The Opium War was the beginning of China's modern history and the first war in China's century-old history of humiliation. The West's strong ships and artillery made the rulers realize their backwardness and began to reform and reform. From the perspective of today's people, the Qing Dynasty, which has a vast territory and a large population, cannot defeat the British who came across the ocean in the Opium War, which is very puzzling, in fact, the reasons for the defeat of the Qing Dynasty are many.
First of all, the Qing Dynasty implemented a policy of seclusion and seclusion, which led to very limited exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world. In order to prevent local rebellions, they were afraid that advanced ** and tactics would flow into the people, so they were self-contained. Although there is no most advanced **, many film and television works describe the Qing Dynasty army as a cold-armed army with spears, bows and arrows, which is actually wrong. The Qing Dynasty was equipped with firearms such as artillery and muskets, but due to the lack of scientific and experimental methods, the production process was backward, the firing range was short, the efficiency was low, the accuracy was poor, and the phenomenon of accidentally injuring oneself such as exploding the chamber often occurred.
Second, the Qing Dynasty's armed forces lacked modern organization and training, and lacked a unified management and command system, making it difficult to form effective combat effectiveness. The Qing Dynasty army had multiple roles such as police and stability maintenance, and its distribution across the country was very scattered, which led to a very slow deployment of troops. The income of Qing soldiers was very low, and the army had to find another way to make a living, and even hired people to replace them when they needed to practice. Many soldiers do not have war tasks and farm and open restaurants on weekdays, and such an army will definitely not be able to produce strong combat effectiveness.
In addition, the political system of the Qing Dynasty also had serious problems. The Qing Dynasty practiced a feudal system, and the political stability and governance capacity of the country were very low, which led to the country's political stability and governance ability. In order to protect their own forces, the various forces cannot even do a unified outcome.
Finally, the Qing Dynasty, as the ruling regime in China, was always wary of the people, resulting in the Qing army not daring to and unable to mobilize the people on a large scale. At that time, the Chinese people generally did not have a sense of nationality and did not realize that this was a critical moment related to the survival of the nation.
No matter what the final result is, no matter how corrupt the Qing Dynasty is, those soldiers and people who bravely resist foreign invaders will always be our national heroes. The history of humiliation in modern times tells us that backwardness means being beaten, that only being strong can have dignity, and that truth is only on the edge of the sword!