Modern History/Taiping Rebellion
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Wikibooks Modern History |
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The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history, a clash between the forces of the Qing Empire in China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, a Christian convert who had claimed that he was the new Messiah and younger brother of Jesus Christ. He and his followers established the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace (Traditional Chinese: 太平天國; Hanyu Pinyin: Tàipíng Tiānguó; Wade-Giles: T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo) and attained control of significant parts of southern China. Most accurate sources put the total deaths at about 20 million civilians and army personnel, although some claim the death toll was much higher (as many as 50 million according to at least one source.)