1854
After two centuries, the Japanese policy of seclusion under the shōguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was opened to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. In the years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the fall of the shogunate, the newly formed Meiji government embarked on reforms to centralise and modernise Japan. The Japanese had sent delegations and students around the world to learn and assimilate Western arts and sciences, with the intention of making Japan an equal to the Western powers. These reforms transformed Japan from a feudal society into a modern industrial state. The Meiji government focused on strengthening the military, adopting Western-style training and technology, which led to the establishing of a powerful navy and a well-equipped army. Furthermore, Japan's economic infrastructure saw significant improvements, including the development of railways, telegraph lines, and modern factories, which led to rapid industrial growth and enhanced the country's military capabilities.
1858
This use of the pejorative to describe a foreign nation was not unusual for Chinese official documents of the time – so much so that a major bone of contention between Imperial China and the Treaty Powers of the day had previously been the habitual use of the Chinese character 夷 ('Yi'...which literally meant 'barbarian'), to refer to those termed otherwise as 'foreign devils' typically describing those powers occupying the treaty ports. The use of the term 'Yi' (夷) by Chinese Imperial officials had in fact been considered so provocative by the Treaty Powers that the collective bundle of accords known as the Treaty of Tientsin negotiated in 1858 to end the Second Opium War explicitly proscribed the Chinese Imperial Court from using the term 'Yi' to refer to officials, subjects, or citizens of the belligerent powers, the signatories seemingly feeling it necessary to extract this specific demand from the Xianfeng Emperor's representatives. In the thirty-five years elapsing since the Treaty of Tientsin, however, the language of the Chinese Emperors would appear to change little with regards to its neighbour Japan.
January 1864
In January 1864, King Cheoljong died without a male heir, and through Korean succession protocols King Gojong ascended the throne at the age of 12. However, as King Gojong was too young to rule, the new king's father, Yi Ha-ŭng, became the Daewongun, or lord of the great court, and ruled Korea in his son's name as regent. Originally the term Daewongun referred to any person who was not actually the king but whose son took the throne. With his ascendancy to power the Daewongun initiated a set of reforms designed to strengthen the monarchy at the expense of the Yangban class. He also pursued an isolationist policy and was determined to purge the kingdom of any foreign ideas that had infiltrated into the nation. In Korean history, the king's in-laws enjoyed great power, consequently the Daewongun acknowledged that any future daughters-in-law might threaten his authority. Therefore, he attempted to prevent any possible threat to his rule by selecting as a new queen for his son an orphaned girl from among the Yŏhŭng Min clan, which lacked powerful political connections. With Queen Min as his daughter-in-law and the royal consort, the Daewongun felt secure in his power. However, after she had become queen, Min recruited all her relatives and had them appointed to influential positions in the name of the king. The Queen also allied herself with political enemies of the Daewongun, so that by late 1873 she had mobilised enough influence to oust him from power. In October 1873, when the Confucian scholar Choe Ik-hyeon submitted a memorial to King Gojong urging him to rule in his own right, Queen Min seized the opportunity to force her father-in-law's retirement as regent. The departure of the Daewongun led to Korea's abandonment of its isolationist policy.
1872
The Meiji government at first modelled their army after the French Army. French advisers had been sent to Japan with two military missions (in 1872–1880 and 1884), in addition to one mission 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 toward the German-Prussian model as the basis for its army, adopting German doctrines and the German military system and organisation. In 1885 Jakob Meckel, a German adviser, implemented new measures, such as the reorganisation of the command structure 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. It was also an army that was equal to European armed forces in every respect.
1876
Japan in the early 1880s was weak, as a result of internal peasant uprisings and samurai rebellions during the previous decade. The country was also struggling financially, with inflation as a result of these internal factors. Subsequently, the Meiji government adopted a passive policy, encouraging the Korean court to follow the Japanese model but offering little concrete assistance except for the dispatch of the small military mission headed by Lieutenant Horimoto Reizo to train the Pyŏlgigun. What worried the Japanese was the Chinese, who had loosened their hold over Korea in 1876 when the Japanese succeeded in establishing a legal basis for Korean independence by ending its tributary status. Chinese actions appeared to be thwarting the forces of reform in Korea and re-asserting their influence over the country.
February 1876
On 26 February 1876, after Japanese troops attacked Korean forces in the Ganghwa Island incident, the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 was signed, opening Korea to Japanese trade. In 1880, the King sent a mission to Japan that was headed by Kim Hong-jip, an enthusiastic observer of the reforms taking place there. While in Japan, the Chinese diplomat Huang Zunxian presented him with a study called "A Strategy for Korea" (Chinese: 朝鮮策略; pinyin: Cháoxiǎn cèlüè). It warned of the threat to Korea posed by the Russians and recommended that Korea maintain friendly relations with Japan, which was at the time too economically weak to be an immediate threat, to work closely with the Qing government, and seek an alliance with the United States as a counterweight to Russia. After returning to Korea, Kim presented the document to King Gojong, who was so impressed with the document that he had copies made and distributed to his officials.
1879
After 1879, China's relations with Korea came under the authority of Li Hongzhang, who had emerged as one of the most influential figures in China after playing an important role during the Taiping Rebellion, and was also an advocate of the Self-Strengthening Movement. In 1879, Li was appointed as governor-general of Zhili and the imperial commissioner for the northern ports. He was in charge of China's Korea policy and urged Korean officials to adopt China's own self-strengthening program to strengthen their country in response to foreign threats, to which King Gojong was receptive. The Korean government, immediately after opening the country to the outside world, pursued a policy of enlightenment aimed at achieving national prosperity and military strength through the doctrine of tongdo sŏgi (Eastern ways and Western machines). To modernise their country, the Koreans tried selectively to accept and master Western technology while preserving their country's cultural values and heritage.
1880
In 1880, following Chinese advice and breaking with tradition, King Gojong decided to establish diplomatic ties with the United States. After negotiations through Chinese mediation in Tianjin, the Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation was formally signed between the United States and Korea in Incheon on 22 May 1882. However, there were two significant issues raised by the treaty. The first concerned Korea's status as an independent nation. During the talks with the Americans, the Chinese insisted that the treaty contain an article declaring that Korea was a dependency of China and argued that the country had long been a tributary state of China. But the Americans firmly opposed such an article, arguing that a treaty with Korea should be based on the Treaty of Ganghwa, which stipulated that Korea was an independent state. A compromise was finally reached, with Shufeldt and Li agreeing that the King of Korea would notify the U.S. president in a letter that Korea had special status as a tributary state of China. The treaty between the Korean government and the United States became the model for all treaties between it and other Western countries. Korea later signed similar trade and commerce treaties with Britain and Germany in 1883, with Italy and Russia in 1884, and with France in 1886. Subsequently, commercial treaties were concluded with other European countries.
1881
In January 1881, the government launched administrative reforms and established the T'ongni kimu amun (Office for Extraordinary State Affairs) which was modelled on Chinese administrative structures. Under this overarching organisation, twelve sa or agencies were created. In 1881, a technical mission was sent to Japan to survey its modernised facilities. Officials travelled all over Japan inspecting administrative, military, educational, and industrial facilities. In October, another small group went to Tianjin to study modern weapons manufacturing, and Chinese technicians were invited to manufacture weapons in Seoul. Additionally, as part of their plan to modernise the country, the Koreans had invited the Japanese military attaché Lieutenant Horimoto Reizō to serve as an adviser in creating a modern army. A new military formation called the Pyŏlgigun (Special Skills Force) was established, in which eighty to one hundred young men of the aristocracy were to be given Japanese military training. The following year, in January 1882, the government also reorganised the existing five-army garrison structure into the Muwiyŏng (Palace Guards Garrison) and the Changŏyŏng (Capital Guards Garrison).
1882
During the 1880s two rival factions emerged in Korea. One was a small group of reformers that had centered around the Gaehwadang (Enlightenment Party), which had become frustrated at the limited scale and arbitrary pace of reforms. The members who constituted the Enlightenment Party were well-educated Koreans and most were from the yangban class. They were impressed by the developments in Meiji Japan and were eager to emulate them. Members included Kim Okkyun, Pak Yŏnghyo, Hong Yeong-sik, Seo Gwang-beom, and Philip Jaisohn. The group was also relatively young; Pak Yung-hio came from a prestigious lineage related to the royal family and was 23, Hong was 29, Seo Gwang-beom was 25, and Soh Jaipil was 20, with Kim Okkyun being the oldest at 33. All had spent some time in Japan; Pak Yung-hio had been part of a mission sent to Japan to apologise for the Imo incident in 1882. He had been accompanied by Seo Gwang-beom and by Kim Okkyun, who later came under the influence of Japanese modernizers such as Fukuzawa Yukichi. Kim Okkyun, while studying in Japan, had also cultivated friendships with influential Japanese figures and became the de facto leader of the group. They were also strongly nationalistic and desired to make their country truly independent by ending Chinese interference in Korea's internal affairs.
1882
Early in 1882, the Korean Peninsula experienced a severe drought which led to food shortages, causing much hardship and discord among the population. Korea was on the verge of bankruptcy, falling months behind on military pay, causing deep resentment among the soldiers. There was also resentment towards the Pyŏlgigun on the part of the soldiers of the regular Korean army, as the formation was better equipped and treated. Additionally, more than 1000 soldiers had been discharged in the process of overhauling the army; most were either old or disabled, and the rest had not been given their pay in rice for thirteen months.
June 1882
In June 1882, King Gojong, being informed of the situation, ordered that a month's allowance of rice be given to the soldiers. He directed Min Gyeom-ho, the overseer of government finances and Queen Min's nephew, to handle the matter. Min in turn handed the matter over to his steward who sold the good rice he had been given and used the money to buy millet which he mixed with sand and bran. As a result, the rice became rotten and inedible. The distribution of the alleged rice infuriated the soldiers. On 23 July, a military mutiny and riot broke out in Seoul. Enraged soldiers headed for the residence of Min Gyeom-ho, who they had suspected of having swindled them out of their rice. Min, on hearing word of the revolt, ordered the police to arrest some of the ringleaders and announced that they would be executed the next morning. He had assumed that this would serve as a warning to the other agitators. However, after learning what had transpired, the rioters broke into Min's house to take vengeance; as he was not at his residence the rioters vented their frustrations by destroying his furniture and other possessions.
August 1882
The Chinese then deployed about 4,500 troops to Korea, under General Wu Changqing, which effectively regained control and quelled the rebellion. In response, the Japanese also sent four warships and a battalion of troops to Seoul to safeguard Japanese interests and demand reparations. Tensions subsided with the Treaty of Chemulpo, signed on the evening of 30 August 1882. The agreement specified that the Korean conspirators would be punished and ¥50,000 would be paid to the families of slain Japanese. The Japanese government would also receive ¥500,000, a formal apology, and permission to station troops at their diplomatic legation in Seoul. In the aftermath of rebellion, the Daewongun was accused of fomenting the rebellion and its violence, and was arrested by the Chinese and taken to Tianjin. He was later carried off to a town about sixty miles southwest of Beijing, where for three years he was confined to one room and kept under strict surveillance.
1884
In the two years preceding the Imo incident, the members of the Gaehwadang had failed to secure appointments to vital offices in the government and were unable to implement their reform plans. As a consequence they were prepared to seize power by any means necessary. In 1884, an opportunity to seize power by staging a coup d'état against the Sadaedang presented itself. In August, as hostilities between France and China erupted over Annam, half of the Chinese troops stationed in Korea were withdrawn. On 4 December 1884, with the help of Japanese minister Takezoe Shinichiro who promised to mobilise Japanese legation guards to provide assistance, the reformers staged their coup under the guise of a banquet hosted by Hong Yeong-sik, the director of the General Postal Administration. The banquet was to celebrate the opening of the new national post office. King Gojong was expected to attend together with several foreign diplomats and high-ranking officials, most of whom were members of the pro-Chinese Sadaedang faction. Kim Okkyun and his comrades approached King Gojong falsely stating that Chinese troops had created a disturbance and escorted him to the small Gyoengu Palace, where they placed him in the custody of Japanese legation guards. They then proceeded to kill and wound several senior officials of the Sadaedang faction.
January 1885
In January 1885, with a show of force the Japanese dispatched two battalions and seven warships to Korea, which resulted in the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885, signed on 9 January 1885. The treaty restored diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea. The Koreans also agreed to pay the Japanese ¥100,000 for damages to their legation and to provide a site for the building of a new legation. Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi, to overcome Japan's disadvantageous position in Korea followed by the abortive coup, visited China to discuss the matter with his Chinese counterpart, Li Hongzhang. The two parties succeeded in concluding the Convention of Tianjin on 31 May 1885. They also pledged to withdraw their troops from Korea within four months, with prior notification to the other if troops were to be sent to Korea in the future. After both countries withdrew their forces they left behind a precarious balance of power on the Korean Peninsula between the two nations. Meanwhile, Yuan Shikai remained in Seoul, appointed as the Chinese Resident, and continued to interfere with Korean domestic politics. The failure of the coup also marked a dramatic decline in Japanese influence over Korea.
1886
The Nagasaki incident was a riot that took place in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki in 1886. Four warships from the Qing Empire's navy, the Beiyang Fleet, stopped at Nagasaki, apparently to carry out repairs. Some Chinese sailors caused trouble in the city and started the riot. Several Japanese policemen confronting the rioters were killed. The Qing government did not apologise after the incident, which resulted in a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan.
1888
When it was first developed by Empress Dowager Cixi in 1888, the Beiyang Fleet was said to be the strongest navy in East Asia. Before her adopted son, the Guangxu Emperor, took over the throne in 1889, Cixi wrote out explicit orders that the navy should continue to develop and expand gradually. However, after Cixi went into retirement, all naval and military development came to a drastic halt. Japan's victories over China has often been falsely rumoured to be the fault of Cixi. Many believed that Cixi was the cause of the navy's defeat because Cixi embezzled funds from the navy to build the Summer Palace in Beijing. However, extensive research by Chinese historians revealed that Cixi was not the cause of the Chinese navy's decline. In actuality, China's defeat was caused by the Guangxu Emperor's lack of interest in developing and maintaining the military. His close adviser, Grand Tutor Weng Tonghe, advised Guangxu to cut all funding to the navy and army, because he did not see Japan as a true threat, and there were several natural disasters during the early 1890s which the emperor thought to be more pressing to expend funds on.
1889
A poor harvest in 1889 led the governor of Korea's Hamgyong Province to prohibit soybean exports to Japan. Japan requested and received compensation in 1893 for their importers. The incident highlighted the growing dependence Japan felt on Korean food imports.
1892
Korea had proclaimed itself the Korean Empire in 1892 and announced its independence from the Qing Empire. The Japanese-sponsored Kabo Reforms of 1894–1896 transformed Korea. Legal slavery was abolished in all forms, the yangban class lost all special privileges, outcastes were abolished; equality of law was declared; equality of opportunity in the face of social background was established, child marriage was abolished; Hangul was to be used in government documents, Korean history was introduced in schools, the Chinese calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, education was expanded, and new textbooks were written.
1893
On the eve of the outbreak of the war with China all men between the ages of 17 and 40 years were eligible for conscription, but only those who turned 20 were to be drafted while those who had turned 17 could volunteer. All men between the ages of 17 and 40, even those who had not received military training or were physically unfit, were considered part of the territorial militia or national guard (kokumin). Following the period of active military service (gen-eki), which lasted for three years, the soldiers became part of the first Reserve (yōbi numbering 92,000 in 1893) and then the second Reserve (kōbi numbering 106,000 in 1893). All young and able-bodied men who did not receive basic military training due to exceptions and those conscripts who had not fully met the physical requirements of military service, became third Reserve (hojū). In time of war, the first Reserve (yōbi) were to be called up first and they were intended to fill the ranks of the regular army units. Next to be called up were the kōbi reserve who were to be either used to further fill in the ranks of line units or to be formed into new ones. The hojū reserve members were to be called up only in exceptional circumstances, and the territorial militia or national guard would only be called up in case of an immediate enemy attack on or invasion of Japan.
February 1893
Japan did not yet have the resources to acquire battleships and so planned to employ the Jeune École doctrine, which favoured small, fast warships, especially cruisers and torpedo boats, with the offensive capability to destroy larger craft. The Japanese naval leadership, on the eve of hostilities, was generally cautious and even apprehensive, as the navy had not yet received the warships ordered in February 1893, particularly the battleships Fuji and Yashima and the protected cruiser Akashi. Hence, initiating hostilities at the time was not ideal, and the navy was far less confident than the army about the outcome of a war with China.
1894
Although Japan had succeeded in eliminating Chinese influence over Korea, Russia seemed to reap the initial benefits. In 1895, a pro-Russian official attempted to remove the King of Korea to the Russian legation, and a second attempt later succeeded. Thus, for a year, the King reigned from the Russian legation in Seoul. The concession to build a Seoul-Inchon railway that had been granted to Japan in 1894 was revoked and granted to Russia. Russian guards guarded the king in his palace even after he had left the Russian legation.
1894
Japanese troops were equipped with the 8-mm single-shot Murata Type 18 breech-loading rifle. The improved eight-round-magazine Type 22 was just being introduced and consequently in 1894, on the eve of the war, only the Imperial Guard and 4th Division were equipped with these rifles. The division artillery consisted of 75-mm field guns and mountain pieces manufactured in Osaka. The artillery was based on Krupp designs that were adapted by the Italians at the beginning of the 1880s; although it could hardly be described as modern in 1894, in general it still matched contemporary battlefield requirements.
1894
The Imperial Chinese Army in 1894 was a heterogeneous mixture of modernised, partly modernised, and almost medieval units which no commander could have led successfully, resulting in poor leadership among Chinese officers. Chinese officers did not know how to handle their troops and the older, higher-ranking officers still believed that they could fight a war as they had during the Taiping Rebellion of 1850–1864. This was also the result of the Chinese military forces being divided into largely independent regional commands. The soldiers were drawn from diverse provinces that had no affinity with each other. Chinese troops also suffered from poor morale, largely because many of the troops had not been paid for a long time. The low prestige of soldiers in Chinese society also hindered morale, and the use of opium and other narcotics was rife throughout the army. Low morale and poor leadership seriously reduced the effectiveness of Chinese troops, and contributed to defeats such as the abandonment of the very well-fortified and defensible Weihaiwei. Additionally, military logistics were lacking, as the construction of railroads in Manchuria had been discouraged.
1894
The Qing dynasty did not have a unified national army, but was made up of three main components, with the so-called Eight Banners forming the elite. The Eight Banners forces were segregated along ethnic lines into separate Manchu, Han Chinese, Mongol, Hui (Muslim) and other ethnic formations. Bannermen who made up the Eight Banners got higher pay than the rest of the army while the Manchu received further privileges. In total, there were 250,000 soldiers in the Eight Banners, with over 60 per cent kept in garrisons in Beijing, while the remaining 40 per cent served as garrison troops in other major Chinese cities. The Green Standard Army was a 600,000-strong gendarmerie-type force that was recruited from the majority Han Chinese population. Its soldiers were not given any peacetime basic military training, but were expected to fight in any conflict. The third component was an irregular force called the Braves, which were used as a kind of reserve force for the regular army, and which were usually recruited from the more distant or remote provinces of China. They were formed into very loosely organised units from the same province. The Braves were sometimes described as mercenaries, with their volunteers receiving as much military training as their commanders saw fit. With no fixed unit organisation, it is impossible to know how many battle-ready Braves there actually were in 1894. There were also a few other military formations, one of which was the Huai Army, which was under the personal authority of Li Hongzhang and was created originally to suppress the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864). The Huai Army had received limited training by Western military advisors; numbering nearly 45,000 troops, it was considered the best-armed military unit in China.
March 1894
On 28 March 1894, a pro-Japanese Korean revolutionary, Kim Okkyun, was assassinated in Shanghai. Kim had fled to Japan after his involvement in the 1884 coup, and the Japanese had turned down Korean demands for him to be extradited. Many Japanese activists saw in him potential for a future role in Korean modernisation; however, Meiji government leaders were more cautious. After some reservations, they exiled him to the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands. Ultimately, he was lured to Shanghai, where he was killed by a Korean, Hong Jong-u, in his room at a Japanese inn in the International Settlement. After some hesitation, the Shanghai Municipal Council concluded that rules against extradition did not apply to a corpse and turned his body over to Chinese authorities. His body was then taken aboard a Chinese warship and sent back to Korea, where it was cut up by the Korean authorities, quartered and displayed in all Korean provinces as a warning to other purported rebels and traitors.
June 1894
1 June 1894: The Donghak Rebel Army moves toward Seoul. The Korean government requests help from the Qing government to suppress the revolt.
June 1894
13 June 1894: The Japanese government telegraphs the commander of the Japanese forces in Korea, Ōtori Keisuke, to remain in Korea for as long as possible despite the end of the rebellion.
June 1894
16 June 1894: Japanese foreign minister Mutsu Munemitsu meets with Wang Fengzao, the Qing ambassador to Japan, to discuss the future status of Korea. Wang states that the Qing government intends to pull out of Korea after the rebellion has been suppressed and expects Japan to do the same. However, China retains a resident to look after Chinese primacy in Korea.
June 1894
22 June 1894: Additional Japanese troops arrive in Korea. Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi tells Matsukata Masayoshi that since the Qing Empire appear to be making military preparations, there is probably "no policy but to go to war". Mutsu tells Ōtori to press the Korean government on the Japanese demands.
June 1894
26 June 1894: Ōtori presents a set of reform proposals to the Korean king Gojong. Gojong's government rejects the proposals and instead insists on troop withdrawals.
June 1894
6 June 1894: About 2,465 Chinese soldiers are transported to Korea to suppress the Donghak Rebellion. Japan asserts that it was not notified and thus China has violated the Convention of Tientsin, which requires that China and Japan must notify each other before intervening in Korea. China asserts that Japan was notified and approved of Chinese intervention.
June 1894
8 June 1894: First of about 4,000 Japanese soldiers and 500 marines land at Chemulpo.
June 1894
In the late 19th century, Korea remained one of the Qing tributary states, while Japan viewed it as a target of imperial expansion. In June 1894, the Qing government, at the request of the Korean emperor Gojong, sent 2,800 troops to aid in suppressing the Donghak Peasant Revolution. The Japanese considered this a violation of the 1885 Convention of Tientsin, and sent an expeditionary force of 8,000 troops, which landed at Incheon. This army moved to Seoul, seized the Korean emperor, and set up a pro-Japanese government on 23 July 1894 in the occupation of Gyeongbokgung. The Qing government decided to withdraw its troops, but rejected recognition of the pro-Japanese government, which had granted the Imperial Japanese Army the right to expel the Qing's Huai Army from Korea. About 3,000 Qing troops still remained in Korea, and could be supplied only by sea; on 25 July, the Japanese Navy won the Battle of Pungdo and sank the steamer Kowshing, which was carrying 1,200 Qing reinforcements. A declaration of war followed on 1 August.
July 1894
19 July 1894: Establishment of the Japanese Combined Fleet, consisting of almost all vessels in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Mutsu cables Ōtori to take any necessary steps to compel the Korean government to carry out a reform program.
July 1894
23 July 1894: Japanese troops occupy Seoul, capture Gojong, and establish a new, pro-Japanese government, which terminates all Sino-Korean treaties and grants the Imperial Japanese Army the right to expel the Qing Empire's Beiyang Army from Korea.
July 1894
25 July 1894: First battle of the war: the Battle of Pungdo / Hoto-oki kaisen
July 1894
7 July 1894: Failure of mediation between China and Japan arranged by the British ambassador to China.
July 1894
After the initial fighting further to the south in July 1894, the Chinese ground forces focused on holding Pyongyang, beyond which there were no other defensible positions until the Yalu River, the border between Korea and China. The city was near a river to the south and east, mountains to the north, and was surrounded by walls. The Qing deployed 13,000 troops there from China, and the defenders spent almost two months preparing fortifications after they arrived in the city on 4 August, including 27 forts. The Chinese were planning to use Pyongyang as their headquarters from where they would retake the rest of the Korean peninsula. The Qing forces in the city had a large quantity of modern equipment, and some of their best troops.
July 1894
By July 1894, Chinese forces in Korea numbered 3,000–3,500 and they were outnumbered by Japanese troops. They could only be supplied by sea through Asan Bay. The Japanese objective was first to blockade the Chinese at Asan and then encircle them with their land forces. Japan's initial strategy was to gain command of the sea, which was critical to its operations in Korea. Command of the sea would allow Japan to transport troops to the mainland. The army's Fifth Division would land at Chemulpo on the western coast of Korea, both to engage and push Chinese forces north-west up the peninsula and to draw the Beiyang Fleet into the Yellow Sea, where it would be engaged in decisive battle. Depending on the outcome of this engagement, Japan would make one of three choices. If the Combined Fleet were to win decisively, the larger part of the Japanese army would undertake immediate landings on the coast between Shan-hai-kuan and Tientsin to defeat the Chinese army and bring the war to a swift conclusion. If the engagement were to be a draw and neither side gained control of the sea, the army would concentrate on the occupation of Korea. Lastly, if the Combined Fleet was defeated and consequently lost command of the sea, the bulk of the army would remain in Japan and prepare to repel a Chinese invasion, while the Fifth Division in Korea would be ordered to hang on and fight a rearguard action.
July 1894
In July 1894, the 8,000 Japanese troops captured the Korean king Gojong and occupied the Gyeongbokgung in Seoul. By 25 July, they had replaced the existing Korean government with members of the pro-Japanese faction. Even though Qing forces were already leaving Korea after they found themselves unneeded there, the new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the right to expel Qing forces, and Japan dispatched more troops to Korea. The Qing Empire rejected the new Korean government as illegitimate.
July 1894
On 25 July 1894, the cruisers Yoshino, Naniwa and Akitsushima of the Japanese flying squadron, which had been patrolling off Asan Bay, encountered the Chinese cruiser Jiyuan and gunboat Kwang-yi. These vessels had steamed out of Asan to meet the transport Kowshing, escorted by the Chinese gunboat Tsao-kiang. After an hour-long engagement, the Jiyuan escaped while the Kwang-yi grounded on rocks, where its powder magazine exploded.
July 1894
On the morning of 27–28 July 1894, the two forces met just outside Asan in an engagement that lasted till 07:30 the next morning. The battle began with a diversionary attack by Japanese troops, followed by the main attack which quickly outflanked the Chinese defences. The Chinese troops, witnessing that they were being outflanked, left their defensive positions and fled towards the direction of Asan. The Chinese gradually lost ground to the superior Japanese numbers, and finally broke and fled towards Pyongyang abandoning arms, ammunition and all their artillery. The Japanese took the city of Asan on 29 July, breaking the Chinese encirclement of Seoul. The Chinese suffered 500 killed and wounded while the Japanese suffered 88 casualties. General Ye Zhichao reported to the Emperor that he had in fact won the battle and caused over 2,000 casualties to the Japanese forces, for which his army was rewarded with 20,000 taels. He then reported later that 20,000 Japanese attacked him and he inflicted a further 1,500 casualties to his 300 losses and the strategic situation compelled him to withdraw to Pyongyang where en route he inflicted a further 1,500 casualties. Ye's reports of the battle of Seonghwan were received in Beijing in August over a month after the battle occurred, an indication of the lack of proper systems of communication within the Qing army.
July 1894
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily for influence over Korea. In China it is commonly known as the Jiawu War. After 6 to 7 months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ports of Lüshunkou (Port Arthur) and Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895 and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki two months later, ending the war.
August 1894
On 1 August 1894, war was officially declared between China and Japan. The rationale, language and tone given by the rulers of both nations in their respective declarations of war were markedly different.
September 1894
On 17 September 1894, the Japanese Combined Fleet encountered the Chinese Beiyang Fleet off the mouth of the Yalu River. The naval battle, which lasted from late morning to dusk, resulted in a Japanese victory. Although the Chinese were able to land 4,500 troops near the Yalu River by sunset the Beiyang fleet was near the point of total collapse – most of the fleet had fled or had been sunk and the two largest ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were nearly out of ammunition. The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyed eight of the ten Chinese warships, assuring Japan's command of the Yellow Sea. The principal factor in the Japanese victory was its superiority in speed and firepower. The victory shattered the morale of the Chinese naval forces. The Battle of the Yalu River was the largest naval engagement of the war and was a major propaganda victory for Japan.
October 1894
Following the Battle of Pyongyang on 15 September, Qing troops retreated to Manchuria, allowing the Japanese to take over Korea. Two days later, the Beiyang Fleet suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of the Yalu River, with its surviving ships retreating to Port Arthur. In October 1894, the Japanese Army invaded Manchuria, and captured Port Arthur on 21 November. Japan next captured Weihaiwei on the Shandong Peninsula on 12 February 1895. This gave them control over the approaches to Beijing, and the Qing court began negotiations with Japan in early March. The war concluded with the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April, which required the Qing to pay a massive indemnity and to cede the island of Taiwan to Japan. Japan also gained a predominant position in Korea.
November 1894
By 21 November 1894, the Japanese had taken the city of Lüshunkou (Port Arthur) with minimal resistance and suffering minimal casualties. Describing their motives as having encountered a display of the mutilated remains of Japanese soldiers as they invaded the town, Japanese forces proceeded with the unrestrained killing of civilians during the Port Arthur Massacre with unconfirmed estimates in the thousands. This event was at the time widely viewed with scepticism, as the world at large was still in disbelief that the Japanese were capable of such deeds – it seemed more likely to have been exaggerated propagandist fabrications of a Chinese government to discredit Japanese hegemony. In reality, the Chinese government itself was unsure how to react and initially denied the occurrence of the loss of Port Arthur to the Japanese altogether.
December 1894
By 10 December 1894, Kaipeng (present-day Gaizhou) fell to the Japanese First Army. That same month, Nozu Michitsura was given command of the First Army, replacing Yamagata who had fallen ill.
1895
The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on 17 April 1895. China recognised the total independence of Korea and ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands to Japan "in perpetuity". The disputed islands known as "Senkaku/Diaoyu" islands were not named by this treaty, but Japan annexed these uninhabited islands to Okinawa Prefecture in 1895. Japan asserts this move was taken independently of the treaty ending the war, and China asserts that they were implied as part of the cession of Taiwan.
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. Two Chinese officials had been appointed by the Qing imperial court two months earlier and were sent to meet with Japanese representatives to inquire about peace terms. After some delay they arrived in late January, but the Japanese did not consider them to have enough credentials and noted that they had not been empowered by their government to make decisions. On 2 February 1895, the envoys were told by the Japanese government that their peace mission was not considered to be serious. After the failed talks, Japanese troops of General Katsura Tarō's 3rd Division fought off a Chinese attempt to liberate the city of Haicheng on 16 February, and then went on to capture Liaoyang on 4 March and Yingkou on 6 March. This left no more Chinese forces between the Japanese and the Shanhai Pass, which connected Manchuria to Zhili, giving them control over the approaches to Tianjin and Beijing.
February 1895
The Chinese fleet subsequently retreated behind the Weihaiwei fortifications. However, it was then surprised by Japanese ground forces, who outflanked the harbour's defences in coordination with the navy. The Battle of Weihaiwei was a 23-day siege with the major land and naval engagements taking place between 20 January and 12 February 1895. Historian Jonathan Spence notes that "the Chinese admiral retired his fleet behind a protective curtain of contact mines and took no further part in the fighting." The Japanese commander marched his forces over the Shandong peninsula and reached the landward side of Weihaiwei, where the siege was eventually successful for the Japanese.
March 1895
In late February the Qing government appointed Li Hongzhang as ambassador extraordinary to open peace talks with Japan, and the Japanese accepted this on 4 March, because he was seen as the leading Chinese statesman. Li and his delegation arrived in Shimonoseki, Japan, on the 19th and were met by the Japanese prime minister and foreign minister, Itō Hirobumi and Mutsu Munemitsu. The Chinese request for an armistice was rejected because the conditions that the Japanese insisted for it were unacceptable, and Li was informed that a Japanese invasion force was on its way to Taiwan. On 24 March, after leaving a meeting, Li was shot and injured by a Japanese nationalist. The incident caused international outrage from the Western press and led to the Meiji Emperor issuing a statement to show his grief and regret. An armistice in Manchuria and north China was agreed to on 30 March 1895, and negotiations for the final treaty continued for another three weeks.
April 1895
Japan had achieved what it had set out to accomplish and ended Chinese influence over Korea, but it had been forced to relinquish the Liaodong Peninsula (Port Arthur) in exchange for an increased financial indemnity. The European powers, especially Russia, had no objection to the other clauses of the treaty but felt that Japan should not gain Port Arthur since they had their own ambitions in that part of the world. Russia persuaded Germany and France to join in applying diplomatic pressure on Japan, which resulted in the Triple Intervention of 23 April 1895. Japan was handed a diplomatic note that strongly advised against the terms regarding the Liaodong peninsula.
October 1895
Several Qing officials in Taiwan resolved to resist the cession of Taiwan to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and on 23 May declared the island to be an independent Republic of Formosa. On 29 May, Japanese forces under Admiral Kabayama Sukenori landed in northern Taiwan, and in a five-month campaign defeated the Republican forces and occupied the island's main towns. The campaign effectively ended on 21 October 1895, with the flight of Liu Yongfu, the second Republican president, and the surrender of the Republican capital Tainan.
1897
The Japanese success during the war was the result of the modernisation and industrialisation embarked upon two decades earlier. The war demonstrated the superiority of Japanese tactics and training from the adoption of a Western-style military. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy inflicted a string of defeats on the Chinese through foresight, endurance, strategy and power of organisation. Japan's prestige rose in the eyes of the world, and the victory reflected the success of the Meiji Restoration. Japan suffered only a small loss of lives and treasure in return for the dominance of Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaotung Peninsula in China. Its decisions of abandoning the policy of isolation and learning advanced policy from Western countries also became a good example for other Asian countries to follow. As a result of the war, Japan started to have equal status with the Western powers, and its victory established Japan as the dominant power in Asia, with them gaining several much needed resources such as iron for their continued modernisation and expansion. It also heightened Japanese ambitions of aggression and military expansion in Asia. Because Japan had benefited a lot from the treaty, it stimulated Japanese ambition to continue to involve herself in affairs in China and made the late-Imperial Chinese national crisis unprecedentedly serious. The degree of semi-colonisation was greatly deepened. After Japan's victory, the Western powers agreed tacitly that they should delimit their benefits from China promptly. They then started to partition China over the next few years, arranging a score of treaty ports and concessions in 1897-98 like Guangzhouwan and Port Arthur.
1898
In 1898, Russia signed a 25-year lease on the Liaodong Peninsula and proceeded to set up a naval station at Port Arthur. Although that infuriated the Japanese, they were more concerned with the Russian encroachment in Korea than in Manchuria. Other powers, such as France, Germany, and Britain, took advantage of the situation in China and gained land, port, and trade concessions at the expense of the decaying Qing dynasty. Qingdao was acquired by Germany, Guangzhouwan by France, and Weihaiwei and the New Territories by Britain. Xenophobic sentiment and agitation grew, which would culminate in the Boxer Rebellion five years later. The Manchu people were devastated by the fighting during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, with massive casualties sustained during the wars. It was then driven into extreme suffering and hardship in Beijing and northeastern China.
1902
In 1902, Japan formed an alliance with Britain, the terms of which stated that if Japan went to war in the Far East and a third power entered the fight against Japan, Britain would come to the aid of the Japanese. That was a check to prevent Germany or France from intervening militarily in any future war against Russia. Japan sought to prevent a repetition of the Triple Intervention, which deprived it of Port Arthur. The British reasons for joining the alliance were to check the spread of Russian expansion into the Pacific area, to strengthen Britain's focus on other areas, and to gain a powerful naval ally in the Pacific.
1903
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 that Japan would not 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 1903, Russian soldiers began construction of a fort at Yongnampo but stopped after Japanese protests.
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