湘军--文化集团论

湘军不仅是一个军事、政治集团,而且是一个文化集团.湘军集团的成员多为士人出身,湘军集团的思想基础为理学与经世之学.在战时及战后,湘军集团着力于传统文化秩序的重建,恢复教育,重视图书出版业,在学术、文章方面取得了极大的成就,在西学东渐上起了直接引介的历史作用.     

浅析湘军兴起于湖南的经济原因

湘军是近代中国社会产生的一个具有地方特色的军事集团。虽然它存在的时间不长,但它对晚清中国社会产生了巨大而深远的影响。一方面,它残酷地镇压了轰轰烈烈的太平天国农民起义,挽救了濒临灭顶之灾的清王朝,并使其一度出现了“同治中兴”的政治局面;另一方面,它又对晚清的中央专制主义集权制度起了分解作用,使得满汉统治者之间势力对比发生显著变化。一批湘军出身的地方督抚掌握了军政大权,往往拥兵自重,尾大不掉。最让清廷始料不及的是,随着湘军的遣散,两种势力阵营在湖南最终形成。一种是少数荣归故里的湘军统帅,他们利用所获…     

湘军军饷筹措的途径及其特点

湘军是在镇压太平天国运动中兴起的地主武装,军饷筹措直接关系到湘军的作战及其生存发展。湘军的核心人物主要采用协饷、厘金、捐输等途径来筹措军饷。同时,湘军首领调动在职或离退职后回乡居籍的地方士绅参与军饷的筹措工作,保证了军饷筹措工作的顺利完成。     

湘军裁撤的经济原因

同治三年 ( 1 86 4年 )七月 ,湘军主力一举攻克了天京 ,镇压了轰轰烈烈的太平天国农民起义。就在湘军为清王朝剪除内患的盖世大功告成之际 ,湘军首领曾国藩却出人意料之外地奏请裁撤湘军 ,在以后一年多的时间里 ,除湘军水师被改编为国家经制兵长江水师 ,鲍超、刘松山等陆营军万余人留存外 ,其他直辖军和所属湘军都相继被裁汰。由此 ,我们不禁会产生疑问 :曾国藩为何要在功成名就的时候 ,选择裁军之路呢 ?以往的学者在分析湘军裁撤的原因时 ,主要是从政治、军事的角度去考虑 :诸如湘军首领曾国藩此时已权高位重 ,为避权势 ,谙知封建理义之学…     

湘军水师与太平军水师之比较研究

太平天国从起事之初到定都天京,仅两年时间。几十万大军驰骋江南,势如破竹,所向披靡,然而一碰上湘军,即连遭大败,最后竟败于湘军之手。罗尔纳先生说得好：太平陆师不比湘军逊色,问题在于水师。而清廷论功行赏,首推曾国藩水师之功。曾氏自己也把湘军水师作为一生中值得炫耀的政绩,把它视为维护封建统治,镇压人民革命的劲旅。本文拟从湘军水师与太平军水师的比较研究中得出这一历史的结论。一、湘军水师营制与太平军水师营制比较湘军水师的营制,主要来自明代戚继光束伍练兵成法。曾国藩曾于同治七年上奏指出：“咸丰三年衡州试办水…     

咸丰五至八年湘军情报工作与鄂赣皖争夺战

情报工作与战争胜负密切相关。在咸丰五到八年的鄂赣皖争夺战中 ,胡林翼部湘军对战役情报的分析利用经历了一个“差—好—差—好—差”的波浪式发展过程 ,战争的局势出现了败—胜—败—胜—败的起伏 ;但由于战略情报利用正确 ,胡林翼部东征没有遭受特大挫败 ,保证了走向胜利的大趋势 ;同时 ,战场情报的准确及时和巧妙运用也使战局始终有利于湘军。     

湘军水师的组建

湘军是清政府赖以镇压太平天国革命的一支主要军事力量,而其水师的作用尤为突出。太平天国天京失陷后,清廷论功行赏,湘军水师之功位居榜首。本文就湘军水师的组建作一粗浅介绍。在太平天国革命前,清朝的绿营水师,无战斗力可言。金田起义爆发后,太平军出广西,进湖南,于1852年12月攻克益阳、岳州等地,获民船万只及大批军械炮位,遂组成水营。水营兵种的增设,使太平军实力大增。从此沿长江东下,水陆并进,不数月,在连续攻克汉口、武昌之后,迅即进据南京,     

《湘军志》钩沉

梁启超在《近三百年学术史》中列举清代史学名著时,曾说:“其局部的纪事本末之部,最著者有魏默深源之《圣武记》、王壬秋闿运之《湘军志》等”。清末,学人撰史,以得比美《湘军志》为鹄的。陈衍:《石遗室诗话》谓李希圣著《庚子国变记》,“不及万言,能尽情变,自负可追王闿运《湘军志》。”可见《湘军志》在学术界具有很大影响。王闿运(1832—1916),湖南湘潭人。博雅能文。年二十余,即挟策叩曾国藩。见知于当朝权贵     

论湘军的后勤体制和保障

一、湘军的后勤体制(一) 集饷权、兵权于将帅之手湘军后勤体制不同于绿营兵的主要之点,就在于它的后勤管理权与作战指挥权、用人权都掌握在将帅之手。它既不受北京户、兵部的“层层检制”,也不受地方督抚的掣肘,自成系统。其后勤机构的司官,由统帅奏派或委劄。其所以如此,是与湘军的勇营性质及所谓“兵归将有”的私属性分不开的。湘军     

评黄振南著《中法战争诸役考》

据说那位以书生领兵闻名的曾国藩曾发出过感叹 ,说是了解战争真相并非易事。一次 ,这位很少亲临前线的湘军统帅叫几位部将描述其共同参加过的某次作战 ,竟然各执一词 ,争论不休 ,令曾氏大惑不解。但在那些久经枪林弹雨的将领们看来 ,却是件再正常不过的事儿。因为战争是一种瞬息万变、令人眼花缭乱的集团暴力行为 ,大家在战场上所处的观察位置不同 ,指挥地位有高低之分 ,对战争的认识和感受自然不会完全一样 ,加上参战将领为邀功请赏和诿过饰非 ,从主观上歪曲作战实况 ,所以说不做详尽仔细的研究 ,单凭个别人的片面之词来了解一场战争 ,不免…     

Shifting power,preventive logic,and the response of the target: Germany,Russia, and the First World War

If a declining state has incentives for preventive war, the rising state should have incentives to delay a confrontation until it is stronger. We develop the theoretical paradox and examine the July 1914 crisis. Why did Russia, rising relative to Germany, not adopt a buying-time strategy? We argue that although most Russian leaders hoped to avoid a confrontation, they feared that the failure to support Serbia would lead to a loss of Russian credibility and a significant setback to Russia’s position in the Balkans, one that could not easily be reversed, even with Russia’s expected increase in relative military power.     

Imperial nostalgia,the liberal lie,and the perils of postmodern counterinsurgency

Since 9/11, counterinsurgency is back in fashion; the ‘war on terror’ has even been branded a ‘global counterinsurgency’. However the context within which counterinsurgency originally arose is critical to understanding the prospects for its present success; the radically changed environment in which it is currently being conducted casts into considerable doubt the validity of the doctrine's application by many national militaries currently ‘rediscovering’ this school of military thought today. Above all, classical counterinsurgency was a profoundly imperial, state-centric phenomenon; consequently it only rarely faced the thorny issue of sovereignty and legitimacy which bedevils and may doom these same efforts today.     

Rossellini,Pontecorvo, and the neorealist cinema of insurgency

This article examines the tradition of Italian neorealism and the importance it has for films depicting guerrilla insurgencies. It looks in particular at the two films by Roberto Rossellini Rome Open City and Paisa as well as the later film by Nanni Loy Four Days in Naples. It then proceeds to locate Gillo Pontecorvo's iconic film The Battle of Algiers within this neorealist tradition and examines the degree to which the director succeeded in continuing the basic traditions of neorealism into the context of the Algerian war of Independence. The article concludes that while this film remains of great interest it should be situated in the period when it was produced and is in many ways radically disconnected from many insurgent movements of the present day.     

Risk,War, and the Dangers of Soldier Identity

The profession of arms is distinct from other professions for many reasons. One reason which is not so obvious is that, unlike members of other professions, soldiers may go their entire careers preparing for a day that never arrives. All things considered, we should think this to be a very good thing. For soldiers, however, this can feel somewhat odd, since there is a natural desire to want to feel useful and to see one’s role and purpose find realization. Accordingly, the common soldier is forced to adopt a rather paradoxical mindset, one of longing for peace, and therefore for uselessness, while at the same time longing to be useful, which would entail that there be a war. This latter desire to be useful and to vindicate one’s identity as a soldier can sometimes take on an unhealthy life of its own. The pull of wanting too strongly to live up to a warrior identity, I argue, can sometimes skew a soldier’s ability to assess risk rationally. This article will therefore investigate how a soldier’s concept of self influences his or her overall capacity to evaluate risk in war and when such influence might become morally problematic.     

Rebels of the frontier: origins,organization, and recruitment of the Pakistani Taliban

The Pakistani Taliban, factionalized into some 40 groups, form a decentralized insurgent movement, often characterized by infighting, divergent motivations, and a shifting web of alliances. The Pakistani Taliban remain little understood because most scholars have avoided a serious treatment of the insurgent movement and instead focused on analyzing the geopolitics of the region and Pakistan's ‘double game’. This article seeks to fill this gap by dissecting the movement through selected theories of organization and mobilization. First, I explain the various dimensions of the conflict and the origins of the insurgency. Next, I discuss the Pakistani Taliban's political organization, categorizing it as composed of various warlord regimes. I further list the Taliban's component groups and numerical strength and chart the leadership structure. Lastly, I analyze insurgent recruitment strategies, accounting for the role of selective incentives, coercion, and genuine grievances.     

Ethnicity,class, and civil war: the role of hierarchy,segmentation, and cross-cutting cleavages

Why are some countries prone to ethno-nationalist conflict, whereas others are plagued by class conflict? This is a question that has seldom been raised and rarely been examined empirically. This paper presents a social-structural theory to account for the variable incidence of these two forms of political instability. These two types of conflict result from distinct principles of group solidarity – ethnicity and class – and since each individual is simultaneously a member of an ethnic group (or many such groups) and a particular class, these two principles vary in the degree to which they are mutually exclusive or cross-cutting. The degree of economic stratification between groups and economic segmentation within them shapes the relative salience of each principle of group solidarity in any society and is associated with a characteristic form of political mobilization. In places where between-group inequalities are high, and within-group inequalities low, ethnicity should be the dominant principle of group solidarity and serve as the primary basis of group conflict. By contrast, in countries where between-group inequalities are low, and within-group inequalities high, class is more likely to serve as the dominant principle of group solidarity, and conflicts along class lines are more likely. We test these conjectures with data in over 100 countries on cross-cutting cleavages, ethnic war, and class conflict. The results are supportive of the theory, and provide evidence that how groups are stratified and segmented in societies shapes the type of civil war.     

Community preferences,insurgency, and the success of reconstruction spending

Existing theory on counterinsurgency does not adequately explain persistent insurrection in face of the reconstruction work currently underway in Afghanistan and Iraq. We starkly depart from the literature by developing a simple model of reconstruction allowing misalignment of occupier spending with community preferences. Insurgency arises endogenously as a result of the mix of spending rather than its level. Occupier insistence on its preferred path of reconstruction may lead to fewer projects of any kind being completed. In equilibrium, the occupier may accept an endogenous insurgency to achieve a preferred project mix, or be constrained in its choice even when no insurgency occurs.