Everything about Satch Alliance totally explained
The, or
Satchō Alliance was a
military alliance between the feudal domains of
Satsuma and
Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the
Tokugawa shogunate of
Japan.
The name
Satchō (薩長) is an abbreviation combining the names of the
provinces Satsuma (present day
Kagoshima prefecture) and Chōshū (present-day
Yamaguchi prefecture), two of the strongest
tozama anti-
shogunate domains in
Edo period Japan.
In the 1860s, Satsuma tended to take a moderate position towards maintenance of the status quo, whereas Chōshū had become the center of an uprising aimed at overthrowing the government. Through the mediation of
Sakamoto Ryoma of
Tosa Domain (present day
Kochi Prefecture), Satsuma military leaders
Saigō Takamori and
Okubo Toshimichi were brought together with Katsura Kogorō (
Kido Takayoshi) of Chōshū. Although the two domains were traditionally fierce enemies, their leaders agreed that the time was right for a change, and agreed in principle assist one another in the event that either was attacked by a third party. Also, Chōshū desperately needed modern weapons, but had very limited contacts with the western powers. Satsuma, on the other hand, had developed a substantial arms trade with
Great Britain via
Thomas Glover, a
Scottish merchant affiliated with
Jardine Matheson. At the suggestion of Sakamoto, Saigo helped broker an agreement to supply Chōshū with the weapons it needed to fight the Tokugawa shogunate.
Despite this assistance, there was still considerable distrust between the two domains. On
1866-01-22, the Shogunate demanded the retirement and confinement of Chōshū
daimyō Mori Takachika and the reduction of domain revenues by 100,000
koku. This enraged the Chōshū leadership, and led to a formal, six-point agreement with Satsuma. The scope of the agreement was fairly limited. Satsuma agreed to assist Chōshū in obtaining a pardon from the
Imperial Court. This is failed and the Shogunate attacked, Satsuma would send 2000 troops to
Kyoto; however, Satsuma would engage the Shogunate in combat only if
Kuwana,
Aizu or Tokugawa Yoshinobu's personal guard attempted to block Satsuma's access to the Emperor.
The Alliance was crucial in enabling Chōshū to withstand a punitive expedition mounted by the Tokugawa shogunate in the summer of 1866, which led to a stunning defeat for the Tokugawa armies. During the subsequent
Boshin War of 1867-1868, the imperial armies which finally overthrew the Shogunate were primarily
samurai from the Satchō alliance. With the establishment of the
Meiji Restoration, men from these two domains dominated the new
Meiji government into the 20th century.
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