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 China lost suzerainty over Korea and ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan The Liaodong Peninsula was also ceded initially, but Japan was forced to return it to China by the Triple Intervention
Belligerents
China	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Guangxu Empress Dowager Cixi Li Hongzhang Liu Kunyi Song Qing Ding Ruchang † Liu Buchan † Ye Zhichao Zuo Baogui † Yuan Shikai Wu Dacheng	Meiji Itō Hirobumi Prince Arisugawa Kodama Gentarō Yamagata Aritomo Nozu Michitsura Ōyama Iwao Katsura Tarō Itō Sukeyuki Kabayama Sukenori Tōgō Heihachirō
Strength
~1,000,000 Within theatre of operations 180,310 bannermen 51,760 Green Standard 125,030 Trained men Total 357,100	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 Total: 17,069 casualties

First Sino-Japanese War
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	甲午戰爭
Simplified Chinese	甲午战争
Literal meaning	War of Jiawu – referring to the year 1894 under the traditional sexagenary system
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiǎwǔ Zhànzhēng Bopomofo ㄐㄧㄚˇ ㄨˇ ㄓㄢˋ ㄓㄥ Wade–Giles Chia3-wu3 Chan4-cheng1 Tongyong Pinyin Jiǎ-wǔ Jhàn-jheng IPA [tɕjà.ù ʈʂân.ʈʂə́ŋ]
Japanese name
Hiragana	にっしんせんそう
Katakana	ニッシンセンソウ
Kyūjitai	日清戰爭
Shinjitai	日清戦争
Literal meaning	Japan–Qing War
Transcriptions Kunrei-shiki Nissin sensou
Korean name
Hangul	청일전쟁
Hanja	淸日戰爭
Literal meaning	Qing–Japan War
Transcriptions Revised Romanization cheongil jeonjaeng McCune–Reischauer ch'ŏngil chŏnjaeng

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 Anglo-German naval arms race 1898–1912 Fashoda incident 1898 Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902 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 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 port of Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895.

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 humiliating loss of Korea as a tributary state sparked an unprecedented public outcry. 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.

The war is commonly known in China as the War of Jiawu (Chinese: 甲午戰爭; pinyin: Jiǎwǔ Zhànzhēng), referring to the year (1894) as named under the traditional sexagenary system of years. In Japan, it is called the Japan–Qing War (Japanese: 日清戦争, Hepburn: Nisshin sensō). In Korea, where much of the war took place, it is called the Qing–Japan War (Korean: 청일전쟁; Hanja: 淸日戰爭).