August 1894-April 1895
This conflict marked the emergence of modern Japan on the international stage and heralded the onset of Japanese imperialism. As the culmination of ten years of Japanese planning for the strategic domination of Korea, the Sino-Japanese War was initiated by Japan for the eradication of Chinese influence there. Japan was quick to put an army ashore on the peninsula, but although it won a succession of decisive land victories over Chinese forces—notably at Pyongyang and in the capture of Port Arthur—the most significant Japanese triumphs were scored at sea. Japan's strategy, though marked by caution, correctly assumed that command of the sea was critical to all that it hoped to achieve on land. It was imperative, moreover, that a decision at sea be quickly reached, since any prolongation of the war increased the risk of intervention by a European power. The Japanese Combined Fleet therefore swept into the Yellow Sea, where it utterly defeated China's Peiyang Fleet off the Yalu River at the outset of the war. The first fleet encounter since Italians and Austrians clashed at Lissa (1866), the battle underscored the superiority of the column formation, a homogeneous battle force, and the concentration of gunfire. The Japanese victory was followed up by the destruction of the remnants of the Peiyang Fleet at Weihaiwei. By the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the war, Japan acquired Taiwan and Treaty Port privileges in China (although Korea eluded its grasp); thus Japan became the first modern Asian imperialist power.
Mark R. Peattie
