Russo-Japanese War

Reasons for conflict

Dispute over Liaodong (Port Arthur/Dairen/Lushan)

*Triple intervention, 1895

Germany, Russia and France

*Scramble for Concessions, 1898

Russia, Germany, Britain, France

Why were Japan and Russia so interested in controlling Liaodong, including Port Arthur?

Strategic interests

Japan

Protect Korea's flank

*"Line of advantage"

Russia

Warm water port

Competition for Influence in Korea

Assassination of Queen Min, 1895

King Kojong sought Russian aid, 1895-96

Japanese preparations for conflict with Russia

Military spending increase, 1894-1902

Data source: Edward J. Drea, Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945 (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2009), p. 96.

Treaty of Alliance with Britain, 1902

What were the shared geostrategic interests of Japan and Britain?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each side in 1900?

Russia

170 million people

3 million industrial workers (2% of pop.)

12 battleships/10 cruisers

Japan

46 million people

1.6 million industrial workers (3.5% of pop.)

6 battleships/6 cruisers

Japan's advantages

Shorter supply lines

Problems of Trans-Siberian railway

Attitudes of public

Japanese nationalism vs. Russian dissent

Element of Surprise

Negotiations ongoing in St. Petersburg, 1903-4

Surprise attack on Port Arthur, Feb. 8, 1904

Poor Russian intelligence

War Declared, Feb. 10, 1904

Superiority of Japan's ships

Key events in War

Japan's control of seas

*Port Arthur

Blockaded, Feb. 1904

Sinking of Russian Baltic fleet, May 1905

Crossing the T

Land battles

Capture of Port Arthur, Jan. 1905

Capture of Mukden, March 1905

Stalemate, mid-1905

Willingness to negotiate

Japan's resources strained

Lack of additional manpower

20% adult males in war effort

Dwindling munitions

Financial burden

Russia's problems

Public discontent

Financial strain

Treaty of Portsmouth, Sept. 5, 1905

Southern half of Sakhalin Island

Recognition of its interests in Korea

Control of Liaodong

Railway rights in S. Manchuria

Repercussions in Japan

What caused the Hibiya Park riot in Sept. 5-7, 1905?

See Gordon, pp. 128, 135-36

Repercussions in Asia

Japan's Colonial Empire

Liaodong, 1905

Korea

Protectorate, 1905

Colony, 1910

Asian nationalism

Jawaharlal Nehru, India

Sun Yat-sen, China

Ho Chimin, Vietnam