工程史视野中的中西大沽口炮台之战

The Battle of the Taku Forts in the Late Qing Dynasty from the Perspective of Engineering History

洋务运动时期,京师门户——大沽口炮台形成以海防炮台为依托、以海口舰队为辅助、以电报通信为工县、以铁路运输为载体的近代化的堡垒式要塞体系。从工程史的角度,厘清了其名义上的管理机构、修筑式样,配备的枪炮利器、御侮的练军主体等。战前华北形成以新编的武卫军为游击之师、以淮军和练军为防御部队、以没落的八绿和绿营为地方治安部队的防御体系,采用单向正面火力配置战术。战中侵略军派部分舰船入白河正面牵制,密遣部队侧后登陆,先占塘沽、夺取北炮台,后渡河与抄袭南炮台。重建的北洋海军在战争中弃炮台而去,致使炮台守军孤立无援,最终导致御侮失败。在大沽口中西之战中,清朝炮台工程是近代以来清军屡次御侮战中中西差距最小的一次。国家制度与国防战略的劣势是包括大沽口炮台在内的晚清江防工程御侮无力的主要原因,同时,亦穿插诸多社会原因。

During the westernization movement,the Taku Forts formed a modern coastal defense fortress system with a coastal defense battery,the Haikou fleet as the support,telegraph communication as the engineering communication method,and railway transportation as the carrier.In this paper,the Taku Forts’management,construction,weapons,and army are described from the perspective of engineering history.Before the battle of the Taku Forts between China and the West,North China had formed a defensive system with the newly formed Wuwei Army as its guerrilla division,Huai Army and Lian Army as the defensive forces,and the old Eight Banners and Green Battalion as the local security forces.The invaders first occupied Tanggu Fort,captured the North fort,crossed the Hai river,and then attacked the South Fort.However,the rebuilt Beiyang Navy’s existing ships and torpedo boats abandoned it at the time of the fort’s death,leading to its helplessness and eventual dismantling.During the crisis in China,the Qing armies’ship and gun technology was the smallest gap between China and the western armies in all modern wars.The reasons for the failure of those wars were as follows:the disadvantage of the national system and defense strategy and the mingling of other social reasons with it.