Jonathan Fenby - The Siege of Tsingtao: The only battle of the First World War to be fought in East Asia: how it came about and why its aftermath is still relevant today: Penguin Specials: The only battle of the

Dots on the horizon appeared in the early morning haze in the late summer of 1914. Unlike similar apparitions at that time of day and in those parts, they did not go away. Rather, as the dawn broke, so did the outline of the ships become more precise.

Theyre coming, a watchman at the harbour shouted into his speaking tube. Other sentries echoed him. The whole horizon is swarming with ships, one reported. There were fifteen naval vessels in all.

The shore batteries elevated their guns to confront the intruders. But the ships stopped, 15 miles off shore, out of artillery range and beyond the mines laid by the defenders. Their admiral sent a wireless message asking for permission to dispatch a steam launch to inspect the harbour. Not surprisingly, the local commander refused.

The admiral radioed a second message, announcing that the port was now blockaded. His countrys demand was simple unconditional surrender. Neutrals, including holidaymakers enjoying a summer break by the sea, were given twenty-four hours to leave. The fleets destroyers pulverised two small uninhabited islands. One of the ships strayed into range of the shore guns and attracted a single shell that fell wide. There was an engagement on the glassy sea between an attacking destroyer and a defending torpedo boat which ended when the former retreated under heavy fire with three dead and six wounded.

Thus began the only armed clash of the First World War in East Asia, which culminated in a battle on shore that saw Japanese and British troops fight for the main German military position at the settlement of Tsingtao. The defenders never had a chance, cut off from reinforcements and supplies, hit by heavy rain that washed away their positions, subjected to heavy and accurate artillery bombardment from small aircraft. God be with you in the difficult struggle. I think of you. Kaiser Wilhelm had cabled the garrison which held the key to his ambitions to spread the German Empire into Asia. I guarantee the utmost fulfilment of duty, the Governor replied.

With some 32 000 troops involved, a death toll of less than 500 and fewer than 2 000 wounded, the battle of Tsingtao was a tiny affair compared to the conflict being fought in Europe. At that time, hundreds of thousands died as the German army pushed forward towards the River Marne in France and routed the Russians at the Battle of Tannenberg. But, coming at a time of retreat in Europe, it was a tonic from afar, provoking a note circulated to the British Cabinet to call the taking of Tsingtao the heaviest blow delivered at German world-power and the greatest prize won from Germany in the war to date.

More importantly, events on the Shantung peninsula in the second half of 1914 helped to shape the twentieth century relationship between the two major regional powers and ensured that the First World War would not extend there beyond 1914, as Germanys East Asia naval squadron was deprived of an operational base and was subsequently destroyed by the British in an encounter off the Falkland Islands as it tried to return to Europe.

Following Japans crushing defeat of the Chinese empire in 189495 and its more hard-fought victory over Russia in 190405, the naval and shore battle marked a fresh advance by the rising regional nation where militarism was boosted by this second triumph over a European adversary. Japan had declared war on Germany four days before starting the blockade, and China promptly cancelled the concession agreement it had reached with the Kaisers Reich in Shantung sixteen years earlier.