Chapter 101 Qingdao Problem

On 1 August, Germany declared war on Russia, on 3 August, Germany declared war on France, on 4 August, Germany invaded Belgium, on 6 August, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, and on 12 August, Great Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary.

And in China, too, there is a struggle, and this is about Qingdao.

On April 27, 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany issued an order: "In accordance with the treaty concluded in Beijing on March 6, 1898, the territory of Jiaozhou Bay designated by the Government of China shall be occupied by the German Empire." I hereby place this territory under my protection in the name of the Empire." Since Germany regarded Jiaozhou Bay as an important base for controlling China and dominating the world, the Kaiser reversed the system of the German colonies being governed by the Colonial Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and placed Jiaozhou Bay under the direct jurisdiction of the German Admiralty, and established the Jiaoao Governor's Office, under which the Military Department and the Civil Department were set up, and the Civil Department was divided into the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Chinese Affairs; Two large districts of Qingdao (urban area) and Li Cun (rural area) were set up in the leased land, and a number of sub-districts were subdivided. The Governor of Jiaoao and the Governors of various ministries and districts are appointed by Admirals of the Navy. The Governor of Jiaoao is a major general or colonel, and the Kaiser has a great authority, except for the Far Eastern Fleet, all the army, civil and judicial affairs along the leased land and the Jiaoji Railway are under the management of the Governor, forming a strict ruling system. The German colonial authorities issued more than 180 laws and regulations in Qingdao to suppress and prevent Chinese residents. For example, at the beginning of the occupation, a decree was issued strictly prohibiting the Chinese from carrying and keeping weapons, and a large-scale search of the population was carried out, and all civilian self-defense equipment, including muskets, waist knives, spears, bows and arrows, were confiscated, and violators were punished with 100 boards and three months of hard labor. As for civil gatherings, performances, firecrackers, etc., they must be submitted for approval in advance before they can be implemented. Its penal system is not the so-called judicial system common in the Western "civilized world", but implements the criminal punishment system for "barbarians" in the colonies, such as whipping, beating boards, beheading, hanging, etc., and even transports the guillotine machine that has long been abolished in the West to kill the Chinese, and was forced to dismantle it only after being strongly opposed by the Chinese people.

The purpose of the German occupation of Jiaozhou Bay was to build Qingdao into a military port and a new commercial city. Before the treaty of concession was signed, Germany publicly announced that Qingdao would be a free port. In April 1898, the German Reichstag approved the first batch of appropriations for the construction of the port, and began to build the Dagang Wharf, which took 7 years and invested more than 5,000 marks, and in 1905, the large port, the small port and the Chuanqu port were built, and Qingdao Port became a large port in North China. At the same time as the construction of the port, the Jiaoji Railway was also prepared for the construction in July 1898, and Germany raised 50 million marks and 12 million marks to form the Shandong Railway Company and the Shandong Mining Company.

After the completion of the Jiaoji Railway in 1904, Shandong completely became a German sphere of influence. However, Germany's ambitions were by no means limited to Shandong, and through the competition with the British, Germany obtained the concession to build the northern end of the Jinzhen (Jiang) Railway, the southeast border of Tianjin Mountain to Zhenjiang (later Pukou). Through the Guò-Tianjin-Pudong Railway, German influence expanded from Shandong to Beijing and Tianjin, increasing the bargaining chips for hegemony in the five continents. After the completion of the port and railway, Qingdao's urban construction has also developed rapidly. In accordance with its urban construction plan, large buildings such as the Governor's Palace, the Governor's Seal, the Court, the Police Department, the Customs Barracks, and the Prince Henry's Hotel have been built from point to point, and the streets of the city have been built, and large enterprises such as the Electric Steam Company, the Water Plant, the Slaughterhouse, the Sifang Vehicle Factory, the Brewery, the Silk Reeling Factory, and the Iron Reeling Factory, as well as the military enterprises such as the Navy Shipyard, and the Sanatorium, the Beach, and the Forest Park have also been completed one after another, and the city of Qingdao has begun to take shape.

In order to compete for maritime supremacy and military aggression against China, Germany successively built a large port, floating docks, shipyards, and other naval facilities in Qingdao. At the same time, a large-scale military fortress system was built. On the front line of Qianhai, coastal defense forts such as Tuandao, Taixi Town, Yamen (Qingdao Fort of Zhang Gaoyuan), Huiquanjiao and Bismarck South Fort were built; Along the north side of the ridge, land defense batteries such as Bismarck North, Irchis North, Irchis East, and Zhongjiawa were built; The infantry fortress line that traverses the front and back seas was built along the Bo River, counting the five major fortresses of Xiaozhan Mountain, Xiaozhan Mountain North, Central, Taitung Town, and Coast, which is also known as the No. 1 --- No. 5 Fort. Before the German-Japanese war, Germany expelled tens of thousands of Chinese and built 11 large temporary batteries and many small batteries. A total of 130 Taiwan guns and dozens of artillery pieces are deployed, and its land defense force is 2,300 in peacetime and 5,000 in wartime; The Navy's Far East Fleet is Germany's only overseas fleet, with a total of 16 warships below the heavy cruiser and 2 aircraft. After more than ten years of painstaking operation, Qingdao has become the only German naval base overseas, and at the same time, Qingdao has also become the most dynamic commercial city and excellent port city in East Asia. In the pattern of Kaiser Wilhelm's struggle for world domination, Qingdao has become one of the most important trump cards. （

Japan was not satisfied with the invasion and occupation of China's Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands, and had a great appetite. Japan had long heard of the superior conditions of Qingdao's good port and attached great importance to it, and during the period when Qingdao was occupied by the German army, Japanese businessmen often came to Qingdao to do business. In order to keep abreast of the recent situation in Qingdao and Shandong, the Japanese authorities often sent spies disguised as Chinese to lurk along the Jiaoji Railway for thousands of miles to carry out activities. Japan's Meiji Emperor once shouted that "open up thousands of miles of waves by force" and "spread the power of the country in all directions." In 1897, when Germany forcibly leased Jiaozhou Bay, Japan was uncomfortable, and he did not expect that Japan had invaded China earlier than Germany, and because he was busy competing for interests in Northeast China and Korea, Shandong and Qingdao had become the pockets of Germany from Europe, which was a challenge and stimulus to Japan's colonial ambitions. Japan, which had long coveted Qingdao, was obsessed with this and had been doing everything possible to find an opportunity to get its hands on Shandong and Qingdao.

In the years before Germany entrenched itself in Qingdao, Japan did not dare to act rashly, and very few people went to Qingdao to carry out activities, and it seemed that Japan had no idea or interest in Shandong and Qingdao. Before the outbreak of World War I in 1913-1914, Japan suddenly became active, showing unusual concern and interest in Qingdao, and frequently sent military and political dignitaries to Qingdao to investigate, spy on the situation of the German army in Qingdao, and wait for an opportunity to replace Germany's "lease" of Qingdao in order to establish a bridgehead for aggression and expansion in East Asia. On August 1, 1914, World War I finally broke out in Europe. The countries of Europe have shrunk their fronts and devoted their energies and forces to European affairs, not much to the colonies of other countries. There were only a few thousand troops in Jiaozhou Bay, and this shape was in the hands of Japan, so Japan had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and they were ready to fight with the German army stationed in Qingdao, taking advantage of the situation to replace the Germans' occupation of Qingdao, and turning the coveted Qingdao into a mouthful to swallow. At this time, Germany, which was riddled with war, consciously expressed to the Chinese government that it was willing to return Qingdao to China, but demanded that the Chinese government compensate for the funds for the construction of Qingdao, and demanded that a suitable port be selected for Germany again. The Beijing government had secret contacts with Germany on the issue, and when Japan learned of the news, it issued a warning to the Beiyang government, accusing it of undermining a neutral position and siding with Germany. After thinking about it, the Beijing government did not dare to mention this matter again, for fear of setting itself on fire and causing disaster to fall from heaven.

On August 15, 1914, half a month after the outbreak of the Great War, Japan presented an ultimatum to Germany in the name of "maintaining peace in the Far East," with noon on August 23 as the deadline. Japan demanded: Immediately withdraw German armored ships and all warships from the waters of Japan and China, and if they cannot be evacuated, they should be disarmed immediately. By 15 September, the area of Jiaozhou, leased by Germany, was to be handed over to the Japanese authorities without conditions or compensation, and the area was to be returned to China in the future. After receiving no reply to the ultimatum, Japanese imperialism began fighting on August 22 in order to occupy the ports of Jiaozhou and Qingdao. On August 23, Japan officially declared war on Germany. At the same time, the German chargé d'affaires in China, Marsen, on behalf of his government, asked Yuan Shikai to return the leased land of Jiaozhou Bay to China immediately and unconditionally. Yuan Shikai did not dare to agree, but instead proposed that the US government take over Jiaozhou Bay from Germany for its subsequent return to China. However, Yuan Shikai's hopes of exploiting the contradictions between Japan and the United States were frustrated. The U.S. government is reluctant to intervene for fear of risking unhelpfulness.

is made of].