I visited the Military Museum of Chilean History and was deeply impressed by the martial arts that overflow here.
This museum was once the most important military academy in Chile, and it has produced a number of high-ranking military leaders, including Pinochet, and can be described as a star-studded and martial arts.
Named after Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, the founding general of Chile, the Military Academy covers an area of more than 10 acres, with a square and neat two-story building, showing the military and political development of Chile since the founding of the country.
Chilean liberator: O'Higgins
Because of the language barrier, I don't know much about the history of Chile.
From a personal point of view, Chile's military history can be roughly divided into four periods: the wars with the local natives during the colonial era, the wars with the Spanish rulers and their proxies during the period of national independence, the territorial wars with the surrounding countries after the establishment of the state, and the participation in the cooperative wars of the Central Powers in the First World War (I know for the first time that such a remote country was also involved in the First World War).
Fearfully, Chile has suffered few defeats in these 500-year wars, and its territory has expanded from a small desolate area in the middle of the east coast of South America to the longest and narrowest country in the world today.
Chile's land expansion map
Almost every chapter in the exhibition area is organized around one or several large-scale battles, and the order is "fight, fight, fight". The most noteworthy thing is the sand table where one side describes important battles, or siege cities, or dense forest ambushes, or forcible crossing of rapids, or deep-sea troops, or beach-grabbing landing. Countless small tin soldiers or horses and swords, or wielding guns and shouting, or raising spears and stabbing, or raising flags and pulling sails, do it vividly and full of tension. Even the background music in the exhibition room is mostly earth-shattering and rumbling artillery fire, which is startled, and it is estimated that it will come a few more times, and it will soon be able to adapt to the hustle and bustle of the battlefield.
Hit bang!
The collection of exhibits and the narrative of the exhibition can be described as meticulous and comprehensive: from historical causes to geographical endowments, from medical care to humanitarian care, from the contributions of women and children to the application of military science and technology, almost everything is involved, and even the discovery and belonging of Antarctica are not forgotten to be listed in a special section. An inch of mountains and rivers and an inch of blood, its rigorous and cherished attitude towards the land is touching, which reminds me of the "Dokdo" scene broadcast in real time on the electronic screen in Sejong Square in South Korea.
Children's drummer
I don't like red clothes and I love arms
I don't think it's yelling at me, "What are you doing!"
The museum is small but distinctive, miscellaneous and clear, and I personally feel that this is the clearest, rigorous and concise one of the series of famous museums in Chile that I have visited, and it has a military style. Although it is only about one-eighth the size of our military game, it has made almost equal momentum.
I visited this sparsely visited museum in the sweltering heat of summer (it is estimated that I have been one of the few Chinese visitors in the more than 200 years since its establishment), not on a whim, but mainly to find physical materials for writing the history of Chilean diaspora.
In the 19th century, the first group of Chinese set foot in Latin America, and most of them were deceived or abducted to this sparsely populated foreign land and became coolies. At that time, the countries that needed the most labor (coolies) were Brazil, Peru, and other places where there was an abundance of products and a shortage of manpower. Chinese coolies are being oppressed in these places, while neighboring emerging Chile is relatively lacking in such inhumane working conditions. As a result, when conflicts broke out in several neighboring countries, some Chinese laborers and coolies, like tens of thousands of slaves in the Battle of Makino, fought back and turned to the arms of Chile to fight against the original oppressive forces, and to a certain extent, helped Chile stabilize its position and expand its territory.
Chinese Peruvian laborers in shackles in the 18th century
Looks like a Chinese laborer
As for the role played by Chinese laborers (coolies) in Chile's early foreign wars, there is a legend that it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that was defeated and the troops fled here, and used the guerrilla tactics and firearms tactics tempered in China's continuous wars to help the Chilean army defeat the coalition forces of neighboring countries.
Another theory is that the Chinese laborers (coolies) used the best of the working class to organize and engineer the explosives they had mastered in mining to help the Chilean army defeat the coalition forces of the neighboring countries.
The above statements are either self-congratulatory for the Chinese people, or novel stories compiled by false rumors when the locals chat, with few official records and little physical support.
In the most likely scenario, Chinese workers believe that "if you die now, you will die, and if you do something, you will die." Wait for death, what can the country be dead?" so he rose up and struggled to survive.
But in this museum, which can represent the official narrative of Chile, I can't find a single word about the deeds of Chinese workers, and if it weren't for my preconceptions and wishful thinking, it seems that only this sand table can vaguely see some of the Chinese workers in those years - outside the crowd around them dressed in suits and costumes, talking about the country, only they are ragged and working hard.
However, as I said in my article "The Third Kind of Man", it was these almost slave Chinese laborers (coolies) who were a rare international force in the early Chilean process of consolidating power and expanding its territory.
I had a friendly exchange with the museum staff on this matter, and they expressed their willingness to understand and follow up.
It is also worth mentioning the looming splendor of humanity and the honor and arrogance of the victorious nation in the exhibition.
History is written by the victors. The ruling class's praise of virtue and self-praise have long been commonplace and dismissive, but it is the slight brilliance of humanity displayed in the war that can touch people's hearts even more.
For example, this sculpture of a naval soldier reading his family letter during a break in the war taught me the poem "The beacon fire is even for three months, and the family letter is worth ten thousand gold"; in the group portraits of the martyrs who died in the battle, the images of generals and ordinary soldiers are clustered and their names are juxtaposed, there is no high or low, there is no cannon fodder and meat shield, they are all heroes worthy of being remembered by future generations; the cross and the statue of the Virgin Mary in the soldier's personal pocket are the best spiritual comfort on the battlefield where flesh and blood are flying and artillery is full of fire——" God brings war, not to test our courage, but to test our faith!" There are also big girls and little daughters-in-law who everyone likes to see in front of the activities!
The beacon fire lasted for three months, and the family letter was worth 10,000 dollars
Carry amulet
Heroic figures
Send your loved ones to the front
China's earliest family letter - Heifu's family letter
The victor takes all, and has the right to take a condescending attitude and look down on the defeated nations. From the description of the war history in the museum, we can see some of the self-esteem of the victorious powers. For example, the large-scale oil painting showing the army attacking Lima, the capital of Peru, is very reminiscent of sealing the wolf and relegating the stone Yanran, and the stone lions on the side of many bridges in Chile are stepping on crocodiles with one foot and pythons with the other. It is said that this symbolizes the use of force by the martial arts of Chile to suppress two poor neighbors.
I am a staunch anti-war activist and am opposed to the vast majority of wars.
"World Righteous War". For example, Qin Shi Huang's so-called slogan of the war for the unification of the whole world and the realization of a unified war with the same text, the same track, and the same kind of people, in my opinion, is just a fig leaf for ambition -- what kind of system people use, what kind of coins and weights and measures they use, you don't care about your. Even if it may cause many inconveniences to international trade, it is up to countries to coordinate to find a solution, and no one needs to set standards. If other countries are killed because of objections, it is better to say that the "law of the jungle" is a direct pleasure. Human beings are like wild beasts, if they want to survive, they can understand but do not support it, and if they are greedy for it, they need to resolutely resist it. Most of the many battles in Chile should be a battle for survival, especially the Pacific War, which is basically a battle of national fortunes. Whether it is just or not, it has laid the foundation for Chile's stability and development for the next 100 years, and must be remembered and respected by future generations.
After reading the exhibition, I thought that the motto of the country of Chile might be "Martial virtue, not to accept the war!"
Since there is no justice, out of practical considerations, it is still the old saying: "If you want peace, you must first repair the armor"!