Japanese Seizure of Tamsui and Hobe Fort

Hobe Fort in Tamsui (now Tamsui District, New Taipei) was a Western-style fort built on the orders of Governor Liu Mingchuan to strengthen the defences of northern Taiwan after the Sino-French War. Work began in 1886 under the German engineer Max E. Hecht, and the gate bears Liu's inscription 'Key to the North Gate' (北門鎖鑰). It was armed with four large breech-loading guns, Armstrong pieces from Britain and Krupp pieces from Germany, whose installation was completed about 1889 (some Chinese sources give 1890). The fort never fired a shot in battle.

During the Japanese invasion of Taiwan following the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), Japanese troops landed at Aodi at the end of May. Rear Admiral Togo Heihachiro's naval squadron approached the Tamsui estuary on June 9, 1895, and fired over ten shells at Hobe Fort. However, the Qing garrison had already abandoned its positions, and Tamsui fell without resistance that day. According to Chinese Wikipedia, part of a tunnel collapsed when local people accidentally set off gunpowder. The Imperial Japanese Army subsequently took possession of the fort and its four Armstrong and Krupp breechloaders.

The Japanese military removed all four main cannons from the fort. In 1917, the site was officially converted into an artillery firing practice range (砲兵射擊練習場). In 1918, the former drill ground east of the fort was transformed into a golf course promoted as the finest in East Asia. In 1928, a wireless radio receiving station was constructed north of the fort for military communications linking Taiwan with mainland Japan. Throughout the 50-year colonial period (1895–1945), the fort remained under continuous military jurisdiction. While it lost its direct coastal defense function, the military's restricted access policy inadvertently preserved the structure in remarkably intact condition.

After the war the fort was occupied by Republic of China troops. It was designated a Grade 2 historic monument by the Ministry of the Interior in 1985, underwent a first phase of restoration from 1991 to 1996 and was then opened to the public; since 2005 it has been managed by the Tamsui Historical Museum. Now classed as a National Monument, it is regarded as the best preserved of the forts Liu Mingchuan built in Taiwan.