山海关事件始末与英美之应对——以英美外交文件为中心

侵占东三省后,日军为吞并热河,先后三次与山海关的中国军队发生冲突,最终于1933年1月3日占领了山海关县城。得知此消息后,在华北拥有较大利益的英国积极主导调停。但在调停方案上,英国内部有极大分歧:英国驻华代办应歌兰希望仿照调停一二八事变的方式处理山海关事件,却遭到了英国政府的反对和美国政府的推诿;秦皇岛的英国海军向中日双方提出调停意愿,而国民政府一直怀有疑虑。最终,英国的两套调停方案均未实现。占领山海关后,日本政府还企图利用《交还天津来往照会》,迫使北平至山海关铁路沿线中国军队撤退2英里。国民政府随即向《辛丑条约》签字国指控日本非法利用条约。英国向美国建议,联合《辛丑条约》各签字国一起向日本发表口头抗议,遭到美国拒绝。     

马歇尔调停与拟议中的美国对华五亿美元贷款

马歇尔在调停中国内战之初取得了重大进展。为了维护当前的调停成果,马歇尔赴美,为国民政府说服了进出口银行应允为其提供五亿美元贷款。然而,就在这一贷款签字前夕,中国内战和调停局势发生了变化,破坏了提供美援的条件,为了把握谈判的节奏,美方冻结并最终终止了这批贷款。     

述论1885年至1886年间清政府关于英灭缅甸及中缅界务的交涉

1885年,英国借口所谓木材公司事件,拒绝清政府的调停,再次武装入侵缅甸,攻陷曼德勒,灭阿瓦王朝,将缅甸沦为殖民地。 英国的行径严重地损害了缅甸国家的权益,也危及到清朝与周边邻国的和睦关系,威胁着中国云南、西藏等地的安全。缅甸是清朝的“属国”,对清朝保持朝贡关系。为了维护缅甸国家的权益,清廷表示“中华所重在乎不灭人国,贡与不贡无足重轻”。与此同时,清     

美国政府与中日甲午战争

在1894—1895年的中日甲午战争中,美国表面声称中立,实际却偏袒日本。战前一再拒绝中、朝两国的调停请求和英国的联合调停建议,默认或怂恿日本发动战争。战争期间,美国外交官作为中日两国侨民的战时保护人,一再逸出国际法合理范围,曲意保护在华日本间谍。作为中日两国的唯一调停者,美国一方面拒绝与欧洲国家联合调停,为日本继续发动战争减轻国际压力,另一方面又单方面劝说清朝政府接受日本的各项侵略要求,帮助日本实现发动战争的目的。美国偏袒日本的原因,主要是希望借日本之手废除中朝宗藩关系,进一步打开中国大门,同时利用日本削弱英国、俄国等在东亚的影响力。     

甲午战争爆发前美国对中朝英请求调停的态度

甲午战争爆发前,美国对于日本在朝蓄意挑起对中国战争的行为,并没有采取强有力的措施予以阻止,只是作了形式上的劝告;对朝鲜的多次调停请求予以拒绝;拒绝参与英国倡导的＂联合调停＂,即使是友谊的干涉也不同意;对清政府请求促使中立两国同时撤兵的请求,也予以拒绝。美国之所以采取这种政策是与其国家利益息息相关的。     

甲午战争爆发前美国对中朝英请求调停的态度

甲午战争爆发前,美国对于日本在朝蓄意挑起对中国战争的行为,并没有采取强有力的措施予以阻止,只是作了形式上的劝告;对朝鲜的多次调停请求予以拒绝;拒绝参与英国倡导的"联合调停",即使是友谊的干涉也不同意;对清政府请求促使中立两国同时撤兵的请求,也予以拒绝。美国之所以采取这种政策是与其国家利益息息相关的。     

陶德曼调停新论

陶德曼调停一波三折 ,第一阶段 ,国民政府寄希望于国联 ,拒绝调停 ;第二阶段 ,对国联失望后的国民政府被迫接受调停 ,但采取拖延战术 ;第三阶段 ,日本两度提高议和价码 ,旨在灭亡中国 ,国民政府坚守“国家主权”和“领土完整”两条底线 ,调停失败。调停期间 ,德国一直向国民政府施加压力 ,阻止中苏联合 ,对中国抗战毫无信心 ,认为中国若不接受调停则必败无疑。调停失败后 ,在国家利益的驱使下 ,德国最终倒向日本     

赫德与中日甲午战争

中日甲午战争对近代中国甚至世界历史影响深远。赫德在中日甲午战争中积极参与了清政府的备战,帮助清政府筹措战争借款,帮助购买军火,支持洋员参战,并为清政府提供了各种战况与情报。在中国连连失利的情况下,他又倡议英国调停。日本拒绝调停后,他一方面建议清政府继续抵抗,另一方面却更为积极地支持中日议和,不断为促进议和与换约成功而献策,希望早日结束战争,防止日军攻陷北京,保住他的既得利益。     

徐世昌与1916年府院之争再探讨北大核心CSSCI

1916年袁世凯去世后,黎元洪、段祺瑞的矛盾因孙洪伊、徐树铮的冲突而加剧,府院几近破裂。徐世昌因其在北洋派的地位、资望和影响成为调停的核心人物。黎极力迎请徐,拟以其组阁排段,院方虽对徐无敌意,但为维护段阁而暗中阻挠。徐一面公开声明决不出山,打破府方强其组阁计划;一面运用其影响,协调府院,令政潮症结人物孙洪伊、徐树铮去职,维持段阁,政潮暂平。基于其时北洋派危机和徐的北洋意识,其调停貌似公允,实则偏段,实质是维护北洋派利益。此举虽暂缓了府院矛盾,但影响府院关系的政治和制度环境并未改变,故更大的冲突还在以后。     

赫德与中法越南交涉

赫德对中法越南问题十分关注,从1880年到1885年,先后向清政府提出解决办法与建议20多条。这些办法与建议有的对清政府有利,有的对清政府不利。不管清政府是否接受自己的建议,赫德一直不断为和平解决中法越南问题而努力。在观音桥事件发生后,赫德试图与法国代办谢满禄一起挽救中法天津《简明条款》,并赴上海会晤法国公使巴德诺,力主清政府接受法国的赔款要求。马尾海战后,赫德又力促英国调停中法矛盾。最终,在英国调停失败后,赫德派遣金登干赴巴黎,直接与法国总理茹费理进行秘密谈判。几经周折,赫德先后促成中法《停战条件》与《越南条款》的签订,中法战争结束,中法越南问题得以解决。     

Enigmas of the Great War: Thomas Kettle and Francis Ledwidge

Recent publications in the field of Irish Studies have begun to address the previously neglected issue of Irish involvement in the First World War, including some limited attention to Irish First World War literature. This article explores the poetry of two nationalist writers who joined the British army, namely Thomas Kettle and Francis Ledwidge. Kettle was a public figure who had served as a Westminster MP and his poetry expresses the political complexity of his responses to the outbreak of war and to the Easter Rising. Ledwidge was first and foremost a poet and the article explores and evaluates that aspect of his oeuvre which can be described as war poetry.     

Race and Identity: The Culture of Combat in the Pacific War

This article addresses how the Royal Navy intended to defend the British Isles from invasion before the First World War. Revisionist historians have recently suggested that during his first tenure as First Sea Lord, 1904–10, Sir John Fisher conceived and implemented a radical new home-defence strategy. Fisher's ‘flotilla defence’ system assigned a hitherto unprecedented importance to flotilla craft. This was apparently a marked departure from previous practice, which had been to rely upon armoured warships to deter invasion. These claims are not supported by the evidence and have failed to appreciate that flotilla craft had historically formed the foundation of the naval defence of the British Isles. War Plans drafted in early 1909 confirm that before leaving office Fisher remained committed to the blockade of enemy naval forces and that he identified blockade as key to the security of the British Isles.     

William Morris Hughes,Empire and Nationalism: The Legacy of the First World War

Despite the amplitude with which Prime Minister W. M. Hughes voiced Australian claims during the First World War, his conduct in the immediate postwar years shows that his nationalism remained consistent with an imperial and British standpoint. This proposition is illustrated with reference to Hughes' role in the 1921 imperial conference, the Chanak crisis, and his post-prime ministerial memoir. While obsessed with expedients to improve the speed and scope of intra-imperial communications and thus facilitate consultation, Hughes was concerned to ensure that Australia played a proper role in arriving at a consensus on the deep common interest that unified Britain and the Dominions. His lack of concern for extending the scope for independent action won by the Dominions during the war, his dismissive remarks regarding the British role in the League of Nations, and the vehemence of his communications with London in 1922, must all be seen within the context of an imperial loyalty that survived the war undiminished.     

《申报》与中法战争

在19世纪80年代发生的中法战争时期,<申报>作为中国创办最早且影响最大的华文报纸之一,始终坚定地站在爱国和正义的立场上,揭露法国据越侵华野心图谋,为抗法斗争建言献策,鼓舞斗志,反对妥协投降,为维护国家利益和民族尊严,唤起民族新觉醒,发挥了特殊的作用,在中国近代新闻史上写下了重要的一页.     

British Perceptions and Responses to Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur, 1915–16

This article illustrates how British perceptions of Sultan Ali Dinar of Darfur, in the context of the First World War, led to the downfall of his sultanate in 1916. It shows how the paranoia of the ‘imperial mind’ amplified the threat of militant Islam, personified by Ali Dinar, through the conviction that he was involved with outside enemy forces. British certainty of Ottoman and German complicity in the sultan's belligerence was presented with great intensity by officials, a conviction which formed a central justification for this extension of British rule in Saharan Africa. British officials actively propagated the idea of outside forces having a pernicious influence on Ali Dinar's bellicosity. Through their dogged insistence on this interpretative trope, the British elided other complex factors that informed the sultan's defiance, and misunderstood the internal divisions and stresses in Darfuri society that limited the effectiveness of his jihad. This article goes beyond existing studies by presenting a close analysis of the colonial record to examine in greater detail these two perceptions of Ali Dinar as ‘Muslim fanatic’ and ‘Turco-German co-conspirator’. In a new departure from existing works, this article analyses British views of Ali Dinar after Darfur was occupied, explores the sultan's motivations for his declaration of jihad against the British, and sheds light on the responses of ordinary Darfuris to their sultan‘s doomed defiance of the region's dominant power.     

Rethinking Britain's Foreign Policy and the Occupation Zone in Germany 1945–1947: Questions of Structural and Functional Continuity in British Foreign Policy-Making

This article uses a detailed examination of British policy towards the occupation zone in Germany after World War II as a lens through which to illuminate enduring elements of structural and functional continuity in British foreign policy-making. Many of the problems facing British policy-makers in the post-World War II era replicated those relating to the occupation of the Rhineland and Ruhr in the early 1920s. Analysing the response of British policy-making to these resonances highlights underlying thematic trends in overall British foreign policy. The areas of continuity revealed challenge traditional historiographical views that foreign policy was shaped by elite group thinking in the Foreign Office. This article also evaluates British foreign policy in the light of recent developments in the historiography of the Cold War. Recent scholarship emphasises the multi-faceted and organic nature of the Cold War and highlights the difficulties involved in approaching issues such as ideology when the states involved were varied and had different infrastructures, cultures and foreign policy traditions and systems. By drawing out deeper resonances in foreign policy-making, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the culture and tensions through which British policy was generated in the post-World War II period.     

Jacob Talmon between Zionism and Cold War Liberalism

The paper focuses on the problematic relationship between Talmon's liberalism and Zionism. My argument is that Talmon's nationalism (Zionism included)—historicist, romantic, visionary—lived in permanent tension with his liberalism—empiricist, pluralist, pragmatic. His critique of totalitarian democracy, reflecting his British experience, emerged independently from his Zionism, grounded in Central European nationalism. The two represented different worlds. Talmon lived in both, serving as an ambassador in-between them, without ever bringing them together.

The essay's first section describes the political education of the young Jacob Talmon (née Flajszer) and the making of The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy. It demonstrates the independence of Talmon's Cold War liberal project from his Zionism. The second section places Talmon in the context of Cold War liberal discourse, showing how integral his critique of revolutionary politics was to contemporary liberalism. The third illustrates the tensions between Talmon's view of Jewish history and his liberalism, between his Zionism and his critique of revolutionary politics. Focusing on Talmon's analyses of nationalism, it highlights the ambiguity of his Zionism.     

The death of Sir Victor Horsley (1857–1916) and his burial in Amarah

Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley (1857–1916), the pioneering British neurological surgeon, passed away 100 years ago. He died young in his sixtieth year from the effects of heat stroke while serving as consulting military surgeon to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Amarah, modern-day Iraq, and was buried in the now largely abandoned “Amara War Cemetery.” By the time of his death in 1916, Victor Horsley had established himself as one of the most eminent innovators of modern neurological surgery. His pioneering researches in cerebral physiology earned him an early reputation in the field, and his experiences with vivisection allowed him to confidently operate on the brain and spinal cord at a time when surgical intervention of the nervous system was fraught with uncertainty. Outside the operating theatre, Horsley was a proud advocate for a number of sometimes controversial sociopolitical issues; national temperance, women’s suffrage, and medical unionism particularly interested him. He brought the same courageousness to the British army during the First World War, and labored tirelessly under considerable hardships to improve the conditions for soldiers. Otherwise robust and healthy, it was only through great self-denial and overwork that Horsley suddenly succumbed to the burning heat of Mesopotamia. He died as he lived—a fearless and painstaking fighter for the common man. His was a most beautiful life of unselfish devotion to others.     

The Failure of ‘Liberal Developmentalism’: The United States's Anti-Communist Showcase in Guatemala, 1954–1960

This article examines the British involvement in the reorganisation of the Ottoman Empire's customs service. The study focuses particularly on the role of Sir Richard Crawford, who was appointed as a consultant to the Ottoman customs administration in 1909. In doing so, the article sheds fresh light on the position of European advisers as well as on British commercial diplomacy in the Ottoman Empire during the years preceding the First World War. This topic warrants further historical research as previous studies have not considered Crawford's position and the progress of the customs reform in detail. He introduced some important reforms, but proved unable to solve the complex question over the porterage service or to increase customs revenue as much as had been anticipated. War and revolution as well as the consequent disruption of trade; the vast geographical scope of the Ottoman Empire; and opposition from local and international stakeholders to his reforms explain to some extent why Crawford was unable to modernise the customs service as effectively as had been planned. In addition, Crawford's professional background and his personal characteristics were in some ways incompatible with the requirements of the demanding diplomatic world of Constantinople.     

‘An Alternative to Imperialism’: Leonard Woolf,The Labour Party and Imperial Internationalism, 1915–1922

This article examines writings by the British Labour Party theorist Leonard Woolf on international government, imperialism, and the League of Nations. Woolf was a leading member of a group of party officials who supported a deepening commitment to the League of Nations in the immediate post First World War period. Woolf, and his colleagues in the Labour Party, argued that transforming the practice of economic imperialism in European colonies would help to ease tensions between the European powers. The result of such arguments was to present empire as a canvas for displaying an improved sense of European virtue. In particular, abandoning the practice of economic imperialism could instead allow colonial powers to meet their responsibility to ready colonial peoples for self-government and full participation in the global economy. The reforms proposed by Woolf and his Labour Party colleagues could be considered a last gasp of early twentieth century British imperial internationalism.