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Revision as of 22:29, 18 December 2011
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*[[Imperial Japanese Army]] (3600 led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]]) vs. Taiwanese aborigines (number unknown)
*''Date: [[1874]]/5/2 to 1874/6''
*''Location: [[Taiwan]]''
*''Japanese'': 台湾出兵 ''(Taiwan shuppei)''
The Taiwan Expedition of [[1874]] was a punitive expedition sent by the [[Meiji government]] to punish Taiwanese aborigines for killing 56 [[Miyako Island]]ers who had been [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|shipwrecked on Taiwan in 1871]]. The Miyako Islanders were perceived to be Japanese subjects, or at least people subordinate to Japan, and since it was believed by the Japanese government that Taiwan was outside of Chinese authority, it was felt that the Japanese had a responsibility to exact retribution for the killing of their people.
The expedition was led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]]. Japanese troops first landed on Taiwan on May 2nd, and fighting ended the following month.
==Background==
The Miyako Islanders were shipwrecked and killed in the last month of [[1871]]. Roughly six months later, [[Yanagiwara Sakimitsu]], a Japanese official in Shanghai at the time, returned to Tokyo and reported the incident to the government. Shortly afterwards, various figures from Satsuma (now [[Kagoshima prefecture]]), especially [[Kabayama Sukenori]], a former samurai retainer to the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]], and now commander of the second Kyushu outpost garrison, pressured Tokyo to send some sort of punitive military expedition to Taiwan.
==The Expedition==
Japanese troops first landed on Taiwanese shores on May 2nd, 1874. On the 22nd of that month, they fought the [[Battle of Stone Gate]], which would be the chief battle of the conflict. Saigô himself first arrived within the next week or so, and the fighting ended in June.
==Aftermath==
In October 1874, a treaty was signed in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal control), recognized the Ryukyuan peoples as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity to Japan.
The issue of Chinese and Japanese claims to Taiwan and Ryûkyû was not settled, however, and would almost lead to outright war in [[1879]]. That year, [[Ulysses S. Grant]] brokered a peace, though China ultimately did not sign the formal document, and Japan fully abolished the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], annexing its territory as [[Okinawa Prefecture]], over Chinese objections. War between China and Japan eventually broke out less than 20 years later, in [[1894]]. Japan defeated China and took Taiwan as a formal colony, though whether or not this can be considered to have "settled" the matter remains a matter of interpretation or debate.
==References==
*Uemura Hideaki. "The Colonial Annexation of Okinawa and the Logic of International Law: The Formation of an 'Indigenous People' in East Asia." ''Japanese Studies'' 23:2 (2003). pp107-124.
[[Category:Battles]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
*''Date: [[1874]]/5/2 to 1874/6''
*''Location: [[Taiwan]]''
*''Japanese'': 台湾出兵 ''(Taiwan shuppei)''
The Taiwan Expedition of [[1874]] was a punitive expedition sent by the [[Meiji government]] to punish Taiwanese aborigines for killing 56 [[Miyako Island]]ers who had been [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|shipwrecked on Taiwan in 1871]]. The Miyako Islanders were perceived to be Japanese subjects, or at least people subordinate to Japan, and since it was believed by the Japanese government that Taiwan was outside of Chinese authority, it was felt that the Japanese had a responsibility to exact retribution for the killing of their people.
The expedition was led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]]. Japanese troops first landed on Taiwan on May 2nd, and fighting ended the following month.
==Background==
The Miyako Islanders were shipwrecked and killed in the last month of [[1871]]. Roughly six months later, [[Yanagiwara Sakimitsu]], a Japanese official in Shanghai at the time, returned to Tokyo and reported the incident to the government. Shortly afterwards, various figures from Satsuma (now [[Kagoshima prefecture]]), especially [[Kabayama Sukenori]], a former samurai retainer to the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]], and now commander of the second Kyushu outpost garrison, pressured Tokyo to send some sort of punitive military expedition to Taiwan.
==The Expedition==
Japanese troops first landed on Taiwanese shores on May 2nd, 1874. On the 22nd of that month, they fought the [[Battle of Stone Gate]], which would be the chief battle of the conflict. Saigô himself first arrived within the next week or so, and the fighting ended in June.
==Aftermath==
In October 1874, a treaty was signed in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal control), recognized the Ryukyuan peoples as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity to Japan.
The issue of Chinese and Japanese claims to Taiwan and Ryûkyû was not settled, however, and would almost lead to outright war in [[1879]]. That year, [[Ulysses S. Grant]] brokered a peace, though China ultimately did not sign the formal document, and Japan fully abolished the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], annexing its territory as [[Okinawa Prefecture]], over Chinese objections. War between China and Japan eventually broke out less than 20 years later, in [[1894]]. Japan defeated China and took Taiwan as a formal colony, though whether or not this can be considered to have "settled" the matter remains a matter of interpretation or debate.
==References==
*Uemura Hideaki. "The Colonial Annexation of Okinawa and the Logic of International Law: The Formation of an 'Indigenous People' in East Asia." ''Japanese Studies'' 23:2 (2003). pp107-124.
[[Category:Battles]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
