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First Sino-Japanese War
First Sino-Japanese War, major battles and troop movements
Date 1 August 1894–17 April 1895 Location Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, Yellow Sea Result Japanese Victory. Territorial changes Qing Empire loses the influence of Korean Penninsula to the Empire of Japan. Qing Empire cedes Taiwan, Pescadores, and Liaodong Peninsula to Empire of Japan
Belligerents
Qing Empire (China)	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Li Hongzhang	Yamagata Aritomo
Strength
630,000 men Beiyang Army, Beiyang Fleet	240,000 men Imperial Japanese Army, Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties and losses
35,000 dead or wounded	13,823 dead, 3,973 wounded

The First Sino-Japanese War (simplified Chinese: 中日甲午战争; traditional Chinese: 中日甲午戰爭; pinyin: Zhōngrì Jiǎwǔ Zhànzhēng; Template:Lang-ja Romaji: Nisshin Sensō) (1 August 1894–17 April 1895) was a war fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan over the control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese War would come to symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing Dynasty and demonstrate how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with the Self-Strengthening Movement in China. The principal results were a shift in regional dominance in Asia from China to Japan and a fatal blow to the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese classical tradition. These trends would result later in the 1911 Revolution.

Background and causes

Prologue

Japan long had a desire to expand its realm to the mainland of east Asia. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule in the late 16th century, Japan had invaded Korea (1592-1598) but after initial successes had failed to achieve complete victory and control of Korea.

After two centuries, the seclusion policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by American intervention in 1854. The years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the fall of the Shogunate had seen Japan transform itself from a feudal and comparatively backward society to a modern industrial state. The Japanese had sent delegations and students around the world in order to learn and assimilate western arts and sciences, this was done to prevent Japan falling under foreign domination and also enable Japan to compete equally with the Western powers.

Conflict over Korea

As a newly emergent country, Japan turned its attention towards Korea. It was vital for Japan, in order to protect its own interests and security, to either annex Korea before it fell prey (or was annexed) to another power or to insure its effective independence by opening its resources and reforming its administration. As one Japanese statesman put it, Korea was "an arrow pointed at the heart of Japan". Japan felt that another power having a military presence on the Korean peninsula would have been detrimental to Japanese national security, and so Japan resolved to end the centuries-old Chinese suzerainty over Korea. Moreover, Japan realized that Korea’s coal and iron ore deposits would benefit Japan's increasingly-expanding industrial base.

Korea had traditionally been a tributary state and continued to be so under the influence of China's Qing dynasty, which exerted large influence over the conservative Korean officials gathered around the royal family of the Joseon Dynasty. Opinion in Korea itself was split; conservatives wanted to retain the traditional subservient relationship with China, while reformists wanted to establish closer ties with Japan and western nations. After two Opium Wars and the Sino-French War, China had become weak and was unable to resist western intervention and encroachment (see Unequal Treaties). Japan saw this as an opportunity to replace Chinese influence in Korea with its own.

On February 26, 1876, after certain incidents and confrontations involving Korean isolationists and the Japanese, Japan imposed the Treaty of Ganghwa on Korea, forcing Korea to open itself to Japanese and foreign trade and to proclaim its independence from China in its foreign relations.

In 1884 a group of pro-Japanese reformers briefly overthrow the pro-Chinese conservative Korean government in a bloody coup d'état. However, the pro-Chinese faction, with assistance from Chinese troops under General Yuan Shikai, succeeded in regaining control with an equally bloody counter-coup which resulted not only in the deaths of a number of the reformers, but also in the burning of the Japanese legation and the deaths of several legation guards and citizens in the process. This caused an incident between Japan and China, but was eventually settled by the Sino-Japanese Convention of Tientsin of 1885 in which the two sides agreed to (a) pull their expeditionary forces out of Korea simultaneously; (b) not send military instructors for the training of the Korean military; and (c) notify the other side beforehand should one decide to send troops to Korea. The Japanese, however, were frustrated by repeated Chinese attempts to undermine their influence in Korea.

Status of combatants

Japan

Japan's reforms under the Meiji emperor gave significant priority to naval construction and the creation of an effective modern national army and navy. Japan sent numerous military officials abroad for training, and evaluation of the relative strengths and tactics of European armies and navies.

The Imperial Japanese Navy

v t e Major Japanese naval combatants of the First Sino-Japanese War
Protected cruisers	Matsushima (flagship) Itsukushima Hashidate Naniwa Takachiho Yaeyama Akitsushima Yoshino Chiyoda Takao Tsukushi
Armored corvettes	Hiei Kongō Yamato Katsuragi Musashi Kaimon Tenryū Amagi
Ironclad warship	Fusō
Gunboats	Maya Chōkai Atago Akagi Banjō Ōshima

The Imperial Japanese Navy was modeled after the Royal Navy, at the time the foremost naval power in the world. British advisors were sent to Japan to train, advise and educate the naval establishment, while students were in turn sent to Great Britain in order to study and observe the Royal Navy. Through drilling and tuition by Royal Navy instructors, Japan was able to possess a navy expertly skilled in the arts of gunnery and seamanship.

At the start of hostilities the Imperial Japanese Navy contained a fleet (although lacking in battleships) of 12 modern warships (Izumi being added during the war), one frigate (Takao), 22 torpedo boats, and numerous auxiliary/armed merchant cruisers and converted liners.

Japan did not yet have the resources to acquire battleships and so planned to employ the "Jeune Ecole" ("young school") doctrine which favoured small, fast warships, especially cruisers and torpedo boats, against bigger units.

Many of Japan’s major warships were built in British and French shipyards (eight British, three French, and two Japanese-built) and 16 of the torpedo boats were known to have been built in France and assembled in Japan.

The Imperial Japanese Army

The Meiji era government at first modeled the army on the French Army—French advisers had been sent to Japan with the two military missions (in 1872-1880 and 1884; these were the second and third missions respectively, the first had been under the shogunate). Nationwide conscription was enforced in 1873 and a western-style conscript army was established; military schools and arsenals were also built.

In 1886 Japan turned towards the German Army, specifically the Prussian model as the basis for its army. Its doctrines, military system and organisation were studied in detail and adopted by the IJA. In 1885, Jakob Meckel, a German adviser implemented new measures such the reorganization of the command structure of the army into divisions and regiments; the strengthening of army logistics, transportation, and structures (thereby increasing mobility); and the establishment of artillery and engineering regiments as independent commands.

By the 1890s, Japan had at its disposal a modern, professionally trained western-style army which was relatively well equipped and supplied. Its officers had studied abroad and were well educated in the latest tactics and strategy.

By the start of the war, the Imperial Japanese Army could field a total force of 120,000 men in two armies and five divisions.

China

Although the Beiyang Force was the best equipped and symbolized the new modern Chinese military, morale and corruption were serious problems; politicians systematically embezzled funds, even during the war. Logistics were a huge problem, as construction of railroads in Manchuria had been discouraged. The morale of the Chinese armies was generally very low due to lack of pay and prestige, use of opium, and poor leadership which contributed to some rather ignominious withdrawals such as the abandonment of the very well fortified and defensible Weihaiwei.

Beiyang Army

Qing Dynasty China did not have a national army, but following the Taiping Rebellion, had been segregated into separate Manchu, Mongol, Hui (Muslim) and Han Chinese armies, which were further divided into largely independent regional commands. During the war, most of the fighting was done by the Beiyang Army and Beiyang Fleet while pleas calling for help to other Chinese armies and navies were completely ignored due to regional rivalry.

Beiyang Fleet

Beiyang Fleet	Major Combatants
Ironclad Battleships	Dingyuan (flagship), Zhenyuan
Armoured Cruisers	King Yuen, Lai Yuen
Protected Cruisers	Chih Yuen, Ching Yuen
Cruisers	Torpedo Cruisers - Tsi Yuen, Kuang Ping/Kwang Ping | Chaoyong, Yangwei
Coastal warship	Ping Yuen
Corvette	Kwan Chia

13 or so Torpedo boats, numerous gunboats and chartered merchant vessels

Early stages of the war

In 1893 a pro-Japanese Korean revolutionary, Kim Ok-kyun, was assassinated in Shanghai, allegedly by agents of Yuan Shikai. His body was then put aboard a Chinese warship and sent back to Korea, where it was supposedly quartered and displayed as a warning to other rebels. The Japanese government took this as a direct affront. The situation became increasingly tense later in the year when the Chinese government, at the request of the Korean Emperor, sent troops to aid in suppressing the Tonghak Rebellion. The Chinese government informed the Japanese government of its decision to send troops to the Korean peninsula in accordance with the Convention of Tientsin, and sent General Yuan Shikai as its plenipotentiary at the head of 2,800 troops. The Japanese countered that they consider this action to be a violation of the Convention, and sent their own expeditionary force (the Oshima Composite Brigade) of 8,000 troops to Korea. The Japanese force subsequently seized the emperor, occupied the Royal Palace in Seoul by 8 June 1894, and replaced the existing government with the members from the pro-Japanese faction. Though Chinese troops were already leaving Korea, finding themselves unwanted there, the new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the right to expel the Chinese troops forcefully, while Japan shipped more troops to Korea. The legitimacy of the new government was rejected by China, and the stage was thus set for conflict.

Genesis of the war

1 June 1894 : The Tonghak Rebellion Army moves towards Seoul. The Korean government requests help from the Chinese government to suppress the rebellion force.

6 June 1894: The Chinese government informs the Japanese government under the obligation of Convention of Tientsin of its military operation. About 2,465 Chinese soldiers were transported to Korea within days.

8 June 1894: First of around 4,000 Japanese soldiers and 500 marines land at Chumlpo (Incheon) despite Korean and Chinese protests.

11 June 1894: End of Tonghak Rebellion.

13 June 1894: Japanese government telegraphs Commander of the Japanese forces in Korea, Otori Keisuke to remain in Korea for as long as possible despite the end of the rebellion.

16 June 1894: Japanese Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu meets with Wang Fengzao, Chinese ambassador to Japan, to discuss the future status of Korea. Wang states that Chinese government intends to pull out of Korea after the rebellion has been suppressed and expects Japan to do the same. However, China also appoints a resident to look after Chinese interests in Korea and to re-assert Korea’s traditional subservient status to China.

22 June 1894: Additional Japanese troops arrive in Korea.

3 July 1894: Otori proposes reforms of the Korean political system, which is rejected by the conservative pro-Chinese Korean government.

7 July 1894: Mediation between China and Japan arranged by British ambassador to China fails.

19 July 1894: Establishment of Japanese Joint Fleet, consisting of almost all vessels in the Imperial Japanese Navy, in preparation for upcoming war.

23 July 1894: Japanese troops enter Seoul, seize the Korean Emperor and establish a new pro-Japanese government, which terminates all Sino-Korean treaties and grants the Imperial Japanese Army the right to expel Chinese Beiyang Army troops from Korea.

Events during the war

Opening Moves

By July Chinese forces in Korea numbered 3000-3500 and could only be supplied by sea though the Bay of Asan. The Japanese objective was firstly to blockade the Chinese at Asan and then encircle them with their land forces.

Naval Operations

Battle of Pungdo

On 25 July 1894, the cruisers Yoshino, Naniwa and Akitsushima,of the Japanese flying squadron, which had been patrolling off of Asan, encountered the Chinese cruiser Tsi-yuan and gunboat Kwang-yi . These vessels had steamed out of Asan in order to meet another Chinese gunboat, the Tsao-kiang, which was convoying a transport toward Asan. After a brief, one hour engagement, the cruiser Tsi-yuan escaped while the Kwang-yi became stranded on rocks, where its powder-magazine exploded.

Sinking of the Kow-shing

The Kow-shing was a 2,134-ton British merchant vessel owned by the Indochina Steam Navigation Company of London, commanded by Captain T. R. Galsworthy and crewed by 64 men. The ship was charted by the Qing government to ferry troops to Korea, the Kow-shing and the gunboat Tsao-kiang were on their way to Asan to reinforce Chinese forces there - 1200 troops plus supplies and equipment were onboard the vessel. A German artillery officer, Major von Hanneken, acting as an advisior to the Chinese was also onboard, the ship was due to arrive on 25 July.

The cruiser Naniwa(under the command of Captain Togo Heihachiro) intercepted the two ships. The gunboat was eventually captured, the Japanese then ordered the Kow-shing to follow the Naniwa and requested that the Europeans onboard be transferred to the Naniwa. However the 1200 Chinese on board desired to return to Taku, and threatened to kill the English captain, Galsworthy and his crew. After four hours of negotiations, Captain Togo gave the order to fire upon the vessel. The Europeans jumped overboard only to be fired upon by the Chinese, the Japanese managed to rescue many of the crew. The sinking of the Kow-shing almost caused a diplomatic incident between Japan and Great Britain, but the action was ruled in conformity with International Law regarding the treatment of mutineers.

Conflict in Korea

Commissioned by the new pro-Japanese Korean government to expel the Chinese Beiyang Army from Korean territory by force. Major General Oshima Yoshimasa led mixed Japanese brigades(from the First Japanese Army) numbering about 4,000 on a rapid forced march from Seoul south toward Asan Bay to face 3,500 Chinese troops garrisoned at Seonghwan Station east of Asan and Kongju.

Battle of Seonghwan

On 28 July 1894, the two forces met just outside Asan in an engagement that lasted till 0730 hours the next morning, 29 July. The Chinese gradually lost ground to the superior Japanese numbers, and finally broke and fled towards Pyongyang. With Chinese casualties 500 killed and wounded against 82 for the Japanese.

Formal declaration of War

War between China and Japan was officially declared on 1 August 1894.

Battle of Pyongyang

The remaining Chinese forces in Korea, by August 4, retreated to the northern city of Pyongyang, where they were eventually joined by troops sent from China. The 13,000-15,000 defenders made extensive repairs and preparations to the city, hoping to check the Japanese advance.

The First Army of the Imperial Japanese Army converged on Pyongyang from several directions on 15 September 1894. The Japanese assualted the city and eventually defeated the Chinese by an attack from the rear, the defenders surrendered. However, taking advantage of heavy rainfall and using the cover of darkness, the remaining troops marched out of Pyongyang and headed northeast towards the coast and the city of Uiju. Casualties were 2000 killed and around 4000 wounded for the Chinese while the Japanese lost 102 men killed, 433 wounded and 33 missing. The whole Japanese army entered the city of Pyongyang on the early morning of 16 September 1894.

Offensive into China

Battle of the Yalu River (1894)

The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyed 8 out of 10 warships of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet off the mouth of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894. Japan's command of the sea was assured. The Chinese however were able to land 4,500 troops near the Yalu River.

Invasion Of Manchuria

Crossing the Yalu River

With the defeat at Pyongyang, the Chinese abandoned Northern Korea and instead took up defensive positions along the Yalu River. The Japanese then quickly pushed north pursuing the Beiyang Army into Manchuria. On the night of 24 October 1894, the Japanese crossed the Yalu, with their superior tactics they defeated the Chinese. The Japanese First Army would split into two, with one group headig towards the port of Lushunkou (Port Arthur) while the other towards the city of Mukden.

Fall of Lushunkou

By 21 November 1894, the Japanese had taken the city of Lüshunkou (later known as Port Arthur). The Japanese army allegedly massacred thousands of the city's civilian Chinese inhabitants, in an event that came to be called the Port Arthur Massacre. On 10 December 1894]], Kaipeng (modern Gaixian, Liaoning Province, China) falls to the Japanese 1st Army under Lieutenant General Katsura Taro.

Fall of Weihaiwei and Aftermath

The Chinese fleet subsequently retreated behind the Weihaiwei fortifications. However, they were then surprised by Japanese ground forces, who outflanked the harbor's defenses. Battle of Weihaiwei would be a 23 day siege with a major land and naval components taking place between 20 January and 12 February 1895.

After Weihaiwei's fall on 12 February 1895 and an easing of harsh winter conditions, Japanese troops pressed further into southern Manchuria and northern China. By March 1895 the Japanese had fortified posts that commanded the sea approaches to Beijing. This would be the last major battle to be fought, however numerous skirmishes would occur.

Battle of Yingkou

The Battle of Yinkou fought outside the port town of Yingkou, Manchuria On 5 March 1895.

Japanese Invasion of Formosa(Taiwan) and the Pescadores

On 26 March 1895 Japanese forces invade and occupy the Pescadores Islands off of Taiwan without casualties and 29 March 1895 Japanese forces under Admiral Motonori Kabayama land in northern Taiwan and precede to occupy it.

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End of the war

The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on 17 April 1895. China recognised the total independence of Korea, ceded the Liaodong Peninsula (In present-day south of Liaoning Province), Taiwan/Formosa and the Pescadores Islands to Japan "in perpetuity". Additionally, China was to pay Japan 200 million Kuping taels as reparation. China also signed a commercial treaty permitting Japanese ships to operate on the Yangtze River, to operate manufacturing factories in treaty ports and to open four more ports to foreign trade. The Triple Intervention however forced Japan to give up the Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for another 30 million Kuping taels (450 million yen).

Aftermath

The Japanese success of the war was the result of the modernisation and industrialisation embarked on two decades earlier. The war demonstrated the superiority of Japanese tactics and training as a result of the adoption of a western style military. The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were able to inflict a string of defeats on the Chinese through foresight, endurance, strategy and power of organization. Japanese prestige rose in the eyes of the world. The victory established Japan as a power (if not a great power) on equal terms with the west and as the dominant power in Asia.

The war for China revealed the failure of its government, its policies, the corruption of the administration system and the decaying state of the Qing dynasty (something that had been recognised for decades). Anti-foreign sentiment and agitation grew and would later accumulate in the form of the Boxer Rebellion five years later. Throughout the 19th century the Qing dynasty was unable to prevent foreign encroachment—this together with calls for reform and the Boxer Rebellion would be the key factors that would lead to 1911 revolution and the downfall of the Qing dynasty in 1912.

Although Japan had achieved what it had set out to accomplish, namely to end Chinese influence over Korea, Japan reluctantly had been forced to relinquished the Liaodong Peninsula (Port Arthur) in exchange for an increased financial indemnity. The European powers (Russia especially) while having no objection to the other clauses of the treaty, did feel that Japan should not gain Port Arthur, for they had their own ambitions in that part of the world. Russia persuaded Germany and France to join her in applying diplomatic pressure on the Japanese, resulting in the Triple Intervention of 23 April 1895.

In 1898 Russia signed a 25-year lease on Liaodong Peninsula and preceded to set a naval station at Port Arthur. Although this infuriated the Japanese, they were more concerned with Russian encroachment towards Korea than in Manchuria. Other powers, such as France, Germany, and Great Britain, took advantage of the situation in China and gained port and trade concessions at the expense of the decaying Qing Empire. Tsingtao and Kiaochow was acquired by Germany, Kwang-Chou-Wan by France, and Weihaiwei by Great Britain.

Tensions between Russia and Japan would increase in the years after the First Sino-Japanese war. During the Boxer Rebellion an eight member international force was sent to suppress and quell the uprising; Russia sent troops into Manchuria as part of this force. After the suppression of the Boxers the Russian Government agreed to vacate the area. However by 1903 it had actually increased the number of its forces in Manchuria. Negotiations between the two nations (1901–1904) to establish mutual recognition of respective spheres of influence (Russia over Manchuria and Japan over Korea) were repeatedly and intentionally stalled by the Russians. They felt that they were strong and confident enough not to accept any compromise and believed Japan would not dare go to war against a European power. Russia also had intentions to use Manchuria as a springboard for further expansion of its interests in the Far East.

In 1902, Japan formed an alliance with Britain the terms of which stated that if Japan went to war in the Far East, and that a third power entered the fight against Japan, then Britain would come to the aid of the Japanese. This was a check to prevent either Germany or France from intervening militarily in any future war with Russia. British reasons for joining the alliance were also to check the spread of Russian expansion into the Pacific, thereby threatening British interests.

Increasing tensions between Japan and Russia as a result of Russia's unwillingness to enter into a compromise and the prospect of Korea falling under Russia's domination, therefore coming into conflict with and undermining Japan's interests, compelled Japan to take action. This would be the deciding factor and catalyst that would lead to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–05.

War Reparations

After the war, according to the Chinese scholar, Jin Xide, the Qing government paid a total of 340,000,000 taels silver to Japan for both the reparations of war and war trophies, equivalent to (then) 510,000,000 Japanese yen, about 6.4 times the Japanese government revenue. Similarly, the Japanese scholar, Ryoko Iechika, calculated that the Qing government paid total $21,000,000 (about one third of revenue of the Qing government) in war reparations to Japan, or about 320,000,000 Japanese yen, equivalent to (then) two and half years of Japanese government revenue.

See also

• Beiyang Army
• Beiyang Fleet
• History of China
• History of Japan
• History of Korea
• Imperial Japanese Navy
• Imperial Japanese Army
• Military history of China
• Military history of Japan
• New Army
• Port Arthur massacre (1894)
• Second Sino-Japanese War
• Sino-Japanese relations
• 1895 Japanese Conquest of Taiwan

References

1. Chamberlin, William Henry. Japan Over Asia, 1937, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 395 pp.

2. Colliers (Ed.), The Russo-Japanese War, 1904, P.F. Collier & Son, New York, 129 pp.

3. Kodansha Japan An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1993, Kodansha Press, Tokyo ISBN 4-06-205938-X

4. Lone, Stewart. Japan's First Modern War: Army and Society in the Conflict with China, 1894-1895, 1994, St. Martin's Press, New York, 222 pp.

5. Paine, S.C.M. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy, 2003, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 412 pp.

6. Sedwick, F.R. (R.F.A.). The Russo-Japanese War, 1909, The Macmillan Company, NY, 192 pp.

7. Theiss, Frank. The Voyage of Forgotten Men, 1937, Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1st Ed., Indianapolis & New York, 415 pp.

8. Warner, Dennis and Peggy. The Tide At Sunrise, 1974, Charterhouse, New York, 659 pp.

9. Urdang, Laurence/Flexner, Stuart, Berg. "The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, College Edition. Random House, New York, (1969).

10.Military Heritage did an editorial on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 (Brooke C. Stoddard, Military Heritage, December 2001, Volume 3, No. 3, p.6).

Notes

External links

• Under the Dragon Flag - My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War by James Allan' at Project Gutenberg

• 1890s
• First Sino-Japanese War
• History of China
• History of Korea
• History of Manchuria