再论英法联军火烧圆明园的主要目的——兼与戴逸、章开沅等人商榷

A New Study on Main Aim of Anglo-French Allied Forces' Burning Of the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Palace:Consultation to Dai Yi,Zhang Kaiyuan and so on

150年来,国内史学者对1860年英法联军火烧圆明园目的观点主要有两种:一是为了掩盖他们抢劫圆明园的罪行;二是为了报复清政府。上述两种传统观点都难以成立。英法联军火烧圆明园的主要目的在于以此彻底摧毁清政府的抵抗意志,迫使清政府立即投降,实现他们发动战争的罪恶目的——扩大英法在华权益。这可以从英法发动战争的目的、英法联军火烧圆明园后各方的反应、以及英法联军焚毁圆明园而没有焚毁北京城内的皇宫三个方面得到清晰的证明。

For 150 years, there have been mainly two kinds of opinions on the aim of the Anglo -French Allied forces setting fire to the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Palace in 1860 among domestic historians. One is to cover up their guilt of robbery of the Imperial Palace, and the other is to take revenge on the Qing government. The co - authors of the present paper think it is difficult for the two traditional opinions mentioned above to be taken for granted after scanning plenty of history data and analyzing information concerning the second Opium War. The main aim of the Anglo- French Allied Forces＂ burning down the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Palace is to completely destroy the Qing governmentg resistance wills since then and force the government to surrender immediately and thus obtaining their evil goal of launching the war, that is, to enlarge the benefits they have already gained. This can be proved dis- tinctly from the goal of the warring, the reaction of both parties after burning the Imperial Palace, and the fact that the forces burned down the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Palace rather than the palaces in the Beijing City.