1. Historical background.
In 1894, the Qing Dynasty of China and the Meiji of Japan fought a life-and-death decisive battle that decided the fate of the country in the Sino-Japanese War. The origins of the Sino-Japanese War can be traced back to a peasant uprising in Korea in 1894. At that time, the Qing Dynasty of China sent troops to suppress it at the request of Korea, but Japan also sent troops at the same time. Eventually, North Korea and Japan signed the Japan-Korea Agreement, ending the uprising。However, this agreement aroused the discontent of the Qing Dynasty of China, as Korea was a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty of China. As a result, the contradictions between China and Japan began to intensify, which eventually led to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War.
2. Comparison of the strength of the two warring parties.
In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Naval Division of the Qing Dynasty was its main naval force. The Beiyang Naval Division, with Ding Ruchang as the commander, had 20 warships and a total displacement of more than 130,000 tons. In addition, the Beiyang Naval Division also had cruisers, gunboats and other auxiliary ships. However, the strength of the Beiyang Naval Division has been relatively backward, and its equipment is relatively outdated.
In contrast, the combined fleet of Japan's Meiji ** was stronger than the Beiyang Naval Division in terms of strength. The combined fleet, commanded by Ito Sukehiro, had 33 warships with a total displacement of more than 280,000 tons. In addition, the combined fleet has cruisers, gunboats and other auxiliary ships. The combined fleet was more advanced in equipment, and its warships surpassed the Beiyang Naval Division in speed and firepower.
3. The course of events.
After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, fierce battles were fought between the Beiyang Naval Division and the Combined Fleet in the northern waters of the Yellow Sea. The two sides launched artillery bombardment, with fire and smoke. However, due to the relatively backward equipment of the Beiyang Naval Division, the power of its shells was not as good as that of the Combined Fleet, so it gradually fell behind. In the end, five battleships of the Beiyang Naval Division were sunk, and a large number of officers and men died. And the Combined Fleet, although also hit hard, not a single battleship sank.
Fourth, the impact. The defeat in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle marked the decline of the naval power of the Qing Dynasty in China. After that, China's Qing Dynasty was forced to sign the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", which humiliated the country, and ceded Taiwan, Penghu Islands and other territories to Japan. This event had a profound impact on Chinese history and further deepened China's semi-colonization. At the same time, the First Sino-Japanese War also prompted China to begin to explore and reform modernization.
V. Conclusions. The First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle was a tragic naval battle that changed Chinese history. In this war, the Beiyang Naval Division of the Qing Dynasty of China and the combined fleet of the Meiji Dynasty of Japan launched a life-and-death decisive battle that decided the fate of the country. Although the Beiyang Naval Division was defeated in the war, the lessons of this war prompted China to begin to explore and reform modernization. The tragic history of the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle will forever be engraved in the hearts of the Chinese people. This book is based on objective historical data, and makes an objective combing of the before and after of the First Sino-Japanese War more than 120 years ago, and focuses on the First Sino-Japanese War to the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle.