The First Sino Japanese War

The Japanese government had always had nationalist ideas of expansion, and were determined to conquer territory on the Asian mainland. The Sino-Japanese War was not the first attempt at invading their closest neighbouring country of Korea; during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), Japan’s Tokugawa Shogunate government attempted to defeat Korea by invading the peninsula in 1593, which turned out not to be a victory as Japan was not economically or militarily strong enough. By the 1850’s, Japan’s population was rapidly increasing, and the influence of western societies had led to modernisation. The Tokugawa government was falling apart, and Japan was seeking expansion onto the mainland, which resulted in a demand for war.    

Rather than a series of random events, the build-up during the 1870’s and 1880’s which lead up to the first Sino-Japanese war was more a series of carefully planned moves by Japan to lead China into the war as a part of a successful economic and territorial program, the Meiji Restoration. Halliday, J (1975) stated, “It is no accident that Korea, Japan’s nearest geographical neighbour, was the first object of Meiji Japan’s expansionism,” which is certainly true; Japan was interested in Korea for the supply of raw materials for their developing industries, and for land and food for their rapid growing population. Geographically Korea was also positioned perfectly for Japan; it could provide a bridge to attack both China and Russia, gaining support for the government. The most nationalist and aggressive Japanese leaders, such as Itagaki and Saigo, demanded war instantly, and in 1873 they obtained permission to send a military expedition to Korea. However, this attack strategy was abandoned because of opposition from the individuals returning from the Iwakura mission, which was an expedition in 1871 to study the West to attempt to obtain treaty revision. The members of the Iwakura mission believed that their plan was more important; internal...