Triple Intervention

After the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan and China on April 17, 1895 to conclude the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) three European Powers (Russia, Germany and France) intervened on April 23 with so-called 'friendly advice' to Japan to retrocede the Liaotung peninsula including Lushun (Port Arthur) to China.

Japan reluctantly agreed to this, as it was exhausted after the war and in no position to resist without British aid, but this was not forthcoming - instead Britain advised Japan to take the 'advice' of the three powers. (Britain had been miffed at the Japanese refusal to accept British mediation before the war began).

Russia moved almost immediately to occupy the entire Liaodong Peninsula and, especially to fortify Port Arthur despite vigorous protests from China, Japan, as well as the United States — all three favoring an Open Door Policy in Manchuria.

It was a humiliation at the hands of Russia, avenged by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), after Japan had secured the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1902.

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