| This thesis examines the Red Spear Society, a sectarian militia active in northern China for much of the first half of the twentieth century. The study begins by focusing on the body of literature on the Red Spears produced to date. Understanding how the study of the secret societies has developed since its beginnings in the 1970s will not only help to place this work in the context of the existing literature, but also show why "military" history has been ignored. The second chapter describes and introduces the Red Spear movement. It will deal with many of the factors which helped bring the group into being, the group's organization, membership, and goals. The chapter will also help to explain why the Red Spears were the most significant of the many sectarian militias which operated at the time. The third chapter focuses on the Red Spears in action, particularly in how they were able to defeat bandits and soldiers alike, the actual operation of the Red Spear's system of organization, and their utilization of intelligence. To examine how the Red Spears were able to defeat their opponents while sustaining so few casualties, both their field tactics and the effective disparity in arms between them and their opponents will be observed. This chapter will show how the Red Spears, magic aside, formed an effective and rational defense strategy for the rural population of the North China plain. The fourth and concluding chapter looks at how military defeat, assimilation into the Red Army, and lack of necessity brought the movement to an end. |
