Foreign Military In China Pre Ww2
- Thread starter grahamsh
- Start date
Where does one start? By 1900, nearly every major and some minor European Powers had some military presence in Imperial China.
The British (Hong Kong & Wei-Hai-Wei); The Germans at Kaoutschou (QingDao)
The French in Shanghai, the Italians at Tientsin (Tianjin) the Austrians, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese in various places on the coast, The Russians at Port Arthur(Manchuria), the Japanese in Formosa, and the Americans with a military detachment at the Peking legation and also at the (Remington) Arsenal at Tientsin, as well as in Shanghai (USMC).
Most of these detachments were either Navy related, these countries basing a Pacific or East-Asian squadron in China (Germany, Italy,Britain and France), or Colonial troops drafted from other areas of Asia and Africa. (the British had both British Army and British Indian Troops, the French also had, besides Naval Infantry, Senegalese from West Africa. The germans had a specific Unit, the Ost-Asiatische Shutztruppen, a battalion specially raised for service in Asia. and suitably equipped for tropical and subtropical service.
After 1900, with the crushing reparations imnposed by the Allied Powers on Imperial China, the numbers and Postings of Foreign troops increased, until 1914, when WW I changed the arrangements of foreign Powers.
Also, the 1904-5 Russo japanese war removed the Russians as a major Power in Chinese affairs, and the 1911 SunYat Sen revolution also started to change the rapport between China and Foreign occupation.
The Japanese rapidly expelled the Germans from China(Shandong peninsula) in late 1914, and of course the Austro-Hungarian Empire also disappeared from the Chinese scene.
With the passing of the 1920s, and the assertion of the KMT throughout China (Local warlords notwithstanding, the Foreign Military outpost grew smaller, concentrating on the major Port Cities (Tientsin, TsingTao, Shanghai and Hong Kong; Of course, the events of 8-18-31 (Japanese Annexation/invasion of Manchuria and establishment of Puppet state of Manch-kuo again changed the whole aspect of "Foreign" Military establishments in China. By the 1930s, most of the Foreign Military posts in China were to protect European intertests in the trading Cities from depredations caused by the ongoing Fighting between various Warlords and of course, the Communists. The original reason for the presence of Foreign troops (the collection of Taxes and reparations from the Boxer Rebellion treaties) had long since passed from the political scene.
So when the Japanese lauched the war against China proper (Marco Polo Bridge incident, 1937), the other nations "secured their backyards" and assited the refugee Chinese as and where they could.
Of course, the Japanese hostilities upset the position of the german and the italians, who in the 1920s and early 30s had larege Military Missions in China, traing the Chinese Army and Airforce (in order to combat Communism, and the Influence of Stalinist Russian Military advisors to the Chinese Communist Party. Japan finally convinced Hiotler and Mussolini to withdraw their Military aid, but by this time ( 1939,) those dictators wetre fully involved in a European War. The Italian Squadron in China finally was interned by the Japanese in September 1943 ( as had been the US Marines in 1941); Only the Germans remained ( in difficult relations) with the Japanese till 1945, sending important raw materials to Germany by "Cargo Submarines", the last reaching Germany after the end of the European War. ( Rubber, Tin, Tungsten, etc).
There is still very much to research on the presence and activity of foreign Military groups in China from 1900 to 1945, quite apart from the major WW II Players.
Regards,
Doc AV
AV Ballistics Film Ordnance Services.
The British (Hong Kong & Wei-Hai-Wei); The Germans at Kaoutschou (QingDao)
The French in Shanghai, the Italians at Tientsin (Tianjin) the Austrians, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese in various places on the coast, The Russians at Port Arthur(Manchuria), the Japanese in Formosa, and the Americans with a military detachment at the Peking legation and also at the (Remington) Arsenal at Tientsin, as well as in Shanghai (USMC).
Most of these detachments were either Navy related, these countries basing a Pacific or East-Asian squadron in China (Germany, Italy,Britain and France), or Colonial troops drafted from other areas of Asia and Africa. (the British had both British Army and British Indian Troops, the French also had, besides Naval Infantry, Senegalese from West Africa. The germans had a specific Unit, the Ost-Asiatische Shutztruppen, a battalion specially raised for service in Asia. and suitably equipped for tropical and subtropical service.
After 1900, with the crushing reparations imnposed by the Allied Powers on Imperial China, the numbers and Postings of Foreign troops increased, until 1914, when WW I changed the arrangements of foreign Powers.
Also, the 1904-5 Russo japanese war removed the Russians as a major Power in Chinese affairs, and the 1911 SunYat Sen revolution also started to change the rapport between China and Foreign occupation.
The Japanese rapidly expelled the Germans from China(Shandong peninsula) in late 1914, and of course the Austro-Hungarian Empire also disappeared from the Chinese scene.
With the passing of the 1920s, and the assertion of the KMT throughout China (Local warlords notwithstanding, the Foreign Military outpost grew smaller, concentrating on the major Port Cities (Tientsin, TsingTao, Shanghai and Hong Kong; Of course, the events of 8-18-31 (Japanese Annexation/invasion of Manchuria and establishment of Puppet state of Manch-kuo again changed the whole aspect of "Foreign" Military establishments in China. By the 1930s, most of the Foreign Military posts in China were to protect European intertests in the trading Cities from depredations caused by the ongoing Fighting between various Warlords and of course, the Communists. The original reason for the presence of Foreign troops (the collection of Taxes and reparations from the Boxer Rebellion treaties) had long since passed from the political scene.
So when the Japanese lauched the war against China proper (Marco Polo Bridge incident, 1937), the other nations "secured their backyards" and assited the refugee Chinese as and where they could.
Of course, the Japanese hostilities upset the position of the german and the italians, who in the 1920s and early 30s had larege Military Missions in China, traing the Chinese Army and Airforce (in order to combat Communism, and the Influence of Stalinist Russian Military advisors to the Chinese Communist Party. Japan finally convinced Hiotler and Mussolini to withdraw their Military aid, but by this time ( 1939,) those dictators wetre fully involved in a European War. The Italian Squadron in China finally was interned by the Japanese in September 1943 ( as had been the US Marines in 1941); Only the Germans remained ( in difficult relations) with the Japanese till 1945, sending important raw materials to Germany by "Cargo Submarines", the last reaching Germany after the end of the European War. ( Rubber, Tin, Tungsten, etc).
There is still very much to research on the presence and activity of foreign Military groups in China from 1900 to 1945, quite apart from the major WW II Players.
Regards,
Doc AV
AV Ballistics Film Ordnance Services.