Yiwei War

The Yiwei War (乙未戰爭), named for the year in the Chinese calendar, was a five-month conflict between the Empire of Japan and the short-lived Republic of Formosa from May to October 1895. Following the April 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ceded Taiwan to Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War, local leaders proclaimed an independent republic to resist annexation. Japanese forces landed at Aodi (澳底) in northeastern Taiwan on May 29 and swept southward, capturing Keelung (June 3), Taipei (June 7), and finally Tainan (October 21). Despite fierce resistance from regular Chinese units and Hakka militias, the Republic’s leaders eventually fled, ending organized resistance. Guerrilla warfare continued sporadically until 1915.