The Historical Record for April 26: The 21 Demands

On this date in 1915, the Japanese government submitted a list of “21 Demands” to the government of Yuan Shikai.

As is well known, Yuan Shikai had esteem issues and he needed money, basically the two reasons anybody becomes a stripper, but unlike Candi at Crazy Girls Yuan had a whole country to sell out not just his charming physique and delightful company.

You can see a list of the demands here, as well as an ultimatum from the Japanese government giving Yuan and his cronies until 6:00 p.m. on May 9th to respond and accept the terms or face the consequences.

For the purposes of visualizing this historical moment, it might be helpful to picture Yuan Shikai as Ned Beattie and the Japanese government as a group of moonshine-soaked demonic hillbillies.

And…scene.

From the archives

• January 18, 2012 -- On Sun Yatsen, 1912, and Han Han
• October 10, 2011 -- The Wire Guide to the 1911 Revolution, Part II
• October 10, 2011 -- The Wire Guide to the 1911 Revolution, Part I