The Fourth Anglo-Chinese War (1869—1870)
As preparations for war began in the second half of March 1869, the Qing government began mobilizing units from the north and other regions to the southern border with India. In the midst of reorganizing the army and defending the northern frontier from further Russian actions, the border with British India had been neglected, especially after Britain’s intervention on the side of China during the war.
Britain seemed to have learned from its previous failures since 1856 (the last time that Chinese and British troops faced each other on the battle field) and unlike thirteen years ago it was clearly prepared, with over 150,000 troops in multiple armies entering Chinese territory by the end of March. The few Chinese units in the area numbered barely 25,000 and had to withdraw ahead of the British advance to avoid total annihilation. The Chinese and British forces, the latter under General Ferdinand Dundas, made contact in the mountains of Lhodrak on May 8, as both China and Britain struggled to send in more reinforcements. The intense fighting in the Tibetan mountains continued throughout May, with the Qing imperial army putting up a good resistance to the British juggernaut, which outnumbered the Chinese by over 20,000 men for several weeks.
They managed to hold out long enough for reinforcements from other parts of China to arrive. On the 13th of May, a force of over 50,000 British attacked some 15,000 Chinese ethnic Uigher Muslim troops at Changtang—known as the Gansu Braves. Miraculously, the unit managed to put up a fight and continued to hold out until June, a testimony to the Uighers’ martial strength. They continued to fight on throughout July as reinforcements were directed to their position, but given the vast distance it is unknown whether or not they would make it in time.
The emperor made a mental note to award them and their families with the dynasty’s highest honors upon their return (should they survive).
In the southern Chinese province of Dali, located to the southeast of Tibet, fighting erupted between transiting Qing army units as a British force emerged out of the neighboring Burmese mountain range to attack on June 26 (the emperor cursed his ancestors’ inept subordinates for having failed to conquer Burma a century ago). Luckily the defenders outnumbered the attackers by a considerable amount.
On July 20, the first reinforcements—some 30,000 men—reached the Uighers holding out at Changtang. The Chinese were still outnumbered but it evened the playing field, and additional troops were on the way. Meanwhile, in the far west, several armies were deployed to the province of Aksu, which was being occupied by a small British force.
Throughout August the battles dragged on as both sides sent in reinforcements, while the garrisons of the forts in the border regions held up enough British troops occupying them that defense was made barely possible (the Emperor was glad for having made the decision to construct those forts and decided to upgrade them further as soon as the war ended). While the Qing armies were performing better, it shocked the board of war operations in Peking that the British had finally been able to deploy a larger force on the field, actually rivaling Chinese numbers. Most of those were Indian troops, according to Chinese agents and frontline commanders.
The anxiety in the imperial capital was eased somewhat on September 3 with the results of the first victory—at Dali. General Hardinge's British army there had been completely annihilated, and the freed up units under Suksaha Zhanshan were able to continue on to the front at Lhodrak to relieve the forces currently fighting there. Thus far, despite the clear improvements made from the previous invasion attempts by the British general staff, the Qing army, having been equipped with foreign technology, was also performing better than before, as evidenced by the battles dragging on throughout the summer.
However, the British Royal Navy’s total blockade of the coastline and the powerlessness of the Qing fleet to do anything about it was actually putting a dent into the Chinese economy by August.
The Manchu Court’s attention switched from that on September 8 when news arrived of a massive Chinese victory at Lhodrak. After two months of savage fighting in the freezing Tibetan mountains, the Chinese forces under overall command of General Ma Shangzhi—another Chinese Muslim judging by his family name—triumphed over the British. The battle, having dragged on for that long, saw the deaths of some 120,000 barbarian troops, in exchange for some 56,000 Chinese. It was a massive victory and celebrations occurred in Peking upon the arrival of the news. Unlike previous battles, interestingly enough, the total number of troops that had been deployed throughout the engagement on both sides was nearly even, about 190,000 for both. To the Han Chinese scholar gentry, this proved the continued superiority of the Chinese Confucian system and was a sign that the Qing still possessed the mandate of heaven. The Emperor was overjoyed, he was sure that this would go down as one of the finest moments of China’s military history, and that of his dynasty.
Not only a loss, but such a grave and humiliating defeat for Britain was a shock for the foreign diplomats and correspondents in the imperial capital (China gained nearly 5 prestige from that battle alone).
But as the celebrations died down, the board of war operations realized that they had exhausted many of their reserves during the course of this battle, while Qing agents in India and Bhutan reported that the foreign barbarians were already moving a sizable army of fresh troops northwards as reinforcements. While China still had reserves left, unlike before the dynasty was forced to call in forces from increasingly distant areas, such as Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Yangtze River delta in an attempt to plug up the gaps. The Forbidden Banners that traditionally defended Peking had already departed for the front. The most damaged units at Lhodrak were moved back to the rear while the more capable ones were left at the front to guard, under General Ma’s command, and attention shifted to other parts of the theater.
In late September a reversal of fortunate left the Chinese in an increasingly hard pressed situation at Changtang, so more troops were sent there. The fortress garrison of Ngari fell on the 27th of that month. Barbarian forces that had finished securing the Ngari province were deployed to nearby Changtang to reinforce the attackers there. Meanwhile, in early October a minor victory was won against a small enemy force at Aksu to the north, with the army under General Tong Xiangying proceeding to follow the retreating survivors south to Kashgar, which was being occupied by the enemy.
In order to plug up the gap in the front and to contain the enemy, General Ma’s troops were ordered to go on the offensive from Lhodrak towards the neighboring Shigatse province, were the fortress garrison has nearly fallen to the barbarian hordes.
On October 22, the board of war operations concluded the orders for redirecting troops for the next stage of the conflict, and duly noted that China was sending in most of its last reserves. Additional forces would not arrive from other parts of China for some time. With that in mind, the Emperor gave the order for the imperial government to begin mobilizing new regiments, with a total of 42 new brigades being raised in different parts of his empire.
The situation at Changtang was not looking good in late October, and additional reinforcements were still a considerable distance away or held in battle. It made the Emperor feel sorry to let down the sacrifices of his loyal Uigher and other subjects that had given their lives so heroically to defend Chinese positions there against overwhelming barbarian onslaught for so long. Finally, he gave orders for the resting units in Chamdo, still not fully recovered from the Battle of Lhodrak that concluded nearly two months ago, to pack up and march for Changtang.
General Ma reported on November 1 that the British besieging the Shigatse province had fled ahead of his advance, and the area was now, at least temporarily, clear of barbarian invaders. He was ordered to allow some of his units to move north from there to Changtang, while leaving the bulk of his army at Lhodrak to defend the frontier and eventually advance on Tawang further to the south (having been under siege this entire time). Later in November fighting began at Kashgar as the Chinese army attacked the British forces there.
The Tibetan front: The occupied province is Ngari, immediately to the north is Changtang (where the battle is going on) and the east is Shigatse. Further southeast is Lhodrak, where the army is blocking the British advance from Tawang further to the south. To the north of them is Lhasa, where a battle is also raging, and to the northeast of Lhasa is Chamdo, which serves as a staging ground. These are the provinces of Tibet. To the northwest are the deserts of Xinjiang (the battle at Kashgar is visible), and to the northeast, the barren plains of Qinghai. To the east, the mountains of the Sichuan province. To the south and immediate west is British India, along with Nepal and Sikkim wedged between in the center, with a piece of Burma visible in the far right corner.
Finally on November 23 Zhao Linge’s forces defeated a sizable British army under General Hugh Madden at Lhasa, the ancient Tibetan capital, and freed up troops to send to other regions. Some 43,000 barbarians perished in exchange for considerably less Chinese. In later November reports also came to Peking telling of thousands of British troops moving through neutral Burma, outside of the conflict zone, which the Manchu Court viewed as ominous. On the 30th it became clear that somehow, the force at Kashgar under General Hesehn Shangzhi was in trouble, but reinforcements were unavailable that far north, at least not ones that could arrive in time. The only exception was a small force of 6,000 Mongol cavalry. Units from Manchuria were still on their way, and the newly mobilized regiments would not be ready until the next year at earliest.
In the final month of the year it became evident that the barbarians were sending reinforcements to back up a lone British Indian artillery brigade that remained at Shigatse as the Chinese army from Lhasa was passing through the region, and so General Ma’s forces from Lhodrak were sent into assist.
January of 1870 was greeted in Peking with both hope and a good mood thanks to last year’s victories (the Qing army had not been defeated in the field a single time during 1869) as well as anticipation for what was to come. Some 20,000 barbarians had arrived at Shigatse to back up the single brigade and the battle was expanding, while General Ma was on the way there. On the other hand, the battle that was still raging at Changtang (fighting has been going on since May of last year) was finally looking favorably, with the Chinese at an advantage and having overwhelming numerical superiority. However, the battle of Kashgar was not going well, unexpectedly, despite the Qing’s superiority in numbers, and backup was unavailable that far out, short of two brigades of Mongol cavalry that were nearly there. The Royal Navy blockade and the effects on the economy of China continued.
The Emperor and the rest of the Manchu Court were taken aback by Britain’s persistence and seeming obsession over Tibet. Having bothered to help defend China from the encroaching Russians and French, which many Chinese naively believed begin a new era of peace in Anglo-Chinese relations, they were now trying to take a slice of the country for themselves, after having failed three times in the past. And now, months after they started, they apparently haven’t learned anything from the uninterrupted series of Qing military successes against them as they refused any offer of peace. The arrogance and audacity of these particular barbarians has always enraged the Emperor, and he resolved to at the very least make them bleed severely for disrupting the harmony of his realm for nothing.
Deployments towards Shigatse and Changtang left the Lhodrak front virtually unprotected, and agents reported that the British troops in the northern mountains of Burma were now making their way in that direction. The closest units were some 20,000 Chinese soldiers resting at Chamdo, most of them veterans of the first Battle of Lhodrak. In addition some 32,000 border guards to the southeast at Dali were also present to ward of British attempts at invading through Burma, which they seemed to have accomplished. These two forces combined numbered slightly less than the total barbarian strength in Burma at the moment, however.
Some good news came to Peking on the 27th of January, when the Qing imperial forces emerged victorious over General Alexander Grant’s British armies at Changtang. The battle (May 1869—January 1870) was the longest of the entire war, and the emperor was pleased to learn that the tenacity and ferociousness of the Uigher regiments’ resistance had paid off in the end. Some 78,000 barbarians had been lost in exchange for about 68,000 Chinese, another huge shock to the foreign press and diplomatic corps in Peking (+5 prestige). The Uighers in particular, surprisingly, had only lost about one-third of their number during the engagement and were now some of the most hardened troops of the Qing imperial army. Celebrations had to wait, though, as the Chinese position on other parts of the front was precarious.
Unfortunately not many of the troops from Changtang except the ones that had been there the longest and were most depleted would get much rest, as they are desperately needed elsewhere. Oddly enough, on January 28 the court of Burma, which appears to be under strong British influence, offered Chinese troops military access to Burmese territories. The Manchu Court suspects that the Burmese may be trying to secretly rebel against their barbarian masters.
As expected, late that month British forces arrived at unoccupied Lhodark and besieged the forts there, while, hilariously, a small British army of 15,000 had arrived to Changtang late and attempted to attack the amassed Qing forces. This was not a welcome diversion, however.
Some surprise was caused when on the 13th, reports emerged of British troops entering southern China through supposedly neutral Dai Nam. The Chinese frontier guards at Dali were placed on alert and prepared to confront the barbarian force that violated Qing territory. But on February 16 another small group of British units attacked the border guards, although they vastly outnumbered the invaders—most likely a diversionary attack to hold up the one sizable Chinese force in the area. On the positive side, the new armies from Manchuria finally were nearing the region, and were given orders to proceed towards the advancing British.
Some of the new brigades were finished recruiting in organized in southern China this month, not far from the front, in fact. The British had succeeded in opening up a new front.
The southern front: Dali is the province on the Burmese frontier where the battle is going on. To the northwest are Lhodrak and Tawang.
On March 6 the court in Peking received reports that the battle of Kashgar was over, with a Qing defeat. Overall, the engagement was of little consequence, and the number of British casualties outnumbered Chinese losses. Despite taking a minor hit to China’s prestige for having failed to overcome a numerically inferior enemy, the Emperor did not see it as too important. Apparently the barbarians had suffered heavy enough losses that many of their own units reportedly withdrew from Kashgar province back to India after the fighting ended.
The Son of Heaven was more concerned about the developing situations at Shigatese and Changtang. In the latter, the battle was proving to be more difficult than expected despite the vast numerical superiority of the Emperor’s armies, while at Changtang the British unit was succeeding in holding up a large army of over 100,000 from aiding its beleaguered allies to the south. The board of war operations did not know if that was done intentionally by the British, sacrificing a small number of men to hold off a large army from going to a more important battle, or if it had been purely accidental; an error in communications or timing. Either way, it was providing to be a nuisance for the Chinese army.
The overall situation in southern China in the fall of 1870.
The Qing forces to the far southeast at Yibin were held up by the fact that there was no significant general of note leading them. An additional army, led by General Ma Zhanshan, was about to reach their positions however and hopefully would rectify this situation. The Changtang skirmish was over by March 15, but miraculously the barbarians only lost two-thirds of their number, while a force survived and made a retreat. At least now they were free to assist in other battles. The Gansu Braves were sent to the rear to get a much needed rest, while other units were dispersed from Shigatse to pursuing the retreating British formation.
In late March another engagement began at Aksu between a British unit and the retreating Qing forces while the Battle of Dali ended with a Chinese victory. Shortly afterwards, April 4 was greeted with word of a Qing success at Yibin, leaving just a small force of 14,000 barbarians dispersed in the southern provinces. General Ma Zhanshan failed to wipe it out at Kunming somehow, though, so a force had to be detached to follow the survivors while the others were sent northwest towards Tibet.
But it turned out that such an effort would not be needed after all. On 11 May 1870, the British envoy in Peking came to the Forbidden City asking for a ceasefire and negotiations, ending the fourth war between China and England. It was accomplished within the time frame of before 1872, when Russia's non-aggression agreement with the Qing is due to expire.
Note: I figured I should finally explain the geography of this region since it is not labeled for those that do not know it well, hence the label under the map. That's because of how often there are wars here and this is the fourth one, I figured better late than never.
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