After the Abdication of the Qing Emperor, the end of the Qing Dynasty was announced, the Republic of China began, and Yuan Shikai also became the great president of the Republic of China as he wished, and the position of the great president of the Republic of China was not low in gold content, and the president concentrated military and political power in one, both nominally honorable and actually powerful, so why did Yuan Shikai stage a farce of restoring the imperial system in the future?
Yuan Shikai's personal lusts
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the sudden outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution shocked the whole country, more than a dozen southern provinces declared independence one after another, and the rule of the Qing court gradually collapsed, but Yuan Shikai saw the opportunity of history, so he privately negotiated with the revolutionaries on the condition of betraying the Qing Dynasty and striving to become the leader of the Republic of China in the future.
It can be seen from this that Yuan Shikai's original intention of supporting the republican system was nothing more than to take this opportunity to replace the legitimate ruling position of the Qing Emperor. At that time, within the Beiyang Group, as well as the vast number of people throughout the country, they had no concept of the presidency, only that the emperor in the world was the largest, and Yuan Shikai also grew up in the feudal environment, was not interested in the Western system, and recognized the traditional Chinese imperial system in name only.
Advice from Yuan Keding and his staff
Yuan Shikai can be called emperor, and his son Yuan Keding also played a big role, the reason why Yuan Keding constantly supported Yuan Shikai as emperor was because he knew that if he followed the presidential system, Yuan Keding, the presidential position after a hundred years of Yuan Shikai, would not be able to share, and if Yuan Shikai became emperor, then according to the system of the family world, Yuan Keding would be the crown prince and the future emperor.
Yuan Keding, out of personal selfish desires, constantly created an atmosphere for Yuan Shikai to be called emperor, and used various feudal superstitious behaviors and public opinion to influence the momentum, and Yuan Shikai's staff also touted them for personal promotion, so that Yuan Shikai was deceived and did not realize the negative consequences of being emperor.
The attitude of the great powers towards imperialism
The imperialist countries did not care much about what kind of system the Republic of China adopted, they only cared about whether the new regime was strong and whether they could guarantee the interests of their countries in China, and Yuan Shikai, a powerful minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty, just catered to their demands in this regard, so they also expressed support for Yuan Shikai's idea of imperialism in exchange for China being controlled by the Western powers, so Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne was also the acquiescence of the great powers to a large extent.
However, the great powers did not expect that the imperial system would cause an uproar in China, and even trigger a civil war between the north and the south, and the Chinese civil war would inevitably damage the interests of all countries in China, so the attitude of the great powers changed suddenly, and they intended to take Yuan Shikai and replace him with a more favorable agent.
It can be seen from this that Yuan Shikai's claim that the emperor's covetousness for the throne was promoted by the joint action of many factors, although the Xinhai Revolution greatly impacted feudal thought, but the restoration was not without a market, plus Yuan Shikai had enough political influence and military strength, so he dared to brave the world to resolutely claim the title of emperor.