Sino-Japanese (1894-95) and Russo-Japanese (1904-05) Wars

 

Key Terms

The Korean Question

Crisis in the Korean Court

  • Key questions
    • Is the Meiji Restoration a model for Korea?
    • Or are the Japanese slavish and foolish imitators of Europe and US?
    • False optimism of General Sherman (1866)
  • Intense factionalism
    • King Gojong (1852-1919) Konjong 高宗
      • sent secret study mission to Japan in 1881
    • Queen Min (1851-1895)
      • 19th century practice of dowager queens
    • Daewongun (Taewongun) (Gojong's father) 大院王
      • more skeptical of Japanese influence
  • Series of violent clashes between rival factions and foreign forces
    • Imo Mutiny (壬午軍乱) 1882
      • Traditional army is angry about better treatment of experimental modern army with Japanese advisers, supported by Gojong and Min
      • rebels attempt to kill Queen Min and pro-Japanese officials (Imo Incident)
      • Qing agents suppress rebels, kidnap Daewongun (keep him in Beijing for three years)
      • Japan begins to prepare for military conflict with China
    • Growing Japanese-affiliated reform movement, affiliated with King Gojong (1883-84)
      • Leaders
        • Kim Okkyun (1851-1894)
        • Pak Yŏnghyo
        • Yun Ch'iho 윤치호, 尹致昊 (1864-1945) (Emory College 1893)
        • Korean's first newspaper (Hangsŏng sunbo) was supported by follower of Fukuzawa Yukichi
      • Policies
        • Promotion based on talent rather than rank
        • Centralized administration
        • Tax reform
        • Modern post office
        • Newspapers
        • Send students abroad to study military and technical affairs
    • Gapsin Coup (甲申政変) 1884
      • With support of Japanese ambassador and troops, pro-Japanese reformers seize palace and grab Korean King Gojong
      • Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 (1859-1916) stage counter-coup, drives out Japanese troops
      • RESULTS
        • increased Qing control under Yuan Shikai
        • Japanese military continues preparation for conflict
        • Fukuzawa's "Datsu-a ron"
          • "We do not have time to wait for the enlightenment of our neighbors so that we can work together toward the development of Asia. It is better for us to leave the ranks of Asian nations and cast our lot with civilized nations of the West. Those [who] are intimate with bad friends are also regarded bad, therefore I will deny those bad Asian friends from my heart."
    • 1885 Tianjin Accord (not treaty!) aka Li-Ito accord
      • Designed to stabilize Chinese-Japanese rivalry
      • Negotiated by Itō Hirobumi 伊藤博文 (1849-1909) and Li Hongzhang 李鴻章 (1823-1901)
      • Main points
        • Chinese agree to pay $110,000 in damages
        • Both sides withdraw their troops from Korea within four months
        • Both agree to provide each other with written notice should they decide to send troops back in
      • Yuan Shikai become China's resident general in Seoul
        • Blocks Korean attempts to send ambassador to US
        • Blocks attempts to negotiate treaties independently
  • Tonghak Rebellion of 1894-95
    • Basis of Rebellion
      • Choe Je-u (1824∼1864) 崔濟愚 Ch'oe Che-u
        • capable Confucian scholars but could not advance because he was the son of a remarried widow
        • Fails civil service exams
        • Falls ill and has visions
        • Formally anti-Christian but influenced by Catholicism
      • Tonghak 東学 is "new religion" of 1860s
        • Be a filial daughter to your parents, cherish and respect the head of the house, love your brothers and sisters, cherish your son and daughter-in-law, be cordial to your neighbors
      • Rebellion supported by peasants angry over heavy taxes
    • King Gojong invites Chinese troops in to help rebel Tonghak (June 1894)
    • Japanese responds with troops, seize Seoul and royal palace
      • Institute Gabo Reforms (see below) . . . King Gojong now orders Japan to expel Chinese troops
Li Hongzhang 李鴻章
Yuan Shikai 袁世凱

Sino-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

  • China's defeat precipitates territorial scramble in China
    • UK, Germany demand concessions on Shantung Peninsula
    • France extend control over Indo-China
  • Boxer rebellion (1899-1900)
  • Japanese military see Russia as rival to fill power vacuum
    • Massive military build-up Domestic impact: increased power of the Diet
    • Chinese indemnity helps pay for doubling size of Japanese navy
  • Diplomacy
    • Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902
  • Combat
    • Successful Japanese sneak attack on Port Arthur
    • France does not intervene because of Anglo-Japanese alliance
    • But Japanese forces are depleted in Manchuria
      • Battle of Mukden February 1905
      • Japanese causualities 70,000
      • Russian casualties 90,000
    • Russian needs to move fleet from Baltic
      • Fleet is defeated in Battle of Tsushima May 1905
        • Russia loses
          • 12 battleships
          • 9 other ships
          • Over 10,000 killed or captured
        • Japanese loses
          • 3 smaller ships
          • 117 killed
  • Background to Negotiations
    • Both sides are depleted
      • Japanese is running out of
        • Army officers
        • Money
      • Russia suffers collpase of morale
        • 1905 mutiny of Battleship Potemkin
  • Treaty of Portsmouth (August-September 1905)
    • Russia recognizes Japan's dominant economic, political and military interests in Korea
    • Russian railroads in S. Machuria and Liaotung are transferred to Japan
    • the southern half of Sakhalin Island is ceded to Japan
    • NO INDEMNITY
  • Treaty faces popular rejection in both countries
    • Hibiya Park Riots
    • 1905 Revolution in Russia

International Legacy

  • After Sino-Japanese War 1895, Japan is seen as a junior world power: "Le Petit Journal", 16th January 1898 cartoon
  • Japan is the first non-European nation to defeat a European nation in modern warfare:
  • Asia nationalists begin to look to Japan as model, despite Japanese aggression against Korea
  • Visual manifestions