In July of 1894, the Tonghak revolution broke out in Korea -- a rebellion against the government, mostly run by farmers and weakly armed. [1] The rebellion quickly gained popularity, and soon nearly overwhelmed the country. Unable to control the rebellion himself, the king of Korea appealed to China and Japan to help. China sent 3,000 men, while Japan sent 18,000. [2] Since China and Japan have never had friendly relations, this created an obvious conflict. As Japan felt threatened by the presence of Chinese troops, they attacked the Chinese. Not only were the Chinese outnumbered, but they were also outgunned. Japanese military technology was much more advanced than that of the Chinese, which they defeated easily.
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| Map of Japanese attack on Korea and China [Source] |
After defeating the Chinese army in Korea, the Japanese army crossed over to the Chinese mainland, towards Peking. China was therefore forced to send a negotiator, Li Hongzhang, to Japan to create a peace treaty. An armistice was created in March of 1895, temporarily ending active conflict. Negotiations continued until April 17, when the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed. This treaty:
The text of the treaty is available here (and an appendix here)
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| The building the treaty was signed in [Source] |
Japan could have asked for more than this in the treaty, and would most likely have received it if they did. However, Japan was somewhat humiliated when a Japanese fanatic shot and wounded Li Hongzhang, the Chinese negotiator. [4] They therefore settled for less that they could possibly have gotten.
Although the Western powers paid little heed to the rest of the treaty, Russia (and several other powers) found Japan's acquisition of the Liaotung peninsula to be threatening, and threatened to attack if Japan did not relinquish the peninsula. Russia's reason for doing this was that one of the cities on the Liaotung Peninsula was Port Arthur, which Russia wanted for itself. [5] Japan did return the peninsula to Chinese control, but demanded another payment in return, which they received.
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| Parade celebrating the treaty [Source] |
Several years later, Japan annexed Korea unto itself, finally bringing events full circle. Japan had originally set out to 'protect' Korea from internal rebellion; now, they had taken it over. Although Japanese interference in Korea was at first mild, they eventually took Korea as little more than a slave colony. This shows that, in attempting to become like the Western powers, they themselves took on some of the worst qualities of the Western powers.
Although Korea was not happy (to make a wild understatement) about the end results of this treaty, many inhabitants of Taiwan feel differently. After World War II, Taiwan was granted independence, as Japan was forced to give up its colonies. If this treaty had not ceded Taiwan to Japan, Taiwan would quite likely be a very different place today! As a result of this, many Taiwanese today celebrate the anniversary of the treaty's signing. The image to the right is of a parade at one such celebration. For more information on the Taiwanese perspective on the treaty, click here.
Created by Andrew Farmer. Homepage