1.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
2.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
3.
Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
4.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
5.
Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
6.
Regia Marina
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The Royal Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic, the Royal Navy changed its name to Military Navy, the Regia Marina was established on 17 March 1861 following the proclamation of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. These problems were compounded by the continuation of separate officer schools at Genoa and Naples and these innovations quickly made older warships obsolete. The new navys baptism of fire came on 20 July 1866 at the Battle of Lissa during the Third Italian War of Independence, the battle was fought against the Austrian Empire and occurred near the island of Vis in the Adriatic sea. The Italian fleet, commanded by Admiral Persano, mustered 12 ironclad and 17 wooden-hulled ships, though only one, in 1896 the corvette Magenta completed a circumnavigation of the world. The following year the Regia Marina conducted experiments with Guglielmo Marconi in the use of radio communications,1909 saw the first use of aircraft with the fleet. An Italian naval officer, Vittorio Cuniberti, was the first in 1903 to envision in an article the all-big gun battleship design. In 1911 and 1912, the Regia Marina was involved in the Italo-Turkish War against forces of the Ottoman Empire, in the Red Sea the Italian forces were vastly superior to those of the Ottomans who only possessed a squadron of gunboats there. These were destroyed while attempting to withdraw into the Mediterranean at the Battle of Kunfuda Bay, during the war, the Regia Marina spent its major efforts in the Adriatic Sea, fighting the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Considered a relatively minor part of the warfare of World War I. For most of the war the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies each kept a relatively passive watch over their adversaries, the Italian fleet lost the pre-dreadnought battleship Benedetto Brin at Brindisi and the dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci at Taranto due to a magazine explosion. The battleship SMS Tegetthoff was handed over to Italy as a war prize in 1919, during the interwar years the Italian government set about modernizing the Regia Marina in a way that could enable it to reach dominance over the Mediterranean Sea. Italian naval construction was limited by the Washington Naval Conference, the 1922 treaty required a parity in naval forces between the Italian and French navies, with equality in total displacement in battleships and carriers. The treaty influenced the development of the Italian fleet over the years between the two world wars, much of these new naval units were responses to French naval constructions, as the Marine nationale was seen until the mid 1930s as the most likely enemy in a hypothetical conflict. In theory this would allow them to engage or break off at their own choosing, New guns were developed with longer ranges than their British counterparts of similar caliber. Speed was emphasized in their new construction, subsequently, newer Italian cruisers such as the Giovanni dalle Bande Nere were built with a newly designed and relatively thin armour. The armor of these vessels was 24 mm, as compared to 102 mm on their contemporaries and this would have a decisive role in a number of naval battles, including the Battle of Cape Spada. The modernization work on the four Great War era battleships turned into a significant reconstruction project, the ships guns were upgraded in main armament, going from 13 guns of 305mm diameter, to 10 guns of 320mm diameter
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
9.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
10.
French Third Republic
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It came to an end on 10 July 1940. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, social upheaval, and the establishment of the Paris Commune. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but confusion as to the nature of that monarchy, thus, the Third Republic, which was originally intended as a provisional government, instead became the permanent government of France. The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 defined the composition of the Third Republic and it consisted of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate to form the legislative branch of government and a president to serve as head of state. The period from the start of World War I to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, Adolphe Thiers called republicanism in the 1870s the form of government that divides France least, however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood Reformist France, heir to the French Revolution, on the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church and the army. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the defeat of France, after Napoleons capture by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan, Parisian deputies led by Léon Gambetta established the Government of National Defence as a provisional government on 4 September 1870. The deputies then selected General Louis-Jules Trochu to serve as its president and this first government of the Third Republic ruled during the Siege of Paris. After the French surrender in January 1871, the provisional Government of National Defence disbanded, French territories occupied by Prussia at this time did not participate. The resulting conservative National Assembly elected Adolphe Thiers as head of a provisional government, due to the revolutionary and left-wing political climate that prevailed in the Parisian population, the right-wing government chose the royal palace of Versailles as its headquarters. The new government negotiated a settlement with the newly proclaimed German Empire. To prompt the Prussians to leave France, the government passed a variety of laws, such as the controversial Law of Maturities. The following repression of the communards would have consequences for the labor movement. The Orléanists supported a descendant of King Louis Philippe I, the cousin of Charles X who replaced him as the French monarch in 1830, his grandson Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris. The Bonapartists were marginalized due to the defeat of Napoléon III and were unable to advance the candidacy of any member of his family, the Bonaparte family. Legitimists and Orléanists came to a compromise, eventually, whereby the childless Comte de Chambord would be recognised as king, consequently, in 1871 the throne was offered to the Comte de Chambord. Chambord believed the monarchy had to eliminate all traces of the Revolution in order to restore the unity between the monarchy and the nation, which the revolution had sundered apart. Compromise on this was if the nation were to be made whole again
11.
Austro-Hungarian Navy
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The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, abbreviated as k. u. k, Kriegsmarine, and in Hungarian Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet, abbreviated as Cs. This navy existed under this name after the formation of the Dual Monarchy in 1867, prior to 1867, the empires naval forces were those of the Austrian Empire. By 1915 a total of 33,735 naval personnel were serving in the k. u. k, after the First World War, both Austria and Hungary were deprived of their coasts, and their navy was confiscated by the victorious Allied powers. Their former ports on the Adriatic Sea, such as Trieste, Pola, Fiume, Kriegsmarine were designated SMS, for Seiner Majestät Schiff. Until the end of the 18th century there were only limited attempts to establish an Austrian navy, after the Seven Years War Austrian vulnerability to privateers in the Mediterranean Sea led Count Kaunitz to push for the creation of a small force of frigates. A specific Naval Ensign based on the colours was introduced only in the reign of Emperor Joseph II. This situation changed considerably in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria, Austria ceded to France the Austrian Netherlands and certain islands in the Mediterranean, including Corfu and some Venetian islands in the Adriatic. Venice and its territories were divided between the two states, and the Austrian emperor received the city of Venice along with Istria and Dalmatia, the substantial Venetian naval forces and facilities were also handed over to Austria and became the basis of the formation of the future Austrian Navy. The navy gained its first influential supporter when Archduke Charles third son Archduke Friedrich entered the service in 1837, the young archduke introduced many modernizing reforms, aiming to make his countrys naval force less Venetian and more Austrian. In 1844 Archduke Friedrich was promoted vice-admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Austrian warships had their first military encounters during the Oriental Crisis of 1840 as a part of a British-led fleet which ousted the Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, from Ottoman Syria. Archduke Friedrich took part in the campaign personally and was awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa for his exceptional leadership, in 1849 the Dane Hans von Dahlerup was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy. He introduced many personal and other reforms and imposed in the Navy the replacement of the Italian language by the German language, in the following years the strength of the Navy reached 4 frigates,6 corvettes,7 brigs, and smaller ships. In 1854 the younger brother of the reigning Emperor Franz Joseph took office as Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was twenty-two at that time. Archduke Friedrichs distant relative was trained for the navy, and threw himself into new career with much zeal. In Venice the naval shipyard was retained, here the Austrian screw-driven gunboat Kerka was launched in 1860. The journey lasted 2 years and 3 months and was accomplished under the command of Kommodore Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, with 345 officers and crew, and 7 scientists aboard. The expedition was planned by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna and aimed to gain new knowledge in the disciplines of astronomy, botany, zoology, geology, oceanography and hydrography
12.
Imperial Japanese Navy
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The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945, when it was dissolved following Japans defeat and surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was formed after the dissolution of the IJN, the Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and it was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. This eventually led to the Meiji Restoration, accompanying the re-ascendance of the Emperor came a period of frantic modernization and industrialization. Following the attempts at Mongol invasions of Japan by Kubilai Khan in 1274 and 1281, Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. Around that time Japan may have developed one of the first ironclad warships when Oda Nobunaga, in 1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a ban on Wakō piracy, the pirates then became vassals of Hideyoshi, and comprised the naval force used in the Japanese invasion of Korea. Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, from 1604 the Bakufu also commissioned about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. For more than 200 years, beginning in the 1640s, the Japanese policy of seclusion forbade contacts with the outside world and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death. Contacts were maintained, however, with the Dutch through the port of Nagasaki, the Chinese also through Nagasaki and the Ryukyus and Korea through intermediaries with Tsushima. Apart from Dutch trade ships no other Western vessels were allowed to enter Japanese ports, an exception was during the Napoleonic wars. However frictions with foreign ships started from the beginning of the 19th century, the Nagasaki Harbour Incident involving the HMS Phaeton in 1808 and other subsequent incidents in the following decades led to the Shogunate to enact an edict to repel foreign vessels. Western ships which were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling, the shogunate also began to strengthen the nations coastal defenses. Numerous attempts to open Japan ended in failure in part to Japanese resistance, during 1853 and 1854, American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry entered Edo Bay and made demonstrations of force requesting trade negotiations. After two hundred years of seclusion the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa led to the opening of Japan to international trade and this was soon followed by the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce and treaties with other powers. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, Kankō Maru, samurai such as the future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki were sent by the Shogunate to study in the Netherlands for several years. In 1859 the Naval Training Center relocated to Tsukiji in Tokyo, in 1857 the Shogunate acquired its first screw-driven steam warship Kanrin Maru and used it as an escort for the 1860 Japanese delegation to the United States. In 1865 the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japans first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka, in 1867–1868 a British Naval mission headed by Commander Richard Tracey went to Japan to assist the development of the Japanese Navy and to organize the naval school of Tsukiji. The Shogunate also allowed and then ordered various domains to purchase warships and to develop naval fleets, Satsuma, a naval center had been set up by the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima, students were sent abroad for training and a number of ships were acquired
13.
Imperial German Navy
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The Imperial German Navy was the navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy, which primarily had the mission of coastal defence, Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the navy, and enlarged its mission. The key leader was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who expanded the size and quality of the navy. The result was an arms race with Britain as the German navy grew to become one of the greatest maritime forces in the world. The German surface navy proved ineffective during World War I, its only major engagement, however, the submarine fleet was greatly expanded and posed a major threat to the British supply system. The Imperial Navys main ships were turned over to the Allies, all ships of the Imperial Navy were designated SMS, for Seiner Majestät Schiff. The Imperial Navy achieved some important operational feats, the Navy also emerged from the fleet action of the Battle of Jutland having destroyed more ships than it lost, although the strategic value of both of these encounters was minimal. The Imperial Navy was the first to operate successfully on a large scale in wartime, with 375 submarines commissioned by the end of the First World War. The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership was the point for the creation of the Imperial Navy in 1871. The newly created emperor, Wilhelm I, as King of Prussia, had previously been head of state of the strongest state forming part of the new empire, supreme command was vested in the emperor, but its first appointed chief was General der Infanterie Albrecht von Stosch. Kiel on the Baltic Sea and Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea served as the Navys principal naval bases, the former Navy Ministry became the Imperial Admiralty on 1 February 1872, while Stosch became formally an admiral in 1875. Initially the main task of the new Imperial Navy was coastal protection, with France, the Imperial Navys tasks were then to prevent any invasion force from landing and to protect coastal towns from possible bombardment. In March 1872 a German Imperial Naval Academy was created at Kiel for training officers, followed in May by the creation of a Machine Engineer Corps, in July 1879 a separate Torpedo Engineer Corps was created dealing with torpedoes and mines. In May 1872 a ten-year building programme was instituted to modernise the fleet, the building plan had to be approved by the Reichstag, which controlled the allocation of funds, although one-quarter of the money came from French war reparations. In 1883 Stosch was replaced by general, Count Leo von Caprivi. At this point the navy had seven armoured frigates and four armoured corvettes,400 officers and 5,000 ratings, in October 1887 the first torpedo division was created at Wilhelmshaven and the second torpedo division based at Kiel. In 1887 Caprivi requested the construction of ten armoured frigates, greater importance was placed at this time on development of the army, which was expected to be more important in any war. This shortened the journey for commercial ships, but specifically united the two areas principally of concern to the German navy, at a cost of 150 million marks, later, the protection of German maritime trade routes became important
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Imperial Russian Navy
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It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century had reached its peak strength, only behind the British and French fleets in terms of size. The First World War was mixed for the navy, with the Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic but the Black Sea falling under Russian control. The Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy with its sailors fighting on both sides and its surviving ships forming the core of the Soviet Navy upon its creation in 1918. Under Tsar Mikhail I, construction of the first three-masted ship actually built within Russia was completed in 1636 and it was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein according to European design and was christened Frederick. During its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea, Frederick sailed into a storm and was lost at sea. A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress, in 1661, however, Russia was once again forced to abide by the harsh terms of a treaty, this time the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and all constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev were ordered destroyed. Boyar Ordin-Nashchyokin, not grieving long over defeat, turned his attention to the Volga River, with the Tsars approval, the boyar brought Dutch shipbuilding experts to the town of Dedinovo near the confluence of the Oka and Volga Rivers. Shipbuilding commenced in the winter of 1667, within two years, four vessels had been completed, one 22-gun galley, christened Орёл, and three smaller ships. The ill-fated Frederick had been a Holstein vessel, Орёл became Russias first own three-masted, European-designed sailing ship, the ship was captured in Astrakhan by rebellious Cossacks led by Stepan Razin. The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of the Volga, unquestionably, the most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev, who, in 1648, sailed the entire length of present-day Russia by way of the Arctic Ocean. Rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea, the creation of the regular Russian Navy took place during the reign of Peter the Great. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships,4 fireships,23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River. After the occupation of the Azov fortress, the Boyar Duma looked into Peters report of military campaign. This date is considered the birthday of the regular Russian Navy. During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet, the construction of the oared fleet took place in 1702-1704 at several shipyards. From 1703-1723, the base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg. The bases were created in Reval and in Vyborg after it was ceded from Sweden after the war of 1741-43
15.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
16.
Boxer Rebellion
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The Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihequan Movement a violent anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising that took place in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty. The uprising took place against a background of severe drought and the disruption caused by the growth of foreign spheres of influence, Foreigners and Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarter. Diplomats, foreign civilians and soldiers as well as Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were placed under siege by the Imperial Army of China, Chinese officialdom was split between those supporting the Boxers and those favoring conciliation, led by Prince Qing. The supreme commander of the Chinese forces, the Manchu General Ronglu, the Eight-Nation Alliance, after being initially turned back, brought 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army, and captured Beijing on August 14, lifting the siege of the Legations. Uncontrolled plunder of the capital and the surrounding countryside ensued, along with the execution of those suspected of being Boxers. The Empress Dowager then sponsored a set of institutional and fiscal changes in an attempt to save the dynasty by reforming it. The Righteous and Harmonious Fists arose in the sections of the northern coastal province of Shandong long known for social unrest, religious sects. American Christian missionaries were probably the first to refer to the well-trained, athletic men as Boxers, because of the martial arts. Their primary practice was a type of possession which involved the whirling of swords, violent prostrations. The opportunities to fight back Western encroachment and colonization were especially attractive to unemployed village men, the tradition of possession and invulnerability went back several hundred years but took on special meaning against the powerful new weapons of the West. The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle shots, furthermore, the Boxer groups popularly claimed that millions of soldiers of Heaven would descend to assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression. The Big Swords, emboldened by this support, also attacked their local Catholic village rivals. The Big Swords responded by attacking Catholic churches and burning them, the line between Christians and bandits, remarks one recent historian, became increasingly indistinct. As a result of pressure in the capital, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders. More martial secret societies started emerging after this, the early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement or a united purpose. Martial folk religious societies such as the Baguadao prepared the way for the Boxers, like the Red Boxing school or the Plum Flower Boxers, the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, for instance, Zhu Hongdeng, started as a healer, specializing in skin ulcers. Zhu claimed descent from Ming dynasty emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming imperial family and he announced that his goal was to Revive the Qing and destroy the foreigners
17.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
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Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
19.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
20.
Qing dynasty
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It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
21.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
22.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
23.
Siege of the International Legations
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The Siege of the International Legations occurred in the summer of 1900 in Peking, the capital of the Qing Empire, during the Boxer Rebellion. The Qing government took the side of the Boxers, the foreigners and Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter survived a 55-day siege by the Qing Army and Boxers. The siege was broken by a military force which marched from the coast of China, defeated the Qing army. The siege was called by the New York Sun the most exciting episode ever known to civilization, the Legation Quarter was approximately 2 mi long and 1 mi wide. It was located in the area of the city designated by the Qing government for foreign legations, in 1900, there were 11 legations located in the quarter as well as a number of foreign businesses and banks. Ethnic Chinese-occupied houses and businesses were also scattered about the quarter, the 12 or so Christian missionary organizations in Beijing were not located in the Legation Quarter, but rather dispersed around the city. In total, there were about 500 citizens of Western countries, the northern end of the Legation quarter was near the Imperial City where the Empress Dowager Cixi resided. The southern end was bounded by the massive Tartar Wall which ringed the city of Beijing. The eastern and western ends were major streets, by 1900 the great powers had been chipping away at Chinese sovereignty for 60 years. Thus the Qing or Manchu dynasty that had ruled China for more than two centuries was crumbling, and Chinese culture was changing due to the influence of an alien culture. Authorities differ as to the origin of the Boxers, but they became prominent in Shandong in 1898 and they were an indigenous peasant movement, related to the secret societies that had flourished in China for centuries—and which, on occasion, had threatened Chinese central governments. The Boxers were named—probably by American missionary Arthur H. Smith—for their acrobatic rituals which included arts, twirling swords, prayers. The religious and magical practices of the Boxers had as a paramount goal the affording of protection and that was fraught with danger and risk. The Boxers had no central organization but appear to have been organized on the village level and their slogan was Support the Qing. In the spring of 1900 the Boxer movement spread rapidly north from Shandong into the countryside near Beijing, Boxers burned Christian churches, killed Chinese Christians and intimidated Chinese officials who stood in their way. Two missionaries, Protestant William Scott Ament and Catholic Bishop Favier, American Minister Edwin H. Conger cabled Washington, The whole country is swarming with hungry, discontented, hopeless idlers. Requesting a warship to be stationed offshore of Tianjin, the nearest port to Beijing, he reported, Situation becoming serious. On May 30,1900, the diplomats, led by British Minister Claude Maxwell MacDonald, requested that foreign soldiers come to Beijing to defend the legations and the citizens of their countries
24.
Beijing
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Beijing is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the worlds third most populous city proper. It is also one of the worlds most populous capital cities, the city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by population after Shanghai and is the nations political, cultural. It is home to the headquarters of most of Chinas largest state-owned companies, and is a hub for the national highway, expressway, railway. The citys history dates back three millennia, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries. Beijing was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium A. D, the city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have made it centre of culture, encyclopædia Britannica notes that few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. Siheyuans, the traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, many of Beijings 91 universities consistently rank among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. Beijings Zhongguancun area is known as Chinas Silicon Valley and Chinas center of innovation. According to the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey, Beijing ranked first in Asia in the subcategory Personal Finance Index, expats live primarily in urban districts such as Dongcheng and Chaoyang in the east, or in suburban districts such as Shunyi. Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had other names. The name Beijing, which means Northern Capital, was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the English spelling is based on the pinyin romanisation of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng, the single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is BJ, the earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived more recently, about 27,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, the first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city from the 11th to 7th century BC
25.
Humanitarian intervention
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Humanitarian Intervention has been defined as a states use of military force against another state. This definition may be too narrow as it precludes non-military forms of such as humanitarian aid. There is no one standard or legal definition of humanitarian intervention, the intervention is in response to situations that do not necessarily pose direct threats to states strategic interests, but instead is motivated by humanitarian objectives. The customary international law concept of humanitarian intervention dates back to Hugo Grotius, James Pattison, however, argued in 2011 that the NATO intervention in Libya breaks this trend. Getting involved in the affairs of state on humanitarian grounds has been a subject of discussion in public international law since the 19th century. Similarly, Adolf Hitler justified his own occupation of the Sudetenland by suggesting that they were attempting to quash ethnic tensions in Czechoslovakia. Popular opinion in England was sympathetic to the Greeks, in due to the Greek origin of the Wests classical heritage. The renowned poet Lord Byron even took up arms to join the Greek revolutionaries, when this did not end the War, Canning negotiated a following treaty that ultimately led to the destruction of the Egyptian-Turkish fleet at the Battle of Navarino. The treatment of minorities under the Ottoman aegis proved a source of liberal agitation throughout the nineteenth century. Following an international outcry, the Ottoman Empire agreed on 3 August 1860 to the dispatch of up to 12,000 European soldiers to reestablish order and this agreement was further formalized in a convention on 5 September 1860 with Austria, Great Britain, France, Prussia and Russia. In May 1876 Ottoman troops began massacring unarmed agitators for autonomy in Bulgaria, the British launched a government investigation into the events, which confirmed that as part of an official policy, the Turks had killed at least 12,000 Bulgarians and obliterated about 60 villages. Lurid reports began to appear in newspapers, especially accounts by the investigative journalist William Thomas Stead in the Northern Echo, and protest meetings were called across the country. Lord Derby the Foreign Secretary disagreed and telegraphed the Sublime Porte that any renewal of the outrages would be fatal to the Porte than the loss of a battle. Apart from issuing stern advice and proposals for internal Turkish reform and the protection of minorities. However, the issue convulsed British politics with former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone coming out of retirement to campaign over the atrocities. In a famous campaigning speech he said, Let the Turks now carry away their abuses, in the only possible manner, namely, attempts were made under the auspices of the League of Nations to arbitrate and settle international disputes. Aggressive actions, such as the Italian Invasion of Abyssinia and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria were condemned, the Allied discovery of the Holocaust and the subsequent Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II caused attitudes to change considerably. Especially since the end of the Cold War, interventions have increasingly used, such as the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
26.
Boxer Protocol
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It is often regarded as one of the Unequal Treaties. In Western countries, it was known as the Treaty of 1901. In China, it was known as the Xinchou Treaty and it was later regarded as one of the Unequal Treaties. The Qing dynasty was by no means defeated when the Allies took control of Beijing. The Allies had to temper the demands they sent in a message to Xian to get the Dowager Empress to agree with them, for instance, China did not have to give up any land. The Dowager was practical, and decided that the terms were enough for her to acquiesce and stop the war. United Kingdom represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Ernest Mason Satow, Russian Empire, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Michael Nikolajewitsch de Giers. Empire of Japan, represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Komura Jutarō, French Republic, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Paul Beau. United States represented by the Special envoy William Woodville Rockhill, German Empire, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein. Austria-Hungary, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Baron Moritz Czikann von Wahlborn, Kingdom of Italy, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Giuseppe Salvago Raggi. Kingdom of Belgium, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Maurice Joostens, Kingdom of the Netherlands, represented by the Minister plenipotentiary Fridolino Marinus Knobel. His Highness Yikuang, Prince Qing first Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet,450 million taels of fine silver were to be paid as indemnity over a course of 39 years to the eight nations involved. The Chinese paid the indemnity in gold on a scale with a 4% interest charge until the debt was amortized on December 31,1940. After 39 years, the amount was almost 1 billion taels, also, additional 16,886,708 taels was paid at local level in 17 provinces. By 1938,652.37 million taels had been paid, the interest rate was to be paid semi-annually with the first payment being the July 1,1902. The Qing government was also to allow the countries to base their troops in Beijing. She was later removed from the list, China recognised the right of each Power to maintain a permanent guard in the said Quarters for the defense of its Legation. Boxer and Government officials were to be punished for crimes or attempted crimes against the foreign Governments or their nationals, many were either sentenced to execution, deportation to Turkestan, imprisoned for life, commit suicide, or suffer posthumous degradation
27.
Manchu people
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The Manchu are an ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. They are sometimes called red-tasseled Manchus, a reference to the ornamentation on traditional Manchu hats, the Later Jin, and Qing dynasty are established by Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty in China. Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China and they can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. They also form the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region, among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the live in Liaoning and one-fifth in Hebei. The Sushen used flint-headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted and fished, the cognates Sushen or Jichen again appear in the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei during the dynastic era referring to the Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe practiced pig farming extensively and were sedentary. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybeans, wheat, millet and rice, in the 10th century CE, the term Jurchen first appeared in documents of the late Tang dynasty in reference to the state of Balhae in present-day northeastern China. Following the fall of Balhae, the Jurchens became vassals of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty, in the year 1114, Wanyan Aguda united the Jurchen tribes and established the Jin dynasty. His brother and successor, Wanyan Wuqimai defeated the Liao dynasty, after the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Jurchens went to war with the Northern Song dynasty, and captured most of northern China in the Jin–Song wars. During the Jin dynasty, the first Jurchen script came into use in the 1120s and it was mainly derived from the Khitan script. The Jurchens were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture and they farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep and horses. Their farming way of life was different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols. In 1206, the Mongols, vassals to the Jurchens, rose in Mongolia and their leader, Genghis Khan, led Mongol troops against the Jurchens, who were finally defeated by Ögedei Khan in 1234. From that time, the Jurchens of North China increasingly merged with the Han Chinese while those living in their homeland started to be Mongolized and they adopted Mongolian customs, names and the Mongolian language. As time went on, fewer and fewer Jurchens could recognize their own script, the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368. In 1387, Ming forces defeated the Mongol commander Naghachus resisting forces who settled in the Haixi area, at the time, some Jurchen clans were vassals to the Joseon dynasty of Korea such as Odoli and Huligai. Their elites served in the Korean royal bodyguard, the Joseon Koreans tried to deal with the military threat posed by the Jurchen by using both forceful means and incentives, and by launching military attacks
28.
Ronglu
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Ronglu, courtesy name Zhonghua, was a Manchu political and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Guwalgiya clan, which was under the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners and he was also the maternal grandfather of Puyi, the last Emperor of China and the Qing dynasty, through his daughter Youlan. Ronglu was born in the Manchu Guwalgiya clan, which was under the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners and his grandfather, Tasiha, served as an Imperial Resident in Kashgar. His father, Changshou, was a zongbing, Ronglu was a yinsheng, a type of position awarded to civil service candidates who successfully gained admission to the Imperial Academy. He started his career in the Ministry of Works as a yuanwailang and was tasked with constructing roads in Zhili Province, in the early years of the Tongzhi Emperors reign, he set up the Firearms Division and was rewarded with the position of a jingtang. He was also appointed as a commander and zhuancao dachen before being transferred to be a zongbing of the left flank. Through Wenxiangs recommendation, he became the Vice Secretary of the Ministry of Works, later, he was reassigned to the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently appointed as Minister of the Imperial Household Department. The Tongzhi Emperor died in 1875 and was succeeded by his cousin, in the same year, Ronglu became an infantry commander. Three years later, he was reassigned to be a Left Censor-in-Chief, Ronglu was initially accused of accepting bribes and was demoted by two grades. He also offended Prince Chun, Baojun and Shen Guifen and was forced to retire in early 1879, however, in 1891, he was restored to the civil service and appointed as General of Xian. In 1894, Ronglu was recalled from Xian to the capital Beijing to attend Empress Dowager Cixis birthday celebrations and he was appointed again as an infantry commander. During the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Ronglu, along with Prince Gong, after the Qing and Japanese empires reached a peace settlement, Ronglu nominated Yuan Shikai to oversee the creation and training of the New Army. In 1896, Ronglu was appointed as Secretary of Defence and Assistant Grand Secretary and he also proposed transferring Dong Fuxiang and his Gansu Army to Beijing to defend the capital and enhance the training of the New Army. Around the time, a group of officials led by Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong planned to carry out a series of reforms, the Guangxu Emperor supported the reformists. Yuan Shikai was summoned from Zhili Province to Beijing and appointed as a Vice Secretary, acting on the advice of Yang Chongyi, Empress Dowager Cixi interfered in the situation and launched the 1898 Coup against the reformists. Ronglu was appointed to the Grand Council and sided with the Empress Dowager in the coup, the reformists were defeated – six of their leaders were executed – and the Guangxu Emperor was placed under house arrest. After the coup, Ronglu was relieved of his appointments as Viceroy of Zhili Province and Beiyang Minister, and reappointed as Secretary of Defence to oversee the Beiyang Army. In 1899, Ronglu was granted authority as Imperial Commissioner in charge of training and put in command of the military units led by Nie Shicheng, Dong Fuxiang, Song Qing
29.
Tianjin
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Tianjin, formerly known in English as Tientsin, is a metropolis in northern coastal Mainland China and one of the five national central cities of the country, with a total population of 15,469,500. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government, Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China, in terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404, as a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government, under the Ta-tsing Empire, and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in the region. At that time, numerous European-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered from 1990s. As of the end of 2010, around 285 Fortune 500 companies have set up base in Binhai, Tianjin is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese characters 天津, which mean Heavenly Ford or Ford of Heaven. The origin of the name is obscure, one folk etymology is that it was an homage to the patriotic Chu poet Qu Yuan, whose Li Sao includes the verse. departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn. Another is that it honors a former name of the Girl, a third is that it derives from a place name noted in the River Record of the History of Jin. The most common are that it was bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, before this time, it was open sea. The opening of the Grand Canal during the Sui dynasty prompted the development of Tianjin into a trading center, during the Qing dynasty Tianjin was promoted to a prefecture or Zhou in 1725 with Tianjin County established under the prefecture in 1731. Later it was to upgraded to a prefecture or Fu before becoming a relay station under the command of the Viceroy of Zhili. In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and they captured 12 men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the Second Opium War in June of the year, the British and French prevailed, and the Treaties of Tianjin were signed. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France and these nations left many architectural reminders of their rule, notably churches and thousands of villas. Today those villas provide a flavour to Tianjin
30.
Wuwei Corps
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The Wuwei Corps or Guards Army was a modernised army unit of the Qing dynasty. Made up of infantry, cavalry and artillery, it was formed in May or June 1899, the guard took responsibility for the security of Peking and the Forbidden City, with Ronglu as its supreme commander. This move was an attempt by the Qing imperial court to create an army equipped with modern weaponry following the Qing Empires defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. Four out of the five divisions of the Wuwei Corps were disbanded two years due to attrition caused by the Boxer Rebellion. Empress Dowager Cixi held supreme power at the Qing imperial court after she placed the Guangxu Emperor under house arrest and these two divisions enjoyed the advantage of a modernised infantry military system and training, while the other three divisions still employed the traditional Manchu Banners Army system. Differences in the prowess of the divisions became apparent during training, prior to the creation of the Wuwei Corps, Nie Shichengs Front Division was known as the Tenacious Army, while Song Qings troops previously bore the name Resolute Army. These armies were armed with Mauser rifles and Maxim machine guns. Dong Fuxiang led an army of Muslim warriors, dubbed the 10,000 Islamic rabble in the West at the time, in China, Dongs troops were familiarly known as the Gan army which used the abbreviated name of Gansu Province where many of these soldiers originated. Gan army is a translation, but English sources usually use the paraphrased name Kansu Braves. By imperial edict, Ronglu received nominal command of the entire Wuwei Corps and his initial task was to incorporate the four divisions within the Wuwei Corps. Ronglu later added the Centre Division with himself as commander, a unit composed mostly of Manchu bannermen, during the war against the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Front Division, Rear Division and the Center Division suffered heavy casualties and were disbanded following signature of the Boxer Protocol. The Right Division and the Left Division remained in Shandong Province to suppress a group of Boxers known as the Yihetuan rebels, both these units remained at full strength as they had not come up against troops of the foreign powers. From March 1899 onwards at the height of the Boxer conflict, Ma Yukun and Jiang Guiti became co-commanders alongside Song Qing at the head of the Left Division
31.
Chinese Christians
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Christianity in China has a history going back to the 7th century during the Tang dynasty. Today, it comprises Catholics, Protestants, and a number of Orthodox Christians. Accurate data on Chinese Christians is hard to access, according to the most recent internal surveys there are approximately 31 million Christians in China today. On the other hand, some international Christian organizations estimate there are tens of millions more, the practice of religion continues to be tightly controlled by government authorities. Members of such groups are said to represent the silent majority of Chinese Christians, shen, also widely used by Chinese Protestants, defines the gods or generative powers of nature in Chinese traditional religions. Historically, Christians have also adopted a variety of terms from the Chinese classics as referents to God, for example Ruler, terms for Christianity in Chinese include, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The whole of Orthodox Christianity is named Zhèng jiào, Christians in China are referred to as Christ followers/believers or Christ religion followers/believers. Two monks were preaching Christianity in India in the 6th century before they smuggled silkworm eggs from China to the Byzantine Empire, the first documentation of Christianity entering China was written on an 8th-century stone tablet known as the Nestorian Stele. It records that Christians reached the Tang dynasty capital Xian in 635 and were allowed to establish places of worship, the leader of the Christian travelers was Alopen. Some modern scholars question whether Nestorianism is the term for the Christianity that was practiced in China. The 13th century saw the Mongol-established Yuan dynasty in China, Christianity was a major influence in the Mongol Empire, as several Mongol tribes were primarily Nestorian Christian, and many of the wives of Genghis Khans descendants were Christian. Contacts with Western Christianity also came in time period, via envoys from the Papacy to the Mongol capital in Khanbaliq. In 1289, Franciscan friars from Europe initiated mission work in China, for about a century they worked in parallel with the Nestorian Christians. The Franciscan mission disappeared from 1368, as the Ming dynasty set out to all foreign influences. The Chinese called Muslims, Jews, and Christians in ancient times by the same name, crossworshipers were called Hwuy who abstain from animals with the cloven foot, Muslims were called Hwuy who abstain from pork, Jews were called Hwuy who extract the sinews. Hwuy-tsze or Hwuy-hwuy is presently used almost exclusively for Muslims, at Kaifeng, Jews were called Teaou-kin-keaou, extract-sinew religion. Jews and Muslims in China shared the name for synagogue and mosque. The synagogue and mosques were also known as Le-pae sze, a tablet indicated that Judaism was once known as Yih-tsze-lo-nee-keaou and synagogues known as Yih-tsze lo née leen, but it faded out of use
32.
Beijing Legation Quarter
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The Beijing Legation Quarter was the area in Beijing, China where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In the Chinese language, the area is known as Dong Jiaomin Xiang and it is located in the Dongcheng District, immediately to the east of Tiananmen Square. During the Yuan dynasty, the street was known as the Dong Jiangmi Xiang and it was the location of the tax office and customs authorities, because of its proximity to the river port by which rice and grains arrived in Beijing from the south. During the Ming dynasty, a number of ministries relocated into the area, including the Ministry of Rites, several hostels were built for tributary missions from Vietnam, Mongolia, Korea and Burma. William, a United States citizen, while the Russian legation moved into the existing Russian quarters at the Orthodox church, other countries followed suit, and by 1900 the Japanese, German, Belgian and Dutch missions were also in this area. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the Legation Quarter was the site of an incident as it was besieged by Boxers for several months. The Legation Quarter was encircled by a wall and all Chinese residents in the area were ordered to relocate away, most of the Chinese ministries relocated their offices from the street. After the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, most foreign legations, other than those of the Axis Powers, the Legation Quarter was then officially given back to the Republic of China government. At the time of the victory of the Peoples Republic of China, the missions of East Germany, Hungary, Burma and the United Kingdom were all located on the street in the 1950s, but after 1959 foreign missions were relocated to Sanlitun outside the old city walls. However, the area suffered much vandalism during the Cultural Revolution, more damage was inflicted since the 1980s due to Beijings redevelopment. Several buildings, such as the former HSBC building, were demolished for road expansion, some buildings are occupied by government institutions. A number of modern buildings have also been built, dramatically changing the areas appearance. History of Beijing Moser, Michael J. and Yeone Wei-chih Moser, foreigners within the Gates, The Legations at Peking. Hong Kong, New York, Oxford University Press,1993, map of former Legation Quarter + Legations Photographs of former Legation Quarter Legation Quarter Website
33.
Claude Maxwell MacDonald
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Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, PC was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. MacDonald was born to an officer in the British Army. He was commissioned into the 74th Foot in 1872 and he thought of himself as a soldier-outsider, as regards the Foreign Office. MacDonald’s early career was in Africa and he served in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, and served as military attaché to Sir Evelyn Baring from 1884–85. He retired from the British Army in 1896, in 1896, MacDonald was appointed British minister to Qing Dynasty Empire of China. He was simultaneously the British Minister to the Empire of Korea in 1896 through 1898, in China, MacDonald obtained a lease at Weihaiwei, and obtained railway contracts for British syndicates. He was instrumental in securing the Second Peking Convention, by which China leased to Britain the New Territories of Hong Kong, MacDonald secured a 99-year lease only because he thought it was good as forever. This and the contrasting lease-in-perpetuity of Kowloon created some problems in the negotiations for the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. As a military man, MacDonald led the defence of the legations in 1900 which were under siege during the Boxer Rebellion. MacDonald was appointed Consul-General for the Empire of Japan in October 1900 and he presided over the Tokyo Legation in years of harmony between Britain and Japan, swapping posts with Sir Ernest Satow who replaced him as Minister in Peking. On 30 January 1902, the first Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed in London between the Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne and Hayashi Tadasu, the Japanese Minister, MacDonald was still in Tokyo when the alliance was renewed in 1905 and 1911. He became Britains first ambassador to Japan when the status of the legation was raised to an embassy in 1905, the first British Ambassador to Japan was appointed in 1905. Before 1905, the senior British diplomat had different titles, Consul-General and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, MacDonald was made a Privy Councillor in 1906. He died in London of heart failure in 1915 and he is buried with his wife in Brookwood Cemetery. In 1892, Claude Maxwell MacDonald wed Ethel, daughter of Major W. Cairns Armstrong, they remained married until his death in 1915. Named to the RRC and a Member of the Executive Committee of the Overseas Nursing Association, in a statistical overview derived from writings by and about MacDonald, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 20+ publications in 2 languages and 300+ library holdings. 1900 — The Japanese detachment during the defence of the Peking legations,19001900 — Reports from Her Majestys minister in China respecting events at Peking, presented to parliament, Dec. Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath – awarded on 29 November 1900 in recognition of services during the recent Operations in China
34.
Church of the Saviour, Beijing
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The Church of the Saviour, colloquially referred to as Xishiku Church or Beitang is a historic Catholic church in the Xicheng District, Beijing, China. Of all the cathedrals and churches located in Beijing, the Xishiku church is one of the most ornate, the emperor also hand-wrote the calligraphy plaque and couplets for the building. It was named Saviour Church and officially opened on 9 February 1703, in 1887 the church was moved and rebuilt at its current location, at the request of the Guangxu Emperor, who needed the original space near the Forbidden City to create the Zhongnanhai Park. The church stands in a spacious grounds surrounded by pine and oak tree, the church is also where the Beijing Bishop Office is located and it is affiliated with the Patriotic Catholic Church of China. During the Boxer Uprising, the Roman Catholic Churchs Beijing Northern Church was under siege by a ten thousand Boxers from 14 June 1900 until 16 August 1900. Its defence was led by Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier, the Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Catholic Churchs North Chihli Province, Martin, the defence of that cathedral forms the most brilliant page in the history of the siege. Faviers successful defense of Pekings Peitang Cathedral was nothing short of a Christian miracle, according to Martin, The new, or northern, church, standing in an open ground by itself, was considered capable of defence. Monsignor Favier bravely resolved to hold it at all hazards, as the cathedral was located inside the Imperial City, Beijing near the western Gate, about three kilometres from the Legation Quarter, it was isolated from the foreign Legations. The Eastern and Southern churches were damaged, as were all other Roman Catholic properties in Beijing. Favier estimated that during the Boxer Uprising that between 15,000 and 20,000 members of his flock were killed and that three-quarters of the chapels were destroyed. During the siege, more than 3,900 people sought sanctuary within the walls of the church. He was, for he has died, a burly. He received us most cordially and readily talked of the siege and he said that of the eighty Europeans and 3,400 Christians with him in the siege,2,700 were women and children. Four hundred were buried, of forty were killed by bullets, twenty-five by one explosion, eighty-one by another. Of the rest, some died of disease but the part of starvation. Twenty-one children were buried at one time in one grave, beside these 400 who were killed or who died, many more were blown to pieces in explosions so that nothing could be found to bury. Fifty-one children disappeared in this way and not a fragment remained, the church can be reached from exit D of Xisi Station on Line 4 of the Beijing subway. It is situated on Xishiku Street, jesuit China missions Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Beijing Church of St Joseph, Beijing Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Beijing St
35.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
36.
SMS Zenta
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SMS Zenta was a small protected cruiser built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the late 1890s. She was lead ship of her class and named after the Battle of Zenta, Zenta was conceived to show the flag abroad. Zenta had a length of 96.88 meters, a beam of 11.73 meters and had a designed draft of 4.43 meters. The ship displaced 2,350 metric tons at load and 2,543 metric tons at deep load. She had two four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a propeller shaft. Steam for the engines was provided by eight Yarrow boilers and they made a total of 8,160 indicated horsepower during her sea trials on 30 March 1899. The average maximum speed during the trials was 20.8 knots and she carried up to 469 metric tons of coal and could steam for 3,500 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. Zentas main armament consisted of eight 40-caliber Škoda 12-centimeter quick-firing guns, two of these were mounted fore and aft of the superstructure in single pivot mounts protected by gun shields while the other six guns were mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull. Her secondary armament comprised eight 44-caliber 4. 7-centimeter Škoda guns, four of these guns were mounted on pivot mounts in the superstructure and the remaining guns were in casemates in the hull. She was also armed with two 45-centimeter torpedo tubes mounted in the hull above the waterline, the ship was lightly protected by an armor deck that consisted of two layers of 12. 5-millimeter plates. Over the engine and boiler rooms the thickness doubled to a total of 50 millimeters, the casemates were protected by 35 millimeters of armor and the conning tower by two layers of 25-millimeter armor plates. Zenta was laid down at the Pola Naval Arsenal on 8 August 1896 and she was launched on 18 August 1897. The ship was completed on 25 May 1899, commissioned three days later, and left Pola on 10 November 1899 for a cruise to Asia, calling at Port Said, Suez, Aden, and Colombo. She reached Singapore in January 1900 where she stayed for 14 days, continuing her voyage to Hong Kong, Macau, thereafter she went to Japan, visiting Nagasaki, Kagoshima, and Sasebo. News reached Austria-Hungary that the Boxer Rebellion in China was fast getting worse, Zenta was recalled to assist in the evacuation of international embassy staff as well as the Austro-Hungarian delegation. Seventy-five members of her crew were attached to the expedition led by Admiral Seymour. Zenta was joined by the armoured cruiser SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, Zenta had her commanding officer, Kapitän Eduard Thomann Edler von Montalmar, killed in the action. She returned home in December 1901 and was placed in reserve until October 1902 when she was sent on foreign tour to Cape Town
37.
Junk (ship)
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A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing ship design that is still in use today. Junks were used as seagoing vessels as early as the 2nd century AD and they evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages. They were found, and in numbers are still found, throughout South-East Asia and India. Found more broadly today is a number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats. The term junk may be used to cover many kinds of boat—ocean-going, cargo-carrying, pleasure boats and they vary greatly in size and there are significant regional variations in the type of rig, however they all employ fully battened sails. The term ultimately stems from the Chinese chuán, also based on and pronounced as in the Min Nan variant of Chinese, or zhōu and it entered the English language in the 17th century through the Portuguese junco from the Malay jong or Javanese djong. The modern Standard Chinese word for a wooden cargo vessel is cáo. That said, there are divergent views on this, Pierre-Yves Manguin, amongst others, most scholars consider it was the early Song Dynasty before the fully developed hull forms and rigs were in regular use in offshore trade. The fully developed junk design exhibited innovative, though very little further developed sail plans. There is no evidence that these were adopted in Western shipbuilding by direct emulation, in this case, as in so many others, parallel invention, often in response to quite different hydrodynamic, aerodynamic or technical stimuli, is the historically better evidenced explanation. The structure and flexibility of junk sails make the junk fast, the sails of a junk can be moved inward toward the long axis of the ship. In theory this closeness of what is called sheeting allowed the junk to sail into the wind, in practice, evidenced both by traditional sailing routes and seasons and textual evidence junks neither could nor sail well into the wind. In the typical junk these were both ill-adapted to windward work because, put simply, junks were neither intended to nor designed to work to windward. The sails include several members, called battens, which in principle could provide shape and strength but in practice, because of the available materials and technology. The sails can also be easily reefed to accommodate various wind strengths, the battens also make the sails more resistant than other sails to large tears, as a tear is typically limited to a single panel between battens. In South China the sails have a curved roach especially towards the head, the main drawback to the junk sail is its high weight caused by the 6 to 15 heavy full length battens. With high weight aloft and no keel, junks were known to capsize when lightly laden due to their high centre of gravity. The top batten is heavier and similar to a gaff, in principle junk sails have much in common with the most aerodynamically efficient sails used today in windsurfers or catamarans
38.
Hai River
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The Hai River, formerly known as the Peiho or Pei Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. The Hai River at Tianjin is formed by the confluence of five rivers, the Southern Canal, Ziya River, Daqing River, Yongding River, the southern and northern canals are parts of the Grand Canal. The Southern Canal is joined by the Wei River at Linqing, the Northern Canal joins with the Bai He at Tongzhou. The Northern Canal is also the only waterway from the sea to Beijing, therefore, early Westerners also called the Hai He the Bai He. At Tianjin, through the Grand Canal, the Hai connects with the Yellow, the construction of the Grand Canal greatly altered the rivers of the Hai He basin. Previously, the Wei, Ziya Yongding and Bai Rivers flowed separately to the sea, the Grand Canal cut through the lower reaches of these rivers and fused them into one outlet to the sea, in the form of the current Hai He. Hai He is 1,329 kilometres long measured from the longest tributary, however, the Hai He is only around 70 kilometres from Tianjin to its estuary. Its basin has an area of approximately 319,000 km2 and its annual flow is only half that of the Yellow River, or one-thirtieth that of the Yangtze River. In 1863 seagoing ships could reach the head of navigation at Tongzhou and this was reported by American military intelligence in the United States. War Dept. by the United States, like the Yellow River, the Hai is exceedingly muddy because of the powdery soil through which it flows. The silt carried by the deposits in the lower reaches, sometimes causing flooding. The waters from the five major tributaries only have one shallow outlet to the sea, because Chinas capital, Beijing, and the third largest city, Tianjin, both lie in the Hai He Basin, Hai He floods cause a significant loss. To alleviate flooding, reservoirs have been built and artificial channels dug to divert excess water directly into the sea, for example, the Chaobai River is diverted to the Chaobai Xin River and no longer joins with the Northern Canal. Due to industrial and urban development in the Hai He Basin, many smaller tributaries and some of the major tributaries are dry for most of the year. With reduced water flow, water pollution worsens, the water shortage in the Hai He basin is expected to be alleviated by the South-North Water Transfer Project. Geography of China Taku Forts This article incorporates text from Publication, Issue 33 Document, military Information Division, a publication from 1901 now in the public domain in the United States. This article incorporates text from Reports on military operations in South Africa, slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanga Chaffee, a publication from 1901 now in the public domain in the United States. This article incorporates text from Reports on military operations in South Africa and China, slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanza Chaffee, United States
39.
Tongzhou District, Beijing
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Tongzhou District is a district of Beijing. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the gateway to the nations capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies around 20 km east of central Beijing, at the end of the Grand Canal. The entire district covers an area of 906 square kilometres, or 6% of Beijings total area. It had a population of 673,952 at the 2000 Census, the district is subdivided into 4 subdistricts,10 towns, and 1 ethnic township. Tongzhou was founded in 195 BC during the Western Han Dynasty under the name of Lu County, at the start of the Eastern Han Dynasty the character Lu by which it was known was altered by the addition of a water radical to become Lu. In 1151 under the Jin dynasty Lu County was renamed Tongzhou, roughly meaning the place for passing through, in recognition of its importance as the land, in July 1937, subsequent to the galvanising Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Tongzhou became another site of determined Chinese resistance. In the Tongzhou Mutiny troops of the nominally Japanese-puppet East Hopei Army rebelled and came to the aid of hard-pressed Guomindang troops, in the fall of Tongzhou to the Nationalists, many civilians were murdered and abused as well as captured Japanese military personnel. The place name changed to Tong County when the area was placed under the new region of Beijing in 1914. It reverted again to Tongzhou when the area was upgraded in 1997 to a district, on 11 July 2015, Tongzhou became the second administrative seat of Beijing as a sub-administrative center for the municipality. This was done to reduce crowding within the city center of Beijing, Tongzhou is situated on the North China Plain with an average elevation of 20 metres. Its climate belongs to the temperate zone, with distinct seasons including hot summers. It has a mean temperature of 11.3 °C. and 620 mm of rainfall. Several large rivers, amongst them the Wenyu, the Liangshui, Tongzhou District is divided into 4 subdistricts,10 towns, and 1 ethnic township. Two of the towns of which carry the area label, downtown Tongzhou is connected to downtown Beijing by Jingtong Expressway and Batong Line, Beijing Subway. Beijings Fifth and Sixth Ring Road are roughly equidistant from Tongzhous CBD, highways lead to Shenyang, Harbin and Tianjin/Tanggu. A seventh ring road, a subway line, a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. Downtown Tongzhou is earmarked for redevelopment into a central business district with an emphasis on consumer retail
40.
Taku Forts
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The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts, also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River estuary, in Tanggu District, Tianjin municipality, in northeastern China. They are located 60 kilometres southeast of the Tianjin urban center, the first fort was built during the reign of the Ming Jiajing Emperor between 1522 and 1527. Its purpose was to protect Tianjin from attack by wokou sea raiders, later, in 1816, the Qing government built the first two forts on both sides of the Haihe estuary in response to increased concerns about seaborne threats from the West. By 1841, in response to the First Opium War, the system in Dagukou was reinforced into a system of five big forts,13 earthen batteries. Each fort had three guns and 20 small caliber guns. Forts were constructed of wood and brick with a curtain of two feet of concrete, the layering designed to avoid spalling and minimize penetration by artillery rounds. The forts were around 10 to 15 metres high, which located as they were in a flat landscape. In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and they captured 12 men and imprisoned them. Though the certificate allowing the ship to fly a British flag had expired, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku Forts in May 1858. In June 1858, at the end of the first part of the Second Opium War, the Treaties of Tianjin were signed, plovers commander, Rear Admiral James Hope, accepted the offer and a launch was sent to take off the wounded. Later, Tattnall discovered that some of his men were black from powder flashes, when asked, the men replied that the British had been short handed with the bow gun. His famous report sent to Washington claimed Blood is thicker than water, the forts were severely mauled and General Sengge Rinchens troops were forced to withdraw. On September 26, the arrived at Beijing and had captured the city by October 13. After the Battle of Taku Forts, most of the forts were dismantled when the Eight-Nation Alliance Forces invaded China during the Boxer rebellion, two forts remain today, one on the southern bank and the other on the northern bank of the Hai River. Dagu Fort was repaired in 1988 and opened to the public in June 1997, land reclamation has left it some considerable distance from the modern shoreline. An exhibition in Chinese recounts the history of the Opium Wars, unrestored forts are visible to its north from Haifang Road. The Queens Royal Surrey Regimental Association, website of The Queens Royal Surrey Regiment. The Taku and Beitang Forts near Tianjin
41.
Destroyer
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Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations, typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. After the war, the advent of the missile allowed destroyers to take on the surface combatant roles previously filled by battleships. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided missile destroyers more capable of independent operation, the emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy an enemy battle fleet using steam launches to launch torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called torpedo boats, the first seagoing vessel designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton HMS Lightning in 1876. She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons, these were replaced in 1879 by a torpedo tube in the bow. By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, in response to this new threat, more heavily gunned picket boats called catchers were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Dutch and, up until the Second World War, Polish. At that time, and even into World War I, the function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks. The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future, an important development came with the construction of HMS Swift in 1884, later redesignated TB81. This was a torpedo boat with four 47 mm quick-firing guns. At 23.75 knots, while still not fast enough to engage torpedo boats reliably. Another forerunner of the torpedo boat destroyer was the Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka, designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the London Yarrow shipyards in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. The 165-foot long vessel was armed with four 1-pounder quick-firing guns and six torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots, in her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger warships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the Kotaka, the first vessel designed for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats was the torpedo gunboat. Essentially very small cruisers, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes, by the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was HMS Rattlesnake, designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, the gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. Exactly 200 feet long and 23 feet in beam, she displaced 550 tons, built of steel, Rattlesnake was un-armoured with the exception of a 3⁄4-inch protective deck
42.
Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes
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Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, GCB, KCVO, CMG, DSO was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions, early in the Boxer Rebellion, he led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. He was one of the first men to climb over the Peking walls, to break through to the diplomatic legations. During the First World War Keyes was heavily involved in the organisation of the Dardanelles Campaign, Keyes took charge in an operation when six trawlers and a cruiser attempted to clear the Kephez minefield. The operation was a failure, as the Turkish mobile artillery pieces bombarded Keyes minesweeping squadron and he also planned and led the famous raids on the German submarine pens in the Belgian ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend. Between the wars Keyes commanded the Battlecruiser Squadron, the Atlantic Fleet and then the Mediterranean Fleet before becoming Commander-in-Chief, during the Second World War he initially became liaison officer to Leopold III, King of the Belgians. He went on to be the first Director of Combined Operations and implemented plans for the training of commandos and raids on hostile coasts. Born the second son of General Sir Charles Patton Keyes of the Indian Army and Katherine Jessie Keyes, Keyes told his parents from an early age, I am going to be an Admiral. After being brought up in India and then the UK, where he attended school at Margate. He was appointed to the cruiser HMS Raleigh, flagship of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, promoted to midshipman on 15 November 1887, he transferred to the corvette HMS Turquoise, operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 14 November 1891 and to lieutenant on 28 August 1893, after returning home in 1897 he became commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Opossum at Plymouth in January 1898. Keyes was then posted out to China to command another destroyer, HMS Hart, in September 1898 transferring to a newer ship, HMS Fame in January 1899. In April 1899 he went to the rescue of a small British force which was attacked and surrounded by irregular Chinese forces while attempting to demarcate the border of the Hong Kong New Territories. He went ashore, leading half the party, and, while HMS Fame fired on the besiegers, he led the charge which routed the Chinese. In June 1900, early in the Boxer Rebellion, Keyes led a mission to capture a flotilla of four Chinese destroyers moored to a wharf on the Peiho River. Together with another officer, he took boarding parties onto the Chinese destroyers, captured the destroyers. Shortly thereafter he led a mission to capture the heavily fortified fort at Hsi-cheng, he loaded HMS Fame with a party of 32 men, armed with rifles, pistols. His men quickly destroyed the Chinese gun mountings, blew up the powder magazine and returned to the ship
43.
HMS Fame (1896)
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HMS Fame was a two funnel,30 knot destroyer of the Royal Navy, ordered under the 1894 –1895 Naval Estimates. She was launched in 1896, served in Chinese waters for the whole of her life and was sold at Hong Kong in 1921. HMS Fame was one of three torpedo boat destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy from John I Thornycroft on 10 May 1895 under the 1894–1895 shipbuilding programme. As with other early Royal Navy destroyers, the design was left to the builder. These requirements included reaching a speed of 30 knots during sea trials and an armament of a single QF12 pounder 12 cwt gun, backed up by five 6-pounder guns, an arched turtleback forecastle was to be fitted. Thornycrofts design had three water-tube boilers feeding two four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, rated at 5,700 indicated horsepower, and had two funnels. The ship was 210 feet long overall and 208 feet at the waterline, with a beam of 19 feet 6 inches, displacement was 272 long tons light and 352 long tons full load, while crew was 63 officers and men. Fame was laid down as yard number 306 on 4 July 1895 at Thornycrofts shipyard at Chiswick on the River Thames and was launched on 15 April 1896, during sea trials Fame reached 30.021 knots over the measured mile and 30.17 kilometres over a three-hour run. She had her armament fitted at Portsmouth, was completed and was accepted by the Royal Navy in June 1897, on 26 June 1897 she was present at the Royal Naval Review at Spithead in celebration of Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee. In the second half of 1897 she was deployed to the China Station, on 17 June 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in China, she was involved in operations against the Taku forts and Chinese destroyers. The battle of the Taku Forts resulted in the capture of four Chinese destroyers including Hai Lung and she was awarded the battle honour China 1900 for her participation in operations during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion. Lieutenant Cyril Asser was appointed in command on 1 July 1902 and her boilers were re-tubed in 1902, and she was docked in May 1904. On 30 August 1912 the Admiralty directed all destroyer classes were to be designated by letters starting with the letter A, in 1914 she was assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the China Squadron tendered to the battleship HMS Triumph. She remained on China Station for the duration of the First World War, in 1919 she was paid off and laid-up in reserve awaiting disposal. She was sold in Hong Kong on 31 August 1921 for breaking, chesneau, Roger, Kolesnik, Eugene M, eds. Conways All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1860–1905, british Destroyers, From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Conways All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906–1921, jane, Fred T. Janes All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1898. New York, first published by Sampson Low Marston, London 1898, Janes Fighting Ships of World War I
44.
SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth
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SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth was a Kaiser Franz Joseph I-class protected cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Named in honor of the Empress Elisabeth, consort of Emperor Franz Josef, launched at the Seearsenal at Pola on 25 September 1890, Kaiserin Elisabeth was a steel-hulled vessel of 3,967 tons displacement. She measured 321 feet in length with a beam of 49 feet. The crew comprised 450 officers and men, propulsion was provided by two sets of horizontal triple expansion engines with four cylindrical double-ended boilers. Designed performance was 6,400 horsepower for 18 knots and 8,000 horsepower for 19 knots, originally Kaiserin Elisabeth was armed with two 24 cm and six 15 cm guns, both types Model 1886. In 1905-06 she was reconstructed with two long-barreled 15 cm and six short-barreled 15 cm guns, both types Model 1901, rounding out her armament were 164.7 cm quick-firing guns, one machine gun and four 14-inch torpedo tubes located above water, two on either beam. Although Kaiserin Elisabeth burned enormous quantities of coal, in 1914 she could steam at a very fair speed and was stationed in China. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Kaiserin Elisabeth took part in the defense of the German naval base of Tsingtao, at Tsingtao with Kaiserin Elisabeth were the Imperial German Navy light cruiser Cormoran, gunboats Iltis, Jaguar, Tiger and Luchs and the torpedo boat S90. The ship′s crew was divided two groups, one continued manning the ship, while the other bolstered the German garrison. Early in the siege Kaiserin Elisabeth and Jaguar made a sortie against the Japanese, later, Kaiserin Elisabeths 15 cm and 4.7 cm guns were removed and mounted ashore in Batterie Elisabeth. As the siege progressed, the naval vessels trapped in the harbor were scuttled -- Cormoran, Iltis and Luchs on 28 September, finally, Kaiserin Elisabeth was scuttled on 2 November, followed by Jaguar on 7 November, the day the fortress surrendered to the Japanese. Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I, Österreichische Kriegsmarine 1848-1918, Salzburg,1967, Barovič, Jože. Mornarica dvojne monarhije v I. svetovni vojni, Maribor 2005, COBISS2022207 KUK Kriegsmarine Flickr SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth
45.
Georg von Trapp
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Corvette Captain Georg Johannes Ritter von Trapp, often incorrectly referred to as Baron von Trapp, was an Austro-Hungarian Navy officer. His naval exploits during World War I earned him numerous decorations, under his command, the submarines SM U-5 and SM U-14 sank 13 Allied ships totaling about 45,669 gross register tons. Following Austria-Hungarys defeat and subsequent collapse, Trapp returned to his family but lost his first wife to scarlet fever, the family came under increasing persecution from the Nazis after the Anschluss, when Trapp refused to serve in the German Navy due to his opposition to Nazi ideology. Fearing arrest, Trapp fled with his family to Italy and then to the United States, the story of his family served as the inspiration for the musical The Sound of Music, and the hugely successful 1965 film, in which he was portrayed by Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. Georg Johannes Ritter von Trapp was born in Zara, Dalmatia and his older sister was the Austrian artist Hede von Trapp, and his brother Werner died in 1915 during the First World War. August Ritter von Trapp died in 1884, when Georg was four, in 1894, aged fourteen, the young Trapp followed in his fathers footsteps and joined the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy, entering the naval academy at Fiume. He graduated four years later and completed two years of follow-on training voyages, including one to Australia, on the voyage home he visited the Holy Land where he met a Franciscan monk who took him on a tour of all the Biblical sites he wanted to see. Among other things, Trapp bought seven bottles of water from the Jordan River which were used to baptize his first seven children. In 1900 he was assigned to the armored cruiser SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia and was decorated for his performance during the Boxer Rebellion, in 1902 he passed the final officers examination. He was fascinated by submarines, and in 1908 seized the opportunity to be transferred to the newly formed submarine arm. In 1910 he was given command of the newly constructed SM U-6, which was launched by his wife, on 17 April 1915, Trapp took command of SM U-5 and conducted nine combat patrols. He also captured the Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on 29 August 1915, Georg Johannes von Trapp has sometimes incorrectly been credited with sinking the Italian troop transport Principe Umberto. Trapp conducted ten more war patrols, until, in May 1918, he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän and given command of the submarine base in the Gulf of Kotor. At the end of the fighting in 1918, Trapps wartime record stood at 19 war patrols,11 cargo vessels totalling 45,669 GRT sunk, plus Léon Gambetta, among other honours, he received the Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa. The end of the First World War saw the defeat and collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Trapp was first married to Agatha Whitehead, a niece of St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton and a granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, who invented the modern torpedo. After the British government had rejected Whiteheads invention, the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef invited him to open a factory in Fiume. Trapps first command, the U-boat U-6, was launched by Agatha, agathas inherited wealth sustained the couple and permitted them to start a family, and they went on to have seven children, two sons and five daughters, over the next ten years. Their first child, Rupert, was born on 1 November 1911, at Pola, Istria, on 3 September 1922, Agatha von Trapp died of scarlet fever contracted from her daughter Agathe
Regia Marina, 
United States Navy, 
French Navy, 
Austro-Hungarian Navy, 
Imperial Japanese Navy, 
Kaiserliche Marine, 
Imperial Russian Navy and 
Royal Navy. Japanese print, 1900.
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Russian Empire
United Kingdom
French Third Republic
German Empire
Austria-Hungary
