12 1 a war years ago

1900 From May 28th to September 7th, 190 1, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China. Almost at the same time, a war that changed the history of the world-the Boer War broke out in Africa. (1 899101October1turn1May 3, 9021) These two almost simultaneous wars can be said to have changed the history of the world.

A lion gradually waking up from a morbid sleep, a sinking world overlord Britain.

Why can it be said that Britain has sunk? The most intuitive concrete example is money.

After Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, the Qing government signed the National Shame "Xin Chou Treaty". This treaty brought a new high of 450 million taels of silver to the Qing government. After decades of reparations, China lost 653.2 million taels in the Republic of China. The 653.2 million taels, together with the reparations from previous unequal treaties, are treaty of nanking 2 1 20,000 taels, Beijing treaty10.6 million taels, Beijing treaty 502,000 taels, Yantai treaty 202,000 taels, Yili treaty 5.8 million taels and Tibet-India treaty. Treaty of shimonoseki has 230 million taels of silver.

The total compensation paid by the Qing government was about 926.3 million taels of silver.

So how much did Britain pay for the Boer War?

The answer is 220 million pounds!

220 million pounds was exchanged for silver. According to the custom at that time, one or two pieces of silver can be exchanged for three shillings, and one pound is equal to twenty shillings, which is 65.438+46.5 million pieces of silver.

In short, the British fought a resource war with 65.438+46.5 million taels of silver, hollowing out their heritage.

This situation is similar to that of the United States, with Afghanistan spending more than $2 trillion.

Because of the similarity, the experiences of post-war countries are also very similar (120 cycle).

One: British background before the Boer War.

The Boer War is a war to rebuild the British Empire, and it is also a great event worthy of writing a special book in world history.

Before the war, Britain was in full swing, and even rising stars like Germany and the United States never underestimated the British Empire.

But who would have thought that such a British empire was severely punished by the weak Boers.

Since then, the British have been celebrating China New Year in Wang Xiaoer, and it's getting worse every year!

So what was the real background of the British before the war? The question is why!

1890 Boer War broke out. At that time, the British empire was still the overlord of the sky, but its decline was gradually obvious. The biggest performance of this recession is the hollowing out of industry and the backward industrial system.

Compared with the United States, Germany and other newly industrialized countries, Britain has many problems.

This problem focuses on the slow upgrading of the British machinery industry as a whole, and foreign trade is keen on trade protection. The slow upgrading has made Britain's industrial output value constantly surpassed by Germany and Japan, and it is keen on trade protection, so that the British can still make a living.

Britain in those days was exactly the same as America today.

(British industry began to fall behind)

As a representative of a late-developing country, the United States surpassed Britain in steel production, which is the most important industrial index, at the node of 1890, becoming the first in the world, and Germany is also catching up.

The catch-up between the United States and Germany has gradually made Britain unable to catch up. The development of naval forces in Germany, the United States and even Japan also made Britain tremble with fear, especially the naval expansion competition with Germany increased Britain's financial burden.

Britain's declining national strength gradually weakened its control over the colonies before such a world change, and the alliance of world powers also made the glorious isolation policy that Britain used to be proud of a false proposition.

It can be said that before the war broke out, Britain's advantage in industrial strength was weakening. Although its political influence still exists, it is also considering whether to form an alliance with a powerful country to maintain its precarious superpower status.

(The rise of Germany has changed Europe)

Two: Boers are not alone.

The pattern of international relations is often never a fight, but mostly a collective confrontation. Even on the surface, there will always be supporters with ulterior motives behind them. The Boers, who seem to be fighting alone, actually have many money owners behind them.

These countless benefactors are closely related to the Boers.

Boers, that is, white South Africans, are descendants of Germans and Dutch immigrants who immigrated to South Africa during the colonial period. Because of this blood relationship, the Boers have a very bad relationship with the British Empire, which monitors South Africa.

With the support of Germany, the Boers are confident to fight against Britain.

Subsequently, the discovery of gold mines in South Africa intensified the confrontation, and a large number of British capital poured into South Africa with the investment in gold mines. Let others make money and eat their own ashes. Of course, the Boers refused to accept it, so the Boers decided to exchange the monopoly of the railway for the support of the Netherlands and Germany. Trade privileges support and maintain independence! Besides, Holland and Germany are related by blood, which is much better than cheap Britain!

So under the deliberate guidance of the Boers, the Germans who had been spying on the colonies for a long time began to enter South Africa.

With the help of Germany, which can compete with Britain, the Boers continued the tradition of competing with Britain.

(William II)

Three: the Boers resisted and Germany was fooled.

1876, the British took advantage of the Transvaal riots and occupied Pretoria, the capital of Transvaal, which aroused the anger of the Boers.

Four years later, in 1880, the Boers raided the British army, killing more than 80 people, with only one casualty and many prisoners. After the war began, the British and the Boers fought many wars in succession.

As a result, the British lost ground and had to sign a contract with the Boers to recognize Transvaal's independence.

However, this fragile balance gradually lost its balance after the expansion of German power. The deeply dissatisfied British decided to impose a blockade and isolate Transvaal.

The root of all this is nothing more than the influence of this hateful Transvaal Republic on the British colonial plan.

Britain and abroad planned to use the Johannesburg riots to cooperate with the British army in an attempt to destroy Transvaal autonomy in one fell swoop and put it under the colonial control of the British Empire.

To this end, the British set up a secret force in Johannesburg to cooperate with mercenaries recruited from outside, hoping to succeed in one fell swoop. Who would have thought that the time of the riot was not well coordinated and the mole delayed the attack? Jameson, the arrogant mercenary commander, arrogantly led 800 mercenaries to Transvaal, but failed miserably!

The treacherous Englishman, Shiva's people, Jandelin, was angry.

William II, who was far away in Germany, thought it was a good opportunity to interfere in South Africa, and immediately sent a provocative telegram to Britain, saying that Transvaal only relied on itself to solve the armed conflict and did not ask for help from allies and attack bandits.

The Germans teased Britain with word games and humiliated the British empire.

The purpose is actually to form an alliance against Britain. Unfortunately, France is unwilling to keep pace with its old enemy Germany, while Austria-Hungary needs Britain more and is unwilling to form an alliance with Germany.

(The conflict in Ying Bu continues)

William II's plan failed, and the contradiction between Britain and Boers became more and more serious.

Milner, the newly appointed governor of Cape Town, England, is eager to solve the Boolean problem. Despite the dissuasion of the colonial minister Chamberlain, he used the Boer police to kill the drunken British boiler worker as an excuse to cause riots and diplomatic disputes.

Britain took the opportunity to go to war, the left planned to prepare for war, and the right began to fool the Germans and the French.

William II was induced by the British people to give up their support for Transvaal. They said that they would meet the requirements of German colonies and carve up Portuguese colonies for Germany. Then Britain told the French in the same tone that as long as France did not interfere, France would get a part of Central Africa. It also gained Russian understanding by signing the China Railway Treaty with Russia.

Germany, France and Russia, three countries capable of intervening in the Boer War, chose to stand by and let Britain finally have the confidence to deal with the Boers.

(Powerful British Navy)

Four: Britain has become a laughing stock.

The change of the international situation may make the Boers' hope of foreign intervention fail, and the helpless Boers can only choose to negotiate with Britain.

However, Britain asked the Boers to recognize British suzerainty, which was totally unacceptable to the Boers.

What if we can't agree? I can only fight! Britain, which thought it had a chance of winning, made a lot of public opinions before the war, made a lot of Boers' remarks that undermined peace for a long time and embarked on a journey. ?

Before the expedition, the British Empire thought that the war was just a pleasant trip. With10 million pounds of military expenses, he set off excitedly.

Countless countries in Europe, seeing the British bullying the Boers, also became interested and sent many journalists to report with the army.

Then, a seemingly unequal battle gave the British a slap in the face. The weak Boers have no choice but to stick to it. But choose to take the initiative.

In the battle of Tarana in1June, 899+10/October 12, the Boers killed 500 British soldiers at the cost of 150 casualties. Soon after, 10128 October, the Boers killed or injured 483 British troops in the Battle of Modell River. In February 65438 10, the Boers defeated the British and captured nearly 700 British troops.

The successive defeats made the British face hang up!

(Boers who are all soldiers)

65438+February 65438+May Colenso Battle, the British army assembled 22000 troops, hoping to defeat the Boer main force in one fell swoop!

In the face of 22,000 British troops, only 4,500 Boers are not afraid. At the cost of 29 casualties, 143 British troops were killed, 1002 British troops were injured, and British reinforcements were prevented. The British army is in a panic.

This series of battles was broadcast live by European media, and countless European countries saw the embarrassment of Britain. We can't help but think that the British empire is doomed, and tens of thousands of people can't beat tens of thousands of people.

Five: the British use new weapons and the Boers fight guerrilla warfare.

The unfavorable war situation has made Britain the laughing stock of the European continent!

Deeply ashamed, the British decided to change generals before the war and equipment after the war. A large number of new equipment such as Ma Kexin machine guns, Armstrong field guns and Lynfield rifles were sent to the British troops stationed in South Africa.

The British army who changed shotguns and guns finally gained an advantage on the battlefield!

The British army who changed shotguns and guns finally gained an advantage on the battlefield!

The first modern war in world history began here. The British not only used new weapons in the war, but also used new technologies such as telephone and telegraph on the battlefield. The communication in the wild has opened the eyes of countless European countries. The British army finally recovered the decline of the battlefield and attacked bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria and other important places one after another.

(British army)

The fighting continued until September 1900, when the tenacious Transvaal was merged into Britain. It seems that the annexation has been completed, but the British have not won the final victory. Just as the United States successfully occupied Afghanistan but fell into guerrilla warfare, the Boers chose guerrilla warfare more than 100 years ago to continue to deal with Britain.

Countless Boers have become guerrillas, and they are distributed in the vast land of South Africa. They divided, surrounded and raided a small group of British troops by attacking British logistics, bombing railways, unplugging wires and cutting off telephone lines.

The torrent of guerrilla warfare makes the British people tremble with fear, and the ubiquitous danger makes the British people suspicious.

1902 In March, the British Lieutenant General Mei Tuan was captured, which shocked the whole British government. Angry Britain sent more troops on a large scale and kept sending more troops, so that the number of British troops stationed in South Africa was as high as 450 thousand.

What is the concept of 450,000 people, which is equivalent to nearly half of the British army in small South Africa. South Africa, the world hegemon and mired in war, has aroused great interest from countless countries. General war, all the people are soldiers, guerrilla warfare, and various new tactics and methods have become the subject of many people's research.

These tactics used by Afghan guerrillas today can be said to be the continuation of Boer tactics in those days.

(Boer War)

Six: Britain finally won the war by virtue of the three light policies.

The spread of guerrillas has made the British people panic and become more and more crazy.

In order to deal with the threat of guerrillas, English gentlemen tore off the veil of hypocrisy and began to sweep the Boer villages, burning all the villages and cities and all the materials they could see. Search within a ten-mile radius.

The British also built concentration camps, imprisoned all Boer women and children they could find, and wiped out the mass base of guerrillas. Round after round of "three lights" policy, both sides are exhausted. 1902 in may, the two factions began peace talks and the Boer war ended.

Ending:

In order to conquer the Boers with a population of only a few hundred thousand, the British launched a large-scale war that lasted for more than three years and invested more than 400 thousand people. At the cost of 22,000 casualties, a tragic victory was achieved.

In this war, the British Empire spent 220 million pounds, more than all previous colonial wars. Great influence, bad result! In the post-war peace treaty, the tenacious Boers won political and economic benefits, and even received 300,000 pounds of compensation from the British for rebuilding their homes.

The British compromised and chose a soft policy, setting a bad precedent. The Federation of South Africa was established, and then Australia and New Zealand were established in the same way.

It can be said that the Boer War laid the groundwork for the disintegration of the British Empire. After reading the story of Britain 12 1 years ago, it was really the second jiazi (120) that turned the world upside down.

Two years ago in the world, China was forced to sign a treaty of hatred and ugliness, and at the same time the Boer War broke out, which also laid the groundwork for the decline of the overlord Britain. Two years later, the world, the United States spent more than $2 trillion but failed to win the war in Afghanistan, and retreated despondently.

Isn't this similar experience, almost the same background of the times, fate?

The cycle of great powers, a dream for a hundred years, seems to be very long, but in fact it is very short in the long river of history.

A long-term leading country fell behind for hundreds of years because of a nap, and it took another hundred years to really wake up. This is reincarnation, destiny and the embodiment of the endless national spirit!