First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino–Japanese War (Traditional Chinese: 中日甲午戰爭; pinyin: Zhōngrì Jiǎwǔ Zhànzhēng; Japanese: 日清戦争 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 westernization and 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

Japan had a long history to expand its land to the mainland of east Asia. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's time, Japanese invaded Korea during 1592-1598, but failed to the ally of Joseon and Ming. After two Opium Wars, China became weak in the second half of the 1800s (see Unequal Treaties), Japan started to enhance its military power.

Korea’s natural resources of coal and iron ore also attracted Japan's economic interest. In 1875, Japan imposed the Treaty of Ganghwa on Korea, forced Korea to open itself to Japanese trade and to proclaim its independence from China in its foreign relations.

Korea, under the Joseon Dynasty, had traditionally been a tributary state to China's Qing Dynasty. Public opinion in Korea was split, with conservatives wanting to retain the traditional subservient relationship with China, while reformists wanting to establish closer ties with Japan and western nations and to modernize. However, China continued to assert influence over the conservative officials gathered around the royal family.

In 1884 a group of pro-Japanese reformers attempted to overthrow the Korean government, but Chinese troops under General Yüan Shih-k'ai rescued the Emperor, killing several Japanese legation guards in the process. War was narrowly avoided between Japan and China by the Sino-Japanese Convention of Tientsin of 1885 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 army; and (c) notify the other side beforehand should one decide to send troops to 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. In addition, the government imported French and German advisors to assist with the Imperial Japanese Army and British and American advisors to assist the Imperial Japanese Navy. Many of Japan’s newer warships were built in British, French and German shipyards. By the start of the war, Japan could field a total force of 120,000 men in two armies and (although lacking in battleships) a fleet of 12 modern cruisers.

China

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 battle, 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. Although the Beiyang (or "Peiyang" as it was commonly spelled in early Chinese romanizations) 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.

Early stages of the war

In 1893 a pro-Japanese Korean revolutionary, Kim Ok-kyun, was assassinated in Shanghai, allegedly by agents of Yüan 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.

Events during the war

War between China and Japan was officially declared on 1 August 1894, though some combat had already taken place. The Imperial Japanese Army attacked and defeated the poorly-prepared Chinese Beiyang Army, at the Battle of Pyongyang on 16 September 1894, and quickly pushed north into Manchuria. 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. The Chinese fleet subsequently retreated behind the Weihaiwei fortifications. However, they were then surprised by Japanese ground forces, who outflanked the harbor's defenses.

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.

After Weihaiwei's fall on 2 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.

End of the war

Faced with defeat, China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April 1895. This treaty agreed to the total independence of Korea and ceded the Liaodong Peninsula in southern Fengtian Province, Manchuria (present-day Liaoning Province, China), Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan "in perpetuity". Additionally, China was to pay Japan 200 million Kuping taels (which were about the price of purchasing the German and British built modern battleships) as reparation, 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. It symbolized the rise of Japanese imperialism. The victory proved Japan to be on equal grounds with the western powers and the dominant power in Asia. Its fast industrial and political developments and economical expansions are often compared to that of Germany, which was unified around the same time as the political revolution in Japan during the 1860s, and which surged to become the strongest nation in Europe.

Aftermath

With the conclusion of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Japan expected to be recognized as the first Eastern imperialist power, on equal terms with the Western nations. However, Japan’s victory also encouraged imperialist demands on the Qing dynasty by western powers. Russia, France and Germany banded together in the Triple Intervention to prevent Japanese territorial encroachment in Manchuria, and then proceeded to carve up the territory for themselves. Russia moved almost immediately to occupy the entire Liaodong Peninsula and especially to fortify Port Arthur. France and Germany also took advantage and gained port and trade concessions. Qingdao in Shandong Province was acquired by Germany and Weihaiwei by Great Britain.The Triple Intervention embittered Japan, sowing the seeds for the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The relative ease of Japan's victory over China also encouraged further Japanese encroachments on Chinese territory.

The defeat of China and the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki enraged the Chinese gentry and students and intensified pressure for more radical modernization. The loss was particularly humiliating because it was against Japan, a nation which had been seen as traditionally subservient to China.

Frustration at the loss of the war among the Chinese gentry led to the abortive Hundred Days' Reform. Shortly after the war Sun Yat-sen founded the revolutionary republican movement which later became the political party, Kuomintang.

The war also caused a fundamental reorientation of Russian foreign policy away from Europe to Asia. The Russian government concluded that Japan constituted a major threat to its weakly-defended Siberian frontier. Therefore, it rapidly accelerated plans for Russian colonization of Manchuria, making the fateful decision to run the Trans-Siberian Railway straight through northern Manchuria to make a much shorter link between Lake Baikal and Vladivostok. When the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 heavily damaged the railway, Russia responded by deploying over 100,000 troops to occupy all of Manchuria. The Japanese could only interpret these enormous financial and military commitments to mean one thing: Russia intended to stay. The competing Russian and Japanese ambitions over Manchuria and Korea would soon come to blows in 1904, culminating in the 20th century's first of many bloody wars. The Russo-Japanese war was a humiliation for Russia, as it was the first time, since the Mongols under Genghis Khan [9], that a European power was defeated by an Asian power. Two of Russia's fleets had been eliminated (The Black Sea Fleet survived by virtue of a previous treaty), effectively removing the Tsar's navy as a competitor in the World's (naval) arm's race.

Chronicle of the war

Genesis of the war

1 June 1894 : The Donghak Peasant Revolution 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 Donghak 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.

Early stage of the war on Korean soil

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.

25 July 1894: Naval Battle of Pungdo, offshore Asan, Korea.

29 July 1894: Battle of Seonghwan near Asan, Korea; Asan itself falls to Japan the following day.

1 Aug 1894: Formal Declaration of War.

15 September 1894: Battle of Pyongyang, northern Korea.

17 September 1894: Naval Battle of the Yalu River (1894) on border of Korea and Manchuria.

Sino-Japanese War on Chinese soil

24 October 1894: Battle of Jiuliangcheng. The Japanese First Army, under the command of Field Marshal Yamagata Aritomo invades Manchuria.

21 November 1894: Battle of Lushunkou followed by Port Arthur Massacre.

10 December 1894: Kaipeng (modern Gaixian, Liaoning Province, China) falls to the Japanese 1st Army under Lieutenant General Katsura Taro.

12 February 1895: Battle of Weihaiwei, Shandong, China.

5 March 1895: Battle of Yingkou, Liaoning Province, China.

26 March 1895: Japanese forces invade and occupy the Pescadores Islands off of Taiwan without casualties.

29 March 1895: Japanese forces under Admiral Motonori Kabayama land in northern Taiwan.

17 April 1895: China signs Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War, granting the complete independence of Korea, ceding the Liaodong peninsula, the islands of Taiwan (Formosa), and the Pescadores Islands to Japan and paying Japan a war indemnity of 200 million Kuping taels.

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).

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