The butterfly effect of the Crimean War, why China has become the biggest loser
The butterfly effect"It was proposed by the American meteorologist Lorenz that a butterfly in the Amazon rainforest of South America can cause a tornado in Texas with a few flaps of its wings.
This theory tells us that everything in the world is universally connected. This concept applies not only to fields such as economics and sociology, but also to war.
For example, the Crimean War of 1853-1856, a war between Russia, Turkey, and Britain and France, had a profound impact on China, thousands of miles away.
So, how did the Crimean War affect China, and what impact did it have?
Since ancient times, the Russian nation has lived in the north of the Eurasian continent, and its difficult geographical environment has forged a heroic and warlike national spirit, which has earned it the reputation of "fighting nation".
By humbly learning from the East and the West, Russia has established a solid foothold in the vast land, but with it has been the expansion of its expansionist ambitions. ** The eyes of aggression were first set on the West.
Prior to this, due to the need for a community of interests, ** had formed a holy alliance with Austria, Prussia and other great powers to jointly fight against the powerful France.
Interests are the baton in international relations. Whether it is a temporary alliance in the present or the outbreak of contradictions in the future, it is interests that play a decisive role behind the scenes. Before the outbreak of the Crimean War, Turkey and ** clashed over the Holy Land.
* With its strong military strength, it took the initiative to attack Turkey and seized most of Turkey's land. This made countries such as Britain and France see the threat, and they decided to support Turkey behind their backs, and the situation became increasingly tense.
Finally in 1853, the war broke out on the island of Crimea. The root cause of the war was the struggle for dominance in the Near East.
Although Russia had a strong military, the war ended in a crushing defeat for Russia under the joint boyopy of Britain, France, Turkey, Austria and other countries. During the war, the Black Sea Fleet carefully built by the Russian side was completely annihilated, Sevastopol fell into the hands of the enemy, and the tsar even died of depression because of the disastrous defeat of the war.
The Crimean War changed the situation in Europe, depriving Russia of its European hegemony and suffering setbacks in the war for years of painstakingly managed military and economy.
The crushing defeat of the war forced Russia to re-seek the object of external expansion in order to compensate for the heavy losses caused by the Crimean War.
In the Crimean War, ** was at a disadvantage, in order to retain the naval structure, facilitate the future comeback, and control the Far East, he ordered ** to withdraw into Heilongjiang to avoid the British and French fleets.
However, the ** people, accustomed to aggression for profit, are not just in China to hide. They sailed in the bays of northeastern China with the intention of encroaching on China's rich land and abundant resources.
At this time, China was at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the Opium War woke China up from the dream of "the first kingdom", and the European powers were eyeing it, eager to annex China.
China, once a great power, is now in turmoil.
Domestic contradictions intensified, and the Taiping Rebellion against the rule of the Qing Dynasty broke out in the south. In order to suppress the Taiping Rebellion in the south, the Qing had to transfer the troops stationed near Heilongjiang to the south, resulting in the emptiness of the Qing army in the Heilongjiang region.
In this context, the Russian army, which has just retreated from the battlefield in Crimea, urgently needs to strengthen its strength and recover. It was at this time that ** saw the situation of internal and external troubles in the Qing Dynasty and realized that the opportunity to take advantage of the fire to rob had come.
In 1858, when the British and French forces attacked Beijing, the ** army took the opportunity to invade the Aihui region in northeast China and forcefully presented their territorial division plan to the ** of the Heilongjiang region of the Qing Dynasty.
They even threatened with force, and if the Qing did not agree, they would join forces with the Anglo-French forces to attack Beijing. In the course of the negotiations, they even fired guns to threaten the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty had been so frightened by Britain and France that it could not resist, and could only reluctantly accept the unreasonable demands of **.
The "Aihui Treaty" signed by the Qing Dynasty and ** stipulated that more than 600,000 square kilometers of land north of Heilongjiang would be assigned to ** with Heilongjiang as the border, while more than 400,000 square kilometers of land north of the Ussuri River would be jointly managed by China and Russia.
This treaty led to the loss of a large amount of sovereignty of the Qing court, but ** did not pity the weakness of the Qing court because of this, but saw the weakness of the Qing court, further inflated its ambition to invade China, and opened an opening for ** to annex China.
Due to the constant threat and territorial occupation of **, the Qing court was forced to sign the "Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty" with **, ceding all the Outer Northeast to **, which seriously damaged China's sovereign interests.
Although the Treaties of Aihui and Beijing gave ** access to the Pacific Ocean, China lost control of the Heilongjiang River and had to pay tariffs even when its own ships went to sea.
Sakhalin Island, once a treasure of China, is rich in marine resources due to its important strategic location, long coastline and abundant fishery resources. However, now it has fallen into the hands of the ** people and has been renamed Hazarin Island.
* Finding an ideal harbor in this area, ideal for a large naval base, they built the Pacific Fleet in this area.
In the war for the island of Crimea, ** ended in a crushing defeat and was forced to pay a large amount of money and land to Britain, France, Turkey and other countries. However, ** did not restrain its aggressive ambitions because of this, and instead turned its attention to China, annexing a large amount of land in Northeast China, and seriously violating China's sovereignty.
However, at that time, the Qing Dynasty was in domestic and foreign difficulties, and had no time to take care of territorial sovereignty, which led to being bullied. This historical lesson tells us that only when a country is strong can it effectively safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Today, China is at the top of the world, and its strength is so powerful that no country dares to act rashly.