<論説>日清戦後の大陸政策と陸海軍 : 一八九五〜一九〇六年

Abstract

第一回日英同盟協約の締結をきっかけに、日清戦後の大陸政策構想は北守南進論から満韓不可分論へと変化していった。その際、「満韓不可分」と大陸攻勢作戦主義とは表裏一体の関係にあったが、日本という島帝国が大陸攻勢作戦をおこなうためには強大な海軍力の構築が不可欠であった。この時期、陸軍が海軍の一方的な軍備拡張に同意せざるをえなかったのはそのためであった。日英同盟という"外枠"をはめられたことによって、陸海軍の対立は緩和される方向に向かったのである。そして、こうした傾向は第二回日英同盟の成立によって決定的となった。すなわち、日英攻守同盟体制の安定化のために、陸軍中央の北守南進論や満州軍の積極的満州経営論、さらには海軍の島帝国論などは陸海軍自らによって抑制されたのである。日露戦後における薩長藩閥勢力による陸海軍分掌体制の完成(＝「軍部」の不成立) は、日英攻守同盟体制の有力な支柱となったのである。

With the first signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in January 1902, Japan's plan to partition Korea between Japan and Russia and expand into South China (the "northern defense, southern expansion" plan, adopted after the end of the Sino-Japanese War) became the "Korea- Manchuria indivisibility " policy, whereby Japan proposed to expel Russia from South Manchuria for the sake of controlling all of Korea. At the time, this policy of "Korea-Manchuria indivisility" and an offensive posture on the continent represented two sides of the same coin. But to conduct offensive operations on the continent, Japan, as an island empire, required tremendous naval power. For this reason, the army was compelled to accept a unilateral navel buildup. Because of the imposition of the "external framework" of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, in other words, there was a relaxation of the friction between the army and navy. This trend became decisive with the first revision of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in August 1905. Namely, army authorities held back on thier policy of "northern defense, southern expansion, " the Manchurian Army curbed its aggressive plans for the administration of Manchuria, and the navy compromised on its "island empire" strategy (whereby it had argued against expansion on the continent), all for the sake of the stability of the Anglo-Japanese offensive-defensive alliance system. The perfection, in other words, of a division of power between the army and navy by the Satcho clique after the Russo-Japanese War (which circumscribed the political power of the military as a whole) became a sturdy support for the Anglo-Japanese offensive-defensive alliance system.