First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War
Top to bottom: Qing ship burning during the Battle of Pungdo Japanese troops firing at Qing craft at the Battle of the Yalu River 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 Northeast China 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 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 Yuan Shikai Deng Shichang[not verified in body] Zuo Baogui † Ding Ruchang † Liu Buchan †[not verified in body]	Emperor Meiji Itō Hirobumi Arisugawa Taruhito[not verified in body] Komatsu Akihito[not verified in body] Yamagata Aritomo Nozu Michitsura Ōyama Iwao Katsura Taro Itō Sukeyuki Kabayama Sukenori Togo Heihachiro
Strength
357,100 total 180,310 bannermen 125,030 trained men 51,760 Green Standard	240,616 total
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

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 over influence in Korea.^[2] In Chinese it is commonly known as the Jiawu War. 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 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 Chinese Huai Army from Korea. About 3,000 Chinese 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.

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 Taiwan to Japan. Japan also gained a predominant position in Korea.

The war demonstrated the failure of the Qing dynasty's attempts to modernise 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.

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