The Shape of a Nation Seen Beyond the Gunsmoke: Beyond the Fires of the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

The Shape of a Nation Seen Beyond the Gunsmoke: Beyond the Fires of the Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

In the fall of 1894, the fortified city of Lushun, located at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, fell to the Japanese after three days and three nights of fierce fighting. When the gunfire ceased and the smoke cleared, the city was filled with crumbling fortifications and signs of life that had died out. The Battle of Arushun was an epic battleground of melee and gunfire. The massacres that occurred after the occupation left deep scars behind the victory.

Around the same time, a major clash that would go down in naval history unfolded between the waves of the Yellow Sea. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese Allied Fleet confronted the armored ships of the Qing Dynasty's North Sea Fleet and gained control of the sea in the line of fire. The sea was stained with blood and the sound of sinking battleships echoed in the Yellow Sea.

The following year, Weihai, the final stage of the decisive battle, was besieged. The Japanese launched an all-out attack from land and sea, finally destroying the North Sea Fleet. The suicide of the commanding officer and the sinking of his ship were the bells that signaled the defeat of the Qing Empire. The three battlefields of Port Arthur, the Yellow Sea, and Weihai--they marked the modern era of Japan.