A fascinating biography one of the most interesting figures in the Taiping Rebellion, Frederick Townsend Ward. Ward was the American mercenary that formed the Ever Victorious Army in Shanghai and held the city by facing off against numbers several times his strength and became an indispensable piece of Li Hongzhang's Anhui Army that ultimately squeezed the Taipings back to NanjingI'm going to approach this review as though my reader has little knowledge of the Taiping. So, the Taiping Rebellion breaks out in 1850 led by a messianic madman claiming to be Jesus' younger brother and threatens to overthrow not just the ruling Qing Dynasty, but all established Confucian society. The Taiping rebels are iconoclastic, militaristic, theocratic and satirically puritanical (for a time, all sex was banned and punishable by execution). The ruling Qing Dynasty don't take the Rebellion seriously for a few reasons, namely the Emperor's libertine lifestyle in comfy Beijing. Xianfeng, the emperor, comes to power also in 1850, and proceeds to drink and eat and fuck himself to death. He dies of overindulgence in 1860, after a shameful defeat to the British in the Second Opium War. It is the Confucian general Zeng Guofan whom is ultimately responsible for quelling the Rebellion, by forming the provincial armies (Hunan Army under his command, Anhui Army under that of his student, Li Hongzhang), which forms a giant nutcracker to crunch from both east and west along the Yangtze River back to Nanjing. The Rebellion is put down in 1864, leaving a body count of 30 million, about twice the death toll of World War I. Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze, holds out as a Qing enclave entirely surrounded by Taiping occupation and forms the base of operations for Li's Anhui Army and the port from which the West observes this war. Shanghai is held by an American mercenary, Frederick Townsend Ward, and his Ever Victorious Army.This biography covers Ward specifically, and covers his childhood, his time as a ship's mate, a filibuster for William Walker during his Mexico campaign (Walker had the plan of forming his own kingdom or state in northern Mexico that could be admitted to the Union as Lower California, a slave state – Ward abandoned Walker after too long, not least because Ward was a diehard supporter of the North), his short campaign in the Crimean War, his service to the Mexican government and his eventual contracting in China. Banker Yang Fang and Taotai (basically a mayor) Wu Xu form a business arrangement to keep funds flowing for the defence of Shanghai. Carr is well aware that the average western reader has never heard of history's deadliest civil war, so he fills his reader in with a narrative following Loyal King Li Xuecheng, or the Chung Wang, the strategic genius of the latter half of the Rebellion. Through the Chung Wang, we get a sense of what is happening outside the Shanghai area and the religious politics that are driving the war.This is the third book I've read on the Taiping Rebellion (the others being Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen R. Platt and God's Chinese Son by Jonathan D. Spence), so it's hard to say if this is a good introduction to the war or not. Certainly there's enough in this war that an entirely encyclopedia could be written on it. For one to grasp the war without diving headlong into it, it's best done through using specific figures as looking glasses. Platt uses Hong Rengan and Zeng Guofan, Spence uses Hong Xiuquan. Carr uses Frederick Ward.What I found fascinating about this book was that it explored, as much as possible, the notion that Ward perhaps had his own ambitions for a kingdom in China, or control of the entire empire. With the state of Chinese military technology at the time, a small force of say 25,000 (which Ward had hoped to accumulate) properly trained and equipped, probably could overthrow the ruling Manchus and establish a dynasty with Ward as emperor, or at the least a small kingdom in China with Ward as warlord. Sadly, Ward died in 1862 and whatever his inclinations were, he kept his ambitions quiet, so we get only a few glimpses of this notion through close confidants.If there's criticism of this book, it's that reading about the loss and retaking of the same town around Shanghai again and again gets a little tedious. I understand that this is a biography and it wouldn't do Ward justice to cut out the repetitiveness of his career, but it does start to feel like you're reading the same thing over again at times. I found myself bored in the battle sequences and more interested in the squabbling fears of the Manchus.I'll note that this book uses the Wade-Giles system of transliteration instead of the more commonly accepted Pinyin. Wade-Giles is more phonetic, whereas Pinyin is more uniform. This means that, for example, Hong Xiuquan (Pinyin) becomes Hung Hsiu-ch'üan (Wade-Giles), Li Xuecheng becomes Li Hsiu-ch'eng, Zeng Guofan becomes Tseng Kuo-fan, Li Hongzhang becomes Li Hung-chang, Prince Gong becomes Prince Kung and so on. I understand why Carr chooses this older more archaic system of transliteration – because it's easier for a Western audience to pronounce, and it's clearly written for the West. The problem, therefore, that arises is that his dramatis personae is lacking. There are many characters missing from this appendix, not the least of which is Li Heng-sung, the commander of the Green Standard Braves in Shanghai and the principal Chinese defensive force prior to the arrival of Li Hung-chang. Do you see the problem? Now add Li Hsiu-ch'eng into the mix. If this is for a Western audience, Carr should have realised that the West is a little Anglo-centric and will probably confuseLi Heng-sungLi Hung-changLi Hsiu-ch'engwhen read in quick succession, especially if one is missing from the dramatis personae. I'm not complaining about the transliteration, merely the lacking appendix. I spent at least a portion of this novel confusing Li Heng-sung and Li Hung-chang as the same person, and wondering why the brilliant commander of the Anhui Army was such a corrupt tool.But that's just nitpicking. Ultimately, a fine book on the Taiping and a great addition to my growing wealth of knowledge on the subject.
This is the biography of Frederick Townsend Ward. He was one of the truly larger than life characters of the Victorian era. As a young man he got his start a s filibuster with Walker in Mexico. In later life he went to China where he was hired by the Emperor as a mercenary to put down the Tai-Ping rebellion (in which 20 million people were killed, 2nd only to WWII, and nobody ever mentions it). It is a fascinating book about an incredible time and place. A look at a slice of history not many people know about.
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Well researched and well written. Caleb Carr has written a couple of well known historical crime novels, THE ANGEL IN DARKNESS and The ALIENIST. However, prior to writing those he was best known as a military historian, and this book on an American mercenary operating in Imperial China during the 1860's falls in that category. Fans of his two novels moentioned above may not enjoy this book.That said, this is an enjoyable read. Frederick Ward Townsend was a controversial figure in his own day who was involved in a number of foreign adventures before ladning in Shanghai in the 1860's. Sizing up the reason for the lack of success that the Manchu Imperial Forces were having in putting down the Taiping Rebellion, he volunteered to raise a small army and fight on behalf of the Manchus. Despite some initial setbacks and a lot of hostility from the majority of the Westerners in China at the time, he eventually was able to recruit, equip, train, and fight successfully with a force of about 4000 Chinese "peasants," although the officers of this force were still Westerners. During his life his force, eventually named the Ever Victorious Army, was renowned as the most disciplined Imperial military organization in China, and he won several victories in a short period against much larger Taiping forces. Of course, this being China, the story ends tragically -- that's not a total spoiler, since the author foreshados that right from the start of the book.To Carr, Ward represents a lost opportunity for China and also for American and Western relations with that country. Ward's real accomplishment was in slowly getting Chinese leaders to see that Western values, technology, and organizational concepts could be adapted and accepted by the Chinese people, and that this could be used to strengthen China in standing up to the Western powers. In addition, for those Westerners who knew him well, he was able to develop in them a new resepct for the potential of the Chinese soldier, which in time might have translated into better treatment of China's government and its people. But, with Ward's death, the Westerners and the Imperial forces quickly returned to their former ways, and this eventually led to the Boxer Rebellion about forty years later.A couple of notes on the book:This is a military history, and while the edition I had contained some basic maps in the frontspiece and endpiece, more maps throughout the book would have helped. Most of the "action" in book consists of military forces moving from one location to another to attack or defend, and it gets confusing as to who was going where, even with the maps that are included.Second issue, about which really nothing can be done...Chinese place names and person names, when translated into English, all have a tendency to look very similar. That can get pretty frustrating and confusing. Caleb Carr includes an appendix with the names and descriptions of the major characters...you may want to read that first, as I would have found it helpful. What worked for me was reading the book without much regard to the locations, and just paying attention to the actions and motivations of the characters and the organizations being described.In summary, a pretty good book. If you're a fan of Chinese or military history, you will probably enjoy it.
—Patrick
An intruiging bit of obscured history within a greater event largely forgotten in the west. I knew extremely little about the Taiping rebellion, and was utterly clueless that western officers played a notable role - let alone that Fredrick Townsend Ward raised, trained, and led a large force of Chinese soldiers in the western model which, operating independently, played a significant role in the downfall of the Taiping cause. I have enjoyed Caleb Carr's historical writing, as well as his fiction, but must admit this book did not hold my interest as thoroughly as other of his works. Perhaps it was a skosh too long; perhaps it is in the nature of the subject material. To whit, perhaps 1860 Shanghai and Jiangsu province are a little too much the analog of the three-dimensional chess game going on in Afghanistan-Pakistan now - colonial powers being unable to decide minute to minute whether to support crumbling and corrupt regimes, acquiesce or even aid in their overthrow and humiliation, and so end up doing some of both at the same time (as the British did here during the 2nd Opium War). It took a little effort occasionally to fully graps the ebb and flow of the players in the shifting tides of Jiangsu as rebellion and counter-attack surged across Jiangsu.Carr perhaps treats Ward with a light touch - but isn't afraid to highlight his flaws. And none can truly claim to know Ward's full thoughts and motivations, given the modest remaining records and their sometimes conflicting viewpoints and accounts. Nonetheless, Ward was clearly a remarkable individual who stepped into a pivotal moment in history to no small effect. The fact that Ward's achievements and those of his "Ever Victorious Army" are little remembered does not change that fact at all.
—John
Non-fiction. The story of Federick Townsend Ward, an American soldier of fortune in the 19th century, who founded and led into battle a private army of European, Filipino and Chinese mercenaries in Shanghai that became known as the Ever Victorious Army and helped end the Taiping Rebellion, the bloodiest war of era. Travelling in Asia and China in the mid-19th century, Ward missed the American Civil War, but became a central figure in the far bigger Taiping Rebellion. He eventually became a prince of imperial China and created the first modern Chinese army in history before his death in battle in 1863. A well written book about a forgotten American figure in Chinese history. One of the leading characters in "Flashman and the Dragon" by George MacDonald Fraser.
—George
