page_title: Anglo-Japanese Alliance
section_title: Effects
hierarchical_section_title: Anglo-Japanese Alliance / Effects
caption_attribution_description: Japanese battleship Nisshin in Malta. 1919. Public Domain.
context_page_description: The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British foreign secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A diplomatic milestone that saw an end to Britain's splendid isolation, the alliance was renewed and expanded in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921 and termination in 1923. The main threat for both sides was from Russia. The threat of war with Britain prevented France from joining its ally Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. However, it angered the United States and some British dominions, which were hostile to Japan.
context_section_description: The alliance was announced on 12 February 1902. In response, Russia sought to form alliances with France and Germany, which Germany declined. On 16 March 1902, a mutual pact was signed between France and Russia. China and the United States were strongly opposed to the alliance. Nevertheless, the nature of the Anglo-Japanese alliance meant that France was unable to come to Russia's aid in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 as this would have meant going to war with Britain.
  The alliance's provisions for mutual defence prompted Japan to enter the First World War on the British side, to overrun German colonies in China and the Pacific. Japan attacked the German base at Tsingtao in 1914 and forced the Germans to surrender (see Siege of Tsingtao). Japanese officers aboard British warships were casualties at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. In 1917, Japanese warships were sent to the Mediterranean and assisted in the protection of allied shipping near Malta from U-boat attacks. A memorial at the Kalkara Naval Cemetery in Malta is dedicated to the 72 Japanese sailors who died in the conflict. The Treaty also made possible the Japanese seizure of German possessions in the Pacific north of the equator during the First World War, a huge boon to Japan's imperial interests.
  The alliance formed the basis for positive trading and cultural exchanges between Britain and Japan. Rapid industrialisation and the development of the Japanese armed forces provided significant new export opportunities for British shipyards and arms manufacturers.  Japanese educated in Britain were also able to bring new technology to Japan, such as advances in ophthalmology. British artists of the time such as James McNeill Whistler, Aubrey Beardsley and Charles Rennie Mackintosh were heavily inspired by Japanese kimono, swords, crafts and architecture.
caption: Japanese armoured cruiser Nisshin of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in the Mediterranean (Malta, 1919).
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