The wars in Liaodong and the formation of the Qing dynasty = 遼東戰爭與清朝的建立

Abstract

 During the Ming-Qing transition, the wars in Liaodong marked the turning point of Ming fall and Qing rise. In fact, these wars not only brought military victory to the Manchus but also triggered an institutional reform in the empire-building process of the newly established Manchu regime. Using the "Sarhu battle" as a case study, this thesis attempts to evaluate the significance of these decisive wars in the history of the Ming-Qing dynastic change, revealing how the Manchus turned the table on the Ming and made use of this opportunity to reshape their political system according to the expansion of the empire. This thesis analyzes the establishment of the Later Jin regime from a military perspective, exploring how the wars in Liaodong strengthened the Manchu rule in the region and eventually contributed to the formation of the Qing dynasty. Apart from the research method of "literature analysis and comparison," the thesis adopts Charles Tilly’s theory to reveal the relationship between war and state formation, suggesting that the rise of the Manchu in Liaodong, to a certain extent, verified Tilly’s assertion that “war made the state, and the state made war.” 明清鼎革之際，遼東戰爭被學界視爲明清改朝換代的轉折點，遼東戰爭的影響不只是侷限在戰爭本身，對於清政權的建設和清的建立亦有着深遠的影響。本研究主要選取「薩爾滸之役」作為討論個案，因為此役在明清戰爭史上具有決定性的意義，並造成明清雙方優劣勢形勢互換的局面。 本文主要從戰爭史的角度考察清朝的建立，探討遼東戰爭如何促成清朝的興起。本文嘗試採取查爾斯·蒂利理論分析戰爭與國家建立的關係。此外，文中亦會運用「文獻分析和比較」的方法，希望通過分析、解讀和比較原始史料，從中歸納出令人信服的論點。最後，全文會嘗試勾勒出清朝統治者如何因應在戰爭中所取得的成果，改革國家體制，為其後取代明室一統天下奠定基礎。