Re-exploring the Chongzhen Sino-Dutch conflicts from the perspective of sea power = 从海权角度重探崇祯明荷海战始末

Abstract

The Chongzhen Sino-Dutch Conflicts, famous for the Chinese fleet's defeat of the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in October 1633, was hailed as a symbolic victory of East over West, and regarded as an important achievement of the legendary merchant, admiral and pirate: Nicholas Iquan (Zheng Zhilon). However, unexpectedly, after this war, the governor (xunfu) of Fujian who presided over the war was dismissed, and the defeated Dutch commander was finally praised by his own side. Why? Obviously, the answers to these two questions are closely related to the participants in the war, namely the Ming Imperial government and the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie). This paper would like to study what causes the two sides to eventually go to war, and whether the root cause of this war is related to the different long-term Marine strategies of the two sides. If we can find through research that this war is the outbreak of a long accumulation of contradictions, then what efforts have been made by the two sides during the deterioration of the situation? After the outbreak of the war, what factors prompted the two sides to treat their officials differently? Many excellent studies in the past have explored this conflict from the perspective of the legendary Iquan, and this paper chooses to start with the theory of Sea Power, using the detailed economic and military activity data recorded in the Dutch archives, to reconstruct the contest between the Ming and Dutch powers at the national level, and how the two sides adjusted their strategies and faced unexpected situations in the process of this contest. From the perspective of the Ming Empire rather than Iquan, we can see the ups and downs behind the glorious victory of the Ming Empire. Starting from the theory of Sea Power, it gives us the tools to measure the respective gains and losses of the players in the game and provides new materials and entry points for rethinking this important historical event.