The Opium War occurred in 1840, but why is it said that 1895 was the beginning of the real collapse of the Qing Dynasty?

To put it simply, using fighting as a metaphor, the first Opium War was a small test and failed to do its best; the Second Opium War used certain tactics but still failed to win; the Sino-French war was mutually victorious. Losing is considered a draw; in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty used all its strength after deliberately practicing for many years, but was beaten to the ground and completely defeated by Japan, which had always been regarded as a small country.

The impact of various battles

In the First Opium War in 1840, the Qing army used medieval spears and swords, which would inevitably be unable to withstand the British army with muskets and artillery. A local war under unequal conditions. However, at that time, the emperor and his ministers were still immersed in the dream of a great power in China and could not wake up, so the outcome of the war can be imagined. In one sentence, it is a confusing fight without adequate preparation. Objectively speaking, the Qing Dynasty did not use all its strength in this war, so the outcome of the war did not attract attention. Emperor Daoguang and many ministers only regarded it as a stopgap measure to deal with the barbarians. In the Second Opium War in 1856, the Qing Dynasty used its special skills and sent Seng Gelinqin to lead 30,000 cavalry troops to fight against 8,000 British and French allied forces at Bali Bridge. The result of the battle was that the British and French allied forces lost 5 people in battle and injured 46 people. It taught the rulers of the Qing Dynasty an extremely valuable military education course. The Qing Dynasty paid a heavy price for this, including the emperor's flight, the burning of the Old Summer Palace, and the loss of more than 1.5 million square kilometers of land. The government and the public finally realized the power of the foreigners, and thus launched the Westernization Movement to "learn from the foreigners and use their skills to control the foreigners."

In the 1883 Sino-French War, the two sides had mutual victory and defeat. France repeatedly succeeded in the early stage, but lost successively in the later stage, so it should be regarded as a draw. In the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1895, after more than thirty years of Westernization Movement, the Qing Dynasty had the Beiyang Navy, the largest in Asia and the ninth in the world. They tried their best to declare war on the small country of Japan, but they suffered an unprecedented defeat. The entire navy was defeated. The army was destroyed, the land of Longxing was occupied, and everything on sea and land was completely defeated. The defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 was thought-provoking. The Chinese people finally began to realize that the foundation of a rich country and a strong military is to change the system. Only by changing the autocratic monarchy can we, like Japan, gradually become stronger in just over 20 years and enter the ranks of the world's advanced countries.

After the Sino-Japanese War

After the defeat, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed. The Qing Dynasty ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and Taiwan Island and paid an indemnity of 200 million taels of silver, which further expanded the fiscal deficit and deepened semi-colonization. process. Although Japan gave up its rights and interests in the Liaodong Peninsula due to the intervention of Russia, Britain, France and other countries, it paid an additional "redemption fee" of 30 million taels of silver. The failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 made the Western powers see through the Qing Dynasty's nature of being a foreign power but a weak one, and stimulated their ambition to carve up China. After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, more than 1,300 candidates who came to Beijing to take the examination launched a "public letter" under the leadership of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, proposing four propositions: rejecting peace, moving the capital, training troops, and reform, which promoted the reformers to enter history. stage. The subsequent Reform Movement of 1898 and the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty all stemmed from the far-reaching impact of the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1899. China has been reduced from a great power to an inferior nation, and is ridiculed as the "sick man of East Asia". There are even shops in concessions in various countries with insulting slogans saying "Chinese and dogs are not allowed".

In October 1895, Sun Yat-sen launched an uprising in Guangzhou, but failed due to leaks of information. From then on, the revolutionary theory became popular, attracting a large number of Chinese people to join in. They organized uprisings and assassinated high-ranking officials, which made the court officials panic and the government's prestige was seriously challenged. During the Gengzi Rebellion in 1900, the governors of the southeastern provinces concluded mutual protection agreements and refused to obey the Qing imperial edicts, which was strong evidence of the serious decline in the prestige of the Qing government. The government had no authority, so the feudal officials naturally refused to obey orders and did their own thing. So after the success of the Wuchang Uprising, each province declared independence one after another, and the Qing Dynasty also collapsed. The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 had a profound impact on the Chinese people and was the beginning of the real collapse of the Qing Dynasty. Although the previous two Opium Wars and the Sino-French War also had a certain impact, their scope and depth were limited, and ideologically, they were wars with Britain and France who did not understand the details. It was normal to lose.

But the Sino-Japanese War was a war between China and Japan. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Japan, a small country, has been stepped on by China. During the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was driven back to his hometown in North Korea.

In just 27 years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan, which was originally huddled on a small island, was able to defeat the behemoth China. This made the people wake up from the chaos. If no changes were made, the country's demise was imminent, and the Qing Dynasty was also in this situation. Failure leads to destruction step by step.