The Sino-Japanese War

•Learning Objective: To discuss the consequences for Japan and the region of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

Starter

• Here’s ten events from the higher level course so far.

• Put them in chronological order• It is a race but be accurate as well!

Causes of the War • The war started in the Seoul area of

modern South Korea • China and Japan had the right to send

troops to Korea under the Tientsin Convention of 1885

• A rebellion broke out in Korea in 1894, - the Tonghak Rebellion.

• Japan used this as a pretext to start a war with China in Korea

Conduct of War

• Fought at land and see• Japanese suffer surprisingly few

casualties in comparison to Chinese

• Conflict spreads to mainland China• Conflict spreads to island of

Formosa/Taiwan

Culmination

• The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on 17 April 17,1895

Historiography• Sarah Paine:

http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/eng/news/no10/enews10-essay2.html

• John Dower: http://mit.edu/jdower/www

• See class blog for quikscanned versions

• The following statements and concepQuestions are based on Paine’s lecture (link above)

• Ostensibly the Sino-Japanese War was a conflict between Japan and China for dominance over China's tributary, Korea. This statement implies:

A) the war was fought over control of Korea

B) the war was fought for another reason entirely

C) the reason for the war given at the time was over Korea but this was only a surface explanation and there was another deeper reason

D) None of the above/something else

• “In reality, it was a Japanese attempt to preempt Russian expansion down the Korean Peninsula to threaten Japan. (1904-1905).” This means?

A) The real reason behind the war was Japanese internal problems

B) The real reason behind the war was Japanese desire for an empire

C) The real reason behind the war was the Japanese wanted to stop the Russian empire expanding into Korea and therefore threatening Japan

D) None of the above

• “It was also the first of a two limited wars in pursuit of an overarching policy objective: Japanese policymakers believed that dominance over the Korean Peninsula by any great power would directly threaten their national security. “ Based on this it is logical to assume that?

A) Dominance of the Korean peninsula would be a key part of Japanese foreign policy

B) Japan would be prepared to engage other powers over the Korean peninsula

C) Both A and B

• “They sought to protect Japan first by expelling China in the Sino-Japanese War and, then a decade later, by expelling Russia from both Korea and southern Manchuria in the Russo-Japanese War .”

• This states that the primary motivation for Japanese involvement in both Korea and Manchuria (later) was to?

A) Build an empire

B) Protect Japan

C) Both A and B

Effects on Japan and the Region of Victory

Effects/Consequences

• For the purposes of the lesson we will divide these into geo-political and social-cultural effects on the region and Japan itself. These divisions are arbitrary (and not even 100% accurate) so feel free to indentify issues with them and reclassify

TOK Link/Of Value?

The woodblock prints shown on the Visualizing Cultures site were created by popular artists who never actually saw the fighting. What value (if any) could they have for historians (and IB History students)?

Portrayals

• How are the Japanese portrayed in contrast to the Chinese in the woodblock prints?

• What does this imply about the effects of victory on Japanese culture?

Visualizing Cultures

• A superb resource for IB Higher Level students from MIT

• http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/visnav_ii_c.html

Socio-Cultural Impacts (from the class)

• Ideological basis for future Japanese imperial expansion

• Feeling of racial superiority to other Asian nations

• Feeling of equality with Western IMPERIAL nations eg: Alliance with Great Britain of 1902

• Japanese modernity and westernization seen as superior to traditional Asian culture

Geo-Political Impacts (more next lesson)

• Beginnings of a Japanese empire i) Korea ii) Taiwan

• Asian history intersects with future world history

• Tension begins to rise between Russia and Japan which will culminate in Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (next lesson)

Homework

• Reading on Russo-Japanese War