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First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the port of Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895. The war demonstrated the failure of the Qing dynasty's attempts to modernize its military and fend off threats to its sovereignty, especially when compared with Japan's successful Meiji Restoration. For the first time, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan; the prestige of the Qing dynasty, along with the classical tradition in China, suffered a major blow. The humiliating loss of Korea as a tributary state sparked an unprecedented public outcry. Within China, the defeat was a catalyst for a series of political upheavals led by Sun Yat-sen and Kang Youwei, culminating in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. The war is commonly known in China as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908. Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856. After the Xianfeng Emperor's death in 1861, the young boy became the Tongzhi Emperor, and she assumed the role of co-empress dowager, alongside the Emperor's widow, Empress Dowager Ci'an. Cixi ousted a group of regents appointed by the late emperor and assumed the regency along with Ci'an, who later mysteriously died. Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty when she installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor at the death of her son, the Tongzhi Emperor, in 1875. This was contrary to the traditional rules of succession of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nozu Michitsura
Field Marshal The Marquis was a Japanese field marshal and leading figure in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Nozu was born in Kagoshima as the second son of a low-ranking ''samurai'' of the Satsuma Domain. He studied Japanese swordsmanship under Yakumaru Kaneyoshi, a noted instructor within Satsuma Domain, and was appointed a company commander during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration. Nozu was at every major battle in the war, from the Battle of Toba–Fushimi, to the Battle of Aizu and the Battle of Hakodate. After the war, Nozu went to Tokyo, and in March 1871, was appointed as a major in the 2nd Brigade of the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1872, and colonel in January 1874 upon his appointment as chief of staff of the Imperial Guards Brigade. From July to October 1876, Nozu traveled to the United States, where he attended the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Soon after his return to Japan, he h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamagata Aritomo
'' Gensui'' Prince , also known as Prince Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a senior-ranking Japanese military commander, twice-elected Prime Minister of Japan, and a leading member of the '' genrō'', an élite group of senior statesmen who dominated Japan after the Meiji Restoration. As the Imperial Japanese Army's inaugural Chief of Staff, he was the chief architect of the Empire of Japan's military and its reactionary ideology. For this reason, some historians consider Yamagata to be the “father” of Japanese militarism. During the latter part of the Meiji Era, Yamagata vied against Marquess Itō Hirobumi for control over the nation's policies. After Itō was assassinated in 1909, he became the most powerful figure in Japan save for the Emperor himself. Henceforth, Prince Yamagata oversaw all policymaking within the empire until a falling-out with the Imperial family resulted in him losing power shortly before his death in February 1922. Early career Yamagata Tatsunosuke was b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kodama Gentarō
Viscount was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a government minister during the Meiji period. He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military. Early life Kodama was born on March 16, 1852, in Tokuyama, Tsuno, Suō Province, the first son of the samurai Kodama Hankurō. His father was a mid-ranking samurai with a 100 ''koku'' landholding. At the time, the Kodama family had two daughters, Hisako and then Nobuko, and since Kodama was the first male member of the family, his birth was greatly appreciated by the whole family. When Kodama was born, his father, Hankurō, was at the house of his friend Shimada Mitsune, a scholar of Chinese poetry, who lived across the street and was enjoying poetry with four or five other people. When a family member hurriedly arrived to announce the birth of a son, Hankurō was overjoyed and rushed straight home to raise a toast. Military career Kodama began his military career by fighting in the Boshin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Itō Hirobumi
was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samurai of the Chōshū Domain and a central figure in the Meiji Restoration, Itō Hirobumi chaired the bureau which drafted the Constitution for the newly formed Empire of Japan. Looking to the West for inspiration, Itō rejected the United States Constitution as too liberal and the Spanish Restoration as too despotic. Instead, he drew on British and German models, particularly the Prussian Constitution of 1850. Dissatisfied with Christianity's pervasiveness in European legal precedent, he replaced such religious references with those rooted in the more traditionally Japanese concept of a ''kokutai'' or "national polity" which hence became the constitutional justification for imperial authority. During the 1880s, Itō emerged as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Dowager Shōken
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empress dowager), or a woman who rules in her own right and name (empress regnant). Emperors are generally recognized to be of the highest monarchic honor and rank, surpassing kings. In Europe, the title of Emperor has been used since the Middle Ages, considered in those times equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope due to the latter's position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of the Catholic part of Western Europe. The Emperor of Japan is the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as "Emperor". Both emperors and kings are monarchs or sovereigns, but both emperor and empress are considered the higher monarchical titles. In as much as there is a strict definition of emperor, it is tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figurehead of the Meiji Restoration, a series of rapid changes that witnessed Japan's transformation from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power. At the time of Emperor Meiji's birth in 1852, Japan was a feudal pre-industrial country dominated by the isolationist Tokugawa shogunate and the ''daimyō'' subject to it, who ruled over the country's 270 decentralized domains. By the time of his death, Japan had undergone an extensive political, economic, and social revolution and emerged as one of the great powers on the world stage. ''The New York Times'' summarized this transformation at the emperor's funeral in 1912: "the contrast between that which preceded the funeral car and that which followed it was striking indeed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuo Baogui
Zuo Baogui ( zh, 左寶貴; 1837, Shandong Province – 1894, Pyongyang) was a Hui Muslim general of the Qing Dynasty who fought in the First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po .... He was killed in action during the Battle of Pyongyang in 1894. It was reported that the Muslim troops under his command fought well until his death in an artillery strike. A memorial was later constructed in his honor. Sources References Books * *{{cite book, last=Paine, first=S.C.M, title=The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy, publisher=Cambridge University Press, year=2003, isbn=0-521-81714-5 1837 births 1894 deaths Chinese Muslim generals Generals from Shandong Hui people Qing dynasty generals Qing military personnel killed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ye Zhichao
Ye Zhichao (; 1838-1901) was a Chinese general of the Qing Dynasty who fought in the First Sino-Japanese War, being the commander of Qing forces stationed in Korea. An aging veteran of the Nian Rebellion, he sided in November 1891 with Chinese secret society called Jindandao (金丹道), who rose in revolt in Inner Mongolia and massacred 150,000 - 500,000 Mongols. When Li Hongzhang, Governor-General of Chinese Zhili Province, dispatched Ye Zhichao, Commander-in-chief of Zhili, to suppress the rebels, he falsely reporting to the imperial court in Beijing that the Mongol banner army killed innocent Chinese. Prince Vangdudnamjil, the jasagh of the Kharachin Right Banner, who was consulted with by the imperial court, successfully rebutted General Ye's claim with a detailed report As commander of the Zhili provincial troops under Li Hongzhang when the Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1894, General Ye initially led the 3,000 Chinese army at Asan, but when they were driven out of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Buchan
Liu Buchan (; 1852 – 1895) was a naval officer of the Beiyang Fleet, the most prominent of China's naval units in the late Qing Dynasty. He is best remembered for his actions as commander of the fleet flagship, the '' Dingyuan'', during the First Sino-Japanese War. After his death and the ship being destroyed at the end of the war, he was raised to national hero status in modern China. At his death, Liu was commander of the fleet flagship, with the rank Admiral of the Right, and reserve Admiral of the Fleet. Life Liu was born in the town of Houguan, in Fuzhou, China. Liu's father died before he was born, and he was brought up by his mother. In 1867, he passed the entry examinations and entered the Foochow Arsenal Naval School established by Shen Baozhen to study navigation. In 1871, was on the training ship Jianwei, and he visited Amoy, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Bohai Bay. In 1872, with the best results, Liu graduated in the first class of the Foochow Arsenal Naval Scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ding Ruchang
Admiral Ding Ruchang (; 18 November 1836 – 12 February 1895) was a Chinese military officer in the late Qing dynasty. Early life Ding was a native of what is now part of Chaohu City in Anhui Province, China. He joined the Taiping Rebellion in 1854, but he later surrendered with Cheng Xueqi in the Battle of Anqing in 1861, and defected to the imperial cause. He joined Li Hongzhang’s Huai Army as a cavalryman to help suppress the Taiping Rebellion, serving with Liu Mingchuan. Afterwards, he was active in helping suppress the Nian Rebellion, and was awarded with the equivalent in rank to colonel. In 1874, he protested against the Qing dynasty government's decision about reduction of the army size. He went back to his hometown to avoid being killed. Self-strengthening movement In 1875, Li Hongzhang recruited Ding to be a commander of the Beiyang Fleet, the most modern of China's regional navies. In 1880, he travelled to Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain to accept delivery of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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