Battle of Hakodate begins

Background. The Boshin War erupted in 1868 between troops favorable to the restoration of political authority to the Emperor and the government of the Tokugawa shogunate. Enomoto Takeaki, vice-commander of the Shogunate Navy, refused to remit his fleet to the new government and departed Shinagawa in August 1868 with warships, transports, sailors, and French military advisors. The rebels, numbering around 3,000, reached Hokkaidō in October 1868. The Republic of Ezo was proclaimed on 27 January 1869, after the battle's opening, with Enomoto elected president.

Combatants. The battle involved the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government, composed mainly of forces from the Chōshū and Satsuma domains. The Imperial forces included ships supplied by these fiefs to the newly formed government in 1868.

Armament. The Battle of Hakodate involved some of the most modern armament of the era, including steam warships, an ironclad warship, Gatling guns, Armstrong guns, modern uniforms, and fighting methods. However, most later Japanese depictions offer an anachronistic representation of traditional samurai fighting with swords, possibly to romanticize the conflict or downplay modernization achieved during the Bakumatsu period.