First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War (, ; 1 August 1894–17 April 1895) was a war between the Qing dynasty and the Empire of Japan. After it won the war, Japan signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with China in 1895.

 Comparison of military powers 

Commanders of the Qing Dynasty
 Li Hongzhang
 Ding Ruchang
Strength
 630,000 men = the Beiyang Fleet
Major Battleships

Dingyuan 
Zhenyuan 
King Yuen
Lai Yuen
Chih Yuen
Ching Yuen 
Tsi Yuen
Kuang Ping
Chaoyong
Yangwei 
Pingyuan 
Kwan Chia center|250px
Commanders of the Empire of Japan
 Yamagata Aritomo
 Itoh Sukeyuki
Strength
 240,000 men = the Imperial Japanese Navy
Major Battleships

Matsushima 
Itsukushima 
Hashidate 
Naniwa 
Takachiho 
Yaeyama 
Akitsushima 
Yoshino 
Izumi 
Chiyoda 
Hiei 
Kongō 
Fusō 

 Status of Chinese fleets 

China had 65 warships before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War. They were divided into four fleets (Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, the Guangdong Fleet and the Fujian Fleet). Only the Beiyang Fleet participated in the war. To save their ships, the other fleets' commanders did not join the war.

The Beiyang Fleet had 25 warships. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the most powerful warships in the fleet and were made in Germany. Dingyuan had 6,000 horsepower and displaced 7,670 tons loaded. Some other Beiyang ships were made in Britain. Nevertheless, as Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to build a grand garden, she embezzled money that had been allocated for further expanding the Beiyang Fleet. That meant that the commanders did not have enough money to buy the latest weapons for the fleet. Most of the warships in the fleet were not well equipped before the war.

 Status of Japanese fleets 
There were 240,616 soldiers who could be mobilized in Japan before the outbreak of the war. Also, there were 32 battleships and 24 torpedo boats in the Imperial Japanese Navy. All of them had the latest and the newest weapons.

 Main battles 
230px|right|thumb|First Sino-Japanese War, major battles and troop movements

Battle of the Yalu River

On 17 September 1894, the Beiyang Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy fought at the Yalu River, the border between China and Korea. During the battle, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet was Ding Ruchang, originally a cavalryman, and Sukeyuki Ito was the commander of Japanese fleet. The battle lasted five hours. Finally, four battleships of the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed, and 1,000 soldiers were killed. Only one battleship was lost by the Japanese. The commander of the Beiyang Fleet retreated to the port of Lushun.

Battle of Lushunkou

On 17 September 1894, the Japanese armies occupied the fortresses with powerful cannons and cities in Lushun and Dalian. The Japanese troops entered the cities and killed 20,000 Chinese civilians within four days. The incident was historically called the Port Arthur massacre.

Battle of Weihaiwei

In January 1895, the Japanese armies invaded Weihaiwei. The Beiyang Fleet was fairly defeated, and 11 battleships of the team were seized.

Other websites
 Video footage of a naval battle during the war

Category:1894
Category:1895
Category:1890s in Asia
Category:History of Korea
Category:History of Taiwan
Category:Wars involving China
Category:Wars involving Japan
Category:19th-century conflicts
Category:19th century in Japan
Category:19th century in China