Describes how newly modernized Japan waged war against China in its first overseas campaign, marking its rapid transition into Asia's leading military power only 30 years after emerging from centuries of feudalism. After the Meiji restoration of the Japanese imperial regime in 1868–77, modernization along Western lines of Japan's industry, communications and land and naval forces advanced with remarkable speed and, by the 1890s, the rejuvenated nation was ready to flex its muscles overseas. The obvious opponent was the huge but medieval Chinese Empire, and the obvious arena for war was Korea, a nearby Chinese protectorate that Japan had long coveted. (A secondary campaign would be fought on Formosa/Taiwan, an autonomous Chinese island protectorate.) In this study, author Gabriele Esposito describes the bloodthirsty course of the Japanese campaign in China, using colour illustrations and photos to showcase the organization, equipment and appearance of the various Chinese forces (China had no true national army), the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, and, for the first time in English, the Korean and Formosan participants. Japan's victory left it confident enough to challenge Imperial Russia and, nine years later, it defeated it at the Battle of Tsushima where two-thirds of the Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese Navy. This victory confirmed Japan's place as Asia's leading military power, soon to become a realistic rival to the West.

Table of contents

This accessible collection examines twelve historic events in the international relations of East Asia.

Popular impressions of the imperial Japanese army still promote images of suicidal banzai charges and fanatical leaders blindly devoted to their emperor. Edward Drea looks well past those stereotypes to unfold the more complex story of how that army came to power and extended its influence at home and abroad to become one of the world's dominant fighting forces. This first comprehensive English-language history of the Japanese army traces its origins, evolution, and impact as an engine of the country's regional and global ambitions and as a catalyst for the militarization of the Japanese homeland from mid-nineteenth-century incursions through the end of World War II. Demonstrating his mastery of Japanese-language sources, Drea explains how the Japanese style of warfare, burnished by samurai legends, shaped the army, narrowed its options, influenced its decisions, and made it the institution that conquered most of Asia. He also tells how the army's intellectual foundations shifted as it reinvented itself to fulfill the changing imperatives of Japanese society-and how the army in turn decisively shaped the nation's political, social, cultural, and strategic course. Drea recounts how Japan devoted an inordinate amount of its treasury toward modernizing, professionalizing, and training its army-which grew larger, more powerful, and politically more influential with each passing decade. Along the way, it produced an efficient military schooling system, a well-organized active duty and reserve force, a professional officer corps that thought in terms of regional threat, and well-trained soldiers armed with appropriate weapons. Encompassing doctrine, strategy, weaponry, and civil-military relations, Drea's expert study also captures the dominant personalities who shaped the imperial army, from Yamagata Aritomo, an incisive geopolitical strategist, to Anami Korechika, who exhorted the troops to fight to the death during the final days of World War II. Summing up, Drea also suggests that an army that places itself above its nation's interests is doomed to failure.

Defeated in the Sino-Japanese War 1894–95 and the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, Imperial China collapsed into revolution and a republic was proclaimed in 1912. From the death of the first president in 1916 to the rise of the Nationalist Kuomintang government in 1926, the differing regions of this vast country were ruled by endlessly forming, breaking and re-forming alliances of regional generals who ruled as 'warlords'. These warlords acted essentially as local kings and much like Sengoku-period Japan, fewer, larger power-blocks emerged, fielding armies hundreds of thousands strong. In the midto late 1920s some of these regional warlords. This book will reveal each great warlord as well as the organization of their forces which acquired much and very varied weaponry from the west including the latest French air force bombers. They were also joined by Japanese, White Russian and some Western soldiers of fortune which adds even more colour to a fascinating and oft-forgotten period.

The restoration of the Meiji Imperial dynasty in 1868, after 250 years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, decisively opened Japan to the outside world and the monarchy embraced modernization, including the creation of a new Westernized army. However, this modernization process was resisted by the traditional Samurai feudal nobility, leading to a series of battles. The first clash between the two cultures came swiftly. During the Boshin War of 1868–69, a French military adviser, Jules Brunet, changed sides to join the insurgents. They won several engagements before the final crushing of the rebel Ezo Republic. After this point, the Imperial Army continued to modernize along French lines, and social changes began to impoverish Samurai noblemen, who lost their social and political role and their associated privileges. During 1876, the powerful Satsuma Domain, around Kagoshima in south-west Kyushu, became a focus for discontent. Its leader Saigo Takamori effectively ignored the central government, and in January 1877, increasing unrest broke out into open rebellion. The Imperial forces were now much stronger, and the Navy could land troops and bombard Kagoshima. The bitter Satsuma siege and attempted capture of Kumamoto Castle finally failed in April, and the Samurai made a last stand at Shiroyama on 24 September, choosing to go down fighting. This marked the final defeat and displacement of the Samurai class. This fully illustrated title explores the fall of the Samurai in detail, examining the arms, tactics, key figures of both sides, and charting the increasing Westernization of the Imperial forces.