近代英国海上贸易保护政策的演变（17世纪中叶-20世纪初）

【作者】 杜平；

【导师】 赵军秀；

【作者基本信息】 首都师范大学 ， 世界史， 2012， 博士

【摘要】 作为一个岛国,英国从事海上贸易的历史非常久远,其海上贸易商船的保护问题亦可追溯至诺曼征服之前。在相当长的一段时间里,英国商船主要依靠结伴航行来抵御旅途中被劫掠的风险。在17世纪中叶,随着英国海外贸易的扩张及其重要性的提高,英国的国家军事力量介入了对海上贸易的保护,开始为商船提供军舰护航。之后直至19世纪前期,护航都是英国最为主要的海上贸易保护政策,并且经历了商船自愿基础上的护航和强制性的护航这两个发展阶段。护航曾在保护英国商船的安全方面起到过积极的作用,但是,这一政策本身也包含着一些缺陷；而且,随着英国商船数量的不断增多和造船技术水平的提高,这些缺陷的负面作用愈加明显,这也为之后护航的有效性饱受质疑埋下了伏笔。19世纪中期以后,随着英国第一次工业革命的完成和工业化程度的日益加深,英国在工业品销售、原材料和粮食等重要物质的供给上严重依赖于海外,海上贸易的安全与畅通已经成为维系英国国家存续和经济繁荣“必需”。但是,由于技术变革、经济发展所导致的种种新情况的出现,使得传统的护航政策的有效性受到质疑,英国开始探讨更有效的海上贸易保护政策。拉开这一序幕的是时任英国第一海军大臣(First Naval Lord)的亚历山大·米尔恩,他在1874年提出了“巡航航路”的想法,将海上贸易保护的重心从保护商船转移到了保护航路上,具有开创性的意义。1878年,卡那封委员会成立,随即就英国海上贸易的安全问题展开了为期四年的调研,其调研报告对于之后英国海上贸易保护新政策的形成有着重要的参考价值和指导意义。19世纪80、90年代,在以科洛姆兄弟为代表的英国海权主义者的思想的影响下,在卡那封委员会调研报告的基础之上,英国放弃了对海上贸易提供直接保护的政策,确立了海军封锁攻击政策,即在战争开始之时,采取及时封锁敌方海军军港和主动攻击敌方据点、海上贸易商船等行动,以控制和吸引敌方海军力量,从而达到保护海上贸易的效果。该政策其实已经超越了一个单纯的海上贸易保护政策范畴,而是确定了战时英国海军整体战略的一个基本方向。由于国际局势日趋紧张,英国从80年代后期开始积极落实这一政策,具体表现在改进海军备战效率和加强海军建设上在20世纪初,由于种种原因,英国重新就海上贸易的保护问题展开探讨。经过多方调研和慎重考虑,英国在战前确立了一个较为全面的战时海上贸易保护政策,其具体内容包括：第一,掌握制海权是前提；第二,通过“在战时航线沿途特定地点派驻舰队”来对海上贸易提供直接的保护,并对商船在战时的行为做了严格规范；第三,从经济、法律方面采取一些辅助性的措施,此举体现出英国的海上贸易保护政策从单纯依靠海军向以海军为主、多方配合的更为全面的政策发展的趋向。更多还原

【Abstract】 Due to the geographical features, the history of British sea-borne trade is very long. And the protection of sea-borne trade can be traced back to the times before Norman Conquest. For quite a long time, the security of British sea-borne trade had mainly depended on merchant ships’ travelling together. In the middle of the seventeenth century, British began to convoy merchant ships with warships because of the expansion of overseas trade and its importance. And the convoy had been the main protection policy of British sea-borne trade until the early nineteenth Century. Though this policy had played a positive role, it had some defects. And because of the growing number of British merchant ships and the development of shipbuilding technology, its defects were obvious day by day, which was one important reason of being suspicious of effectiveness of convoy.After the mid nineteenth century, because the first industrial revolution finished and the level of industrialization was improved, Britain heavily depended on overseas, not only in industrial products’sale, but also in raw materials, grain and other important materials’supply. So the safety of sea-borne trade became vital to British economic prosperity and national existence. However, because of various new situations caused by technological change and economic development, effectiveness of the traditional convoy policy was questioned. British began to explore more effective sea-borne trade protection policy. In1874, Alexander Milne, the First Naval Lord, presented’Cruising Routes’idea, which transferred the center of protection from merchant ships to routes. In1878, the Carnarvon commission was established and made four-years investigation into the sea-borne trade security. Its report had important reference value and guiding significance for formation of the sea-borne trade protection policy.In the1880s and1890s, under the influence of sea-power thinkers and the Carnarvon commission’s report, Britain gave up the direct protection policy, and formed the’naval blockade and attack’policy, which meant that at the start of the war, royal navy should blockade enemy’s naval bases timely and attack enemy’s strongholds and maritime ships actively, to attract enemy’s naval forces and protect British sea-borne trade objectively. This policy had actually beyonded a mere sea-borne trade protection policy, but stipulated one wartime strategy direction of British navy. Because international situation became tense increasingly, Britain began to carry out the policy in the later stage of1880s.At the beginning of twentieth century, Britain discussed the sea-borne trade protection policy once again due to various reasons. After much investigations and careful considerations, Britain formulated a relatively comprehensive policy of protecting wartime sea-borne trade before the war. Its main contents are as follows. Firstly, commanding the sea is prerequisite. Secondly, in order to provide the direct protection for sea-borne trade, Britain should’station fleets on specific locations along the war routes’, and restrain the merchant ships’actions strictly in wartime. Thirdly, the government should take some economic and legal auxiliary measures in wartime, which reflected the development trend of British sea-borne trade protection policy, i.e. from simply relying on navy to mainly relying on navy and also benefiting from some auxiliary measures.更多还原