Capitulation of Tainan (1895)

Capitulation of Tainan
Part of Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895)
Japanese troops land at Pa-te-chui, 10 October 1895
Date 21 October 1895 Location Tainan-fu, Taiwan (modern-day Tainan, Taiwan) Result Collapse of Republic of Formosa
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Republic of Formosa
Commanders and leaders
Kabayama Sukenori	Liu Yung-fu
Strength
?	?
Casualties and losses
?	?

The Capitulation of Tainan, on 21 October 1895, was the last act in the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. The capitulation ended the brief existence of the Republic of Formosa and inaugurated the era of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan.

After the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, officials on Taiwan opposed to the cession of Taiwan to Japan proclaimed an independent Republic of Formosa and raised forces in order to resist the impending Japanese invasion. On 6 June 1895, in the wake of the Imperial Japanese Army's successful landing and occupation of northern Taiwan, President Tang Ching-sung fled the island. On 26 June the former-Qing garrison commander and vice-president of the Republic of Formosa Liu Yung-fu announced his succession as head of government, and used his base in Tainan as the capital of the second republic.

The capture of Tainan now became a political as well as a strategic imperative for the Japanese. However, this proved to be easier said than done. Faced with growing resistance to their occupation, the Japanese were unable to advance immediately on Tainan. During the second phase of the campaign, from June to August, the Japanese secured central Taiwan by occupying Miaoli and Changhua. They then paused for a month, and only embarked on the third and final phase of the campaign, the advance on Tainan, in the second week of October.

The arrival of strong reinforcements (the 2nd Provincial Division, transferred from the Japanese 2nd Army in Manchuria, and part of the 4th Provincial Division, from Osaka) allowed the Japanese to approach Tainan from three directions at once. On 10 October two task forces sailed from the Pescadores. The smaller task force, 5,460 troops under the command of Prince Fushimi, landed at Pa-te-chui (布袋嘴), to the north of Tainan. The larger task force, 6,330 troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Nogi, landed at Fangliao (枋寮), well to the south of Tainan. Its first objective was to capture the port of Takow (modern Kaohsiung), twenty-five miles to the north. Meanwhile, the Imperial Guards Division, then at Changhua, was ordered to continue to press forward towards Tainan. Just under 20,000 Japanese troops now closed in on Tainan simultaneously, from the north, the northeast and the south. Liu Yung-fu could probably field a larger force, but the Chinese and Formosans were by now fighting merely to stave off defeat. They had little hope of stemming the Japanese advance on Tainan.

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