The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
The First Sino-Japanese War (July 25, 1894 to April 17, 1895) was fought between Qing China and Meiji Japan primarily over influence in Korea, which remained a Qing tributary state while Japan sought to expand into it. Japan's modernized army and navy won sustained victories on land and sea, destroyed China's Beiyang Fleet, and forced the Qing to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The war marked the emergence of Japan as a major power, exposed the weakness of the Qing empire, and set the stage for later East Asian conflicts, including the Russo-Japanese War and the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Events
Qing Sends Troops to Korea at Korean Request
The Donghak Peasant Rebellion breaks out in Korea, and the Korean emperor Gojong, facing the collapse of government control, requests military assistance from Qing China in June 1894. The Qing government, acting on its traditional role as Korea's suzerain, dispatches troops to suppress the rebellion. Japan, citing the 1885 Tianjin Convention between the two powers, sends its own expeditionary force to Korea, and the rival garrisons set the two empires on a path to war.
Location: Seoul, Korea
Battle of Pungdo and Declarations of War
Japanese warships attack Qing vessels off Pungdo on the opening day of the war, sinking the British-chartered transport Kowshing, which was carrying Qing reinforcements to Korea, in an incident that draws international attention. The engagement at Pungdo, the first clash of the war, is followed within days by the first land battle at Seonghwan, where Japanese forces defeat the Qing garrison. On August 1, 1894, China and Japan formally declare war on each other.
Location: Pungdo, Korea
Battle of Pyongyang
Japanese forces assault the fortified city of Pyongyang, the main Qing stronghold in northern Korea, in a coordinated multi-column attack. The Qing defenses collapse after a day of heavy fighting, and the remaining Chinese forces withdraw north toward the Yalu River, abandoning Korea below the river. The battle, in which the Qing commander Zuo Baogui is killed, effectively ends Chinese control of Korea and clears the way for Japan to dominate the peninsula.
Location: Pyongyang, Korea
Battle of the Yalu River
The Beiyang Fleet, China's modern Western-style navy, fights the Imperial Japanese Navy in the largest naval engagement of the war, a day after the fall of Pyongyang. Japanese ships with rapid-firing guns and superior tactics inflict heavy losses, sinking or disabling several major Chinese warships and driving the Beiyang Fleet back to Port Arthur and later Weihaiwei. The battle demonstrates the superiority of Japan's naval modernization and leaves China without the sea power to contest Japan's operations.
Location: Yellow Sea, near the Yalu River
Fall of Lüshunkou (Port Arthur)
Japanese forces capture Lüshunkou, known in the West as Port Arthur, one of the most heavily fortified ports on the Liaodong Peninsula, after a short assault. In the days that follow, Japanese troops carry out the Port Arthur massacre, killing large numbers of the town's civilian and military inhabitants in an episode that draws international condemnation. The fall of the port removes China's principal fortress on the Liaodong Peninsula and marks a further stage in Japan's advance into Manchuria.
Location: Lüshunkou, China
Fall of Weihaiwei and Destruction of the Beiyang Fleet
Japanese army and naval forces capture Weihaiwei on the Shandong Peninsula, trapping the remnants of the Beiyang Fleet in its harbor and destroying it with shore batteries and torpedo boat attacks. Admiral Ding Ruchang, the fleet's commander, refuses Japanese appeals to continue the fight and takes his own life as the surrender is completed. The loss of the fleet and the port eliminates the last major Chinese force capable of resisting Japan at sea and leaves the Qing government with no route but negotiation.
Location: Weihaiwei, China
Treaty of Shimonoseki
Qing negotiator Li Hongzhang and Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, formally ending the war. China recognizes the full independence of Korea, cedes Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan, cedes the Liaodong Peninsula, agrees to pay a large indemnity, and opens additional treaty ports to Japanese trade. The treaty marks China's defeat by a former tributary and is regarded as a turning point that signals the weakness of the Qing empire to the powers of East Asia and Europe.
Location: Shimonoseki, Japan
The Triple Intervention
Russia, Germany, and France, acting together six days after the treaty is signed, pressure Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula to China, warning that Japanese control of the territory threatens Russian interests in Manchuria and the security of the region. Japan, exhausted by the war and unable to resist the three powers, agrees and receives an additional indemnity from China in compensation. The intervention embitters Japanese public opinion toward Russia in particular and helps set the stage for the Russo-Japanese War a decade later.
Location: Tokyo, Japan