The modern history of Northeast Asia has always been closely related to China. In particular, the historical changes on the Korean Peninsula have a bearing on our position in Northeast Asia.
Before modern times, the Korean Peninsula has always been a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the Central Plains Dynasty is also a well-deserved hegemon of Northeast Asia. However, after the beginning of modern history in 1840, things gradually changed.
In particular, in 1860, after Tsarist Russia ceded more than 1 million square kilometers of Outer Northeast China, including Sakhalin Island, from the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty lost its identity as the hegemon of Northeast Asia. Therefore, the pattern of Northeast Asia needs to be reshuffled, and the suzerainty and even the right to belong to the Korean Peninsula will naturally change.
After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan and Russia began to fight for the Korean Peninsula
For example, after the Russian invasion of Sakhalin from the Qing Dynasty in 1860, it did not really take full control of Sakhalin, because the southern part of Sakhalin Island is also relatively close to the Japanese mainland, which Japan calls Huatai Island, and there are Japanese natives living here in the south.
Therefore, if Tsarist Russia wants to completely take the entire island of Sakhalin, it has to ask Japan. Finally, in 1875, Tsarist Russia and Japan signed the "Birch Tai Kuril Exchange Treaty", in which Tsarist Russia exchanged sovereignty over the Kuril Islands for Japan's abandonment of Sakhalin.
Therefore, since Northeast Asia is going to be reshuffled, everything must be redefined by the protagonists here. In the past, there were only China, Japan, North Korea and other countries here, but with the continuous eastward invasion of Tsarist Russia, Tsarist Russia also entered Northeast Asia, and naturally it will come to get a piece of the pie.
After settling the issue of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, both Tsarist Russia and Japan set their sights on the Korean Peninsula. This is a treasure trove of land, not only as a springboard into the Tohoku region, but also as a large number of natural harbors.
From 1894 to 1895, the Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan. After the war, the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat and had to transfer the suzerainty of Korea to Japan.
Although the Qing Dynasty did not get involved in the disputes on the Korean Peninsula, Tsarist Russia came to stir up the situation again. Since 1860, when Tsarist Russia ceded more than 1 million square kilometers of land in the northeast, it was separated from Korea by only one Tumen River, and it was also a neighboring country. For this reason, Tsarist Russia has long seen the potential of the Korean Peninsula.
If this piece of land can be pocketed, it will be called Meizizi for Tsarist Russia. After all, Tsarist Russia is too short of natural harbors, and the Korean Peninsula has everything in these things.
For this reason, Tsarist Russia began to get involved in the Korean Peninsula in 1895. At that time, there was also turmoil in North Korea. Concubine Min, the daughter-in-law of North Korea's Gaozong Li Xi, is not a fuel-efficient lamp.
Originally, in order to seize power from Li Xi's father, Daewonjun, who was in charge of regent, Concubine Min encouraged Li Xi to bring in Japanese power. As a result, in the process of competing for power and profit with the monarch of the courtyard, Concubine Min and the Japanese forces broke up again, so she fell to the Qing Dynasty again, hoping to use the power of the Qing Dynasty to help her take power.
After the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing Dynasty's power in Korea basically disappeared, and Concubine Min, who had lost her support, contacted Tsarist Russia in order not to be completely driven down by the Japanese, hoping that Tsarist Russia would secretly help her seize power. As a result, in October 1895, the Yiwei Incident broke out, and Concubine Min was killed by the Japanese ronin.
The Ulwei Incident was clearly a conspiracy orchestrated by the Japanese, and thus aroused the anger of the Korean subjects. The Japanese also panicked, after all, there were even anti-Japanese rebels in Korea. What made them even more panicked was that Gaozong Li Xi actually took advantage of the chaos and took refuge in the Russian embassy in 1896.
With the support of Tsarist Russia, Gojong Li Xi suddenly hardened, and he ordered all the pro-Japanese cabinets to be laid off, and the Korean people were indignant, and Japan could not stand even in Korea. Tsarist Russia had the upper hand for a time, but the story of the two sides fighting over the Korean Peninsula was far from over.
Gojong Yi Hee, who founded the foundation of the Korean Empire
Neither Dayuanjun nor Concubine Min could no longer stop Gaozong Li Xi from taking power, the pro-Japanese faction was also driven away, and Tsarist Russia had no foundation in Korea, so Li Xi became the real king of Korea in the blink of an eye.
In order to show his own uniqueness, plus Gaozong Yi Hee, he didn't want to see Korea become a vassal state or colony of a certain country, so he decisively chose to ascend the throne as emperor in 1897, established the Korean Empire, and began to compete with China, Japan, Russia and other countries.
The Korean Empire was the first empire of Korea, and the systems and regulations used were basically inherited from the Ming Dynasty in China. This is also the first time that the Korean Peninsula has used "Han" as its national name.
In order to avoid the loss of power, Li Xi did take a series of measures:
- First of all, he put those respected veterans on the shelf. To give them a higher status and treatment is to not give them real power, lest they rely on the old and sell the old and compete for power.
- Secondly, for those doers, Li Xi also adopted a categorical approach to distinguish, and adopted an equal approach to the pro-Russian, pro-Japanese, and pro-American factions, so that they could maintain a balance between them and achieve the goal of maximizing their own power.
- In addition, Li Xi himself has also cultivated a group of henchmen who serve him and help him solve the most difficult problems. It's a bit like the Ming Dynasty's stuff factory or Jinyiwei.
Gaozong Li Xi seems to be very smart, and through a series of means, he has mastered the power of the DPRK. But he overlooked one important thing, that is, all countries are reforming and entering modernization. But all of Li Xi's reform measures are aimed at maintaining his own position. In this way, the DPRK will naturally drag its feet.
Since it has dragged its feet, it will have to pay the corresponding price. Even if they can't compare with Japan and Russia in terms of comprehensive national strength, they are still a big cut behind them militarily. It was not easy to win the opportunity to stand on his own feet and become self-reliant for seven or eight years, but Gaozong Li Xiquan used it to maintain his rule, and it would be strange that North Korea could escape from Japan and Russia!
Sure enough, in 1904, Japan declared war on Russia, and the Russo-Japanese War broke out. The Korean Empire immediately declared its neutrality, intending to learn from the Qing Dynasty. But you don't look at your own geographical location, is this a good location? The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to survive was because of their vast land and resources, and the core area could avoid this war. However, the core area of North Korea is all within the scope of this war, and there is no way to avoid it.
Therefore, Japan took advantage of this opportunity to force the Korean Empire to sign the Japan-Korea Protocol in 1904, forcing them to help Japan fight. Gaozong Li Xi, just like that, once again became a puppet of Japan.
Hirofumi Ito, 大韩帝随即覆灭
In fact, the Russo-Japanese War, no matter which side was defeated, was not a good thing for North Korea. What they want to see most is that one is beaten and the other is carried into the ICU ward.
As a result, Japan defeated Tsarist Russia, and the Korean Empire was directly stunned. Next, it was the whole process of Japan's gradual control of the Korean Empire.
- First of all, after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan forced the Korean Empire to sign the "Japan-Korea New Entente", requiring the Korean Empire to hire some Japanese financial and diplomatic advisers.
- Second, in November 1905, Japan forced the Korean Empire to sign the Treaty of Otomi, seizing diplomatic power from the Korean Empire, and Japan became the suzerainty of the Korean Empire again.
- In addition, the Japanese Navy specially abolished the minister to South Korea and established the Korean Unified Inspectorate instead, and at the same time made Japan's famous Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito serve as the first unified minister. In fact, Hirobumi Ito is the Emperor of the Korean Peninsula.
This series of measures made Gaozong Li Xi very panicked, and in order to regain power, he began to ask for assistance from Germany, Britain, France, and even defeated Russia, hoping that they could balance Japan. However, there was no response, Japan was on the rise at that time, and it was an ally of Britain, and no one wanted to offend.
On the one hand, he sent a letter to the British about what Japan had done on the Korean Peninsula and asked them to publish it to inform the world, and on the other hand, he formed his own military force, intending to drive the Japanese out again by force.
This series of events prompted Ito Hirobumi to always want to abolish Gojong Li Xi. In 1907, the Second Conference of Nations was held in The Hague, the Netherlands, and this time Li Xi secretly sent people to accuse Japan, which can be regarded as making Ito Hirobumi make up his mind. Ito Hirobumi deposed Yi Xi on the grounds that he had violated the protection regulations and was succeeded by the crown prince Yi Kun, the last monarch of the Korean Empire.
Since then, the Korean Empire has basically lost all its sovereignty, and all the rights of speech, press, army, diplomacy, etc., have been deprived by Japan. Just waiting for an opportunity, Japan completely annexed the Korean Empire.
In June 1909, Hirobumi Ito, who opposed the merger of Japan and Korea, left his post as superintendent, but in October he was assassinated in Harbin by the Korean patriot Ahn Joong-geun.
Ito's death caused an uproar in Japan, which immediately took advantage of the opportunity to accelerate the annexation of the Korean Empire.
In August 1910, the two sides signed the "Japan-Korea Merger Treaty", and Junjong Yi Kun officially abdicated, and the 13-year Korean Empire disappeared. In its place, it was colonized by Japan for 35 years.