Test Your KnowledgeCounts towards your progress stats Flash Cards16 cards for this lesson

An Emerging Power, 1895-1919 » The Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B3, Key topic 3

Why Japan and China went to war in 1894 and how Japan won
What Japan gained from the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and why the Triple Intervention was a blow
What part Japan played in putting down the Boxer Rebellion in 1900
How Japan's position in the world had changed by 1901

🔒 Unlock Full Course Content

Unlock This Course

War with China, 1894-95

By the 1890s Japan had a modern army, a modern navy and a growing industry. Its leaders now wanted to be treated as an equal by the Western powers. One place they looked was Korea, a kingdom just across the sea. Korea was weak, and its neighbour China claimed influence over it. Japan feared that if Korea fell under China, or under a Western power, Japan itself would be in danger.

Key terms:

Indemnity: a large sum of money that a defeated country has to pay to the winner.
Colony: a territory ruled by another country.
Triple Intervention: the joint demand of Russia, France and Germany in 1895 that Japan give up part of what it had won from China.
Legations: the embassies of foreign countries in a capital city.

In 1894 a rising of poor farmers in Korea (the Tonghak rising) led both China and Japan to send troops. The two armies stayed, and in August 1894 war was declared. China was much bigger, but Japan's forces were better trained and better supplied. Japan won on land at Pyongyang and at sea in the Battle of the Yalu (both in September 1894). Its army then took Port Arthur, a fortress on the Liaodong peninsula, in November 1894, and Weihaiwei in February 1895. China asked for peace.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895

The peace treaty was signed at Shimonoseki in April 1895. Its main terms were:

🎌 Korea

China recognised Korea as fully independent. This ended China's claim over Korea, which left Japan free to increase its own influence there.

🗺 Land

China handed over Taiwan, the nearby Pescadores islands and the Liaodong peninsula. Taiwan became Japan's first colony and stayed under Japanese rule until 1945.

💰 Money

China had to pay an indemnity of 200 million taels of silver. Much of it was spent on Japan's army, navy and industry.

⚓ Trade

China opened more ports to Japanese trade. Japan, which had suffered under unequal treaties itself, now enjoyed trading rights in China.

The war also changed how the world saw Japan. In 1894, just before the fighting, Britain had agreed to give up its special legal rights for British people in Japan (this took effect in 1899). Japan's quick victory over China made it harder for other powers to treat it as a lesser country.

The Triple Intervention

Within days of the treaty, Russia, France and Germany told Japan to give back the Liaodong peninsula. Russia was the most concerned: it wanted a warm-water port of its own in the area. The three powers had strong navies, and Japan was not ready to fight them. It gave in, and China paid an extra 30 million taels in return.

The Japanese public was angry. They felt the Western powers still treated Japan as a second-class country. Worse, in 1898 Russia took a lease on Port Arthur, the very fortress Japan had been forced to give up. In the same years Germany took Jiaozhou Bay, and Britain took Weihaiwei. Japan learned two lessons: it needed to be stronger still, and it needed to work with some Western powers. (The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the clash with Russia are covered in the lesson on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the Russo-Japanese War and Korea.)

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900

By 1900 many Chinese people were angry at the foreign powers and at Christian missionaries. A secret society, nicknamed the Boxers, began in northern China and attacked missionaries, Chinese Christians and foreigners. The Qing government, led by the Empress Dowager Cixi, gave them its support.

In June 1900 a Japanese embassy official, Sugiyama Akira, and the German minister, Clemens von Ketteler, were killed in Beijing.
The Boxers and Qing troops then besieged the legations in Beijing, with foreigners and Chinese Christians sheltering inside.

Eight countries sent troops: Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the USA, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Japan. Japan was close to China and could send soldiers quickly. Its force of around 20,000 men was the largest. The relief force took Tianjin in July and reached Beijing on 14 August 1900, ending the siege. Japanese soldiers were praised for being well disciplined.

The Boxer Protocol of September 1901 made China pay a huge indemnity and allowed foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing. Japan took a share of the money and the right to keep troops there.

Why it mattered for Japan

In the 1850s Japan had been forced to sign treaties by Western warships. In 1900 its soldiers fought alongside Western soldiers, and Japan helped to make the settlement. It was now accepted as one of the great powers of East Asia.

Change and continuity

Change: In 1858 Japan was a weak country forced into unequal treaties. By 1901 it had beaten China, held a colony of its own, collected an indemnity and sent the biggest force to help the Western powers in China.

Continuity: Western powers still did not treat Japan as a full equal. The Triple Intervention of 1895 showed that Russia, France and Germany could still force Japan to give way.

Common mistakes

Saying Japan kept the Liaodong peninsula. It won it in 1895 but had to give it back after the Triple Intervention.
Mixing up the two wars. The Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) was against China; the war against Russia came later.
Saying Japan put down the Boxers alone. It was one of eight countries, though it sent the largest force.

Exam-style question

Explain TWO ways in which Japan's position in the world in 1901 was different from its position in 1858. [6 marks]

Model answer

In 1858 Japan had been forced by the USA to sign an unequal treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which gave American citizens extraterritoriality and set low tariffs on foreign goods. By 1901 Japan was the one gaining from a treaty. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) it took Taiwan as a colony and an indemnity of 200 million taels from China, and it won trading rights in Chinese ports. So Japan had gone from being the weaker side in treaties to the stronger.

In 1858 Japan took no part in events outside its own islands, whereas in 1900-01 it sent around 20,000 soldiers, the largest force, to help put down the Boxer Rebellion with Britain, the USA and other powers. Japan then shared in the Boxer Protocol of 1901. This shows that Japan was treated as one of the great powers, not as a country to be pushed around.

What lifts this to the top level: each way compares both dates directly and uses precise facts about both 1858 and 1901.

Exam tip

Use the pattern "In 1858 ... whereas by 1901 ...". A fact about only one date cannot show a difference, and a single way scores no more than 3 marks.

Test Your Knowledge