Original: After victories in the First Sino-Japanese War ( 1894 -- 1895 ) and the Russo-Japanese War ( 1904 -- 1905 ) , Japan gained control of Taiwan , Korea , and the southern half of Sakhalin .
Simplified: It had wars with China and Russia : the First Sino-Japanese War , the Russo-Japanese War , and the Second Sino-Japanese War , which grew to become a part of World War 2 .