China
Yuan Shikai
1859–1916 President of the Republic of China, 1912–1916
A general who had helped to modernize the Qing army and then negotiated the Emperor's abdication, Yuan became president of the new Republic in 1912. In 1915 he faced the Twenty-One Demands from a Japan that took advantage of Europe's preoccupation, and, too weak to resist, accepted most of them in May. He then tried to make himself emperor in December 1915, a move that provoked rebellions in the south and lost him the support of his own generals; he abandoned the attempt in March 1916 and died on 6 June. His death left China without a strong central government, and the period of warlord rule that followed lasted until the 1920s.