Anglo-Japanese Alliance

"Anglo-Japanese Treaty" redirects here. For other uses, see Anglo-Japanese (disambiguation).

The Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 30 January 1902. Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
TypeMilitary alliance
ContextAnti-Russian Empire
Signed30 January 1902 (1902-01-30)
LocationLondon, England, United Kingdom
Effective31 January 1902 (1902-01-31)
Replaced byFour-Power Pacific Treaty
Expiration17 August 1923 (1923-08-17)
Original
signatories
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The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance (日英同盟, Nichi-Ei Dōmei) was an alliance between Britain and Japan. It was in operation from 1902 to 1922. The original British goal was to prevent Russia from expanding in Manchuria while also preserving the territorial integrity of China and Korea. For the British, it marked the end of a period of "splendid isolation" while allowing for greater focus on protecting India and competing in the Anglo-German naval arms race. The alliance was part of a larger British strategy to reduce imperial overcommitment and recall the Royal Navy to defend Britain. The Japanese, on the other hand, gained international prestige from the alliance and used it as a foundation for their diplomacy for two decades. In 1905, the treaty was redefined in favor of Japan concerning Korea. It was renewed in 1911 for another ten years and replaced by the Four-Power Treaty in 1922.[1]

The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat.[2]

The Anglo-Japanese alliance was renewed and expanded in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, playing a major role in World War I before the alliance's demise in 1921 and termination in 1923.[3][4][5]

The main threat for both sides was from Russia. The initial treaty triggered if either country was at war with more than one power, and thus had the effect of deterring France from assisting its ally Russia militarily in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. Instead, France concluded the Entente Cordiale with Britain and limited its support of Russia to providing loans.[6] However, Britain siding with Japan angered the United States and some British dominions, whose opinion of the Empire of Japan worsened and gradually became hostile.[7]

  1. ^ Ian Nish, Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires 1984–1907 (1985) pp 203–228.
  2. ^ "a home away from home – since 1935". The Lansdowne Club. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  3. ^ William Langer, The Diplomacy of Imperialism 1890–1902 (2nd ed. 1950), pp. 745–86.
  4. ^ Dennis, Alfred L. P. (1922). "British Foreign Policy and the Dominions". American Political Science Review. 16 (4): 584–599. doi:10.2307/1943639. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1943639. S2CID 147544835.
  5. ^ Búzás, Zoltán I. (2013). "The Color of Threat: Race, Threat Perception, and the Demise of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902–1923)". Security Studies. 22 (4): 573–606. doi:10.1080/09636412.2013.844514. ISSN 0963-6412. S2CID 144689259.
  6. ^ James Long (1974). "Franco-Russian Relations during the Russo-Japanese War". The Slavonic and East European Review. 52 (127).
  7. ^ Nish, Ian (2012). The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1894–1907. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 229–245. ISBN 978-1-4725-5354-6.