Yuan Shikai

Yuan Shikai was a Chinese general and politician who served as the second provisional president of the Republic of China and head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916. He also briefly proclaimed himself as the Emperor of China in 1915, but abdicated after widespread opposition. Yuan was born into a landed military family in Henan province. He received both traditional Chinese and Western education, and converted to Christianity in his youth. He joined the Huai Army under the command of Li Hongzhang, a prominent statesman and reformer of the late Qing dynasty. He was sent to Korea as a military adviser and helped to suppress several rebellions and coups. He also modernized the Korean army and exerted considerable influence on Korean politics. He returned to China after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, which resulted in the loss of Korea and Taiwan to Japan. He then became the governor of Shandong province and later the viceroy of Zhili province, where he trained and expanded the Beiyang Army, a modernized and well-equipped force that became loyal to him. He also held various imperial positions, such as the grand councillor and the secretary of foreign affairs. He supported the reform movement of 1898, but later sided with the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi against the reformers. He also suppressed the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, which aimed to expel foreign powers from China. He became a key figure in the late Qing dynasty and advocated for constitutional monarchy and limited reforms. He was appointed as the prime minister of the imperial cabinet in 1911, but soon faced the challenge of the Xinhai Revolution, which aimed to overthrow the Qing dynasty and establish a republic. Yuan negotiated with the revolutionaries, led by Sun Yat-sen, and persuaded the last emperor, Puyi, to abdicate in 1912. He then became the provisional president of the Republic of China, with the support of both the Qing loyalists and the revolutionaries. He consolidated his power by dissolving the parliament, suppressing the opposition, and expanding his army. He also tried to unify the country and deal with the threats from foreign powers, such as Japan and Russia. He faced several rebellions and uprisings from his former allies and rivals, such as the Second Revolution of 1913 and the National Protection War of 1915. He also attempted to restore the monarchy and proclaim himself as the Emperor of China, under the name of Hongxian, in 1915. However, this move was met with strong resistance from the public, the provinces, and his own generals. He was forced to abdicate and resume his presidency in 1916, but his authority and health were greatly weakened. He died of uremia in June 1916, at the age of 56, leaving behind a fractured and unstable political situation that soon led to the warlord era in China. Yuan Shikai is regarded as a controversial figure in Chinese history. He is praised for his military and administrative skills, his efforts to modernize China, and his role in ending the imperial rule and founding the republic. He is also criticized for his ambition, his betrayal of the revolution, his dictatorship, and his attempt to revive the monarchy. He is seen as a symbol of the failure of the early republic and the chaos of the warlord era.