Why did Japan win the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, which were said to be disadvantageous?

For Japan, which has been rapidly internationalizing by wealthy soldiers for more than 20 years since the Meiji Restoration, building good relations with neighboring countries was an urgent issue.

However, Japan's position at that time was difficult because the surrounding countries were aiming to expand their territory by the politically unstable Korean Peninsula, a major power that was competing for interests with Japan, and Russia, a vast country to the north. I was in Japan.

As a result, Japan will experience two modern wars in less than 40 years after the construction of a modern nation.

That is the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War is.

This war, which will surely appear in this Japanese history, is a steam engine-powered battleship . And quick-firing guns are on the front line In that sense, it was a very epoch-making event.

By the way, in the war in which the island nation Japan finally defeated the two major powers, Japan was overwhelmingly disadvantaged in the international disappointment at the beginning of the war.

Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War

Sino-Japanese War Then, although the Qing dynasty was declining, it was the largest power in the Orient, and its troops were capable of surpassing even the great powers of Europe.

The reason why Japan was able to beat such a powerful country is that the organization and chain of command of the Japanese army was simple and up-to-date.

The Qing military organization had to independence of the local army to cover the vast mainland China, and the chain of command was not unified. In addition, the morale of the army was extremely low due to the corruption of bureaucratic politics, and there were many cases of routs without fighting. In short, Qing lost in order to lose.

On the other hand, in the case of the Russo-Japanese War, things seem to be a little different.

Specifically, the nation called Japan had improved its voice in the international community, and Russia, which saw the weakening of Qing and Joseon, had begun to expand its territory. In line with that move, Britain's Far East policy and the Japanese side's speculation led to the establishment of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which is Japan's first equal treaty including military cooperation.

The scale of the Russo-Japanese War was much larger than that of the Sino-Japanese War, and the cost of the war was much higher than that of the Sino-Japanese War. The specific numbers are 230 million yen for the Sino-Japanese War. On the other hand, the Russo-Japanese War is 1.5 billion yen or more It is also said to be.

Behind the soaring war costs is probably the fact that the Army and Navy have been modernizing. In particular, the Navy is state-of-the-art battleships and armored cruisers superior to the Royal Navy due to the strong support of Britain, a developed country in the construction of warships. It can be said that it was great to make.

Just as Japan's overwhelming Beiyang Fleet in the Sino-Japanese War dominated the battlefield, the point is that Russia's Pacific fleet was destroyed early in the Russo-Japanese War.

Russia, which has virtually lost its naval power, will call in the main Baltic Fleet from its home country, but due to the interference of Britain while sailing to Japan, it took more than half a year to make a round trip, and by the time it fought against Japan, the troops The morale has dropped significantly, and eventually Japan will suffer a big defeat.

Japan was able to win the Russo-Japanese War because of its advantage and the state-of-the-art equipment such as weapons and battleships. And, as in the Sino-Japanese War, domestic turmoil caused by the corruption and weakening of the Russian government is considered to be one of the factors.

Two modern wars seen in the data

Sino-Japanese War Force Comparison

Japan had only one-third of its troops, but the Japanese army won the victory due to the self-destruction of the other party.

Russo-Japanese War Force Comparison

As far as we can see from this data, it is a number that everyone thinks that Japan had no chance of winning. Japan often decided to fight ...