The Deadliest War You've Never Heard Of

The show is on Spotify! 👉 https://open.spotify.com/show/7GlXSYMoOpcw41YGRCpjJB?si=cc2e479ee34d4167 He claimed to be Jesus’s younger brother. His followers built a kingdom in China. The war that followed left an estimated 20 million people dead. Hong Xiuquan began as a village teacher struggling to pass China’s imperial examinations. He became the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a religious movement that captured Nanjing and fought the Qing dynasty for more than a decade. How did his extraordinary claim inspire an army? Why did people risk everything to follow him? And how did a kingdom promising “Great Peace” become part of one of history’s deadliest wars? This is the story of the Taiping Rebellion, from Hong’s visions to the power struggles, betrayals and devastating siege that brought his Heavenly Kingdom down... Join my Substack, where the ideas go further than YouTube lets me take them: https://michaelbutton.substack.com/ Follow the show on Spotify! 👉 https://open.spotify.com/show/7GlXSYMoOpcw41YGRCpjJB?si=cc2e479ee34d4167 Let me know what you think in the comments, and thank you for watching!! Follow me on X: https://x.com/MichaelButtonX Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbuttonx/ Sources: 1. Hong Kong Museum of the War of Resistance and Coastal Defence: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom relics https://hk.waranddefence.museum/en/web/mcd/cultural-relics-of-the-taiping-heavenly-kingdom.html 2. EBSCO: Hong Xiuquan https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/hong-xiuquan 3. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity: Hong Xiuquan https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/hong-xiuquan 4. The Cambridge History of China: The Taiping Rebellion https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-china/taiping-rebellion/A82EE4530C6B6D93A8C4CC2E244F0A4B 5. National Army Museum: First China War, 1839–1842 https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/first-china-war-1839-1842 6. ChinaFile: River of Fire https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/river-fire 7. Tsêng Kuo-fan and the Taiping Rebellion: Chapter 4 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ts%C3%AAng_Kuo-fan_and_the_Taiping_Rebellion/Chapter_4 8. Wikipedia: Taiping Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion 9. British Museum: China’s Hidden Century exhibition guide https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/Chinas_hidden_century_large_print_guide.pdf 10. Columbia University: The Land System of the Heavenly Kingdom https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china-taiping-economic-pgm.htm 11. University of California Press: Book chapter linked for women and foot binding https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/10799.ch01.pdf 12. Wikipedia: Hong Xiuquan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Xiuquan 13. Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains: Chapter linked for signs of allegiance https://doi.org/10.11126/stanford/9780804754255.003.0003 14. China Institute for Chinese Culture: Taiping leadership conflict https://chiculture.org.hk/en/photo-story/1188 15. Wikipedia: Tianjing Incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjing_Incident 16. Suzhou municipal government: Historical information linked for the capture of Suzhou https://english.suzhou.gov.cn/szsenglish/szgshg/201611/0d4b8349004f41628be9cd08a4c42de7.shtml 17. Chinese University of Hong Kong: Zeng Guofan https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/rct/renditions/authors/zenggf.html 18. Journal of Institutional Economics: Last Guardian of the Throne: The Regional Army in the Late Qing Dynasty https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/last-guardian-of-the-throne-the-regional-army-in-the-late-qing-dynasty/BA85E0DB84C8174D815F9DC2E59A635E/share/06752915b79a2eb15f3636d2b35abfa28fb51b8c 19. History News Network: Jeffrey Wasserstrom interview with Stephen Platt https://www.hnn.us/article/jeff-wasserstrom-interviews-award-winner-stephen-p 20. Wikipedia: Ever Victorious Army https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Victorious_Army 21. Tobie Meyer-Fong, What Remains: Chapter linked for Zhang Guanglie’s account https://doi.org/10.11126/stanford/9780804754255.003.0006 22. Columbia University: The Taiping Rebellion https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_taiping.htm 23. Johns Hopkins University: What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th-Century China https://history.jhu.edu/faculty-books/what-remains-coming-to-terms-with-civil-war-in-19th-century-china/