In the late Qing Dynasty, the British wantonly invaded Tibet and committed shameful crimes.
In the Second Invasion of Tibet, the British army used shameless deceptive means to massacre the Tibetan soldiers and civilians who were negotiating with them. A move by the Tibetan army made the British army "shudder and creepy".
Churchill, who was serving in the British Gendarmerie at the time, said: "This must be a harbinger of evil." ”
For many years after the war, Lieutenant Martin of the British Army recalled the scene and had a lingering feeling, going to church every week to confess in the hope of god's redemption.
So what happened to the Tibetan people's "war" against British aggression?
The reason for the British invasion of Tibet
As early as the British invaded India, they had already begun to plot to use India as a springboard and then invade China's Tibet.
The Anglo-Indian governor Curzon was the first to propose to change Tibet's status as part of China and turn Tibet into a "buffer state" between China and Britain and Britain and Russia under British control.
George Curzon (right)
Curzon declared: "Once we enter Tibet and put Russian power in a difficult position, we can reverse the dangerous situation that Russia has brought to India." If the changtang plateau in northern Tibet, which is difficult to cross, can serve as a barrier between us and Russia's future territory, it will certainly prevent Russian and French forces from crossing Asia. On the other hand, by using Tibet as a forward base, we could advance into Sichuan and thus connect the British Empire's sphere of influence in the east and west of China. ”
In order to ensure British colonial rule in India, compete with Russia for hegemony in Asia, and further invade China, Curzon advocated the use of all possible means to launch armed aggression against Tibet, China.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the First Invasion of Tibet</h1>
In 1861, Sikkim was completely reduced to a British colony, and Tibet was also seriously threatened by British aggression.
In 1884, in order to prevent the Anglo-Indian army from crossing the border, the local government of Tibet built a fortress fort on the Zena Trongtu Mountain bordering Sikkim, and established checkpoints on various dangerous routes to monitor the movement of the British army.
The British were so annoyed that the Tibetan people had strengthened their border defense measures, and not only did they do everything possible to obstruct the sabotage, but also threatened to send troops to "fight."
Next, the British put pressure on the Qing government to withdraw tibet's border defenses.
They first said that Tibet's fortification of The Long tu mountain was an obstacle to trade, and then simply claimed that the Long Tu mountain was the territory of Sikkim, which they "protected", and that the Tibetan army's fortification here was an act of transgression, and that Tibet should withdraw its troops within a time limit, otherwise it would be resolved by force.
The Qing government at that time was cowardly and incompetent, and was threatened by british force, so it ordered the minister in Tibet, Wen Shuo, to withdraw the garrison at Longtu Mountain.
This order of the Qing government was resolutely resisted by the Tibetan military and people, who submitted a public courtesy to The Minister in Tibet, Wen Shuo, pointing out that the Rena Sect has always been the land of Tibet, and the Longtu Mountain is northeast of the Rena Sect, of course, the place of Tibet.
At the same time, it affirms that the Tibetan people have made up their minds to "swear to die to resist and never have two hearts", even if "the war is exhausted to the end of the men and women", there is no remorse.
Because of his support for the Tibetan military and civilian resistance to the British, Wen Shuo was dismissed from his post and investigated.
In February 1888, the British suddenly launched an attack on the Tibetan army on Long tu Mountain. Under the fierce bombardment of British artillery, the Tibetan army put up heroic resistance, and after several days of bloody fighting, it was finally defeated due to the disparity in strength between the two sides.
After the Battle of Longtushan, the Qing government completely yielded to the British demands and signed the Sino-British Conference-Tibet-India Treaty with Britain. Acknowledging Sikkim's complete separation from China and henceforth under British protection, it allocated large tracts of land and pastures from Genazun to the south of Gambazong to Sikkim.
In 1893, the Qing government also sent people to sign the "Sino-British Conference Tibetan-Indian Renewal Treaty" with the British side, opening Yadong as a commercial port, where the British enjoy extraterritorial jurisdiction, and goods imported into the Tibet-Tin border for five years will not be taxed.
These two treaties were resolutely opposed by Chinese people, including the Tibetan people.
The three major monasteries in Lhasa called on the Tibetan people not to trade with Britain and India, to resist the export of Indian tea to Tibet, and the Tibetan people also demolished the boundary monument erected by the British and persisted in grazing cattle on the original pastures, showing the courage and determination to resolutely resist aggression.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Second Invasion of Tibet</h1>
In the first war of aggression against Tibet, Britain gained many benefits, but was not satisfied with it, and was ready to launch another larger war of aggression against Tibet.
At this time, Czarist Russia saw that britain had opened the door to Tibet and had ambitions to infiltrate Tibet, so it actively co-opted the 13th Dalai Lama, which was absolutely unacceptable to the British.
In 1903, russia and Japan fought for control of China's Liaodong Peninsula, and the Russo-Japanese War was about to break out. The British felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so they sent troops to Gang Ba Zong to provoke and asked the Qing government to send officials to Gang Ba Zong to negotiate.
In fact, the British provocations and negotiations were just a pretext, and they had long planned a new military offensive against Tibet.
In November 1903, the British mobilized more than 3,000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery, commanded by Major General Macdonald, and in the name of escorting Colonel Rong Hyppeng and other "missions" to negotiate with the minister in Tibet, secretly crossed the Zerila Mountains, occupied Yadong in one fell swoop, and began the road of bloody massacres.
The local government of Tibet hurriedly mobilized troops to defend, and at the same time ordered the local militia to rush to reinforcements. They received orders from the Qing government that they must try to avoid conflict and peacefully block the British troops advancing into the hinterland of Tibet.
On 31 March 1904, the British met more than 1,400 Tibetan troops under the command of Leding Serdaiben, Lang SelinDaiben, and Yoshiura Ruben at The Qumixiong Valley in Parry.
Macdonald ordered the troops to stop advancing and begin to be on alert.
Rong Hepeng and others came to the front of the battle, pretended to have a dialogue with Leding Sedaiben and others, and said that the two sides should show the sincerity of the peace talks, using the British army to withdraw bullets from the chamber as a disguise, and deceive the Tibetan army to extinguish the ignition of the arquebusier.
Rong Hyuk Peng (sitting on the ground on the right) and Reading Sedaiben (sitting on the ground opposite)
At that time, the Tibetan army used primitive and backward fire bolts that needed to be ignited by the fire rope, and the slightly better ones were only simple fork guns, and only a very few officers had fast guns.
After the ignition of the arquebus gun was extinguished, it took a long time to re-ignite, and the British fast guns could quickly push the bullet into the chamber.
This ruse of Rong Hepeng put the Tibetan army in a very unfavorable situation.
At this time, a British army also secretly copied to the hill behind the Tibetan army and set up two Maxim heavy machine guns.
Ledin Sedaiben asked the British to return to The East for negotiations, but Rong Hepeng was very tough and refused this reasonable request. He said he had to get to Gyantse, and now gave the Tibetans fifteen minutes to order them to get out of the way at once.
Fifteen minutes later, seeing that the Tibetan army was still holding its ground, Macdonald ordered the British to load their rifles with bayonets and surround the Tibetan army from the left and right flanks.
After the British were ready, Macdonald ordered the forcible disarmament of the Tibetan army, deliberately provoking a conflict. The Tibetan army began to resist, and soldiers on both sides began to push and wrestle with each other. Due to their respective orders, neither side opened fire at this time.
The British began to forcibly disarm
So how did the first shot go?
Henry Newman, a Reuters reporter who accompanied the British troops into Tibet at the scene, wrote this:
"I saw an Indian Sikh soldier pushing hard and forcefully a Tibetan soldier who was trying to move forward with a horse from Reading, who was standing next to him with a Winchester rifle in his hand. As the Tibetan was being pushed backwards, a gun from Latin's hand rang out, hitting the Sikh soldier in the jaw. I don't know if Daiben's gun went off fire accidentally or if he hit it on purpose. ”
But in any case, this is exactly the time Macdonald has been waiting for.
He immediately ordered the British to open fire fiercely, followed by a loud gunfire, and the two Already set up Maxim heavy machine guns began to shoot frantically at the densely packed Tibetan troops.
The rate of bullet fire of the Maxim machine gun was as high as 600 rounds per minute, almost an entire era ahead of the arquebusier in the hands of the Tibetan army.
Before the Tibetan arquebusiers could light the ropes, they fell under the machine gun fire of the British army, making this so-called "battle" actually a bloody massacre.
Sikh soldiers outside the stone walls shoot at the Tibetans
In less than four minutes, more than a thousand Tibetan troops fell in pieces like leeks cut. The lives of those brave Tibetan soldiers were as despicable as grass mustard at this moment. Blood flowed down the entire hillside, staining the hot springs of Qumeisengu red.
At this time, there was a shocking scene on the battlefield, and the remaining Tibetans stopped resisting, turned around, did not run away, but slowly walked away with their heads bowed, facing death. ”
Lieutenant Hado, the commander of the machine gunneries at the time, wrote to his family that night: "This massacre is so disgusting. Despite the general's order to shoot them as best I could, I stopped shooting, and the scene was so tragic. ”
Churchill, who was serving in the British Gendarmerie corps at the time, also said: "This must be a harbinger of evil." ”
Many years after the war, Lieutenant Martin, the machine gunner of the time, recalled the scene and had to go to church every week to confess in the hope of getting God's forgiveness.
But Rong Hepeng wrote to his father inhumanely to show off: "The plains are full of Tibetan corpses,...... No different from slaughtering livestock, these poor fellows were surrounded by only a digital away from our guns. ”
After the end of the entire battle, only more than 300 Tibetan troops were able to withdraw, and more than 1,000 people, including Leding Sedaiben and Lang SelinDaiben, were killed on the spot.
The British, on the other hand, wounded only twelve, were not killed. The worst injured was the Sikh soldier whose jaw had been broken by a bullet, who had received a silver medal from the British after the war.
In 2004, in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the anti-British struggle, the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region established the "Qumeixiong Valley Anti-British Monument" on the battlefield of that year.
Signposts for the monument
Qumeixiong Valley Anti-British Monument
On the vast snowy plateau, the majestic and ancient heroes' monument silently tells the story of the Tibetan people who resisted imperialist aggression and defended the national territory.
—— To be continued ——
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