Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty signed countless unequal treaties, but there was no way, at that time, the Qing Dynasty was weakened, and people took advantage of the fire to loot. But strangely, many of these unequal treaties were signed in secret, so what is the situation?
In other words, everyone may know that there was this treaty, but the specific content of the treaty was not open to the public at that time, and only the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia knew about it.
So what's the purpose of this? I think there are at least two intentions:
- First, it can alleviate domestic opposition. After all, the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia signed a land cession treaty that basically humiliated the country, and this thing was made public, and people with a sense of national justice didn't immediately rush to the crown?
- Second, it would prevent other powers from making similar excesses. Throughout the history of Tsarist Russia's invasion of the Qing Dynasty, at least 1.51 million square kilometers of land were directly cut away by them, which other powers could not have imagined.
However, it is precisely because of these secret agreements that the Qing Dynasty lost its city and land in the face of Tsarist Russia, and could not raise its head at all. So what treaties are secretly signed?
The Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing ceded more than 1 million square kilometers of land
This treaty is very famous in modern Chinese history, because it is very special, and at least there are a few points that future generations will not forget.
First, Tsarist Russia took advantage of this treaty to cut off more than 1 million square kilometers
As early as 1858, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the opportunity of the Qing Dynasty and Britain and France to fight the Second Opium War, and forced Heilongjiang General Yishan to sign the "Aihui Treaty", cutting off 600,000 square kilometers of land north of Heilongjiang.
But this treaty is not legal, after all, Yishan is a local official, and he has no right to cede land at all. Therefore, in 1860, Tsarist Russia signed the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing".
I have to say that Tsarist Russia's appetite is really great, and in the "Treaty of Nanjing," Britain ceded Hong Kong Island, which was only about 78 square kilometers, and Tsarist Russia demanded more than 1 million square kilometers in one go.
Second, when Tsarist Russia signed this treaty, it did not do anything to the Qing Dynasty at all
The protagonists of the Second Opium War were the Qing Dynasty and the Anglo-French coalition forces, and it stands to reason that the whole thing has nothing to do with Tsarist Russia. As a result, Tsarist Russia, as a mediator country, came to mediate the war.
On the surface, mediating issues is actually to reap benefits. In order to obtain huge benefits, Tsarist Russia even sent the defense map of the Dagukou Fort in Tianjin to the British and French forces, so that the British and French forces successfully conquered Dagukou.
In addition, after the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin, the Anglo-French forces did not plan to advance. But Tsarist Russia failed to achieve its goal, so it continued to instigate the British and French troops to march into the capital, resulting in the tragedy of the Old Summer Palace.
Tsarist Russia took advantage of the victory of the British and French forces to coerce the Qing court to sign the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing. The problem is that although the Anglo-French alliance has gained a lot of benefits, it is nothing compared to Tsarist Russia.
Third, the treaty whetted the appetite of Tsarist Russia
Tsarist Russia had no intention of accomplishing this great thing in one go. As a result, the Qing court really let Tsarist Russia cut off more than 1 million square kilometers of land.
The shock to the top of Tsarist Russia was too great. You know, in Europe, where every inch of land is contested, this could not have happened at that time. How many hard battles did Tsarist Russia fight in Europe to take that bit of land. ran to the east, and without a single soldier, he got a million land.
Since then, Tsarist Russia has a great appetite, and since then they have made up their minds that they have made a friend in the Qing Dynasty, and they will have to get some benefits from this friend in the future.
Now we know why Tsarist Russia signed this treaty secretly, and the weight of this treaty is so heavy that nerds can see it. Once exposed, not only will the Qing Dynasty lose face, but Tsarist Russia will also be scolded by the international community.
After all, it is completely unreasonable that Tsarist Russia did not make a move, and the benefits obtained through the war were much more than those obtained by Britain and France.
The "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty" lent the northeast to Tsarist Russia to build railways
In 1895, after the end of the Sino-Japanese War, Tsarist Russia once again saw business opportunities in the East. This time, they took the initiative to invite Li Hongzhang, one of the leaders of the Qing court, to go to Tsarist Russia to attend the coronation of Nicholas II.
On the surface, it was a friendly invitation from neighbors, but in fact, they had already prepared a huge trap and waited for Lao Li to jump down.
In 1896, after Li Hongzhang arrived in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II and Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte took turns to do ideological work on him, asking Lao Li to sign the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty".
To put it simply, Tsarist Russia wanted to borrow the land in the northeast to build railways. The advantage that the Qing Dynasty could get was that it could work with Tsarist Russia to help defend Japan.
At that time, their Trans-Siberian Railway was already under construction, and Chita reached Vladivostok on this section, and Tsarist Russia did not plan to make a detour, but planned to go directly to Northeast China and build a branch line connecting Chita and Vladivostok.
This is tantamount to building a railway into China's territory, which naturally requires the permission of the Qing court at that time.
They persuaded Lao Li all kinds of things, but in the end, Lao Li couldn't bear it, so he had to sign this "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty". Why do you want to sign a contract secretly?
- First of all, this is an unequal treaty that humiliates the country, because Tsarist Russia borrowed the land in the northeast to build a railway, which is equivalent to extending its hand to the northeast. Large tracts of arable land, forests, and minerals will be plundered by Tsarist Russia.
- Secondly, the treaty stipulated that Tsarist Russia could use this railway to transport troops and materials and equipment at any time without the permission of the Qing court. Isn't that tantamount to handing over the defense of the Northeast to Tsarist Russia?
- In addition, this treaty also promised Tsarist Russia that it could build banks, Russian language schools, and churches in the northeast, which was tantamount to giving up the northeast to Tsarist Russia to operate.
This is a complete humiliating treaty, and anyone who reads it will be sideways. So if you don't sign it secretly, you can't pass it at all. Sensei said that those patriotic people of the people would oppose it, and even those patriotic ministers of the DPRK and China would not be able to agree.
As for the Tsarist Russia, they naturally have their own considerations, they are worried that once they monopolize the northeast, once it leaks out, it will make other powers blush, and when the time comes, it will be bad for them to come forward and insert a lever, so they can only sign a contract secretly.
In vain, he tried to secretly sign the "Fengtian Handover Temporary Charter" and take the Northeast
In 1900, Tsarist Russia still could not hold on, and sent 170,000 troops to occupy the entire northeast. For a while, all the pro-Russian factions in the Qing court were stunned, they never expected that Tsarist Russia, which they trusted the most, would actually occupy so much of their territory when the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded.
Lao Li, as one of the representatives, was angry to death in the second year, which also became the last failure in his life. He's gone, and someone else has to clean up the mess.
Without the shackles of the pro-Russian faction, the patriotic ministers can naturally let go of their hands and feet. They resolutely opposed the invasion of Tsarist Russia and used all international forces to prevent Tsarist Russia from eating the Northeast.
At that time, Tsarist Russia had always asked the Qing court to send people to negotiate and sign the "Provisional Statute of Fengtian and Earth". What they mean is that the Northeast can be returned to you, but you need to agree to a series of demands from Tsarist Russia.
For example, there are a few:
- First, the officials in the Northeast must be accompanied by Russians.
- Second, the soldiers who once resisted Russia in the northeast can not be blamed for the past, but all of them must be disarmed and surrendered, and they cannot continue to serve.
- Third, the Qing Dynasty could not send any other troops to the Northeast without Russia's permission.
- Fourth, Tsarist Russia needed to leave some troops in the major cities in the northeast, and the Qing court needed to provide them with food and clothing.
- Fifth, all the armories in the Northeast need to be handed over to Tsarist Russia to manage.
- Sixth, wherever there is no Russian army stationed in the northeast, all artillery batteries and barracks must be dismantled and destroyed. Seventh, if there is a dispute, everything is decided in the Russian version.
If these terms are really implemented, it will be equivalent to directly giving the entire territory of the Northeast to Tsarist Russia, which is no different from ceding the Northeast.
Once this is done, then Tsarist Russia can massively emigrate Russians to the northeast, and then use various methods to reduce the local aborigines, so that Russians can become the main inhabitants here. When the time comes, it will return to Russia, that is, it will be a matter of their words.
It is no wonder that this treaty was signed in secret, and if it were made public, then Tsarist Russia would face unprecedented international pressure. As a result, the Qing court officials really leaked these terms, after all, the pro-Russian faction had collapsed. They told the Japanese minister about this, and as a result, the international community criticized it.
Tsarist Russia had no choice, so it asked the Qing court to renegotiate. However, they were not sincere in the negotiations, and even though in 1902 they signed the Treaty of Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces, which agreed to withdraw troops in three phases, but after the first phase was withdrawn, not only did they not withdraw their troops, but also strengthened their defenses. It can be seen that they are determined to occupy the northeast.
If you want to cover it, the paper can't hold the fire
Only those who are thieves with weak hearts will think of signing certain treaties in secret. If it is a normal victory on the battlefield, then it is okay to force the other party to sign a treaty of land cession and compensation, after all, there is a price to pay if you lose.
However, every time Tsarist Russia demanded compensation from the Qing court for land cession, it was basically not the result of the battlefield, but the result of coercion and inducement by taking advantage of the fire and robbery.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia's appetite is really too great, and people are grabbing land in units of "square kilometers", and Tsarist Russia grabbing land is based on "10,000 square kilometers". If you don't agree with each other, it's hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, who can bear this?
According to such a method of secession by Tsarist Russia, within a few years, all the Qing Dynasty will be cut off by Tsarist Russia. Therefore, Tsarist Russia must handle this matter secretly, and once it is made public, Tsarist Russia will not be able to move an inch.
Sure enough, after the treaty of annexation of the Northeast was made public, Tsarist Russia was criticized. When the accusations were useless, Britain and Japan formed an alliance and dealt a heavy blow to Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905, laying the groundwork for the fall of Tsarist Russia.