Third Battle of Nanking

Battle context

The Third Battle of Nanjing in 1864 was the decisive final engagement of the Taiping Rebellion, ending more than a decade of civil war in the Qing Empire. The fall of Nanjing, which had served as the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, extinguished the rebellion's political and military center. Qing casualties reached approximately 10,000, while Taiping losses were recorded at around 100,000 in the battle itself. The aftermath was marked by mass atrocities: the Hunan Army, an underpaid and undersupplied militia, lost discipline following the city's fall and carried out widespread killing, rape, looting, and arson against the civilian population, whom they designated as rebels. Commander-in-chief Zeng Guofan himself reported 200,000 to 300,000 dead among the city's inhabitants. The battle thus ended the rebellion at enormous human cost, and the conduct of the Qing forces after the city's fall left a record of violence against the population they claimed to be restoring to imperial order.