Zaifeng And The Military Reform In The Late Qing Dynasty

In 1908,Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi passed away one after another.Puyi succeeded the emperor,and his father,Zaifeng,was the Regent of the state and took charge of the government.Zaifeng continued to carry out the new deal reform at the end of the Qing Dynasty,in which the military reform was one of the important reforms of the new deal.Zaifeng grew up with Confucian education and was deeply influenced by autocratic monarchy.In 1901,Zaifeng sent to Germany to see the royal guards.Zaifeng’s heart produced the thought of learning German military and advocating martial spirit.Zaifeng took the post of Regent queen in charge of the country,accelerated the pace of centralization,put the local military power back to the central government,and let the royal family members lead the army.He also imitated the German guards and set up a guard force to protect the royal family.In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the new army,Zaifeng made use of overseas military students to train the new army.Zaifeng also speeded up the reconstruction of the Qing Navy,established another military port,set up a Navy Department,and purchased Western warships.But plans to rebuild the navy have been struggling because of funding.In general,the military reform presided over by Zaifeng has further improved the number of new soldiers,vigorously promoted the martial spirit,and promoted the social status of soldiers,enhanced the combat effectiveness of the Qing army,and promoted the development of military modernization.However,due to the lack of funds for the reform of the Qing Dynasty,the mediocrity,incompetence and criticism of the centralized central government,the authoritarian and pro expensive,and the serious formalism of the reform,the effect of the military reform in the past three years is far from the original intention of the reformers,on the contrary,it intensifies the contradiction between the local government and the central government,and intensifies the social and national contradictions.Under the influence of modern nationalism,the soldiers’ consciousness of opposing autocracy and patriotism was rising.As a result,when the 1911 Revolution broke out,the new army not only failed to save the Qing Dynasty,but also became a support for the success of the revolution.