It is well known that the Western powers were very fond of bullying weak countries hundreds of years ago and established their own colonial rule in these countries.
However, one wonders why the Western powers did not establish colonial rule in the late Qing Dynasty.
Don't you dare or is your strength not enough? Or are they worried about something?
Powerful engraved in the bones
I don't know if you have noticed that before the door of the Qing government was opened, only we had to bully others, and no one could bully us, which successfully confused those Westerners.
In the early period of ancient times, there were powerful Qin and Han dynasties in the early part of the mainland, the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the rich Northern Song Dynasty in the middle period, and the powerful Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties in the later period.
Even during the chaotic period of the Three Kingdoms, those nomads outside the Saiwai still could not enter the Central Plains.
That's why there is such a saying: "It's okay for us to fight among ourselves, but we must never allow any external forces to interfere, otherwise we will be punished even if we are far away!" ”
Presumably, someone will say at this time: "How do you explain the five nonsense flowers?" ”
Judging from the situation at that time, Wuhu Chaohua was indeed a foreign invasion, but it also had a good impact, that is, it made us have many more ethnic minorities in China.
When these foreign nomads arrived in the Central Plains, they began to merge with each other, and its positive effects could be seen in the last years of the Qing Dynasty.
If it weren't for the Wuhu Chaohua in those years, perhaps our country might not have 56 ethnic groups today, so from our modern point of view, the Wuhu Chaohua is not a foreign invasion in the real sense.
Our Chinese nation has been strong from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and its reputation is world-renowned.
Therefore, in the eyes of Westerners, the mainland is a very powerful oriental dragon, and it must not be provoked at will, otherwise it is playing with fire, which Japan has deeply experienced.
Therefore, the strength of our Chinese nation has been engraved in the bones of Westerners, who have been in awe of us for generations, but the industrial revolution has changed all this.
After the British took the lead in completing the industrial revolution, they urgently needed a huge market to satisfy themselves, and the Qing Dynasty, with its vast territory, was naturally a very good choice.
But since Emperor Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty has completely entered a state of seclusion, so the idea of the British has been successfully lost.
However, according to the intelligence brought back by the British envoy Macartney, the Qing Dynasty was not as powerful as they imagined, so two factions emerged within Britain.
One is the conservatives, who think it's better not to mess with the Qing Dynasty; On the other side were the radicals, who believed that they should fight with the Qing Dynasty, and if they were defeated anyway, the Qing Dynasty would not cross the ocean to retaliate against them.
In this way, the two factions argued until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and finally the radical faction gained the upper hand, and the door of the Qing Dynasty was opened.
Since the door of the Qing Dynasty was opened, Britain and France have reaped a lot of benefits, and other powers have joined in one after another.
But plunder is plunder, and during this period, the Western powers clearly realized that this eastern dragon was still difficult to deal with.
The Western powers directly established colonies in Africa and Southeast Asia to rule, but this method was difficult to implement in the vast Qing Dynasty, and there were too many influencing factors.
The concerns of the Great Powers
The first reason is that the land area of the Qing Dynasty is too large, not counting the United States, the territory of those Western powers combined, even less than half of the area of the Qing Dynasty, which is tantamount to a mouse eating an elephant.
The Western powers have also said frankly: "Even if our troops are released, we should be able to spread out a third." ”
The area was too large and the number of people was not enough, even if they established colonial rule, it would be quite difficult to manage, so at that time, the Western powers could only try all kinds of ways to get more benefits, and they didn't want to do anything else for the time being.
In addition, there is another very important reason for the uneven distribution of spoils, which is a contradiction within the Western powers.
When the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, they seemed to be in order, but in fact they had their own scheming.
At any time, the most important thing is the so-called interest relationship, the alliance is only temporary, but the interests are eternal.
Naturally, when they fight, they are fine, but when it comes to sharing the spoils, no one wants to.
After all, everyone feels that they have contributed a lot, and they should have more points. You think so, he thinks so, the money is so little, naturally there is no way to divide it.
It is precisely because of this uneven distribution of spoils that contradictions arose between countries, and in the end, each wrote down the enemy's hatred. Years later, World War I officially broke out.
Although the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Coalition was not the direct cause of the outbreak of World War I, it can be regarded as a hidden danger for the future.
Of course, the unequal distribution of spoils was not the main reason why the Great Powers were unable to carry out colonial rule, but its effects.
Since the spoils are unevenly distributed, it means that it is difficult for countries to live together peacefully.
If you build a colony at this time, and he builds a colony, will you be able to live in peace forever? Naturally, it can't.
Neighbors sometimes quarrel, not to mention that these great powers have been together all day long to colonize, maybe their management has not gone wrong, and they themselves have started to fight first.
Since the large colonies could not be obtained, they could only slowly encroach on small pieces one by one, so the treaties signed by the great powers and the Qing Dynasty at that time basically ceded land or something.
To say that this group of Westerners is also very arrogant, they treat these ceded or rented places as their own homes, and some even do not allow our countrymen to enter, such as Dongjiaomin Lane.
At that time, many countries had embassies in Dongjiaomin Lane, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, etc. After they had mapped out the boundaries, they made it clear that the people of our country should not enter.
This situation could not be changed even if it continued into the Kuomintang period.
After the peaceful liberation of Beiping, Chairman Mao personally ordered the troops to pass through Dongjiaomin Alley.
When the countries learned of this, they strongly objected, but at this time they were no longer qualified to threaten us, so the People's Liberation Army walked in from Dongjiaomin Alley with their heads held high, and the common people also walked in with them.
A few months later, the mainland officially reclaimed Dongjiaomin Lane.
Solidarity and resistance
In the past, because we were weak, they bullied casually; Now we can't climb high!
In addition to these reasons, those Western powers also recognized the strong cohesion of our Chinese nation.
After the chaos of China, various ethnic groups have begun to live together. Although it has been lived for thousands of years, there is still ethnic discrimination.
Take the most obvious Yuan Dynasty, for example, they were very resistant to the Han people at that time.
After the Manchus established the Qing Dynasty, they were also very kind and took the initiative to put forward many policies that were very friendly to the Han and Mongols.
Under the influence of these policies, the various ethnic groups lived more and more harmoniously, so by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the various ethnic groups were already very united among themselves.
After the Western powers opened the door to the Qing Dynasty, many non-governmental organizations against foreign forces appeared in the country, such as the Boxers.
At that time, the Boxers said: "Since your Qing government can't defeat the foreigners, then let's come!" ”
As a result, the Qing Dynasty thought that they were here to replace themselves, and in the end, the Boxers were suppressed by the Qing Dynasty and the foreigners, which is a pity.
Then came the Taiping Rebellion, which was a tough nut for the Western powers.
What the Westerners didn't expect at that time was that the Taiping Army not only taught the Qing army a lesson, but also beat them up with foreigners, without the slightest pressure.
At that time, in order to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing government asked the Westerners to help.
The Westerners were very arrogant, they didn't take the Taiping Army seriously at all, and then there were many stories of "the Taiping Army beating the foreign gun team", which is really a big piece of people's hearts.
As a result, the Westerners are also aware that the spirit of resistance of the people of our country is high.
If the Western powers use the strength of the whole country to invade our country, then the common people of our country will take up arms and fight back decisively. Even if the weapons and equipment are very backward, we will still not admit defeat, and our tenacious fighting spirit will always be passed on!
At that time, the Qing government had a population of about 400 million, which is not a small number!
Not to mention 400 million, if 100 million people stand up and resist, then sooner or later the Western powers will not be able to resist.
In addition, the Westerners also saw the power of the "Four Famous Ministers of Zhongxing", and the ones who impressed them the most were Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang.
Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was finally suppressed, strictly speaking, they were suppressed by the Hunan army of the Zeng State Domain, not by the Qing government.
Although the Qing Dynasty also dispatched government troops, they basically became cannon fodder.
From this, the Westerners realized that although the Qing government was no longer good, the ministers and these local regiments were very good at training troops.
The Taiping army can defeat the foreign gun team, not to mention the Hunan army, which is slightly better in combat power.
In addition to Zeng Guofan's Hunan army, Zuo Gong's deeds of recovering Xinjiang really surprised the Westerners.
When Xinjiang was recovered, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had just been pacified, and the Qing Dynasty was a good time to recuperate.
In the eyes of the Westerners, Zuo Zongtang's battle to recover Xinjiang is very difficult to fight, after all, the powerful force behind Agubai and them is Tsarist Russia.
But with Zuo Zongtang recovering Xinjiang with lightning speed, perhaps the Westerners also thought that the puppet supported by Tsarist Russia was so vulnerable.
When the Qing Dynasty was about to fall, they failed to establish colonies, and they did not establish them after the Qing Dynasty, and then World War II came and there was no chance.
This is our strong and united Chinese nation, even if the Qing government does not give its strength, but the common people will let the foreigners know how to write the words "retreat in the face of difficulties".
My thousands of years of Chinese historical inheritance, how can a group of small minions easily destroy?