Russo-Japan war 1904 / Russo-Japan war / 1-osa

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. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria, and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea.
-----------------------
Venäjän–Japanin sota käytiin vuosina 1904–1905 Japanin ja Venäjän keisarikuntien välillä. Sota päättyi monien aikalaisten yllätykseksi Japanin voittoon, ja maan suurvaltakauden voi katsoa alkavan konfliktin päättäneestä Portsmouthin rauhansopimuksesta.

Sota aiheutti Venäjällä voimakasta yhteiskunnallista liikehdintää, niin sanotun vuoden 1905 vallankumouksen, joka johti lopulta perustuslailliseen monarkiaan. Suomen suuriruhtinaskunnassa levottomuudet johtivat ensimmäisen sortokauden päättymiseen ja vuoden 1906 eduskuntauudistukseen. 

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim oli sodassa mukana.

Venäjän–Japanin sotaa on kuvailtu ensimmäisen maailmansodan harjoitukseksi. 

Sitä on toisinaan pidetty ensimmäisenä nykyaikaisena sotana

                             
       Venäjän ja Japanin delegaatiot solmimassa Portsmouthin rauhansopimusta

Venäjän - Japanin sota 1904
-----------------------------------------
Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for their navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the summer, whereas Port Arthur, a naval base in Liaotung Province leased to Russia by China, was operational all year. Since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, negotiations between Russia and Japan had proved impractical.

Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in Manchuria dating to the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. Through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan. 

The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic interests and chose to go to war. After negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur in a surprise attack.

Russia suffered numerous defeats to Japan, but Tsar Nicholas II was convinced that Russia would win and chose to remain engaged in the war; at first, to await the outcomes of certain naval battles, and later to preserve the dignity of Russia by averting a "humiliating peace". The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery, Maine, while the delegates stayed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. Scholars continue to debate the historical significance of the war.

Russo-Japanese War
Clockwise from top: Russian cruiser Pallada under fire atPort Arthur, Russian cavalry at Mukden, Russian cruiserVaryag and gunboat Korietz at Chemulpo Bay, Japanese dead at Port Arthur, Japanese infantry crossing the Yalu River
Date 8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905 (1 year, 6 months and 4 weeks) Location Manchuria, Yellow Sea, Korean Peninsula Result Japanese victory; Treaty of Portsmouth
Belligerents
Japan	Russia  Montenegro
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Meiji  Ōyama Iwao  Kodama Gentarō  Nogi Maresuke  Tōgō Heihachirō	Nicholas II  Aleksey Kuropatkin  Stepan Makarov †  Zinovy Rozhestvensky
Strength
300,000–500,000	500,000–1,000,000
Casualties and losses
47,152–47,400 killed 11,424–11,500 died of wounds 21,802–27,200 died of disease	34,000–52,623 killed or died of wounds 9,300–18,830 died of disease 146,032 wounded 74,369 captured 50,688 deadweight loss

The Russians and the Japanese both contributed troops to the eight-member international force sent in 1900 to quell the Boxer Rebellion and to relieve the international legations under siege in the Chinese capital, Beijing. Russia had already sent 177,000 soldiers to Manchuria, nominally to protect its railways under construction. 

Russo Japanese War

---------

BOXER REBELLION

55 Days at Peking

Steamboat on the Yangtze River

Chinese Civil War

The troops of the Qing Empire and the participants of the Boxer Rebellion could do nothing against such a massive army and were ejected from Manchuria. The Russian troops settled in and despite assurances they would vacate the area after the crisis, by 1903 the Russians had not established a timetable for withdrawall and had actually strengthened their position in Manchuria.

                            

Troops of the eight-nation alliance in 1900. Left to right: Britain, United States, Australia, India, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Japan.