1. The Sino-Japanese War
•
Learning Objective: To discuss the
consequences for Japan and the region of
the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

2. Starter
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Here’s ten events from the higher level
course so far.
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Put them in chronological order
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It is a race but be accurate as well!

3. Causes of the War
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The war started in the Seoul area of modern
South Korea
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China and Japan had the right to send troops
to Korea under the Tientsin Convention of
1885
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A rebellion broke out in Korea in 1894, - the
Tonghak Rebellion.
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Japan used this as a pretext to start a war with
China in Korea

4. Conduct of War
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Fought at land and see
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Japanese suffer surprisingly few
casualties in comparison to Chinese
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Conflict spreads to mainland China
•
Conflict spreads to island of
Formosa/Taiwan

5. Culmination
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The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed
on 17 April 17,1895

6. Historiography
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Sarah Paine:
http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/eng/news/no10/enews10-essay
• John Dower: http://mit.edu/jdower/www
•
See class blog for quikscanned versions
•
The following statements and concepQuestions are
based on Paine’s lecture (link above)

7. •
Ostensibly the Sino-Japanese War was a
conflict between Japan and China for
dominance over China's tributary, Korea. This
statement implies:
A) the war was fought over control of Korea
B) the war was fought for another reason entirely
C) the reason for the war given at the time was over
Korea but this was only a surface explanation
and there was another deeper reason
D) None of the above/something else

8. •
“In reality, it was a Japanese attempt to preempt
Russian expansion down the Korean Peninsula to
threaten Japan. (1904-1905).” This means?
C) The real reason behind the war was Japanese
internal problems
D) The real reason behind the war was Japanese
desire for an empire
E) The real reason behind the war was the Japanese
wanted to stop the Russian empire expanding into
Korea and therefore threatening Japan
F) None of the above

9. •
“It was also the first of a two limited wars in
pursuit of an overarching policy objective:
Japanese policymakers believed that
dominance over the Korean Peninsula by any
great power would directly threaten their
national security. “ Based on this it is logical to
assume that?
B) Dominance of the Korean peninsula would be
a key part of Japanese foreign policy
C) Japan would be prepared to engage other
powers over the Korean peninsula
D) Both A and B

10. •
“They sought to protect Japan first by
expelling China in the Sino-Japanese
War and, then a decade later, by
expelling Russia from both Korea and
southern Manchuria in the Russo-
Japanese War .”
•
This states that the primary motivation
for Japanese involvement in both Korea
and Manchuria (later) was to?
C) Build an empire
D) Protect Japan
E) Both A and B

11. Effects on Japan and the
Region of Victory

12. Effects/Consequences
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For the purposes of the lesson we will
divide these into geo-political and
social-cultural effects on the region and
Japan itself. These divisions are arbitrary
(and not even 100% accurate) so feel free
to indentify issues with them and reclassify

13. TOK Link/Of
Value?
The woodblock prints shown on the
Visualizing Cultures site were created by
popular artists who never actually saw the
fighting. What value (if any) could they
have for historians (and IB History
students)?

14. Portrayals
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How are the Japanese portrayed in
contrast to the Chinese in the woodblock
prints?
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What does this imply about the effects of
victory on Japanese culture?

16. Visualizing Cultures
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A superb resource for IB Higher Level
students from MIT
• http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/thro

17. Socio-Cultural Impacts
(from the class)
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Ideological basis for future Japanese imperial
expansion
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Feeling of racial superiority to other Asian
nations
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Feeling of equality with Western IMPERIAL
nations eg: Alliance with Great Britain of
1902
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Japanese modernity and westernization seen
as superior to traditional Asian culture

18. Geo-Political Impacts (more
next lesson)
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Beginnings of a Japanese empire i)
Korea ii) Taiwan
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Asian history intersects with future world
history
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Tension begins to rise between Russia
and Japan which will culminate in Russo-
Japanese War of 1904-1905 (next
lesson)

19. Homework
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Reading on Russo-Japanese War