Republic+Of+China

= The Republic Of China =

A poster commemorating Yuan Shikai's (left) political victory in Beijing in 1912. Sun Yetsen (right) remained the "provincial president" while Yuan Shikai became the "permanent president"


 * On October 10th, 1911, revolution broke out in Wuchang, which led to a bloody civil war with the Qing Empire and ended after the general of the Qing Empire, Yuan Shikai defected to Sun Yetsun.
 * On January 1st, 1912, Dr. Sun Yetsen was inaugurated President of the newly formed Republic of China, effectively ending the almost 5000 year old dynastic era of China. This Republic was to be governed by a democratic government, which was guided by the "Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood."
 * The Republic of China had an unstable government and soon after the founding, the defective general, Yuan Shikai seized all political power and began to consolidate his government. He assumed dictatorial policies and began to change the established constitution in order to empower himself.
 * In July, 1913, seven southern provinces rebelled against Yuan's authoritarian government, causing the start of the Second Revolution. However, this revolution failed and only served to solidfy Yuan Shikai's power. In 1915, Yuan declared himself emperor. However, he was forced to abdicate and died soon after.
 * After Yuan's death, several different factions within China established governments, however, none of them held power for very long. The late 1910's saw numerous rapid changes in power until the Ku Ming Tong was established by Sun and his colleagues. The KMT managed to unify China for a short period of time.

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