He regarded Japan as too weak to evict the Russian militarily, so he proposed giving Russia control over Manchuria in exchange for Japanese control of northern Korea.ĭeclaration of war: Japan issued a declaration of war on 8 February 1904. Pre-war negotiations: The Japanese statesman Itō Hirobumi started to negotiate with the Russians. Historical background: In 1853 Commodore Perry of the US Navy arrived in Japan and brought an end to Japan's policy of self-isolation by forcing the Tokugawa shogunate to sign the Convention of Kanagawa the following year. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan and the Yellow Sea. The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. HISTORIC BATTLES Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) Some scholars suggest that Japan's road to World War II had begun not upon winning the Russo-Japanese War, but when it lost the peace. presence in Asian affairs, along with the instability in China and the collapse of the Western economic order, Japan would act aggressively with respect to China, setting the precedent that would ultimately culminate in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. U.S.-Japanese relations would recover a bit in the early 20th century, but by the early 1920s, few in Japan believed that the United States meant anything positive for the future of Asia. To Japan, this represented a developing threat to the autonomy of the region. The U.S held strength in the Asian region from aggravating European imperialist encroachment. The Japanese had wanted reparations to help families recover from lost fathers and sons as well as heavy taxation from the government. The peace accord led to feelings of distrust, as the Japanese had intended to retain all of Sakhalin Island, but were forced to settle for half of it after being pressured by the United States, with President Roosevelt opting to support Nicholas II’s stance on not ceding territory or paying reparations. Two specific requirements, expected after such a costly victory, were especially lacking: territorial gains and monetary reparations to Japan. Widespread discontent spread through the populace upon the announcement of the treaty terms. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan had also portrayed a sense of readiness in taking a more active and leading role in Asian affairs, which in turn had led to widespread nationalism throughout the region.Īlthough the war had ended in a victory for Japan, Japanese public opinion was shocked by the very restrained peace terms which were negotiated at the war's end. Most Western powers were stunned that the Japanese not only prevailed but decisively defeated Russia. Japan had become the rising Asian power and had proven that its military could combat the major powers in Europe with success. This was because Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, which included only limited reforms such as the Duma and failed to address the societal problems of Russia at the time. However, the revolts at home following the war planted seeds that presaged the Russian Revolution of 1917. In Russia, the defeat of 1905 led in the short term to a reform of the Russian military that allowed it to face Germany in World War I. Some political leaders of the Polish insurrection movement (in particular, Józef Piłsudski) sent emissaries to Japan to collaborate on sabotage and intelligence gathering within the Russian Empire and even plan a Japanese-aided uprising. In Poland, which Russia partitioned in the late 18th century, and where Russian rule already caused two major uprisings, the population was so restless that an army of 250,000–300,000-larger than the one facing the Japanese-had to be stationed to put down the unrest. Twelve years later, that discontent boiled over into the February Revolution of 1917. Popular discontent in Russia after the war added more fuel to the already simmering Russian Revolution of 1905, an event Nicholas II had hoped to avoid entirely by taking intransigent negotiating stances prior to coming to the table. For many Russians, the immediate shock of unexpected humiliation at the hands of Japan caused the conflict to be viewed as a metaphor for the shortcomings of the Romanov autocracy. Though there had been popular support for the war among the Russian public following the Japanese attack at Port Arthur in 1904, that popular support soon turned to discontent after suffering multiple defeats at the hands of the Japanese forces.
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