Issuance of the Twenty-One Demands

Date: January 18, 1915 • Location: Beijing, China

Japanese prime minister Ōkuma Shigenobu issued the Twenty-One Demands to China in a bid to increase Japan's power in East Asia.

Marquess Ōkuma Shigenobu was a Japanese statesman who was a leading figure in the Meiji and Taishō eras of Japan, serving as Prime Minister in 1898, and from 1914 to 1916. A key advocate for the adoption of Western science and culture in Japan, Ōkuma was a central figure in the country's modernization. He founded the political party Rikken Kaishintō and was an early proponent of parliamentary democracy. He is also the founder of Waseda University.