Battle of Hakodate

Significance

The Battle of Hakodate was the final stage of the Boshin War, fought around Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaidō between the Imperial government's forces and the remnant Tokugawa army reorganized under the rebel Ezo Republic. With Imperial forces numbering roughly 7,000 against the Ezo Republic's 3,000, the engagement ended organized resistance to the new Meiji order. Ezo Republic casualties reached 1,700, and the defeat extinguished the last armed holdout of the old shogunate. The fall of Hakodate — also known as the Battle of Goryōkaku — completed the Imperial consolidation begun in 1868, removing any remaining political or military basis for a rival government in the north and confirming the Meiji administration's authority over the Japanese archipelago.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (9)