In February 1894, dissatisfied with the government's corruption and exploitation of the people, Jeon Woo-joon, the leader of the Donggak Party in Jeolla Province, Korea, led an uprising. In order to suppress the peasant revolt, the Li government requested the Qing court to quickly send troops into the country. On June 5, the Qing Emperor issued a decree approving the dispatch of troops. Earlier, on June 2, Japan held an emergency cabinet meeting and passed foreign minister Mutsu Munemitsu's invasion of Korea. On the 5th, the emperor issued an edict to form a mixed brigade into the DPRK. On the 16th, without the consent of the Korean government, the Japanese Army and Navy completed the landing at Inchon.
At this time, the North Korean government signed the Jeonju Peace Treaty with the Dongxue rebel army, and the civil unrest in Korea had subsided. So China proposed that China and Japan withdraw their troops at the same time. However, the Japanese ignored it and marched on Seoul (present-day Seoul). On July 12, the Japanese cabinet met again and finalized the policy of going to war with China.
On July 19 and July 20, Minister Ōtori sent a note to the North Korean government, demanding that the DPRK build barracks for the Japanese army and forcing the DPRK to issue a declaration repealing all the covenants between China and the DPRK. On July 23, Japanese troops suddenly surrounded the Joseon Dynasty Palace, detained the Korean king and Concubine Min, and brought them out of the compound to "govern" and forced them to use pro-Japanese officials. On July 25, according to the will of the Japanese, the pro-Japanese government of Korea declared "independence", broke away from tributary relations with China, abrogated previous treaties with China, and authorized Japan to expel Chinese troops in Korea. On this day, the Japanese Navy sneaked up on Chinese troop carriers in the sea off Toshima, the "Guangyi" ship was sunk, the "Jiyuan" ship was wounded, and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out.
On the same day that the Battle of Toshima broke out, more than 3,000 Japanese mixed brigades, led by Major General Oshima, attacked the Qing army's Asan garrison in two ways, and occupied Asan a few days later. The Japanese Navy and Army fought undeclared war on the same day, and on July 28, the Qing government was forced to declare a break with Japan. On August 1, the Qing Emperor issued an edict declaring war on Japan. On the same day, Emperor Meiji also issued an edict declaring war.
Due to the corruption and incompetence of the Qing court, the Qing army in Korea suffered a crushing defeat in only one month. At the same time as the land battle was lost, the Chinese Navy was also extremely unsuccessful in combat. At that time, the Beiyang Naval Division had 10 warships of more than 1,000 tons, 6 warships of the Nanyang Naval Division, and 3 warships of the Guangdong Naval Division, for a total of 19 warships. In terms of naval strength, it is not inferior to the Japanese navy. However, the Chinese Navy was lax in discipline, lacked training, and lacked actual combat experience. In addition, they were constrained by the officials of the imperial court, the dispatching and command failed, and the action was blind, resulting in the delay of the fighter and the disastrous defeat.
On September 17, the Sino-Japanese navies went to war in the Yellow Sea. Although Ding Ruchang, Deng Shichang, Lin Yongsheng and other commanders and subordinate officers and men fought bravely and died, the Beiyang Marine Division eventually lost 5 warships, killed more than 600 people, and was defeated.
After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Qing court began to plan a strike and seek peace, and asked the Western powers to mediate. However, the Japanese did not accept "mediation" at all and attacked Liaodong in October. At the beginning of November, jinzhou, Dalian bay, Lushun and other important towns fell one after another.
After the Japanese army captured Lushun, it created a horrific massacre. The massacre lasted 5 days from November 21 to November 25. According to historical records, only 600 to 700 people survived in a City of Lushun with a population of more than 20,000, and [inset] about 20,000 innocent people died under the butcher's knife of the Japanese invading army.
The Sino-Japanese War ended in China's defeat. On April 17, 1895, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Maguan with Japan. The main contents of the treaty were: (1) China relinquished its suzerainty status over Korea; (2) China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan Island, and all its affiliated islands and the Penghu Archipelago to Japan (later due to the intervention of Russia, Germany, and France, the Liaodong Peninsula was not ceded, but China had to pay a ransom of 30 million taels of silver); (3) China "compensated" Japan for 200 million taels of silver in military expenses; (4) opened Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as treaty ports; (5) Japanese subjects could operate manufacturing in China's trade ports, and their products were exempted from miscellaneous taxes; (6) the Japanese army temporarily occupied Weihaiwei until all the reparations were paid. The Treaty of Maguan was the most unequal treaty since the Treaty of Nanking. The huge reparations increased the burden on the Chinese people, and at the same time accelerated the development of Japanese militarism. Since then, the basic relationship between Aggression and Aggression between China and Japan has become clearer and clearer.
The Treaty of Maguan caused China to lose Taiwan, and it provoked a strong reaction. In Beijing, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and others who jointly participated in the examination issued the "Letter of the Emperor shang", vigorously demonstrating the danger of cutting off the land, and putting forward the idea of "changing the law into the rule of the world", which is the famous "book on the bus". The people of Taiwan also protested against the Qing government's cession of Taiwan with such actions as a strike. In order to defend Taiwan, under the auspices of Qiu Fengjia, he announced the establishment of a "Democratic Republic of Taiwan" without being constrained by the "Maguan Treaty" and elected Tang Jingsong, the former governor of Taiwan, as president. In May, the Japanese government appointed Shigeki Kakeyama as the governor of Taiwan and led more than 20,000 troops to Taiwan. Tang Jingsong quickly fled back to the mainland, and the "Democratic Republic of Taiwan" ceased to exist. At this time, Liu Yongfu, who led the Black Flag Army in the Sino-French War to break the French army and was then the military deputy of Taiwan, took on the great responsibility of resisting Japan. In addition, under the organization of Qiu Fengjia and others, the people of Taiwan have set up various forms of civilian armies or rebel armies, and they are active in mountainous areas, villages, and islands with primitive weapons, and have waged an indomitable struggle against the invading army.
From May 27, when Birch Hill ordered an attack on Taiwan, to October 27, when Birch Hill declared that the island of Taiwan was "completely pacified," the Taiwanese military and civilians persisted in resisting the enemy for five months. During the war, in addition to two elite divisions, Japan had a naval fleet of nearly 50,000 men and 26,000 personnel serving with the army. Taiwan was occupied after paying the price of 4,624 people killed in battle, including Prince Nohisa of Kita-Shirakawa Andi and Major General Nobunari Yamane, nearly double the number of Japanese deaths in the Sino-Japanese War.
In the face of the imperial court abandoning Taiwan, losing their support, and fighting alone, the Taiwan military and people resolutely erected the banner of anti-Japanese righteousness, and used inferior and backward primitive weapons to maneuver with a strong enemy, thus opening the foremost voice for the Chinese nation to resist Japanese aggression. Since then, until the restoration of Taiwan in 1945, the anti-Japanese struggle of the Taiwan people has been uninterrupted and integrated with the mainland's War of Resistance Against Japan.