In the Sino-French War, the Qing army was "undefeated and defeated", and the French army was "unvictorious and won." This is what our junior high school history book said.
We feel that it is a pity that after the Qing government used the veteran Feng Zicai, won the victory at Zhennanguan and killed the French fleet commander Gupa, forcing the French Prime Minister Ruferi to step down .
Sino-French war situation diagram
But in fact, the victory of Zhennanguan and Langshan was largely due to the aggressiveism of the French army and the mountainous terrain in the area, which is not conducive to French heavy weapons. But although China has won a temporary military victory, it cannot be said that China has gained an advantage on the entire battlefield. Z3z
Ruferi’s downfall was also caused by a variety of reasons. France did not give up its possession of Vietnam. As far as the overall battlefield situation is concerned, continued fighting is still beneficial to the French side. France only lost a small part of its army at Zhennanguan. The main force of the French colonial army has not been severely hit, France still maintains an absolute advantage in the economy, weapons and battlefield.
First look at the economic strength of the Qing Dynasty
China in the late 19th century was an economically backward feudal country. After Britain invaded China in the Opium War in 1840, China was continuously invaded and oppressed by foreign capitalism, and China's economic structure changed from a kind of self-sufficiency. The feudal economic system gradually transformed into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. As foreign powers invaded China following the war of aggression, the great powers gradually strengthened their aggression against China's economy by virtue of the various privileges they took from the unequal treaties.
In 1854, Britain, the United States, and France took advantage of the Shanghai Small Sword Society uprising to steal the management rights of Shanghai Customs. After the Second Opium War and the settlement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, China Customs completely fell into the hands of the great powers . Foreign capitalism uses unequal treaties to intensify the dumping of goods. Chinese farmers and small producers go bankrupt and live in distress.
During the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the peasant uprising army and the Qing army fought fiercely in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Agriculture in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was greatly damaged. The Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were originally economically developed areas of the Qing government. The Qing government was an important source of finance, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom After the suppression, the population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang decreased sharply and the fields were barren.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement: The rich and common areas in the south of the Yangtze River are all war zones.
Except for wars, from the 1960s to the 1980s, natural disasters were frequent. The Yellow River burst 15 times, with the widest disaster area. The Yangtze River broke 15 times, Yongding River broke 16 times, and Huaihe River. In disrepair for a long time, the phenomenon of "heavy rain and heavy rain, light rain and small disaster, no rain and drought" appeared. In addition to floods, droughts, winds, insects, earthquakes, etc. have also occurred one after another. The social economy has been severely damaged, and the recovery has been delayed.
Economic comparison between China and France
In 1884, Li Hongzhang played the court: "The coastal defense funds have been short-examined in various provinces, and they have become accustomed to it, so that it is difficult to purchase equipment and build platforms." Zhang Zhidong reported the Qing government for the cost of building fortresses and shipbuilding. As high as 25 million taels, the central finance is difficult to maintain. The Qing government has no silver taels to allocate. The governor of Zhejiang Liu Bingzhang reported that: "With three years of military salaries, it is not enough to cover expenditures." The raising of military salaries from local governments is also due to the local governments' own finances. Difficulty and no response. The Qing government also had to borrow from other powers, with foreign debts as high as 17.6 million taels, forming a vicious circle of making ends meet.
Although France was hit hard in the Franco-Prussian War, France's financial capital still developed quite rapidly. In 1870, the Third French Republic was born and gradually gained a firm foothold. In 1873, France repaid the indemnity of the Franco-Prussian War ahead of schedule. The colonial fanatic Ruffery stepped onto the French political arena, and France began to actively carry out colonial activities abroad.
Although the French economy has been affected by the Franco-Prussian War, the economy has declined, but it is still known as "loan usury imperialism." In 1883, it requested an allocation of 5.5 million francs from the parliament, saying that it needed to increase troops to Vietnam by 4,000. After that, the upper house almost unanimously approved Two grants, one for 9 million francs and the other for 20 million francs.
Look at the military power comparison again.
Since the British opened the door to China with warships and artillery in 1840, the closed-door Qing government began to realize its weakness in the navy. After decades of procurement and self-construction, Nanyang and Beiyang waters The division’s warships have begun to take shape, but France is the second largest maritime power in the world. The Chinese NavyThe strength of France is dwarfed by France.
At that time, the Beiyang Fleet did not have advanced iron-clad ships and cruisers such as Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, and Zhiyuan. Chinese warships could not be compared with France in terms of structure, speed, and size. Therefore, when the Nanyang Navy went to Taiwan to execute support orders, When the French warship flees, he completely loses the ability to resist.
In addition to the navy, the Qing court is also beyond the reach of the army’s artillery fire. The design of the port defense turrets along the southeast coast of our country is very unscientific. The cannons in the station can only fire in one direction and cannot be turned for multi-angle shooting. This problem continued into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.
Until the beginning of November 1883, the French army in Beiqi had more than 8,600 troops, 32 warships, and 4,500 navy personnel. In the face of the backward reality of China's national defense, the Qing court did not dare to be lucky enough to win against foreign insults.
French missionaries who entered southwest China
battlefield situation comparison
Since the Beiqi incident, French reinforcements have arrived one after another. In December 1883, Guba led more than 6,000 French troops from Hanoi to Shanxi by ship, and the Qing army was steadily Defeated and suffered heavy casualties, Shanxi, Fuliang, and Beining successively fell to . Within three days from March 15 to 17, 1884, the French army was as powerful as a broken bamboo. They successively defeated the Chinese army and obtained Liangjiang, Langjia and other places. Langjia connects Beining and Anshi. It can be said to be a military powerhouse. When Beining’s army retreated to Taiyuan, it could not withstand the French army’s attack. Z1z Taiyuan fell one after another and . It can be said that the Gui army in Beiqi was defeated on all fronts. The Dian army also withdrew one after another. The French army gained full power in Beiqi and sent warships to demonstrate in Xiamen. The French colonialists arrogantly said in a Paris newspaper: "The French use Tokyo soldiers' salaries and want to get compensation from China. The rumor will take Hainan as the quality.”
The iron-clad ships owned by France at the time were the ones we did not have. On July 7, 1884, the French Admiralty ordered Gubah to send warships to Fuzhou and Keelung. On August 1, Gubah was ordered to attack Keelung. , Immediately sent the deputy commander Lisbi with some warships to the Keelung waters and attacked the Keelung Fort. In July 1884, the French fleet came to the Minjiang River again and threatened to attack Fuzhou. Unprepared, the Qing army was unprepared. Seven warships were sunk in , and more than 4,000 people were killed and injured. China suffered heavy damage.
In early February 1885, the French army madly launched a fierce attack on the Guangxi Army led by Pan Dingxin, and successively captured several cities. Pan Dingxin abandoned Langshan and Zhennan Pass and retreated to Longzhou. Since the Sino-French war, China can be described as China. It was retreating steadily, and French warships were rampant on the southeast coast of China and the Taiwan region. Taiwan was also attacked. The imperial commissioner in charge of the frontline military, Peng Yulin, said in the memorial: “The armies are discouraged, the soldiers and the people complain, and the current side affairs are getting worse.”
and
The Qing government at the time was surrounded by crises around the border, and France was not the only one with the Qing Dynasty. If a country with an aggression attempt is further expanded, the Sino-French war is likely to affect the whole body and cause a chain reaction on the border, which will more directly threaten the rule of the Qing government, and for those who are reluctant to survive in the wind and rain. The Qing court will get a fatal blow.
Therefore, it is a wise move to "catch wins and win".
