"AS THE 19TH CENTURY NEARED AN END, THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN CHINA was deteriorating by the day. The Qing Dynasty, which had ruled China since the mid-17th century, was in rapid decline, burdened by systemic corruption and a growing inability to effectively govern its people. China's humiliating defeat at the hands of Japan in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) only added to the country's suffering. For decades the two nations had argued over de facto control of Korea. Pro- and anti-Japanese factions in Korea had various violent clashes, and China intervened frequently, ultimately sending 2,500 troops into the country. Japan responded by landing 8,000 troops at Inchon and seizing the capital city of Seoul.
Full-scale war between China and Japan erupted on August 1, 1894, and the newly modernized Japanese forces won a virtually unbroken series of land and sea battles in Korea and Manchuria, massacring thousands of unarmed Chinese civilians at Port Arthur on November 21. The ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895 ended all Chinese influence in Korea and gave Japan near-complete domination of the war-torn country.
Alarmed by Japan's massive gains, Germany, Russia, and France forced the island kingdom to relinquish control of Port Arthur and the Liaotung Peninsula in southeastern Manchuria. Russia took over control of the strategic peninsula and Chinese ports on the Yellow Sea, which in turn brought Great Britain into China to watch the Russians. Britain's presence led to renewed unrest throughout China. It became increasingly clear that Guangxu, the 26-year-old Manchu emperor, would have to embrace reform and modernization (like Japan) or face ruin…"
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Armand
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
