities open to all: warfare or worship. It is the legacy of Grand Marshall Yuan to have crafted a combination of both and etched it into the modern Chinese consciousness. While the actual state of Manchurian society was a grim world of crime and oppression, the citizens of the National Republic had begun to collectively rediscover something that their people had lost in the Opium and Boxer Wars: pride. Even as their families shivered in the cold or labored for unforgiving capitalist masters, all soldiers - from the boys in the Republican Guard wearing oversized feldgrau greatcoats to the solid warriors of the Beiyang crack divisions - went to their training and assignments to learn not only how to fight and work, but to love their army -and hence their country, unconditionally. A 1927 law made it mandatory for all students to take at least one "Nationalism" course a year starting in middle school; in 1929, all educational staff and students were assigned "instructional officers" who, as their title implied, filled the minds of the young with martial attitudes while reminding the teachers of their place in the new society. Many of the instructional officers, chosen for charisma, were themselves barely adults. As "older brothers", they often formed fraternal bonds with the students to whom they were responsible. Under the guidance of the instructional officers, it became acceptable to criticize teachers for not being patriotic enough or respecting "defenders of the country", indeed a revolutionary step considering the degree to which educators commanded respect in China's history. This included any attempt to pass on pacifistic or socialist doctrines. the teachers who offended would "be corrected" and often be confronted by the instructional officers. Middle-aged teachers looked on helplessly as their pupils became the protégés of hotheaded young soldiers who trained not their marksmanship but their tongues. Militarist-nationalist indoctrination was pushed not only in schools, but all around the public sphere. "Propaganda divisions" of the Republican Guards of were active in putting up posters, holding group "nationalist study" sessions, and spontaneously forming choirs to sing patriotic songs in crowded areas. They would visit commercial, government, and even religious establishments to "kindle the patriotic sentiments" of the people there. Artists were given substantial incentive to write novels, draw lianhuanhua comics, and produce music, plays, and films that glorified the army and country. Heroes of China's past, from the legendary Xia Dynasty up to the Boxer War, were played up and put in exorbitantly martial roles. One illustrated children's book even depicted Confucius in armor and named him as "General Kong". The "proper" role of women in early Republican China remained more or less in line with conservative standards, something that stood in marked contrast to the feminist tendencies of metropolitan areas in the Federation. Females were expected to remain chaste until marriage - ironically, something that not all women could do even if they wanted to, given the pervasiveness of involuntary prostitution and concubinage - and receive only limited education. They were to stay loyal to their soldier husbands and raise many sons for the inevitable defeat of the Federation. On the other hand, however, Marshall Yuan stressed the importance of ensuring the literacy of all Chinese regardless of gender, and took steps to improve female primary school attendance rates, at least in urban areas. He himself expressed a personal disdain for "stupid women" and refused the company of illiterate concubines, deferring them to his underlings. The display of China's might culminated in a grand parade held annually in Fengtian since 1925, military capital of the National Republic. A huge avenue, called the Great North China Square, was created and paved specifically for the event in Shenhe district, passing the Beiyang Army Headquarters* and the Military Supreme Court. Every year, tens to hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, mostly from the Republican Guard, would march through the Avenue, which was over twice as wide as the Champs Elysees and nearly as long. Multiple perpendicularly-oriented streets with auspicious name led to the Square, and would be used by different units to get there. Once all the civilian and Republican Guard units were assembled and the officers at their observatories, a Beiyang division would be marched through the Square to lead the procession. When this concluded, a ceremony of various rites would be performed before official speeches and statements (which was sure to include the presence of at least one ministerial general**) lasting a few hours. Then celebrations would take place, which would end the affair. On of the eve of the First Japanese Intervention, Marshall Yuan's military society had proven a huge political success, bringing much of the people, economy, and ideology into unison and hence under his direct influence. That said, however, with the exception of the Beiyang divisions, Yuan's army was not ready for war. It could march, it could sing, it could work, it could even turn a profit, but it could not fight. By and large, soldiers had neither weapons nor a tested will to fight, despite their nationalist fervor. Likewise, generals and officers were more suited to the business, political, or criminal worlds, than the army. Despite a superficial fascination with cutting-edge motorized weaponry and innovative doctrines, the political and entrepreneurial nature of the Beiyang regime made the true institution of effective operational technique impossible above the divisional level. It is a common criticism made by many modern amateurs that Marshall Yuan, even in the Federation's darkest hours, when it was threatened with collapse by the Yunnan regime and rebelling generals, did not "do the right thing" by taking advantage of the chaos to unify China thirty years prior to the historical date. The answer to this is simple: He simply lacked the means. Yuan's army, good only for parades and labor, was a paper tiger, to become pulp if soaked in water or ashes if burnt with fire. *= this would have been the site of Zhang Zuolin's Mansion **= "Ministerial general" refers to any one of the several Beiyang generals holding a post in the Ministry of Defense ------------------------------------------- After this, I'll probably be doing a piece on weapons and military stuff in general between 1919 and 1936 so as to give a better view of how the war is being fought. Last edited by LeoXiao; 2013-08-30 at 19:56. |
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2013-08-30, 22:45
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Link #258 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: قلوب المؤمنين
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Why do I doubt Che will fare nearly as well there as he'd done elsewhere in real world ? Brazil is a much bigger beast. It is much stronger and has a firmly established system of stability maintainance, where the army rules over and decides what regime can govern. Didn't the countries he stirred troubles in were all small-to-medium size with vulnerable stability ?
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