A bomb accidentally detonated in a revolutionary cell's hideout in Hankou on October 9, 1911, forcing conspirators to act early. On October 10, soldiers of the New Army mutinied in Wuchang, seizing the city and raising the flag of revolt. The uprising cascaded across provinces, and within months the Qing dynasty abdicated, ending 2,000 years of dynastic rule and giving birth to the Republic of China.
The spark was almost farcical: revolutionaries plotting an uprising in the tri-cities of Wuhan were assembling bombs when one exploded prematurely in their Hankou hideout on October 9, 1911. Police raided the site and found membership lists, forcing the conspirators, many of them soldiers in the New Army, to strike immediately rather than face arrest and execution.
On the night of October 10, troops of the New Army's engineer battalion in Wuchang mutinied, seized the arsenal, and by morning controlled the city. Within days, revolutionary forces held all three Wuhan cities. The uprising, though initially just one of many failed attempts by groups inspired by Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideals, this time caught fire, spreading to province after province as military garrisons and local assemblies declared for the revolution.
By February 1912, the last Qing emperor, six-year-old Puyi, abdicated, and Sun Yat-sen's provisional government proclaimed the Republic of China. The date October 10 became known as 'Double Ten Day,' celebrated as Taiwan's National Day to this day, a direct commemorative line back to that accidental bomb blast and the mutiny it triggered.