Back التحالف البريطاني الياباني Arabic Англо-японски съюз Bulgarian Anglo-Japanische Allianz German Alianza anglo-japonesa Spanish اتحاد ژاپن و بریتانیا Persian Britannian ja Japanin liitto Finnish Alliance anglo-japonaise French הברית האנגלו-יפנית HE Aliansi Britania Raya–Jepang ID Alleanza anglo-giapponese Italian
 Japanese copy of the alliance treaty | |
| Type | Military alliance |
|---|---|
| Context | Anti-Russian Empire |
| Signed | 30 January 1902 |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Effective | 31 January 1902 |
| Replaced by | Four-Power Pacific Treaty |
| Expiration | 17 August 1923 |
| Original signatories |
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| Parties | |
| Languages | |
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance (日英同盟, Nichi-Ei Dōmei) was an alliance between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan which was effective from 1902 to 1923. The treaty creating the alliance was signed at Lansdowne House in London on 30 January 1902 by British foreign secretary Lord Lansdowne and Japanese diplomat Hayashi Tadasu. After the preceding era of unequal treaties enforced on Asian countries including Japan,[1] the alliance was a military pact concluded on more equal terms between a Western power and non-Western nation. It reflected the success of Meiji-era reforms that modernized and industrialized Japan's economy, society and military, which enabled Japan to extract itself from the inferior position it had previously shared with other Asian countries like China, which had been subordinated to Western empires either through formal colonial acquisition or unequal treaties.[2]
One shared motivation for the agreement was that a diplomatic alliance might deter other world powers that might otherwise encroach on British and Japanese imperial interests in Asia.[3] For the British, the alliance marked the end of a period of "splendid isolation" while allowing for greater focus on protecting its rule over India and competing in the Anglo-German naval arms race, as part of a larger strategy to reduce imperial overcommitment and recall the Royal Navy to defend Britain. By contrast, it came at a time of Japan's ascendancy; Japan had not only successfully abrogated the unequal treaties it was previously subject to by the Western powers, but was now a fledging empire in its own right: Japan had imposed its own unequal treaty on Korea in 1876[4] and now controlled Formosa (Taiwan) as a colony, as Taiwan been ceded by Qing China to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, after the First Sino-Japanese War.[2] Consequently, Japan was now developing its own imperial sphere of influence, and felt that a conflict with Russia was imminent over rival ambitions in Manchuria and Korea, especially after the Triple Intervention in 1895, in which Russia, France, and Germany coerced Japan into relinquishing its claim on the Liaodong Peninsula. Article 3 of the alliance promised support if either signatory became involved in war with more than one power, and thus had the effect of deterring France from assisting its ally Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Instead, France concluded the Entente Cordiale with Britain and limited its support of Russia to providing loans.[5] Japan also gained international prestige from the alliance and used it as a foundation for their diplomacy for two decades, although the alliance angered the United States and some British dominions, whose opinion of Japan worsened and gradually became hostile.[6]
After Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese war and the resulting treaty that granted the Japanese control over Korea, the alliance was renewed in 1905 and 1911. In 1914, it enabled Japan's entry into World War I and capture of German-held territories in Asia. Britain grew increasingly distrustful of Japan over its ambitions over Asia, and the alliance was ended with the signing of the Four-Power Treaty in 1921 and terminated upon its ratification in 1923.[7][8][9]
- ^ Gordon, Andrew (2003). A modern history of Japan: from Tokugawa times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 46–54. ISBN 978-0-19-511060-9.
- ^ a b Myers, Ramon Hawley; Peattie, Mark R.; Chen, Ching-chih; Joint Committee on Japanese Studies, eds. (1984). The Japanese colonial empire, 1895-1945. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05398-1.
- ^ Nish, Ian; Kibata, Yoichi, eds. (17 February 2000). The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600-2000. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230598959. ISBN 978-0-230-59895-9.
- ^ Chung, Young-Iob (9 March 2006). Korea under Siege, 1876-1945. Oxford University PressNew York. doi:10.1093/0195178300.001.0001. ISBN 0-19-517830-0.
- ^ James Long (1974). "Franco-Russian Relations during the Russo-Japanese War". The Slavonic and East European Review. 52 (127).
- ^ Nish, Ian (2012). The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1894–1907. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 229–245. ISBN 978-1-4725-5354-6.
- ^ Langer, William (1950). The Diplomacy of Imperialism 1890–1902 (2nd ed.). pp. 745–86.
- ^ Dennis, Alfred L. P. (1922). "British Foreign Policy and the Dominions". American Political Science Review. 16 (4): 584–599. doi:10.2307/1943639. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1943639. S2CID 147544835.
- ^ Búzás, Zoltán I. (2013). "The Color of Threat: Race, Threat Perception, and the Demise of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902–1923)". Security Studies. 22 (4): 573–606. doi:10.1080/09636412.2013.844514. ISSN 0963-6412. S2CID 144689259.