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Since the beginning of 2024, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has intensified antagonism between the two Koreas, and the continued tensions have caused widespread concern. As everyone knows, the issue of the Korean Peninsula has never been limited to the problems of the DPRK and the ROK, but has greatly implicated neighboring countries. Is the Korean Peninsula a war or a peace? Will East Asia be peaceful in the future?
Looking at the present should learn from the past, and the past cannot be the present. I would like to review the two wars that took place around the Korean Peninsula in modern times, and how the pattern of East Asia has changed under the influence of these wars.
Sino-Japanese War
In 1868, Japan began the Meiji Restoration, and under the slogan of "enriching the country and strengthening the army, cultivating industry and industry, and civilizing and civilizing", Japan began to actively introduce advanced science and technology from the West, and carried out a series of reforms in politics, economy, military and other aspects. From then on, Japan began to embark on the capitalist road. As a result of the increase in national strength, Japan began to actively invade and expand abroad, and established a "mainland policy" centered on China.
At the same time, China also began the Westernization Movement with the slogans of "self-improvement" and "seeking prosperity". The Westernization Movement was on par with Europe and the United States in terms of science and technology, which led to the gradual development of China's modern military industry and civilian industry, and the Qing Dynasty formally established the Beiyang Naval Division in 1888, becoming a powerful naval force in Asia.
In 1894, after the outbreak of the Donghak uprising in Korea, North Korea asked for help from the Qing Dynasty. When the Qing Dynasty sent troops to Korea, Japan also took the opportunity to send troops to Korea. After the suppression of the Dongxue uprising, Japan declared war on China, and the Sino-Japanese War officially broke out.
The war was fought in three main phases:
Phase 1. In the Battle of Pyongyang, the two armies fought around Pyongyang, and the final result was a great defeat of the Qing Dynasty army and the occupation of the entire Korean Peninsula by Japan.
In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Deng Shichang's "Zhiyuan Ship" rammed into the Japanese capital ship "Yoshino" at full speed in this battle, and the final result was that the two sides won and lost each other, and the losses of the Beiyang Fleet were relatively large. In order to preserve his strength, Li Hongzhang ordered the Beiyang Fleet to take refuge in Weihai Harbor and not to patrol the sea to meet the enemy, and Japan seized the sea control of the Yellow Sea.
Phase II. In order to prevent the Japanese army from attacking the Liaodong Peninsula, the Qing Dynasty army carried out border defense battles along the Yalu River. Less than 3 days after the battle, nearly 30,000 garrison troops of the Qing Dynasty collapsed on the entire defense line of the Yalu River, and the Japanese army entered the Liaodong Peninsula.
In the Battle of the Golden Brigade, while the Japanese army attacked the Yalu River, another army, under the cover of **, began to land at Huayuankou, occupied Jinzhou (now Jinzhou District, Dalian City, Liaoning) and then captured Lushun, creating Lushun Da*** Within 4 days of continuous ** Chinese residents, the highest number of victims is estimated to be more than 20,000. Japan captured most of the Liaodong Peninsula.
Phase 3. In the Battle of Weihaiwei, the Japanese Army carried out a large-scale landing in Rongcheng Bay in the eastern part of the Shandong Peninsula, and cooperated with the Japanese Navy to "attack the Beiyang Fleet by sea and land", Liugong Island and Weihai Port fell, and the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated.
After the Qing Dynasty was defeated in the war, it signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan, ending the Sino-Japanese War. According to the terms of the treaty, China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula (which was later unsuccessful due to the intervention of the three countries to return Liao), Taiwan Island and its affiliated islands, and the Penghu Islands to Japan, and compensated Japan 200 million taels**. China also added Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as commercial ports, and allowed Japan to invest and set up factories in China's treaty ports.
The result of the First Sino-Japanese War meant that China's "Westernization Movement" was completely defeated in the competition with Japan's "Meiji Restoration", which profoundly affected the fate of the two countries for the next half century, and also profoundly affected the pattern change in the entire East Asian region.
The First Sino-Japanese War resulted in Japan receiving huge reparations and occupying strategic locations such as the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan. The huge war payoff of the war made the whole of Japan ecstatic. As a latecomer capitalist country, capital accumulation is needed to initiate an industrial revolution, and Japan lacks capital and stamina for development due to its narrow land and dense population and weak national strength. The huge reparations in the First Sino-Japanese War not only allowed Japan to solve the urgent need of lack of funds, but also laid the foundation for industrialization. Japan's first "Japan-Qing post-war management" was formulated, focusing on arms expansion, and striving for the common development of industry, education, finance, and transportation. In this regard, Japan's national strength was greatly strengthened, making Japan the only emerging capitalist power in Asia, and gaining the opportunity to form an alliance with Britain to restrain it. Japan's further aggression and expansion in the Far East laid the groundwork for the subsequent Russo-Japanese War, and Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War created the conditions for a larger-scale invasion of China in the future.
The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War marked the defeat of the Qing Dynasty's foreign affairs movement that lasted for more than 30 years, and the achievements of modernization came to naught, completely shattering China's status as a great power, breaking the Chinese people's pursuit of national rejuvenation in modern times, greatly deepening China's semi-colonization, and sharply declining China's international status. From the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, China further began to crumble. After that, the establishment of China was not able to clean up the old mountains and rivers, but further fell into local military secession.
On September 1, 1931, Japan launched the "918 Incident" to occupy Northeast China.
On July 7, 1937, Japan launched the "Lugou Bridge Incident", the beginning of a full-scale war of aggression against China.
On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, after China paid a huge amount of 35 million people.
The aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War made Japan begin to rise as a military power, and created the conditions for Japan's subsequent invasion of China and even its expansion into Southeast Asia; The defeat in the war further weakened China, and the half century after the First Sino-Japanese War was a half century of great disasters for China.
Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
In 1950, China had just ended its three-year civil war, and New China had just been founded. After the defeat of Japan, it was in ruins and occupied by the United States, the United States, as the first industrial power, began to replace Britain's world hegemony with the aftermath of World War II.
It would be more accurate to say that it was the Korean War, but I would still prefer to call it the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. On June 25, 1950, the Korean People's Army crossed the 38th parallel and launched a surprise attack on South Korea, and the Korean War broke out. On July 7, 1950, in the name of the United Nations, the United States organized a "joint **" to enter the war. On October 25, China formed the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to fight in Korea, and after five battles, the enemy army was driven back from the Yalu River to near the 38th parallel. On July 27, 1953, the two sides signed the Armistice Agreement, and the war ended.
The outbreak of the Korean War turned the United States to support the Japanese rightists, and released a large number of war criminals, including the first-class war criminal Nobusuke Kishi, and became an ally of the United States.
During World War II, Japan's industrial system was largely destroyed by the United States. The Korean War resulted in a total of $61 billion in war orders for Japan, a figure five times higher than the Marshall Plan for the United States to support Europe during the same period. The Marshall Plan spent a total of $13.1 billion, which was allocated by 16 countries, with the United Kingdom receiving $3.3 billion and Iceland receiving only $0$400 million. However, Japan has monopolized a large order of more than 60 billion US dollars, which is indeed a pie in the world. Japan became a logistical and munitions base for the United States during the Korean War, and its economy recovered rapidly, surpassing pre-war levels by 1955. After World War II, the half-destroyed industry and commerce took the opportunity to rejuvenate itself, and then it was rapidly developed by the United States as a bridgehead against redism in East Asia.
The outbreak of the Korean War objectively saved Japan and quickly became the best opportunity for developed countries. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and the Korean War of 1950, two wars on the Korean Peninsula half a century apart, gave Japan the upper hand.
Because the war began near the 38th parallel, and the truce ended near the 38th parallel, some people say that the Korean War was actually a draw, but of course more people still agree with the view that we are the victors in the Korean War. In fact, there is no point in arguing whether this war will be won or drawn, and the significance of the Korean War to New China has far exceeded the concept of victory or defeat. This is the battle for the founding of the country! This war has demonstrated national and military prestige and the self-confidence of the Chinese nation.
After the Korean War, the Soviet Union began to support China's industrialization on a large scale, and the defense of the enemy from the country made China end the war in modern times, and the country entered a period of peaceful development and continues to this day. The Korean War greatly enhanced the self-confidence and pride of the people, and greatly enhanced China's international status after a century of humiliation. It is no exaggeration to say that to this day, we are still enjoying the dividends of the bloody battles of hundreds of thousands of volunteers in the ice and snow of Korea decades ago!
The defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War shattered the mountains and rivers, and the country continued to decay and fell into long-term turmoil. In the following decades, in the face of Japan, which gradually became a military power, the Chinese nation fell into a huge crisis of national extinction. The great War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea enabled the Chinese nation to regain its self-confidence, and the long-term environment of peaceful development and the arduous struggle of several generations have made our country once again stand among the world powers.
Today's world is undergoing a new major transformation and adjustment of development, the strategic game between major powers has intensified in an all-round way, the international system and international order have been deeply adjusted, new opportunities and challenges for the development of human civilization have emerged one after another, and uncertain and unstable factors have increased significantly.
Not long after 2024, a series of actions by the two Koreas have brought the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the point of tension, and history seems to have come to a new node, "the world today is facing great changes unseen in a century". After several generations of bloody and arduous struggle, China is no longer the poor and weak country it was a hundred years ago. The great Chinese people will surely create a better future, and the Chinese nation, which has endured hardships, will surely usher in great rejuvenation!