I. Overthrow of the Qajar dynasty

On the morning of March 2, General Ruzsky reported to Nicholas II that General Ivanov’s mission had failed. Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, through General Ruzsky, stated by telegraph that the preservation of the Romanov dynasty is possible subject to the transfer of the throne to the heir Alexei under the regency of Nicholas II's younger brother, Mikhail. The Emperor instructed General Ruzsky to request the opinion of the front commanders by telegraph. When asked about the desirability of Nicholas II’s abdication, everyone answered positively (even Nicholas’s uncle, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, commander of the Caucasian Front), with the exception of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral

A.V. Kolchak, who refused to send the telegram. The betrayal of the army leadership was a heavy blow for Nicholas II. General Ruzsky told the emperor that he must surrender to the mercy of the winner, because... the high command, standing at the head of the army, is against the emperor, and further struggle will be useless.

The king was faced with a picture of the complete destruction of his power and prestige, his complete isolation, and he lost all confidence in support from the army if its heads went over to the side of the emperor’s enemies in a few days.

The Emperor did not sleep for a long time that night from March 1 to 2. In the morning, he handed over a telegram to General Ruzsky notifying the Chairman of the Duma of his intention to abdicate the throne in favor of his son Alexei. He himself and his family intended to live as a private individual in the Crimea or Yaroslavl province. A few hours later, he ordered Professor S.P. Fedorov to be called into his carriage and told him: “Sergey Petrovich, answer me frankly, is Alexei’s disease incurable?” Professor Fedorov replied: “Sir, science tells us that this disease is incurable.” There are, however, cases when a person obsessed with her reaches a respectful age. But Alexei Nikolaevich, nevertheless, will always depend on any chance. The Emperor said sadly: “That’s exactly what the Empress told me... Well, since this is so, since Alexey cannot be useful to the Motherland, as I would like, then we have the right to keep him with us."

The decision was made by him, and on the evening of March 2, when the representative of the Provisional Government A.I. Guchkov, the Minister of War and Navy and a member of the executive committee of the Duma, arrived from Petrograd

V.V. Shulgin, he gave them an act of renunciation.

The act of renunciation was printed and signed in 2 copies. The king's signature was made in pencil. The time specified in the Act, 15 hours, corresponded not to the actual signing, but to the time when Nicholas II made the decision to abdicate. After signing the Act, Nicholas II went back to Headquarters to say goodbye to the army.

March 3, Friday: “Slept long and soundly. Woke up far beyond Dvinsk. The day was sunny and frosty. Talked with my people about yesterday. Read a lot about Julius Caesar. At 8.20 arrived in Mogilev. All ranks of the headquarters were on the platform. Received Alekseev in the carriage. At 9.30 Alekseev came with the latest news from Rodzianko. It turns out that Misha (the tsar’s younger brother) abdicated in favor of the elections after 6 months of the Constituent Assembly. God knows who convinced him to sign such a nasty thing! If only this continues."*

So, 300 years and 4 years after a shy sixteen-year-old boy who reluctantly accepted the throne at the request of the Russian people (Michael I), his 39-year-old descendant, also named Michael II, under pressure from the Provisional Government and the Duma, lost it, having been on the throne for 8 hours from 10 to 18 o'clock on March 3, 1917. The Romanov dynasty ceased to exist. The final act of the drama begins.

I. Overthrow of the Qajar dynasty

Iran is a country of ancient civilizations. They existed here long before the Arab invasion in the 7th century, when Islam penetrated Iran. The horrors of the Arab invasion are still perceived in Iran more acutely than the invasion of the Mongols, although they entered Iran 600 years later.

Shia Islam has established itself in Iran. This is a radical movement of followers of the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed - Imam Ali. Since then, Iran has become the stronghold of Shiism in the world. Shiites make up 1/10 of all Muslims. There are many characteristic features of this trend in Islam: the cult of martyrdom, the absence of any organizational hierarchy of religious figures, the right to renounce one’s views under threat of torture, the legend of the “hidden imam” (one of the imams, the 12th in a row, in his teens age disappeared back in 887 and should appear at a critical moment - then the “golden age” of Shiism will begin).

But most importantly - Shiites do not recognize secular authority. They always considered legitimate only the power of the descendants of the prophet, therefore in Iran the Shiite clergy had long disputed the legitimacy of the power of the Shah.

Central government always in Iran was weak. It was challenged not only by Shiite mullahs and local authorities of the feudal, separatist persuasion, but also by the a nationalistic movement of intellectuals and entrepreneurs who advocated the revival of Iran. Educated in 1906 As a result of turbulent events, the Majlis became a spokesman for nationalist sentiments, although it was strongly influenced by the Muslim clergy.

During the First World War, in March 1915 g., it was concluded Russian-English agreement on the division of Iran on spheres of influence. The British sent their troops to the south, the Russians to the north of Iran.

But the orientation towards Germany and Turkey was much more popular in Iran. In Turkish-occupied territory, in Kermanshah, in 1916 was created pro-German government although at the same time a cabinet was formed in Tehran that collaborated with Russia and England. However, the real power of both governments was negligible.

After the events in Russia the February events of 1917 Soldiers' committees were created in the Russian troops stationed in Iran, and then Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were formed with the participation of Russian subjects. On November 24, 1917, in the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars “To all working Muslims of Russia and the East,” all previous agreements on the division of Persia were declared invalid. In December 1917, the imminent evacuation of Russian troops from Iran was announced. It began in January 1918. All secret agreements concerning Iran were published. This prompted England to intensify its actions.

At the beginning of 1918, British troops were sent to the north of Iran and the ports of Rasht and Anzali were taken under control. Then the British rushed to Transcaucasia and to the northeast, to the Transcaspian region. They soon established contacts with local nationalists in Gilan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, replaced Russian officers with British in the Cossack brigade - the only combat-ready military unit of the Iranians, and by August 1918 they completely controlled the country.

In the autumn of 1918 they began Anglo-Iranian negotiations, which ended signing of the agreement of August 9, 1919 d. Its terms were to actually turn Iran into a protectorate of England. British advisers were appointed to all government departments, British officers carried out the reorganization of the Iranian army, etc.

This outraged the population. The country was engulfed in nationalist uprisings, and Ahmed Shah Qajar himself was abroad. The central government did not actually function. All this happened during 1919-1920. Local separatist governments were formed in the national regions of Iran (Azerbaijan, Khorosan, Gilan, Kurdistan).

In June 1920 The pro-British government of Vosugh ed-Dole resigned. New government refused recognize the Anglo-Iranian treaty, since it was not approved by the Majlis. In September 1920, England demanded that Iran immediately recognize the treaty, but the Iranian government sent a delegation to Moscow, hoping to play on the contradictions.

By this time the army had intervened in politics. Colonel Reza Khan, regiment commander in a Cossack division, newly formed on the basis of a brigade, On February 21, 1921, he brought his units into Tehran and produced a state coup. He changed the government, retaining the post of Minister of War.

February 26, 1921 was in Moscow The Soviet-Iranian treaty was signed. Soviet Russia transferred to Iran a number of islands in the Caspian Sea, all Russian property on Iranian territory with a total value of 600 million rubles. Articles 5 and 6 of the treaty provided for the right to send Russian troops into Iranian territory to ensure the security of Soviet Russia.

WITH May 1921 real power the country is rapidly moving into the hands of Minister of War Reza Khan. Autumn 1921 - spring 1922 he suppresses separatist protests in Iran. At his request, British troops, instructors and financial advisers leave Iran.

The central government is strengthened: the country is divided into 6 regions, martial law is introduced in each, power passes into the hands of military governors. They were also given control over the collection of all taxes and the distribution of bread and other products. Each region has a combat-ready division, all types of troops are subordinate to the Minister of War, that is, Reza Khan personally.

In 1923 Reza Khan decisively suppresses the separatist actions of the Kurds and Lurs in the west of the country and creates his own party - “Renewal”. Since October 1923, Reza Khan became Prime Minister. He finally leaves Ahmed Shah abroad and obliges the regent not to interfere in affairs. His personal authority is growing rapidly.

At the end of 1924 - beginning of 1925, Reza again suppressed the separatists with force; in February 1925, the Majlis awarded him the title of Supreme Commander-in-Chief (in Iran this is the exclusive prerogative of the Shah). Meanwhile, the Renewal Party, created by Reza Khan, is intensively promoting a reform program, the intention to put an end to speculation and strengthen Iran's national independence.

Addressed by Reza Khan for support and Shiite clergy speaking out in defense of religious morality, introducing a ban on alcohol and implementing other measures. It includes prominent religious figures in the government. By that time, the Qajar dynasty was completely compromised.

October 1925 The Mejlis announces the overthrow of the Shah and the temporary transfer of power into the hands of Reza Khan. And on December 12, 1925, the Constituent Assembly convened by him proclaimed Reza Khan the Shah of the new Pahlavi dynasty.

Which deepened economic instability, caused a new wave of social dissatisfaction and, as a consequence, February revolution 1917.

World War I.

The First World War began on July 15, 1914 with the declaration of war Austro-Hungarian Empire Serbia. She came to Russia on July 19 of the same year. On this day Wilhelm II, German Emperor, declared war on the Russian Empire.

Until this moment Nicholas II tried in every possible way to prevent a large-scale international conflict, demanding that the conflict between the Serbs and Austrians be resolved peacefully, through the Hague Conference, but everything was to no avail.

Already on October 20, Russia found itself in a state of war with Germany, Austria, the Ottoman Empire and a little later Bulgaria (together they all formed Quadruple Alliance, who replaced Triple Alliance).

Russia entered into a coalition with England and France ( Entente). Italy, Romania and some other countries also provided minor assistance in the fighting of this coalition.

In August 1914, troops of the German Empire invaded Belgium and Luxembourg, and soon France. The French, with difficulty, but still held back the Germans, and the front line gradually moved to the Atlantic coast in northwestern France.

Already on August 18 during Galician battle the Russians gained the upper hand over the Germans in East Prussia. But after this, the fighting took on a positional character, without significant progress. The Serbs captured Belgrade from Austria, but then Türkiye entered the war in the North Caucasus. This greatly complicated Russia's communication with its allies across the Black and Mediterranean seas.

In 1915, the war on the Western Front became more and more violent, the Germans began to use chemical weapons, but neither they nor the allies achieved significant success.

On the eastern front, in Galicia, Russia began to push back the Austro-Hungarians, trying to help the French, but the Germans quickly sent help and closed the hole in the Austrian defense. On the northern sector of the eastern front, the Germans also began to put pressure. As a result, Russia was forced to retreat, and the enemy occupied Galicia and Volyn. The main reason for the retreat was the extremely poor supply of Russian troops with food and ammunition, as well as fresh forces. In addition, Russia was experiencing a very serious shortage of artillery shells. The Serbs were unable to help, because in October Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Austria.

In 1916, on the Western Front during Battle of Verdun the allies (England and France) lost more than 700 thousand soldiers, and Germany - almost 500 thousand (although official figures are somewhat lower). Battle of Verdun lasted from February 21 to December 18 - almost ten months. The Allies won, but the mutual exhaustion of the troops meant that the front line remained virtually unchanged (therefore, in fact, the result was a draw). That same year, the Germans offered peace to the French and British, but the Allies rejected it. A little later, in 1917, when the superiority of the Entente became obvious, the United States joined the allies (as in World War II).

Back in 1915, Nicholas II took command of the Russian army, and constantly traveled from the capital to Headquarters.

On September 8, 1916, the Germans on the Eastern Front attempted a Russian defense ( Sventsyansky breakthrough), but were defeated, and the war again returned to the positional channel.

One of the most significant episodes of the First World War was the defense of the fortress Osovets in eastern Poland. The defenders of Osovets heroically repelled three assaults by vastly superior German troops from September 1914 to August 1915. In the end, the Germans took a new means - an attack with deadly gas, after which they set out to clear the ruins of the fortress from the dead. On the approach to the walls, 14 German battalions (about 7 thousand soldiers) were attacked by a handful of miraculously surviving Russian soldiers (about 60 people). As they ran, they coughed terribly, their skin and eyes were an unnatural color due to chlorine poisoning, their faces were wrapped in dirty rags (the defenders did not have gas masks). As a result, 60 Russian soldiers put to flight seven thousand Germans, who were horrified by Dead Attacks. In August 1916, after the Germans broke through on the other flank, Osovets lost its defensive significance, and the surviving defenders (no more than 50 people) left the practically destroyed defense stronghold on August 18.

On January 19, 1917, a conference took place in Petrograd (later known as Petrograd Conference), at which representatives of England, France, Italy and, of course, Russia agreed to launch a joint offensive in the spring of this year. It must be said that back in 1914, after the German attack, St. Petersburg was rid of the German ending “burg” (that is, “city”) and renamed the more Slavic Petrograd.

However, Russia no longer took part in this offensive. At the end of February 1917, Russian troops dropped out of the First World War due to a coup d'etat during the February Revolution (except for one more small episode - an unsuccessful June offensive Kerensky in the summer of the same year). March 3, 1918 representatives Soviet Russia signed a separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in Brest-Litovsk with Austria, Germany, Turkey and Bulgaria about Russia’s withdrawal from the First World War, which actually meant its defeat. And on November 11, 1918, the Germans signed an act of surrender and presented it to representatives of England, France and the United States. There were no Russians among the winners.

February revolution.

The main reasons for the revolution were:

economic crisis caused by World War I;
the lack of significant successes and the presence of many failures during the military operations of the Russian army;
discrediting the imperial family by the increased influence on the policies of the authorities of an ordinary court physician (Gregory Rasputin);
the emperor’s inattention to internal political problems (due to the same war);
rocking the social situation by revolutionary organizations with the support of some outside forces.

On February 26, the events of 1905 began to repeat themselves. The workers rebelled, and the next day they were joined by soldiers. The Emperor was at Headquarters with his family at that moment. The uprising was led RSDLP (Lenin - from abroad) and other revolutionary organizations. Soon the capital and some other cities of Russia, with all administrative bodies, postal, telegraph and railway stations, found themselves in the hands of the rebels.

Nicholas II hastily tried to return to the capital, but after traveling part of the way (to the station with the symbolic name “Bottom”) he discovered that all the roads were blocked. On March 2, 1917, the emperor was captured along with his family by revolutionaries and was forced to sign an abdication from the throne. The rebels sent Nicholas into exile under escort. On August 26, the imperial family was taken to Tobolsk. In April 1918, the prisoners were transported to Yekaterinburg, where the Bolsheviks planned to try Nicholas. However, on July 17, 1918, early in the morning Nikolay Romanov, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, four daughters and a son, as well as a servant and the court physician, Doctor Botkin, were shot by Commissar Yurovsky and his assistants, after which the bodies were robbed and buried in the nearby forest.

On August 14, 2000, Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The canonization caused much controversy. However, if we take into account the last months of the life of Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, when he realized the mistakes he had made and began to lead a righteous life, then canonization was more or less justified (especially considering the circumstances of his death). One way or another, Nikolai Alexandrovich (and even more so his family) did not deserve such a fate, and could well have become everyone’s favorite sovereign if the period of his reign had not fallen on such difficult years in the history of Russia.

A historian once told me that the basis of China's historical cycle of violence is peasants and war. Oppression and rebellion are repeated again and again throughout the centuries, and one day the turning of the wheel will crush the communists, and then those who come after them. There was ancient wisdom in what he told me at Tiger Leaping Gorge. The classic Chinese novel “The Three Kingdoms” begins with the words “The great powers of the Celestial Empire, having been separated for a long time, strive to unite again and, after a long unity, fall apart again - this is what the people say.” The novel compares the flow of history to waves rolling onto the shore and receding again. Heroes are like white foam; they appear for a moment and disappear without a trace.

Reputable scholar David Shambaugh believes that the cycle is repeating itself, and very soon the current Chinese government will feel it for itself. In the article “China's Coming Collapse,” David Shambaugh writes: “We are seeing the beginning of the end of China's communist regime. His fall will be long, hard and bloody." This statement caused a strong reaction from all sides. No matter how confident China feels under Xi Jingping, no matter whether the country has become stronger or destabilized, and no matter how much violence the coming collapse will provoke. As "Three Kingdoms" shows, none of this matters. Everything has already happened in the past, and everything will happen again.

The previous fall of a strong Chinese government occurred nearly a century ago, when the Qing dynasty, which had ruled the country for nearly 400 years, collapsed. The collapse did not happen overnight, but spanned roughly a century, from uprisings and unrest in the mid-19th century to the rise of the Communist Party in the 1950s.

Martial arts and martial arts played a very important role in the riots and rebellions that shook the country, split the state and overthrew the imperial power. Martial arts played a particularly prominent role in the four revolts that shaped the place of martial arts in an era of social instability. One of the results is the sharp contrast that exists between the current martial arts infrastructure in China and those institutions that operated a hundred years ago.

We are talking about the Red Head Rebellion or Opera Riot (1854-1855), the Red Spear Rebellion (in the 1920-1930s), the Yihetuan Uprising (1899-1901) and the most destructive for the country - the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864).

Bandits, acrobats, wandering monks, pirates and peasants

The Opera Riot involved acrobats and martial artists associated with theater troupes, but the bulk of the rebels were Pearl River pirates, Grand Canal robber boatmen, landless peasants and numerous other poor people. The Chinese underclass in the Pearl River Delta were ruined by the high imperial taxes that the authorities levied to finance the ongoing war with the Taiping. As a result, taxes, instead of covering large military expenses, provoked a new uprising.

In the excellent article “What Does the Opera Rebellion Tell Us About Social Attitudes toward Violence and Martial Arts in the Late Chinese Empire?” Ben Judkins writes that what matters most is not the uprising itself, but its consequences. Officials and martial arts societies were faced with a choice: support the rebels or go over to the side of the imperial forces. The elites and the fighters associated with them preferred order to chaos. After they made their choice, the uprising was crushed. After this, the elites carried out an incredibly bloody purge of the lower strata of society, slaughtering about a million boatmen, tramps, acrobats, ordinary bandits, beggars and some martial artists.

The Opera Rebellion demonstrated the Chinese elite's willingness to use martial arts when necessary—and destroy them when the need no longer existed. Judkins uses the myth of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, and his Journey to the West to support his thesis:

“At the beginning of the story, the monkey king (a natural martial artist) is more interested in creating chaos in the world than doing good and justice. Moreover, at first he seems to have an aversion to good deeds. But this is exactly what Heaven needs from him. Instead of destroying the monkey king, he is assigned to carry out a certain task. Guanyin puts an iron hoop on his head, which causes unbearable pain to the monkey if Sun Wukong begins to do evil. The Bodhisattva makes him a student-companion-protector of a wandering monk and sends him with him to India to return the ancient sutras.

Throughout the entire journey, Sun Wukong protects the monk from various monsters, and does this with the maximum use of violence. But his actions are considered good because he is fulfilling the task of Heaven. However, it is not at all obvious that by the end of the story he became better than he was at the beginning. In any case, he did not love violence any less. And that's what made it useful. As a specialist in violence, the Monkey King exists to be put to good use."

The opera uprising was the first step towards consolidating the system of relations between the state and martial arts masters. Kung fu schools must cooperate with the authorities or be destroyed.

The Chinese government continues to use thugs. The attempt to suppress the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong with the help of the Triads and other gangster groups is considered a move by the Beijing authorities. These tactics are consistent with traditional practices that have been around for centuries and provide insight into how the Chinese government does things.

Against this background, the lack of reaction from Hong Kong martial arts schools looks curious. What little they did say concerned mainly the destructive effect of protests and the need to protect the people from bandits. Even those martial artists who joined the Occupy Central movement did not try to retake the streets from Beijing fighters. However, the latter were significantly superior in numbers and equipment to the “white hat” masters. When the people of Hong Kong needed the protection of kung fu fighters, they did not come to the rescue.

When the government loses control

A hundred years ago everything was different. The Red Spear Society in Henan Province provoked what is probably the largest uprising of martial artists, although the term "uprising" is not very accurate. The Red Spears were a response to the complete collapse of social, economic and political institutions in the northern provinces of China. Famine, warlords, bandits on every road... At the turn of the century, Henan was a very unpleasant place. The Red Spears were more or less trained fighters who collaborated with local elites and landowners to restore order. But in the end, banditry simply took on organized forms.

Initially, the Red Spears became a natural continuation of the tradition of mastering martial arts in response to poor conditions (Shaolin and the family of Cheng Taiji, the founder of Taijiquan, originate from Henan). In his book Red Spears, Tai Hsuan-chi describes the close connection of this organization with the society in which it existed. Here is an example of the prevalence of martial arts at the beginning of the twentieth century:

“Most of the people in the lowland villages studied martial arts. My school in Henan was the first and most famous in the province. Behind the school there was a large sports ground where students practiced gymnastics and martial arts. I remember the best fighters, two brothers from Linxiang and an uncle and nephew from Suipingxian.

In Linxiang, every year in March, large competitions were held, in which almost all the youth participated. The best participants wore costumes of popular heroes of Chinese history: Chang Fei, Kuan-kung and others. In Suipingxiang, parents encouraged their children to practice martial arts. They hired teachers for them who taught them. Young girls stood on the edge of the field and watched the competition. If they liked some young man, they could make a match. My classmates included gifted students from Linxiang and Suipingxiang.”

The Red Spears and other similar groups, their allies and opponents, quietly ruled Henan until 1928, when Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek launched the Northern Expedition to restore government control of the region. During the expedition, the Shaolin Temple was captured and several gangs were defeated, but the government was unable to maintain power over the territory. Armed with spears, swords, muskets and, occasionally, rifles, the martial artists continued to reign for about 20 more years, until the communists established firm power throughout the country.

As during the Opera Rebellion, the authorities did not immediately begin to destroy the gangs and their leaders. They were given a choice: go home and become law-abiding citizens - or die. The authorities integrated many groups, both associated with the Red Spears and their opponents, into society in order to control elements of society that practiced martial arts. Sports universities and wushu associations replaced the old clans and martial arts teaching schools that were the basis of this infrastructure in the 19th century. Everyone who was ready to follow this new path received a warm welcome; those who were not were purged.

It should be noted that the authorities decided to build new institutes for martial arts not only for the sake of using them for their own purposes (to suppress protests in Hong Kong, protests by dispossessed peasants or old people who had not come to terms with deception), but also because they could not do otherwise. Martial arts are an integral part of Chinese society that cannot be forgotten or ignored. Whatever happened to kung fu in China, it always came back.

To this day, conflicting businessmen can call upon martial arts masters to flex their muscles. Firearms are not easy to come by in China, so street fights are fought with fists, knives and bottles. In a corrupt country where class and social divisions rule rather than the law, kung fu has its own convenient niche. Realizing this, the Communist Party has put a lot of effort into introducing martial arts into cinema, sports and the security services.

This system will work as long as the government maintains a monopoly on violence and conflict resolution. When the government loses this monopoly, rebellion and disintegration will follow - as usual.

Overthrow the dynasty

More than 20 million people died as a result of the Taiping Rebellion, the bloodiest and most destructive civil war in history. The fighting lasted for two decades. By comparison, the American Civil War, which occurred around the same time, killed approximately 600,000 people.

The Taiping Rebellion was born out of a combination of economic turmoil, persistent government abuses, government weakness, the rise of gangs and martial arts schools, and religious heresy. From a geopolitical point of view, China was going through difficult times: after losing the First Opium War, the country was losing the second. From a social point of view, China was a conglomerate of provinces whose rulers formed ever-changing alliances with hundreds of thousands of different communities, organizations, gangs, associations, and so on. Under the auspices of the imperial power, an unstable tangle of greed and betrayal was formed, enjoying impunity.

The spark that ignited the fire of the civil war, which burned for twenty years, was the preacher Hong Xiuquan. He predicted the fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty and promised victory to an alliance of quasi-Christian ethnic Chinese rebels. Martial arts schools, which grew in strength as the Qing dynasty weakened, formed the main backbone of the Taiping armies. Martial arts social elements gathered under the banner of holy war to oppose the established order and create a new society that would be based on the principle of equality and reject imperial trappings such as Confucianism, Buddhism and the very idea of dynastic rule.

Hong and his followers were defeated. Their defeat was largely the reason for the intervention of Western countries, which came to the rescue of the Qing dynasty at a critical moment - in the battle for Shanghai. They then helped the authorities create a modern army that was able to defeat the Taiping army. Having taken the Taiping capital of Nanjing, the imperial authorities fought the Taipings for another ten years - and only then completely eliminated the threat posed by them. But irreparable harm had already been done. The Qing Dynasty lasted another forty years, but it was already a long agony of a terminally ill country.

The Communists learned a good lesson from the Taiping Rebellion.

Destroy any heresy before it spreads. Keep the "prophets" away from the common people who could form the core of the rebel army. Integrate and control martial arts. Never allow this trinity (prophets, common people and martial artists) to unite into an anti-government movement.

The Taiping movement consisted of these three elements, but it lost. But where the Taipings failed, the Communists succeeded. The combination of the common people, the fighters and the Marxist ideology embodied in Mao was able to overthrow the dynasty and establish a new order that all the common people were willing to support. The Communist Party rehabilitated the Taiping Rebellion and placed these rebels in the context of the centuries-long struggle against imperial burdens for the liberation of the proletariat.

When Kung Fu Ended

The communists considered the Taipings their ideological predecessors. But their attitude towards the Yihetuan, who rebelled against foreigners and supporters of foreigners in the imperial palace, was not so clear-cut. The Communists assessed the Yihetuan uprising in 1899-1901 as both a senseless last attempt to defend the dying old order and as a heroic forerunner of a strong, nationalist China.

The Yihetuan, or Boxers, were a force of "Harmony and Justice" who demanded the expulsion of foreigners and the restoration of imperial order. Within two years, they split the imperial court into two factions, with Empress Cixi among the Boxer supporters. This faction called for war with foreigners. The second faction consisted of moderate diplomats. In a series of chaotic battles, sword-wielding Boxers and supporting soldiers with modern artillery defeated the foreign forces and laid siege to the embassy quarter in Beijing. Against the background of the uprising, a wave of murders swept across China, the victims were mainly Christians and missionaries.

This faction of the Qing Dynasty was betrayed by warlords who refused to support the call for war against foreigners. After much fighting in Beijing and Tianjin, the Eight Nations Alliance (Western countries and Japan) and their Qing allies suppressed the rebellion. On the way to Beijing, Western armies robbed, raped and killed the local population. Having taken the capital, they demanded that the rulers pay huge reparations: in terms of modern money, the amount was 61 billion dollars. A series of executions of high-ranking dignitaries also followed. These events played a very important role in the history of China. Discussions about the consequences of the Boxer Rebellion and its impact on the mentality and society of the Chinese people continue to this day.

An obvious consequence of the defeat of the boxers was the stain of shame that fell on the martial artists. For a century, the Chinese and foreigners have referred to the Yihetuan, and by extension all martial arts enthusiasts, as nothing more than archaic Luddites of sorts. At best, kung fu was a sad reminder of a time of former greatness, of an era of imperial China with a high culture, not poisoned by industrialization.

Martial arts were able to disown the defeat of the boxers only with great difficulty. And although martial arts have regained their position in society, once again becoming a part of Chinese society, any attempt to go into opposition, not to mention rebellion, leads to an immediate analogy with the boxers and their tragic, senseless, albeit courageous attempt to save China from modernization.

Kung Fu People and the Wheel of History

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Chinese martial arts schools often replaced government at many levels. The Red Spears effectively ruled the northern region of China for twenty years straight. It was considered normal to have kung fu fighters in your army. This is no longer the case.

Today, most martial artists are affiliated with sports clubs and are supervised by the local Communist Party secretary. No kung fu school wishing to survive can remain aloof from the sports and wushu associations that govern the martial arts in modern China. Current Chinese society has made commercial gain a means of bringing people together. Following in the footsteps of the Shaolin Temple, which became a successful corporation selling Buddhism and martial arts, modern kung fu schools are thriving.

In addition, after many decades of repressive policies, martial arts in China have become as close as possible to the current government. Typically, small kung fu schools in rural areas maintain very close ties with the police, and the police serve as a way to ensure a normal life. Students often wear uniforms during training. The last independent martial artists hid from the Cultural Revolution in the mountains and advised students to obey the authorities and keep their heads down to avoid the same bitter fate.

The social role of martial arts in modern Chinese society continues to evolve. There is interaction between the masters who teach kung fu, society at large, and the government. While we are talking about health, theater productions and tourism, the government smiles and turns a blind eye to the earnings of martial arts enthusiasts. But if there is a desire in society to see a “kung fu hero” standing up for the defenseless, expect problems. If it were the will of the government, martial arts would remain the province of cinemas, competitions and pseudo-religious tourist attractions.

In general, throughout Chinese history, martial arts fans occupied this niche. Acrobats, bodyguards, conflict resolution specialists, paragons of virtue. Only when the government weakened and left a vacuum did they intervene to restore order or overthrow the dynasty. From this point of view, it does not matter today whether kung fu masters are dissident or support the government. All that matters is whether the government maintains a monopoly on violence and justice. As soon as the monopoly is broken, the wheel of history will turn to its usual side.

But the main thing is that Shiites do not recognize secular power. They always considered legitimate only the power of the descendants of the prophet, therefore in Iran the Shiite clergy had long disputed the legitimacy of the power of the Shah.

The central government in Iran has always been weak. It was challenged not only by Shiite mullahs and local authorities of the feudal, separatist persuasion, but also by the a nationalistic movement of intellectuals and entrepreneurs who advocated the revival of Iran. Formed in 1906 as a result of turbulent events, the Majlis became an exponent of nationalist sentiments, although it was strongly influenced by the Muslim clergy.

During the First World War, in March 1915, a Russian-British agreement was concluded on dividing Iran into spheres of influence. The British sent their troops to the south, the Russians to the north of Iran.

But the orientation towards Germany and Turkey was much more popular in Iran. In the territory occupied by the Turks, in Kermanshah, a pro-German government was created in 1916, although at the same time a cabinet was formed in Tehran that collaborated with Russia and England. However, the real power of both governments was negligible.

After the February events of 1917 in Russia, soldiers' committees were created in the Russian troops stationed in Iran, and then Councils of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were formed with the participation of Russian subjects. On November 24, 1917, in the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars “To all working Muslims of Russia and the East,” all previous agreements on the division of Persia were declared invalid. In December 1917, the imminent evacuation of Russian troops from Iran was announced. It began in January 1918. All secret agreements concerning Iran were published. This prompted England to intensify its actions.

At the beginning of 1918, British troops were introduced into northern Iran and the ports of Rasht and Anzali were taken under control. Then the British rushed to Transcaucasia and to the northeast, to the Transcaspian region. They soon established contacts with local nationalists in Gilan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, replaced Russian officers with British in the Cossack brigade - the only combat-ready military unit of the Iranians, and by August 1918 they completely controlled the country.

In the fall of 1918, Anglo-Iranian negotiations began, which ended with the signing of an agreement on August 9, 1919. Its terms were supposed to actually turn Iran into a protectorate of England. British advisers were appointed to all government agencies, British officers carried out the reorganization of the Iranian army, etc.

In June 1920, the pro-British government of Vosug ed-Dole resigned. The new government refused to recognize the Anglo-Iranian treaty because it was not approved by the Majlis. In September 1920, England demanded that Iran immediately recognize the treaty, but the Iranian government sent a delegation to Moscow, hoping to play on the contradictions.

By this time the army had intervened in politics. Colonel Reza Khan, the regimental commander in the Cossack division, which had just been formed on the basis of the brigade, on February 21, 1921, led his units into Tehran and carried out a coup d'etat. He changed the government, retaining the post of Minister of War.

On February 26, 1921, a Soviet-Iranian treaty was signed in Moscow. Soviet Russia transferred to Iran a number of islands in the Caspian Sea, all Russian property on Iranian territory with a total value of 600 million rubles. Articles 5 and 6 of the treaty provided for the right to send Russian troops into Iranian territory to ensure the security of Soviet Russia.

Since May 1921, real power in the country quickly passed into the hands of Minister of War Reza Khan. Autumn 1921 - spring 1922 he suppresses separatist protests in Iran. At his request, British troops, instructors and financial advisers leave Iran.

In 1923, Reza Khan decisively suppressed the separatist actions of the Kurds and Lurs in the west of the country and created his own party, “Renewal”. Since October 1923, Reza Khanstal became Prime Minister. He finally leaves Ahmed Shah abroad and obliges the regent not to interfere in affairs. His personal authority is growing rapidly.

Reza Khan also turns to the Shiite clergy for support, speaking out in defense of religious morality, introducing a ban on alcohol and taking other measures. It includes prominent religious figures in the government. By that time, the Qajar dynasty was completely compromised.

On October 31, 1925, the Majlis announced the deposition of the Shah and the temporary transfer of power into the hands of Reza Khan. And on December 12, 1925, the Constituent Assembly convened by him proclaimed Reza Khan the Shah of the new Pahlavi dynasty.