Origins of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and Public Opinion

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K20057
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0103:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokai University
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Yu 東海大学, 政治経済学部, 特任講師 (70963669)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 19世紀日英関係史 / 19世紀イギリス東アジア政策 / 19世紀イギリス帝国史 / 19世紀イギリス外交史 / 19世紀日本外交史 / 19世紀東アジア国際関係史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objective of my research while receiving Grants-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists from the fiscal year of 2022 and 2023 was to examine the origins of the signing of Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902. As the signing of this strategic arrangement significantly altered the dynamics of the international relations within East Asia, there already are many works which examine its origin.
The problem about the existing literature is that the formation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902 was an outcome of the relationship of two countries which were in a good terms with each other for quite some time. This research allowed critical reanalysis of such conventional understanding, and argue that
these two countries had very little common grounds before 1895. The significance of the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance rests in the fact that these two countries managed to develop mutual confidence in relatively short period of time.

Free Research Field

19世紀国際関係史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近代東アジア国際関係史の通説として、この時期の日本とイギリスの関係は概ね友好的だったみなす通説が定着している。この通説に対して報告者は、この度の研究成果を通じて、19世紀末期の日英関係は、友好的と言うには程遠く、利害の一致も少なかったことを明らかにした。日英同盟が締結される過程で特筆されるべきことは、むしろ1895年の時点で信頼関係が希薄であった両国が、その後わずか7年という短期で同盟というかなり特筆すべき関係を築くことに成功したことだったのである。