Sea Power and Anglo-Japanese Military Relations, 1863-1923

Abstract

This chapter aims to examine how at the regional level, sea power -intended as the ability to project military power and exert political influence across East Asian waters was key to Anglo-Japanese relations. A second contention of the chapter is that throughout this period, Japan's importance in British strategic calculations grew alongside its ability to exert command of the sea within Asian waters. Many Japanese intellectuals and reformers of the Bakumatsu period were quick to recognize that industrialization and naval power were the foundation upon which Britain had built up national wealth and international prestige. The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 had mixed results for Japan. In the literature, it is well-known that a shared perception of the Russian threat in East Asia was a primary driver in the formation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Keywords:Anglo-Japanese Alliance; Britain; First Sino-Japanese War; Japan; sea power