Foreign relations of Meiji Japan to recognize Korean independence, and later that year, Japanese agents would assassinate Korea's anti-Japanese Queen Min. Ironically, a decade after the Treaty of Shimonoseki had forced China to recognize Korean independence, Japan, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, effectively forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Protective Treaty, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese empire, beginning a period of Japanese colonial rule of Korea that would not end until 1945. In 1871, despite Chinese consternation over Japan asserting its control over the Ryukyu Islands the previous year, China and Japan
German occupation of Belgium during World War II German occupation of Belgium during World War II The German occupation of Belgium (, ) during World War II began on 28 May 1940 when the Belgian army surrendered to German forces and lasted until Belgium's liberation by the Western Allies between September 1944 and February 1945. It was the second time that Germany had occupied Belgium in under thirty years. After the success of the invasion, a military administration was established in Belgium, bringing the territory under the direct rule of the . Thousands of Belgian soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, and many were not released until