🏭 China
Germany held a naval base at Tsingtao (Qingdao) in Shandong province. The Japanese army, helped by a small British force, besieged it, and it fell on 7 November 1914. Japan now held Germany's rights in Shandong.
An Emerging Power, 1895-1919 » Japan, the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B3, Key topic 3
- How Japan used the First World War to take German bases in China and the Pacific
- What the Twenty-One Demands of 1915 asked of China
- What Japan gained, and what it was refused, at the Treaty of Versailles (1919)
- How all this completed Japan's rise as a power between 1895 and 1919
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Unlock This CourseJapan joins the war, 1914
When the First World War began in Europe in 1914, Japan was allied to Britain through the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902. Britain asked for help against German warships in the Pacific. Japan gave Germany an ultimatum on 15 August and declared war on 23 August 1914. Japan's leaders also saw a chance: the European powers were busy fighting each other, so they could not easily stop Japan growing stronger in Asia.
Key terms:
- Mandate: territory taken from a defeated country after the war and run by another country on behalf of the League of Nations.
🏝 The Pacific
In October 1914 the Japanese navy seized German-held islands north of the equator, including the Marshall, Caroline and Mariana islands. Later, in 1917, Japanese destroyers helped to escort Allied ships in the Mediterranean.
The war also helped Japan's economy. Allied countries needed ships and supplies, and Asian markets lost their European suppliers. Japanese exports and factories boomed, and Japan changed from a debtor into a lender to other nations.
The Twenty-One Demands, 1915
In January 1915 Japan's government gave China a list of Twenty-One Demands, in five groups. China was weak, and its government was led by Yuan Shikai. The main demands were:
- China should accept Japan taking over Germany's rights in Shandong.
- Japan's leases at Port Arthur and on the South Manchurian Railway should be extended to 99 years, and Japan should get more rights in Manchuria.
- Group 5, which was kept secret at first, asked China to employ Japanese advisers and to share control of its police. This would have made China close to a Japanese dependency.
China leaked the secret group, and Britain and the USA protested. Japan dropped Group 5 but sent an ultimatum, and China gave in during May 1915. Many Chinese people were angry. They boycotted Japanese goods, and China's anger at Japan grew from here.
The Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Japan sat at the peace conference in Paris as one of the five great powers, a sign of how far it had come since 1853. It won two things:
- Germany's rights in Shandong, which the treaty handed to Japan, not back to China.
- Mandates over the former German islands in the north Pacific.
But Japan lost one battle. Its delegate, Makino Nobuaki, proposed adding a statement of racial equality to the League of Nations Covenant. Japanese people met racism in the West, for example in the USA and Australia, where Japanese migrants faced restrictions. A majority of the delegates voted for it in April 1919, but the chairman, US President Woodrow Wilson, ruled that such a big change needed everyone to agree. Britain and Australia were among its opponents, so it failed. Many Japanese felt insulted that the West still treated them as unequal.
China refused to sign the treaty because of Shandong, and protests broke out in Beijing on 4 May 1919. Japan later agreed to return Shandong to China in 1922.
Japan's rise, 1895-1919
💪 What changed
In 1853 Japan was forced to open its ports. By 1919 it had colonies in Taiwan and Korea, a lease in southern Manchuria, mandated islands, a British alliance, and a seat among the great powers.
⚠️ What stayed the same
The West still did not treat Japan as an equal, as the failed racial equality proposal showed. China's resentment, and Japan's wish for more land and resources, also created problems for the future.
Common mistakes
- Saying Japan fought a big war in Europe. Its main actions were in China and the Pacific, plus naval help.
- Saying Japan lost at Versailles. It gained Shandong and the islands, but its racial equality proposal failed.
- Writing only about gains. A change question also needs limits and continuity.
Exam-style question
Remember that Japan won Taiwan and an indemnity of 200 million taels from China in 1895, and in 1905 it won the lease of Port Arthur and southern Sakhalin from Russia.
How significant was war in Japan's rise as a world power in the years 1894-1919? [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
- the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
- the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)
You must also use information of your own.
Model answer
War was the most significant single factor in Japan's rise, because each war added land, money or respect, but it worked alongside alliances and industry.
The Sino-Japanese War shows war's importance. Japan beat China, then seen as the main Asian power, and the Treaty of Shimonoseki gave it Taiwan and a large indemnity. This showed the world that Meiji modernisation had worked. The Russo-Japanese War did the same on a bigger scale. Japan defeated a European great power, took over Russia's lease of Port Arthur, and gained southern Sakhalin. It then made Korea a protectorate in 1905 and annexed it in 1910. Japan won its first colonies and a base on the mainland through war.
The First World War added more. Japan took Tsingtao and the German islands, and in 1915 used China's weakness to press the Twenty-One Demands. Japan dropped the secret Group 5 after Britain and the USA protested, but China still gave in to an ultimatum, which showed how far Japan's power over its neighbour had grown. At Versailles it kept Shandong, received mandates and sat as one of the five great powers. The war also boomed its exports, and Japan became a lender to other nations.
However, war was not the only reason. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 helped Japan, since a link with Britain meant other powers treated it seriously. Japan's rapid industry, shown by cotton mills, shipbuilding and steel, paid for its armies and ships, so it was a cause of the victories, not just a result. War also had limits. Russia paid no indemnity in 1905, which caused riots in Tokyo, and the war left many Japanese feeling that the peace had given too little. The racial equality proposal failed in 1919, so Japan was still not treated as an equal.
Overall, war was the key factor in winning territory and status, but it depended on industry and alliances, so the best explanation is that modernisation made victory possible and war then turned it into power.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers several aspects (wars, alliance, industry, limits), uses points beyond the bullets, and ends with a judgement that weighs war against other factors.
Exam tip
For "how significant" questions, argue for the named factor, then weigh it against at least one other factor, and finish by saying what you are judging significance by, such as "what it gained Japan".