Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president from 1933 to 1945. He greatly expanded presidential authority, together with his policies infuriated conservatives who saw them every bit evidence of a deeper conspiracy to increment presidential ability together with undermine the Constitution.

His domestic policy (the “New Deal”) dramatically increased federal regime ability inwards an endeavor to halt the Great Depression, together with his unusual policy sought cooperation amongst Stalin inwards social club to deter together with eventually defeat fascist aggression.

Conservatives constructed numerous conspiracy theories approximately these policies, since they regarded the New Deal every bit despotic together with unconstitutional, together with cooperation amongst Stalin every bit naïve or treasonous. Conspiracy theorizing nearly FDR crested inwards the 1950s, although attacks on the New Deal together with his unusual policy move on fifty-fifty today.


Conspiracy theories were possibly inevitable given FDR’s leadership style: subtle, devious, together with disingenuous, he told unlike people unlike things, together with hated having his discussions documented. The historical tape is thence unclear plenty to permit widely divergent interpretations, including views of FDR every bit the primary manipulator.

FDR was born inwards 1882 together with educated at Groton, Harvard, together with Columbia. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 lifelong Democrat, FDR entered New York State’s senate inwards 1910. Appointed assistant secretarial assistant of the navy nether President Wilson, FDR favored U.S. interest inwards World War I together with the League of Nations. FDR ran for vice-president inwards 1920, when the Republicans won a crushing victory.

Polio permanently paralyzed his legs inwards 1921, simply undaunted, he spent the 1920s involved inwards internationalist causes together with Democratic politics. He became governor of New York inwards 1929, was elected president inwards 1932, together with was so reelected 3 times, together with died inwards Apr 1945.

In the 1930s, leftist conspiracy theorists feared that Wall Street financiers together with industrialists would sponsor a fascist coup. Some observers considered that Wall Street (or the Mafia) was behind the Feb 1933 assault that narrowly missed FDR together with mortally wounded Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, simply most considered the perpetrator, Giuseppe Zangara, a “lone nut.”

Communist journalist John L. Spivak claimed that inwards 1934 Wall Street plotted to supervene upon FDR amongst a fascist dictatorship nether marine full general Smedley Butler. The plot collapsed when Butler betrayed the cabal to Congress—though when forced to testify, the alleged conspirators naturally denied Butler’s accusations. Spivak’s argument that “Jewish finance” was behind the Butler affair—and was financing Hitler—casts considerable dubiety on the credibility of his assertions.

Some leftists held that Wall Street was behind the far-right Father Charles Coughlin, the Liberty League, together with a supposed coup plot past times General Douglas MacArthur. Many Marxists, however, considered Wall Street opposition to FDR a sham. Marxists viewed FDR every bit Wall Street’s lackey, since the New Deal co-opted liberalism, defused revolutionary discontent, together with “saved capitalism” for Wall Street.

Conservatives believed that the New Deal was a socialist conspiracy to “collectivize America” together with tighten federal command of the economy, education, together with the individual. Ever since the 1930s, moderates together with extremists possess got regarded the New Deal every bit the root of pernicious “big government.” Extremists, however, considered that the Soviets together with their traitors within the U.S. regime excessively influenced FDR’s policies.

In their view, FDR was either a naïve dupe (or a willing tool) of communism. The John Birch Society believed FDR was the animate beingness of the “Insiders,” a grouping of financiers who command the USA through front end organizations similar the Federal Reserve together with Council on Foreign Relations. The Insiders wanted to cooperate amongst the Soviet Union to practice a one-world government, together with FDR supposedly aided the Soviets to advance this goal.

In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy agitated against an “immense” Communist conspiracy to infiltrate the Roosevelt together with Truman administrations. For decades thereafter, leftists successfully argued that McCarthy was a demagogue who manufactured evidence together with slandered innocents for partisan together with mutual frigidity state of war purposes. They viewed McCarthyism, non Communism, every bit the existent danger to the United States.

In the 1990s, however, declassified National Security Agency intercepts (“Venona”) together with KGB archives proved that hundreds of U.S. traitors nether Soviet command penetrated the Roosevelt administration. These traitors infiltrated the White House, State Department, Treasury Department, together with the Manhattan Project, amid other organizations.

Venona did non prove all of McCarthy’s claims, together with provided no back upward for his wild assertions that Roosevelt was a traitor or abetted communism, simply McCarthy’s many imitation charges obscured the truth together with greatly hindered anticommunism past times allowing existent traitors to portray themselves every bit innocent victims of McCarthyite hysteria. Venona proved that Communist traitors were a existent danger, together with that they transferred of import data together with technology scientific discipline to the Soviets.

The Soviets bought U.S. technology scientific discipline every bit good every bit stealing it. From 1929 to 1941, U.S. assistance dramatically enhanced Soviet industrial evolution together with completely modernized Soviet heavy industry. American technology scientific discipline together with preparation contributed to over two-thirds of the major Soviet industrial enterprises built inwards the 1930s.

Far-right theorists attributed this assistance to Communist infiltration of the U.S. government, to blind Wall Street greed, together with to the Insiders’ long-term programme for a one-world govern- ment. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 to a greater extent than compelling explanation was the evident necessitate to strengthen the Soviet Union against futurity High German together with Japanese aggression.

This necessitate became peculiarly urgent afterwards Nippon invaded Manchuria inwards 1931 together with Hitler assumed ability inwards 1933. From 1941 to 1945, Soviet arms produced inwards U.S.–modernized factories destroyed Hitler’s Wehrmacht, proving the wisdom of these technology scientific discipline transfers.

U.S. entry into World War II provided fertile footing for conspiracy theory. “Revisionists” argued that “establishment” histories were a whitewash that needed revision. They asserted that afterwards state of war erupted inwards Europe, Roosevelt sought pretexts for U.S. participation.

He subverted neutrality legislation, provided coin together with equipment to Britain, together with fought an undeclared state of war against High German submarines inwards the Atlantic. Revisionists claimed that when Hitler refused to convey the bait, FDR maneuvered Nippon into attacking Pearl Harbor.

In 1947, George Morgenstern wrote the “classic” Pearl Harbor move of revisionist history. Since then, other revisionists similar Stinnett possess got added details to his argument. Revisionists claimed that, inwards 1941, FDR embargoed Japanese fossil oil together with made intolerable diplomatic demands inwards social club to strength Nippon to attack.

FDR knew the Pacific Fleet was vulnerable inwards Pearl Harbor, together with knew—through decoded Japanese transmissions—where together with when Nippon would attack. FDR, the revisionists assert, withheld vital tidings from commanders inwards Honolulu, because an warning at that topographic point would campaign Nippon to cancel the attack.

Sacrificing the “tethered goat” at Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the state of war together with ensured wartime unity. Afterwards, Roosevelt successfully deflected blame for the assault from himself onto the commanders inwards Hawaii.

Revisionists were ignored or reviled inwards the 1940s together with 1950s, since they variety dubiety on the prevailing internationalist unusual policy consensus together with attacked FDR, a liberal icon. In 1962, Roberta Wohlstetter produced a counterargument to revisionism.

She believed that conflicting “signals” together with “noise” confused U.S. tidings analysts earlier Pearl Harbor (“signals” were evidence of Japanese intentions to assault Pearl Harbor, together with “noise” was evidence of Japanese plans to assault elsewhere).

Most historians accepted her thesis that America’s prewar tidings apparatus was also poorly organized to position the correct data together inwards fourth dimension to warn Honolulu. Unfortunately, many commentators focused non on the facts, simply on personally attacking the revisionists, scorning them every bit right-wing paranoid extremists who hated the New Deal.

Interestingly, inwards the 1970s, revisionism gained currency on the Left, afterwards Vietnam together with Watergate increased distrust of the government. Some leftists today convey the Pearl Harbor revisionist declaration because they believe that analogously, President Bush knew the September xi attacks were coming together with allow them happen.

FDR’s wartime diplomacy provided additional conspiracy fodder. Rightists argued that FDR “sold out” China together with Eastern Europe into “Communist enslavement” at the Feb 1945 Yalta Conference. Most rightists attributed this to the pernicious influence of traitors similar Alger Hiss together with Harry Hopkins, although some defendant FDR of deliberate appeasement.

This fixation on Yalta was odd, since FDR genuinely made the crucial decisions on Eastern Europe at the 1943 Teheran Conference. Historian Warren Kimball convincingly showed that FDR’s wartime diplomacy reflected non treason or naïveté, simply a consistent strategy designed to make a peaceful postwar footing order.

FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage, simply manifestly Stalin suspected assassination. Fletcher Prouty (the old Air Force officeholder together with Pentagon insider who was the model for Mr. X inwards Oliver Stone’s film, JFK) alleged that Stalin told FDR’s son, Elliott Roosevelt, that British tidings poisoned FDR.

Some rightists believed that Stalin poisoned FDR, although right-wing claims that FDR was Stalin’s dupe should Pb to the conclusion that Stalin had no motive to kill FDR.

Southern Ming

Southern Ming

When a frontier people, the Manchus, took over control of China in 1644, Ming dynasty loyalists fled to southern China, where they held out for many years; they became known as the Southern Ming.

Over several centuries, descendants of the Ming emperor surnamed Zhu (Chu) were settled throughout the Chinese empire. As a result when the last Ming emperor committed suicide there were members of the imperial family throughout China, especially in the south, and it was natural that anti-Manchu forces would use them to legitimize their rebellions.

The first of these was Zhu Yusong (Chu Yu-sung), better known as the Prince of Fu. He was descended from Emperor Wanli (Wan-Li) (r. 1573–1620); in fact all of the main claimants of the Southern Ming were descended from him. He assumed the title Emperor Hongguang (Hung-kuang) and reigned in Nanjing (Nanking).

The new Southern Ming emperor sent emissaries to the Manchus. He initially tried to conciliate the Manchus and offered them a subsidy if they would return to Manchuria. The offer was rejected by the Manchu regent, Prince Dorgon. In the ensuing fighting, the Southern Ming fared badly. Nanjing was captured by the Manchus and Hongguang was taken prisoner to Beijing (Peking), where he died in captivity in 1646.


Following the Manchu capture of Nanjing, several Ming princes were elevated to lead movements by loyalists against the Manchus, but none of them showed worthy qualities and their causes fizzled in quick succession, succumbing to campaigns led by both Manchus and Han Chinese generals who had defected to the Manchus.

The most notable example of Han Chinese participation in opposing the restoration of the Ming was Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei), the general guarding the easternmost pass of the Great Wall against the Manchus, who opened the way for the combined Manchu and his effort that defeated the rebel Li Zicheng (Le Tzu-ch’eng). General Wu commanded a force that drove Prince Guei (Kuei), a Ming pretender, into Burma and was rewarded with a princely title and granted Yunnan Province as his fief.

The most sustained resistance was led by Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Ch’eng-kung), better known as Koxing in the West (1624–62) who had a formidable force along the southern coast and along the Yangzi (Yangtze) River. After his defeat on mainland China, Zeng and his son retreated to Taiwan where they held out until 1683. The fall of Taiwan to Manchu forces ended the southern Ming resistance.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China

Most of the Great Wall of China that stands now was built in the second half of the 16th century during the Ming dynasty to connect the principal garrison points of the Ming defensive system against Mongol attacks.

Being northern nomads the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty had no need for the Great Wall as a defense barrier. In 1368, a Chinese rebel, Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Yuan-chang), ended the Yuan dynasty, established the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and gained complete control of both Inner and Outer Mongolia almost to Lake Baikal and to Hami in the northwest.

His son Yongle (Yung-lo), the third Ming emperor, was also a seasoned commander and personally led five campaigns into Mongolia in the early 15th century. Then he chose a defensive posture against the approximately 2 million Mongols whose homeland stretched from northwestern Manchuria, across Mongolia and modern Xinjiang (Sinkiang).


Mongols still nurtured the dream of rebuilding the empire of Genghis Khan but fortunately for the Ming, they were divided and often warred with one another. In a pattern that went back for 2,000 years, the sedentary Chinese and their nomadic northern neighbors had conducted official trade under the tributary system.

Thus Mongol chiefs were enrolled as Ming vassals, paid tribute, and received gifts in return. Mongols also sold livestock, especially horses, to the Chinese in exchange for Chinese raw materials and manufactured goods such as silks, tea, and metals.

After his conquests, Emperor Yongle (r. 1402–24) decided to withdraw to an inner line of defense and divided the northern border into the Nine Defense Areas, each guarded by a garrison along a line that eventually became the Great Wall. It stretched from Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan) or Mountain Sea Pass in the east to Jiayuguan (Chiayukuan) 1,500 miles to the west.

It was a gigantic project. Stone was used for the lower courses, facing, and gates, while rubble filled the core. Huge kilns fired large bricks where stone was not available; bricks were also used for the towers and crenellations.

Although not uniform throughout most of the wall measured 35 feet high and 25 feet wide at the top with towers every half a mile or so that reach to 50 feet. Where the land is mountainous the wall followed the crest of the ridges; it blocked roadways and damned rivers.

Since the Ming capital Beijing (Peking) was close to the wall (one day’s ride), more than a hundred passes or barriers with monumental gateways guarded strategic points along the eastern section to the sea at Sanhaiguan. At the western terminus at Jiayuguan (Chiayukuan) at the northwestern tip of Gansu (Kansu) province another formidable fortress marked the starting point of the Silk Road.

The Great Wall was Ming China’s inner line of defense against the nomadic Mongols in the north and wall building continued to the end of the dynasty. Yet it was not totally effective because the Mongols were able to breach or bypass it. Its building exhibited sophisticated technology and consumed vast resources.

Dorgon

Prince Dorgon

Dorgon was regent for his nephew between 1644 and 1650. He seized the opportunity offered by Ming general Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei) to lead the Manchu forces inside the Great Wall and together to defeat the rebels who had seized Beijing (Peking) that ended the Ming dynasty.

After defeating the rebels Dorgon placed his six-year-old nephew on the vacant throne. With this act, the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty was transformed from a frontier state to a national dynasty of all China.

When Manchu leader Abahai died in 1643, the Manchu clan leaders assembled to elect a new ruler among his sons. Dorgon, Abahai’s younger brother and the most able among the princes, successfully maneuvered to have five-year-old Fulin (Fulin) elected ruler, rather than an older son, so that he could be regent.

An able statesman and warrior, Dorgon continued to consolidate central power and strengthened the bureaucratic style government established by his brother. As the weakening Ming dynasty was threatened by internal revolts Abahai prepared to invade north China.


In April 1644, a rebel army led by Li Zucheng (Li Tsu-ch’eng) advanced on the capital city Beijing (Peking), taking the city before General Wu Sangui and his troops stationed at Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan) at the eastern terminus of the Great Wall of China could arrive to defend the city.

General Wu then invited the Manchus to assist him against the rebels, an invitation that Dorgon was delighted to accept. Prince Dorgon and Wu ousted the rebels and entered the city with their joint forces on June 6, 1644.

While Wu and some Manchu units chased down the rebels, Dorgon remained in Beijing, buried the last Ming emperor and empress (who had committed suicide) with honor, declared that the Manchus had come to restore order, and placed his young nephew on the vacant throne as Emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih).

He thus established a new national dynasty, the Qing (Ch’ing), that would last until 1911. He also confirmed most Ming officials in their positions, including the Jesuits who headed the Board of Astronomy; reduced taxes; and forbade Manchu imperial clansmen from interfering in administration.

The defeat of Li and other rebels and immediate reforms won over many northern Chinese although it took several decades to end Ming loyalist movements in southern China. However one of Dorgon’s orders, that all Han Chinese men wear their hair in a queue as Manchu men did, greatly irritated Chinese sensibilities.

Dorgon was a forceful direktur but his arrogance and autocratic style alienated many. He gave himself increasingly exalted titles, such as “Imperial Father Regent,” but was frustrated that he could not become emperor.

A showdown between Dorgon and his nephew never occurred because he died in 1650 during a hunting trip. Shunzi then took over personal control but continued the successful policies of his uncle. Thus while Nurhaci and Abahai prepared the way for the rise of the Manchus, it was Dorgon who seized the opportunity to realize it.

Altan Khan - Mongol Tribal Leader

Altan Khan - Mongol Tribal Leader

Altan Khan led a federation of Mongol tribes that occupied the region called Chahar in today’s Inner Mongolian region of China. His people were formidable because of their proximity to Ming China’s capital Beijing (Peking), their wealth among Mongol tribes because of trade, and their prestige as the legitimate successors of Genghis Khan.

Under his grandfather Bayan Khan, also known as Batu Mongke (c. 1464–c. 1532), and then under him the Mongols came close to unity. Thus they were able to threaten China. He also forged a close religious alliance with the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

After their ouster from China in 1368 by the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the Mongols broke into five groups that fought among themselves. As a result they did not realize their military potential.

Altan Khan was important because he united the Chahar Mongols and began launching annual raids against Ming lands along the northern frontier, even threatening Beijing in 1550. In one raid in 1542, he reputedly took 200,000 prisoners and 2 million head of cattle.


Despite winning favorable trading rights with the Ming, the Mongols continued to raid Ming outposts for the next two decades until 1570, when Altan Khan’s grandson defected to the Ming governor Wang Chonggu (Wang Chung-ku) at Datong (Tatung). A new Ming emperor was ready to reverse the hostile relations between China and the Chahar Mongols.

Thus he treated the Mongol defector as a guest, assured Altan Khan of the young man’s safety, and began negotiations that culminated in a settlement in 1571. It provided for the establishing of many trading points along the Great Wall of China and a Chinese title for Altan Khan as the Prince Shunyi (which means “compliant and righteous prince”).

Altan Khan also played an important role in the religion of the Mongols. Tibetan Buddhism had won increasing numbers of converts among Mongols since Kubilai Khan’s acceptance of that faith in the late 13th century.

In 1577, the head of the Yellow Hat Sect in Tibet visited Mongolia. Altan Khan used the occasion to declare Tibetan Buddhism the official religion of all Mongols and conferred on that cleric the title Dalai Lama, which means “lama of infinite wisdom” in Mongol.

The title was conferred retroactively on that lama’s two predecessors and is carried by his successors to the present. In return, the Dalai Lama conferred on Altan Khan the title king of religion. Thus began the close relationship between the Mongols and the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1589 Altan Khan’s great grandson was proclaimed the reincarnation of the third Dalai Lama, becoming his successor as the fourth Dalai Lama. He was the only non-Tibetan to hold that title. The Mongol-Tibetan axis that resulted has persisted to the present and plays an important role in the politics of Inner Asia.

Significantly the so-called conquest changed Mongols from ferocious warriors to pious lamas and laymen, effectively ending their dreams of future conquest. Altan Khan’s early raids struck fear to the Chinese over the revival of Mongol militarism, but his conversion and that of his followers to Tibetan Buddhism ended that threat.

Abahai Khan - Manchu Military

Abahai Khan - Manchu Military

Abahai (also named Hung Taiji) was the eighth son of Nurhaci, a Jurchen tribal chieftain who founded the Manchu state in what is today northeastern China. Elected by the Hosoi Beile, or council of clan princes and nobles, in 1623 to be his father’s successor, Abahai built upon his father’s foundations for a Manchu state during the last years of China’s Ming dynasty. In 1644, his son was proclaimed emperor of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty, assuming leadership of China as the Ming dynasty collapsed.

The Jurchen tribal people who lived in Manchuria, a frontier region of the Chinese Ming Empire, did not recognize the right of firstborn sons to succeed their fathers. Because of this, all the ruler’s sons were eligible to succeed him in an election by their fellow tribal leaders.

Abahai was elected and continued his father’s unfinished work. He expanded the powerful Banner Army that consisted of Manchu, Mongol, and Han Chinese units and used it to consolidate control of the Liaoyang area in southern Manchuria.

Next he used his military forces to subjugate Korea, forcing its government to transfer its vassal relationship from the Ming dynasty to him. Abahai then conquered the Amur region of northern Manchuria and the Mongols of eastern Mongolia. His next move was to set up a civil administration in the capital city of Shenyang in 1631.


The six ministries and other institutions he implemented were copied from the Ming government, and he staffed them with many Han Chinese administrators. In 1635, he gave his people a new name, Manchu (from Jurchen), and changed his dynastic name from Hou Jin (Hou Chin, adopted by Nurhaci, which means “Later Jin,” after the Jin dynasty that ruled northern China 1115–1234).

By this act, he disssociated his dynasty with the Jin, who had conquered northern China after much bloodshed. Instead he adopted the dynastic name Qing (or Ch’ing, which means “pure”), and he assumed the title emperor rather than khan, which had been his father’s title, because of its nomadic associations.

In 1640, Abahai attacked Jinzhou (Chinchow) at the southern tip of Manchuria, defeating a Ming force. This victory brought the Manchus to the key eastern pass of the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan, or Mountain and Sea Pass). However, this formidable fortress was defended by a strong Ming army, and Abahai was not ready to challenge it. He died in 1643 before he could do so.

Abahai continued his father, Nurhaci’s, work of building up Manchu power, and he transformed the Manchus from a frontier tribal vassal of the Ming Empire to become its rival. Under his rule, a collaborative relationship developed among the Manchus, the Mongols, and the Han, or ethnic, Chinese.

The adoption of the Chinese model of a bureaucratic administration and its inclusion of Han Chinese would characterize the Qing Dynasty and account for its success in conquering and ruling China.

Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Ch’eng-Kung)

Zheng Chenggong

Zheng Chenggong (or Koxinga) led the longest and most sustained opposition to the Qing (Ch’ing) conquest of China, first from the southern Chinese coast, later from Taiwan after he expelled the Dutch from their forts on the island. His sons held on to Taiwan against Qing forces until 1683.

The Ming dynasty (1368–1644), long in decline, collapsed in 1644, when the last emperor and his family killed themselves rather than suffer capture by the rebel forces of Li Zicheng (Li Tzu-ch’eng).

General Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei), the Ming general guarding the eastern terminus of the Great Wall of China, then asked the Manchus in the northeast to help him to oust the rebels. As Wu pursued the rebels, the Manchu leader, Prince Dorgon, installed his nephew on the vacant throne as Emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih) of the Qing dynasty.


While northern China was quickly pacified, Ming loyalists resisted tenaciously in the Yangzi (Yangtze) River valley and throughout southern China. Several Ming princes were elevated to be emperors or “caretaker rulers” to rally loyalists against the alien rule. The kala up to 1662 is called the Southern Ming when the last Ming pretender was killed.

An important supporter of the first Southern Ming emperor was Zheng Zhilong (Cheng Chihlung), who controlled a powerful mercantile empire and large fleet that operated along the southern coast of China and Japan.

One of his sons by a Japanese mother so impressed the Ming prince of Tang (T’ang) who became the Longwu (Lung-wu) emperor that in 1646 he conferred on him the imperial surname Zhu (Chu) and also gave him the name Chenggong which means “successful.”

He came to be known as Lord of the imperial surname, from which the Dutch derivation Koxinga comes. In China he was called Zheng Chenggong. Zheng Zhilong defected to the Manchus in 1646, but his son remained faithful to his pledge to defend the Ming.

With his base in Amoy and the nearby island of Jinmen (Quemoy), Zheng gained control of Fujian (Fukien) province. He also expanded his trading empire to raise revenue for his cause. In 1658, his fleet of 1,000 ships and 130,000 soldiers raided the coast of Zhejiang (Chekiang) province.

It sailed up the Yangzi River in 1659 to attack Nanjing (Nanking), the southern capital of the Ming dynasty, hoping that the action would rally Ming loyalists to rise up in rebellion. It did not happen and facing Qing counterattack he withdrew across the sea to Taiwan.

There he forced the Dutch East India Company (Indonesia/Batavia) to surrender its Fort Zeelandia in southern Taiwan, ending its presence on the island. Zheng died in 1662 (his father and some relatives who had surrendered to the Qing were executed in 1661 for failing to persuade him to surrender), but his son Zheng Ching continued to resist.

To deprive the Zheng forces from obtaining supplies from the mainland coast the Qing had to adopt draconian measures, forcing inhabitants in Fujian to relocate at least 20 miles inland and forbidding ships to take off from southern coastal ports. In 1683, Taiwan was conquered by the Qing and made a part of Fujian Province. With the fall of Taiwan the Qing dynasty completed the conquest of China.

Zheng Chenggong, or Koxinga, is honored in Chinese and Japanese folklore as a brave commander. He is also respected as a Ming loyalist.

Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei) - Chinese General

Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei) - Chinese General

Wu Sangui was the commander of a powerful Ming army stationed at Sanhaiguan (Sanhaikuan), the pass of the Great Wall of China at its eastern terminus.

In 1644, faced with a rebel army that had captured Beijing (Peking), and the last Ming emperor dead from suicide, he opened the pass and welcomed the Manchu army under Prince Dorgon into northern China; together they freed Beijing of the rebels. The result was the creation of the Qing (Ch’ing) (Manchu) dynasty in China.

Wu Sangui was raised in Liaoxi (Liaohsi) in Manchuria, the son of a general. In 1644, his retired father and family were living in Beijing while he was stationed in southern Manchuria at the head of 80,000 troops.


In April, he received orders to move his troops 100 miles south to Shanhaiguan (Shan-hai Kuan), the easternmost pass of the Great Wall that separated northeastern China from Manchuria, so that he could be in better position to relieve Beijing from threatening rebels.

This move left all Manchuria, to the rapidly expanding Manchus. At the end of April, he received further orders to march to defend Beijing against the rebel forces of Li Zicheng (Li Tzu-ch’eng), but the city had fallen before he could reach it and he retreated to Sanhaiguan to await further orders.

Meanwhile the last Ming emperor had committed suicide, and Wu’s family had been taken prisoner. The rebel leader then forced the elder Wu to persuade his son to surrender, and when he refused, all the Wu family were tortured and killed.

Trapped between two dangers, the rebel army advancing from the south and the Manchus moving in the north, Wu negotiated with the Manchus, who had been Ming vassals for over 200 years. Prince Dorgon, regent for the boy Manchu ruler Fulin (Fu-lin), accepted Wu’s offer jointly to rid the rebels.

Li Zicheng’s army was no match for the coalition, and he fled Beijing for Sha’anxi (Shensi) province after an orgy of killing, burning, and looting. While the people of Beijing expected Wu to restore the Ming dynasty, what they got was Prince Dorgon, who promptly announced the Manchus as saviors of the people against the bandits and proclaimed the establishment of the Qing dynasty on behalf of his young nephew.

Wu’s forces destroyed the remnant rebels in 1645 and he was rewarded with the title Prince Pacifier of the West and after serving in Shaanxi and Sichuan (Szechuan) for several years, he was sent to Yunnan province as hereditary governor with full civil and military powers.

One of his sons was married to a daughter of Manchu emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih). A Ming pretender had earlier established himself in Yunnan in 1656. Wu set out to destroy his power in Yunnan, finally chasing him into Burma, capturing him and his court, and killing him and his son.

Fearing the power and ambition of three Chinese generals who had helped establish Manchu power in 1644 (called the Three Feudatories because they had been granted hereditary fiefs in southern China) and suspicious of Wu, Emperor Kangxi (K’ang-hsi) ordered all three to resign in 1673.

Wu responded by declaring himself emperor of a new Zhou (Chou) dynasty in 1674 and began an offensive that pushed northward to the Yangzi (Yangtze) valley, winning many adherents. The tide turned in 1677, when the other two feudatories surrendered. Wu died of dysentery in 1678, leaving his throne to a young grandson who committed suicide in 1681 as his movement crumbled.

Wu Sangui left a mixed legacy. Ming loyalists regard him as a traitor because the Manchus could not have captured power in 1644 without him. His motivation was personal, and probably he did not understand the consequences of his action. By the time he rebelled, he was old and Qing power was established under a vigorous young Kangxi emperor.

Qing Dynasty, Rise and Zenith

Qing Dynasty

The Qing (1644–1911) was China’s last imperial dynasty and the second of nomadic origin that ruled the entire Chinese world. Its success is due to capable and wise founders and their long-reigning immediate successors, whose admiration for Chinese culture led them to assimilate rapidly, and to retain most of the existing government institutions with few modifications. The dynasty remained prosperous and dynamic until the end of the 18th century.

The Qing is also called the Manchu dynasty. The Manchus were nomads descended from the Jurchen tribal people who lived in northeastern China (Manchuria). They had conquered and ruled northern China under the Jin (Chin) dynasty (1115–1234) but had retreated to their original homeland when the dynasty ended. They forgot their short-lived written language and reverted to a life of hunting, fishing, and raising livestock.

Manchuria was part of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and became an area of mixed residence of Jurchen and other nomadic tribal people amid the sedentary Han Chinese. Jurchen and other tribal people were responsible to Ming officials in Manchuria and went to Beijing (Peking) at stipulated times to render tribute to the Ming court.


The decline of the Ming dynasty coincided with the rise of strong leaders among the Jurchens, the first a minor tribal chief named Nurhaci, who began significant reforms and innovations that would lead his people to power. They included the creation of a written language and the militarization of all Jurchens into a banner system whereby all males were organized into fighting units and given land to farm and administer.

As a result of successful campaigns, the defeated people became serfs, liberating the bannermen into full time warriors and administrators. Nurhaci created a state called the Later Jin, which his son Abahai changed to Qing (which means “pure”) 1635. Abahai also changed his people’s name from Jurchen to Manchu.

Continuing his father’s ambitious policies Abahai expanded the banner system to include units of Mongols and Han Chinese, conquered most of Manchuria, subdued Korea and forced it to change allegiance and tribute relations from the Ming to Qing, and began attacking Ming territories near the Great Wall of China. Abahai died in 1643 and was succeeded by a young son, but his work was continued by his capable brother Dorgon, who acted as regent.

Formation of a National Dynasty

A great stroke of luck catapulted the frontier Manchu state to a national Chinese dynasty. In 1644, rebel bandits attacked and captured the Ming capital, causing the emperor to commit suicide. In the ensuing confusion Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei), a Ming frontier general guarding the eastern extremity of the Great Wall, requested Manchu assistance to drive out the rebels, with which Dorgon happily complied.

After liberating Beijing and while Wu’s forces chased the rebels to their destruction Dorgon placed his nephew on the vacant Ming throne and proclaimed the Qing as a national successor dynasty to the Ming.

He won over many people in northern China by burying the last Ming emperor and empress with honor, restoring order, and keeping most of the Ming institutions and officials in place. Ming loyalists resisted in southern China and warfare continued until 1683, when Taiwan, the last Ming loyalist bastion, was captured.

Dorgon died in 1651 and his nephew the emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih, r. 1644–61) continued his policies but had little impact because of the brevity of his reign. Then came three great emperors: Kangxi (K’ang-hsi, r. 1662–1722), Yongzheng (Yung-Cheng, r. 1723–35), and Qianlong (Ch’ien-lung, r. 1736–1796). These three reigns totaled 134 years, during which traditional Chinese culture enjoyed its last great flowering and Chinese power attained great heights.

Capable Rulers

Kangxi was seven when he ascended an as yet insecure throne. A remarkably intelligent, ambitious, and hardworking boy, he freed himself from the tutelage of his regents at age 13 and began his personal rule, which was noted for its success in war and peace. Frugal in personal habits and in administration he repeatedly reduced taxes and permanently fixed them at a low level.

He also took a personal interest in agricultural improvements, introducing early ripening strains of rice to promote food production. He advocated vaccination against smallpox, a dreaded childhood disease that he had recovered from, and quinine (called Jesuit bark) against malaria.

He also took several tours of inspection to be personally acquainted with his realm. He worked long hours personally reading and responding to reports and memorials of officials and conscientiously fasting before reviewing capital cases, showing respect for life and the awesome responsibilities that were vested in him.

He finished the work of suppressing Ming loyalist revolts and the formidable revolt of the Three Feudatories. He campaigned against the Mongols and negotiated a treaty with Russia that defined part of the borders between the two empires and put part of Outer Mongolia under Qing control. He also installed a friendly cleric as the Seventh Dalai Lama, thus extending Qing authority over Tibet.

Although personally friendly with Jesuit missionaries, some of whom were his teachers and employees, he rejected the papacy’s attempt to claim authority over Chinese Catholics and definition of what rites Chinese Catholics should follow. The defeat of the Jesuits’ position on Chinese rites by their opponents in the Catholic curia ended over a century of cultural exchange between China and Europe.

Kangxi was both a keen student and a patron of the arts and learning. He sponsored numerous projects that included the compiling of a multivolume history of the Ming dynasty, a comprehensive dictionary, and other publications. His court was filled with literary men and artists.

Although his last years were clouded with problems of finding a worthy successor among his many sons, Kangxi’s long reign ended with the Qing dynasty firmly established. To many of his subjects, he approached the ideal ruler.

Emperor Yongzheng (r. 1723–1735) was Kangxi’s fourth son and his successor. Because he was already 44 when he ascended the throne, his reign was a short one. Like his father, Yongzheng was able, conscientious, and hardworking.

He focused on making his government efficient by weeding out incompetence and corruption and making all officials accountable. The civil service, recruited on merit through exams, enjoyed high morale under his reign. He concentrated military power in his own hands and personally commanded all the Manchu banner units, sidelining the Manchu tribal and clan chiefs and imperial princes.

Although he did not personally command campaigns, Yongzheng continued to consolidate his empire’s borders with expeditions against the Mongol tribes that had not submitted, and by a second treaty with Russia that completed the drawing of borders between the two empires. Yongzheng’s legacy was a more efficient and tightly controlled empire than the one he inherited and one that was institutionally stronger.

Yongzheng was followed on the throne by his fourth son, then aged 24 and well prepared for his role, who reigned as Emperor Qianlong, a keen student of history. His paragons were Taizong (T’ai-tsung, r. 627–47, statesman and general) and his grandfather Kangxi, and he abdicated in 1796 so that his reign would not be longer than that of his revered grandfather. Qianlong excelled in war, personally leading some campaigns.

Under him Qing arms finally reduced the troublesome Olod Mongols and Turkic tribes, extending Chinese control into Central Asia as had the great Han, Tang (T’ang), and Yuan (Mongol dynasty) dynasties. Peace and prosperity prevailed, education and culture flourished, and the civil service exams recruited capable men to serve the government.

As had his grandfather, Qianlong made numerous tours of inspection throughout his realm, and as had both his predecessors, he lavishly patronized the arts, including many Jesuit artists and architects who gathered at his court. He was also an avid collector, who added a vast array of arts to the imperial collection.

A great literary project that distinguished his reign was the compilation of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. It contained more than 36,000 volumes consisting of 10,230 titles divided into four categories: the classics, history, philosophy, and belles-lettres.

Seven complete sets of the compilation were printed and deposited in different libraries throughout the realm. However the emperor also had an ulterior motive in sponsoring this project—to weed out works that were hostile to the Manchus.

Qianlong’s reign both saw the culmination of Qing greatness and was the forerunner of dynastic decline because of corruption during his later years. He abdicated in 1796 but continued to wield power until his death in 1799 even as his son was nominally in control.

The long and successful reigns of three great and ambitious emperors took the Qing dynasty and China to the height of power and prosperity. While the monarchs were of nomadic Manchu origin, they had almost totally assimilated to and identified with Chinese culture.

The Manchu written script, proclaimed as one of two official languages of the empire (together with Chinese), was soon relegated to the background. All of the three rulers considered themselves cultured Chinese rulers and patrons of the arts.

Despite certain favoritism shown to Manchus in the highest ranks of government, Chinese occupied the bulk of the civil service positions and most gradually became reconciled to Manchus for sharing and honoring their culture and traditions. However splendor bred complacency that led to degeneration. By the beginning of the 19th century, changing world conditions and the accumulation of domestic problems would lead to rapid decline of the Qing dynasty.

Yongle (Yung-lo) - Chinese Emperor

Yongle (Yung-lo) - Chinese Emperor

The man who became the third ruler of China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644) as Emperor Yongle (Yung-lo) (meaning “lasting joy”) was the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Yuan-chang), the dynastic founder. His personal name was Zhu Di (Chu Ti).

Well grounded in Confucian studies and also a proven military commander, he personally led expeditions deep into Mongolia. Granted the title prince of Yan (Yen) by his father, he was also appointed commander of a large garrison that guarded Yan and the former Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) capital Dadu (T’a-tu).

Zhu Yuanzhang, who is known as Emperor Hongwu (Hung-wu) and posthumously as Taizu (T’ai-Tsu), appointed his eldest son the crown prince, and the crown prince’s eldest son as his heir when the crown prince died before him.

Taizu died in 1398 and his 20-year-old grandson succeeded as Emperor Jianwen (Chien-wen). The young emperor and his advisers at once made political changes that included purging his uncles (sons of Taizu), some of whom commanded troops guarding against Mongol invasions.


These provoked a crisis and war when Jianwen seized two of the prince of Yan’s officials and carried them off to Nanjing (Nanking), the then Ming capital, for execution. As the eldest surviving son of Taizu the prince of Yan accused his nephew of persecuting the princes and wrongfully changing the direction set by the dynastic founder.

Hostilities began in 1399 with an attack by the emperor’s forces. The prince, who was a superb commander and strategist, had about 100,000 troops. The emperor had over 300,000 men but they were less well led. After a hard campaign the gates of Nanjing were opened to the prince’s army on July 13, 1402.

In the melee the palace caught fire and when the fire died out three badly burned bodies were found and declared to be those of Jianwen, his empress, and their eldest son (his second son was two years old and lived for many years in protective custody).

Because there was no proof of the authenticity of the corpses, searches for Jianwen continued for many years and legends proliferated about what had happened to him. (Many years later he was found and identified by a birthmark, living as a Buddhist monk, and was allowed to live out his life.) Zhu Di thus became emperor, not the successor of his nephew, but of his father. He chose the reign name Emperor Yongle. Jianwen’s supporters were purged.

Emperor Yongle is regarded as the second founder of the Ming dynasty because of his numerous accomplishments and the expansion of the empire under his rule. A professional soldier, he took great interest in military affairs.

To prevent a recurrence of his own rebellion against the reigning emperor, he removed his brothers and younger sons from active command, reorganized the army, and rotated provincial units to frontier duty and campaigns.

Since the northern frontier remained vulnerable, and since his new capital Beijing (Peking) was close to the borderland, he emphasized defenses in the north, taking measures to ensure good communications, grain transport, and logistical support for the troops and settling many on the frontiers as soldier-farmers.

He used both diplomacy and military action in relationships with the nomads to ensure Chinese interests and to prevent them from becoming allies of the Mongols in the northwest. Likewise he conciliated the various Jurchen tribes in Manchuria to gain their submission as vassals. Over a century earlier the first Yuan ruler, Kubilai Khan, had obtained control over Tibet.

As Mongol power collapsed, Tibet went its own way under a fractured political-religious system. Yongle did not attempt to gain political control over Tibet and treated its top clergy with respect and lavished gifts on them when they visited, happy that they were not united, and therefore could not threaten his borders. His main concern was over the Mongols.

Between 1410 and 1424 he personally led five campaigns into Mongolia, each with over 250,000 troops, falling ill and dying during the last one. His goal was to forestall the formation of Mongol alliances and while he scored victories each time, he could not destroy them or prevent them from coalescing again. Following his death Ming strategy changed to a defensive one.

To secure China’s primacy in the Asian world Taizu had obtained Korea’s vassalage (following the fall of the Yuan dynasty Koreans too threw out the Mongols. A new dynasty, called Yi or Choson, was established in 1392). In 1407 Yongle sent an army to conquer Annam (modern North Vietnam), a vassal state, because of involvement in local politics.

The Chinese army crushed the Annamese army in battle and annexed the region as Chinese provinces. The Annamese, however, waged a guerrilla war of resistance that was costly to China. Finally, in 1427, three years after Yongle’s death, a peace agreement was reached whereby Annam ruled itself but acknowledged Chinese overlordship.

Between 1405 and 1422 Yongle sent six huge naval expeditions under a eunuch admiral named Zheng He (Cheng Ho) that showed the Chinese flag from Southeast Asia, across the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, to East Africa and brought about trade and acknowledgment of Chinese overlordship from numerous small states throughout the region.

Temple of Heaven

Nanjing was an unpleasant memory to Yongle, who rebuilt the Yuan capital Dadu (T’a-tu); named it Beijing (Peking), meaning Northern Capital; and moved his government there in 1421. He built its imposing city wall, the imperial palace (residence and office) of over 9,000 rooms, the Temple of Heaven, many temples, and a huge mausoleum for himself outside the city.

In government he continued and expanded institutions and practices begun by his father, which became the fixed pattern of administration through the dynasty. The examination system continued to produce talented men for the government, the best among whom were recruited to the Hanlin Academy, which helped the monarch to draft laws, process documents, and deal with problems.

Highly educated and author of philosophical essays, he gathered more than 2,000 scholars who worked for five years to produce a work called the Yongle Dadian (Yung-lo t’a-tien) comprising 11,469 large volumes and over 50 million words. It was an encyclopedia of knowledge in all fields.

His sponsorship of intellectual life resulted in many other literary projects and publications, printed in large numbers and widely distributed, this half a century before Johann Gutenberg’s first printed book. Yongle’s accomplishments earned for him the posthumous title on Chengzu (Ch’eng-tsu), which means “successful progenitor.”