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On June 10, 1900, British Vice Admiral Seymour led more than 2,000 soldiers from eight countries who had gathered in the Tianjin Concession to advance to Beijing, the capital of the Qing court! After defeating several Qing forces in succession, they succeeded in capturing Beijing, the capital of China.
After the war, the Eight-Nation Coalition not only burned and looted the city of Beijing for several days, but also forced the Qing Dynasty to sign the "Xinchou Treaty" that humiliated the country. As a result, China has completely become a semi-colonial, half-feudal society, reduced to fish on the chopping block of the great powers.
This was the very humiliating invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, which was very humiliating in Chinese history.
As for why the "powerful" Qing Dynasty was easily defeated, everyone in the Qing court attributed the reason to the backwardness of China's first equipment. However, the more we dig deeper and explore the situation of the Qing court at that time, we can find that this statement is not entirely correct and not convincing enough.
Why is it not the main reason why the equipment is backward? What is the real reason for China's failure?
Pay attention to understand the inside story of the victory of the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China.
Since the Opium War in 1840, China has been under constant aggression from Western powers. As a mysterious eastern power, China under the rule of the Qing Dynasty had an unparalleled attraction to the Western powers. However, due to China's size, it is difficult for the Western powers to divide and disintegrate it at one time, so they can only gradually launch a war of encroachment and embezzle China's interests.
At the end of the 19th century, with the changes in the international situation, the Western powers began a frenzy to carve up China. Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, all parts of China were infiltrated with the influence of Western countries. The common people were plagued by the invasion of Western powers, and the pressure caused by wars, taxes and other problems became heavier and heavier.
The Boxer Rebellion came into being as a non-governmental organization against the Western powers. It is undeniable that the Boxer Rebellion, as an anti-imperialist organization, has its advanced nature. However, due to its origins in a feudal church group, the Boxers still retained many feudal characteristics. After gaining the support of the Qing Dynasty, the Boxers made rapid progress in Hebei and successfully invaded the Tianjin Concession, dealing a major blow to the local Western forces.
The Western powers, which were worried that they could not find an excuse, could be regarded as seizing the opportunity and using this as an excuse to constantly put pressure on the Qing Dynasty. Qing ** originally hoped to use the power of the Boxers to strike at the foreigners in China, how could they easily bow their heads and admit their mistakes. With the acquiescence of the Qing Dynasty, the Boxers became more and more powerful in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
Deeply disturbed by their interests, the great powers began to deliberate and finally decided to send troops to China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion. Under the leadership of British Vice Admiral Seymour, more than 2,000 soldiers of the Eight-Nation Coalition marched to Beijing. Because of the resolute resistance of the Boxers on the way forward, the Eight-Nation Coalition had to withdraw to Tianjin.
After returning to Tianjin, the Eight-Nation Coalition began to set its sights on the Dagu Fort. On the premise of ostensibly maintaining friendly relations with the Qing court, the Eight-Nation Coalition attacked the Dagu Fort. The defenders of the fort put up a heroic resistance, but eventually died tragically, and the fort was subsequently lost.
And this unexpected attack by the Eight-Nation Coalition ignited the anger of the Qing court. The foreign envoys in Beijing were killed in an ambush by the Qing army officers, which completely made the Qing court and the Eight-Nation Coalition Army tear their faces, and the war officially began.
The Eight-Nation Coalition relied on the poison gas shells called "Column Low Artillery" in their hands to achieve superior results in the confrontation with the defenders of Tianjin. In addition, Nie Shicheng, the defender of Tianjin City, and the Boxers who jointly defended this place were full of contradictions and mutual suspicion. In the end, the Boxers mutinied, not only did not help Nie Shicheng, but also attacked Nie Shicheng's troops. In the end, Nie Shicheng, who had lost the momentum and suffered the enemy in the abdomen and back, suffered eight wounds in Balitai, and died of blood.
After the capture of Tianjin, the Eight-Nation Coalition began to regroup its forces. In August 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition once again gathered more than 20,000 troops and marched towards Beijing. Although in the process, the Eight-Nation Coalition was once again strongly resisted by the Boxers. Not only did the coalition army sacrifice more than 500 people, but its own important "column of low artillery" was also destroyed. But these defeats still could not change the defeat of the Boxers and the Qing court.
On August 13, the Eight-Nation Coalition arrived at the city of Beijing and began to besiege the city. Less than a day later, the ancient capital of several dynasties was breached, and the Eight-Nation Alliance began to swarm in. At that time, the supreme ruler of the Qing court, Cixi, was fleeing Shanxi in a hurry with Emperor Guangxu and many members of the imperial family.
In exile, Cixi no longer had the boldness to declare war with the whole world, but hurriedly appointed Li Hongzhang to start peace talks with representatives of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
After the Eight-Nation Coalition entered and occupied Beijing, it did not stop there. After the destruction of Beijing, these foreign powers began an eight-day looting campaign against Beijing. In addition, various countries have also mobilized troops to burn, kill, and loot in the Hebei region, committing all kinds of evil. During this period, looting and killing, wanton rape and other evil acts were tacitly approved by the top of the coalition forces.
In December 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition finally agreed to negotiate peace with the Qing court. In February of the following year, many Qing court** who supported the Boxers were executed to appease the anger of the foreign powers. In September 1901, the Qing Dynasty signed the infamous "Xinchou Treaty", and paid more than 4500 million taels**, and handed over a large number of national rights and interests, so that China was completely reduced to a semi-colonized and semi-closed society.
The Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, and the Qing Dynasty fled in a hurry, paying a huge price. Dig into the reason, why is the statement that the Qing army's equipment is backward is not reasonable?
In the history books, most of the reasons for the failure of the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China are attributed to the backwardness of the first equipment. Most of the Qing generals who participated in this battle also believed that it was because of the backwardness of the Qing court that the combat strength of the Qing soldiers was inferior to that of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and they were finally defeated by the coalition army.
As a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang blamed the defeat of the Qing soldiers on backwardness since the defeat of the Opium War. He even boasted: "Our army is far superior to the enemy in numbers, and there are no mistakes in tactical command." It was only because of the excessively large gap in the level that it eventually led to the defeat of the war. ”
After the defeat of the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China, this famous minister who lived in the southeast once again pointed out that the main reason for the failure of the Qing Dynasty was that it was backward and had too big a gap with the foreigners, which gave it the upper hand.
But the fact is really as Li Hongzhang said, is the failure of the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China because of the backwardness of the Qing Dynasty's equipment? I am afraid that the answer is no, under the increasingly clear and complete historical research of the late Qing Dynasty, the real reason for the defeat of the Qing ** in this war has gradually been revealed.
As the fundamental problem pointed out by many ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, backwardness was indeed an inevitable situation that the Qing Dynasty once faced. As one of the world's great powers, the Qing Dynasty did not pay enough attention to the research and use of firearms during the Opium War and before. Before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Opium War, the firearms in the hands of the Qing ** were still the "advanced age" of the Ming army's guns and red-coated cannons captured at the end of the Ming Dynasty
Even if it is newly produced, its ** level is already far behind the world average. As the main hot ** in the army, carrying a gun "is the firearm that the Qing army relies on the most." However, this firearm is more than 2 meters long and weighs more than 10 catties. When fighting, two people need to cooperate and cooperate to complete the shooting. Such a ** is not only inconvenient for transportation and storage, but also very inefficient when fighting. Not to mention that its power is not very powerful, and there are a lot of problems such as accuracy and recoil.
In the Opium War, the Qing army, armed with guns and red-coated cannons, fought against the foreign powers, which was undoubtedly a move of "sending to death". The defeat of the Opium War made many Qing generals realize the problem of backwardness of the troops, which is an undeniable fact.
So after the war, the generals of these troops began to carry out relevant innovations and began to purchase a large number of foreign advanced guns. As the strongest unit of the local army of the Qing court after the Opium War, the Huai Army, the equipment level of its troops undoubtedly represents the highest level of the Qing army.
According to historical records, in the 60s of the 19th century, the Huai army, with less than 60,000 people, was equipped with nearly 40,000 foreign firearms. Most of these firearms were New Progress guns made in Germany. Although these rifles cannot be said to be the most advanced in the world, they have basically reached the basic level of advanced **, and they will not be at a disadvantage in the war with various countries.
In addition to firearms, the Huai army was also equipped with some Krupp cannons imported from Germany by Li Hongzhang, and its firepower was second to none in the world. After the First Sino-Japanese War, the Huai Army obtained nearly 150 rear hall guns provided by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, which greatly enhanced its firepower.
According to such firepower, the Huai Army will not fall behind in the field of equipment against the Eight-Nation Alliance. Even if it is slightly inferior, it will not lead to a big defeat because of this. In fact, in the war of aggression against China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Russian reporters even recorded that the Eighth ** Brigade was suppressed by the artillery fire of the Qing army, and it did not dare to confront it head-on.
The Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, and the Qing Dynasty ended in a fiasco. Investigate the root cause, the reason for the backwardness of the Qing army generals is not true, so where is the reason for the final defeat of the Qing army?
In fact, we can find many reasons for the fiasco of the Qing court. First of all, the first point is naturally the backwardness of the overall system of the Qing Dynasty. As a feudal monarchy, the Qing Dynasty's political and economic systems were far behind those of Western countries. Although the Qing army was equipped with a large number of advanced foreign guns, its fundamental system was still the feudal monarch**. Neither its political nor its economic system supports the creation of a modern professional military force.
The Qing court's unique Eight Banners and Green Battalion military system, under the management of its **, eventually raised hundreds of thousands of empty "bandits" with soldier status for the country. These soldiers are not only extremely weak in combat capability, but also lack the slightest spirit of defending their homes and defending the country. In the middle of a troop battle, the slightest obstacle or blow will cause it to flee immediately.
The armed forces have not yet established a rational management system. Most of the officers came by virtue of martial arts and hereditary shadows. The ability and level of command of these people depends entirely on their individual talent. Its officers not only have low military command ability, but also exploit their subordinates and deduct military salaries.
In short, a backward political and economic system can only give birth to a backward military system. An army developed on the basis of such a military system, even if it has the most advanced firearms, will immediately collapse in the event of chaos. During the Tianjin battle, under the leadership of the defending general Nie Shicheng, the Eight-Nation Coalition encountered a strong resistance. But soon after Nie Shicheng's death, the Qing army soon began to disperse and flee.
So if it is relatively closer to the level of the modern army, and the Huai army, which is extremely outstanding in the Qing army, joins the battle, will it change the results of the battle? The answer is no! After many years of warfare, the Huai Army is no longer the advanced army it was at the beginning of its establishment. Under the influence of the overall environment, the combat strength of the Huai army has declined significantly. And most importantly, Li Hongzhang, as the leader of the Huai army, did not want to participate in this battle. In fact, not only Li Hongzhang, but also the entire Han civilian clique did not want to participate in this war.
As a political group with a clear understanding of the West, the Han civil bureaucracy was not optimistic about the "anti-foreign" moves of the Manchu aristocracy and the Boxers. Therefore, when Cixi openly declared that she wanted to declare war on all nations and issued an edict to the governors of the provinces, these Han civil officials began to openly sing against the rulers. The civilian-bureaucratic clique led by Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangjiang, disobeyed the order and regarded Cixi's edict as a "false edict". There are even records at the time that Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, not only refused to carry out the edict, but also privately insulted Cixi as an "old widow".
Under the leadership of Li Hongzhang and others, a large number of provinces represented by the southeast region adopted a wait-and-see attitude, and the southwestern and northwestern provinces also chose not to help each other and sat back and watched the development of the situation. Soon after, Li Hongzhang and others signed peace talks with foreign powers, and the two sides did not invade each other. Even Zhang Zhidong is ready to support Li Hongzhang to serve as the "big **" after the chaos and become the head of state. And because of the invasion of Tsarist Russia, the Northeast region no longer has the strength to participate in the struggle.
Under the operation of everyone, only Zhili, Shanxi, Henan and other places near the first China still support it. Under such circumstances, the total number of Qing court troops defending Tianjin, Beijing and other places was only tens of thousands, and in the face of the same tens of thousands of foreign troops, these Qing court's "second-line" troops had no advantage at all.
But even so, in the process of advancing into Beijing, the coalition forces were fiercely blocked and paid a great price. In the process of capturing Beijing, the coalition forces were also repeatedly blocked, and in the end, it was under the "guidance" of the Chinese people who believed in the ** religion that the British army found a "secret way" to attack the city of Beijing.
Throughout the war, the combat strength of the Qing court and the Eight-Nation Alliance was not much different, and the gap in its equipment was far less huge than the people in the mouth. During the battle, under the leadership of certain patriotic generals with military talents, the Eight-Nation Alliance also suffered a great blow. But in the end, because of the decadent and backward system of the Qing Dynasty and the self-preservation of the Han civil officials, it finally led to the defeat of the war of aggression against China.
Time has passed, and a hundred years later, the squadron is neat and strong, and it is no longer the miserable appearance of the year. And all thanks to our party. It was under the leadership of our party that a perfect state system was established. The political and economic fields have been continuously developed and improved, and the military system has also been improved step by step. The whole army and the whole country are united in defending the family and the country, and jointly defending against foreign humiliation, and jointly creating today's prosperous era and creating today's prosperity.
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