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The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 - 17 April 1895) was waged between Qing Dynasty China and the Japanese Empire, primarily over control of the Korean peninsula. In China, the war is commonly known as the War of Jiawu, while in Japan it is called the Japan-Qing War, and in Korea, the Qing-Japan War.<br/><br/> The war lasted 8 months altogether, and saw more than six months of unbroken victories and success by the Japanese land and naval forces against the numerically superior but militarily inferior Chinese army. The Japanese eventually took over the Chinese port city of Weihaiwei and forced the Qing government to sue for peace in February 1895, though the war would continue until April.<br/><br/> The Sino-Japanese War highlighted the stark failure of the Qing Empire to modernise and advance its armed forces, and resulted in regional dominance in East Asia shifting for the first time from China to Japan. The Korean peninsula, Joseon, was removed from the Chinese sphere of influence and fell under Japanese vassalage instead.
Japan began to force Korea out of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's traditional sphere of influence into its own in the 1870s. As a result of the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5), the Qing Dynasty had to give up such a position according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was concluded between China and Japan in 1895. That same year, Korean Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents.<br/><br/> In 1897, the Joseon dynasty proclaimed the Korean Empire (1897–1910), and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. This brief period saw the partially successful modernisation of the military, economy, real property laws, education system, and various industries, influenced by the political encroachment into Korea of Russia, Japan, France, and the United States.<br/><br/> Imperial Japan assumed control over Korea from 1910 until its defeat in 1945 ended World War II. Korea was one state until 1948, when it was split into North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea.