RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR 





RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR 



Romanoff 

 Russo-Japanest 



-Turkish Wars 



The following: biographies also contain much 

 historical matter: 



ader i. ii :I M.I in Nuhoiasl 

 1 II Nicholas II 



Paul I 

 - r I 



Plel. v,,n 



Mazep; s.-rKt-i Yul 



vitch 



LAKES 



Ladoga Onega 



LEADING PRODUCTS 



num 

 Rye 



Sturgeon 

 Wheat 



Caviar 



Fish 



Bone 



Lumber 



MOUNTAINS 



Caucasus, subhead I'ral Mountains 



tains Val.lai Hills 



PRO\: fD DEPENDENCIES 



BcMarabta 



Bokhara 

 Caucasus 



Circassia 

 Crimea 



Dnieper 

 Dniester 

 Don 

 Neva 



Kremlin 



Finland 

 Georgia 

 Poland 

 Siberia 



Ural 



Vistula 

 Volga 



UNCLASSIFIED 



Ruthenians 

 Steppes 



RUS' SO- JAPANESE, japanccz', WAR, 

 a struggle lasting from February, 1904, until 

 September, 1905, through which Japan estab- 

 lished its position among the nations as a first- 

 class power, and became the dominant power in 



ist. 



Underlying Causes. In 1895 Japan concluded 

 a war with China (see CHINESE-JAPANESE WAR) 

 in which the former country, by virtue of a 

 complete victory, won the island of Formosa 

 peninsula of Liao-tung (including Port 

 r). Russia, France and Germany, how- 

 nul forced Japan to cede Liao- 

 tung back to Chin.-i. Exhausted by the strug- 

 gle, Japan was helpless to resist, bijt during the 

 nation put forth every effort to 

 prepare for the inevitable struggle with Russia, 

 whose supremacy in Asia threatened the very 

 nee of the island empire. 



1 obtained possession 



of the island of Sakhalin (see colored map ac- 

 companying the article ASIA), and had built a 

 railroad joining Petrograd (then Saint Peters- 

 burg), on the west coast of Europe, with Vladi- 



k, on the east coast of Siberia (see TRANS- 

 SIBEKMN RAILWAY). Moreover, after the close 

 of the Chinese-Japanese War, Russia leased the 

 Liao-tung peninsula from China and built a 

 branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway through 

 Manchuria to Port Arthur. In 1900 control of 

 Manchuria wa.s obtained. A lack of harbors 

 from ice the year round was the one great 

 obstacle to Russia's commercial expansion, and 

 when the government began to make plans to 

 ::d Russian influence in Korea, a land of 

 good harbors, Japan felt called upon to act. 



The reasons are not hard to find. The shore 

 of the island Empire was almost within gunshot 

 of the Korean coast, and Russia's occupation 

 of it would place Japan entirely at the former's 

 mercy. In addition, Japan owned all of the 

 railroads of Korea, and had tens of thousands 

 of settlers there, as well as an enormous coast 

 trade with this unprogressive, undeveloped coun- 

 try. Yet no one dreamed that this little East- 

 ern Empire would dare risk annihilation at 1 he- 

 hands of a great European country like Russia. 

 For more than five months the Japanese gov- 

 ernment carried on negotiations with Russia in 

 an attempt to make a peaceful settlement. The 

 Japanese asked that the independence of Korea 

 and Manchuria should be respected and that 

 both countries should be open to foreign set- 

 tlement and trade. When Japan realized the 

 futility of these negotiations, war was declared 

 on February 10, 1904. 



Resources of Combatants. The opening of 

 hostilities found Russia not wholly prepared. 

 The guards and patrols of the Manchurian 

 railways and the two garrisons of Vladivostok 

 and Port Arthur numbered about 80,000 men 

 in all. Japan had a trained army of 200,000 

 men. But behind Russia's army there were lim- 

 itless men and limitless wealth; behind Japan's 

 army there was a second army of 200,000 men 

 of the older classes and nothing more. Russia's 

 plan, therefore, was to avoid any active engage- 

 ments until reinforcements had come from the 

 West : Japan's was to attack immediately. 



Japan Opens Fire. On February 8, two days 

 before the formal declaration of war, the Japa- 

 nese fleet under Vice- Admiral Togo swept down 

 on the Russian Pacific squadron, drove it into 

 the harbor at Port Arthur, laid mines in the 

 entrance and succeeded in blowing up two of 

 the largest of the Russian vessels which ven- 

 tured forth. After this defeat the Russian fleet 

 lay passive in the harbor for months. Japan. 

 while maintaining the blockade of the port, was 

 able to withdraw enough ships to land two 



