The Wuwei Corps () or Guards Army was a combined modernised army corps of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

of China. Made up of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, it was formed in December 1898 and trained by western military advisers. The guard took responsibility for the security of Peking (

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

) and the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...

, with Ronglu as its supreme commander. This move was an attempt by the Qing imperial court to create a western-style army equipped with modern weaponry following the Qing Empire's defeat in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

. Three out of the five divisions of the Wuwei Corps were disbanded after two years due to attrition caused by the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

Formation

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 ...

held supreme power at the Qing imperial court after she placed the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...

under house arrest. Ronglu, who controlled the Grand Council and the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, subsequently received orders to recruit a 90,000-men army drawn from various units under the control of Nie Shicheng, Song Qing, Dong Fuxiang and

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

Five Divisions of the Wuwei

The corps consisted of five "divisions" described as "regiments" by some sources: Left, Right, Front, Rear, and CenterAlthough the Chinese names for these units featured the stem ''jun'', literally "corps" or "army", recent studies in English appear to coalesce around referring to these units as "divisions" (, , etc. probably after ). The transition from "army" to "divisions" was expressed in one study as follows: "Jung-lu ongluthen proceeded to reorganize the four armies (now divisions)". Of these, "by far the strongest" was Yuan Shikai's Right Division, which was merely a rebranding of his existing New Army formed in 1895, while Nie Shicheng's Front Division, trained by German military advisers, ranked as second best. These two divisions enjoyed the advantage of a modernised infantry military system and training, while the other three divisions still employed the traditional Manchu Banners Army system. Differences in the prowess of the divisions became apparent during training, even though the entire Guards Army had the same modern weaponry. Prior to the creation of the Wuwei Corps, Nie Shicheng's Front Division was known as the "Tenacious Army" ( ''Wuyi jun'',), while Song Qing's troops previously bore the name "Resolute Army" (毅軍 ''Yi jun''). These armies were similarly armed with Mauser rifles and

Maxim machine gun The Maxim gun is a Recoil operation, recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Maxim, Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first automatic firearm, fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most ...

s. Dong Fuxiang () led an army of Muslim warriors, dubbed "the 10,000 Islamic rabble" in the West at the time. In China, Dong's troops were familiarly known as the "Gan army" (甘軍) which used the abbreviated name of

Gansu Province Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

where many of these soldiers originated. "Gan army" is a literal translation, but English sources usually use the paraphrased name " Kansu Braves". By imperial edict, Ronglu received nominal command of the entire Wuwei Corps. His initial task was to incorporate the four pre-existing divisions within the new structure of the Wuwei Corps. Ronglu later added the Centre Division with himself as commander, a unit composed mostly of Manchu bannermen.

Boxer Uprising

During the war against the

Eight-Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which were being besieged by the popular Boxer ...

, the Front Division, Rear Division and the Center Division suffered heavy casualties and were disbanded following signature of the

Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was a Protocol (diplomacy), diplomatic protocol signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including ...

. The Right Division and the Left Division remained in Shandong Province to suppress a group of Boxers known as the ''Yihetuan'' rebels. Both these units remained at full strength as they had not come up against troops of the foreign powers. From March 1899 onwards at the height of the Boxer conflict, Ma Yukun ( 馬玉崑) and Jiang Guiti became co-commanders alongside Song Qing at the head of the Left Division.

Explanatory notes

Citations

References

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Reprinted in . {{Qing dynasty topics Military units and formations of the Qing dynasty Military history of the Qing dynasty Military units and formations of the Boxer Rebellion Military units and formations established in 1898 Military units and formations disestablished in 1900 Corps of China