The first decade of the 1900s witnessed a final attempt by the Qing Dynasty to reform its outmoded systems of governance and forge a new Chinese nation state. Those attempts eventually failed in the wake of a massive revolution against the last dynasty of China, which succeeded in 1912.
The Taisho Period began with a political crisis that threatened to upend the stability established by the Meiji Period as the people of Japan took to the streets to express their displeasure by rioting.
The Meiji period saw sweeping transformation in nearly every aspect of Japanese society. The political status quo which it established, however, paved the way for future infighting and the imperial government’s tendency toward repression cast a dark shadow.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Meiji government moved quickly to solidify their control of Korea, gradually chipping away at the sovereignty of its government until annexation became the only logical next step.
Both Russia and Japan were desperate to end the Russo-Japanese War by the summer of 1905. However, the conditions of that peace would not bring an end to domestic turmoil in Russia, and would inaugurate entirely fresh domestic turmoil in Japan.
After securing the southern portion of Liaodong Province, the Imperial Japanese Army proceeded to besiege Port Arthur while simultaneously fighting Russian forces to their north in increasingly costly and difficult battles.
In February of 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur and initiate the Russo-Japanese War
We examine the development Russian Empire of the 1800s and see what factors set them on a collision course with Japan in 1904.
When a militant anti-imperial movement spreads China, an allied army of eight nations moved quickly to suppress the rebels, leading to a reactionary swing from the Qing Dynasty’s government.
Although Japan had seemingly won influence over Korea as a war prize from the Chinese, Joseon itself was still an independent state. Because of the actions of one inexperienced Japanese diplomat, that independence was about to be asserted in an undeniable way.