HISTORY
From 1856 to 1860 AD, in order to seek greater interests in China, Britain and France took advantage of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in China to organize the British and French coalition forces to launch a war to invade the Qing Dynasty, which was called the "Yaluo War" by the British. Because this war is considered a continuation of the first Opium War in 1840, it is also known as the "Second Opium War".
In October 1860, the British and French troops invaded Beijing, burned and looted on the outskirts of the city for nearly 50 days, and the royal gardens on the outskirts of Beijing, such as the Yuanmingyuan and Changchun Garden, were burned to the ground.
In the end, the Qing government signed unequal treaties such as the Treaty of Tianjin and the Treaty of Beijing, ending the Second Opium War at the cost of paying compensation for land, opening more commercial ports, and allowing ministers to enter Beijing.
In addition, during the war, Tsarist Russia coerced the Qing government to sign the Sino-Russian "Yaohun Treaty" on the pretext of sending troops to "mediate meritoriously", and since then China has lost more than 1.5 million square kilometers of territory in the northeast and northwest, and Tsarist Russia has become the biggest winner.
So what were the reasons that led to the outbreak of this war in the first place?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > britain, France, the United States, and Russia asked for an amendment to the treaty, which was rejected by the Qing government</h1>
After the end of the First Opium War, Britain, France and other powers opened the door to the Chinese market for the first time with the "Treaty of Nanking". In order to obtain greater profits, they urgently demanded that China open more commercial ports and open up trade between the Yangtze River and the interior.
At the same time, from 1851 onwards, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement broke out in China, and the Qing government was busy fighting the Taiping Army in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As a result, Britain, France, and the United States believed that this was a good time to propose a revision of the treaty.
In 1854, the Treaty of Nanking was exactly twelve years old. At this time, the British deliberately misinterpreted the 1844 Sino-AMERICAN Treaty of Wangxia, which contained provisions that the terms of trade and sea surface after twelve years could be "slightly flexible". Therefore, citing the principle of equalization of interests and the principle of most-favored-nation treatment, Britain and France formally proposed a comprehensive amendment to the Qing government. They demanded that all of China be open to trade, that the opium trade be legalized, and that foreign ministers be stationed in Beijing.
Similarly, in 1856, twelve years after the expiration of the Sino-US Treaty of Wangxia, the United States, with the support of Britain and France, also proposed a comprehensive revision of the treaty, and Russia also responded.
The four countries' request for the revision of the treaty was not allowed by the Qing government, and at that time, Britain and France were engaged in the Crimean War with Russia, and there was no time to look east, so the issue of "revision" was temporarily shelved.
It was not until March 1856 that Britain and France won the Crimean War, so they turned their spearheads to the East again and launched a war of aggression against China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="138" > "Yarrow incident" and "Horse Priest incident" became a pretext for war</h1>
On October 8, 1856, the Guangdong Admiralty inspected the "Yaluo" vessel containing smuggled goods at the Guangzhou wharf and arrested twelve Suspected Chinese crew members on board. British Consul Pasha Li said that the "Yarrow" had been registered as a British ship license in Hong Kong, demanded the release of all arrested sailors, and apologized.
Ye Mingchen, the inspector of Guangzhou at the time and minister of trade and commerce of the five ports, believed that the arrest of pirates on board was purely An internal affair of China, and Britain had no right to interfere. In the end, he only promised to release people, refusing to compensate and apologize.
Ye Mingchen
The move was extremely unhappy on the Part of the British. On October 23, the British army began to move, and within three days, it occupied the forts at The Tiger Gate in a row, officially opening the prelude to the Second Opium War.
In order to expand the war and increase the odds of victory, the British government proposed a joint troop to France.
At this time, France was negotiating with the Qing government over the "Ma Shenfu Incident" (also known as the "Xilin Teaching Case"). The incident took place in a French Catholic priest, Marais. In 1853, Ma Lai illegally infiltrated Xilin County, Guangxi Province, to carry out missionary activities, which violated the provisions of the Sino-French Treaty of Huangpu. In 1856, Ma Lai was executed according to law by Zhang Mingfeng of Zhixian county in Xilin County.
Marais
It happened that France was ruled by Napoleon III, Emperor of the Second French Empire, who vigorously pursued a policy of overseas expansion. In the second year after the Ma Priest incident spread to France, the French emperor used this incident as an excuse to send an expeditionary force of 1400 people to invade China in conjunction with the British army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="139" > huayi concept, foreign ministers were blocked from entering the city or stationing in Beijing</h1>
As the earliest open trade port in China, Guangzhou was the place where diplomatic contradictions in the late Qing Dynasty were most intense. This is precisely why the British and French coalition forces preferred Guangzhou as a target, and it was also the place and jurisdiction of the "Yaro Incident" and the "Ma Shenfu Incident".
According to the provisions of the Treaty of Nanking, foreign ministers could be stationed in Guangzhou, but successive local officials found various reasons to refuse foreigners to enter the city.
In particular, Ye Mingchen, the highest official who directly dealt with the British on the eve of the Second Opium War, had an extremely resolute attitude, always politely refused, and never met with the British. His predecessors did not even hesitate to falsify holy decrees, lie about military information, and were unwilling to allow foreign ministers to enter the city.
Because they did not dare to take the risk of "violating the courtesy of the court and damaging the face of the Great Qing".
Not only local officials, but even the Xianfeng Emperor, had reached the level of fear of the resistance of the ministers stationed in Beijing. He even promised to waive tariffs and open more ports in exchange for a minister stationed in Beijing.
As a result, the Qing government's refusal to allow ministers from various countries to come to Beijing to exchange treaties became the internal reason for the further expansion of the Second Opium War.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="140" > in the face of this public opinion can not violate the big thing, Qi Ying hesitated! </h1>
Looking at the scolding in the countless slogans and banners in the city, and a fire on the governor's gate, Qi Ying immediately changed his mind, revised the order to open guangzhou to trade, and then sent personnel to negotiate with the British.
In order to gain the understanding of the British, they even made a separate decision, in exchange for a temporary concession by the British on the condition that they promised not to cede the Zhoushan Islands to other countries.
The British temporarily retreated, the people saw, but the compromise in the negotiations, the people could not see.
In the face of the British concessions, the anti-British morale of the people in Guangzhou became higher and higher, which further stimulated the intensification of contradictions, and as time passed, they saw that the situation was not at the end of the day.
Qi Ying, the governor of Liangguang who triggered all this, began to want to retreat, and wrote to the imperial court begging for resignation: the reason was that he was old and infirm and unable to handle the affairs of Guangzhou, so he did not do it!
At the beginning of 1848, Qi Ying left office and returned to Beijing, and the southeast needed to be handled by cadres, and then Xu Guangjin took the post of governor of Chengliangguang, and Ye Mingchen also joined forces to become the governor of Guangdong. These two people are not only well versed in public opinion, but also a well-known Paiyi faction in the Qing court, and their assumption of office is undoubtedly to tell the people of Guangzhou that we are supporting you.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="141" > seen that the Paiyi faction dominated the southeast showed that the hardliners in the Qing court were stronger</h1>
The courage of officials for the people also gave the people the backbone of the heart, so a storm of exclusion became more and more intense, and the contradictions continued to intensify.
In the face of such an attitude of the Qing Dynasty and the fact that Guangzhou has not opened up to trade for a long time, the British cannot sit still.
Then Prime Minister Palmerston wrote a strongly worded letter to the Daoguang Emperor:
Britain's patience is not weakness, but confidence in its own strength, and if the situation requires, Britain can raze Guangzhou to the ground at any time, so anything that happens to China is self-inflicted.
Such an almost threatening letter went to Beijing, but it was silent, and the Daoguang Emperor did not pay any attention to it!
Behind the disregard is the continuation of the arrogance and stupidity of the Qing dynasty royal family, tough is the means, blindly using the strong is not the way but stupid.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="142" > in 1850, shortly after the British Prime Minister's letter, the Daoguang Emperor died and Xianfeng succeeded him as the new monarch</h1>
The young Xianfeng Emperor began to make drastic changes after coming to power, not only continuing to ignore the British demands, but also using a large number of anti-Yi officials, which directly triggered the intensification of contradictions between Britain and the Qing Dynasty.
In the years that followed, the issue of Guangzhou's opening up to trade remained unresolved. In order to protect its vested interests in China, Britain did not act to tear its face.
But I have always believed that toughness without strength is recklessness, and the game is the wisdom of your comings and goings, not a brain stupidity.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="143" > the unresolved guangzhou problem, and finally in 1856, this time node ushered in the outbreak</h1>
After the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty successively signed unequal treaties with Britain, France, and the United States, but in hindsight it was the Sino-British "Treaty of Nanking" that suffered the most, and the Sino-US "Wangxia Treaty" and the Sino-French "Huangpu Treaty" were signed after signing, but there were more privileges available than Britain, and in the treaty, it was stipulated that twelve years later, in order to ensure the interests of France and the United States, there was the right to revise the treaty.
Of course, Britain was not happy to fight its own war and benefit other countries, so it clamored that based on the most-favored-nation treatment, Britain also had the right to revise the treaty after 12 years, France was of course happy to see it succeed, and the United States agreed when it saw Daddy speaking.
Therefore, in 1854, these three countries jointly proposed a request to Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, to amend the treaty, which was rejected by the staunch Yi faction Ye Mingchen. Regardless of the local officials, the ministers of the three countries decided to go directly to Beijing to continue to demand the revision of the treaty, even if the officials in charge of Beijing were also Paiyi faction, and the request for the revision of the treaty was of course fruitless.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="144" > seeing this, Britain, France, and the United States decided to wait until the treaty year arrived</h1>
This was more than a year, and in 1856, the three kingdoms again proposed to Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, to amend the treaty on the grounds that the agreement had expired, but it was again rejected. This repeated rejection eventually became the fuse of the Second Opium War.
In addition to the shock of public opinion in Britain, France and the United States, they also began to create incidents in order to start a war!
Then came the famous "Yarrow Incident"!
In October 1856, the water division stationed in Guangzhou received a secret warrant, and there were pirates in the Yaluo outside Guangzhou who had the intention of misbehaving, and the Guangzhou Water Division immediately set out to search, and sure enough, a number of pirates were found. The sailors and pirates of the Yaro were immediately arrested and interrogated, but they did not want the Yaro to be owned by the Chinese in Hong Kong, but they were registered and administered in Britain.
The British, who were looking around for excuses, seized the opportunity at once they saw it, and then took advantage of the problem to play, saying that the Qing Dynasty had detained the British ship personnel without permission, and also discarded the British flag to insult britain.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="145" > asked the Guangzhou water division to release people immediately and apologize</h1>
In the face of the British demands, Ye Mingchen, who is known for being tough, also chose to be tough to the end, so the British sent an ultimatum, demanding that people be released to apologize or use force. Ye Mingchen had no choice but to release people, and as for apologizing, I'm sorry no.
The excuse the British had been waiting for so long finally came.
On October 23, 1856, war broke out on the sea in Guangzhou, and France declared war on the Qing Dynasty under the pretext of the Ma Priest Incident. The Second Opium War broke out, this time, Britain and France joined forces, and as for the United States, it cheered and cheered in the back.
The southeast coast is once again in the midst of war!
Only this time it was even worse, because in addition to invading the southeast, the British and French allies also went deep into Beijing and Tianjin alone, and under the fire of war, the Xianfeng Emperor fled to Chengde, and the Yuanmingyuan was burned.
Even Russia, in the name of mediation, gained more than 1.5 million square kilometers of territory after the war, becoming one of the big winners.
Take advantage of the fire to beat the multitude of robbers, and the sheep to be slaughtered.
The weak and weak are sheep, which is the label of the era of the weak and the strong, and it is still the same today. Blindly tough is not a game, blind weakness is not a game, there are back and forth, soft and hard at the same time, and then strengthen themselves is the game.
The story of a hundred years ago, today still have to think twice.