The Sino Japanese War at Sea

Posted by Christopher Eger Jan 9, 2007

The 19th Century was a curious time for the Pacific rim. The old empires of Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Imperial Japan, recently modernized by western infulence and arms dealers, were set on a traditional age old collision course over control of Korea. This lead ultimately to the The Sino–Japanese War (known in china as Zhongrì Jiawu Zhànzheng; and Japan as Romaji: Nisshin Senso). Fought between August 1894 – April 1895 the Sino-Japanese War exposed the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing Dynasty and demonstrated how successful westernization and modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with the Self-Strengthening Movement in China. The principal results were a shift in regional dominance in Asia from China to Japan and a fatal blow to the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese classical tradition. The western world, especially Tsarist Russia, neglected these lessons and placed itself on a path that led to the Russo Japanese war ten years later.

The war was fought on land however it was decided at sea, with the Battle of the Yalu River in 1894 being pivotal. It was the first naval engagement between all big gunned steel battleships with steel guns. Oddly enough, both sides had American naval advisors on board. One even wound up in a command position and was the first American to command a modern battleship in wartime