From 65438 to 0868, Japan embarked on the capitalist road through the Meiji Restoration, and its national strength became stronger and stronger. At that time, Japan was experiencing two industrial revolutions. 1888, Japan's industrial revolution reached its climax, and it was in urgent need of export of foreign goods and capital. However, as an island country, Japan itself lacks resources and has a small market. Coupled with the strong domestic feudal remnants, various contradictions in the social transition period are sharp. Therefore, the Japanese ruling group headed by the emperor is eager to find a way out from external expansion.
Therefore, in 1887, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters formulated the so-called "Qing conquest strategy", which gradually evolved into a "mainland policy" centered on aggression against China. The first step is to capture Taiwan Province Province, the second step is to annex North Korea, the third step is to March into Manchuria, the fourth step is to destroy China, and the fifth step is to conquer Asia, dominate the world and realize the so-called "eight wins and one universe". The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was an important link in the first two steps of Japan's "mainland policy". Because their own strength and resources do not have the corresponding conditions, they have implemented the strategy of supporting wars with wars to achieve their goals.
Ching Dynasty
At that time, China was in the late Qing Dynasty and was plunged into the abyss of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. From/kloc-0 to the 1960s and 1970s, the Westernization School in the ruling clique of the Qing Dynasty started a Westernization Movement with the slogan of "self-improvement" and "seeking wealth". The Westernization Movement kept pace with Europe and America in science and technology (especially military technology), so the scene of "Tongzhi revival" appeared in the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang Navy was formally established in 1888, which became a powerful naval force in Asia. Even the European and American powers have slowed down the pace of aggression. However, the Qing Dynasty did not change the state system as Qiang Bing did, so the so-called "Zhongxing" failed to make China embark on the road of becoming a rich country. At this time, the politics of the Qing dynasty was very corrupt, the people lived in poverty, the various factions in the officialdom were intrigued and intrigued, the national defense and military strength were very different, and the discipline was lax.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9, East Asia, one is an emerging old empire and the other is a modern country in generate. In this case, China and Japan cannot avoid World War I.
Euro-American
At that time, the world's major capitalist countries gradually transitioned to imperialism, and Japan's aggression was supported by western powers to some extent. The United States hopes that Japan will become its assistant in invading China and North Korea; Britain tried to use Japan to contain Russia's forces in the Far East; Germany and France also supported Japan's invasion of China, so as to seize new interests by taking advantage of Japan's invasion of China. Although Russia has great ambitions for Northeast China and North Korea, it is not ready yet, so it adopts a non-interference policy towards Japan. The acquiescence or connivance of great powers has become a favorable condition for Japan to implement its aggressive plan.
Prewar conflict
Japanese aggression against China has been planned for a long time and is well prepared. As early as 1867, at the beginning of Meiji Emperor Mu Ren's accession to the throne, he declared in the Imperial Letters that he would "explore Wan Li waves and declare national prestige in all directions" and intended to expand overseas. 187 1 year, China and Japan signed the first treaty in modern times, the Sino-Japanese Reconciliation Rules. The first paragraph said: "Later, the Great Qing Dynasty became more and more harmonious with Japan, and it was infinitely different from the world. That is, the States and territories to which the two countries belong should also be treated with courtesy, and permanent security cannot be obtained with a slight violation. " This is an equal treaty.
However, instead of abiding by this treaty, Japan began to actively expand into China. 1872, the Japanese army began to invade Ryukyu, a subsidiary country of China, and prepared to attack Taiwan Province Province with Ryukyu as a springboard. During the period of 1874, Ryukyu drifters were killed by Gaoshan people in Taiwan Province province. On the pretext that Ryukyu is a vassal state of Japan, Japan used the paste of honest officials to attack Taiwan Province Island, which was the first armed aggression by Japan against China in modern history. But at that time, the strength of Japan and China was very different, and the Japanese army lost. Under the "mediation" of the United States and Britain, Japan extorted 500,000 taels of silver from the Qing Dynasty, and forced the Qing court to admit that Japan's occupation of Taiwan Province was "the meaning of protecting the people" (that is, indirectly recognizing the Ryukyu people as Japanese citizens) before withdrawing troops from Taiwan Province Province. Later, due to the weakness of the Qing court, Japan completely annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879 and changed it to Okinawa Prefecture.
Subsequently, the Japanese army began to invade Korea, another subordinate country of China. 1876, Japan opened the door to North Korea by force, forcing the North Korean government to sign the Jianghua Treaty and gain a series of privileges such as consular jurisdiction. Article 1 of the Treaty declares that "North Korea is an autonomous country and enjoys the same rights as Japan", which openly excludes the sovereign state of North Korea, the Qing Dynasty, and fully exposes Japan's ambition to monopolize North Korea. 1882, North Korea mutinied at noon, and China and Japan sent troops to North Korea at the same time. Although the Qing army suppressed the Japanese army in this incident, Japan still got the right to send troops and station troops in North Korea as it wished in the Yoshiya Treaty. 1884, Japan helped the Huakai Party of Korea launch a coup in Shen Jia in an attempt to expel China's forces in Korea. Yuan Shikai led the Qing army to defeat the Japanese army and suppress the coup. However, the Japanese still took advantage of the fatuity of the Qing court and concluded a special article on the Tianjin Conference with the Qing Dynasty, stipulating that China and Japan should withdraw their troops from North Korea at the same time and inform each other when they sent troops to North Korea. The Yoshiya Treaty gives Japan the right to send troops to North Korea on the grounds of protecting the legation, and the Special Provisions of Tianjin Conference gives Japan the right to act together with China in North Korea. These two treaties paved the way for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 1895.
Armaments of the two countries
As can be seen from the above, during the Sino-Japanese conflict of 19 in the 1970s and 1980s, China always had an advantage in hard power, but ten years after the coup in Shen Jia, North Korea, the situation quietly changed. During this time, Japan has been paying attention to China. Yamagata Aritomo, an important figure in Japanese military circles, pointed out that "the stronger the soldiers in neighboring countries, the more indispensable the soldiers in this country". Therefore, starting from 1890, Japan used 60% of the national fiscal revenue to develop its navy and army. Starting from 1893, Emperor Meiji decided to allocate 300,000 yuan from his own court funds every year, and then draw one-tenth of the salary of Wenwu Baiguan to supplement the shipbuilding expenses. The morale of the whole country is high, aiming to catch up with and surpass China, and preparing to fight a war of "gambling on national luck". 1890, there were 7 Beiyang navy warships with a total tonnage of more than 2000 tons; The Japanese navy has only five warships of more than 2,000 tons, with a total tonnage of about17,000 tons. 1892, Japan completed its ten-year expansion plan from 1885 ahead of schedule. By the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan had established an army with 63,000 standing soldiers and 230,000 reserve soldiers, including 6 field divisions and 1 guards. Before the war, the Japanese navy had 32 warships and 24 torpedo boats, with a total displacement of 72,000 tons, exceeding the Beiyang navy. Japanese spy organizations and personnel, such as Le Shantang and Yang Xuanshe, also sneaked into China, stepping up intelligence collection and infiltration in all aspects of China.
During this period, China, after decades of Westernization Movement, achieved initial results and began to underestimate the enemy. In the process of dealing with western countries, they think that westerners are "bad for our people" and just want to take advantage of trade, so they relax their arms awareness. Beiyang Navy has not added any ships since it was formally established in 1888, and its age is gradually aging. Compared with the newly added warships in Japan, it has weak firepower, slow firing rate and slow speed. At that time, Beiyang Navy had 25 ships and 4,000 officers and men. Before the Sino-Japanese War, Dagukou, Ahava and Lushun bases in beiyang fleet were built one after another. However, the military reform in Qing dynasty basically stayed at the low stage of improving weapons and equipment. Although there are more than 800,000 troops in Lu Haijun, the establishment is backward, the management is chaotic, the training is slack, and the combat effectiveness is low. 189 1 year later, Beiyang navy even stopped buying guns and ammunition. This is because Empress Dowager Cixi, the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty, used these expenses to build the Summer Palace to "support the elderly" in preparation for the 60th birthday of 1894. Empress Dowager Cixi, the supreme ruler of China and Japan, is in sharp contrast with Emperor Meiji. This also foreshadows the fate of China's failure to some extent.
At the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, the total strength of the Qing army reached 960,000, while the total strength of the Japanese army was 240,000, and the ratio of the Qing army to the Japanese army reached 4: 1. However, the actual combat troops of the front-line battlefields of the Qing army are mainly Huai Army, with only100000 people (it is said that there are up to 200000 people), and the actual combat troops may not be as good as the Japanese army (1.7000 people).
Lack of foresight about the cause of failure.
/kloc-In the late 20th century, major capitalist countries have completed the transition to the imperialist stage, and capital export is of great significance, which will inevitably lead to more intense colonial competition. Lenin analyzed that the imperialist powers "not only periodically re-divide the divided world, but also the competition for semi-independent countries will inevitably become particularly tense." As a result, semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, with vast territory and abundant resources, became a piece of fat meat in the eyes of imperialist powers. Since the Opium War, the imperialist aggression against China has never stopped. However, after the Sino-French War of 1884, it was relatively calm for about 10 years because of the busy struggle among the powers. The nerves of the Qing government relaxed a little. When people rejoice in the "friendliness" of western powers, a neighboring country in the East is eyeing it.
After the Meiji Restoration in Japan (65438+ 1960), capitalism developed rapidly and combined with the feudal bushido spirit, resulting in a militaristic freak, which was extremely expansionary and predatory.
Invading and defeating China is an established national policy of modern Japan. As early as 1855, Yoshida Shōin, a Japanese reformist politician, advocated: "Once the warship cannon is slightly enriched, it is easy to open shrimp foreigners ... tell Ryukyu to make it a pilgrimage site; Accuse North Korea of paying tribute; Cut all the land in South China, take Taiwan Province Province and Luzon Islands, occupy all China and come to India. " Yoshida's thoughts had a far-reaching influence on his disciples, such as Ito Bowen (Prime Minister of the Cabinet) and Yamagata Aritomo (Speaker of the Senate), who later became Japanese politicians, and became the mainstream thoughts of Japanese politicians. At the beginning of Meiji Restoration, Japan formulated the mainland policy. 1887, the Japanese general staff headquarters formulated the "master plan for the conquest of the Qing army" and decided to complete the preparations for the war against China before 1892. The attack direction is Korea, Liaodong Peninsula, Shandong Peninsula, Penghu Islands, Taiwan Province Province and Zhoushan Islands. Seven years later, Japan launched a war of aggression according to this timetable and road map, and almost achieved all its goals.
Japan has consistently implemented the above-mentioned national policy for decades, made full preparations in all aspects, and implemented eight "military expansion for the record" before and after. In the years before the Sino-Japanese War, the average annual military expenditure was as high as 365,438+0% of the total income. 1887, the emperor ordered 300,000 yuan from the royal funds as a naval subsidy. Although the money is not much, it expresses the determination of the supreme ruler and is bound to have a great incentive effect on the whole country. Sure enough, under the inspiration of the emperor, rich people all over the country donated money in succession, with more than 6.5438+0 million yuan a year. This not only increased military expenditure, but also greatly boosted people's morale. While expanding its army, Japan sent a large number of spies to China and North Korea, and before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, it drew a detailed map of every hill and road including North Korea and Liaodong Peninsula of China, Shandong Peninsula and Bohai Sea. Japan is like a well-made war machine, which keeps running. Once the time is right, it will not hesitate to resort to force. In contrast, China's judgment on the national security situation is very inadequate, and it lacks due foresight and vigilance against aggression.
At that time, some people of insight in the Qing Dynasty, such as Shen Baozhen, Governor of Liangjiang and Liu Mingchuan, Governor of Taiwan Province, saw that "the Japanese should not be despised", but the court and most politicians' understanding of Japan was still at the stage of "a small country" and "not interested in the Japanese". At the critical moment when Japan was fully expanding its army and the danger of war approached, the Qing Dynasty relaxed its national defense construction, cut its military budget on the grounds of financial shortage, stopped buying warships from 1888, and stopped allocating funds for naval equipment and ammunition from 189 1.
Strategic reasons
Before provoking this war, Japan's wartime base camp formulated a "general operational policy" that the navy and the army considered as a whole. Its strategic goal is to wage a decisive battle with the Qing army in Zhili Plain of China, defeat the Qing army and oppress the Qing Dynasty to yield. It is believed that whether this goal can be achieved depends on the results of naval operations. To this end, two operational plans are put forward: one is to send an army unit into North Korea to contain the Qing army; The navy is looking for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the China navy and quickly seize the sea power in the Yellow Sea. Subsequent battles depend on the victory or defeat of the navy: if the navy wins and masters the sea power of the Yellow Sea, the army will land in Bohai Bay and fight a decisive battle in the Zhili Plain; If the decisive battle at sea is won or lost, the fleet will control the Korean Strait and assist the main force to occupy the whole of Korea; If the fleet fails in the decisive battle, the sea control will be returned to China, and the main force of the army will implement local defense, while the navy will guard the local coast. And strive to realize the first situation as the basic strategic policy.
On the other hand, China did not have a clear strategic policy and operational plan before the war. Because the ruling group has different opinions on the main battle, the main battle and the main battle, and they are constrained by each other, there is no special operational command organization in advance and no strategic guidance for overall planning. He first hoped for the "mediation" of Russia, Britain and other countries, and then hastily declared war when the land and sea had already started, and ordered Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, to "strictly order all the troops to suppress them as soon as possible" and "when the Japanese ships sailed into the ports along the Yangtze River, they attacked them head-on and caught them all". In fact, it is the operational policy of defending the sea and attacking the land. In strategic planning, Japan has taken the lead.
As far as naval warfare is concerned, it is very important to master the right to control the sea in modern warfare. The so-called sea power simply means that one party can sail freely in a certain sea area, while the other party cannot sail freely. Whether we can master the right to control the sea depends on the strength and correct strategy of the navy. The sea power in the Sino-Japanese War mainly refers to the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is connected with the maritime traffic of the Korean Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula, so the sea control right of the Yellow Sea is very important.
The main battlefield of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was on the side of North Korea and China. The Japanese army fought across the sea, and the supply line was very long, so it had to be transported by sea. Although China is fighting on interior lines, disrupting and cutting off the enemy's maritime traffic is an important measure to defeat the enemy. Therefore, it is necessary not only to concentrate the main force of the navy, find favorable opportunities to take the initiative to attack, but also to fight a decisive battle when necessary to contain the enemy navy. At that time, it was also powerful and possible. If the strategy is correct and the command is proper, we should be able to win some victories and achieve great results.
Equipment disadvantage
In the Yellow Sea naval battle between the two sides for sea control, the Qing army confronted the Japanese army with inferior forces (2 warships of the Qing army over 3,000 tons, 3,000 warships under 3,000 tons 10, 8 warships of the Japanese army over 3,000 tons and 4 warships under 3,000 tons). Moreover, due to the technical conditions of warship manufacturing, the effective shooting distance of Beiyang warship is less than 3000 meters, while the effective range of Japanese warship Yoshino equipped with a new range finder can reach 5000 meters. The Japanese army is also equipped with a new type of rapid-fire gun.
In the design of Beiyang ship, due to the lack of artillery power, it is also emphasized that the bow of the ship is against the enemy, relying on the collision angle to attack the enemy ship, and the layout of the artillery is also based on giving full play to the frontal firepower against the enemy. However, the bow is not conducive to the enemy's horizontal array. In addition, the ships of Beiyang Navy are relatively old, equipped with insufficient steam engines and poorly maintained, so the average speed of the fleet is only 10.2 knots, while the main ships of the Japanese fleet are relatively new, and the columns that are convenient to use are more suitable for firepower and faster, so the mobility of the Japanese fleet is stronger than that of Beiyang Navy in actual combat. Beiyang navy is caught in a dilemma that it can't be beaten and can't get away. Defeated one by one in actual combat. In the naval battle, almost all the four ships sunk by Beiyang Navy, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong and Yangwei, were sunk or severely damaged by the Japanese First Guerrilla, which was composed of four new fast ships with high firing rate and fast speed, such as Yoshino, Su Lang and Qiu jinzhou area.
Party struggle
Inside the Qing court
In the late Qing Dynasty, the relationship between the Qing school headed by Weng Tonghe, the teacher of Emperor Guangxu, and the Westernization school headed by Li Hongzhang deteriorated day by day.
At that time, although Li Hongzhang had the title of prime minister, there was no prime minister in the Qing government at that time, and the highest institution under the emperor was the Ministry of War. Li Hongzhang is a nominal prime minister, but only a minister of Beiyang and a governor of Zhili. His long-term residence is Tianjin and Baoding, and he is not allowed to enter Beijing without the emperor's summons.
The Qing school was a very powerful political force in the late Qing Dynasty, headed by Weng Tonghe, the minister in charge of the military department and imperial academy, also known as the Imperial Party, with strong strength. The lords of the Ministry of War respected Weng Tonghe very much, and Emperor Guangxu even said that "Weng Tonghe must be sought in everything, especially as soon as possible".
As early as before the declaration of war on Japan, Zhang Jian, an important member of the Imperial Party edited by imperial academy at that time, suggested to Weng Tonghe that Li Hongzhang should be transferred to the front line of Weihai, and Shang Shu of Hunan Department should take over as the governor of Zhili, "to divide the Huai Department to control it." Out of doubts about Li Hongzhang and Huai Army, it became the consistent view of the Imperial Party to move the Xiang Army northward to divide the Huai Army, so as to consolidate the capital and prevent internal changes, and to restrain Huai from worshiping Xiang became the consistent proposition of the Imperial Party. It directly led to the strange phenomenon that the Huai army fought all the Japanese troops alone in the early Sino-Japanese War, and Li Hongzhang had some resistance to it. As a proté gé of Weng Tonghe, Emperor Guangxu was deeply influenced by his thoughts and based on the opinions of Liu Qing officials. Emperor Guangxu thought that Li Hongzhang was timid and too cautious in the war against Japan. So in July of 1894 and 16, Emperor Guangxu issued an edict to Shen Hongzhang to send all the troops of Beiyang to the front and prepare for the battle. "everything will be arranged for the invasion ... if you hesitate, delay, delay the fighter, but the minister is asking."
From the Korean battlefield to the Toyota naval battle, the Huai Army and Beiyang Navy won less and lost more, which attracted a wave of scolding from the Qing court and Qing school, denouncing Ye Zhichao, the commander-in-chief of the Huai Army in North Korea, and the prefect of Beiyang Navy, calling it "the remnant ding defeated the leaf"; And once again accused Li Hongzhang of "greed for death." Ironically, on August 23rd, 1994, 1894, the Qing school heard that a Japanese ship appeared in the Bohai Sea and immediately panicked. Emperor Guangxu ordered: "Beiyangguan is the gateway to Dagu, and all naval vessels should patrol here, strictly guard against the invasion of a ship (Japanese ship). If there is any danger, Ding will hell to pay! " The Beiyang Navy, which was still patrolling the periphery of Bohai Sea at that time, was locked in Bohai Bay.
In order to attack the Beiyang military group, the Qing officials of the Imperial Party did not hesitate to attack Li Hongzhang and his subordinate Beiyang generals by exaggerating the facts or even slandering them.
On the ninth day of August (1September 8, 894), Zhang Wei, the censor of Jiangnan Road, played a variety of suspicious actions by Chen Beiyang, which pointed out that "Li Hongzhang's son, Li, was sold to Japan by the alternate road in Shanghai after the maritime conflict occurred, but Li Hongzhang ordered 30,000 pieces of flat coal. Because of the prosperous war, Zhang Zhefu pointed out in particular that Li had been a Japanese ambassador and he was still very close to the Palace as soon as possible. He once recognized the daughter of Emperor Mingzhi as his adopted daughter and offered to hire her as his daughter-in-law. A foreign firm with a capital of 8 million yuan was opened in Japan. At that time, Sheng Xuanhuai, Tianjin Customs Road, also inserted shares and still traded as usual; Compared before and after, it seems that the sin of the enemy is not false. "
In order to attack Li Hongzhang, even the story of Li Rang, the son of Li Hongzhang, being a Japanese "Xu" is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Even Weng Tonghe, the leader of the imperial party, commented after reading this memorial: "The language is wonderful."
Of course, after the spread of this memorial, the effect of shaping Li Hongzhang into a "Japanese spy" is very obvious. As for whether Li Hongzhang's son became "Japan Xu" in such a bizarre way, how many people really cared about the purpose of this groundless malicious attack at that time?
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in order to limit Li Hongzhang's rights, the Qing faction invited Emperor Guangxu to transfer Li Bingheng, who was at odds with Li Hongzhang, to the Shandong Governor. Li Bingheng, a Liaoning native, and Weng Tonghe were close friends and both belonged to Qing officials. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Li Hongzhang was opposed everywhere, and all kinds of wonderful excuses did not send reinforcements, so that Liu Gongdao became an island and finally fell after fierce resistance.