Japan’s Russian War is a military conflict between Japan and Russia in the Far East. This conflict caused Russia to abandon its expansionary policy in the region and Japan became the first Asian power in modern times to defeat European power.

Background of the Japanese Russian War

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia had become a world power that counts with large areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. On the other hand, Japan is seen as a rising Asian power thanks to the Meiji Restoration.

In 1904, the Russian Empire, ruled by the autocratic Tsar Nicholas II, was seen as one of the largest territorial forces in the world.

In that year the Siberian shipping center from Vladivostok was forced to close for months due to winter. Therefore, the empire needed a harbor of warm water in the Pacific Ocean, both for trade purposes and a base for its growing navy.

To overcome this problem, Tsar Nicholas turned his attention to the Korean peninsula and China’s Liaodong. The Russian Empire had rented a port on the Liaodong Peninsula from China known as Port Arthur, but they wanted to have a strong base of operations under their control.

Meanwhile, Japan has paid special attention to Russia’s influence in the East Asian region since the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895. During the war, Russia provided military support to the Qing Empire in China during the conflict, which resulted in two Asian powers clashing with each other other.

With the history of Russian military aggression, at first Japan wanted to find an agreement by offering control of Manchuria, China. In return Japan will continue to maintain its influence over Korea.

However, Russia rejected Japan’s offer and demanded that North Korea from the 39th parallel be used as a neutral zone.

After negotiations failed, Japan chose the path of war by carrying out a surprise attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur on February 8, 1904.

The Japanese Imperial Navy attack on the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur was designed to intimidate Russian troops.

Under the leadership of Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent torpedo ships to attack Russian navy ships. The attack damaged three of Russia’s largest ships: Tsesarevich, Retvizan and Pallada.

The next battle from Port Arthur began the next day.

Although the remnants of Russia’s Far East Fleet were largely protected inside the port at Port Arthur, previous attacks had succeeded in preventing Russia from fighting in the open sea. Japan also tried to blockade the port but failed.

Russia did not remain silent, they tried to counter the attack using mines. The counterattack managed to damage two Japanese warships. Nevertheless Japan still showed dominance in Port Arthur and continued to bombard the port with heavy weapons.

The Battle of Liaoyang
After attempts to attack the Russian fort on the ground failed and instead resulted in significant casualties for Japan, the persistence of the Asian forces finally paid off.

At the end of August, troops from northern Russia sent to assist the fleet at Port Arthur were beaten back by the Japanese at the Battle of Liaoyang. The Japanese attack was carried out from a new position obtained on the mainland around the port.

By the end of 1904, the Japanese navy had sunk every ship in the Russian Pacific fleet and had taken control of its garrison on a hill overlooking the harbor.

In early January 1905, Russian Major General Anatoly Stessel, commander of the Port Arthur garrison, decided to surrender because he thought the port was no longer worth defending. The decision surprised the leaders of both parties.

The decision to surrender Stessel, made Japan achieve a significant victory in the war. Meanwhile, Stessel was convicted of treason and sentenced to death for his decision, even though he was finally forgiven.

The Russian Navy also suffered heavy losses during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, forcing imperial leaders to mobilize their Baltic Fleet to the region as reinforcements.

War in Manchuria and Korea
At a time when Russia was disrupted and demoralized, Japanese ground forces began to control the Korean peninsula after landing at Incheon in South Korea now. Within two months, they had taken over Seoul and the entire peninsula.

In late April 1904, Japanese ground forces began planning an attack on Russian-controlled Manchuria in northeast China. During the first ground battle on the Yalu River, Japan launched a successful offensive against Russian Eastern Detachment and forced them to retreat back to Port Arthur in May 1904.

After going through intermittent battles during the Manchuria winter, the next important land battle in the conflict began on February 20, 1905, when Japanese troops invaded Russia in Mukden. The days of hard fighting ensued.

The great battle involved 330,000 Russian troops against 270,000 Japanese troops. This is one of the biggest land battles in history.

At the Battle of Mukden, the Japanese succeeded in pushing Russia and eventually forced them into full retreat. On March 10, after three weeks of fighting, Russia lost a significant number of troops and was pushed back north of Mukden. The loss in this battle was huge, around 89,000 Russians and 71,000 Japanese troops were killed.

Decisive Battle in the Tsushima Strait
Although Japan had achieved important victories during the Battle of Mukden, on the other hand they also suffered significant casualties.

Russian Baltic Fleet reinforcements finally arrived in May 1905, after sailing nearly 20,000 nautical miles – an extraordinary task, especially in the early 1900s – they still faced the daunting challenge of having to navigate the Sea of ​​Japan to get to Vladivostok, with Port Arthur no longer open to them.

To avoid Japanese surveillance, they chose to sail at night. However, Russian reinforcements can still be found by Japan, after a hospital ship turned on their lights in the dark.

Once again under the command of Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the Japanese navy tried to block Russian roads to Vladivostok and resulted in the outbreak of fighting in the Tsushima Strait on May 27, 1905.

On the following day, Russia lost eight battleships and more than 5,000 people. Only three ships finally reached their destination in Vladivostok.

This decisive victory forced Russia to negotiate a peace agreement.

Although Japan had won the war convincingly, the victory was costly, so the state treasury was almost empty. As a result, Japan lacked the negotiating power that could be expected.

Under the terms of the agreement signed by both parties on September 5, 1905, Russia handed over Port Arthur to Japan, while defending the northern part of Sakhalin Island, which is located off the Pacific coast. Russia also agreed to leave Manchuria and recognize Japanese control over the Korean peninsula.

On the financial side Tsar Nicholas refused to pay compensation to Japan. The Tsar’s rejection was supported by Roosevelt. As a result, Japan accused the Americans of deceiving them and anti-American demonstrations in Tokyo appeared.

A series of embarrassing defeats of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War made the Russian Empire lose dignity and increase the Russian people’s hatred of the Tsar’s government. This hatred would later ignite political fire which eventually resulted in the overthrow of the government in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Although tensions in the region are far from over, the Russo-Japanese War has shifted the balance of global power, marking the first time in modern history that Asians have defeated Europeans in military battles. This war will also mark the start of a war involving world powers in the Pacific region.