First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War
Part of the century of humiliation
Top to bottom: Qing ship burning during the Battle of Pungdo Japanese troops firing at Qing craft at the Battle of the Yalu River Depiction of Japanese cavalry attacking the Chinese army at the Battle of Pyongyang
Date 25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895 (8 months, 2 weeks and 2 days) Location China (Manchuria and Shandong Peninsula), Korea, Yellow Sea Result Japanese victory Territorial changes Qing lose suzerainty over Korea, cede Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan Liaodong Peninsula initially ceded to Japan, but returned by the Triple Intervention
Belligerents
China	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Guangxu Emperor Empress Dowager Cixi Li Hongzhang Liu Kunyi Song Qing Ye Zhichao Zuo Baogui † Yuan Shikai Wu Dacheng Ding Ruchang † Liu Buchan †	Emperor Meiji Itō Hirobumi Arisugawa Taruhito Komatsu Akihito Kodama Gentarō Yamagata Aritomo Nozu Michitsura Ōyama Iwao Katsura Tarō Itō Sukeyuki Kabayama Sukenori Tōgō Heihachirō
Strength
357,100 men 180,310 bannermen 125,030 trained men 51,760 Green Standard	240,616 men
Casualties and losses
35,000 dead and wounded[1]	1,132 dead 3,758 wounded 285 died of wounds 11,894 died of disease 17,069 total casualties

Events leading to World War I
Unification of Germany 1866–1871 Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871 Second Concert of Europe 1871 Great Eastern Crisis 1875–1878 Campaign in Bosnia 1878 Dual Alliance 1879 Boer Wars 1880–1902 Austro–Serbian Alliance 1881–1903 Triple Alliance 1882 Berlin Conference 1884 Bulgarian Crisis 1885–1888 Reinsurance Treaty 1887–1890 Franco-Russian Alliance 1894 First Sino-Japanese War 1894–1895 Anglo-German naval arms race 1898–1912 Fashoda Incident 1898 Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902 May Coup 1903 Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905 Entente Cordiale 1904 First Moroccan Crisis 1905–1906 Pig War 1906–1908 Anglo-Russian Convention 1907 Young Turk Revolution 1908 Bosnian Crisis 1908–1909 Racconigi Bargain 1909 Second Moroccan Crisis 1911 Italo-Turkish War 1911–1912 Balkan Wars 1912–1913 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 1914 July Crisis 1914
v t e

The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Korea.^[2] After more than six 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 unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki two months later, ending the war.

In the late 19th century, Korea remained one of China's tributary states, while Japan viewed it as its first target of 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 Chemulpo, moved to Seoul, seized the emperor, and set up a pro-Japanese government on 23 July 1894. The Qing government decided to withdraw its troops but rejected recognition of the pro-Japanese government, which granted the Imperial Japanese Army the right to expel the Chinese Huai Army from Korea. About 20,000 Chinese troops still remained in Korea and could be supplied only by sea; on 25 July, the Japanese Navy sank the steamer Kow-shing, which was carrying 1,200 Chinese reinforcements. A declaration of war followed on 1 August.

Following the Battle of Pyongyang on 15 September, the Chinese 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 China to pay a massive indemnity and to cede the island of Formosa (Taiwan) to Japan. Japan also gained a predominant position in Korea.

The war demonstrated the failure of the Qing dynasty's attempts to modernize its military and fend off threats to its sovereignty, especially when compared with Japan's successful Meiji Restoration. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan;^[3] the prestige of the Qing dynasty, along with the classical tradition in China, suffered a major blow. The loss of Korea as a tributary state sparked an unprecedented public outcry^{[citation needed]}. Within China, the defeat was a catalyst for a series of political upheavals led by Sun Yat-sen and Kang Youwei, culminating in the 1911 Revolution and ultimate end of dynastic rule in China.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).