In my opinion, there are ten main lessons from the fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War: First, the national humiliation of the country lies in the political system, and the backwardness of the system is bound to be beaten. /kloc-In the late 20th century, major capitalist countries have completed the transition to the imperialist stage, and capital export has special significance, which will inevitably lead to a new round of more intense colonial struggle. As a result, semi-feudal and semi-colonial, with a vast territory and rich resources, China became the prey in the eyes of imperialist powers. At this time, Chinese mainland is linked with wars and disasters, with frequent internal and external troubles, and the national luck is at stake. Li Hongzhang was ordered to establish a navy and build a national defense force. Although he learned from the western experience, he only learned the surface and didn't touch the essence. Empress Dowager Cixi actually appropriated a large amount of military expenditure for the construction of the Three Seas and the Summer Palace.
On the other hand, since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has established the New Deal, enriched its national strength, absorbed the essence of western culture, abandoned outdated thinking, put forward the slogan of opening up thousands of miles of waves, and embarked on the road of capitalist development. 1March 887, just as China was preparing to misappropriate naval vessels to purchase special funds, the Japanese imperial edict ordered that 300,000 yen (equivalent to one tenth of the royal funds) be withdrawn from the royal treasury as the purchase expenses. As soon as the imperial edict came out, the whole country followed suit. By September of that year, the fund-raising amount exceeded 6.5438+0 million yen. Comparing the two, we can see that the Qing Empire was defeated in the national system first, and the Sino-Japanese War was actually a contest between two social systems. The failure of the Sino-Japanese War has its historical inevitability.
Second, the defeat was defeated by corruption, and corruption was before the war. At that time, the Qing court built the Three Seas Project. Some people estimate that it will cost more than 3 million taels of silver, and more capital ships such as Dingyuan Zhenyuan can be purchased. Six months before the Yellow Sea naval battle, beiyang fleet applied for emergency replacement of some rapid-fire guns and replenishment of ammunition to solve the urgent need. However, Li Hongzhang refused in the name that Empress Dowager Cixi needed money for her birthday. 1894 1 1.7, the Qing court was the 60th birthday anniversary of Empress Dowager Cixi, and it was when Dalian Bay in Liaodong Peninsula fell, how could this decadent regime be unbeaten!
Third, a strong country must have a strong army, but the army is not strong enough to become a strong country. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, China's economic and military strength was not worse than that of Japan. Economically, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan's heavy industry was still relatively weak, and only the textile industry was relatively developed. The output of steel, coal and machinery manufacturing is much lower than that of China. However, the Qing dynasty ignored national defense construction and the army was not strong. What's more, in the years before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, only the number of ships was increased. It turned out that the navy of the Qing Dynasty was the eighth in the world and the first in Asia, but now it has been overtaken by Japan. Three months before the war, Li Hongzhang had a premonition of this crisis, and planned to replace the Beiyang Navy with 2 1 new artillery. However, due to the disagreement between the naval yamen and the housing department, he had to buy 12 fast guns for Dingyuan Zhenyuan No.2 ship first. At this time, many Japanese capital ships have installed rapid-fire guns, laying a hidden danger for the defeat of the Yellow Sea. After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty paid 230 million taels of silver. Do you know why today, if the money is used to buy much-needed equipment, why are you in such a hurry to go to war?
Fourth, a strong army must be innovative and backward in concept. All bets are off. 19 In the 1990s, the concept of heavy artillery on the giant ship has been replaced by the concept of fast artillery on the fast ship, and the primary goal of maritime operations has changed from destroying warships in the past to focusing on killing the effective forces on the ship. Therefore, the new ships at that time tended to reduce the number of large-caliber main guns and replace them with many medium-caliber rapid-fire guns. In the Yellow Sea naval battle, the Japanese fleet was equipped with 7 1 large rapid-fire guns and 154 small rapid-fire guns. In beiyang fleet, there are only two large rapid-fire guns and 130 small rapid-fire guns. Compared with the enemy, the large rapid-fire gun is far inferior to the enemy. If the ammunition is fired within 10 minutes, the ratio between China and Japan is 33: 185. It can be seen that although beiyang fleet is not worse than the Japanese in the total tonnage of warships, beiyang fleet is at a disadvantage in terms of combat power because of its backward operational concept, which leads to the conversion of advantages and disadvantages.
Fifth, a strong army focuses on the soul of the army, and the brave army is scattered. Yue: Civil servants don't love money, military officers are not afraid of death, and the world is at peace! There are many people with lofty ideals in China who are loyal to their country. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 1895, seven pipeline managers died in beiyang fleet. But in the Sino-Japanese War, there were also generals who were afraid of death and embarrassment. In the battle of Pyongyang, only the south bank of Datong River, outside Xuanwu Gate and southwest of the city fell. At this time, there is still hope for the Qing army. But Ye Zhichao, commander-in-chief of the Qing army, put up a white flag to stop resisting and ordered the whole army to retreat. In six days, the Qing army marched 500 miles to cross the Yalu River to return home, and the Japanese army occupied the whole territory of Korea. In the fierce battle in the Yellow Sea, all three ships of Guang Jia Yangwei in Jiyuan voluntarily fled the battlefield. In the battle near Lushun, the Japanese army attacked Dalian Bay in three ways, and the Qing army was defeated without fighting, and the Japanese army began to advance to Lushun again. At that time, there were seven commanders of the Qing army in Lushun area, and Taoist Zhao Gong was the general manager of the former enemy camp. When the Japanese attacked Tuchengzi, Zhao Gong, desperate, fled to Yantai by torpedo boat. Huang Shilin, Zhao Huaiye and Wei Rucheng also escaped. The Qing army has no leader, and birds and beasts are scattered.
6. Strong military supplies need strong equipment, and both quantity and quality are indispensable. Of course, people are the decisive factor in determining the outcome of a war, but weapons and equipment are also important factors. The evaluation of naval combat power is usually based on the number and gross tonnage of ships. Before the war broke out, the China Navy had 78 warships with a total displacement of about 85,000 tons. The Japanese navy has 3 1 warship with a total displacement of about 72,000 tons. China has the upper hand in size and quantity. However, the comparison of military strength is not only the comparison of absolute value, but also the contest of relative value. For example, the Yellow Sea naval battle, beiyang fleet participated in the war 12 warship, with a total tonnage of 34,420 tons; Japan participated in the war with 12 warships, with a total tonnage of 39,684 tons, which was neck and neck in number. China's army is at a disadvantage in the quality of army building. Beiyang fleet's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan armored ships, the main guns of the four turrets at the bow can only be fired forward, and the rest of the ships are not equipped with much ammunition. In naval battle, ammunition is replenished later, or abandoned because it does not match the caliber of the gun; Or the quality is too poor, the shells are full of holes, and the shells explode before they leave the muzzle ... and so on, even if the Beiyang sailors have three heads and six arms, there is nothing they can do.
Seven, a strong army must not relax, and preparation can ensure that there is no danger. Since 1880, Japan has made every effort to expand its military strength and the national morale has been high. With the goal of catching up with and surpassing China, we are prepared to fight a huge gambling war with the National Games. By the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan had established an army with 63,000 standing soldiers and 230,000 reserve soldiers, and a navy with a total displacement of 72,000 tons, surpassing the Beiyang Navy. Some people of insight in China have a clear understanding of this, such as Shen Baozhen and Liu Mingchuan, and they should not be underestimated when they see the Japanese. However, the imperial court and most politicians' understanding of Japan is still at the stage of a small country, and Li Hongzhang also believes that the Japanese suffer from far rather than near troubles. At the critical moment of Japan's all-out armament expansion, the Qing Dynasty relaxed its national defense construction, stopped buying warships from 1888, and stopped allocating funds to buy naval equipment and ammunition from 189 1. It is in such an unguarded state that China has ushered in a deadly war.
Eight, command intelligence logistics, cooperation can win the battle at sea, and the fleet far from the land command center should have an independent and efficient command organization. In the Yellow Sea naval battle, beiyang fleet took Dingyuan as the flagship, and the prefect Ding was stationed on this ship. The usual practice is to establish a command center in the flagship, headed by the prefect; In addition, a deputy command center will be set up on the capital ship Zhenyuan, just in case. Because Ding was not familiar with the naval battle, he could not actually command the fleet, so he had to be executed by the flagship Liu. At the same time, Beiyang Navy did not establish a deputy command center on Zhenyuan Ship. At the beginning of the war, the Dingyuan ship was shelled by the enemy, and it was impossible to raise the flag and issue orders. The ships in beiyang fleet fell into a situation of fighting in their own way.
The intelligence war lost a head, which was also an important reason for the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War. 1June, 894, the Japanese have cracked the telegraph code of China. 1 month later, the Qing army hired Gao Shenghao and other British ships to secretly transport troops to Asan, North Korea. Because the action telegram was deciphered by the Japanese army, the Japanese fleet launched a sneak attack and the Qing army suffered heavy losses. Before the Yellow Sea naval battle, the Japanese army learned from the deciphered telegram that Beiyang Navy would land in Dadonggou on September 15. As a result, the Japanese joint fleet ambushed near Dadonggou, which led to the fiasco of Beiyang Navy.
Maritime operations are far away and cannot be separated from land support. It is necessary to establish a perfect logistics organization, the most important of which is ammunition supply and battle damage maintenance. It is in these two aspects that Beiyang Navy is seriously inadequate. In the Yellow Sea naval battle, Dingyuan ship was injured in more than 1000 places, and the steering gear anchor machine was destroyed. The anchor of Zhenyuan ship was also damaged. The two ships returned to Lushun base. Although there was a dock, there were no spare parts to store, so they could not restore their combat effectiveness and eventually delayed their fighters.
Nine, technology determines tactics, and swordsmanship is not as good as human law. Due to the limitation of turret device and main gun position of two main armored ships, Beiyang Navy can only adopt single-line echelon formation to meet the enemy. However, the combat power of two right-wing ships, Chaoyong and Yangwei, was not well considered, so that under the full impact of four warships of the Japanese First Guerrilla, the two ships were injured and sank, and the formation was disrupted. In tactical application, the advantage of one-way geese formation is to sprint the Japanese field formation and attack every ship that the Japanese side passes in front of our formation. Embarrassed, however, beiyang fleet reduced the speed from 8 knots to 6 knots during the impact, resulting in a weak impact, and finally failed to achieve the expected goal.
Ten, dare to fight and dare to make peace, relying on others is better than relying on yourself. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, there was always a dispute between the main war faction and the main peace faction. The main peace faction advocated the best shackles to ensure peace. They have been striving for the mediation of Britain, Russia, Germany, France and the United States to achieve the goal of peace; However, it is obvious that the expectation of the success of foreign intervention is too high, relying too much on diplomatic mediation and relaxing military efforts. Li Hongzhang first asked Britain for mediation. He considered that Britain had the most vested interests in China, and the Japanese invaders would not agree. But I didn't expect that Britain and Japan had already made a deal behind the scenes. He sought intervention from Russia. But at this time, the Russian Siberian Railway has not yet been built, and the chips in the Far East are insufficient. I didn't want to fall out with Japan, just had a quarrel. Qing * * * also find German and French mediation, but also in vain, a waste of time. After the failure of mediation in Britain, Russia, Germany and France, Li Hongzhang whimsically hoped to mediate in the United States. The United States replied that it holds a strict and neutral attitude and can only influence Japan in a friendly way. In fact, the United States is not neutral, but completely partial to Japan.
Facts have proved that peace cannot be achieved only with good intentions. It is better to rely on others than on yourself, and the control of foreigners will be controlled by foreigners. If there is no chance of winning on the battlefield, there must be nothing at the negotiating table.
To reflect on the historical lessons of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 is to learn from the painful experience and look forward to the future by examining history. China is not the China 120 years ago, nor the Japanese 120 years ago, nor the world 120 years ago. Although the smoke of the Sino-Japanese War has dispersed, the alarm of the Sino-Japanese War is ringing. Be prepared for danger in times of peace, always be alert to the resurrection of Japanese militarism, and put an end to the humiliation of the Sino-Japanese War. This is the significance of our thinking about the Sino-Japanese War.