Editing Taiping Rebellion (section)

== Military ==
[[File:Heavenly king's throne.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The Heavenly King's throne in Nanjing]]
The rebels used brilliant unorthodox strategies that nearly toppled the dynasty but inspired it to adopt what one historian calls "the most significant military experimentation since the seventeenth century."{{sfnp|Andrade|2016|pp=275–277}} The Taiping army was the rebellion's key strength. It was marked by a high level of discipline and fanaticism.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} They typically wore a uniform of red jackets with blue trousers, and grew their hair long so in China they were nicknamed "long hair". In the beginning of the rebellion, the large numbers of women serving in the Taiping army also distinguished it from other 19th-century armies. However, after 1853 there ceased being many women in the Taiping army. [[Hong Xuanjiao]], [[Su Sanniang]] and [[Qiu Ersao]] are examples of women who became leaders of the Taiping army's female soldiers.

Combat was always bloody and extremely brutal, with little artillery but huge forces equipped with small arms. Both armies would attempt to push each other off of the battlefield, and though casualties were high, few battles were decisively won. The Taiping army's main strategy of conquest was to take major cities, consolidate their hold on the cities, then march out into the surrounding countryside to recruit local farmers and battle government forces.

Estimates of the size of the Taiping army are around 500,000 soldiers in 1852.{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=4}} The army's organization was allegedly inspired by that of the Qin dynasty. Each army corps consisted of roughly 13,000 men. These corps were placed into armies of varying sizes. In addition to the main Taiping forces organised along the above lines, there were also thousands of pro-Taiping groups fielding their own forces of irregulars.

The rebels were relatively well equipped with modern weapons. They were not supported by foreign governments, but they bought modern munitions—including firearms, artillery, and ammunition—from foreign suppliers. The rebels were buying weapons by 1853.{{sfnp|Spence|1996|loc=chapter 16}} Munitions—partially sourced from Western manufacturers and military stores—were smuggled into China, mainly by the English and Americans. An April 1862 shipment from an American dealer "well known for their dealings with rebels" included 2,783 (percussion cap) muskets, 66 carbines, 4 rifles, and 895 field artillery guns; the dealer carried passports signed by the Loyal King.{{sfnp|Spence|1996|loc=chapter 21}}

The rebels also manufactured weapons, and imported manufacturing equipment. In the summer of 1862, a Western observer noted that rebel factories in Nanjing were producing superior guns—including heavy cannon—than the Qing. The rebels augmented their modern arsenal with captured equipment.{{sfnp|Spence|1996|loc=chapter 21}} Just before his execution, Taiping Loyal King [[Li Xiucheng]] advised the Qing to buy, and to learn how to replicate, the best foreign cannon and gun carriages to prepare for war with foreign powers.{{sfnp|Spence|1996|loc=chapter 22}}

As early as 1853, foreigners from various countries joined the rebels in combat and administrative roles, and were in a position to observe the Taiping in battle. The rebels were courageous under fire, erected defensive works quickly, and used mobile pontoon bridges. One tactic was to ring a Qing emplacement in fire and kill the fleeing Qing troops as they emerged individually.{{sfnp|Spence|1996|loc=chapter 16}}

There was also a small Taiping Navy, composed of captured boats, that operated along the Yangtze and its tributaries. Among the Navy's commanders was the Hang king [[Tang Zhengcai]].

=== Demographics ===
{{See also|Ethnic minorities in China|List of ethnic groups in China}}
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2013}}
[[File:Regaining the Provincial City Anqing2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Retaking the provincial city of [[Anqing]]]]

Ethnically, the Taiping army was at the outset formed largely from these groups: the [[Hakka]], a [[Han Chinese]] subgroup; the [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]], local residents of [[Guangdong]]; and the [[Zhuang people|Zhuang]] (a non-Han ethnic group). It is no coincidence that Hong Xiuquan and the other Taiping royals were Hakka.

As a Han subgroup, the Hakka were frequently marginalised economically and politically, having migrated to the regions which their descendants presently inhabit only after other Han groups were already established there. For example, when the Hakka settled in Guangdong and parts of [[Guangxi]], [[Yue Chinese]] speakers were already the dominant regional Han group there and they had been so for some time, just as speakers of various dialects of [[Min Chinese|Min]] are locally dominant in [[Fujian]] province.

The Hakka settled throughout southern China and beyond, but as latecomers they generally had to establish their communities on rugged, less fertile land scattered on the fringes of the local majority group's settlements. As their name ("guest households") suggests, the Hakka were generally treated as migrant newcomers, and often subjected to hostility and derision from the local majority Han populations. Consequently, the Hakka, to a greater extent than other Han Chinese, have been historically associated with popular unrest and rebellion.

[[File:Regaining Jinling.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The retaking of [[Nanjing]] by Qing troops]]

The other significant ethnic group in the Taiping army was the [[Zhuang people|Zhuang]], an indigenous people of [[Tai peoples|Tai]] origin and China's largest non-Han ethnic minority group. Over the centuries, Zhuang communities had been adopting Han Chinese culture. This was possible because Han culture in the region accommodates a great deal of linguistic diversity, so the Zhuang could be absorbed as if the [[Zhuang language]] were just another Han Chinese dialect, which it is not. Because Zhuang communities were integrating with the Han at different rates, a certain amount of friction between the Han and the Zhuang was inevitable, with Zhuang unrest leading to armed uprisings on occasion.<ref name="Ramsey">{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Robert S. |title=The Languages of China |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-691-06694-9 |pages=167, 232–236}}</ref>

=== Social structure ===
Socially and economically, the Taiping rebels came almost exclusively from the lowest classes. Many of the southern Taiping troops were former miners, especially those coming from the Zhuang. Very few Taiping rebels, even in the leadership caste, came from the imperial bureaucracy. Almost none were landlords and in occupied territories landlords were often executed.

=== Qing forces ===
{{Main|Military of the Qing dynasty}}
[[File:Regaining the Provincial Capital of Ruizhou.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Qing forces retaking [[Run Prefecture]]]]

Opposing the rebellion was an imperial army with over a million regulars and unknown thousands of regional militias and foreign mercenaries operating in support. Among the imperial forces was the elite [[Ever Victorious Army]], consisting of Chinese soldiers led by a Western officer corps (see [[Frederick Townsend Ward]] and [[Charles George Gordon|Charles Gordon]]) and supplied by European [[arms companies]] like Willoughbe & Ponsonby.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chappell |first=Jonathan |year=2018 |title=Some Corner of a Chinese Field: The politics of remembering foreign veterans of the Taiping civil war |journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]] |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X16000986|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/124690/2/13533187_Chappell_Corner_of_a_Chinese_Field_Accepted.pdf }}</ref>

A particularly famous imperial force was [[Zeng Guofan]]'s [[Xiang Army]]. [[Zuo Zongtang]] from [[Hunan]] province was another important Qing general who contributed in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion. Where the armies under the control of dynasty itself were unable to defeat the Taiping, these gentry-led [[Yong Ying]] armies were able to succeed.{{sfnp|Michael|1966|p={{page needed|date=April 2021}}}}

Although keeping accurate records was something imperial China traditionally did very well, the decentralized nature of the imperial war effort (relying on regional forces) and the fact that the war was a civil war and therefore very chaotic, meant that reliable figures are impossible to find. The destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also meant that the majority of any records it possessed were destroyed, the percentage of records said to have survived is around 10%.

Over the course of the conflict, around 90% of recruits to the Taiping side were killed or defected.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deng |first=Kent G. |title=China's Political Economy in Modern Times: Changes and Economic Consequences, 1800–2000 |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |series=Business & Economies}}</ref>

Aside from local militias, the organisation of the Qing army was:
* [[Eight Banners]] Army: 250,000 soldiers{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=11}}
* [[Green Standard Army]]: 611,200 soldiers in 1851{{sfnp|Heath|1994|pp=13–14}}
* [[Xiang Army]] (Hunan): 130,000 soldiers{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=16}}
* [[Huai Army]] (Anhui): 60,000–70,000 soldiers{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=16}}
* [[Chu Army]]: 40,000 soldiers in 1864{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=16}}
* [[Ever Victorious Army]]: 3,500–5,000 soldiers in 1862{{sfnp|Heath|1994|p=33}}