General Yuan Shikei Built the New Army and Fought the Boxer Rebellion
Channel: The Chinese Revolution
Date: 13/04/2024

After China's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War, General Yuan Shikai helped to build China's New Army.  He then helped to defeat the Boxer Rebellion.  This is the second part in our Yuan Shikai documentary video series.

In this episode, Yuan Shikai continues to rise to power.  We see how how he came to be co-founder of the Chinese Republic.  This is a further look at his life, his achievements and his role in events leading to China's warlord period and the Chinese Civil War.

Yuan resigned as Imperial Commissioner to Korea and served as a logistics officer during the Sino-Japanese war.  Following China's defeat to Japan, Yuan wrote a 13,000 word memo to the emperor outlining his ideas for military reform.  Yuan Shikai was then appointed and became the father of China's New Army, the Baoding Military Academy and the Beiyang Army.  

He was then promoted to Governor of Shandong and then Zhili provinces.  He had to deal with the Boxer Rebellion underway and navigate foreign concessions and the invasion of Tianjin and the capital during the Boxer Rebellion.  He was a supporter of reforms, the Qing Court and the Dowager Empress, except when she asked him to do battle with the foreign invaders. He improved Shandong and Zhili provinces and showed himself to be a capable reformer.

This is episode 30 of the Chinese Revolution series.