Tokugawa Yoshinobu sought French help for the army and British help for naval modernization. Britain instead became increasingly close to Satsuma, selling ships and weapons while its diplomats opposed French influence at the shogunate court. The shogunate then bought more equipment from France, reinforcing the very alignment British policy claimed to fear. Even so, Tokugawa modernization produced a strong steam fleet and the modern Yokosuka naval arsenal under French engineering guidance. Satsuma's British-built naval strength later gave its personnel a dominant place in the Imperial Japanese Navy, while the army followed French and then German models. The failed transfer of the French-built ironclad Stonewall shows how international neutrality could turn a shogunate purchase into an imperial asset.
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British and French influence armed rival Japanese forces
Foreign rivalry supplied and trained Satsuma and the Tokugawa regime along different lines, helping create distinct naval and army traditions.