Battle during the Boshin War
The
Battle of Hakodate
(
箱館??
,
Hakodate Sens?
)
was fought in Japan from December 4, 1868 to June 27, 1869, 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
Ch?sh?
and the
Satsuma
domains). It was the last stage of the
Boshin War
, and occurred around
Hakodate
in the northern Japanese island of
Hokkaid?
. In Japanese, it is also known as the
Battle of Goryokaku
(
五稜郭の?い
,
Goryokaku no tatakai
)
According to the Japanese calendar, the Battle of Hakodate was fought from
Meiji
-1 year (
gannen
), 10-month, 21-day until Meiji-2 year, 5-month 18-day.
Background
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]
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 Sh?gun at the
Battle of Toba?Fushimi
and subsequently occupied the Sh?gun'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 August 20, 1868, with four steam warships (
Kaiy?
,
Kaiten
,
Banry?
,
Chiyodagata
) and four steam transports (
Kanrin Maru
,
Mikaho
,
Shinsoku
,
Ch?gei
) 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
Ch?shi
, in which
Mikaho
was lost and
Kanrin Maru
, heavily damaged, forced to turn back, where she was captured at
Shimizu
.
Rebel troops of the former
Bakufu
, being transported to Hokkaid?.
Part of the fleet of Enomoto Takeaki off
Shinagawa
. From right to left:
Kaiten
,
Kaiy?
,
Kanrin
,
Ch?gei
,
Mikaho
. The
Banry?
and
Chiyodagata
are absent. 1868 photograph.
The rest of the fleet reached
Sendai
harbor on August 26, one of the centers of the
Northern Coalition
(?羽越列藩同盟) against the new government, composed of the fiefs of
Sendai
,
Yonezawa
,
Aizu
,
Sh?nai
and
Nagaoka
.
Imperial troops continued to progress north, taking the castle of
Wakamatsu
, and making the position in Sendai untenable. On October 12, 1868, the fleet left Sendai, after having acquired two more ships (
?e
and the
H??
, previously borrowed by Sendai Domain from the Shogunate), and about 1,000 more troops: former
Bakufu
troops under
?tori Keisuke
,
Shinsengumi
troops under
Hijikata Toshiz?
, and
Yugekitai
under
Katsutaro Hitomi
, as well as several more French advisors (
Fortant
,
Marlin
,
Bouffier
, Garde), who had reached Sendai overland.
Battle
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Occupation of southern Hokkaid?
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The rebels, numbering around 3,000 and traveling by ship with Enomoto Takeaki reached Hokkaid? in October 1868. They landed on Washinoki 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
Gory?kaku
on October 26, which became the command center for the rebel army.
The fortress of
Gory?kaku
, headquarters of the rebel army.
Various expeditions were organized to take full control of the southern peninsula of Hokkaid?. 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
.
Kaiy? 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 (?裁). The Meiji government in
Tokyo
refused to recognise the breakaway republic.
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
?tori Keisuke
seconded by Jules Brunet, and each of the four brigades commanded by a French officer (Fortant, Marlin,
Andre Cazeneuve
, Bouffier), seconded by eight half-brigade Japanese commanders. Two ex-
French Navy
officers,
Eugene 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
K?tetsu
, which had been purchased by the
Meiji government
from the United States. Other Imperial ships were
Kasuga
,
Hiry?
,
Teib?
,
Y?shun
,
M?shun
, which had been supplied by the fiefs of Saga, Ch?sh? and Satsuma to the newly formed government in 1868. The fleet left Tokyo on March 9, 1869, and headed north.
Miyako Bay
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The Imperial navy's revolutionary ironclad
K?tetsu
.
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
K?tetsu
.
Three warships were dispatched for a surprise attack, in what is known as the
Battle of Miyako Bay
: 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
Eugene Collache
on board. To create surprise, the
Kaiten
entered Miyako harbor with an American flag. They raised the Ezo Republic flag seconds before boarding the
K?tetsu
. The crew of
K?tetsu
managed to repel the attack with a
Gatling gun
, with huge losses to the attackers. The two Ezo warships escaped back to Hokkaid?, but the
Takao
was pursued and beached itself.
Landing of Imperial forces
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The Imperial troops, numbering 7,000, finally landed on Hokkaid? on April 9, 1869. They progressively took over various defensive positions, until the final stand occurred around the fortress of
Gory?kaku
and
Benten Daiba
around the city of Hakodate.
Japan's first major naval engagement between two modern navies, the
Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay
, occurred towards the end of the conflict, during the month of May 1869.
[1]
Before the final surrender, in June 1869, the Ezo Republic French military advisors escaped to a
French Navy
warship stationed in Hakodate Bay, the
Coetlogon
, 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 June 27, 1869.
Aftermath
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Hijikata Toshiz?
, leader of the
Shinsengumi
, fought against the Imperial troops and died in the battle of Hakodate.
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 period
.
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
T?g? Heihachir?
, hero of the 1905
Battle of Tsushima
, participated in the battle as a gunner on board the paddle steam warship
Kasuga
.
Later depictions of the battle
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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 guns
, 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 downplay the amount of modernization already achieved during the
Bakumatsu
period (1853?1868).
A Japanese rendition of the Battle of Hakodate (函館??の?), circa 1880. The cavalry charge, with a sinking sail ship in the background, is led by the leaders of the rebellion, labeled from left to right,
Enomoto (Kinjiro) Takeaki
,
?tori Keisuke
,
Matsudaira Tar?
. The samurai in yellow garment is
Hijikata Toshiz?
. French soldiers are shown behind the cavalry charge in white trousers. Imperial troops with modern uniforms are on the right (the "Red bear" (赤熊,
Shaguma
) wigs indicate soldiers from
Tosa
("White bear" (白熊,
Haguma
) wigs for
Ch?sh?
, "Black bear" (?熊,
Koguma
) wigs for
Satsuma
)), with a modern steam warship in the background.
Significance
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Modernization
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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
sonn? j?i
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 ky?hei
("rich country, strong army") principle. Some of his former supporters from Satsuma, such as
Saig? Takamori
would revolt against this situation, leading to the
Satsuma Rebellion
in 1877.
French involvement
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A group of French military advisors, members of the
1st French Military Mission to Japan
and headed by
Jules Brunet
, fought side-by-side with troops of the former Tokugawa
bakufu
, whom they had trained during 1867?1868.
The Battle of Hakodate also reveals a period of Japanese history when France was strongly involved with Japanese affairs. Similarly, the interests and actions of other Western powers in Japan were quite significant, but to a lesser extent 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 continued illustrious careers, their involvement was not 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.
See also
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References and notes
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