Japan and China both take the decision to dispatch troops to Korea

On 3 June 1894 the Korean government, having come to the conclusion that it would have difficulty putting down the Donghak Peasant Rebellion on its own, asked China to send troops to help. Up to this point China had refrained from military action but when the formal request was received, Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang Commerce and Viceroy of Zhili, immediately began preparations to dispatch armed forces to Korea [Document 1]. Two warships reached Incheon on 5 June, followed by an armed force 2,000 strong which landed on the Korean peninsula between 8 and 12 June and established a garrison at Asan.

Meanwhile on 2 June the Japanese Cabinet approved the dispatch of troops to Korea [Document 2] with the aim of protecting the Japanese legation and residents in Korea from the disturbances caused by the popular uprising. At this point the Japanese suspected that the Korean government was considering asking China to send troops but it was not clear whether China would actually do so. This Cabinet decision was taken as a matter of urgency and having notified China of its intentions under the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin (18 April 1885) Japan dispatched troops immediately, while still leaving open the possibility of future cooperation between Japan and China to quell the rebellion [Document 3].

On 5 June the Imperial General Headquarters was set up within the General Staff Office and Japan officially moved to a war footing. At this point it was decided that a large-scale deployment was needed to ensure that the Japanese were not outnumbered by Chinese forces and so on 10 June Ōtori Keisuke, Minister to Korea, who had temporarily returned to Japan, entered Hanseong with a force of some 400 soldiers and sailors. On 12 June a Mixed Brigade 8,000 strong, capable of fighting independently, began landing at Incheon and the situation that had arisen during the Gapsin Coup of 1884 was repeated with both Japanese and Chinese armies stationed in Korea.

The end of the Donghak Peasant Rebellion and increasing Sino-Japanese tension

In accordance with the Treaty of Tientsin, the Japanese and Chinese governments notified each other of their deployment of troops to Korea on 7 June [Document 4]. The Donghak Peasant Rebellion, which had prompted their military intervention, came to an end on 11 June when the Treaty of Jeonju was signed by the Korean government and the Peasant Army. This removed the reason for the presence of the Japanese and Chinese forces and the Korean government requested both sides to withdraw their troops.

At this juncture the Japanese government proposed to its Chinese counterpart that they should work together to reform Korea's internal affairs, that both countries should maintain their military presence in Korea while this was being done and that if China could not agree to co-operate over the reforms, Japan would proceed unilaterally. However, on 22 June China replied that as the rebellion had already been suppressed, troop withdrawal should begin immediately and that reform was a matter for Korea itself [Document 5]. Japan refused to withdraw its troops [Document 5] and directed part of the 4,000-strong advance force that had landed at Incheon towards Hanseong. It also resumed the transport of the remaining army units to Korea.

Further, the Japanese government urged Korea to allow Japan to carry on alone with its plan to reform Korea's internal affairs and asked the Korean government to confirm the tributary nature of its relationship with China [Document 6]. However, Korea replied that it was an independent, sovereign state. This response strengthed a view within the Japanese government that if Korea was an independent state, the presence of Chinese troops was an unfair attempt by China to treat Korea as a vassal and that Japan should attack China on Korea's behalf.

Seeing the increasing tension between Japan and China, other nations began to take action. On 30 June Russia demanded the simultaneous withdrawal of both Japanese and Chinese forces but the Japanese government refused [Document 7]. Then Great Britain, which at the time was deeply concerned about Russian advances into East Asia, offered to act as mediator. The British government asked Japan and China what each required of the other with regard to reform in Korea. Japan demanded that it be accorded the same rights and privileges as China but on 9 July the Chinese government responded without acceding to this request but insisting that simultaneous removal of Japanese and Chinese forces was the top priority. The Japanese government thereupon sent a letter of complaint to the Chinese government [Document 8] and resumed its military preparations which had been suspended during the negotiations with Russia and Great Britain. At the same time China came to recognise that war with Japan was unavoidable.

The Japanese army occupies the Korean royal palace

On 3 July the Japanese government submitted a concrete proposal for reform to its Korean counterpart [Document 9]. However, the Korean government, heavily influenced by the faction led by the family of Queen Min, which set great store by Korea's relationship with China, replied that the withdrawal of Japanese forces was a prerequisite for any reform. At the same time it set up an office called the Gyojeongcheong "Board of Review and Rectification" to show that Korea intended to carry out its own programme of reform [Document 10]. The Japanese, however, believing that this was an empty gesture and that the Korean government had no desire to effect change, prepared to adopt strong measures.

On 19 July Japanese Minister Resident Ōtori Keisuke submitted to the Korean government a request that it establish an electric cable between Hanseong and Busan for military use and construct barracks for Japanese troops, both of which were extremely problematic for the Koreans to accept. The next day two further demands were added: the withdrawal of Chinese forces from Korea and the cancellation of The China-Korea Treaty of 1882 and other trade agreements concluded between Korea and China over the years [Document 11]. These demands were designed to nullify the tributary relationship between Korea and China. Japan set a deadline of 22 July for a response.

The reply delivered by the Korean government at midnight on 22 July merely reiterated that it would carry out its own reforms and that Japanese and Chinese troops must be withdrawn. The Japanese therefore put into practice their plan to overthrow the existing Korean regime by force and have the Heungseong Daewongun form a new government to implement reforms.

Before dawn on 23 July, acting on orders from Minister Ōtori, the Mixed Brigade under Major General Ōshima Yoshimasa, which was stationed at Yongsan on the outskirts of Hanseong, entered the capital. Just after 4.30 a.m. the troops surrounded the royal palace (Gyeongbokgung), the residence of King Gojong and the seat of the government, broke down the gates and forced their way inside. Immediately a firefight began with the Korean soldiers guarding the palace.

The fighting lasted several hours with casualties on both sides and ended with the royal palace being occupied by the Japanese army. King Gojong, who had hidden during the fighting, was discovered and seized by Japanese troops. When the fighting was over the Heungseong Daewongun was brought to the palace under Japanese guard. Later that day, King Gojong summoned Minister Ōtori to the palace and in his presence announced that he was entrusting all responsibility for the government and for reform to the Daewongun and required him to act in all things in consultation with Minister Ōtori [Document 12]. Having thus achieved the establishment of a new government under the Daewongun, the Japanese drove the Chinese army stationed at Asan out of Korea [Document 13]. In this way the Japanese army was given a legitimate reason for attacking the Chinese forces, marking the beginning of war between the two countries.

The start of naval engagements (The Battle of Pungdo and the Kowshing Incident)

With the Japanese army's preparations for the opening of hostilities already underway, on 19 July the Japanese navy established a Combined Fleet made up of the Standing Fleet and the newly formed Western Fleet and dispatched it from the port of Sasebo to the west coast of the Korean peninsula [Document 14].

The Qing army was also preparing for war, sending more troops to Korea to strengthen its forces already on the ground. In the midst of this, on 25 July, the British-registered merchant ship 'Kowshing', which was transporting a large number of Chinese reinforcements for the garrison at Asan, and its escort of two warships, together with a further Chinese warship that had steamed out of Asan, encountered part of the Japanese Combined Fleet that was patrolling the seas around Pungdo Island. Both sides opened fire leading to the first naval confrontation between Japan and China.

The battle ended with Chinese vessels either sinking, being wrecked, surrendering or escaping. However, the sinking of the British-registered "Kowshing" (the British crew were rescued by a Japanese warship) and the fact that this occurred before any declaration of war were a major problem. The issue attracted international attention and provoked a fierce reaction in Great Britain. However, the situation calmed down following the appearance in "The Times" newspaper of the views of a series of leading jurists to the effect that the Japanese fleet's action was justified in international law as a hostile act in time of war (at that time there was no requirement in international law for a declaration of war to indicate the start of hostilities).

The start of land warfare (The Battle of Seonghwan)

Since the justification for Japan's commencing hostilities against China was the Korean government's request to expel the Chinese forces garrisoned at Asan, an attack on Asan was the top priority once the Japanese military operation was underway. The Mixed Brigade had been landing at Incheon since the middle of June, with some units under the brigade command Major General Ōshima Yoshimasa stationed in Hanseong to protect the Japanese legation and the royal palace, while the rest were in Yongsan on the outskirts of Hanseong or garrisoned in Incheon where they had landed. On 25 July these troops began to head south for an attack on Asan.

Meanwhile, on the Chinese side, in addition to the units stationed at Asan under General Ye Zhichao, forces led by General Nie Shicheng had moved from Jeonju to set up camp at Seonghwan, slightly closer to Hanseong than Asan. When the Japanese army advancing on Asan reached Seonghwan on 29 July the area saw the first land engagement between the Japanese and Chinese forces.

After the fall of Seonghwan the Japanese army continued its advance on Asan but the forces of General Nie Shicheng had already moved on to avoid fighting in this difficult to defend, mountainous terrain.

Declaration of war

Following the initial sea and land engagements at the Battle of Pungdo on 25 July and the Battle of Seonghwan on 29 July respectively, and after discussion within the Japanese government, Emperor Meiji issued an Imperial Rescript declaring war on China on 1 August [Document 15]. On the same day the Qing Emperor Guangxu declared war on Japan China [Document 16]. In this way both countries received international recognition that a state of war existed between them. At the time the Japanese government decided that the Sino-Japanese War began, not on the 1 August when the official declaration was made, but on 25 July when fighting actually began [Document 17].

During the drafting of the declaration of war there was discussion within the Japanese government as to whether Korea should be included alongside China in the text, an indication of Korea's ambiguous status at the time. In the event only China was included in the declaration and on 26 August Japan and Korea signed the Japanese-Korean Alliance. The terms of this alliance stated that Japan and Korea would work together to expel the Chinese army to preserve Korean independence, that Japan would conduct the war on China and that Korea would do whatever it could to assist [Document 18]. On this basis the Korean government supplied Japan not only with food and other supplies but also with military manpower.