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History
Republic of China
Sun Yatsen and revolutionary representatives from 17 provinces met on October 10, 1911, in
Nanjing and set up the Provisional Republican Government.
Though the republican government had much popular support, it lacked the military means to
oust the Qing Dynasty in Beijing. Rather, it was threatened to be ousted itself by an army
dispatched from Beijing.
Sun Yatsen and his associates, however, succeeded in convincing the commander of the
imperial forces, Yuan Shikai, to switch sides. Ultimately, however, it was not Yuan Shikai who
was won by Sun Yatsen to the republican cause but the republican movement that was made
subject to the personal ambitions of Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai first ousted Sun Yatsen as
leader of the republican government, then installed himself as president, then changed the
republican constitution to make himself president for life.
In 1915, when this met with opposition from those who had taken part in the republican
revolution, Yuan Shikai felt that the republican ideology had outlived its usefulness for his
personal ambitions. He abandoned the republican cause on short notice and declared the
restoration of imperial China, with himself, who else, as emperor.
Other eras in the history:
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