世界历史上的大清帝国

在大清帝国的历史上,外部环境的因素十分重要。16世纪以来,资本主义时代所带来的变化,是根本性的、世界性的巨大变化。这一变化虽然尚不能影响大清帝国的建立。不能阻止康雍乾盛世的到来,但已从外部大势上决定了帝国历史的此后性质。这一强大的外势终于决定了帝国的衰亡。大清帝国的命运也从与中华民族的命运同轨走向分途。大清帝国灭亡了,中华民族却仍生机无限。     

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.