太平天国北征軍について : その問題點の一考察

Abstract

It may be safely said that one of the greatest events in modern Chinese history was the Northern Expedition of the T'ai-p'ing Army, an event to which many scholars have been attracted. Yet still there are several problems which remain unclear for us, e.g., the number of their troops, the causes of its failure, and the tactics of the Ch'ing authorities. The chief conclusions of this essay with respect to these issues are as follows: 1. The number of troops were at least twenty thousand or perhaps slightly more at the start and about thirty thousand when they were near Tientsin 天津 ; this conclusion was reached by making use of the official documentation recorded principally in the Ch'in-ting chiao-p'ing Yueh-fei fang-lueh 欽定勦平粵匪方略 and the Tung-hua lu 東華錄. 2. The main causes of its failure lay in the differences in social and political conditions between South China which had already been in the throes of general convulsion and North China where the ruling Ch'ing house still prevailed and where life was less tumultuous; in addition, the geographic and climatic conditions in the North proved unfavorable to the Expeditionary Army. 3. The Ch'ing military authorities acted defensively though effectively, while the T'ai-p'ing forces wasted their time and strength in crossing the Yellow River 黄河, besieging Huai-ch'ing 懷慶, and camping near Tientsin.