在鴉片戰爭後，滿清遭到內憂外患，在「三千年來的大變局」的背景下，清政府為推行自強與維新運動，和在「師夷長技以制夷」的策略下，看到中、德兩國相距遙遠，既沒有邊界的毗連，也沒有傳教的糾紛；加以因普法戰爭後，德國統一並成為世界軍事強權，為推動洋務人士所激賞，並希望透過外交的友好，來學習德國；而此時李鴻章的淮軍也已採用德式的武器與砲隊的編制，並聘有德籍軍事教練協助訓練，成效不差。還有1876年，在淮軍的德籍軍事教練李勱協（C. Lehmeyer）任期屆滿，整裝返德前，他向李鴻章建議以及在當時德國駐華公使布蘭德（M. von Brandt, 1835-1920）為爭取和擴大德國在華利益，而出面向李鴻章遊說及表達德國有訓練中國軍官的意願。 在德國方面，由於自十九世紀上半葉以來，德意志國家特別是普魯士工業化的結果，國力強盛、武器精良，並在同一世紀六○年代中期與七○年代初年，先後打敗丹麥、奧地利與法國，完成統一並建立「德意志帝國」。為了鞏固摧毀原先歐洲均勢的新帝國，俾斯麥（O. von Bismarck, 1815-1898）對外採取保守的政策，不積極進行對外擴張。雖然當時他對遠在東亞的中國還未進行侵略，但已想在華擴張德國的利益和影響力，尤其是在軍事上；因一方面可以傾銷其兵工業的產品，另一方面想仿傚英、法等列強，介入滿清的軍事組織。以便如中國武力增強，不但可阻止其世仇（法國）在遠東的發展，而且可以取得長期在華軍火的銷售市場。因此遂有1876年到1881年間，清廷首度派遣年輕軍官到德國陸、海學院學習的軍事合作案件。 這次軍事學生的派遣是近代西力東漸以來，中、德兩國第一次的軍事合作，也是近代中國學生首次留德的事件，同時也是中國公費學生和軍事學生首次留德的案件，更是清末實施「以夷制夷」的策略中，與德國軍事合作的首例；它同時也是近代中、西文化或軍事交流的一部份。不過，它只注重西洋「器物與技能層前」的引進，而未能進一步派遣文科學生赴德國學習，並注重西方「政治、經濟、與社會制度層次」及「思想和文化層次」的研究、移植或模仿，進而轉化成為中國自我反省、更新或再生的力量，以便去面對西方勢力的挑戰與成功適應現代化的過程。這或許是清末日本能將自己的傳統與西方文化和制度結合，而導致「明治維新」能「成功」，而中國「自強與維新」終究「失敗」的主要癥結所在。 然而，這次七位華籍軍官到德國學習，同時也是歐、美帝國主義列強在華競爭中的副產品；而且它也是後來在十九世紀七○到八○年代中，清廷向德國購買多艘鐵甲艦，與北洋（天津）武備學堂續聘德籍教練和選派學生赴德國學習，以及在第一次大戰後，國民政府聘用大量德籍軍事顧問的端倪。雖然這次軍事學生的派遣較稍後留英、法兩國海軍的成果差，而且也未對中國軍事現代化產生重大的影響；不過，還算達到李鴻章原先預期的成果，同時它對清末軍事現代化，及奠定民國以來中、德軍事合作的基礎，有其一定的重要意義和貢獻，因此在中德關係史上確是很值得探討的重要史實。

After the Opium War, the Manchu Dynasty suffered from troubles inside and ouside China. The Opium War caused Chinese officials and intellectuals to realize that in order to catch up, they must learn from the West. Consequently, officials madly imported Western technologies and idustries. The Opium War forcefully and suddenly opened China to the world. The consequences of each abrupt exposure were deep and long-lasting at each level and in its overall effects following the “self-strengthening and self-renewal movement”, the “political reform movement” and the strategy “to learn from the West”, and considering the following factors: the long distance between China and Germany with neither border nor religious disputes; the unification of Germany and its becoming one of the leading military powers after the Prussian-French War; and the proposal of officials and intellectuals of the Qing Dynasty to learn technologies from Germany, taking advantage of the sound Sino-German diplomatic relationship. At the same time, a military force trained and commanded by, Li Hung-Chang, which played a major role in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, had already adopted German weapons and a German artillery system, and German military coaches wre resident in China to help with military training. In 1876, before returning to Germany, Mr. C. Lehmeyer, the German military coach serving with the Huai military force, informed Li, hung-Chang that Germany was willing to help China train military officers, which matched the ambition of the Prussian Extraordinary Envoy to China, M. von Brandt, to secure ans expand Prussian interests in China. Since the early 19th century, after the modernization of the Prussian Empire, Germany had rapidly grown stronger and was armed with powerful weapons as well. Consequently, Germany defeated Denamark, Austria and France respectively in 1860’s and 1870’s and built the “German Empire” after the subsequent successful unification. In order to consolidate the new empire in Europe and to break the previous balance of power, Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of the Prussian Empire, adopted a conservative policy externally and was not active in invading other countries. Although he was not ambitious to invade China at the time, he was ambitious to protect German interests and influence in China, especially in the military field, because, on the one hand, Germany could sell military and industrial products to China, and on the other hand, he wished to follow the example of the British and French powers to interfere with the military force of the Qing Dynasty, and aimed not only to prevent from his enemy France’s development in the Far East by arming China, but also to sell weapons to China over the long run. Consequently, the Qing Goverenment dispatched seven young military officers to Germany (1876-1881) to study at the German Army and Navy Academies of Military Sciences based on a military cooperation project. This was not only the first Sino-German military cooperation after the Western Powers had penetrated the Far East, but also the first time that the Chinese government dispatched her students to study in Germany under the policy “to learn Western technologies and industries.” However, China aimed to import machine-made products and technologies as well as learning, and to transfter and imitate on the levels of thought and literature for the purpose of transforming the energy for self-examination, self-renewal or regeneration, in order to face the challenges of the Western Powers and to succesfully adapt the progress of modernization. This might be the main reason why, in the late Qing Dynasty, Japan could combine her own traditional culture with the West’s, leading to the “successful” Meiji Restoration, which marked the beginning of Japan’s modernization, while the self-improvement, self-strengthening and self-renewal movement in China “failed” in the end. Generally speaking, the dispatch of seven Chinese military officers to Germany for study was not only a part of the Sino-Western cultural and military exchanges in modern history, but also a byproduct of the competition of the Western Powers. It was also the reason why the Qing Government purchased a lot of warships from Germany during the Sino-French War in the 1880’s, and why the First Chinese Academy of Military Science in Beiyang later appointed the German military coaches and dispatched students to German for training, as well as why the New Chinese Government employed a lot of German military advisers after World War II. Although the academic achievement of the military students dispatched this time to Germany was less than that of those dispatched to the British and French Navy Academies later (in 1877) and did not noticeably affect Chinese military modernization; it at least achieved the primary goal of Li, hung-Chang. At the same time, it was no doubt meaningful to the military modernization in the late Qing Dynasty and has contributed to the sound foundation of Sino-German military cooperation since the foundation of the Republic of China.