en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwantung_Army
2 corrections found
In 1895, Qing China granted the Kwantung Leased Territory, a valuable concession territory on the Liaodong Peninsula, to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after their victory in the First Sino-Japanese War.
This misstates what the 1895 treaty did. The Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan; the Kwantung lease was obtained later, first by Russia in 1898 and then transferred to Japan in 1905.
Full reasoning
Contemporary and archival summaries of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (17 April 1895) say its territorial term was that China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Pescadores Islands to Japan. They do not describe 1895 as China granting Japan the later Kwantung Leased Territory.
The same archival material explains that the lease came later: after the Triple Intervention forced Japan to return Liaodong, Russia obtained Port Arthur and Dalian on the Liaodong Peninsula as leased territory in 1898. A U.S. Army historical monograph likewise states that under Shimonoseki, China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and that Russia obtained a 25-year lease in 1898 over the southern part of the peninsula, the area known as Kwantung Territory.
So the article conflates a 1895 cession of Liaodong with the later Kwantung lease arrangement.
2 sources
- Towards peace: Start of peace negotiations - Treaty of Shimonoseki and Triple Intervention
The main points of the treaty were: ... 2) China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands ... Within 4 years the three powers involved in the Triple Intervention all obtained leased territories from China: ... Russia Port Arthur and Dalian on the Liaodong Peninsula (1898).
- Japanese Monograph No. 77: Japanese Preparations for Operations in Manchuria (Prior to 1943)
Under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) ... China ceded to Japan the Liaotung Peninsula ... Russia, moreover, in 1898 obtained from China a 25-year lease of the southern part of the peninsula—the area known as Kwantung Territory.
The Kwantung Army was heavily augmented over the next few years, up to a strength of 700,000 troops by 1941, and its headquarters was transferred to the new Manchukuo capital of Xinjing.
This places the headquarters move too late. The Kwantung Army headquarters had already been moved to Changchun/Xinjing in 1932, when Manchukuo was established.
Full reasoning
The move of Kwantung Army headquarters to Changchun/Xinjing happened in connection with the creation of Manchukuo in 1932, not as part of the 1941 buildup.
A U.S. Army historical monograph on Japanese operations in Manchuria states that after the Mukden Incident and the formation of the new state, the Kwantung Army commander received the title of ambassador to Manchukuo and "his headquarters was moved to Changchun which was renamed Hsinking". A 1932 U.S. State Department dispatch likewise reported that the headquarters of the new unified Japanese administration in Manchuria would be at Changchun and become operative in early August 1932.
So the sentence is misleading because it ties the headquarters transfer to the 1941 troop expansion, when the move had already occurred about nine years earlier.
2 sources
- Japanese Monograph No. 77: Japanese Preparations for Operations in Manchuria (Prior to 1943)
In connection with the formation of the new state, the Kwantung Army commander was given a second title—that of Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Manchukuo, and his headquarters was moved to Changchun which was renamed Hsinking or "new capital".
- Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1932, The Far East, Volume IV, Document 197
It is reported that the headquarters of the new administration will be at Changchun ... and the system will become operative on August 5th or 6th.