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Russian 500 pound shell bursting near the Japanese siege guns, near Port Arthur
Popular discontent in Russia following the defeat led to the Russian Revolution of 1905. The war ended with mediation by the United States. There was discontent among Japanese over the lack of territorial gains; this led to an erosion of good feelings towards the United States.
The defeat of Russia was met with shock both in the West and especially across Asia. That a non-Western country could defeat an established power in such a large military conflict was particularly inspiring to various anti-colonial independence movements around the world. After the conclusion of World War II, some Japanese historians would look back upon the war with nostalgia, especially those who have sought to portray Japan's conduct in the first half of the century as one of leadership in a sustained effort to liberate oppressed Asian peoples and thereby downplay Japan's own imperialistic ambitions throughout the period.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, various Western countries were competing for influence, trade, and territory in East Asia and Japan struggled to be a modern great power. Japan's location encouraged it to focus on Korea and northern China, putting it in competition mainly with its neighbor, Russia. The Japanese effort to occupy Korea led to the Sino-Japanese War, and Japan secured a peace in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 17, 1895) by which China abandoned its own claims to Korea, as well as ceding TaiwanFor the political entity commonly known as "Taiwan," see Republic of China. The island of Taiwan ( Traditional: , Simplified: , Pinyin: Taiwn, Wade-Giles: T'ai-wan, Taiwanese: Tai-oan) is located off the coast of China in the Pacific Ocean. It is also kno and LüshunkouLushunkou , or Lushun Port is a southernmost district of Dalian City of the People's Republic of China. Surrounded by ocean on three sides, this strategic seaport was called Port Arthur during the Russian Occupation and Ryojun during the Japanese one. (often called Port Arthur). However, three Western powers (Russia, Germany and France) by the Triple InterventionAfter the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan and China on April 17, 1895 to conclude the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) three European Powers ( Russia, Germany and France) intervened on April 23 with 'friendly advice' to Japan to retrocede of April 23, 1895 applied pressure on Japan to give up Port Arthur, and the Russians later (in 1898) negotiated a 25-year lease of the naval base with China. Meanwhile, Russian soldiers occupied much of Manchuria, and Russia competed with Japan for influence in Korea.
Japan, after failing to negotiate a favorable agreement with Russia, which dragged its feet in 1903-04 about a staged withdrawal from Manchuria, decided to seek a military solution. Japan's military had been recently modernized, and although it was not nearly as large as the Russian, it was more than adequate to face the forces that Russia had stationed in Asia at the beginning of the war. Japan severed relations on February 4, 1904, although war was not declared until after the beginning of hostilities on February 8th.
See Ian Nish, The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War, Longman, 1985 BooksEnthsiast.com
Port Arthur, on the Liaotung pennsula in the south of Manchuria, had been fortified into a major naval base by the Russians. The Japanese needed to control the sea in order to fight a war on the Asian mainland, so their first military objective was to neutralize the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. On the night of February 8, 1904, the Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo opened the war with a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian ships at Port Arthur, badly damaging two Russian battleships. A series of indecisive naval engagements followed, in which the Japanese were unable to attack the Russian fleet successfully under the land guns of the harbor and the Russians declined to leave the harbor for the open seas, especially after the death of Admiral Makarov on April 13. These provided cover for a Japanese landing near IncheonIncheon Metropolitan City Korean Name Revised RomanizationIncheon Gwangyeoksi McCune-ReischauerInch'on Kwangyokshi Hangul Hanja Short NameIncheon (Inch'on;; ) Statistics Population5,450,000( 2000, approximate) Area964. 53 km² GovernmentMetropolitan City A in Korea, from which they occupied SeoulSeoul Special City Korean Name Revised RomanizationSeoul Teukbyeolsi McCune-ReischauerSoul T'ukpyolshi Hangul Hanja [Note: there are no Hanja for "Seoul" ] Short NameSeoul (Soul; ) Statistics Population10,276,968 (2003) Area614 km²(approximate) Government and rapidly occupied the rest of Korea. By the end of April, the Japanese army under Kuroki Itei was prepared to cross the Yalu river into Russian-occupied Manchuria.
In counterpoint to the Japanese strategy of gaining rapid victories to control Manchuria, Russian strategy focused on fighting delaying actions to gain time for reinforcements to arrive via the long Trans-Siberian railway. On May 1, the Battle of the Yalu River, in which Japanese troops stormed a Russian position after an unopposed crossing of the river, was the first major land battle of the war. Japanese troops proceeded to land at several points on the Manchurian coast, and fought a number of engagements driving the Russians back on Port Arthur. These battles, including the Battle of Nanshan on May 25, were marked by heavy Japanese losses attacking entrenched Russian positions, but the Russians remained passive and failed to counterattack.
Japan began a long siege of Port Arthur, which had been heavily fortified by the Russians. In August, the Russian fleet attempted to break out from Port Arthur and proceed to Vladivostok, but they were intercepted and defeated at the Battle of the Yellow Sea , and the remnant remained in Port Arthur, where they were slowly sunk by the artillery of the besieging army. Attempts to relieve the city from the land also failed, and after the Battle of Liaoyang in late August, the Russians retreated to Shenyang. Port Arthur finally fell on January 2, 1905, after a series of brutal, high-casualty assaults.
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