However, the process of military reform in the late Qing Dynasty was vigorous and the ending was particularly bleak. Throughout the whole process, the gains and losses are embarrassing, which makes future generations suddenly wake up.
Internal troubles and foreign invasion forced the Qing court to carry out military transformation.
/kloc-In the mid-9th century, the domestic resistance was surging, and the Eight Banners Army was losing ground one after another. The Qing government had to face the fact that the fighting capacity of the Eight Banners Army was declining and began to use Yong Tuan.
The Yong camp system originated from the Garbo group training, and was mostly established by local officials. At first, it was a local armed force against the Taiping Army, including Xiang Yong, Huai Yong, Yu Yong and Ting Yong. In terms of organizational structure, the "battalion" is a combat unit under the command of the commander-in-chief. Each battalion has about 500 people, plus 180 people (similar to engineers and trench soldiers). The whole battalion consists of 38 teams, including 2 mountain artillery teams, 8 rifle teams, 9 small guns and 19 knives and spears, with simple structure and easy combination. In order to cooperate with the command and dispatch, a battalion department was set up, which consists of inspection department, military inspection department, money department, ordnance department, trial department, official document department, book opening department and planning department, forming the command center of the whole army.
On the whole, it has a fixed and tidy establishment, reasonable cold and hot weapons and a clear attack and defense system. Compared with the Eight Banners, its fighting capacity is more powerful. Therefore, Yong Yong soon replaced the Eight Banners as the main military system of the army in the late Qing Dynasty, which also improved the fighting capacity of the Qing army as a whole.
However, the brave camp system is only a response of local officials, and its purpose is only to suppress civil unrest, and it does not constitute a real change of the times. The Qing government paid more attention to and developed maritime forces.
At that time, the concept of sea power was in the ascendant, and the maritime forces of various countries developed rapidly. 1874, Li Hongzhang pointed out: "Ships and telegrams are fast. Military equipment is well-equipped, and its working strength is a hundred times. Cannonballs are invincible wherever they go. There is no limit to the land and water pass, and it is a strong enemy that has never happened in a thousand years. " People of insight have realized that the world pattern has changed qualitatively and started to look up at the world.
1874, when the Japanese invaded Taiwan Province, China paid 502,000 yuan for the soldiers. Deeply feeling that China was not an enemy of a small country, the Qing government contacted Britain to buy warships, which started the naval construction.
In addition to actively purchasing warships, the Qing government also attached great importance to the training of military talents, and sent several batches of more than 90 people to western countries to study military affairs. In addition, it also actively introduced foreign think tanks, such as Binel in France, Gordon and Lang Weili in Britain, which reflected the Qing government's desire and attention to building a modern army.
At the same time, the Qing government focused on its long-term development and began to build military factories, military schools, military ports and bases. Anqing Ordnance Institute, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Tianjin Machinery Bureau, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, Jiangnan Shipping Merchants Bureau, Jinling Manufacturing Bureau and other influential arsenals were established one after another, basically forming the embryonic form of the military industrial system.
The Qing government also successively established 19 military schools, such as Fujian Ship Administration School, Gun Exercise School, Tianjin Naval Academy and Beiyang Military Academy, and trained a large number of military backbone talents. From 65438 to 0878, the Qing government began to plan the establishment of Lushun military port for the maintenance of armored warships, and painstakingly operated Dagu, Ahava and other bases to consolidate coastal defense.
In the specific system, the Qing army also took the initiative to integrate with the outside world and actively integrated into the world trend. For example, when Beiyang Navy was founded, it drew up the Constitution of Beiyang Navy with reference to the relevant naval system of Britain and Germany. The constitution has complete provisions on ship system, official system, promotion assessment, etc. 12, and some views are far-sighted.
As far as Beiyang Navy is concerned, it is in line with international standards in personnel setting, training organization and etiquette, and has gradually integrated into the development trend of the world navy. At that time, South China's navy not only patrolled the ports in China, but also frequently appeared in Incheon, Busan, Wonsan and Jeju Island in North Korea, Kobe, Yokohama and Nagasaki in Japan, Muhuwei and Vladivostok in Russia, which had become maritime powers in the Far East and firmly controlled the sea power in the Northwest Pacific. According to the London Armament 189 1, China's navy ranks eighth in the world, and the Japanese navy ranks sixteenth.
These changes really injected vitality into the military forces in the late Qing Dynasty. Internally, the Qing army quickly gained the ability to quell the rebellion, ensured the relative stability of the country for 20 years, and won a rare opportunity for development; Externally, the Qing army played an important role in preventing Japanese invasion of Taiwan Province Province and Korea in the east, Russian coveting the northwest and northeast frontiers, and French troops invading southwest Vietnam.
There are many reasons why the efforts to strengthen the army in the late Qing Dynasty were difficult to last.
As mentioned above, all kinds of practical actions show the sincerity and determination of the Qing government's military reform, but due to the solidification of conservative ideas, the internal friction of officials and the indifference of national reform consciousness, its military reform is difficult to last.
First of all, the guiding ideology of the overall reform of the Qing army is still backward. Taking Yong Lian as an example, as a relatively new military organization, it has indeed injected great vitality into the Qing army, but its organizational system is still simple and thin, which cannot meet the needs of modern warfare. The backwardness of this system is mainly reflected in the strong local color in the Yong camp, and most of the recruits in each Yong camp prefer fellow villagers, which is not conducive to gathering talents.
The private nature of Yongying is also very serious. Its members are recruited by generals at all levels and are loyal to individuals rather than the country. Besides, this military system is very casual. Recruitment is brave, and demobilization is for the people. Soldiers lack identity and lofty fighting beliefs. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the new foreign armies met, and the decline of the brave battalion system was inevitable.
Secondly, the disadvantages of the decision-making level of the Qing court delayed the precious opportunity of its military development. As early as after the Opium War, intellectuals such as Bao, Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan were outspoken about the social ills at that time and demanded drastic reforms. But at that time, the war was over, the society was gradually restored to peace and harmony, and the Chinese people were reluctant to mention the past. Discussing the current political ills has become a taboo for the rulers.
Under this social background, the Qing Dynasty lost the "reform opportunity period" of 20 years after the Opium War. Later, due to the stimulation of internal troubles and foreign invasion, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty finally woke up and the so-called "Tongzhi revival" appeared. However, with the fall of Emperor Tongzhi, a series of stubborn habits of the ruling class reappeared, among which the appropriation of coastal defense funds to build the Summer Palace was the most representative.
According to scholars' research, the construction funds of Beiyang coastal defense and beiyang fleet are about 30 million taels of silver, while Empress Dowager Cixi spent more than 20 million taels to build the Summer Palace, which brought the coastal defense construction to a standstill. At that time, Li Hongzhang deeply felt that beiyang fleet's equipment was becoming obsolete, and said in "Review of the Memorial of the Navy": "That is to say, Japan, a small country, can save money and buy a huge ship at the age of 20. Since the opening of Beiyang Navy in 14, China has not added a ship. It can only train more than 20 existing ships diligently, and it is difficult to continue after stealing! " However, no matter how worried people of insight are, Cixi is still building a large scale.
The problem lies not only in Cixi, but also in the decision-making level of the whole Qing court. During the Guangxu period in the late Qing Dynasty, the enlightened Prince Gong was deposed by the imperial court, the conservative and short-sighted Prince Alcohol came to power, and the insatiable Baylor Yi Kuang managed the Prime Minister's yamen, which led to the lack of internal motivation for the top-down reform. For example, after the establishment of the naval yamen, it was manipulated by a group of Manchu dignitaries. They paid no attention to coastal defense and naval construction at all, and squandered precious coastal defense funds without knowing that the national disaster was coming.
Third, the cultivation of social talents and the concept of military generals at that time could not meet the needs of modern army building. A modern army needs not only new warships and guns, but also advanced ideas that keep pace with the times, strict and formal organizational training and excellent military management personnel. In these respects, the Qing army is conservative and has serious internal friction.
Starting from 1872, the Qing government planned to send 120 young children to the United States in three years to study military science, navigation, shipbuilding and surveying systematically, and planned to return to China in 15, expecting them to become the backbone talents for saving the country and developing industry. This is a precious opportunity to cultivate pillars for all aspects of national construction, but due to the opposition of conservatives, the Qing court suddenly took it all back nine years later.
Under the serious nature of the private army at that time, the generals of different armies often had different ideas and failed to form a strong joint force. For example, in the concept of national defense, Li Hongzhang advocated coastal defense, while the left advocated blocking defense. This argument lasted for half a year. It was not until the Sino-French War that the Left shifted from northwest to southeast. He knew the importance of coastal defense and began to support coastal defense construction. However, the left army marched westward, which cost12 million silver, exhausted the financial resources of the southeast to support the northwest, and delayed the construction of coastal defense.
In addition, while beiyang fleet is thriving, there is also a wave of xenophobia. Liu, the left-wing company commander, and Lin Tai, the right-wing company commander, clashed with Lang Weili, the commander of the British Navy, which led to his resignation. As a result, Sino-British naval relations deteriorated, and Britain withdrew all British coaches from the Naval Academy and refused the fourth batch of naval cadets from China to study in Britain. This not only excluded China students from the British naval school, but also made the internal construction level of Beiyang Navy decline continuously.
Finally, the lack of system construction and the participation of the whole people made it difficult to continue the military reform in the late Qing Dynasty. Looking at all kinds of military changes in the late Qing Dynasty, they all have strong individualism and limitations, and it is difficult to truly unite the strength and wisdom of the whole country.
On the one hand, the Qing government failed to promote military innovation at the national system level. Take the emerging naval construction at that time as an example. Almost from the beginning, it embarked on a different road, lacking the overall planning of the central government, and only the coastal provinces were responsible. In the first ten years, they were divided into different systems. Beiyang fleet, who was famous at that time, survived and developed only by Li Hongzhang's perseverance. It was not until 1885 that the Qing court appointed the Minister of Naval Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office to take charge of naval construction, but Japan established the Naval Province later than 13.
On the other hand, in the face of the "once-in-a-thousand-year change", the Qing court still stuck to the old thinking, hesitated about new things, and had no intention of inspiring people's thoughts. For example, at that time, the Qing court was hesitant and capricious about railway telegrams. Those who said it thought it would make the soldiers rich and powerful, and those who did harm could be compared with disasters. In this social atmosphere, it is difficult for the whole nation to form an atmosphere of real study and practice reform, which leads to its lack of stamina in the practice of military reform, just like a spent force.
The military self-improvement movement in the late Qing Dynasty was doomed to be a flash in the pan.
Looking at the historical critical moment of the arms race at home and abroad, time is the most precious strategic resource. In peacetime, mutinies always sneak into the night with the wind, and everything is calm, but when the war comes, it is a landslide and devastation. Therefore, whoever seizes the opportunity will have one more chance to win.
From 1860 to 1895, the domestic political situation was relatively stable, the industrial economy developed rapidly, and foreign forces balanced each other, which won a good external environment and ample time for the military transformation in the late Qing Dynasty, but the Qing government failed to grasp it.
In fact, as early as the middle of the19th century, Wei Yuan began to advocate the idea of building a shipyard artillery bureau, training a new navy, building ships, developing shipping and even protecting overseas Chinese, and opening up colonies in his works such as Atlas of the Ocean and Story of Jihad, which was nearly half a century earlier than Mahan's thought, but unfortunately it was not taken seriously.
On the other hand, although Japan was forcibly opened to the outside world by the American fleet as late as 1853, the speed and intensity of its awakening and reform were far better than that of the Qing Dynasty at that time. From 1853, Japan actively purchased warships, and by 1868, it had accumulated more than 100 ships, while the Qing army purchased less than 30 ships; During the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the Japanese emperor donated military funds for military construction many times, which was in stark contrast to the large-scale construction of coastal defense funds appropriated by the Qing royal family.
During the period of 1886, some Japanese ships went to beiyang fleet to repair oil. During this period, there was a conflict between Chinese and Japanese personnel, with a total of 84 casualties, and relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply. It was not until the German ambassador to Japan intervened that the two sides reached a settlement agreement, which was called "Nagasaki Incident" in history.
189 1 year, Japanese invited China navy to visit China. From June 26th to July18th, Ding led six ships, Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan and Laiyuan, to visit Japan. On August 20th of the same year, the Japanese fleet paid a return visit to China.
In this process, the Japanese navy was deeply worried about the power of armored warships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and then decided to expand Japanese naval vessels to prepare for confrontation with China. 1892, Japan completed its armament plan. After the transformation, the army forces can reach 230,000 in wartime, and the total tonnage of naval vessels can reach more than 60,000 tons. 1893, Japan established the naval command.
In addition to mature armaments, Japan has a clear understanding of the situation in Lu Haijun, China. The Japanese have been engaged in intelligence gathering in China for a long time. Through the analysis reports of embassy and consulate officials, observation visits of soldiers and a large number of espionage activities, they know the situation in China like the back of their hands.
Why did the military reform in the late Qing Dynasty fail (4) History
1in April, 894, just before the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Second Bureau of Japanese Naval Command published The Founding of the Qing Navy, which introduced in detail the foreign coaches employed by Ahava and Lushun Naval Base. They were very familiar with the naval dynamics and military strength of China.
1On March 29th, 894, the East School Uprising broke out in North Korea, which was originally a regional civil strife, but Japan, which was waiting for an opportunity to invade China, decisively took advantage of this incident and triggered the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-894.
For a long time, Japan has deliberately dominated East Asia, invading Taiwan Province Province and annexing Ryukyu, and then getting its hands on North Korea twice in Renwu and Shen Jia. However, at the end of the late Qing Dynasty, China's morale was low, talents were scarce, and he was sleepy, and he lost contact with Japan, which led to the separation of powers.
1895 The rout of the Sino-Japanese War marked the complete failure of military self-improvement in the late Qing Dynasty. Although he turned to continue to explore in the new army, he could not escape the fate of being abandoned by the times. History is like a sea full of rocks. When the tide recedes, this old ship, a military power lacking motivation in the late Qing Dynasty, will be stranded on the island reef forever.