548 ARMIES OF THE FIRST SINO-JAPANESE WAR: 1894-95

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Covers the organization, equipment, and appearance of the various Chinese forces (China had no true national army), the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, and the Korean and Formosan participants.

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.

Japan's victory left it confident enough to challenge Imperial Russia and, nine years later, won 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.