Historians will often seek to understand the motivations and causality behind a historical event by looking at other events leading up to it. In the historiography of Japan's role in World War II, the Russo-Japanese War is a common starting point; the war included several one-sided naval battles between the Imperial Russian Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Japanese Navy, still in its adolescence at less than 50 years, was able to acquire modern warships and train their crews using modern methods of naval warfare. In spite of a few mistakes, the Imperial Japanese Navy was able to meet the Russian Navy in battle and deliver them several resounding defeats. The losses at the battles of Port Arthur, the Yellow Sea, and the infamous Tsushima defanged the Russian Navy, which would later send the Russians into bankruptcy trying to replace those battleships, which had a direct influence on World War I and the Russian Revolution. To the victor went the spoils, solidifying Japanese control over Korea, parts of Manchuria, and the southern half of Sakhalin Island. The real prize, though, was the world’s recognition of Imperial Japan as a global military and naval power.
Was this the beginning of Japanese ambition to rival its neighbor China as the greater military power in the Far East? Or were there any prior events that have been overlooked?
The conflict between Imperial China and Japan actually goes back to the failed Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281. The failed incursions from China and Korea to Japan caused the Japanese to rethink their defenses and emphasize a stronger military. After the Mongol rule, the Chinese Yuan Dynasty enjoyed regional hegemony over the Korean peninsula and Japan’s Tsushima Island and received tribute from them in the early 15th Century. In 1408, under the Ashikaga shogunate, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu rejected Chinese rule and stopped sending tribute missions, effectively ending trade with China. The loss of trade with China would be the equivalent to a trade company pulling out of the New York Stock Exchange. Japan became isolated, and in order to regain the trading markets that China controlled access to, they needed to re-establish the tributes to the Chinese Emperor. Centuries after being out of the regional markets, the Japanese shogunate under Hideyoshi Toyotomi devised another way to regain those trading rights, and he sponsored incursions into Korea to reach the Ming Dynasty during the Imjin War (1592-1593) and the later Chogyu War (1597-1598). The wars in Korea ended when Hideyoshi died in the fall of 1598, causing the Japanese advance into China stalling out in Korea. The collapse of the Hideyoshi Shogunate was also the end of the Warring States period, leading to the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which again isolated Japan from the outside world. This economic isolation remained a sticking point throughout the Tokugawa Shogunate, but there were no further attempts to invade Korea or China to get those rights back. Those ambitions would not emerge until the end of the 19th Century with a modern military and navy under a new emperor.
Japan would be opened to the world in 1854 after the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States, along with other trade agreements with other western nations. The Bakufu, the Japanese government under the Tokugawa Shogunate, tried to take measures to prevent Japan from suffering the same fate as Imperial China after the Opium Wars. However, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties like the Chinese had, which posed an existential threat to their way of life. This led to the Boshin War (1868-1869) when factions within Japan rose up to dismantle the Tokugawa Bakufu because they were clearly unable to protect Japan from outside forces. Emperor Meiji and the imperial forces overthrew the Bakufu and the shogunate, and reestablished the imperial throne as the seat of power in Japan. The new emperor ushered in an era of change and industrialization in Japan. As part of the modernization of Japan, the Emperor disestablished the Samurai system and instituted a conscripted army and the development of a modern navy. The Japanese also invested in several modern warships, like the US monitors and British pre-Dreadnought battleships, and established their own naval academy that would become the foundation of the Japanese Imperial Navy.
Around the same time, Korea (Joseon) had also been brought out of isolation by the United States in 1882, with other Western powers following suit. Though the treaty with the United States was as unbalanced as Japan’s, the end of Korea’s isolation still concerned Imperial China, who opposed the notion of Korea as an independent country. Japan was also concerned about Korea’s image as an independent nation because of its proximity. The Koreans themselves may not have been a direct threat, but if they were politically weak, then another power might come in like they had in China, and threaten Japan’s security. The 1880s was an unstable period of time for Korea, marred by a military mutiny caused by drought and mismanagement of soldier’s pay. The mutiny expanded into a revolt that attacked the Japanese legation in Seoul, and eventually attacked the Royal palace. The Chinese sent in a force to Korea to quell the mutiny, and regained control. As result of the mutiny’s destruction of the legation, an indemnity was paid to Japan as well as permission to garrison troops in Korea.
Korea was again caught in the middle between China and Japan, each now with troops garrisoned and attempting to exert their influence over the Korean government. The Korean government became fractured between those who wanted to have reforms like the Meiji Restoration and end China’s interference, and those who wanted to continue to hold power with pro-Chinese assistance.
On the other side of the Yellow Sea, the politically weak Qing Dynasty in China attempted to reform and increase their military and naval prowess to rival Western powers. In order to make those reforms, they had to modernize. In the 1870s, the Imperial Chinese government funded the first iteration of a Navy. Instead of a central naval command, the Chinese had four regional fleets. The largest was the Nanyang Fleet (Southern Seas Fleet) based in Shang-hai, followed by the Beiyang Fleet (Northern Seas Fleet) based in Tianjin-Dagu, the port city to Beijing and home to the Chinese Naval College, Beiyang Military Academy, naval arsenal, and Dagu shipyards. By the 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet grew to be the largest of the four, and included German-built pre-Dreadnought battleships, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, which were considered to be cutting-edge technology for the time. The Imperial government sent candidates abroad to learn about naval warfare, and they also hired a number of foreign naval advisors. One of these advisors was Philo McGiffin, a US Naval Academy graduate, who came to China in 1885.
The modernization of the Chinese Navy suffered a setback during the Sino-French War (1884-1885) when the Imperial Navy attempted to thwart the French government from colonizing Tonkin and Annam (current day Vietnam), and supporting the Black Flag Army, who were local resistance fighters. The confrontation between France and China resulted in the French shelling and destruction of several Chinese naval bases and yards, including Foochow, Shipu, Taiwan, and Zhenhai.
With tensions high, the final straw that ignited war occurred in July 1894, when the Imperial Japanese Army occupied Seoul and captured King Gojong, established a new pro-Japanese government in Korea and attempted to expel the Qing Beiyang Army.
The First Sino-Japanese War was only considered to be a regional war by many Western nations, including the United States. However, one of the defining aspects of the First-Sino Japan War was the implementation of new naval technologies. Technology employed during this conflict included all-metal steamships (pre-Dreadnought battleships) built by Great Britain and Germany, and the use of automatic (self-propelled) torpedoes. Many historians believe that this war was the first real use of these kinds of weapons and weapon platforms in combat. Thus, though not being involved in the conflict itself, this new kind of warfare was of interest to the Western powers, who stood on the sidelines, watched, and took notes.
Most of the records on the First Sino-Japanese War in the United States are in the U. S. Navy records and in the Diplomatic/Foreign Affairs records.
U. S. Navy Records - Relating to the First Sino-Japanese War
In the Navy records, most of the information on the First Sino-Japanese War can be found in Record Group 45: Records of the Office of Naval Records and Library, which are located at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
M625: U. S. Navy Area Files, 1775-1910 [Entry I-18 501] is an artificial collection of records created by the Naval History Division (now the Naval History and Heritage Command) and they are arranged by geographic regions. For the Pacific Area, you will want to use Area 10 and then look for the reels that cover July 1894 to April 1895. There are letters of naval personnel stationed in China and Korea and serving with the Asiatic Squadron describing first hand accounts of the war as it was unfolding. M625 is available on microfilm in the microfilm reading room at the National Archives in Washington, DC or it is also available on Fold3.com, a digital partner to the National Archives. Fold3.com is a subscription website. You can use Fold3.com for free at any National Archives branch, or you inquire at your local public or university library if they have an institutional account that they allow their patrons to use for free.
Entry I-18 502: Subject Files, 1775-1910 is another artificial collection of records created by the Naval History Division that is arranged by general subject. There is a list of alphabetical codes for the different subjects in Appendix I of Inventory 18. Some potential codes could be: B: Ordnance - BM: Mines and Torpedoes and BR: Armor and Armament, General; H Battles and Casualties to Ships - HA: Engagement with Enemy War Vessels and HB: Battle Casualties to Material; and O - Operations of Naval Ships and Fleet Units - ON: Strategy and Tactics and OO: Operations of Large Groups of Vessels.
In these files can be Office of Naval Intelligence reports regarding Japanese and Chinese naval tactics and strategies of battles, defenses, weaponry, ships, and in particular for their recent arrival in modern warfare automatic torpedo, or what we recognize as a torpedo today.
Another source of information from US naval sources are the journal articles from the U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings from 1894 and 1895. Both U. S. naval officers and foreign naval officers wrote articles regarding the “Chino-Japanese” war or the war between China and Japan, the terms that were used at the time. The Battle of Yalu was one of the first naval engagements with modern warships (pre-Dreadnought battleships) and post-ironclad ships. But truth be told, this battle and other naval engagements during this war, the fleets involved were a mix of vessels of various designs and armament usually centered around a few pre-Dreadnought battleships. The world was watching, taking notes, and learning from the outcomes.
An example are The Capture of Wei-Hai-Wei by unknown author USNI Proceedings Vol. 21 No. 1 January 1895 and the Battle of Yalu by Ens. Frank Marble, USN USNI Proceedings Vol. 21 No. 3 July 1895.
And at the United States Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library’s Special Collections and Archives is the Philo McGiffin Collection, 1881-2023, which includes not only materials about his experiences at the academy (Class of 1882) where he gained a reputation as a prankster, but also collections of the letters he wrote while in the employ of the Chinese Navy and his experiences in the Battle of Yalu.
U. S. Diplomatic Records - Relating to the First Sino-Japanese War
The United States had invested much time and effort into creating diplomatic and commercial ties to the Far East, so there are records from the U. S. State Department relating to China, Japan and Korea and from the U. S. Consulates located in those places. These records may not be as detailed about the war fighting as much as about the political stability of the region. China had only recovered from an internal conflict with Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), and then was defeated by the French in the Sino-French War (1884-1885). In the fluctuation, Korea was beginning to emerge as an independent state from its period of being a tribute state of China. The United States watched and the diplomats and consulates made their reports in the shifting political landscape as industrialized Japan entered the fray.
To research the First Sino-Japanese War in diplomatic and foreign affairs records, you should start with the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS).
FRUS has been digitized and is available on the National Archives website.
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894 I. Chinese-Japanese war (Documents 1–107)
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1895, Part I, China, Treaty of peace between China and Japan
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1895, Part II, Japan, Good offices to Japanese subjects in China
There are Diplomatic Despatches, RG 59, Entry A1 13, which have despatches from Diplomatic Officers from China, Japan and Korea.
There are also several series relating to Consular Despatches (Entry A1 85) for China and Japan. These series were initially made into microfilm publications, and they have been subsequently digitized and placed on the National Archives Catalog:
CHINA:
Amoy, China 1844-1906 M100
Canton, China 1790-1906 M101
Chefoo, China 1863-1906 M102
Chinkiang, China 1864-1902 M103
Fuchow, (Foochow) China 1849-1906 M105
Hankau, (Hankow) China 1861-1906 M107
Ningpo, China 1853-1896 M111
Niuchwang, (Newchwang) China 1865-1906 M115
Shanghai, China 1847-1906 M112
Swatow, China 1860-1881 M113
Tientsin, China 1868-1906 M114
JAPAN:
Nagasaki Japan 1860-1906 M131
Osaka and Hiogo (Kobe) Japan 1868-1906 M460
Yokohama Japan 1897-1906 M136
KOREA:
Seoul Korea 1886-1906 M167
There is also a special artifact, Scroll of the Battle of Yalu by an Eye Witness dated September 27, 1895, in Entry UD 65: Ceremonial Records Relating to China, 1844–1925.
The First Sino-Japanese War came to a close with Japan seizing the Korean Peninsula, Formosa (Taiwan), and Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria. The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895. Imperial China had to cede not only those regions to Japan, but also had to pay war reparations of 200 million taels of silver and enter into unequal trade agreements by opening several of their port cities to Japanese trade and manufacturing.
What had begun in the 16th Century with an assault by Medieval Japanese incursion into Korea under a Shogun attempting to force Imperial China to resume trading ended with an evolution of Japan at the end of the 19th Century. In almost 400 years, the Japanese recast themselves from being isolated from Asian markets controlled by China to a burgeoning empire with a colonial market economy at the dawn of the 20th Century, complete with a modern army and navy.
The First Sino-Japanese War taught the Western powers that a smaller nation with a large industrial base with a superior navy could take control of the lines of communication (sea lanes) and wage a successful war on land against a numerically larger land-based, but less industrialized nation.
Despite Japan’s victory over Imperial China, they had not impressed the Western Powers from meddling in Asian affairs. The Japanese control over the Liaodong Peninsula was short-lived when the Triple Intervention, composed of Russia, Germany and France, forced the Japanese government to return Liaodong Peninsula to the Chinese, but under the protection of the Russian military. The Western Powers de-emphasizing the First Sino-Japanese War as a regional conflict in part laid the foundation for the true “David vs. Goliath” conflict that was to come against Imperial Russia, which would further change the global landscape heading into the 20th Century.