The First Opium War Britain usually called the First British-Chinese War or "Trade War", which was a war launched by Britain against China from 1840 to 1842, and it was also the beginning of China's modern history.

After the closed door, the Qing dynasty gradually fell behind the world trend, but it still maintained a trade surplus position in foreign trade. In order to reverse the trade deficit with China, Britain began to smuggle drugs and opium to China for huge profits.

/kloc-in the winter of 0/838 (18th year of Daoguang), Daoguang Emperor sent Lin Zexu, governor of Huguang, as an imperial envoy to Guangdong to ban opium. After Lin Zexu came to power, he seized more than 20,000 boxes of opium and destroyed them all at Humen Haikou. In order to open the door to the China market, the British government decided to send an expeditionary force to invade China. The British Parliament also passed the war appropriation bill for China. In June, 1840, 47 British ships and 4,000 troops, led by Yi Law and Yi Law, the commercial supervisor of China, arrived outside the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong, blocked Haikou and started the Opium War.

At the beginning of the war, China soldiers and civilians rose up and dealt a heavy blow to the British invaders. However, the decadent feudal system could not resist the British invasion, and the war ended in China's failure and reparations. China's first unequal treaty, treaty of nanking, was signed. China began to cede territory, pay reparations and negotiate tariffs to foreign countries, which seriously endangered China's sovereignty. The Opium War made China a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, lost its independent status and promoted the disintegration of the natural economy. At the same time, it also opened a new chapter in the history of modern China people's resistance to foreign aggression.

2. The Second Opium War

The Second Opium War was a war of aggression against China jointly launched by Britain and France with the support of Russia and the United States. In order to further open the China market and expand the interests of aggression in China, Britain and France used the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in China as an excuse to jointly attack the Qing government under the pretext of Yarrow Incident and Ma Fu Incident.

Because Britain and France launched wars under the pretext of Arrow incident and Father Ma incident respectively, they were called "Arrow War" by the British. Also known as "British and French Expedition to China" or "Second Sino-British War". At the same time, because this war can be regarded as the continuation of the first opium war (that is, the opium war, as opposed to the second), it is also called the "second opium war".

1860, British and French troops invaded Beijing, and the Qing emperor fled to Chengde. British and French troops invaded Yuanmingyuan, plundered jewels and burned them. After Russia sent troops to participate in the war, it claimed that "mediation was successful" and coerced the Qing government to cede more than 6.5438+0.5 million square kilometers of territory, becoming the biggest winner. The war ended with the Qing government being forced to sign the Beijing Treaty.

The Second Opium War forced the Qing government to successively sign the Tianjin Treaty, the Beijing Treaty, the Sino-Russian Aihui Treaty and other peace treaties, and the invasion of foreign powers deepened. As a result, China lost 1.5 million square kilometers in the northeast and northwest. After the war, the Qing government was able to concentrate on suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and maintaining its rule.

3. Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895

The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was a war of Japanese aggression against China and Korea at the end of 19. According to China's calendar, 1894, the time when the war broke out was the Sino-Japanese War, so it was called the Sino-Japanese War.

During the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the capitalist road, actively invaded and expanded abroad, and determined a "mainland policy" centered on China. At this time, the Qing Dynasty was an empire exposed to the world through the Westernization Movement, with political corruption, poor people's lives, intrigue among various factions in the officialdom, strong national defense and military, and lax discipline. The world's major capitalist countries are gradually transitioning to imperialism, and Japan's aggression has been supported by western powers to some extent.

1894, the East Learning Party uprising broke out in North Korea, and the North Korean government forces were successively defeated and forced to ask for help from the sovereign state of the Qing Dynasty. Japan also took the opportunity to send troops to North Korea and deliberately provoked war.

1894 (20th year of Guangxu) On July 25th, the naval battle of Toyoda broke out, and the Sino-Japanese War began. Because the Japanese had planned for a long time, the Qing Dynasty rushed to fight, and the war ended with the defeat of China and the annihilation of the Beiyang Navy. Under the military pressure of Japanese militarism, the Qing government in China signed the treaty of shimonoseki in April 1895.

The result of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 brought unprecedented national crisis to the Chinese nation and greatly deepened the degree of semi-colonization of China society. On the other hand, it has made Japan's national strength stronger and laid an important foundation for it to become a big country.

4. Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China.

Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China (siege of international war) refers to the armed war of aggression against China on May 28th, 1900 (the 26th year of Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty), which was composed of eight major countries, including the British Empire, the United States of America, the Third Republic of France, the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Japanese Empire, the Italian Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1900 Spring, the Boxer Rebellion became the fuse of Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China. Under this pretext, Eight-Nation Alliance carved up and plundered China in the name of suppressing the Boxer Rebellion.

The total number of United Nations troops invading China is about 50,000, which is well-equipped and powerful. On August 65, 438+09000, Beijing was completely occupied. Wherever Eight-Nation Alliance went, he killed and set fire to people, raped and plundered them! There are countless treasures stolen and looted from the Forbidden City, Zhongnanhai and the Summer Palace! Eight-Nation Alliance Commander-in-Chief Wadesi later admitted that the details of all the damage and robbery suffered by China this time will never be found out, but the amount will be extremely considerable. 190 1 On September 7th, China was completely reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which brought unprecedented suffering to the country and people at that time.

5. Northern Expedition War

The Northern Expedition was a unified war between 1926 and 1928, with the National Revolutionary Army as the main force and Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief. 1926 On July 9, the National Government set up the National Revolutionary Army and set out from Guangdong. After Lianke Changsha, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places, the National Government was once divided because of its different attitude towards the China * * * production party, Wang Jingwei broke with Chiang Kai-shek, and the Northern Expedition came to a standstill. After the confluence of Ning and Han Dynasties, the National Revolutionary Army continued its Northern Expedition. With the participation of Feng Yuxiang in the northwest and Yan Xishan in Shanxi, it conquered Beijing in 1928, which caused Zhang Beiyang to retreat to the northeast and was assassinated by Japan in Huanggutun. His son Zhang Xueliang announced that the northeast changed its flag. At this point, the Northern Expedition was completed and China achieved formal unity.

After the Northern Expedition, the Nanjing National Government formally ruled all of China, becoming the only representative regime of China in the world. But in fact, there are still different forces inside and outside the national government, which led to a series of internal conflicts such as the Central Plains War in the future. During the Northern Expedition, China's * * * production party broke with the national government, and the first civil war broke out.

6. War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression

War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression for short) refers to an all-out national war in which China resisted Japanese aggression during the Second World War in the middle of the 20th century. Internationally known as the Second Sino-Japanese War? Japanese war of aggression against China. The time of the Anti-Japanese War began with the September 18th Incident at 193 1 and ended at 1945 for fourteen years.

193 1 year. After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese invaders completely occupied the northeast of China and established the puppet Manchukuo. Since then, they have created troubles and provoked wars in North China and Shanghai, while the National Government adopted a compromise policy to avoid the conflict from expanding. 1On July 7, 937, the Japanese army provoked the Lugouqiao Incident near Beiping, and the Sino-Japanese war broke out in an all-round way. 194 1 year 65438+February 7th, after Japan launched the Pacific War, Chongqing National Government officially declared war on Japan on February 9th, 65438. On August 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces.

China battlefield is one of the main battlefields in World War II. War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the people of China, was an important part of the Second World War.

War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the people of China, is the greatest patriotic war in the history of the Chinese nation, a just war of China people against Japanese imperialist aggression, an important part of the world anti-fascist war, and the first national liberation war of China against foreign aggression in modern times.

7. War of Liberation

The War of Liberation, also known as the "Third Revolutionary Civil War", was a war waged by the China People's Liberation Army under the leadership of China's * * * Production Party from August 65438 to September 1949 to overthrow the Kuomintang rule and liberate all China, which was the second stage of the civil war.

1In July, 947, the PLA Army changed from strategic defense to strategic attack, and then carried out three major battles in succession, namely Liaoshen, Huaihai and Ping Jin, basically eliminating the main force of the Kuomintang army. 1949 In April, the People's Liberation Army crossed the river to liberate Nanjing, which basically declared the collapse of Kuomintang rule. 1 94910 June1day, in the process of China people's liberation army marching to the whole country, People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed in Beijing. By June 1950, all the remaining Kuomintang troops on the battlefields in East China, South China, Southwest China and Northwest China were annihilated, and only a few fled to Taiwan Province Province. Tibet was peacefully liberated on 195 1. So far, the PLA has completed the task of liberating the mainland and offshore islands, and the China People's Liberation Army has won the second national civil war and unified Chinese mainland.

Extended data:

The significance of the northern expedition:

1, against warlord forces

The Northern Expedition, which lasted only two years, dealt a heavy blow to the rule of imperialism and northern warlords in China, basically wiped out the armies of warlords Wu Hesun and Zhang, basically wiped out the northern warlords, accelerated the process of China's revolutionary history, and paved the way for the development of China's new-democratic revolution in the future.

2. Deepen the understanding of revolution.

1927 In April and July, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei successively launched counter-revolutionary coups in Shanghai and Wuhan, and the fruits of the victory of the Northern Expedition were stolen. The lessons of the abandonment and slaughter of the * * * production party in the middle of this war made the * * * production party deeply realize the extreme importance of establishing a proletarian army led by the * * * production party and independently carrying out armed struggle, and thus began to embark on another revolutionary road of establishing the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants, carrying out agrarian revolution, encircling cities with rural areas, and seizing the Kuomintang regime by armed forces.

3. Ensure national independence

Without the success of the northern expedition, the national government did not realize the political unity of the whole country. At the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, the northern warlords fought their own battles and could not move towards common resistance against the Japanese aggressors. It is hard to say whether China can persist in the eight-year anti-Japanese war for that long and whether it can maintain the nature of an independent country. Therefore, the Northern Expedition has great historical significance and achievements in the modern history of China.

4. Safeguarding the reunification of the motherland

The Northern Expedition was conducted on the basis of Sino-American cooperation. In the first stage of the war, the soldiers of the Chinese and American parties worked closely together and fought bloody battles, leaving many touching stories. Historical facts have proved that the combination of the two parties in the country will benefit both parties, and the division will lead to two losses. These experiences and lessons are still of practical significance for us to realize the great cause of rejuvenating China and reunifying the motherland today.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia: Northern Expedition War