1900, Eight-Nation Alliance’s War of Invasion of China began. This war was armed invasion of the Qing Dynasty by eight countries, including Britain, Russia, Japan, France, Italy, the United States, Germany and Austria. The nature of the war is the same as the first Opium War , the second Opium War , and the Sino-Japanese War , and the Sino-Japanese War . It is both invasions of foreign enemies. However, it was also an invasion of foreign enemies, but the Qing Dynasty could not mobilize everyone to resist foreign invasion this time. Therefore, during the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, , Yuan Shikai, and others insisted on neutrality, which shocked many people. What is even more shocking is that these people were able to protect themselves after the war. Let's take a look at the general situation at that time.
For the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, on the surface, it was because of the incident of the Boxer Rebellion, which allowed all countries to unite to attack the Qing Dynasty. But the fundamental reason is that after the end of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing Dynasty declined rapidly. At this time, the great powers set off a craze in dividing the Qing Dynasty, and they all wanted to gain some benefits from the Qing Dynasty. In this case, let alone the Boxer Rebellion, even if there is no Boxer Rebellion, the great powers will find other excuses to attack the Qing Dynasty.
However, when the great powers attacked the Qing Dynasty, it was still very interesting within the Qing Dynasty. Cixi is resolutely declaring war on all countries. Logically speaking, Cixi has declared war. Those who are loyal to Cixi should also actively confront Eight-Nation Alliance . But in fact, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi, , Yuan Shikai and other officials loyal to Cixi declared neutrality one after another. No matter what Cixi said, they just didn't want to declare war on various countries. This is the famous Southeast Mutual Protection .
In fact, the reason why Southeast Mutual Protection appears has a lot to do with the UK. After the rise of the Boxer Movement, due to blind xenophobia, the interests of the great powers in China were damaged. Britain, which has great interests and power in the Yangtze River basin, can no longer sit still, and this country takes the initiative to contact local governors and asks them to cooperate with the great powers. Later, other countries also supported Britain and contacted the Qing Dynasty's local governors with Britain.
Eight-Nation Alliance attacked the Qing Dynasty in May, and in June, Governor Liu Kunyi, Huguang Governor Zhang Zhidong, gangster Li Hongzhang, gangster Fujian and Zhejiang Governor Xu Yingqiu , Sichuan Governor Kui Jun, Railway Minister Sheng Xuanhuai , Shandong Governor Yuan Shikai and consulates from various countries agreed on the " Southeast Protection Agreement " and the "Constitution for Protecting the Interior and Outer Shanghai City". These treaties stipulate that once a war breaks out, the Shanghai Concession will be jointly protected by all countries, and the Yangtze River and the mainland of Jiangsu and Hangzhou will be protected by the governors of all provinces. Since the participating provinces are mainly concentrated in the southeast area, they have also become Southeast Mutual Protection.
Southeast Mutual Protection is very simple, it can be summarized as one sentence "Local governors and governors ensure that the interests of the great powers are not damaged, and the great powers ensure that they do not invade the territory of the local governors and governors" . This kind of cooperation is beneficial to both sides, but it is very harmful to the Qing Dynasty. The local governors who signed the treaty were all confidants of Cixi. Many people can't understand why these people are still neutral in this situation. Why not unite with the Qing Dynasty and unite with the outside world? In this way, the Qing Dynasty would not lose a really badly in this war. But the facts are not the same as what we think.
First of all, the strength of the two sides is too great, which is crucial. The Eight-Nation Alliance said it was eight countries, but in fact it was eleven countries. In addition to the above eight, there were also Netherlands , Belgium , and Spain. The comprehensive strength of these countries is far above the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty is no match for them at all. Not to mention anything else, Japan alone never beat anyone during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. As for Britain, the two Opium Wars beat the Qing Dynasty to pieces. What's more, there were eleven of them this time. No matter what, it was impossible to defeat others.
The local governor at that time was still a little self-aware. Since you can't beat others, why do you have to find trouble if you have nothing to do? Although not many people came from the Eight-Nation Alliance, once the war started in full swing, more people would come and reinforcements would be sent continuously. By then, the Qing Dynasty would definitely be in danger of national destruction.
Secondly, the local governor also wants to preserve his strength. Local governors and governors have been in the local area for many years and have great influence in the local area. They did not want the place they operated was destroyed by the great powers because of this incident, so they would have no capital to continue in the Qing Dynasty.
And they did this not only for themselves, but also for the Qing Dynasty on the other hand. Since this war will inevitably fail, the local governor will also leave some wealth for the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the economic development of the Southeast region was basically in these places during the modernization of the Qing Dynasty. If all these places entered a state of war, all the hard work of the Qing Dynasty for decades would be ruined, and the cost would be too great.
Finally, the Qing Dynasty ruled corruptly, and the local government wanted to break away from the central government. Although it was centralized at that time, there were problems with the central government and many local people did not recognize the central government. Under such circumstances, local people do not support the central government. If local officials support the central government, these people are very likely to oppose local officials, and it will be difficult for local governments to protect themselves at that time.
is precisely these reasons that enable local governors to carry out mutual protection in Southeast Asia and maintain neutrality in the war. But there is another interesting thing here. After Cixi escaped from Beijing with Guangxu , there was no news for a long time. During this period, these governors even prepared to establish a republic and let Li Hongzhang serve as president of the republic. If Cixi and Guangxu were really surprised, our country would have directly entered the republic at that time. However, after Cixi heard from Xi'an, the matter was left unresolved. It’s a pity that Li Hongzhang lost the opportunity to be the president.
After the signing of the Xin Chou Treaty, the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China ended, and the great powers gradually withdrew their troops. Cixi also brought Guangxu back to Beijing and continued to take control. However, after returning to Beijing, Cixi did not punish the local governors who participated in Southeast Mutual Protection and did not settle the accounts after the autumn. You should know that these people betrayed Cixi when Cixi needed them, and the reason why Cixi did not settle the score after the autumn was also due to her own reasons.
First of all, the fact that Cixi declared war on various countries was wrong, and she was in the wrong. The reason why Cixi declared war on various countries was basically due to her temperament and did not proceed based on actual conditions. I don’t know what Cixi thought at that time. She took control of the Qing Dynasty in 1861 to the Eight-Nation Alliance’s war of invasion of China for decades. This shows that he is still very politically wise, otherwise he would not have been in power for so long. But it was such a person who had failed in this matter. Declaring war on various countries can be said to be the biggest mistake. Although Cixi could not admit that she was blamed for this matter and could find a scapegoat, she could not blame the local officials.
Secondly, the local governor was the object of Cixi's reliance on. As mentioned earlier, due to Southeast Mutual Protection, these places suffered no losses in the war. That is to say, these places are still doing well and have strong strength. If Cixi was in trouble with the other party at this time, she would obviously be uncomfortable. If these people were against Cixi, Cixi would have nothing to fight against them, after all, she still had to rely on these people. Moreover, since these people can unite, it means that they are all on the same front. Even if anyone is touched, everyone else will object. Moreover, these abilities are very strong, and Cixi will continue to rely on them in the future. If these people are punished, no one can command them afterwards.
This is the general situation of Southeast Mutual Protection. Although these people have saved their place from invasion and preserved their strength. But because they did this, it made it easier for the great powers to invade the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty was defeated so miserably.
Reference materials: "Draft History of Qing Dynasty"
