Anglo-Japanese Alliance

(1902, 1905)

   A mutual assistance pact signed in London on January 30, 1902 by British Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne and the Japanese minister, Hayashi Tadasu, and aimed ostensibly at Russian expansionism in Asia. For Britain the treaty marked the end of “splendid isolation” and enabled it to secure an ally in Asia to contain Russian ambitions and to safeguard British commercial interests in China. The alliance had the additional benefit of freeing Britain to withdraw Royal Navy squadrons from the China Station to home waters to counter Kaiser Wilhelm II ’ s naval building program. For Japan, the alliance was key to their being recognized as a regional power, if not yet a Great Power, and allowed it to challenge Russia’s occupation of Manchuria and its designs on Korea, culminating in the Russo-Japanese War (1904– 05). The alliance was renewed in 1905 and again in 1911 and expired in 1921.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Nish, Ian H. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1894-1907 . London: Athlone Press, 1966;

    O’Brien, Philips, ed. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance. New York: Routledge, 2004.

   ADRIAN U-JIN ANG