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by her since the Crimean War, and it brought to an end the days of her proud isolation. It proved to be but the first step in her new foreign policy, and soon was followed by the French entente in 1904 and the Russian entente in 1907. And all three of them served to unite the four great powers in an understanding which reacted immediately to the German threat in 1914. But in many quarters, the alliance was denounced as an unprecedented union of a western and an eastern state, a Christian and a Pagan one, and Germany has never lost an opportunity to dwell upon the treason of Great Britain to the cause of "civilization." The first treaty called for joint action only when two powers combined to threaten the interests of Britain or Japan in the East, and this gave Japan the assurance that should Russia attack her, Great Britain, controlling the seas, would "hold the ring" and see that no other European power intervened, as had been the case after the Chino-Japanese War in 1895. And this is exactly what happened. Although the Kaiser sympathized with Russia during the Japanese War and deliberately broke international law in order to help coal the Russian fleet,' yet he dared not openly join her so long as Britain was ready to meet her obligations under the Japanese alliance.

It might be added that there was some question among Japanese statesmen as to whether an English or a Russian alliance would be most helpful. Prince Ito believed it would be better to ally with Russia, to work with her and endeavor to avoid friction. But the Japanese cabinet believed, and wisely, that Japan had far more in common with Great Britain than with the then government of Russia, which had already shown its cynical disregard for its plighted word.

During the Russo-Japanese War, 1905, the terms of the alliance were altered, and now both parties would join forces if the interests of either were attacked, and as the scope of the alliance extended to India it now became possible for Britain to reduce greatly her eastern fleet and commence the concentration in the North Sea which served so well in 1914. The last renewal of

Herman Bernstein, The Willy-Nicky Correspondence, 57-59, 60-73, 78-81, 90-102 (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1918).

IMPORTANCE OF BRITISH ALLIANCE

419

the alliance was in 1911 and the terms were again altered in order to permit the operation of arbitration treaties, and especially those which the United States had proposed to the powers.

Since 1902 the alliance with Great Britain has been the corner stone of Japanese foreign policy. In spite of criticism on the part of certain British and Japanese journalists and of narrow-minded politicians in both countries, the statesmen of the two empires have realized the value of this compact, which, as the Japanese liked to say, assured the peace of the Far East. And the existence of this agreement was often overlooked during the period of friction between Japan and the United States before the Great War. Japan, allied with Great Britain, could hardly think of forcing any issue with the country with which Britain had most in common. Instead of seeking to make trouble, Japan, as we shall see, sought to improve her good relations with the two great English-speaking powers.

The vital clause of the alliance provided that, should the territorial rights or special interests of either power in Eastern Asia or India be threatened, the two allies would unite in their defense. If the Japanese had been inclined to a strict interpretation of their obligations it would have been easy to assert that the presence of German raiders in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. and the existence of a German base on the coast of China did not seriously affect the territorial rights of Britain, and that only when India or the other eastern possessions of Great Britain were attacked would Japan have to intervene. But if this idea ever occurred to the Japanese statesmen it certainly did not delay their action. And in addition to the formal obligations of the alliance it was felt that Japan's own interests prompted her to enter the world war.

GERMANY IN THE FAR EAST

For the past 20 years Germany had been the stormy petrel of Far Eastern politics. It was Germany that arranged for the triple demonstration of Germany, Russia and France at the close of the Chino-Japanese War, which robbed Japan of Port Arthur and the Liaotung Peninsula. It was Germany that commenced

the vicious circle of territorial demands on China, when, with the worst excuse in the world, she extorted the lease of the fine port of Kiaochow, just across the Yellow Sea from Japan. It was the Kaiser who gave to the world the bogy of the "Yellow Peril." It was Germany who behaved so badly during the Boxer uprising and the peace negotiations. It was believed that it was the Kaiser who encouraged the Tsar in his fatal Manchurian policy, which cost Japan so much in blood and treasure. And at Tsingtao (the city on the Bay of Kiaochow) Germany had built up a strong naval base which might be used for strengthening her hold upon China, or even against Japan herself. Japan, therefore, had no love for Germany. With Germany she had been able to come to no understanding, although she had an alliance with Great Britain and ententes with France and Russia. The elimination of Germany from China would fit in with Japan's new policy of checking foreign aggression there. But without the Anglo-Japanese alliance it is very doubtful if Japan would have promptly entered the European War. In my mind there is no doubt that Japan would soon have been drawn into it when Germany began her raids upon neutral shipping. But the idea that at any time Japan would have joined with Germany against the Allies is so absurd that it existed only in German minds or in the minds of German sympathizers. The last power in the world, of all the belligerents, that Japan would have fought was Great Britain. And as we have seen, she had understandings with both France and Russia. The talk of a German-Japanese alliance was made in Berlin and was primarily intended to affect such anti-Japanese sentiment as existed in the United States.

ULTIMATUM TO GERMANY

As soon as the news of Great Britain's declaration of war against Germany on August 4, 1914, reached Japan, she notified her Ally that she was ready to live up to the terms and duties of the alliance. Britain promptly made a formal request for Japanese aid. A few days elapsed while the Japanese studied the problem and perfected their plans. Finally, it was decided that she would

MILITARY OPERATIONS AT TSINGTAO

421 help police the eastern seas, would drive Germany out of her naval base at Tsingtao, and would capture her islands in the South Seas. On the 15th, a formal notice was served upon Germany that she must surrender the entire leased territory of Kiaochow to Japan, for eventual restoration to China, and she was given until the 23rd to reply. On that date, when the only answer Germany made was to strengthen the defenses and concentrate her reservists at Tsingtao, Japan formally declared war. This was promptly followed by the sailing forth of Japanese ships to run down German commerce destroyers and by a naval bombardment of Tsingtao.

II. JAPAN'S PART IN THE WAR 1

The operations at Tsingtao were insignificant from a military point of view. The port was well fortified, but the garrison consisted of only some 4,500 men. Japan sent over an expeditionary force of 20,000, and Great Britain co-operated with 925 British and 300 Sikh troops. In order to get at the German territory it was necessary to land on Chinese soil. This was a violation of neutrality, and was promptly decried by the Germans as on a par with the invasion of Belgium. Naturally, there was no comparison. Germany was by treaty bound not only to respect but to defend the neutrality of Belgium. But China was too weak to prevent the Germans, on her territory, from violating neutrality, and it was incumbent on the Allies to do what China herself could not do. There would have been no attack on Tsingtao if the Germans had not used it as a base of naval operations. It should also be remembered that the Russo-Japanese War was fought almost entirely on Chinese soil. In both cases it was the price she had to pay for permitting militant powers to hold and fortify leaseholds in her territory.

The investment of Tsingtao proceeded slowly, for the Japanese were unwilling to sacrifice many lives in gaining an assured victory. Finally, on November 7, after the Japanese had taken

For a summary of Japan's attitude in the war by the foreign minister, see Appendix II, p. 445.

the dominant forts, the German commander surrendered. The prisoners were soon removed to Japan, where their lot was so different from that of prisoners of war in Germany that any comparison would be odious. And throughout the whole period the Japanese showed no bitterness toward the German residents in Japan. It was only when their courtesy was abused that they began to intern recalcitrant Germans.

NAVAL OPERATIONS

On the high seas the Japanese navy had been ceaselessly active. Their squadrons scoured the Pacific from Canada to Cape Horn. Other vessels served as convoys for the Australian troop-ships on their way to Egypt and the Dardanelles, and many an Australian who had dreamed of the Japanese invasion of Australia saw for the first time the sun-flag of Japan on the ships which protected him and his comrades from the German cruisers. During this time a Japanese cruiser ran aground off the Mexican coast, and the German propaganda in this country incited a great hue and cry that Japan had established a naval base to the south of California. This report was investigated by an American naval officer and the real situation reported.

It was a Japanese squadron also which swept down the South American coast searching for Von Spee's fleet, which had destroyed a smaller British force off Chile. Happily, for the satisfaction of the British navy, the Japanese drove the Germans into the Atlantic, where at the Falkland Islands the British fell upon them and destroyed them every one.

By understanding with Great Britain, the Japanese captured the German islands north of the equator, while British colonial forces occupied German New Guinea and Samoa. The Japanese took and garrisoned the Marshall and Caroline Islands in October, 1914.

With the destruction of all the German raiders and their bases, the naval operations were practically at an end. But it was the Japanese and British vessels which kept the Pacific free from the horrors of submarine warfare such as the Atlantic was soon to know.

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