The Russo-Japanese War

Since the time of Marco Polo, Japan had been known to Westerners, if only in a half-legendary sense. Yet, as the centuries passed, Japan was not at all open to foreign intrusions. The people of that island nation carefully guarded their own isolation, forbidding even to open their ports to outsiders such as the Americans.

Japan Enters the Modern World

In 1853, Commodore Perry forced the opening of the ports to US trade with his gunboats. The Japanese suddenly realized that their self-imposed isolation had left them militarily weak in a world advancing rapidly since the industrial revolution.

Thus began a period of shocking acceleration in technology. By the end of the century, the Japanese were already confronting China militarily. They had also learned that the region known as Manchuria had long been contested for between the Chinese and the Russians. In 1903, they were further intrigued and alarmed by Russian moves to complete a railway reaching all the way to Port Arthur and allowing these foreigners to dominate land and sea approaches.

At first, Japan responded diplomatically, negotiating for territory and influence in Korea and the surrounding region. Russia also responded but over the months it became clear that they were playing for time and had no intention of truly negotiating. Japan decided to strike before Russian power in the area became too great.

Japan Strikes Without Warning

The war began on 8 February 1904. The Japanese Navy surprised the Russians, though, by attacking three hours before the actual declaration of hostilities. The Russians had assumed that the Japanese would not dare to fight them under any conditions. As the short but brutal war unfolded over the course of the next year, they learned different.

Both Russian and Japanese forces committed egregious atrocities against the civilians of Manchuria. However, the locals ultimately considered the Russians to be far worse and tended to support the Japanese.

In April of 1904, the Japanese and the Russians engaged in the first clash of modern battleships. The battle was technically a draw but Russian ships were forced to fall back into Port Arthur and await reinforcements coming from the Baltic. The English refused this fleet passage through the Suez Canal and forced it to go around Africa, taking months longer to arrive. Port Arthur fell to the Japanese forces later that year.

In 1905, the Japanese army went head to head with Imperial Russian forces on the ground in Manchuria. Combined victories for the Japanese continued through the spring. By summer, the Emperor of Russia was willing to sue for peace. In September 1905, Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the diplomatic negotiations. The Treaty of Portsmouth gave territory to Japan and recognized its influence in Korea. By 1910, Japan would annex this peninsula without any protest on the world stage.

Perhaps as many as 200,000 Japanese, Russians and Chinese died during this swift, deadly conflict.