Yuan Shih-k'ai (also Yuan Shikai; Hung Hsien)

1859- Born on September 16; birth of  the Chinese militarist who reached a position of great power in the Qing Dynasty

1912 -Became President of the Republic of China, and betrayed both regimes in his pursuit of personal power

1885-1894 -A protégé of Li Hongzhang, Yuan had risen as Li's proconsul in Korea

1895 -In the wake of the disastrous Sino-Japanese War, he was assigned the task of creating a modern army.

-Turning his creation, later known as the Beiyang Army, into a personal power base.

1898 -He won the favor of the dowager empress CIXI by refusing to support a coup by her adoptive son, the Guangzu emperor

1901-1907 -Appointed viceroy of Bejili province by the empress.

-As negotiator for the Qing in the 1911 revolution.

-He arranged the emperor's abdication when SUN YAT-SEN agreed to resign in Yuan's favor as head of the new Chinese republic.

1912-1913

- provisional president of China

1913-1915

- president of China

1914 -He ruled as a military dictator, altering the constitution to make himself president for life and unsuccessfully attempting to restore the Monarchy with himself as emperor (1915-16).

1915 - forced by Japan to accede to Twenty-One Demands

1915-1916 

- declared himself emperor of China  as Hung Hsien

1916- Died on June 6