The coronation ceremony of Edward VII was very grand, with dignitaries and monarchs from all over the world witnessing the coronation of the new monarch of the British Empire. However, after the excitement, it gradually died down.
Of course, currently, countries are mainly focusing on two places, one is South Africa and the other is the Far East.
In South Africa, although the British Empire announced that the war was over, it was obvious that they had not asked the Boers, the other side of the war, for their opinions.
After President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic went to Europe to ask for help, the Boers did not put down their arms obediently. These freedom-loving cowboys continued to cause trouble for the British in South Africa. They used guerrilla warfare to
The pattern continues to plague this part of the British Empire.
The Boer guerrillas, under the leadership of De Wet, Delray, Botha, Jan Smuts and James Herzog, used their skills in field cavalry and archery to attack the British lines of communication and plunder
Supplies the British army and annihilated the small group of British troops.
The more than 40,000 British troops stationed in the two newly captured territories were very troubled by these roving guerrillas, which were basically composed of local people.
They were like fleas, unable to catch these guerrillas at all. The British army, which was angered by these guerrillas, was not helpless. The British army, who was a veteran bandit, used despicable methods in this attack.
Since I cannot capture the guerrillas, I will capture the local Boers. As long as all these Boers are captured, these guerrillas will become rootless people.
So the local Boers were in bad luck. Faced with the arrests of the British soldiers, the local Boers also suffered a bloody disaster. All the captured Boers were put into concentration camps for management. Only the old, weak, women and children were left.
The Boers suffered great losses when their livestock were robbed and imprisoned in concentration camps. According to subsequent statistics, the chance of survival of the Boers imprisoned in concentration camps was 47%, despite the lack of medical treatment and food.
, what can the Boers do?
The British Empire's policy of persecution against the Boers was quickly reported. With hundreds of thousands of people in the two Boer republics, it was impossible to cover it up. The atrocities committed by the British army against the Boers soon attracted condemnation from the people of various European countries.
.Many media have called the British Empire’s treatment of the Boers an act of genocide.
The condemnation from the people of various European countries put great pressure on the British Empire.
Of course, if it were just public condemnation from various European countries, the British Empire could still withstand it. Ever since the British Empire became the empire on which the sun never sets, it’s not like we haven’t experienced dissatisfaction in various countries, so just get used to it.
However, in addition to the condemnation from the people of various countries, the Boers who carried weapons to fight guerrillas were not only capable of condemnation.
From December 1900 to April 1901, the Boer guerrillas, under the command of Botha and De Wet, fought deep into the British Cape Colony. They launched many sneak attacks and succeeded repeatedly, capturing large amounts of arms, supplies, cannons, etc.
.
In response to the fire in the rear, the British army not only continued to recruit troops from various colonies, but also recalled some of the British troops stationed on the Boer lands in an attempt to eliminate them here.
After seeing the return of a large number of British troops, these Boer guerrillas returned to the lands of the two original republics and continued to launch various attacks.
It was obvious that the Boer guerrillas were running around the British colonies smoothly, attacking here and there, making the British army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers, tired of dealing with it.
The tragic appearance of the British army has even led to ridicule from various countries. Of course, apart from the ridicule, the military of various countries are also considering countermeasures for this kind of modern guerrilla warfare.
But no matter what, this does not affect the fact that everyone sees the British Empire as a joke.
Of course, in addition to watching British jokes, everyone also talked about the Far East issue.
First of all, regarding the Xinchou Treaty on the outline of peace, the Empress Dowager, in order to return to Beijing as soon as possible, and in order to calm the anger of various countries, agreed to all the conditions unanimously put forward by various countries.
Why send people to Germany and Japan to apologize, and send a prince's envoy? All countries agreed to the terms of stationing troops to protect the embassy and demarcating the embassy area, leveling the Dagu fort, and leaving troops from various countries to garrison the capital to the sea.
After agreeing to these conditions, the next step is the most important issue of compensation. 450 million taels of silver is the total amount, which is unanimously decided by all countries. However, in addition to this total amount, the competition for the share of compensation among countries is equally fierce.
The rude and ugly-looking Maozi was the first to ask for compensation of 130 million taels of silver. Then Germany, which suffered the most losses this time, also made a request for compensation of 400 million marks. Then France also asked for compensation of more than 70 million taels. Moreover,
These three countries also demanded that the reparations be paid in cash in one lump sum. This huge request was immediately met with unanimous opposition from other countries.
Because other countries have considerable interests in China, they are unwilling to see this kind of fishing in the river.
Therefore, in response to the Three Kingdoms lion's open mouth, all countries jointly exerted pressure. After some wrangling discussions, they finally reached an agreement on the issue of reparations.
The first is Russia, which has the largest share of reparations. Due to the need to consider the issue of Russia's withdrawal from the Northeast, its 130 million taels of silver compensation will no longer be reduced after the Russians agreed to withdraw their troops.
In addition to Russia, Germany, which suffered the largest loss this time (after all, an envoy died), received a share of 90 million taels of silver (275 million marks). Then France requested, and under unanimous pressure from all countries, received 60 million taels.
Two taels of silver. And the British Empire, which worked hard, received 5,000
Ten thousand taels of silver compensation. Then the hard-working Japanese also received 30 million taels of silver compensation. As for the United States in North America, they received 14 million taels of silver. Then there are Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
, Norway and other countries took a total of about 20 million taels.
As for Italy, it also received 56 million taels from the compensation.
However, it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to pay the compensation of 450 million taels of silver in one go. Therefore, the compensation can only be paid in installments. All countries unanimously decided that the compensation should be paid off in 35 years, with an annual interest of four
5%, and the settlement shall be based on the currency exchange rate of each country. The repayment of principal and interest will be handled in Shanghai, and the total principal and interest of the compensation will be 1.02 billion taels.
Looking at the compensation bill in his hand, Carlo couldn't calm down for a long time. This is a realistic example of falling behind and being beaten, because in order to pay compensation, the Qing government could only increase taxes. This resulted in land tax, land tax, grain donation, deed tax, pawn tax, and salt.
catty
Price increases, tariffs, taxes, unified taxes and various exorbitant taxes continued to increase. In addition, the repayment of the indemnity also caused the price of silver to fall, which increased its expenditure. And this indemnity essentially accelerated the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
.
In this case, there are some things that need to be prepared in advance.
"Bakona, we are going to issue a statement that our country is willing to use half of the annual compensation for education in the Far East. Our country is going to build a modern school in the Far East, and the remaining part will be used as a study fund."
That's right, Carlo is preparing to learn from the advanced experience from the United States and give priority to cultivating a group of attentive students. These aspiring young people who come to Italy to study will be full of feelings for Italy no matter what. You may not be able to tell it in the past two years.
, but what about after a long time?
By then Italy will still be able to guarantee its influence in the Far East.
