were undergoing radical changes as a result of advances in weapons and technology. Studies of European armies during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries point out that technology and innovation fueled the extraordinary growth in military power. Industrialization transformed the nature of war because of the standardization of machine tools, which allowed the manufacture of large numbers of identical, interchangeable parts. In addition, technological innovation and industrial mobilization also allowed greater theoretical performance to be transformed into reality where scientific study and the careful management of manpower and resources were coordinated to bring forth a system of innovation and development.5 Improvements in small arms and artillery, as well as the invention of the machine gun, the tank, the internal combustion engine, the airplane, and the radio, increased the speed, distance, and lethality of armies on the battlefield. Getting to a location with the most military power in the shortest amount of time was important for a strategic victory.
As such, the major powers (Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and Italy) all vied for geopolitical supremacy in the world and invested in the development of weapons and technology that would give their respective countries an edge in the imperial competition. The “Scramble for Africa” was in full swing among the European powers, despite attempts by the Berlin Conference in 1885 to regulate European colonization and trade in Africa. While the conference attempted to alleviate issues for potential friction and conflict among the great powers of Europe, it only channeled great power hostility toward competing powers on the African continent. The fact was that the major powers were playing for the highest stakes in grand strategy. Although the major powers attempted to create a new balance of power, they instead led an undignified rush for “slices” of Africa.6 By 1900, most of Africa was under European rule, and the major powers were focused on consolidating their colonial gains for economic development and geopolitical advantage. In addition, the major powers also utilized their African territorial acquisitions to forward deploy naval and ground forces to protect their national interests.
In scrambling for colonial territory in Africa, the European powers were caught in a series of small wars with various African states and tribes that were quickly overwhelmed by the technological innovations that supported the European colonial armies in the realms of medicine, transportation, and weaponry. In addition, European colonial consolidation became a reality as various industries and businesses sought to capitalize on the availability of African manpower and resources. The administration and development of these colonies varied among the European powers, ranging from the brutal and oppressive to the semibenevolent and laissez-faire. During this time, Great Britain destroyed the Mahdists during its conquest of the Sudan and conducted military operations to defeat the Boers in South Africa. In addition to these conflicts, Great Britain also focused its energies not only on maintaining its global dominance, but also on warding off potential challengers, such as France, Russia, and Germany. Paul Kennedy’s examination of Great Britain’s geopolitical superiority in 1900 led him to conclude, “By her possession of an enormous colonial empire, Britain enjoyed the strategical benefits of the most important collection of naval bases throughout the world…. The numerical, material and strategical superiority of the Royal Navy was cold, hard reality [to all rivals].”7
Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific Region was becoming the new battleground in the struggle for empire among the major powers. The focus was China under the Qing Dynasty, which was struggling against political and economic collapse. The Taiping Rebellion was the most destructive and costly civil war in human history. After nearly a decade of fighting, the Qing Dynasty crushed the Taipings and attempted to reunite the country and focus on bringing forth modest efforts toward a modernization movement that would strengthen the empire politically, militarily, and economically. Unfortunately, the corruption and lack of unity within the Qing Dynasty caused the modernization movement to fail and resulted in China being defeated by Japan during the First Sino-Japanese War (1895–96).
Japan’s ability to defeat China was the result of its extraordinary period of intense political, economic, and military modernization during the Meiji Restoration. Japan’s transformation during the second half of the nineteenth century revealed that the Japanese made a conscious effort to overcome their cultural and social paranoia of foreign influences and instead embraced new ideas, cultures, and especially all technologies. As a consequence, the Japanese government focused on making the country wealthy and powerful in order to be able to stand up to aggressive foreign powers in the Asia-Pacific Region. The recruitment of foreign advisers and experts, the aggressive quest for foreign capital and resources, and borrowing the latest weapons and industrial technologies set the foundations for Japan’s modernization. This in turn would result in Japan using what it learned from the West to begin shaping these influences in a way that best suited Japanese culture and society. The Japan that emerged to defeat China in 1896 was a country that incorporated the best from the West while retaining its own national and cultural identity.8
During this conflict, Japan deployed its military forces to destroy the Chinese Imperial Navy to protect the Japanese home islands, and also conducted two major amphibious operations that led to the occupation of Taiwan, Korea, and the Liaodong Peninsula. Like the United States during the Spanish-American War, the Japanese used wooden boats supported by powerful, modern warships to land troops at undefended key points and quickly push inland before Chinese ground forces could react. Therefore, the quick defeat of Chinese military forces contributed to China’s continued political, economic, and military decline and made it an increasingly attractive target to the European powers. Unfortunately, the crushing defeat of China through Japan’s amphibious capabilities triggered a regional crisis among the world’s major powers, especially Great Britain, which desperately sought to maintain the existing balance of power.
China was simply too big, weak, and old to hold itself together. Japan’s victory over China meant that the Asian mainland was open for invasion and occupation. As Japan pondered how much to take from the Chinese, the western powers were drawn into China’s affairs as well. The French, the Germans, and the British were especially interested in expanding their commercial and territorial interests for geopolitical purposes and saw China’s imminent collapse as an opportunity to further their respective national glory and power. However, among the western powers, Great Britain was concerned over the potential geopolitical consequences a power vacuum in China would mean for the rest of the world. Not only would the British balance-of-power system be threatened with the opening of yet another land grab, more importantly, it would allow the Russians to move across its borders with China and take huge parts of territory, thereby potentially locking the British out of China’s vast commercial markets while also posing a threat to British core interests in India and Southeast Asia.9 While the British did have some amphibious capabilities to utilize in the Royal Navy, their capabilities were really a haphazard affair that allowed only for ad hoc amphibious operations by a small, professional British Army supplemented by large pools of local native troops.
The major power rivalry soon manifested in Manchuria and Korea when these areas became points of contention between the Russians and the Japanese. Both nations were expansionist powers, and both refused to negotiate control of Northeast Asia. While Russia enjoyed a larger military with virtually unlimited resources and was geographically linked to Northeast Asia, Japan was better organized and had a larger industrial base. That industrial base supported a smaller but more well-trained and well-equipped army and navy. However, Japan suffered geographically by being separated from Asia’s markets and resources by the Sea of Japan.
The main obstacle to Japanese prosperity and dominance in Northeast Asia was Russia. It was the Russians who blocked Japan’s attempt to secure the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 by getting the western powers to back up Russia’s position in pressuring Japan from the region. In addition, to make matters worse for the Japanese, Russia’s stance against Japan to protect Chinese sovereignty proved hypocritical when Russia soon declared Manchuria to be within the Russian sphere of influence and gained access not only to the Liaodong Peninsula’s ports and harbors, but also received permission to begin constructing Russian railroads, gaining further access to Chinese markets and resources. In short,
