In the late period of old China, what was the truth about its military strength? "Late Qing Dynasty"This term carries a negative label for many people, believing that the dynasty is incompetent, neither politically nor militarily.
However, when we look at it from a historical perspective, we find something very different. In these pictures, there are advanced ** equipment, and there are also traces of the introduction of the West**, which makes people wonder - the military strength of the late Qing Dynasty, how is the competition?
Is their ** equipment really advanced? If this equipment is fully utilized, what impact will it have on the situation?
Since the Opium War in 1840, the Qing Dynasty has introduced advanced Western **, the most notable of which are the Grimm cannon and the Nordenfly multi-barrel machine gun. Originating in the United States in 1861, the Green Gun was a rotary hand-cranked machine gun with an extremely fast rate of fire, which was well suited to the battlefield environment of the time.
In order to strengthen the military, Li Hongzhang imported dozens of these new machine guns from the United States, and specially installed two wheels on the machine guns to make them look like a mini cannon, so they were named "Green Cannons".
In 1881, the Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau finally copied its own product on the basis of the original model of the Green Cannon - "Ten Lianzhu Green Cannons". These domestic Green guns have comparable performance to the original, but there are problems with ammunition **.
When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894, the Qing army brought 4 Green guns to meet the battle, but because of the unskillful use of the method, they were defeated in the exhaustion of ammunition and food.
When the Qing court sent reinforcements to the Korean front, they were marching a hot summer afternoon with the heavy Green cannon, a "domestic product" produced by the Jinling Machinery Bureau.
Although these "domestic products" are very strong, the training of the Qing army is far from enough. Most of these soldiers came from the interior of the Central Plains, and they had never seen this new style**, and they knew little about how to use it.
When the troops bypassed the Datong River, a few young soldiers almost used the barrel of the cannon as an iron rod and threw it on the ground, almost damaging this precious batch of munitions. A Sichuan veteran next to him shouted and slapped him.
Although the offspring were tall, they didn't dare to squeak, so they had to pay for it obediently. The veteran wiped his sweat and muttered in a low voice: "This thing is said to be an artifact......It's not that magical! ”
Perhaps, it was this few contemptuous whispers that eventually led to the crushing defeat of the Qing army. If they had really mastered and skillfully used the new **, the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War could have been very different.
However, history is merciless, and everything can only be conjecture. The Nordenfei multi-barrel machine gun was also valued by the Qing army for a time, but the result was not satisfactory.
In the late Qing Dynasty, China not only imported and copied the Western Norden aircraft gun and Green gun, but also introduced the Makqin heavy machine gun and the Krupp series artillery.
The performance of these ** was in a leading position in the world at that time, especially the Makqin heavy machine gun, which was extremely powerful and had a very fast rate of fire, and was one of the most advanced individual automatic ** of the Qing army before the First Sino-Japanese War.
Although the Qing imported 10 Maxim machine guns from Britain and planned to equip the army in large quantities, this plan was ultimately not realized due to the high cost of the army.
In the 80s of the 19th century, the Maxim heavy machine gun caused a sensation in the Western world, its rate of fire and range surpassed the largest competitor Gatling machine gun, so many countries began to equip the Maxim heavy machine gun, including the United Kingdom, the United States and **.
Li Hongzhang, a leading figure in the Westernization Movement, maintained a high degree of concern about the military development of the West. In his opinion, the Maxim machine gun is an indispensable modernization **. So, in his capacity as Minister of War and Aircraft, he purchased a batch of these heavy machine guns from British merchants.
These large black ** were soon transported to Shanghai, and then to the Beiyang Navy Division and Army in Tianjin. However, the high ** means that this new ** is difficult to spread to all Qing Dynasty troops.
The unit price of a Maxim machine gun is equivalent to the salary of a middle-level officer for several years, which makes bulk procurement a problem. By the time the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894, there were probably only a few dozen of these machine guns in the entire army, most of which were concentrated on the main ships of the Beiyang Navy.
Unlike the Maxim machine gun, which faced a shortage of funds, the cannon from the German Krupp Arsenal received strong support from the Qing Dynasty.
When exploring the reasons for the military decline of the Qing Dynasty in the last years, we can't help but admit the fact that the Qing Dynasty was not without advanced equipment, and they introduced a variety of the world's top guns at that time, such as the Maxim machine gun, the Krupp artillery and the Nordenfeld multi-barrel machine gun.
However, the crux of the matter is that these ** have not been applied to real combat on a large scale. The army is not familiar with this and lacks adequate training. Coupled with the corruption of the government and the shortage of military spending, the Qing army was ultimately unable to play its due role despite having advanced **.
Therefore, the main reason for the defeat of the Qing Dynasty was not the ** itself, but the incompetence of the ruling class.
They neglected the construction of the army and did not provide adequate training and logistics support for the soldiers, which made the Qing Dynasty army, which had the top **, still unable to resist the pressure in the face of difficulties, and eventually led to the demise of the entire dynasty in internal and external troubles.
Some of the Qing troops we captured** have never even seen our own army. ”
Despite their strength, they were powerless in the process of the dynasty's decline. As an old minister of the Qing Dynasty pointed out bitterly in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi: "Our army is excellent, but the generals are incompetent!" ”
The real decider is the great general. However, this decaying feudal dynasty no longer has any wise and brave commanders to push out. Time cannot be turned back, history has been frozen, and we can only reflect and examine the past through the rearview mirror.
Perhaps, as Liang Qichao said: "We should take the strong country as an example and the weak country as a wake-up call." "The fall of the Qing Dynasty is a profound lesson for future generations.