On April 17, 1895, China and Japan signed the Treaty of Maguan, in which China not only compensated a large amount of silver, but even ceded Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan. Japan was extremely excited about this, and some Japanese felt that the treaty should not be signed, and that the Japanese army should capture Beijing, sign an agreement that was more favorable to Japan, and seize more interests.
Just as the Japanese were excited, on the afternoon of April 23, Japan received an ultimatum in which it demanded that Japan return Liaodong to China within 15 days.
Why Russia, Germany and France oppose Japan
The note claims that the occupation of Liaodong by our own country today is not only a danger to the capital of China (Beijing), but also makes the independence of the Korean state in nameless and hinders the maintenance of peace in the Far East.
The countries that issued the note were Russia, Germany and France.
The ministers of the three countries were very tough in the face of the vice-minister of foreign affairs of Japan. The Russian minister even said that if Japan permanently occupied the Liaodong Peninsula, it would probably lead to conflict.
The German minister's attitude was even more offensive: Japan must make concessions, otherwise Japan would face a war between the three countries and Japan, and Japan had no hope.
The Attitude of the French Minister was relatively soft. Japanese diplomats immediately informed Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi and Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, who was recuperating from illness abroad, of the ultimatum of the three countries.
Upon hearing this, Itō Hirobumi immediately suggested that Emperor Meiji convene a pre-imperial council. Because of the suddenness of the incident, only three people attended the meeting: Ito Hirobumi, Minister of War Yamagata Aritomo, and Minister of the Navy.
At the meeting, Ito Hirobumi proposed three countermeasures:
One: categorical refusal. However, all three people at the meeting believed that not to say that the three countries, that is, one Tsarist Russia, were not opponents, and could not categorically refuse.
Second: return the Liaodong Peninsula. All three at the meeting thought it was too baggy and it seemed that Japan should be tougher.
Third: Put the Liaodong Peninsula in an international conference for discussion, delay if you can, at least don't be too shameful in face.
Akihito agrees.
On the night of April 24, Ito left Hiroshima for Mutsu's villa.
On the morning of the 25th, he sat in front of Mutsu's sickbed for a meeting with Daizo Shoji Matsukata Masayoshi and Minister of Internal Affairs Yasushi Nomura.
Mutsu's proposal to "first reject the advice of the three kingdoms, and then take countermeasures after looking at the situation" was rejected by ito Hirobumi.
Ito Hirobumi believes that the Sino-Japanese War has greatly reduced Japan's strength, and if it refuses, the three countries will really fight a big fight, and Japan will inevitably lose miserably. Not only will it spit out all the fruits, but it will also face the risk of Japan being colonized again.
Mutsu listened and said that there would be only one, and the international conference could not be held. If an agreement between China and Japan is opened and put before the international powers, the agreements on indemnities and land cession are likely to be yellowed by them.
In the face of the three major powers, Japan still wanted to find help from Britain, the world's largest power at that time, but Britain did not want to offend the three countries, and told Japan: Listen to my advice, you will obey!
Japan had no choice but to comply with the ultimatum of the three countries. But the Japanese are deeply ashamed and weak to the three countries, while They are unusually tough on China. In the end, it knocked out thirty million taels of silver in China.
Why did the Three Kingdoms help China to get Liaodong?
The reason why Tsarist Russia persecuted Japan was simple: it had always wanted to annex our northeast, and Japan, which had just emerged from the danger of colonization, had not yet entered its eyes. Therefore, in order to force Japan to return to Liaodong, the Russian army prepared to enter East Asia in a big way.
German Emperor Wilhelm II has long wanted to invade East Asia, and this time helping Tsarist Russia is a good opportunity. At the same time, in 1892, the alliance between Russia and France, as a feud between France, Germany naturally either allied with other countries or broke up the Franco-Russian alliance. To this end, it also echoed Tsarist Russia.
After France obtained Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the Indochina Peninsula, it once wanted to seize Taiwan in the Sino-French War, but today Taiwan has been seized by Japan, and its heart is very angry. Seeing that Tsarist Russia was deliberately interfering, he immediately rushed up.
After receiving the ultimatum, Japan immediately ordered the intelligence agencies to quickly investigate the attitude of various countries. Japanese diplomatic and intelligence officials immediately concluded that Britain refused to join the Tsarist side of the Organization, but would not help Japan. The United States will continue to follow Britain's policy and will not help Japan.
François Fili Fowl (1841-1899), sixth President of the French Third Republic (1895-1899). During his tenure, he reconciled with Russia due to diplomatic conflicts with Britain.
Japan's strength is too far from that of the three countries
Tsarist Russia naturally needless to say.
Although Germany, like Japan and the United States, is an emerging imperialist country, Germany is the first of the three countries to rise.
After the Franco-Prussian War, which began on 19 July 1870, the French Emperor Napoleon III and his 100,000 French troops surrendered to Prussia on 2 September, after which Prussia entered France.
On January 18, 1871, King William I of Prussia was crowned emperor at the Palace of Versailles in France, establishing the German Empire, marking the official establishment of Germany. As a result, Germany rose.
The United States was the second rising imperialist power, and in 1898 it defeated Spain, one of Europe's old colonial empires and one of the old powers, and that year, the United States began to rise in the world.
In 1899, the United States, which was the last to participate in the invasion and division of China's interests, quickly put forward the "open door policy" and formally participated in the division of China as a world power.
Japan's influence in 1895 was worse than that of the United States, which was not a major power with world influence, but was already a regional power in the Americas and the first power in the entire Americas. Japan is only a regional power. In the face of the three world-wide new and old empires of Russia, Germany and France, Japan was timid.
The struggle between the great powers is actually a dog biting a dog. Japan is still thinner than the European and American powers, and he can only temporarily tolerate it, slowly bullying China and Korea, and using the money from the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War to enrich and strengthen himself.
As a result, ten years later, Japan and Britain formed an alliance and defeated Tsarist Russia in 1904.