Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Japanese Invasion of Taiwan (1895)
partof=


date=May 29, 1895- October 22, 1895
place= Main island of Taiwan
casus= First Sino-Japanese War
Treaty of Shimonoseki
territory=Annexation of Taiwan by Japan
result=Extinction of the Republic of Formosa
Nearly 20 years of insurgency
combatant1= various militia forces
combatant2=flagicon|Japan|alt Empire of Japan
commander1=
commander2=flagicon|Japan|alt Kabayama Sukenori
strength1=Regular: 35,000
Militia: ~100,000
strength2=Regular: 37,000
casualties1=Killed: 14,000
Wounded: ?
casualties2=Killed: 164
Wounded: 515
Diseased: 4,700
notes=The Japanese Invasion of Taiwan of 1895 was a war involving the Empire of Japan and the short-lived Republic of Formosa in 1895, after the Qing Dynasty of China ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The conflict lasted for five months and cost the lives of 14,000 Formosan combatants and nearly 5,000 Japanese, mostly due to disease. The casualties included Prince Kitashirakawanomiya Yoshihisa of the Japanese Imperial family.

The prelude to the invasion

Japanese occupation of the Pescadores

As the First Sino-Japanese War approached its end, the Empire of Japan concluded that the war was won, and the cabinet decided that the island of Taiwan and the Liaodong peninsula must be acquired as a result. On March 15, 1895, a Japanese expeditionary force of 5,500 set sail for the Pescadores Islands, hoping to secure a base in the Taiwan Strait and force the Qing Empire to agree on the cession of Taiwan. The expeditionary force landed on the Pescadores on the morning of March 23.

Although the Pescadores were garrisonned by 15 Chinese regular battalions (5,000 men) and defended by the recently-completed Hsi-tai coastal defence battery (built in the late 1880s in response to the capture of Pescadores by the French during the Sino-French War), the Japanese met very little resistance during the landing operation as the defenders were demoralised. It took the Japanese only two days to secure the islands. However, sub-tropical diseases cost the Japanese occupation force some 1,000 lives.

Formosan resistance movement

The Japanese occupation of the Pescadores was of considerable strategic significance, preventing China from substantially reinforcing its garrisons in Taiwan. Having made it almost impossible for China to fight for Taiwan, the Japanese successfully pressed their claims to the island in the peace negotiations. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on April 17, 1895, and contained a clause requiring the cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores. When the news reached Taiwan, a number of Chinese officials and local notables decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On May 23, these men proclaimed the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa in Taipei. Tang Ching-sung, the Qing governor-general of Taiwan, became the republic's first President. His old friend Liu Yung-fu, the retired Black Flag Army commander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. A local dignitary, Chiu Feng-chia, was appointed Grand Commander of Militia. As Taiwan was a prosperous trading post and a major source of coal for Western steamships in the Far East, the new government at first hoped that foreign powers would mediate. However, neither Britain nor France was willing to intervene, as they valued peaceful relations with Japan more highly than the independence of Taiwan.

The course of the war

Keelung, Taipei and Tamsui

On May 10, Admiral Kabayama Sukenori was appointed the first governor of Taiwan, and was given command of a Japanese expedition sent to Taiwan to occupy the island and put down any resistance. On May 29, 7,000 Japanese soldiers of the Imperial Guards Division, under the command of Prince Kitashirakawanomiya Yoshihisa, landed on the beach of Audi in northern Taiwan. The landing marked the beginning of the war. The first major engagement took place on June 3 around the Shih-ch'iu-ling battery (Traditional Chinese: 獅球嶺砲台) overlooking the port city of Keelung. Eleven years earlier, during the Sino-French War, Chinese forces had bottled up a French expeditionary corps in Keelung for seven months during the Keelung Campaign, and the Shih-ch'iu-ling battery had been held against the French for most of the war. Now, in 1895, the Japanese routed the fort's garrison and captured the fort with little loss. Keelung was occupied on the afternoon of the same day, after the Qing commanders fled the city and left the garrison force leaderless.

When the news of the defeat at Keelung reached Taipei on June 4, President Tang and General Chiu fled the island. Leaderless and without pay, the troops of the Taipei garrison abandoned their posts and began looting the city. On June 11, with the aid of a local businessman named Koo Hsien-jung, the Japanese captured Taipei and restored order in the city. Kabayama then dispatched the Guards Division to Tamsui, capturing the port without firing a shot.

The first phase of the war ended on June 18, with Japanese forces firmly in control of Taipei, Tamsui and Keelung. During the fighting around Keelung the Formosans had lost at least 200 men, while Japanese casualties were only 7 dead and 25 wounded.

Miaoli and Hsinchu

On June 14, Admiral Kabayama arrived in Taipei, and announced the establishment of government in the new territory. He then dispatched several thousand soldiers to take Taoyuan and Hsinchu, expecting to meet with little resistance. However, the vanguard units encountered heavy resistance from the Hakka militia when closing in on Hsinchu. The militia, commanded by commoners such as Chiang Shao-tsu and Wu Tang-hsing, ambushed the Japanese force in and around the city, and engaged the Japanese in heavy fighting on Mount Shihpachienshan (Traditional Chinese: 十八尖山). With superior weaponry and numbers, the Japanese eventually defeated the Formosans and killed Chiang. The remaining Formosans retreated to Miaoli on July 23.

On August 8, reinforced by the Guards Division, the Japanese began pushing towards Miaoli. After several days of fierce fighting on Mount Bichienshan (Traditional Chinese: 筆尖山), the Japanese captured Miaoli on August 14 and ended all major fighting in northern Taiwan. During this period, the Japanese lost many of their supplies to the militia units that operated behind the Japanese lines, and some sources suggest that the Japanese used indiscriminate killing of the local population in order to suppress militia activities

Central and Southern Taiwan

Following Tang Ching-sung's flight from Taipei on June 4, the presidency of the Formosan Republic was assumed by Liu Yung-fu on June 26 in Tainan. As a result the capture of Tainan became a political as well as a strategic imperative for the Japanese. In the final phase of the campaign the Japanese directed their efforts towards occupying Tainan and snuffing out the nascent Formosan Republic.

The Imperial Guards Division took control of Dadu Township in central Taiwan on August 23, threatening the Bagua battery (Traditional Chinese: 八卦砲台). To counter this move, thousands of Formosan militia and regulars, including a force of ageing veterans from Liu Yung-fu's once-formidable Black Flag Army, converged on the city of Changhua. A detachment of several hundred soldiers was also sent to the Bagua battery, which was then used to bombard the Japanese position in Dadu across the Dadu river.

On August 27, the Japanese crossed the river and assaulted the Bagua battery and Changhua. In a vicious two-day engagement generally known as the Battle of Baguashan, the Japanese drove the Formosans out of the Changhua area on August 29. The Formosans suffered heavy casualties in this battle, including a number of their commanders. [WTFM CLAN 達人 [http://wtfm.exblog.jp/5581450/ 1895 臺灣獨立戰爭] ]

The victorious Japanese were unable to press on immediately, as their soldiers were worn out and their further advance was threatened by the troops of the Tainan garrison, under the direct command of Liu Yung-fu. Kabayama ordered two task forces to land at Budai and Fangliao, and closed in on Tainan from three directions. However, both task forces met heavy resistance in Budai and Chiadong, and suffered some casualties. The casualties included Prince Kitashirakawanomiya Yoshihisa, who according to one version of events was ambushed and killed by Formosan militia. Despite their losses, the Japanese captured both towns and completed the encirclement of Tainan.

On October 19, realizing that the war was lost, Liu Yung-fu disguised himself as an old woman and fled to mainland China aboard a British merchant ship. Tainan capitulated and opened its gates on October 23. The fall of Tainan put an end to serious Formosan resistance and effectively inaugurated Taiwan's Japanese Administration Era. The last remaining pocket of Formosan resistance was crushed on November 11 at the Battle of the Burning Village in Pingtung.

Aftermath

Japan had won its title to Taiwan and the Pescadores with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the successful Japanese invasion of Taiwan confirmed the Japanese in their possession. Taiwan remained firmly under the control of Japan until 1945, and all regular units of the Chinese army still on the island were either disbanded or shipped back to China. However, a number of locally-raised militia units maintained an insurgency against the Japanese for nearly 20 years. The Japanese responded with a policy of brutal reprisals against the local population. But they did not forget their friends. Koo Hsien-jung, who had betrayed Taipei to the Japanese, was granted exclusive business rights in Taiwan, making him the wealthiest Taiwanese of his time. His son Koo Chen-fu inherited his wealth and founded the Koos Group, which dominated the business sector of modern Taiwan.

Cultural Influence

Little known outside Taiwan, the 1895 war between the Japanese and the Formosan resistance movement is portrayed in the upcoming film 1895.

Notes

References

* Davidson, J. W., "The Island of Formosa, Past and Present" (London, 1903)
* McAleavy, H., "Black Flags in Vietnam: The Story of a Chinese Intervention" (New York, 1968)

ee also

{|
- valign=top|
*Black Flag Army
*First Sino-Japanese War
*History of Taiwan
*Keelung Campaign|
*Liu Yongfu
*Pescadores Campaign
*Republic of Formosa
*Sino-French War|
*Taiwan Expedition of 1874
*Tang Ching-sung
*Treaty of Shimonoseki