Yeosin Rebellion
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| Yeosin Rebellion | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Allied Armies rush to defeat the Tianseongong Citadel, by Yasije Honako (1909) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Coalition of Six:
 Cuthish Empire Lavaria Falland Sarrac Dulebian Empire
 Resolute Restoration Armies (Charasŏn dynasty and loyal forces after 1909) |
Yeosin (Movement of National Righteousness and Harmony) Chasunese Empire (before 1909) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Empress Sumyinjeong Yi Gi-jo Liu Seung-wan Shin Gyeong-su Kim Nyeok-bin |
Dae Hyon-ik Zhang Guyang An Jeung-nom Park Lee-won Empress Sumyinjeong Han Heon-il Gon Dai-lee Gon Jeong-seung Sun Jae-yeon Pak Jong-il Bak Ji-gyu | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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15,000–31,500 Coalition troops (during the Battle of Tianseongong) approximately 80,000 loyal imperial troops |
Unknown, up to 300,000 militia troops and other fighters approximately 150,000 imperial troops | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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4,500 Coalition troops killed approximately 300 foreign civilians | Unknown, approximately 130,000 total deaths (both civilian and military) | ||||||
The Yeosin Rebellion (Chasunese: 여신반항, Yeosin Banhang), Yeosin War or Chasunese Uprising, was a violent uprising of the Yeosin Movement (Chasunese: 여신, formally called the "Movement of National Righteousness and Harmony") of xenophobic and anti-imperialist nature against the imperial dynastic Chasunese Empire and the increasingly influential Berean imperial powers between 1907 and 1910.
The increasing inability by the imperial Chasunese government to exert control with its corruption-stricken modernized army led to civil unrest and a number of ethnic and religious insurgencies on the fringes of the empire by the late 1890s. Civil and political dissent was rampant and were further aggrivated with Sumyinjeong succeeding Emperor Sojong as his heir apparent, alienating multiple high-ranking staunchly conservative officials and military commanders. Political tension between the "Moderates" seeking to strengthen the constitutional monarchy under the new empress, and the "Absolutists" seeking to overthrow the monarchy in favor of a republic, as well as the conservative factions of the military opposing Sumyinjeong and foreign intervention led to the establishment of numerous political organizations, the Yeosin Society of Absolutist members being founded in 1905 as one of their largest. Armed revolts of members of the then-secret society of the Yeosin in the Seulhae Plain and Chanon quickly grew in numbers and extent by spring of 1907, and culminated into a coordinated uprising under Dae Hyon-ik and defected imperial general An Jeung-nom.
The lynching murder of dozens of Berean civilians and Semitar missionaries in the diplomatic quarter of Tianseongong and the publishing of the Munchkin Declaration, proclaiming the "complete independence of Chasun" from Berean imperial influence and the "unrightful" rule of Sumyinjeong forced a reaction of the Berean powers present in Chasun. Military troops of Mascylla, Cuthland, Lavaria, Dulebia, Sarrac and Falland with mutual pacts of assistance subsequently invaded Chasun to aid the Chasunese monarchy and defend their treaty ports and commercial interests now seemingly threatened by summer of 1907. Empress Sumyinjeong, hesitant to act and initially opposing the invasion of the Coalition to stir support among her military, ultimately declared her support to the Coalition of Six and issued an imperial decree outlawing the Yeosin Movement. However, a substantial amount of the imperial Chasunese army defected to the uprising, and Sumyingjeong was imprisoned by January of 1909. Chasunese imperial governance desintigrated, and multiple factions supporting the Yeosin or favoring conciliation with the Coalition emerged, the most notable of which being the loyalist "Resolute Restoration Armies" under Yi Gi-jo.
The violent civil war was further intensified by Coalition intervention and the invasion of Hyangchu on 15 September 1907 and the campaign towards Tianseongong (late 1907–early 1909) by four multi-national expeditions; the capital was besieged for three months before its city walls were breached by artillery fire in March 1910. Atrocities such as uncontrolled looting, mass rape and summary execution subsequently ensued. With Tianseongong occupied by Coalition troops, the bulk of the army being utterly defeated in the nearby Battle of Hyerosan on 17 March 1910, and Dae killed amid internal fighting, the Yeosin Movement collapsed and the Gantai Protocol was signed by all six Berean powers on 1 November 1910. A freed Sumyinjeong was coronated as queen of the newly established Kingdom of Chasun on 6 November 1910, modelled after a Western constitutional monarchy, and forced to grant provisions for Coalition troops to be stationed in the capital and major coastal cities as well as pay exorbitant amounts of taels of silver as war indemnity; Chasun had to remain fully open to Berean commerce and was divided into multiple imperial spheres of influence which led to numerous disputes and tension among the Coalition members in the following years, culminating in the 1910 Gantai Crisis. Elements of the Yeosin continued to fight as guerrilla forces until the 1920s, while the now extremely weakened Chasunese monarchy lasted for another ten years until the establishment of the First Republic of Chasun and the abdication of Sumyinjeong on 1 August 1920.