On July 25, 1894, nine days after signature of the “equal” treaty with
Great Britain, Japanese naval forces suddenly attacked and sank a
transport carrying Chinese troops to Korea. War was formally declared
on August 1. Thus, by an unusual coincidence, Japan was at war with
China two weeks after she had won her twenty-five-year campaign for
treaty revision.
[Illustration: IN QUEST OF EMPIRE (1876-1923)]
Japan’s statesmen had correctly estimated the weakness of China, as
well as their own degree of preparedness. They did not plunge into war
on a hasty impulse. The army and navy were tuned for action. With
harsh realism, the Japanese leaders unhesitatingly adopted a program of
expansion by force as soon as conditions seemed favorable. Their fight
for treaty revision had been a fight for equality with the Western
powers. They believed that even fuller recognition of equality would
come after a successful war. They were also driven by strong economic
considerations. The restrictions of the narrow home market were already
irking Japan’s youthful cotton textile export houses, and they were
trying to pry their way into the Korean and Chinese markets. Victory in
the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 opened both these markets to Japanese
manufacturers. It was a significant omen of the future that the new
Japan should have discovered, so early in its career, that resort to
the sword might help to overcome the handicaps of its late appearance
on the international scene.
We should also take note of several other results of Japan’s first
modern war. The territorial gains--Formosa and the Pescadores
Islands--were a welcome prize. More important was China’s formal
recognition of Korean independence, which left Japan practically a free
hand in the peninsula. By its new commercial treaty with China, Japan
also gained the benefits of extraterritoriality and low tariff rates
in that country--the system she hated so heartily when it was applied
against herself, as it still was at that time. The war indemnity of
nearly $180,000,000, moreover, helped Japan to expand its armaments
still further in preparation for the war with Russia in 1904.