In the Sino-French Battle of Mawei, the Fujian Marine Division was defeated and almost lost. At that time, the Fujian water division, which could be called China's first water division, was defeated, which caused a shock in China. Why did this "China's First Water Division" fail? What are the main reasons for its failure? Listen to me below.
First, the Qing government was indecisive, warlike and uncertain
Faced with repeated provocations by the French, the Qing government was still hesitant to fight the war, fantasizing about ending the war prematurely through negotiation or compromise.
At this time, Chinese always believe in the idea of "not firing the first shot", waiting for the enemy to take the initiative to fight, and then he can justifiably counterattack. This kind of thinking is the result of the Qing army's unfamiliarity with international law in the face of modern warfare.
This was the case in the Battle of Mawei, and in the face of a small-scale exchange of fire between China and France, the Qing government still held illusions, so that it was difficult to delay the fighters and make the right choice.
2. Heavy on literature and light on military force, and civilian officials and soldiers
Since the Song Dynasty, the Chinese court has always maintained the atmosphere of "using literature to control weapons", and even sometimes, civilian subjects directly serve as military attaches to command and fight.
However, after entering the modern era, the professionalism of war became stronger and stronger, and the requirements for commanders became higher and higher, and the Qing government only recognized the improvement of equipment and ignored the training of senior commanders, still adhering to the principle of "civilian officials and soldiers".
In the Battle of Mawei, the senior commander of the Qing army, Zhang Peilun and others were civilians, in the face of the modernIzed French troops, they had no experience and no consciousness, whether it was intelligence, command, or logistics, they all did a mess, in this case, although the Qing army had good quality warships and a huge fleet, but still to no avail, and eventually lost the Battle of Mawei.
Zhang Peilun and others may be excellent civilian officials or excellent think tanks and staff, but at this time, they must not be a qualified commander.
The Qing army fought bravely
Third, the army lacks training and has poor quality
After all, the main body in the war is still people, so the geometry of the army's training level and how it plays on the battlefield have also become important factors in whether the war can be won.
On the battlefield at that time, the French fleet had 9 ships, mostly wooden-hulled cruisers, a few iron-boned wood-hulled cruisers, and the Fujian Marine Division at that time consisted of 10 ships, most of which were wooden-hulled cruisers, a few iron-hulled cruisers, and the Fujian Marine Division was supported by a number of old warships and 7 new batteries nearby. It can be said that in terms of force, the Qing army has the advantage.
However, at the time of the launch, in only 40 minutes, the Fujian Marine Division was sunk 9 battleships, with nearly 700 casualties, while the French army, not a single warship was sunk, and the casualties were only more than 30.
From this data comparison, we can see that the quality of the Fujian marine division is poor, although it is not generally the heroic combat of the crew, but in the modern war, this heroism is difficult to resist artillery fire.
The tragic Battle of Horsetail
4. Summary
From this point of view, the gap in strength between the two sides is not something that can be made up by a simple few pieces of equipment, and the gap between the two sides is a huge gap across the two eras, a huge gap between the industrial age and the feudal era, and after that, the Qing Dynasty will continue to suffer losses and repeat the mistakes of the Mawei Naval Battle.