THE FIRST SINOJAPANESE WAR IN THE

LATE 19th CENTURY

GROUP 10
BIBI ZURA ROYHAN BINTI ABDULLAH

D20141067505

AHMAD TANG BIN BAKRI

D20141067512

JASMAN BIN SINENG

D20141067513

FATIN SYAFIRAH BINTI JAMIL

D20141067514
MUHAMMAD QIWAMUDDIN ALIF BIN MAHAMAD NAJIB

D20141067520

INTRODUCTION
The war was over control of Korea that took place in 18941895.
The war was a turning point for China. The war shattered
any basis for Chinas tenacious sense of unbreachable
superiority and forced a Chinese reappraisal of their place
in the world. Defeat by Japan, a member of the Confucian
world, did this much more decisively than any western
defeat. This was because defeat at the hands of an alien
civilization, could be discounted whereas defeat by a
member of the Confucian order could not .
Reference:
S. C. M. Paine, The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions,
Power and Primacy, Cambridge University Press, 2003, Pages 5.

CAUSES OF WAR
The Tonghak Rebellion.
A demonstration occurred in 1893, due to peasant disapproval of the
Korean government specifically the Yangbans involvement with
foreign powers.
The Tientsin Convention.
Tonghak began their rebellion which soon spread throughout the country,
threatening the
intervention.

capital

itself.

Consequently,

Seoul

pleaded

for

Chinese

Japan however was clearly procrastinating over the evacuation troops from
Chemulpo, having from the outside regarded the Tonghak Rebellion as an excellent
excuse for interventionChina hoped for the mediation of foreign powers would
prevent it but the US took a clearly pro-Japanese stance.

Reference:
Piotr Olender.(2014).
Publication. Pages 17.

Sino-Japanese

Naval

War

1894-1895.Poland:Mushroom

John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reishauer, Albert M. Craig. (1973). East Asia Tradition
and Transformation. Harvard University, pages 553.

Why Japan wanted a war?

Korea, the dagger pointed of the heart of Japan.
A foreign power actually in control of Korea, if aggressively inclined,
would be able to threaten seriously the integrity and the peace of Japan.
Her position as suzerain had long nominal rather than real, and had not
been utilized to enable her to dictate the internal arrangement of the
Korean state. Chinas nominal control of Korea cannot be considered
immediately to have menaced the safety of Japan, there is more
substance to the Japanese argument that internal conditions in Korea
made her a nuisance. The state of unrest in Korea directly invited
continual interference from the outside by stronger Powers than Japan
and China.
the Russian expansion to the Pacific had already brought her into
contact with Japan in such a way as to awaken the Japanese government
to the danger of allowing Russia to establish herself as close to the
Japanese islands as Korea. In 1884 Russia had revealed her interest in
that country by undertaking a reform of the Korean army.
Reference:
Harold M. Vinacke. (1960). A History of The Far East In Modern Times 2 nd
Edition. New York. Pages 137.

Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on April 17th, 1895 deeming Japan the
winner of The Sino-Japanese War. This treaty held many terms in which China
was forced to agree too. For starters, China was to acknowledge Koreas
independence, in which it had previously held control over. China was then to
cede Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula, Port Arthur and the Pescadores Islands to
Japan. It was then to open the ports of Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shashi, and
Suzhou to Japanese trade. Finally, China was to pay an indemnity of 200 million
taels to Japan.
A week later, however, France, Germany, and Russia demanded that Japan
relinquish Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsula back to China. Japan
agreed and gave them back, but China had to pay an additional indemnity for
this to happen.
Reference:
Harold M. Vinacke. (1960). A History of The Far East In Modern Times 2nd
Edition. New York. Pages 142.
John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reishauer, Albert M. Craig. (1973). East Asia
Tradition and Transformation. Harvard University.Pages 554.

CONCLUSION
The war finally came to an end on April 17th, 1895 when China was forced
to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki concluding in Japans victory. The
aftermath of the war hit China hard. The Chinese were defeated by a
country they had always looked down upon and virtually opened
themselves to any foreign exploitation. Contrary wise, the war obviously
had a positive effect on Japan, allowing them to be seen as a newer,
greater power. A key role in Japans success in this war was their opening
to western influence. It was because of all the new technology and war
tactics that Japan triumphed and China failed. Through this, Japan hoped
that other Asian countries would learn that modernization was not as bad
as they thought; and if they sought respect and status throughout the
world, they would need to accept western influence. Not only did the war
have a great effect on its main participants, but the aftermath had
International implications as well as it greatly effected Korea and Russia.