Reading Material #1

After several weeks of reading I have finally finished The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy by S. C. M. Paine and I have to say that I enjoyed it a great deal. I was able to purchase it used from Amazon for about seven dollars and it has provided me with much more than that in educational value. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 is a subject that has not been covered in great detail in English writings. This is odd as I learned that this conflict set the stage for the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and eventually the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and World War Two. It was the first time that the new developed Japan demonstrated its power to the world by defeating the old and backward Qing dynasty of China. Before this time the powers of the world had been basically unchallenged by any power that was not white and European. With the Japanese victory this changed forever.
Of course Japan was assisted by the fact that by this time China was a relic, it lacked a real national army and some of what there was seemed to be armed with old weapons including swords, bows, and spears. There was no medical corps and in fact the very profession of being a soldier was looked down upon by those in China. The leadership was almost completely corrupt with many of those in charged having no real knowledge of the world outside China. This was a culture that worked hundreds of years ago but in the modern world it was basically nothing. The only saving grace that China had was its modern Navy but this resource was wasted and eventually destroyed primarily by poor leadership and training.