遼東半島戰役是甲午戰爭期間中日雙方的關鍵一戰。旅順之防務經過16年的經營，耗資數千萬兩，但防守不及一天，就被日軍占領，寫下中國建軍史上最悲慘的一頁。失敗之原因很多，除了清政府缺乏海權思想及戰爭指導失當外，整個戰役過程未建立統一之指揮機制，以致各自為戰，都是此次戰役失敗之原因。不過，最根本原因還在於清政府的腐敗無能。大連失陷當天，慈禧太后竟若無其事在北京慶祝其60大壽，置前方軍情萬急於不顧。自然不可能對戰事實施正確的指導，其結果只能是一敗再敗。

The Battle of Weihaiwei was the most decisive one in the First Sino-Japanese War. Lusun's defense facilities, which have been operated for 16 years and poured 10 million of teals, were occupied by Japanese force with little resistance. This battle is considered the most miserable event in the Chinese military history. The lack of sea power thoughts and war guides, no centralized command and control mechanism from Qing government were the main reasons for this failure. However, the root factor of the defeat was the corrupted and unqualified government at the time. On the day of Dalian's fall, Empress Dowager Cixi was still cerebrating her 60 year-old birthday in Beijing regardless the harsh situation on the front line. Qing force was consecutively suffering from the defeats resulting in the lack of proper strategic guidelines.