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Discuss this first article in a new series by @TR1996 here
Tempted to tag Stephen Fry when I put this on social media
Tempted to tag Stephen Fry when I put this on social media
It kinda surprises me that Hollywood hasn't yet made a biopic of Frederick Townsend Ward, probably with Tom Cruise in the title role. I remember reading his biography by Caleb Carr before I even started taking an interest in Chinese history.
One thing the article is leaving out is that the Qing were so tied down due to facing no less than three non-Taiping rebellions all at the same time, with some lasting even longer than the Taiping. The Nian Rebellion in northern China, the Miao Rebellion in Guizhou, and the Hui Rebellion in the northwest. I can't speak for how much the Qing prioritised each of them, but the Nian, despite being a mostly peasant rebellion with less organisation and élan than the Taiping, were geographically much closer to the Qing seat of power and a more immediate threat.
I think that omission is mostly a word count thing, Tyler is aiming to cover the other rebellions and the effects of them on this war in other articles.
It's always a tricky thing when you're talking about a topic so vast that it covers multiples articles to judge what you put in each one. On the one hand its all interconnected, on the other you don't want be confusing by going too deep into elements you haven't properly introduced. This was very nearly split into two by itself.
Ah, in that case please forgive me for that assumption. I didn't see any lead into or mention of the other rebellions, so I thought to bring it up, but it's understandable not to turn to that just yet given the constraints.
Very informative article - the Taiping uprising is one of the great ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ moments.
It kinda surprises me that Hollywood hasn't yet made a biopic of Frederick Townsend Ward, probably with Tom Cruise in the title role. I remember reading his biography by Caleb Carr before I even started taking an interest in Chinese history.
But we're fortunate that they haven't tried to make one of Mad Gordon.
Ah, in that case please forgive me for that assumption. I didn't see any lead into or mention of the other rebellions, so I thought to bring it up, but it's understandable not to turn to that just yet given the constraints.
No worries, reasonable assumption to make.
@TR1996 can correct me but I think his initial plan is for the next article to be about Taiping internal governance, the third to be about western reaction/interventions and the fourth about how the other rebellions played into both side's situations.
Well that character was actually an Americanized version of a French officer named Jules Brunet. So I wonder, why bother when there's an honest-to-God American adventurer in Asia that you can use instead? It's all there, the Mighty Whitey leading an army of natives in battle and falling in love with a local woman.Supposedly his character in The Last Samurai was very, very, loosely inspired by Ward. But there's not really any commonalities other than ''American doing soldierly things in 19th-century Asia''.
Well that character was actually an Americanized version of a French officer named Jules Brunet. So I wonder, why bother when there's an honest-to-God American adventurer in Asia that you can use instead? It's all there, the Mighty Whitey leading an army of natives in battle and falling in love with a local woman.
I think that omission is mostly a word count thing, Tyler is aiming to cover the other rebellions and the effects of them on this war in other articles.
It's always a tricky thing when you're talking about a topic so vast that it covers multiples articles to judge what you put in each one. On the one hand its all interconnected, on the other you don't want be confusing by going too deep into elements you haven't properly introduced. This was very nearly split into two by itself.
To get back on topic, yeah this is fascinating and it's also completely bonkers how many times major figures in these conflicts ended up involved essentially by accident.