Essay/Term paper: Russian-japanese war

Essay, term paper, research paper:  History

The Russian-Japanese war of 1904 was a European

conflict that was



fought because one country was becoming too strong.

The conflict was mainly



fought because two separate countries had their

own special interests in far east



countries like Korea, China, and Manchuria.



Britain

and Japan recognized the independance of China and Korea, but at



the same

time authorized each other to intervene in either territory if their own





"special interests" were threatened by another power or by internal disorder.





That power was now Russia. There was already a rivalry going on between





Britain and Russia because of the Trans-Siberian railway but now there was





another dimension. Russia now had access to the pacific. Her presence in

Asia



threatened already established Britain interests. China leased the

ice-free Port



Arthur to Russia and allowed them to store their war ships

there. The two



empires were set on a collision course.



Britain was

very reluctant to commit herself to a distant threat of war so she



took

a step to allying herself with the growing industrial power of Japan. In





doing so, Britain found her soldiers in the east.



At this time Russia failed

to realize how powerful Britain and Japan had



made themselves. Russia

was unable to take Japan seriously even though they



had many reports on

how large the Japanese naval and military forces were.



Unfortunately,

Russia's constant penetration into Korea and Manchuria



continued unabated

despite the presence of numbers of Japanese immagrants



and traders.



Russia

had succeeded in replacing the now defunct Chinese influence with



her own.

Russia now began taking over the administrative departments and had



their

officers train the Korean army to fight on their side.



In April, May, and

June of 1903, Russian's had told the Japanese that they



would move out

of China. They did not and continued to occupy the land. In



July of the

that same year, the Japanese Ambassador proposed that Russia and



Japan

were to recognize the independance of China and Korea. Both nations



were

to rcognize preponderance, the Japanese in Korea balanced by russians in





Manchuria. They were to recall their troops from their respective area as

soon as



possible. In return, the Russians would protect the railways in

Manchuria and



the Japanese would do the same in Korea.



It came to the

attention of the Japanese that the Russians were building up



their naval

and military forces in the far east. They were also moving troops not





only into Manchuria, but also into North Korea. It now became obvious to the





Japnese that the Russians had no intention of releasing their hold on Manchuria





and Korea. Nevertheless, the negotiations went on. On February 10th, 1904,





both nations produced formal declarations of war.



On February 8th, a large

part of the Russian Pacific squadron lat anchor in



the roadstead of Port

Arthur. The ships were arranged in three lines running east



and west.

The innermost consisting of five battleships: the flagship, the



petroulouk,

the sebastopol, peresuept, pobieda, and pollada. The middle line



was headed

by two more battleships which were the tsarevich and the retvizan.



They

were followed by three crusiers and the outline of three more. Meanwhile,





off Round Island about 60 miles east of Port Arthur, the Japanese fleet was





making its disposition under Admiral Togo. He was in command of the



combined

fleet which had left Japan two days before they had broken off



negotiations.



Around

11:00pm the Shiralaimo, the leading Japanese destroyer, came



within sight

of the two patrolling Russian destroyers, the Pastoropin and the



Bezstrashini.

To the surprise of the Japanese, the two ships turned around and



headed

back to Port Arthur so the captains could report to the Russian Admiral





Stark. At this time there was no fighting going on at all. However, as the

ships



turned to go and make their report, the Japanese began to fire at

the same time



that the two Russian destroyers were making their report.



The

Pollada was the first Russian ship to go down, they were hit mid ship



and

one of the coal tankers caught on fire. The Retvizan was the next with a 200





square foot hole in her port side. The Tsarevich was hit on her stern.





Unfortunately, her bulkheads shattered and the steering compartment flooded.





All three ships tried to make it to shallow water. The Pollada grounded near

a



light house on the west side of the harbor, and the Retvizan and the

Tsarevich



came to grief in the narrow gullet of the harbor, almost blocking

it. Admiral



Togo of Japan, saw this and sent five merchant ships around

with bombs to



blow up the rest of the ships in attempt to block the harbor.

This attempt was



unfortunately unsuccessful because Russian ships began

to open fire and



destroyed the Japanese merchant ships.



On the morning

of february 25th, admiral Togo tried yet another approach



through indirect

bombardment of the harbor and its installations in the hope of



damaging

more ships. He found that as long as the Russian fleet remained in the





harbor under the protection of the shore batteries, it would be impossible

for the



Japnese to destroy them.



Japan had won many battles in this

war. None of them were as important



as the one they had fought in the

harbor of Port Arthur (the second battle). Port



Arthur was a big turning

point for them because almost a year later a weak



Russian Navy decided

to give up in January of 1905. Russian rule of Port Arthur



had fallen,

and for the Russians, they had the advantage of having Port Arthur,



so

when they lost it, they pretty much lost the war. By this time, they had already





lost many men and also many ships. The Japanese combined with Britain were





victorious and the countries that were held under Russian rule were eventually

left



by the Russians to rule for themselves. The British and Japanese

interests in the



three countries in which the war was fought over, were

now protected.





Russian-Japanese War



20th Century History





The

Russian-Japanese war of 1904 was a European conflict that was



fought because

one country was becoming too strong. The conflict was mainly



fought because

two separate countries had their own special interests in far east



countries

like Korea, China, and Manchuria.



Britain and Japan recognized the independance

of China and Korea, but at



the same time authorized each other to intervene

in either territory if their own



"special interests" were threatened by

another power or by internal disorder.



That power was now Russia. There

was already a rivalry going on between



Britain and Russia because of the

Trans-Siberian railway but now there was



another dimension. Russia now

had access to the pacific. Her presence in Asia



threatened already established

Britain interests. China leased the ice-free Port



Arthur to Russia and

allowed them to store their war ships there. The two



empires were set

on a collision course.



Britain was very reluctant to commit herself to

a distant threat of war so she



took a step to allying herself with the

growing industrial power of Japan. In



doing so, Britain found her soldiers

in the east.



At this time Russia failed to realize how powerful Britain

and Japan had



made themselves. Russia was unable to take Japan seriously

even though they



had many reports on how large the Japanese naval and military

forces were.



Unfortunately, Russia's constant penetration into Korea

and Manchuria



continued unabated despite the presence of numbers of Japanese

immagrants



and traders.



Russia had succeeded in replacing the now defunct

Chinese influence with



her own. Russia now began taking over the administrative

departments and had



their officers train the Korean army to fight on their

side.



In April, May, and June of 1903, Russian's had told the Japanese

that they



would move out of China. They did not and continued to occupy

the land. In



July of the that same year, the Japanese Ambassador proposed

that Russia and



Japan were to recognize the independance of China and Korea.

Both nations



were to rcognize preponderance, the Japanese in Korea balanced

by russians in



Manchuria. They were to recall their troops from their

respective area as soon as



possible. In return, the Russians would protect

the railways in Manchuria and



the Japanese would do the same in Korea.



It

came to the attention of the Japanese that the Russians were building up





their naval and military forces in the far east. They were also moving troops

not



only into Manchuria, but also into North Korea. It now became obvious

to the



Japnese that the Russians had no intention of releasing their hold

on Manchuria



and Korea. Nevertheless, the negotiations went on. On February

10th, 1904,



both nations produced formal declarations of war.



On February

8th, a large part of the Russian Pacific squadron lat anchor in



the roadstead

of Port Arthur. The ships were arranged in three lines running east



and

west. The innermost consisting of five battleships: the flagship, the





petroulouk, the sebastopol, peresuept, pobieda, and pollada. The middle line





was headed by two more battleships which were the tsarevich and the retvizan.





They were followed by three crusiers and the outline of three more. Meanwhile,





off Round Island about 60 miles east of Port Arthur, the Japanese fleet was





making its disposition under Admiral Togo. He was in command of the



combined

fleet which had left Japan two days before they had broken off



negotiations.



Around

11:00pm the Shiralaimo, the leading Japanese destroyer, came



within sight

of the two patrolling Russian destroyers, the Pastoropin and the



Bezstrashini.

To the surprise of the Japanese, the two ships turned around and



headed

back to Port Arthur so the captains could report to the Russian Admiral





Stark. At this time there was no fighting going on at all. However, as the

ships



turned to go and make their report, the Japanese began to fire at

the same time



that the two Russian destroyers were making their report.



The

Pollada was the first Russian ship to go down, they were hit mid ship



and

one of the coal tankers caught on fire. The Retvizan was the next with a 200





square foot hole in her port side. The Tsarevich was hit on her stern.





Unfortunately, her bulkheads shattered an