Everything about Battle Of Hakodate totally explained
The was fought in Japan from
1868-10-20 to
1869-05-17, between the remnants of the
Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel
Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government (composed mainly of forces of the
Chōshū and the
Satsuma domains). It was the last stage of the
Boshin War, and occurred around
Hakodate in the northern Japanese island of
Hokkaidō. In Japanese, it's also known as
The troops of the former Tokugawa
bakufu fought side-by-side with a group of French
military advisors, members of the
1st French Military Mission to Japan who had trained them during 1867–1868, headed by
Jules Brunet.
Background
The Boshin War erupted in 1868 between troops favorable to the restoration of political authority to the Emperor and the government of the
Tokugawa shogunate. The
Meiji government defeated the forces of the Shogun at the
Battle of Toba-Fushimi and subsequently occupied the Shogun's capital at
Edo.
Enomoto Takeaki, vice-commander of the Shogunate Navy, refused to remit his fleet to the new government and departed
Shinagawa on
1868-08-20, with four steam warships (
Kaiyō,
Kaiten,
Banryū,
Chiyodagata) and four steam transports (
Kanrin Maru,
Mikaho,
Shinsoku,
Chōgei) as well as 2,000 sailors, 36 members of the "Yugekitai" (guerilla corps) headed by
Iba Hachiro, several officials of the former
Bakufu government including the vice-commander in chief of the Shogunate Army
Matsudaira Taro,
Nakajima Saburozuke, and members of the French Military Mission to Japan, headed by Jules Brunet.
On
August 21, the fleet encountered a
typhoon off
Choshi, in which
Mikaho was lost and
Kanrin Maru, heavily damaged, forced to rally the coast, where she was captured at
Shimizu.
The rest of the fleet reached
Sendai harbor on August 26, one of the centers of the
Northern Coalition (奥羽越列藩同盟) against the new government, composed of the fiefs of
Sendai,
Yonozawa,
Aizu,
Shōnai and
Nagaoka.
Imperial troops continued to progress north, taking the castle of
Wakamatsu, and making the position in Sendai untenable. On
1868-10-12, the fleet left Sendai, after having acquired two more ships (
Oe and the
Hou-Ou, previously borrowed by Sendai domain from the Shogunate), and about 1,000 more troops: former-
Bakufu troops under
Otori Keisuke,
Shinsengumi troops under
Hijikata Toshizo,
Yugekitai under
Katsutaro Hitomi, as well as several more French advisors (
Fortant,
Marlin,
Bouffier, Garde), who had reached Sendai overland.
Battle of Hakodate
Occupation of southern Hokkaidō
The rebels, numbering around 3,000 and traveling by ship with Enomoto Takeaki reached Hokkaidō in October 1868. They landed on Takanoki Bay, behind Hakodate on October 20. Hijikata Toshizo and Otori Keisuke each led a column in the direction of Hakodate. They eliminated local resistance by forces of
Matsumae domain, which had declared its loyalty to the new Meiji government, and occupied the fortress of
Goryokaku on
October 26, which became the command center for the rebel army.
Various expeditions were organized to take full control of the southern peninsula of Hokkaidō. On
November 5, Hijikata, commanding 800 troops and supported by the warships
Kaiten and
Banryo occupied the castle of Matsumae. On November 14, Hijikata and Matsudaira converged on the city of
Esashi, with the added support of the flagship
Kaiyo Maru, and the transport ship
Shinsoku. Unfortunately,
Kaiyō Maru was shipwrecked and lost in a tempest near Esashi, and
Shinsoku also was lost as it came to its rescue, dealing a terrible blow to the rebel forces.
After eliminating all local resistance, on
December 25, the rebels founded the
Ezo Republic, with a government organization modeled after that of the
United States, with Enomoto Takeaki, as President (総裁). While the governments of
France and the
United Kingdom conditionally recognized the new republic, the Meiji government in
Tokyo did not.
A defense network was established around Hakodate in anticipation of the attack by the troops of the new Imperial government. The Ezo Republic troops were structured under a hybrid Franco-Japanese leadership, with
Commander in chief Otori Keisuke seconded by Jules Brunet, and each of the four brigades commanded by a French officer (Fortant, Marlin,
Cazeneuve, Bouffier), seconded by eight half-brigade Japanese commanders. Two ex-
French Navy officers,
Eugène Collache and
Henri Nicol further joined the rebels, and Collache was put in charge of building fortified defenses along the volcanic mountains around Hakodate, while Nicol was in charge of re-organizing the Navy.
In the meantime, an Imperial fleet had been rapidly constituted around the
ironclad warship Kōtetsu, which had been purchased by the
Meiji government from the United States. Other Imperial ships were
Kasuga,
Hiryū,
Teibo,
Yoshun,
Moshun, which had been supplied by the fiefs of Saga, Chōshū and Satsuma to the newly formed government in 1868. The fleet left Tokyo on
1869-03-09, and headed north.
Naval battle of Miyako
The Imperial navy reached the harbor of
Miyako on March 20. Anticipating the arrival of the Imperial fleet, the rebels organized a daring plan to seize the powerful new warship
Kōtetsu.
Three warships were dispatched for a surprise attack, in what is known as the
Naval Battle of Miyako: the
Kaiten, on which were riding the elite
Shinsengumi as well as the ex-French Navy officer Henri Nicol, the warship
Banryu, with the ex-French officer Clateau, and the warship
Takao, with ex-French Navy officer
Eugène Collache onboard. To create surprise, the
Kaiten entered Miyako harbor with an American flag. They raised the Ezo Republic flag seconds before boarding the
Kōtetsu. The crew of
Kōtetsu managed to repel the attack with a
Gatling gun, with huge losses to the attackers. The two Ezo warships escaped back to Hokkaidō, but the
Takao was pursued and self-wrecked.
Landing of Imperial forces
The Imperial troops, numbering 7,000, finally landed on Hokkaidō on
1869-04-09. They progressively took over various defensive positions, until the final stand occurred around the fortress of
Goryokaku and
Benten Daiba around the city of Hakodate.
Japan's first major naval engagement between two modern navies, the
Naval Battle of Hakodate, occurred towards the end of the conflict, during the month of May 1869.
Before the final surrender, in May 1869, the Ezo Republic French military advisors escaped to a
French Navy warship stationed in Hakodate Bay, the
Coëtlogon, from where they returned to
Yokohama and thence to France.
After having lost close to half their numbers and most of their ships, the military of Ezo Republic surrendered to the
Meiji government on
1869-05-17.
Aftermath
The battle marked the end of the old feudal regime in Japan, and the end of armed resistance to the
Meiji restoration. After a few years in prison, several of the leaders of the rebellion were rehabilitated, and continued with brilliant political careers in the new unified Japan: Enomoto Takeaki in particular took various ministry functions during the
Meiji era.
The new Imperial government, finally secure, established numerous new institutions soon after the end of the conflict. The
Imperial Japanese Navy in particular was formally established in July 1869, and incorporated many of the combatants and ships which had participated in the Battle of Hakodate.
The future admiral
Togo Heihachiro, hero of the 1905
Battle of Tsushima, participated to the battle as a gunner onboard the paddle steam warship
Kasuga.
Later depictions of the battle
Although the Battle of Hakodate involved some of the most modern armament of the era (steam warships, and even an
ironclad warship, barely invented 10 years earlier with the world's first seagoing ironclad, the French
La Gloire),
Gatling guns,
Armstrong cannons, modern uniforms and fighting methods, most of the later Japanese depictions of the battle during the few years after the Meiji Restoration offer an anachronistic representation of traditional
samurai fighting with their swords, possibly in an attempt to romanticize the conflict, or to minimize the amount of modernization already achieved during the
Bakumatsu period (1853-1868).
Significance
French involvement
The Battle of Hakodate also reveals a period of Japanese history when France was strongly involved with Japanese affairs. Similarly, British and American interests and actions in Japan were quite significant, but less visible than with the French. This French involvement is part of the broader, and often disastrous, foreign activity of the French Empire under
Napoleon III, and followed the
Campaign of Mexico. The members of the French Mission who followed their Japanese allies to the North all resigned or deserted from the French Army before accompanying them. Although they were speedily rehabilitated upon their return to France, and some, such as Jules Brunet followed brilliant careers, their involvement wasn't premeditated or politically guided, but rather a matter of personal choice and conviction. Although defeated in this conflict, and again defeated in the
Franco-Prussian War, France continued to play an important role in Japan's modernization: a
Second Military Mission was invited in 1872, and the first true modern fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was built under the supervision of the French engineer
Emile Bertin in the 1880s.
Modernization
Although the modernization of Japan is generally explained as starting with the
Meiji period (1868), it actually started significantly earlier from around 1853 during the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate (the
Bakumatsu period). The 1869 Battle of Hakodate shows two sophisticated adversaries in an essentially modern conflict, where steam power and guns play the key role, although some elements of traditional combat clearly remained. A great deal of Western scientific and technological knowledge had already been entering Japan since around 1720 through
rangaku, the study of Western sciences, and since 1853, the Tokugawa shogunate had been extremely active at modernizing the country and opening it to foreign influence. In a sense, the Restoration movement, based on the
Sonno Joi ideology was a reaction to this modernization and internationalization, although, in the end, the Meiji Emperor chose to follow a similar policy under the
Fukoku Kyohei (Rich country, Strong army) principle. Some of his former supporters from Satsuma, such as
Saigō Takamori would revolt against this situation, leading to the
Satsuma Rebellion in 1877.
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