Li Hongzhang is a sinner through the ages, or he bears the burden of humiliation

People have specific behaviors under specific conditions, and behaviors that conform to various interests at that time. Li Hongzhang has signed so many humiliating treaties, and the guilt cannot be all on him. It should be mainly on the ** at the time. "There are no eggs under the nest".

The situation forced it to be a last resort.

It was the Qing Dynasty that made him feel cold, a group of corrupt and incompetent people, no one is powerless to return to the sky, don't judge others indiscriminately, if the country is not strong, there will be national bullies, and if people are not strong, some people will be bullied. Li Hongzhang has done his best, don't forget that he is already an old man.

The first DAO: the state.

Quell the rebellion against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom may not be good) and ensure the unity of the country.

Second: the nation.

In the face of foreign invasion, he opened foreign affairs, established a naval army, and endured humiliation and signed unequal treaties. (The decision on unequal treaties was in the hands of the Manchu rulers, and Li Zhongtang was just a tool, more often than not, Li Hongzhang had to do it, and others would make a mess, for example: the Treaty of Shimonoseki Japan only needed Li Hongzhang and Yi Xin to negotiate).

Third: the people.

The most fundamental identification of a good official is still in the voice of the people at that time. Li Hongzhang's biggest criticism is nothing more than unequal treaties. But Li Hongzhang did not exploit the common people and disregard human life. The greatest beneficiary of the reunification of the country is the people.

If Li Zhongtang is the prime minister of the Han people, then the reform will definitely succeed. Born ahead of one's time! If Wei Qing and Huo Qu were sick and met Cixi, they would not be sealed as a wolf.

Li Zhongtang, your merits and hard work will one day be written into textbooks, may you rest in peace. Here, salute!

Li Hongzhang tried his best to safeguard China's interests and strive for foreign affairs, but he could not change the reality of China's backwardness. He had argued for the signing of treaties such as inequality, but the country was weak and had to accept humiliating demands. He, Zeng Guofan and others led the Westernization Movement, which was a manifestation of his progress.

He also has a record of defending China diplomatically, such as going to negotiate alone after the Eight-Nation Coalition captured Beijing, and finally settled the incident without ceding land; When the First Sino-Japanese War was in an unfavorable situation, he took the initiative to reach a settlement at the lowest cost, which was a favorable aspect of his defense of the country. However, later generations also criticized Li Hongzhang for the wrong decision he made. For example, they are willing to sacrifice the whole of Xinjiang and give up Xinjiang defense because they avoid war too much and attach importance to coastal defense; In 1885, the Sino-Japanese Tianjin Conference was signed in 1885 after a complete victory over Japan, giving Japan the right to send troops into Korea. Command mistakes in the Sino-Japanese War with Japan led to the total annihilation of ** in Weihaiwei; After the victory of the Sino-French War, unequal treaties were signed.

Although these unfavorable treaties and practices are subject to various objective conditions, he still bears heavy responsibility for the misconduct of these incidents. In addition, in the early days of the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, he killed too many people. This also involves the overall evaluation of the Hunan army and the Huai army.

The Westernization Movement and his series of measures did not change China's continued decline, and his contribution was not significant.

Let's put it this way, when a wall falls, no one else helps, only one person helps, and he tries his best, but the wall still falls, and everyone is talking about why that person doesn't try his best to help, so it can't be said that Li Hongzhang is a sinner.

Li Hongzhang was born at the wrong time, and in that historical background, he has done his best.

Li Hongzhang's merits and demerits can be said to be the epitome of modern Chinese tragedy, promoting social progress but only starting from protecting his own interests, and finally being ruthlessly and cruelly interrupted by foreigners, and finally accelerating his own demise. It can be said that Li Hongzhang's merits are the promoters of history and the hindrances of history.

At least it is not a traitor, at that time there was Cixi in charge, the emperor had no real power, not to mention Li Hongzhang, so because of the signing of the agreement, he scolded Li Hongzhang, which is not objective, and secondly, from the attitude of the countries of the world towards Li Hongzhang, the countries of the world may not respect Cixi, but they respect Li Hongzhang very much, after the first afternoon, Li Hongzhang went to Japan to negotiate, was assassinated, almost died, Japan ** decided to exempt part of the reparations because of this matter, as a result, Li Hongzhang said, then I will be shot again, and some more will be exempted, Can such a person be said to be unpatriotic? As for accelerating the decline of the Qing Dynasty and leading to civil strife, the first person responsible was Cixi, and Li Hongzhang was just a clerk.

To put it simply, from Li Hongzhang's standpoint, what he did was to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and at that time, no matter how popular the people complained, the Qing Dynasty was orthodox. Li Hongzhang didn't do anything wrong, what was wrong was that he was born in the wrong era.

This is a question that cannot be explained, the benevolent see the benevolent, the wise see the wise, he has done a lot of good things, but also a lot of bad things, can only look at it dialectically. There is no one definitive answer.