A Historical Research On The Weaponery And Equipment Of Beiyang Army (1895-1911)

The Beiyang New Army rose in the national peril end of the Qing dynasty. With its superior weaponry and effective combat, it became an important factor in the political situation at that time.The research to development of weapons of Beiyang New Army from 1895 to 1911 is a weak link in the military study on Beiyang Group, which is also an important academic problem that deserves to go into details. In this paper, the theory of history and weaponry is used to study the Beiyang New Army weapons at all stages between 1895 and 1911. It also carries out in-depth study to the overall weapons situation of Beiyang New Army. This paper objectively researches on the development of Beiyang New Army weapon equipment.The failure of the Sino-Japanese war of 1894 promoted the formation of the idea of the Beiyang New Army's weaponry construction. The failure of the Eight Power Allied Force's Battle deepened this idea. The formation and development of this idea drove the weaponry construction of the Beiyang New Army. Its weaponry is mostly purchased from western strong military countries, with many kinds and polished qualities. The sources of fund for weaponry purchasing are various, mainly from governmental appropriate funds, appropriation of other funds and self-fundraising. Meanwhile, the weaponry construction of the the Beiyang New Army also drove the development of weaponry industry, military technology and academy, and the cultivation of professional personnel for weaponry, what's more, formed a good interrelationship among them.The construction of Beiyang New Army weapon equipment system indeed represented the development tide of Qing Dynasty army at that time and promoted the modernization of Chinese army's weapon equipment, including the establishment of primary guarantee system of navy weapon. However, due to the complicated environment both at home and abroad and the relative low quality of drillmasters, there were still many disadvantages appeared in the construction of the Army that left us a series of thought provoking issues.