First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (Chinese: 中日甲午戰爭, Japanese: 日清戦争; 1 August 1894–17 April 1895) was a war between the Qing Dynasty and the Empire of Japan. Finally, the Empire of Japan won the war. They signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.
| First Sino-Japanese War | |||||||||
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 First Sino-Japanese War, major battles and troop movements | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Qing Empire |
 Empire of Japan | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Guangxu Emperor Li Hongzhang Ding Ruchang † Deng Shichang † |
Emperor Meiji Yamagata Aritomo Itō Sukeyuki | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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630,000 men Beiyang Army Beiyang Navy |
240,000 men Imperial Japanese Army Imperial Japanese Navy | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 35,000 dead or wounded |
1,132 dead, 3,973 wounded 11,894 died of disease | ||||||||
Comparison of the Military Power
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Status of Chinese Fleets
China had 65 warships before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War. They were divided into four fleets (Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, the Guangdong Fleet and the Fujian Fleet). Only the Beiyang Fleet participated in the war. In order to save their ships, the other fleets' commanders did not join the war.
In the Beiyang Fleet, there were 25 warships. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the most powerful warships in the fleet. They were made in Germany. Dingyuan had 6,000 horsepower and displaced 7,670 tons loaded. Nevertheless, as Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to build a grand garden she embezzled the money originally allocated for expanding the Beiyang Fleet, the commanders did not have enough money to buy the latest weapons for the fleet. Most of the warships in the fleet were not well equipped before joining the war.
Status of Japanese Fleets
There were totally 240,616 soldiers could be mobilized in Japan before the outbreak of the war. Also, there were 32 battleships and 24 torpedo boats in the Imperial Japanese Navy. All of them had the latest, and newest weapons.
Main Battles During the War
1. Battle of the Yalu River
On 17 September 1894, the Beiyang Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy fought at the Yalu River, the border between China and Korea. In this battle, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet was Ding Ruchang, originally a cavalryman, and Sukeyuki Ito was the commander of Japanese fleet. The battle lasted 5 hours. Finally, 4 battleships of the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed and 1,000 soldiers were killed. Only 1 battleship was lost in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The commander of the Beiyang Fleet retreated to the port of Lushun.
2. Battle of Lushunkou
On 17 September 1894, the Japanese armies occupied the fortresses with powerful cannons and cities in Lushun and Dalian. The Japanese troops entered the cities and killed 20,000 Chinese civilians within 4 days. This incident was historically called Port Arthur massacre.
3. Battle of Weihaiwei
In January 1895, the Japanese armies invaded Weihaiwei. The Beiyang Fleet was fairly defeated. 11 battleships of the team was seized.
First Sino-Japanese War Media
Imperial standard of the Qing Emperors of China
Caricature about the dispute between China, Japan and Russia over Korea, published in the first edition of Tôbaé, 1887
Woodblock print depicting the flight of the Japanese legation in 1882
Kim Ok-gyun photographed in Nagasaki in 1882. His assassination in China would contribute to tensions leading to the First Sino-Japanese War.
Itō Sukeyuki, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet
The French-built Matsushima, flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War
Wu Dacheng organiser of the lacklustre Manchurian army who fled during the battle of Yingkou.
Empress Dowager Cixi built the Chinese navy in 1888.
Dingyuan, the flagship of the Beiyang Fleet
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