Sea of Iron Fire and Fortress of Blood: Records of the Three Intense Battles of the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

Sea of Iron Fire and Fortress of Blood: Records of the Three Intense Battles of the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

The bloodiest battle of the Sino-Japanese War was the Battle of Lushun, which took place in November 1894 at Lushun on the Liaodong Peninsula. The Japanese Army fought a deadly three-day battle for the fortified port city of Lushun, which had been built by the Qing Empire. Amidst a flurry of gunfire and bullets, soldiers crossed dugouts and plunged into a pitched battle. After a fierce hand-to-hand combat, Lushun fell into Japanese hands, but immediately after the occupation, a terrible tragedy occurred in which many Qing people, including non-combatants, were massacred. The incident, later dubbed the "Irshun Massacre," drew the condemnation of the international community and cast a shadow over Japan's military discipline. Nevertheless, the fall of Port Arthur was militarily significant, and the seizure of Port Arthur as a base for the North Sea Fleet gave Japan an advantage over the Qing navy.

Prior to this, on September 17, 1894, the largest naval battle of the Sino-Japanese War took place in the Yellow Sea, which stretched between the Korean Peninsula and the Shandong Peninsula. It was the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The battlefield was on the ocean floor, where Japan's Allied Fleet and the Qing Dynasty's North Sea Fleet clashed. At first glance, the Qing Dynasty seemed to have the advantage in naval power with its heavily armored battleships, the Jing Yuan and the Chin Yuan, but in reality, there was a large difference in the skill level of the soldiers. The Japanese fleet used its high mobility and accurate bombardment to inflict damage on the enemy ships one after another. The naval battle lasted for several hours, with ships burning and sinking amid the roar and smoke of explosions, and many lives lost at sea. As a result, many of the Qing naval vessels were sunk or disabled, and the North Sea Fleet withdrew from the Yellow Sea. Japan gained control of the seas
, and the Qing lost their freedom at sea.

The following year, from January to February 1895, the "Siege of Weihai," which determined the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War, began. The North Sea Fleet, which had gathered at Weihaiwei, a key port on the northern tip of the Shandong Peninsula, was the last fortress to hold out, and it was determined to make a comeback. However, the Japanese forces marched in from the land and surrounded the fortress, while the Allied Fleet blockaded the port from the sea. The fort was crumbling day by day as artillery fire and assaults intermingled. Once the fortress batteries were overrun, the North Sea Fleet, trapped in the harbor, was unable to escape and was exposed to the bombardment of the Japanese forces. With no way to escape, the commander, Ding Ru-chang, died by poisoning himself. The remaining ships were sunk one after another or surrendered, and the North Sea Fleet was completely destroyed. At this point, the Qing lost the will to resist, and the war came to an end.

The fortress at Port Arthur, the battlefield between the waves of the Yellow Sea, and the ramparts of Weihai-weihai-these three battlefields were the symbolic blood and iron stages of the Sino-Japanese War. Japan overwhelmed the Qing in both land and naval battles, demonstrating its modern military power to the world. The Shimonoseki Peace Treaty, signed at the end of the war, cemented Japan's victory, but the process was marked by countless deaths and unhealed wounds. For Japan, which had begun its journey as a modern nation after the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the war was an opportunity to experience the taste of victory, but at the same time, it was also an opportunity to understand the cruelty of war and the weight of responsibility.