Wuwei Troop

Wuwei Right Troop of Yuan Shikai escorting Empress Dowager back to the Palace 1902

Wuwei Troop (simplified Chinese: 武卫军; traditional Chinese: 武衛軍; pinyin: Wǔwèijūn; Wade–Giles: Wu-wei chün) or "The Guards Army" was the first modern army of the Qing Dynasty consisted of infantry, cavalry and artillery, formed on May or June 1899 and trained by western military advisers, responsible for security of Peking City and the Forbidden City, with Ronglu as the supreme commander. This military unit is the first attempt by the Imperial Court to create a formidable western style army, equipped with modern weaponry instead of swords and arrows, after China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. The Wuwei Troop was dismantled after two years. Since Empress Dowager had retained power at the Imperial Court with Guangxu Emperor under house arrest, with Ronglu being in charge of the Grand Council and the Board of War (Chinese language: 兵部), a 90,000 man army was formed, consisted of various armies under Nie Shicheng, Song Qing, Dong Fuxiang and Yuan Shikai.

Five Divisions of the Wuwei

The Wuwei Troop (aka The Guards Army) consisted of five "divisions" (in some treatises given as "regiments"), Left, Right, Front, Rear, and Center

1. Wuwei Front Division, commanded by Nie Shicheng
2. Wuwei Rear Division, commanded by Dong Fuxiang
3. Wuwei Left Division, commanded by Song Qing
4. Wuwei Right Division, commanded by Yuan Shikai
5. Wuwei Center Division, commanded by Ronglu

Of these, "by far the strongest" was Yuan Shikai's Right Division, which was merely a rebranding of his Newly Created Army (新建陸軍 Xinjian Lujun) of 1895, while Nie Shicheng's Front Division, trained by German military advisers, ranked as second best. These two divisions enjoyed the advantage of a modernized infantry military system and training, while the other three divisions still employed the old traditional Manchu Banners Army system. And the training emerged as differences in the prowess of the divisions, even though the entire Guards Army was equipped with modern weaponry. Nie Shicheng's troops that became the Front Division was until then known as the "Tenacious Army" (武毅軍 Wuyi jun), and Song Qing's troops that formed the Left Division also bore the similar name of the "Resolute Army" (毅軍 Yi jun). These armies were similarly armed with Mauser rifles and Maxim machine guns. Dong Fuxiang (Wade–Giles: Tung Fu-hsiang) led an army of Muslim warriors, dubbed "the 10,000 Islamic rabble" by the West at the time. In China Dong's troops were familiarly known as the "Gan army" (甘軍) which represented the monogram of Gansu Province which many of these soldiers called homeland. "Gan army" is the literal translation, but English sources usually prefer to call them by the more poetical paraphrased name "Kansu Braves".

Ronglu (Wade–Giles: Jang-Lu) was by edict given nominal command of the entire Wuwei jun (Guards Army), and was initially appointed to incorporate the four sets of troops within the fold of the new Wuwei army corps. Ronglu later added the Centre Division for himself to command, and this was composed mostly of Manchu bannermen.

Boxer Uprising

Main article: Boxer Uprising

During the war at Eight Nation Alliance, the Front Division, Rear Division and the Center Division suffered heavy casualties and was disbanded after the signing of the Boxer Protocol. The Right Division and the Left Division were stationed in Shangdong to suppress Boxers (the Yihetuan rebels), they remained intact as there was no engagements with the foreign powers troops.

In the conflict, from March 1899 onwards, Ma Yukun (馬玉崑) and Jiang Guiti (姜桂題) were named co-commanders alongside Song Qing at the head of the Left Division.

References

• Bodin, Lynn (1979) (preview). The Boxer Rebellion. Chris Warner (illus.). Osprey Publishing. p. 26. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=2YleP1OP4HsC&pg=PA26.  ISBN 0-85-045335-6 13-ISBN 978-0-850-45335-5
• Mingnan, Ding (Summer 1986). "A Decade of Japan's Aggressive Tactics toward China Oriented by Its" National Policy" of Waging a Final War with Russia (1895-1904)" (snippet). pp. 37–62. Digital object identifier:10.2753/CSH0009-4633190437. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=i3xwAAAAMAAJ.  abstract
• Powell, Ralph L. (1972) (snippet). The Rise of Chinese Military Power 1895-1912. Princeton: Kennikat Press. pp. 102–103. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=zs4mAQAAMAAJ.  (Cited by Wang 1995 below as a reference for English translation of terminology.)
• Purcell, Victor (2010) (preview). The Boxer Uprising: A Background Study. Cambridge University Press. p. 29. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=zs4mAQAAMAAJ.  ISBN 0-52-114812-X 13-ISBN 978-0-521-14812-2
• Rhoads, Edward J. M. (2011) (preview). Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928. University of Washington Press. p. 82. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=tgq1miGno-4C&pg=PA82.  ISBN 0-29-580412-2 13-ISBN 978-0-295-80412-5
• Wang, Jianhua (Spring-Summer 1995). "Military Reforms, 1895-1908" (snippet). pp. 67–84. Digital object identifier:10.2753/CSH0009-463328030467. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=7VZwAAAAMAAJ.  abstract
  • Reprinted in: Reynolds, Douglas R., ed (1995) (preview). China, 1895-1912 State Sponsored Reforms and China's Late-Qing. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 67–84. http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WjnKdLwrrWsC&pg=PA71.  ISBN 1-56-324749-6 13-ISBN 978-1-563-24749-1