"When the American Civil War Broke Out, Another Civil..." Topic

… War Had Been Raging In China For 11 Years.

"Almost at the same time that the American Civil War was taking place, another kind of civil war was occurring on the other side of the world. The Taiping Civil War, also sometimes referred to as the Taiping Rebellion, took place in China, beginning in 1850 and not ending until 1864, though skirmishes continued into 1871. The two sides were the Qing dynasty and an opposition state known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In terms of a rebel force intending to overthrow an established government, the Heavenly Kingdom was impressive. They were highly organized and followed a very strict way of life. Led by Hong Xiuquan, the opposition state was aligned with a version of Christianity that most would find unrecognizable today.

The kingdom was located in southern China and contained as many as 30 million individuals at its height. While this sounds impressive as far as numbers, and relatively normal, as many a war has been fought thanks to religion, particularly Christianity, things became a little crazy later on. This is especially true when Hong Xiuquan announced he was the younger brother of Jesus and demanded that all Buddhists, Confucianists and any who practiced a local religion leave the area under his jurisdiction…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I was just reading about the Taiping Rebellions. Sounds pretty crazy, especially considering it in the context of a war involving "christians".

Their leader had very little grip on traditional Christianity and many of his followers joined his movement more because they wanted to overthrow what many Chinese saw as an alien dynasty, the Manchus.

I have been playing this war for years now, it is fascinating and some historians have said the death toll of the Taiping Rebellion was second only to WW2.

Massive armies, wide variety of weaponry from swords, spears, matchlocks, muskets, rifles, artillery, crossbows, rockets, and battles in the field, massive sieges which could go on for years, naval battles on lakes and rivers with hundreds of ships…..it was a fantastic story which so many gamers are unaware of.

Sounds interesting…

Amicalement
Armand

Their leader had very little grip on traditional Christianity and many of his followers joined his movement more because they wanted to overthrow what many Chinese saw as an alien dynasty, the Manchus.

Yes, it seemed appropriate to use the term in quotation marks.

Massive armies, wide variety of weaponry from swords, spears, matchlocks, muskets, rifles, artillery, crossbows, rockets, and battles in the field, massive sieges which could go on for years, naval battles on lakes and rivers with hundreds of ships…..it was a fantastic story which so many gamers are unaware of.

I was think how fantastic a conflict for war gaming. Well done recognising that.