There is no national identity, there is no territory.
In the Qing Dynasty, foreign invasion challenged the Chinese territory, but why did the Qing Dynasty fail to implement a national mobilization to resist the invaders with space and time?One reason for this lies in the lack of a concept of state and nation.
For a long period of time, the emperor lacked awareness of national sovereignty, and the common people lacked identification with the state. For the emperors, the state was their private property, and the relinquishment of land and the decision to war were all regarded as personal matters. For the bureaucracy, serving the emperor is for the sake of food and loyalty to the king;For ordinary soldiers, joining the army was seen as an exchange for remuneration or exemption from servitude. In the eyes of the general public, no matter which dynasty, it is their responsibility to pay taxes, but they do not care about the ownership of the state.
This lack of national consciousness leads to the lack of unity of thought, and also makes it impossible to form a unified force to jointly defend against foreign enemies. This may have been possible in ancient times to conquer foreign enemies, but in modern times, when more organization is high, it has become difficult. As Liang Qichao said: "The people don't know that there is a country, and the country doesn't know that there are people, so if they meet the world of competition between the countries in the past, they may still be able to survive, and now when the national competition is at its fiercest, how will it be worthy!."Due to the long-term lack of the concept of state, the Qing Dynasty failed to complete the transformation from an ancient state to a modern state, and thus lacked the corresponding mobilization capacity.
Congenital deficiencies: the dilemma of Qing rule.
In the Qing Dynasty, when ethnic minorities entered the Central Plains, the Manchu magnates fell into the vast sea of the Han people, and various precautions and suspicions arose. The seriousness of this situation even made Qing ** himself feel: "Because of the mutual relationship between the top and bottom, the internal and external barriers, the officials do not know so they protect the people, and the people do not know so they defend the country."
In terms of military system, the Qing Dynasty set up the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion respectively, forming two completely different military systems. Although the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion both belong to the national standing armed forces, there are huge differences, resulting in inefficient management and mobilization. The Eight Banners have a noble status, while the Green Battalion is a second-class soldier. Under normal circumstances, the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion were mutually restricted, and the management and command powers were separated from each other, which limited the mobilization capacity of the Qing Dynasty.
In the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners and the Green Camp gradually became corrupt and could not be reused. The emergence of local armed forces such as the Hunan Army, the Huai Army, and the Beiyang Naval Division showed that the Qing Dynasty's mobilization capacity was insufficient, and it could only rely on local regimental training and battalion brave troops. Although these local armed forces may appear inconspicuous on the surface, they are in fact very powerful. In the 80s of the 19th century, the Yong Battalion was still the only tool that could play a role in the face of external threats.
The Beiyang Naval Division, the navy represented by Li Hongzhang, was also a new type of army established by the Qing Dynasty in the later period. However, within the navy, there is a situation in which the four fleets are not subordinate to each other, and it is difficult to coordinate operations. In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Naval Division participated in the war against Japan, but failed to achieve victory due to difficult mobilization, which also accelerated the destruction of the Beiyang Naval Division.
The clouds of power struggle.
The Qing court had always suffered from internal strife. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the royal family and the local powerful faction launched a fierce struggle, and in the later period, it was an open and secret struggle between the two parties of the emperor and the queen.
During the First Sino-Japanese War, the open and covert struggles between the two parties were particularly fierce. The Imperialist Party advocated all-out efforts to weaken the power of the Later Party, while the Later Party advocated retaining its strength. However, the war ended in defeat and the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed. When faced with an unprecedented national crisis, the two parties of the emperor and queen did not start from salvation, but indulged in the struggle for power. At the time of the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu had a disagreement over the issue of land cession, and finally shifted the responsibility to Guangxu and left it to Li Hongzhang to operate.
At the same time, Japan has demonstrated a strong mobilization capacity over the same period. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan gradually transformed into a modern country. Through a series of military reforms, a modern conscription system was established, which stimulated national consciousness. This, coupled with the construction of a railway network, made it easier to dispatch and assemble soldiers. This provided strong support for Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War.
Compared to Japan, the plight of the Qing Dynasty is obvious. There is a lack of national identity, the ruling system is inherently inadequate, and the internal power struggle is even more intense. All this made the Qing Dynasty unable to implement a national general mobilization and exchange space for time to effectively confront foreign enemies. We can't help but reflect on what we are missing at this critical juncture for the survival of our country
This article aims to analyze the reasons for the failure of the Qing Dynasty to implement a national general mobilization, from multiple perspectives such as the lack of national identity, the dilemma of the ruling system, and the internal power struggle. It is hoped that by thinking about the history of the Qing Dynasty, we can better understand the complexity and predicament of that era, and accumulate lessons for today's development.
The reason for the failure of the Qing Dynasty to carry out a national mobilization, as the article explains, was that the defects of the historical, cultural and political system combined to create a picture of the inability to resist foreign aggression. In my 500-word review, I will conduct an in-depth analysis of the Qing Dynasty's political system, cultural traditions, and international comparisons.
First of all, the natural flaws of the Qing political system became one of the fundamental reasons for the failure of the national general mobilization. As the rulers of an ethnic minority, the Qing Manchu elite was placed among the Han Chinese masses, leading to political alienation and distrust. The division of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion mentioned in the article, as well as the corruption and division of management between them, greatly reduced the efficiency of mobilization. This institutional inadequacy prevented the Qing Dynasty from mobilizing the country's resources quickly and orderly in the face of external threats, resulting in insufficient mobilization capacity and ultimately failure to effectively respond to the invaders.
Secondly, the Qing Dynasty's long-standing lack of the concept of state and nation has gradually emerged in the course of historical evolution. For the emperor, the state was his private property, while for the common people, paying taxes had nothing to do with state ownership, which created a lack of national identity. This situation has led to the lack of unity of thought, and has become a constraint in the highly organized environment of modern times. Without national identity, it is difficult to form common ideas and goals, and it is even more difficult to quickly unite the whole country against foreign enemies.
On the other hand, the Qing Dynasty's perception of the outside world lagged behind the development of the times, and it did not carry out timely reforms of the political system and ideological concepts. Compared with modern Japan, the Qing Dynasty lagged behind in the reform of the military system and national concept, and failed to adapt to the new pattern of external threats and international competition. Although the local armed forces such as the Hunan Army and the Huai Army mentioned in the article may seem inconspicuous on the surface, they showed great strength in the face of external threats, showing the institutional limitations of the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, the power struggles within the Qing Dynasty exacerbated the lack of mobilization capacity. In the face of the national crisis, the two parties did not focus on saving the country, but focused their attention on the struggle for power. This internal chaos and confrontation made it impossible to form a cohesive response force at a critical moment, and hindered the Qing Dynasty's implementation of a comprehensive nationwide mobilization.
Finally, compared with Japan, the mobilization dilemma of the Qing Dynasty was more significant. Through the Meiji Restoration, Japan gradually modernized and established a modern conscription system, which stimulated national consciousness. This contrast highlights the Qing Dynasty's political, military, and cultural lag in many aspects, as well as its lack of sensitivity to external challenges.
Generally speaking, the failure of the Qing Dynasty to implement a national mobilization was due to a combination of factors. The inadequacy of the political system, the constraints of cultural traditions, the lack of national identity, and the lack of sensitivity to external changes all made the Qing dynasty struggle with its ability to mobilize. This historical lesson reminds us that when the country is under threat, it is necessary to carry out timely reform of the political system and ideology, strengthen national identity, and build a unified ideology to cope with the complex and changing international situation.
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