There were many internal factors that sparked off the revolution. One of the internal factors was the Tai Ping Rebellion. During the Tai Ping rebellion, the government was in war with the Tai Pings. As a result, the rebellion destroyed the economy badly and caused many internal problems of the country. Most of the country was at war and trades were not safe to be made where economy was stroke badly since goods were not imported or exported. There were many internal problems caused by the rebellion which include famine, harsh peasant lives, economy breakdown etc. These problems lasted in China as the years passed which was one of the factors that triggered the 1911 revolution. Another internal factor was the Boxer rebellion. The Boxer during the rebellion plundered foreign shops, tore up railroad tracks and murdered both foreigners and Chinese Christians. This caused the Chinese government to pay an indemnity of $333 million dollars to the foreigners which turned China into financial debt. Another factor was the corruption of the Qing Dynasty and the role of Cixi. The empress dowager Cixi and her chief general Yuan Shi Kai while imprisoned Guang Xu spent most of the money on something that was not necessary and not for the people’s good. For example, the money that was set aside to build a new navy was used to build a marble boat instead under the orders of the empress cixi. This caused more financial concerns and internal problems. Another factor was the natural disasters that were occurring around the time of the 1911 revolution. There were many weather disasters, earth quake etc that killed millions of people and caused many economical problems. Therefore most of the internal factors that caused the 1911 revolution were the Tai Ping Rebellion, Boxer Rebellion, Corruption of Qing dynasty and the role of Cixi and natural disasters.
There were also many external factors that lead to the 1911 revolution. One of the factors was the industrial revolution in the west while china failed to modernize. Other foreign countries had been through the industrial revolution and increase in economy, product production and agriculture surplus etc. China was not modernized slowing its development down comparing to the development of foreign countries. The living conditions of foreign peasants were better than the living conditions of Chinese peasants which made the Chinese peasants demanded revolution. The government would not modernize which caused the 1911 revolution. Another factor was the treaties that were created from the opium war. There were many treaties created from the opium war that created many disadvantages to china. These treaties made the government weak and made the living conditions of Chinese peasants harsh which caused the 1911 revolution. Another factor was the defeat of wars. The treaty of wars demanded many opportunities and benefits from China that made China weak as a whole. For example the treaty of Nan Jing, the treaties include open Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shnaghai as treaty ports, cede Hong Kong to Britain, fix the import duty, pay 21 million dollars to Britain as indemnity and Abolish the Gong hangs and correspondence in the form of petitions. These treaties weakened China as a whole that caused the 1911 revolution. Another factor was the scramble for concessions. After the defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese war, the foreign powers began to demand more from China. These concessions allowed foreign countries to establish their spheres of influence and some degree of political or financial control that minimized Chinese government’s power, taking over China in another way. These concessions made the living conditions of peasants harsh as the foreign countries were mostly in control. Therefore most of the external factors that caused the 1911 revolution were China failed to modernize, unequal treaties created as a result of the opium war, China’s cause of the defeat of wars and the scramble for concessions.
In conclusion the 1911 revolution was caused by various internal and external factors accompanied with the three principle of Sun Yi Xian.
