Shangean Civil War
| Shangean Civil War | ||||||||
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| Part of aftermath of the Great War | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
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Other revolutionary armies  Black Army |
 Kaoming Republic SenriaSupported by  Etruria Werania AnsanSeparatists  Chanwa Duran.svg){kind=small} Ba Republic |
 Entente remnants | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
 Lu Keqian Zhou Hongkui Wu Jinmo Chen Xuechang Rao Junzhao Mao Jufeng |
Meng Jianing Zhang Mingshu Qin Xinyi Miyake Sintarou Thakin Aung U Myint Jia Kiuchiau |
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| Strength | ||||||||
 3,286,100 (peak) 1,672,300 (peak) 105,000 (peak) |
 1,567,190 (peak) 250,000 (peak) 550,000 (peak) |
 1,145,200 (peak) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| A lot | A lot | A lot | ||||||
The Shangean Civil War (Shangean: 晓东内战; Xiǎodōng Nèizhàn) also known as the War for National Salvation (救国战争; Jiùguó Zhànzhēng) was a multi-party civil war in the former Heavenly Shangean Empire that lasted from the end of the Great War to the parititon of Chanwa in January 1941. It was the largest conflicts in the aftermath of the Great War and its course shaped the future of South Coius resulting in the collapse of the regional order envisioned by the Treaty of Keisi and the rise of the modern Auspicious Republic of Shangea. It additionally led to the total destruction of imperial restorationists in Shangea ending over 2,000 years of imperial rule and definitively consolidating republicanism.
In October 1934 the city of Baiqiao had fallen to Senrian forces leading much of the imperial government to relocate to Wulin to continue the war effort. The assassination of the Shanrong Emperor by republican officers led to the declaration of a republic, the Wulin government, and the beginning of peace negotiations with the Grand Alliance. By the beginning of 1935 Shangea was politically unstable continuing to be at war with the Grand Alliance with Senria occupying the west of the country having liberated Duran from Shangean rule and supporting the Republic of West Shangea on the Kaoming peninsula. Imperial remnants based around the now-disgraced Nanqing Clique and the Church of Emperor Worship had retreated to their strongholds in Luoyuan and Nanqing whilst the east and north of the country saw widespread socialist agitation from the Shangean Section of the Workers' International and the influence of national socialists in the army under the control of Lu Keqians Xiaodong Regeneration Society begin to grow. In the far north the Union of Chanwa had declared independence whilst in the far-east Grand Alliance forces under Werania had given the Hameung region to Kuthina.
In March 1935 the Wulin government signed the Treaty of Keisi recognising Senrian occupation and demilitarisation of the Kaoming peninsula, the independence of Duran and Chanwa, the cessation of border territory to Ansan and Kuthina, reparations and the trial of collaborators in the Senrian Genocide. The Treaty outraged nationalist opinion leading to Lu Keqian to launch the Corrective Revolution in Rongzhuo, declaring an alternative government and a political alliance with the far-left. Lu's takeover was opposed by the republican government in Baiqiao which had been recognised internationally since the end of the Great War. The collapse of central authority led to other groups such as anarchists to form to also overthrow the Wulin government.
The initial stages of the war saw gains for the Rongzhuo governments forces thanks to large defections from the army, mass civil unrest and general hostility to the Wulin government. Although being recognised internationally the Wulin government due to conditions imposed in the Treaty of Keisi struggled to obtain military support from the Grand Alliance. This weakeness led to the monarchist Ever Victorious Army under Yan Xuegang to advance on Baiqiao, taking the city and declaring the Great Way (Daodao) government in early 1937. Yan's actions prompted Senria fearful of the return to power of Great War-era génocidaires to intervene, allowing the reunification of the West Shangean Republic into the Wulin government and assisting in the invasion of the Daodao territory, eventually defeating the imperial remnants by summer 1938.
The campaign against the imperial army had sapped resources away from the northern front, with Lu's forces having eliminated the bulk of anarchist forces and begun an offensive into the east of the country taking Shenkong. Although successfully taking Baiqiao Lu's forces were unable to advance further westwards after being defeated by the Senrian army, but by summer 1940 had taken over the southern region consolidating power over all but the Kaoming peninsula. The Rongzhuo government would sign an agreement with the Senrian government to annex the Kaoming peninsula in return for allowing Senria to continue its occupation of the region and to maintain its demilitarised status thus ending the Wulin government. The civil war ended in 1941 after Shangea, Kuthina and the Pardarian Revolutionary Resistance Command launched a joint-invasion of Chanwa and partitioned it between them/
The civil war saw massive economic destruction, displacement and atrocities from all sides. The civil war brought to power the Shangean Regeneration Society which created a national-socialist "guided democracy" under the doctrine of National Principlism.
Background
The civil war was the culmination of long term processes stemming from the growing social and political polarisation in Shangean society and short term processes of the defeat of the Great War and subsequent collapse of the millennia-old imperial system.
Long term causes
Political radicalism in Shangea had begun to surface in the early 1900s as the contradiction between the millennia-old imperial order and the rise of modern liberal, nationalist, republican and socialist thought began to break through. The creation of the Heavenly Shangean Empire had been predicated on a marriage between traditional Shangean civilisational exceptionalism and a form of nationalism that emphasised modernity and ethnic chauvinism. Shangean conservatives grouped around the Xiyong Emperor hoped to revive the supposed "golden age" of the Tao dynasty through the creation of an unified nation-state that would utilise the modern progress of Euclean nations whilst retaining as much as the old social and political order as possible. This Neo-Taoism was accommodating of a move towards capitalism as controlled by the ruling oligarchy being uninterested in broader social reform. Under the "Zhengfeng" (Rectification) programme which aimed to rapidly modernise and industrialise Shangea military, economic and administrative modernisation was undertaken alongside Shangeocisation but reforms fundamentally sought to bolster the imperial system that had been created under the Xiang dynasty.
The increasing spread of literacy and greater engagement with foreign philosophies had a profound effect on the Shangean ideological landscape as Shangeans begun questioning old certainties. The general rise of Coian republicanism in the 1910s saw Shangean writers and activists alongside their Senrian and Kuthine counterparts begin propagating new ideologies and modes of political, social and economic organisation. The Senrian Revolution in particular had a profound effect on Shangean proto-revolutionaries who begun to advocate a similar overthrow of the old order.
The continued rule by oligarchs and centrality of the imperial system had led to intermittent revolts. The largest of these, the so-called "Red Summer" in 1920, had directly led to a successful palace coup known as the Jiayun Uprising which entrenched a new government under the Nanqing Clique who sought to revitalise the imperial system through rural reform and national expansion. The monarchy thus tied its fate to the success of the clique who following the Senrian Revolution begun to frame republicanism, liberalism and socialism as its greatest threats.
Shangeocisation and the rise of nationalism in general also meant for regionalists and minority groups such as Durani's and Chanwans that continued imperial rule of their territory was undesirable and that new forms of political organisation were needed.
Short term causes
Great War
Shangea was the primary instigator of the Great War in 1927 after it invaded Senria following the Second Sakata Incident which saw the Shangean concession of Sakata annexed by Senria. During the war Shangea fought in Senria itself, Satria (primarily Eturiran and Estmerish colonies) and Southeast Coius (primarily through its own puppet state Kuthina against Weranian forces). In 1932 Shangean forces surrendered in Senria, leading to the de facto end of the Senrian Genocide and the beginning of Shangean defensive preparations. At the time, the Shangean imperial government was dominated by the Nanqing Clique, a group of ultranationalist royalists close to the Church of Emperor Worship that had influence over the Shanrong Emperor. Shangean imperial propaganda extolled the civilisational, moral and racial superiority of the Shangean people over Senrians in particular with the Shangean military believing the defeat in Senria being due to a lack of sufficient élan then strategic or military deficiencies.
The Shangean state had begun during the war to show increasing weakness and unrest. The mobilisation of troops was done according to a strict national plan that accounted for agricultural output - mobilisation was designed to prevent mass recruitment of farmers' and peasants needed to maintain food stocks. Taxes on rural goods were in theory kept low to prevent social disruption and retain a passive homefront. However the length of the war and the simultaneous deployment of troops on three fronts had not be accounted for in the mobilisation plan meaning more and more peasants had to be forcibly conscripted whilst taxes were successively hiked. Rural law and order became increasingly archaic as the baojia system begun to broke down with desertion and rural rebellion becoming common.
Senrian forces invaded Shangea in May 1933 through Kintao before occupying much of the Kaoming peninsula. Shangea's defence was chaotic, poorly organised and suffered from a collapse of the logistics system. A combination of rural conscription, a drought that effected much of central Shangea, the grain requisition policies of Shangean and Senrian forces and the purposeful destruction of hydraulic and agricultural systems by Senrian forces led to a famine to ravage Baozhou, Anqian and Luoyuan provinces. Corruption and military priorities inhibited famine relief worsening rural unrest. Millions of refugees from Senrian occupied areas caused further distress whilst inflation far outstripped wages causing an economic crisis in the cities. The economic collapse led to trade unions, dissident journalists and other revolutionaries after a period of intense repression to reorganise and begin demanding the end of the imperial system and peace with honour.
The rapidity of the Senrian advance collapsed morale as Shangean units were hurriedly withdrawn from Satria, causing morale to plummet. Republican and socialist influence in the army supported by influential military officersbegan to grow. Personality clashes with members of the governing Nanqing Clique contributed to this polarisation in the army with secret socities beginning to form. The largest of these was the Xiaodong Regeneration Society, founded by Lu Keqian, which advocated a form of nationalist socialism.
Abolition of the monarchy
As the war effort continued the position of the monarchy became tenuous. In 1933 the Shanrong Emperor had been forced to dismiss premier Cao Ghuozhang, a member of the Nanqing Clique, in favour of general Shi Renshu although Nanqing Clique leader general Ren Xilian remained the éminence grise of the regime. The Emperor was increasingly isolated as he became tied to unpopular wartime policies. Within the government a peace committee had been formed by the quartermaster of the army, General Qin Xinyi. Qi called for in the face of military catastrophe a modus vivendi to be reached with the constitutionalist opposition led by Zhang Mingshu and for Shangea to enter peace talks to prevent revolutionary forces seizing power. The Shanrong Emperor refused all moves towards an agreement with the opposition, social or political reform or the possibility of a peace agreement.
In December 1934 Senrian forces begun a two-month siege of the capital of Baiqiao. The Emperor and Ren both continued to refuse the possibility of a surrender with the Emperor planning to continue the war in Rongzhuo. As the siege begun the emperor ordered the majority of the government to temporarily re-locate to the fortress city of Wulin to give himself time to organise a loyalist government in Rongzhuo. Rongzhuo however was under the control of the 87th Division led by general Yu Changshao, a republican loyalist of Lu Keqian and a member of the Xiaodong Regeneration Society.
When en route to Rongzhuo on the 16th January 1935 the Emperor was detained by members of the 87th Division. The soldiers demanded that the Emperor hand power over to a revolutionary government that would continue the war, implement land reform and institute monarcho-socialism. The Emperor refused instead ordering his guards to fire on his captors - after a short firefight the Emperor was shot in the chest three times and died. The death of the Emperor was soon communicated to Yu, who declared that the Emperor had abdicated and that a revolutionary government would be promptly formed.
Yu's declaration was repudiated by the remaining government in Wulin with General Qin taking de facto control. Although there was talk of enthroning the emperor's brother the Prince Zaicheng Qi ultimately decided to unilaterally declare a temporary provisional republican government that would oversee a just peace with the Grand Alliance and the creation of a more democratic political system. The de facto end of the monarchy and the creation of the Wulin government (named for its initial seat of power) would be the decisive event in ending Shangea's participation in the Great War.
The convoluted end of the monarchy - the death of the Emperor was not announced until the 19th January and was initially given as suicide - led to political chaos. Across southeast Shangea anarchist and socialist groups immediately engaged in reprisals against monarchists and begun ad hoc land reform programmes supported by the dissident Shangean Section of the Workers' International. Workers' in Shenkong, Beidu and Shiyang declared people's commune although authorities quickly sought to crush these. Liberals, reformist conservatives, Zohists, republicans and socialists celebrated the end of the monarchy whose image had been tied to an unpopular, extremist Sotirian clique that had prosecuted a ruinous and unsuccessful war. Monarchists largely retreated to Luoyuan and Nanqing provinces where among the Paisha people support the imperial family remained strong.
The end of imperial rule after two millennia of existence led to mixed reactions from many. Philosopher and later political leader Wu Jinmo stated that the end of the monarchy had "completely destroyed what we had known and meant that anything was now possible in the new Shangea. For many the end of the monarchy would at the least result in a more favourable treatment by the Grand Alliance and that new economic, social and political reforms would be possible.
Treaty of Keisi
Corrective Revolution
Early War
Corrective Revolution (1936)
Second counter offensive (1938)
- ↑ Against Chanwa