In 1895, the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Naval Division was completely annihilated in the naval battle against Japan, marking the complete defeat of the Qing Dynasty. In fact, the Sino-Japanese War was a battle that took place both on land and at sea.
The first battle of the First Sino-Japanese Land War was fought in Pyongyang, Korea, and it was the first time that China and Japan faced each other head-to-head on land in modern times. The clarion call of war sounded in three places in Pyongyang at the same time, among which the loss of Mudodae and Xuanwumen on the south bank of the Taedong River was the key to the failure of the Pyongyang campaign, which made the Qing army fall into passivity, and was beaten by the Japanese army and was unable to deal with it.
However, what the Qing army did not expect was that the pursuit of the Japanese army did not stop. On October 24, the Japanese army crossed the Yalu River and occupied Anping. Subsequently, the Japanese army was like a bamboo, and successively captured Phoenix, Andong, Kuandian and other places, and in less than half a month, almost all the eastern areas of Liaoning fell into the hands of the enemy.
Compared to the Battle of Pyongyang, the response of the Qing army to the Japanese army in the territory did not improve. As early as October 24, the Japanese army carried out a 14-day landing at Huayuankou on the Liaodong Peninsula, but the Qing army did not detect this action and missed the best opportunity to strike at the Japanese army.
In order to establish this naval base, the Qing Dynasty spent 16 years and invested a lot of money. However, the base was easily captured by the enemy, which was a big surprise. In December, the Japanese army quickly captured Haicheng.
When the Qing army counterattacked, they found that the Japanese had already occupied Weihaiwei in February 1895 and destroyed the Beiyang Fleet. This means that the Qing Dynasty has lost its naval battles.
At the same time, the loss of the Shandong Peninsula meant that the Qing Dynasty would face the threat of Japanese troops from the north and south. The fiasco of the First Sino-Japanese Land Battle shocked the whole world, because in terms of strength, the gap between the two sides was not large.
Japan strengthened its national power and military power through the Meiji Restoration, but it remained a rival for the Qing Dynasty to compete with. According to the domestic economic strength and equipment of the Qing Dynasty at that time, the Qing army could also compete with Japan.
However, the key to the war lies in the strength of the army, first of all, the gap in equipment. The merits of ** largely determine the outcome of the war. In the First Sino-Japanese Land Battle, both in terms of quantity and quality, the Qing army lagged far behind the Japanese army.
Before the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army was slow to update its equipment, and most of the army still relied on old bows, arrows and clubs. Only the Huai and Hunan armies were equipped with a small number of foreign guns and artillery.
To make matters worse, the quality of the equipment is also worrying, and problems are frequent and frequent"Misfire"with"Rust is broken"situation. In contrast, Japan attaches great importance to improving its military strength, increasing its military spending, and importing large quantities of new models from Western countries.
In addition, the military establishment of the Qing army was chaotic and the arms were monotonous, which led to inconvenient command on the battlefield and could not give full play to the ability of different arms to coordinate operations.
The Japanese army, on the other hand, has a more advanced and scientific military establishment, which is more suitable for the needs of modern warfare. Generally speaking, the main reasons for the defeat of the Qing army in the First Sino-Japanese War were the backward equipment, frequent quality problems, and the chaotic military establishment, which made it impossible to make full use of the coordinated combat capabilities of various arms of the armed forces.
Compared with the Japanese army, the Qing army's ratio of arms appeared monotonous and incomplete, which put the Qing army at a disadvantage in terms of military strength. Coupled with the influence of political, economic, and international aid factors, it is not surprising that the Qing ** suffered a crushing defeat to Japan in the land war.
However, this does not negate the fact that the Qing army was still a feudal, backward, old-style army. On the contrary, the Japanese Army has become an advanced unit with a modern consciousness.