The Eight Nation Alliance invaded China, why did it burn the Old Summer Palace but not the Forbidden

Old Summer Palace. It can be said to be a treasure in the history of our country, but it is the beautiful Old Summer Palace, which was burned down by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and now many foreign cultural relics are lost from this time. Then the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China.

Why only burn the Old Summer Palace, but not the Forbidden City?

This? After all, the things in the Forbidden City are even more valuable than the things in the Old Summer Palace.

First of all, the reason why the Eight-Nation Alliance wanted to burn down the Old Summer Palace was because they wanted to use it to deter the imperial court. After all, the Forbidden City is the national prestige of a country, a status symbol of imperial power, and a spiritual symbol of the Chinese people. If the Eight-Power Alliance directly burned down the Forbidden City, it would definitely cause many Chinese to resist, and the number of Chinese at that time was not small.

And they invaded China only to get more gold and silver treasures, so they will not burn down the Forbidden City, because doing so will only bring them more trouble, and it will outweigh the losses.

The second is that the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China is to exterminate itBoxerAs an excuse. If they invade the Forbidden City directly, this would not match the excuse said, and the Forbidden City is inhabited by relatives of the emperor. If the Eight-Nation Alliance burned down the Forbidden City, it would be tantamount to tearing up the face with the Qing Dynasty, and doing so would not bring any benefit to the Eight-Nation Alliance at all, so in the end only the Old Summer Palace was burned.

In the end, it was because the Eight-Nation Coalition did not want to take over the ruling power of the Qing Dynasty in order to get more benefits. So if they go directly to burn down the Forbidden City, it means that the country will be destroyed, after all, the Forbidden City is a place where the supreme ruler of a country lives, and only the rulers of the Qing Dynasty continue to rule, then it is conducive to the Eight-Nation Alliance to get more benefits from it.

During the Qing Dynasty, in order to show their patriotism, a group of unconscious officials sent troops to arrest all 39 British and French envoys and torture them, causing most of them to die unnaturally. According to the memories of those who escaped death later, the process was tragic.

However, in this human tragedy, no clean official is held accountable. The British and French were shocked and outraged when they heard the news, and decided to retaliate with the support of parliament approved by the whole people。Eventually, the commander of the British army, James Bruce, ordered the garden to be set on fire for "mistreatment of diplomats" as punishment for the Qing Dynasty.

So this is the reason why the British and French forces only burned the Old Summer Palace.

This stems from the fact that in the Second Opium War, the British and French forces were defeated when they attempted to land at the mouth of Dagu, Tianjin The pretentious Britain and France made a comeback after a year of careful preparation After entering the capital, they did not choose to burn the Forbidden City, but the Old Summer Palace The Old Summer Palace was the garden of ten thousand gardens in the world at that time, and it represented all the rights, status, and wealth of the feudal empire of the Qing Dynasty The retaliation of Britain and France naturally chose this supreme place.

Because there are many more treasures in the Old Summer Palace than in the Forbidden CityAnd the Forbidden City is the royal palace, and if it is burned, it will be angry with the people of the entire Qing Dynasty, and even the whole country will be anti-foreign.

There were a lot of treasures in the Old Summer Palace, and when they burned the Old Summer Palace, they retreated, and they couldn't take so many things with them because they didn't have enough manpower.

The Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China and burned the Old Summer Palace was a forced move, and it was not necessary to burn it down.

The Old Summer Palace represents the ownership, power, status, and wealth of the feudal empire of the Qing Dynasty.

Because the Forbidden City was "simpler" than the Old Summer Palace at that time

In my opinion, there is a reason why the Eight-Nation Coalition chose to burn down the Old Summer Palace instead of the Forbidden City. First of all, there is an essential difference between the Forbidden City and the Old Summer Palace, and the burning of the Old Summer Palace is not an accident, but an inevitability. Let me now share my own views on this issue.

1. The Old Summer Palace is a place of royal entertainment, while the Forbidden City is the foundation of a dynasty.

Although both the Old Summer Palace and the Forbidden City represent the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty, in fact there is a big difference between the two. The Old Summer Palace was just a place for the nobles of the imperial palace to have fun, while the Forbidden City was the place where the Qing emperors worked. After burning the Old Summer Palace, the Qing Dynasty could still operate normallyIf the Forbidden City was burned, then the Qing Dynasty would lose not only face, but also the order of the court.

For the Eight-Nation Alliance, they only wanted to give the Qing Dynasty a disadvantage, not to paralyze the Qing Dynasty. After all, these demons only want the Qing Dynasty to be their puppet, not to let the Qing Dynasty perish. If the Qing court's court was paralyzed, the Eight-Nation Coalition would have no way to reap the benefits of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, they chose to burn the Old Summer Palace instead of the Forbidden City.

2. The value of the Old Summer Palace is higher.

The purpose of the Eight-Nation Alliance's coming to China was to grab money, and if there were the most treasures in China in that era, it would be the Old Summer Palace. As a royal garden, the Old Summer Palace contains countless treasures. Although there are many treasures in the Forbidden City, they are still not as good as the number of treasures in the Old Summer Palace.

From this point on, the Eight-Nation Coalition is more willing to grab a rich placeTherefore, the Old Summer Palace became their first choice, and the Forbidden City escaped.

Because the Old Summer Palace is a private leisure and entertainment place for the royal family, burning the Old Summer Palace means a warning to the royal family, so that they will be obedient and not resist in the future.

The Forbidden City is the imperial palace, the symbol of the regime, and the place of office, and burning the Forbidden City means making the regime inoperable. It doesn't do them any good.

The great powers do not actually have the strength to rule the whole of China, and they need an obedient puppet regime as a tool to rule China. And the Qing ** is huge, systematic, powerful, and vulnerable, and this weak regime that is strong on the outside and strong on the inside, is their most ideal tool of rule. In addition to the Qing **, there is no other organization that is both obedient and powerful, so for the great powers, it is best to retain the power of the Qing **, then burning the Old Summer Palace and keeping the Forbidden City is a reasonable choice.

Therefore, the British and French troops looted and burned the Old Summer Palace, but ordered the Forbidden City to be protected; The Eight-Nation Coalition burned the Old Summer Palace again, but did not burn the Forbidden City.

That's because they want to deprive China of some of their property, and they do it on the basis of the principle that if they can't take it away, they will destroy it.

The biggest reason is that they want to plunder some of China's wealth, and at the same time, their hearts are also very bad, so they will burn the Old Summer Palace.

The reason why the Eight-Nation Alliance only burned the Old Summer Palace but did not attack the Forbidden City. This is because their purpose is to threaten the Qing ** and thus achieve their own goals. But if they attack the Forbidden City, it will naturally be different.

Because the Forbidden City is the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, this is equivalent to overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, which is not their purpose.

First of all, the purpose of the Eight Kingdoms burning the Old Summer Palace was to force the Qing ** to submit.

First of all, the nature of the Old Summer Palace is different from that of the Forbidden City. The Old Summer Palace was the palace of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and the Forbidden City was the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. They destroyed the Old Summer Palace in order to threaten the Qing rulers into signing the later unequal treaties.

Foreigners covet China's resources. Their purpose was to do business with the Qing Dynasty. But in the beginning, because of the empress dowager Cixi's seclusion, it not only led to China's backwardness, but also affected the interests of those foreigners.

So their purpose was for the Qing Dynasty to open the port and then we could do business together.

Second, the Forbidden City is a symbol of the Qing Dynasty. The burning of the Forbidden City was tantamount to overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

For foreigners, their goal is to do business in China. After all, China is rich in resources and has a vast territory. For these foreigners, China is a big piece of fat, and they want to share a share.

But the Empress Dowager Cixi's vision was too short-sighted at first, which led to an attack by foreigners. In fact, they used the Forbidden City to threaten Cixi to destroy the Old Summer Palace and plunder the property in order to obtain Cixi's consent. If Cixi really disagrees, then they may attack the Forbidden City.

However, after the Old Summer Palace was burned, Cixi was frightened, so she signed many humiliating treaties.

Third, if we burn down the Forbidden City, we fear that things will be reversed.

We know that the Qing Dynasty was the Forbidden City with a purpose. If they were too stressed, Cixi would most likely revolt. After all, if the Forbidden City burned down, not only would there be no place to live, but the Qing Dynasty would also fall.

Not only could Cixi fight back, but even the people of the Qing Dynasty could rebel. Then for foreigners, it will be more than just gains.

Because the Old Summer Palace is a place for the leisure and entertainment of the royal family, and the Forbidden City is a place that represents the imperial power, there is a big difference between the two, if the Forbidden City is burned, then the Qing Dynasty may not give up, and the Eight-Nation Alliance does not want the Qing ** to fall, so the Forbidden City is not destroyed. Besides, they're here to rob the treasure. There are many treasures of wealth in the Old Summer Palace, so the Old Summer Palace has become the preferred target.

The Eight-Nation Coalition only destroyed the Old Summer Palace and did not destroy the Forbidden City because there were a lot of treasures and treasures in the Old Summer Palace, and they just wanted to plunder these jewels at the same time, they also destroyed the Old Summer Palace, the Forbidden City is a national symbol, if the Forbidden City is destroyed, it will be incompatible with the Qing Dynasty.

Because to do so would destroy the ruling center of political power under the Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Nation Coalition was only there to plunder some wealth.

Because the Forbidden City was heavily guarded at that time, and the Forbidden City was a royal forbidden place, the invading army would not attack it.

This has to be traced back to the reason why the Eight-Nation Alliance burned the Old Summer Palace and the purpose of their invasion and signing of the treaty. The burning of the Forbidden City would destroy the ruling center of political power of the Qing Dynasty, and the purpose of the Eight-Nation Coalition was straightforward, only for the plundering of wealth and the circulation of goods and materials. They didn't go to the ocean to start a war, they wanted to grab the Qing Dynasty's ** in a currency way.

It is not wise for the great powers to manipulate the puppets in China, and it is not wise to intensify the contradictions, and for them to profit without spending troops is the ultimate goal. The intention of burning the Old Summer Palace is to demonstrate, and it does play a great role.

After the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, Britain and France conspired to force the Qing Dynasty to sign many new unequal treaties in order to seek more benefits, and the wolf's ambitions were clearly exposed. The incompetence of the rulers at the end of the Qing Dynasty was not only reflected in the ruling skills, but also in the misjudgment of the situation and serious mistakes in decision-making.

The British commander thought that the Imperial City of the Forbidden City was the national symbol of the Qing Dynasty, and the British and French forces did not want to collapse the Qing Dynasty.

It was the British and French forces that burned the Old Summer Palace!