Empire of Japan

====First Sino-Japanese War====
{{Main|First Sino-Japanese War|Taiwan under Japanese rule}}
The [[First Sino-Japanese War]], fought in 1894 and 1895, revolved around the issue of control and influence over Korea under the rule of the [[Joseon dynasty]]. Korea had traditionally been a [[tributary state]] of China's [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]], which exerted large influence over the conservative Korean officials who gathered around the royal family of the Joseon kingdom. On February 27, 1876, after several confrontations between Korean isolationists and the Japanese, Japan imposed the [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876]], forcing Korea open to Japanese trade. The act blocked any other power from dominating Korea, resolving to end the centuries-old Chinese [[suzerainty]].

On June 4, 1894, Korea requested aid from the Qing Empire in suppressing the [[Donghak Peasant Revolution|Donghak Rebellion]]. The Qing government sent 2,800 troops to Korea. The Japanese countered by sending an 8,000-troop expeditionary force (the Oshima Composite Brigade) to Korea. The first 400 troops arrived on June 9 en route to [[Seoul]], and 3,000 landed at [[Incheon]] on June 12.<ref name="Seth 2010 225">{{cite book |last=Seth |first=Michael J |title=A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present |year=2010 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-0-7425-6716-0 |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJtMGXyGlUEC}}</ref> The Qing government turned down Japan's suggestion for Japan and China to cooperate to reform the Korean government. When Korea demanded that Japan withdraw its troops from Korea, the Japanese refused. In early June 1894, the 8,000 Japanese troops captured the Korean king Gojong, occupied the [[Gyeongbokgung|Royal Palace]] in Seoul and, by June 25, installed a puppet government in Seoul. The new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the right to expel Qing forces while Japan dispatched more troops to Korea.

China objected and war ensued. Japanese ground troops routed the Chinese forces on the [[Liaodong Peninsula]], and nearly destroyed the Chinese navy in the [[Battle of the Yalu River (1894)|Battle of the Yalu River]]. The [[Treaty of Shimonoseki]] was signed between Japan and China, which ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and the island of [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]] to Japan. After the peace treaty, Russia, Germany, and [[French Third Republic|France]] forced Japan to withdraw from Liaodong Peninsula in the [[Triple Intervention]]. Soon afterward, Russia occupied the Liaodong Peninsula, built the [[Port Arthur naval base|Port Arthur]] fortress, and based the [[Pacific Fleet (Russia)|Russian Pacific Fleet]] in the port. Germany occupied [[Jiaozhou Bay]], built Tsingtao fortress and based the German [[East Asia Squadron]] in this port.