The Sino-Japanese War (1894), which took place in the 20th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, is called the First Sino-Japanese War. This is a new Japanese militaristic force. After long-term planned preparation, it took advantage of the confrontation between Britain and Russia, set traps and made excuses, and launched a war of aggression against China and North Korea. From the Battle of Toyoshima to the occupation of Grange Terrace, in just eight months, the Japanese army occupied the whole territory of Korea, Liaodong and Shandong Peninsula in China, wiped out beiyang fleet and took control of the sea power. It took a year and three months to land in Tainan. The First Sino-Japanese War forced the Qing government to sign the treaty of shimonoseki, which humiliated the country, and ended in China's failure.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was a major turning point in the history of Sino-Japanese relations for thousands of years. Taking this as a starting point, Japanese aggression and local wars against China continued. 1900, the Japanese army suppressed the boxer movement as the main force; 1904 After the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese troops reoccupied Liaodong Peninsula. 19 14 the Japanese army seized Germany's rights and interests in Shandong by the opportunity of World War I; 1927 and 1928, the Japanese army sent troops to Shandong twice, creating the "Jinan Massacre" and obstructing China's northern expedition. 193 1 Since the September 18th Incident, it has intensified, occupying three northeastern provinces of China and successively attacking Shanghai, Jehol, Great Wall, Jidong, Chahar and Suiyuan provinces. China is losing ground step by step. The second Sino-Japanese War broke out in the Lugouqiao Incident, which was by no means an "accidental" incident, but an inevitable result of Japan's consistent policy of aggression against China, and a continuation and expansion of the first Sino-Japanese War.
As we all know, Japanese capitalism developed rapidly with the opportunity of the Sino-Japanese War. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 made Japan quickly embark on the path of militarism and become source of war in the far east. After that, Japan invaded China, and the pattern of China being invaded by Japan remained unchanged until 1945 when Japan was defeated. The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 exposed Japan's treachery, barbarism and greed. Therefore, to fully understand the history of Sino-Japanese relations, we must trace back to the source, starting from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 destroyed the social development of China and seriously affected the historical destiny of China. The consequences should not be underestimated, and this tragic past should not be forgotten because of the passage of time.
However, the Japanese Yasukuni Shrine still enshrines 136 19 "glorious war dead" in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 and 1 130 "war dead" who invaded Taiwan Province, totaling 14749. They include Lieutenant General Kitagawa Nengjiu, head of the Guards Division who died in the Northeast invasion, Major General An Chun, head of the 1st 1 1 brigade who died in the Weihai invasion, Major General Fukuhara Ai, chief of staff of the Governor's Office who died in the Liaoning invasion, and Major General Shangen Xinsheng, head of the 2nd brigade who died in the Taiwan Province invasion. For example, Japanese Class-A war criminals in World War II have been visited by Japanese nationals for a long time, and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi has visited the shrine six times, which makes people clearly realize that the ghost of militarism is always lingering in Japan.
The Yasukuni Shrine is immortal, and militarism is immortal. Do not forget the national humiliation and strengthen China.
two
During the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, China was a big Asian country with a population of 400 million, while Japan had a population of 30 million, and its territory was only one-sixth that of China. Comparison of strength between the two sides: the navy is roughly the same, but the age of China ships is aging; The army is stronger than the enemy. China's total strength is about 630,000, and the front-line combat strength is about 200,000, which can be assembled one after another. Japan mobilized a total of 240,000 troops. Except for the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division, which have not yet entered the war, it is basically their lair, and the whole country has almost become an empty city. After fighting for more than a year, Japan's military expenditure was 200 million to 250 million yen, which exceeded the total national income of that year, and its financial resources were exhausted, making it impossible to fight again.
China is waging a just war against aggression. The main battlefield is in China. With the support of the people, logistics support is convenient and has many advantages. International public opinion sympathizes with China, and Japan has been under the pressure and danger of foreign powers' interference. So at the beginning of the war, most countries judged that China would win. Japan's base camp has also considered the "C-type operation" plan of retreating to defend its homeland if it is defeated. The Minister of Naval Operations was dismissed for lack of confidence in the war. Some people from all walks of life in Japan also believe that the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 "was indeed a great adventure of the emperor's forces and a speculative undertaking with a new life as a bet." The above situation should have been a favorable condition for China to resist Japanese aggression, but Japan's speculation and adventure succeeded. Why can Japan succeed? The victory or defeat on the battlefield, first of all, must find the reason from politics. This is the inevitable result of the long-term weakness of the corrupt and conservative Qing government and the successful political reform in Japan since the Meiji Restoration. Under the control of Cixi and die-hards, the Qing government maintained decadent feudal rule politically, did not seek economic development, spent money like water in life, and basically adopted an exclusive attitude towards western science and technology.
But realistically speaking, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and after the Japanese occupation of Taiwan Province Province and the annexation of Ryukyu, both the ruling and opposition parties in China attached great importance to coastal defense construction. The formation of beiyang fleet's army, the fortification of important coastal ports, the transformation of green camp into a training army and the development of the arms industry have all achieved certain results, as evidenced by the victory of the army in the Sino-French war. But because of political corruption, it will inevitably hinder military development. China's military system has not been fundamentally reformed, and a unified national defense force has not been established. Although the Beiyang Navy had considerable scale and fighting capacity, the Japanese navy came from behind and lost its advantage because Ci Chu misappropriated naval funds to build the Three Seas and the Summer Palace.
With the decline of the national situation, the attitude of Qing officials towards foreigners also changed. When we first opened the country, westerners with blue clothes and blond hair were all regarded as foreigners, called "foreigners", not to mention "Japanese" in "small eastern countries". 1873, the envoys of various countries in Beijing requested an audience with the Emperor Tongzhi. When Qing Yan presents an audience, he must perform a "bow ceremony" to show his national prestige. The envoys of various countries refused to face it and remained deadlocked for more than 40 days. After repeated negotiations, the Qing court finally allowed the "three bows" ceremony to end this ridiculous diplomatic dispute. However, during the Sino-French War, regardless of national dignity, the Qing government appointed an Englishman, James Duncan Campbell, to "represent" the China government and go to Paris for peace talks with the French government, which created an anecdote in the diplomatic history of sovereign countries. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the suggestions of Americans Costa and Tian Bei also had a great influence on China's decision to change the contract. The corrupt Qing government went from arrogance to the other extreme and gradually lost its national pride.
In short, the Qing dynasty, which was corrupt after the emperor and caught in party struggle, lost the historical opportunity of reform and self-improvement before the war and was bound to fall behind and be beaten. This is the fundamental reason for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War.
three
The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which happened more than a century ago, was a comprehensive contest between China and Japan in politics, economy and military affairs. As far as war is concerned, mastering and understanding the enemy's situation often plays a key role in winning or losing a war. This is the so-called "know yourself and know yourself, and fight every battle." During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in order to invade China, the Japanese government vigorously carried out espionage activities, which had a great influence on the war process. At that time, an imperial envoy named Yijun in the Qing Dynasty once said sadly: "There is no room for dispute between the two countries. Those who are prepared win, and those who are not prepared lose. Those who know themselves win, and those who don't know themselves lose. ..... The reality of Japan, our country is at a loss, my every move, some scholars don't know, Japan knows everything. " Chad Sun Xiaohui, a famous British spy history expert, pointed out more clearly: Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japanese spies collected a lot of information, a considerable part of which laid the foundation for the victory of the Sino-Japanese War 1884 to 1885.
Before the war, the main Japanese spy agencies in China were Leshan Hall in Hankou and Nissin Trade Research Institute in Shanghai. Although these two spy agencies were dissolved before the outbreak of the war, they collected a lot of information and trained a large number of spies, which played an important role in the Sino-Japanese War. Such as reconnaissance zhili coast; Select the landing point of Shandong Peninsula; Reconnaissance the battery and machine bureau (arsenal) in Tianjin and Shanghai; Collect military intelligence in Bohai Bay and other places; Pay close attention to beiyang fleet's movements and so on. In their report to China, they urged the Japanese government to wage war according to the information they had. For example, "the opportunity is today, and it is not the best policy to delay the time for him to lay a solid foundation, so it is beneficial to make a quick decision." Wait a minute.
In wartime, the activities of Japanese spies became more rampant. "He knows everything I'm doing, and even secretly responds to it and guides it. Therefore, every attack and dispatch is appropriate, and I just obey it. " Japanese spies played an important role in a series of military actions, such as the battle of Toyoda, the attack on Liaodong Peninsula and Ahava. For example, in the Toshima naval battle, the spy Ishikawa bribed a bookkeeper of Tianjin Ordnance Bureau on May 1 day, thus obtaining the sailing date of Gao Shenghao, and the raid was successful; The attack on Liaodong Peninsula was carried out by a spy who first scouted outside the field. After being arrested, they used two silver dollars to buy off the Qing soldiers and fled back, so that the Japanese army captured Jinzhou in one fell swoop. The attack on Ahava was carried out by eight Japanese spies "buying food and opium in advance in the village, fighting with the villagers and getting defensive measures from Weihai and Chengshan." This shows that in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japanese spies really became the pioneers of military operations. According to the information provided by the spy, the Japanese army "knew our army like the back of its hand, preemptively made the Japanese army advance, while I fell behind everywhere." Not only that, Japanese spies also privately transported arms for the Japanese army, helped transport rice and carried out sabotage activities many times. For example, 50,000 Jin of Wusongkou in Shanghai was destroyed by medicine; Hubei manufacturing bureau machinery and guns and bullets were burned; Eight boxes of mine explosives have been obtained since Ishikawa was captured in May 1 Day. According to Ishikawa's confession in May 1 day, "I want to bomb the weapons and equipment gathering place of Guang Hai Temple with mines and explosives. When this temple is destroyed, Tianjin will be destroyed and coastal defense will be abolished "; Japanese diplomats also used their legal status as a cover to engage in espionage. In addition, due to backward technology, primitive coding and simple rules, all the secret messages of the Qing court were deciphered by the Japanese side, so Japan mastered 54 round-trip secret messages of China's envoy to Japan. Because the Qing court didn't know it, the password was not changed during the whole war, so that during the Shimonoseki negotiations, all 22 secret messages between the Qing court and Li Hongzhang were deciphered by Japan.
According to the above situation, Japanese espionage was very successful in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Judging from the war itself, Japan's success is not only a victory of strategy and tactics, but also a victory of espionage. According to the information provided by Japanese spies, "the Japanese only send things in advance, so they can control my bad luck;" I only do things after, so I have been done by the Japanese. "Japan itself believes that it is precisely because of the excellent work of spies that Japan can strategize in the war and win thousands of miles away.
Looking back on the past more than 100 years ago is not only a historical judgment of the past years, but also a reminder that we should not relax our necessary vigilance today.
four
According to the fourth paragraph of treaty of shimonoseki, China has to pay 22,000 taels of silver military expenses in addition to 30 million taels of redemption fee and 502,000 taels of garrison fee in Ahava every year, which will be paid off in eight times in seven years. If it can be paid off within three years, interest can be exempted and ahava can take it back. At that time, the annual revenue of the Qing government was less than 90 million Liang, and it was impossible to compensate all the reparations within three years by relying on its own financial resources. To this end, we can only borrow foreign debts from foreign powers.
The first compensation of 50 million Liang, plus Liao's redemption fee of 30 million Liang, had to be paid off before September 1895, so the Qing government had to start the first big loan. Foreign powers can not only ask for high interest rates, but also attach various conditions to expand their interests in China, so Russia, France, Germany and Britain all participated in the competition for loan rights. The Russian-led organization "Triple intervention" was given priority, but it lacked financial resources due to the huge investment in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Considering the relationship between Russia and France, it contacted six French banks to form a consortium, excluding Germany, and borrowed 400 million francs from China. The annual interest rate is 4%, and the discount rate is 1/9408, that is, the loan is 65438+ the paid-in 0 yuan is 0.945438+0.25 yuan, and another exploitation is made in addition to the interest. With China's customs duties as collateral, it will be paid off in 36 years. In addition to this first large loan, the Qing government also borrowed 6,543,800+pounds from British and German banks.
Before March 1896, the second compensation of 52 million yuan will also expire. In order to appease Britain and Germany who were dissatisfied with the first loan, the Qing government borrowed a total of160,000 from the British and German consortium. The annual interest rate is 5% and the discount rate is 94%. It is also a tariff mortgage, which will be paid off in 36 years.
1before June, 898, the Qing government had to borrow money to pay off debts for three years. The competition between Britain, Germany, Russia and France reached a fever pitch, and the ministers of the four countries took turns to kill each other in the Prime Minister's yamen, making the loan conditions more harsh. Both Russia and Britain demanded the right to build railways, and used various means such as threats and intimidation against the Qing government. After more than half a year's struggle, the Qing government was forced to stop borrowing and begged Japan for a 20-year extension to pay off the compensation, but Japan immediately refused. The Qing government was cornered and had to borrow for the third time After a complicated and tortuous struggle, Yingde Bank, with strong financial resources, finally obtained the loan right and renewed the loan of 6,543,800+0,600 pounds. The interest rate is 4.5%, and the discount rate is as high as 83. With the customs revenue as the guarantee, if there is any shortage, the goods from Suzhou, Songhu, Jiujiang and eastern Zhejiang, as well as the salt taxes from Yichang, Hubei and Anhui, totaling 5 million, will be paid off within 45 years.
The above loans are converted into silver for five times, and the total principal and interest is not less than 700 million taels of silver. This is because the loan is subject to a handling fee of 0.25%. The way to pay off the debt is to deliver silver in Shanghai and convert it into pounds in Europe. The price of gold and silver fluctuates with the market. China's exchange of a large amount of silver for gold will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of gold, and the resulting losses are difficult to calculate.
International financial capital seized most of China's fiscal revenue through huge loans, controlled China's customs revenue, and made China lose many rights and interests. China struggled for thirty or forty years under the heavy debt bondage, and was bled dry by usury every year. The poverty of the people and the loss of precious funds for national construction have left China society in a state of poverty and backwardness for a long time.
During the three years from the end of the war 1896 to 1898, Japan's fiscal revenue totaled 268.9 million yen. In the past three years, Japan obtained 2310.5 million Cu-ping silver from China, which was converted into 364.88 million yen, exceeding 36% of Japan's total fiscal revenue in three years. The distribution and use of compensation is as follows: first, allocate 20 million yen to the royal family. Supplementary war expenses were 78.95 million yen, and various military expenditures were 33.79 million yen. The military expenditure for the expansion of Lu Haijun is the largest, reaching 6.5438+0.9605 million yen. The remaining 36 million yen; Used for education funds and disaster relief.
Relying on huge war reparations, Japan became a war upstart overnight, with strong financial resources and enhanced national strength. Ten years after the war, the capitalist economy developed rapidly, and the number of companies soared from 2844 to 8895. In order to meet the increasing demand for steel in military production and various industries, the famous "Bapan Iron Works" was built with compensation, with steel output accounting for 82% of the total national output, milling iron output accounting for 53%, and steel production capacity increased rapidly. Japan takes reparations as capital and implements the gold standard system. It is more conducive to the development of international trade, facilitating the introduction of machinery and equipment from advanced countries and obtaining foreign exchange, thus competing with other countries for a place in the international trade market and becoming a military power that dominated Asia at that time.
five
It seems a bit far-fetched to say that Li Hongzhang's "prediction", but in the process of negotiations with Japan after the Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang did say something like this:
On April 1895 and 1 day, Japan proposed a peace clause to China: "Ask China to recognize the complete independence of North Korea; The south of Fengtian, the whole island of Taiwan Province Province and its affiliated islands, and the territory of Penghu Islands were ceded to Japan; Pay Japan 32,000 silver as military compensation, which will be paid in five years with an annual interest of 500 ... ",and make a" positive reply "within three or four days.
On April 5, in view of the late issuance of the instructions of the Qing court and the four-day deadline, Li Hongzhang first drafted and submitted a "note" to the Japanese side, answering and refuting the Japanese requirements one by one. Among them, when talking about ceding land, Li Hongzhang first pointed out that the purpose of contracting land is to put an end to disputes. If China is ordered to cede the land, "disputes between the two countries will break out one after another in the future, and Yong Cheng's hatred will never end." He further revealed that Japan's request to cut the land of Fengtian is to "seize the capital at any time and train the navy and army" and "be my eternal enemy". At the end of "Talking about Iron", Li Hongzhang wrote a piece of advice to Ito Bowen (the plenipotentiary of Japan's negotiations): "The livelihood of the future generations of the two countries is in the hands of the plenipotentiaries of the two countries." "The officials and people of China and Japan will be reconciled forever or enemies forever in the future, so there are many people who have a great impact on Japan's national economy and people's livelihood, so we must carefully consider it." Li Hongzhang has repeatedly stressed that the Charter should be conducive to "permanent diplomatic relations" and to the "interests and well-being" of the two peoples, rather than being reviled by future generations (please note that Li Hongzhang mentioned the issue of "enemies" three times in Talking about Iron).
"Shuo Tie" is thousands of words long, so it is reasonable to refute Japanese terms euphemistically. Ito Bowen also admitted: "It is a good article to be accurate, meticulous and thorough, and to say what you want to say as much as possible." But he advocated: "It is better to make them succumb to the facts than to talk endlessly with them about empty truth." On April 6, he sent a reply, which touched upon China's arguments irrefutably, and asked the Japanese side to "reply the whole case or one by one, and if possible, please reply immediately." /kloc-in April of 0/7, Li Hongzhang and Ito Bowen, the plenipotentiaries of China and Japan, finally signed the "treaty of shimonoseki" for armistice negotiations in Chunfan Building, Maguan, Japan. The treaty only changed the military compensation from 32,000 to 22,000, and the rest were basically not changed according to the original requirements of the Japanese side. Li Hongzhang's "prophecy" has finally come true.
The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and treaty of shimonoseki fundamentally changed the nature of Sino-Japanese relations, which became the beginning of the division of China by the powers at the end of 19, making Japan the Far East Gendarmerie of the western powers and the most important country invading China, until the Second World War and the Second Sino-Japanese War ended in Japan's defeat. At present, Japan's right wing is rampant, and Prime Minister Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni Shrine six times. However, Li Hongzhang's statement that "disputes between the two countries will break out one after another in the future, and Yong Cheng's enmity will be passed down from generation to generation" still sounds reasonable.