Countries that became the arena of the Russian-Japanese war. How the king and the Mikado quarreled. Military operations in Manchuria and Korea

home » Middle Ages Countries that became the arena of the Russian-Japanese war. How the king and the Mikado quarreled. Military operations in Manchuria and Korea

At the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, relations between Japan and Russia, aggravated due to the right to own China and Korea, led to a major military conflict between the countries. After a long break, this was the first to use the latest weapons.

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Causes

Completed in 1856, it limited Russia's ability to move and expand south, so Nicholas I. I. turned his eyes to the Far East, which negatively affected relations with the Japanese state, which itself claimed Korea and Northern China.

The tense situation no longer had a peaceful solution. Despite the fact that in 1903 Japan made an attempt to avoid a collision by proposing an agreement under which she would lose all rights to Korea. Russia agreed, but put forward conditions that demanded sole influence on the Kwantung Peninsula, as well as the right to protect the railway in Manchuria. The Japanese government did not like this, and it continued to actively prepare for war.

The Meiji Restoration, which ended in Japan in 1868, led to the fact that the new government began to pursue a policy of expansion and decided to improve the country's capacities. Thanks to the reforms carried out, by 1890 the economy was being modernized: modern industries appeared, electrical equipment and machine tools were produced, and coal was exported. The changes affected not only industry, but also the military industry, which has significantly increased thanks to Western exercises.

Japan decides to increase influence on neighboring countries. Based on the geographical proximity of Korean territory, she decides to take control of the country and prevent European influence. Having put pressure on Korea in 1876, an agreement on trade relations with Japan is signed, providing free access to ports.

These actions led to a conflict - the Sino-Japanese War (1894−95), which ended with the victory of Japan, and the final influence on Korea.

According to the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed as a result of the war, China:

transferred to Japan territories, which included the Liaodong Peninsula and Manchuria;
renounced rights to Korea.

For European countries: Germany, France and Russia it was unacceptable. As a result of the Triple Intervention, Japan, unable to resist the pressure, was obliged to abandon the Liaodong Peninsula.

Russia immediately takes advantage of the return of Liaodong and in March 1898 signs a convention with China and receives:

lease rights for 25 years on the Liaodong Peninsula;
the fortresses of Port Arthur and Dalniy;
obtaining permission to build a railway passing through Chinese territory.

This had a negative impact on relations with Japan, which claimed these territories.

March 26 (April 8), 1902, Nicholas I. I. signs an agreement with China, according to which Russia needs to withdraw Russian troops from the territory of Manchuria within one year and six months. Nicholas I. I. did not keep his promises, but demanded that China restrict trade with foreign countries. In response, England, the USA and Japan protested against the violation of the deadlines and advised against accepting the Russian conditions.

In the middle of the summer of 1903, the movement along the Trans-Siberian Railway begins. The path passed along the Chinese Eastern Railway, through Manchuria. Nicholas I. I. begins to redeploy his troops to the Far East, arguing this by testing the capacity of the built railway connection.

At the end of the agreement between China and Russia, Nicholas I. I. did not withdraw Russian troops from the territory of Manchuria.

In the winter of 1904, at a meeting of the Privy Council and the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan, a decision was made to start hostilities against Russia, and soon an order was given to land the Japanese armed forces in Korea and attack Russian ships in Port Arthur.

The moment of the declaration of war was chosen with the maximum calculation, since by that time she had assembled a strong and modernly equipped army, weapons and navy. While the Russian armed forces were heavily scattered.

Main events

Battle of Chemulpo

Significant for the annals of the war was the battle in 1904 at Chemulpo of the cruisers "Varyag" and "Korean", under the command of V. Rudnev. In the morning, leaving the port to the accompaniment of music, they tried to get out of the bay, but less than ten minutes had passed before the alarm sounded and a battle flag was raised above the deck. Together they resisted the Japanese squadron that attacked them, engaging in an unequal battle. The Varyag was severely damaged and was forced to turn back to port. Rudnev decided to destroy the ship, a few hours later the sailors were evacuated, and the ship was flooded. The ship "Koreets" was blown up, and the crew was previously evacuated.

Blockade of Port Arthur

To block the Russian ships inside the harbor, Japan is trying to sink several old ships at the entrance. These actions were thwarted by Retvizvan who patrolled the waters near the fort.

In the early spring of 1904, Admiral Makarov and the shipbuilder N. E. Kuteinikov arrived. At the same time, a large number of spare parts and equipment for the repair of ships arrive.

At the end of March, the Japanese flotilla again tries to block the entrance to the fortress, blowing up four transport ships filled with stones, but sinking them too far.

On March 31, the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk sinks after hitting three mines. The ship disappeared in three minutes, killing 635 people, among them were Admiral Makarov and the artist Vereshchagin.

3rd attempt to block the harbor entrance, was crowned with success, Japan, having sunk eight transport workers, locks up the Russian squadrons for several days and immediately lands in Manchuria.

The cruisers "Russia", "Gromoboy", "Rurik" were the only ones who retained freedom of movement. They sank several ships with military personnel and weapons, including the "Khi-tatsi Maru", which transported weapons for the siege of Port Arthur, due to which the capture dragged on for several months.

18.04 (01.05) The 1st Japanese Army, consisting of 45 thousand people. approached the river Yalu and entered the battle with an 18,000-strong Russian detachment led by M. I. Zasulich. The battle ended with the defeat of the Russians and was marked by the beginning of the Japanese invasion of the Manchurian territories.

On 22.04 (05.05), a Japanese army consisting of 38.5 thousand people landed 100 km from the fortress.

On 27.04 (10.05) Japanese detachments broke the railway communication between Manchuria and Port Arthur.

On May 2 (15), 2 Japanese ships were sunk, which, thanks to the Amur minelayer, fell into the placed mines. In just five May days (May 12-17), Japan lost 7 ships, and two went to the Japanese port for repairs.

Having successfully landed, the Japanese began to move towards Port Arthur in order to block it. To meet the Japanese detachments, the Russian command decided on fortified areas near Jinzhou.

On May 13 (26) a major battle took place. Russian detachment(3.8 thousand people) and in the presence of 77 guns and 10 machine guns, more than 10 hours repulsed the enemy attack. And only the approaching Japanese gunboats, having suppressed the left flag, broke through the defenses. The Japanese lost - 4,300 people, the Russians - 1,500 people.

Thanks to the battle won at Jinzhou, the Japanese overcame a natural barrier on the way to the fortress.

At the end of May, Japan captured the port of Dalniy without a fight, practically intact, which significantly helped them in the future.

On June 1-2 (14-15) in the battle of Vafangou, the 2nd Japanese Army defeats the Russian detachments under the command of General Stackelberg, who was sent to lift the blockade of Port Arthur.

On July 13 (26), the Japanese 3rd Army broke through the defenses of the Russian troops "on the passes" formed after the defeat at Jinzhou.

On July 30, the distant approaches to the fortress are engaged, and the defense begins.. This is a bright historical moment. The defense was carried out until January 2, 1905. In the fortress and adjacent areas, the Russian army did not have a single authority. General Stessel - commanded the troops, General Smironov - commander of the fortress, Admiral Vitgeft - commanded the fleet. It was difficult for them to come to a consensus. But among the leadership was a talented commander - General Kondratenko. Thanks to his oratory and managerial qualities, the authorities found a compromise.

Kondratenko earned the fame of the hero of the Port Arthur events, he died at the end of the siege of the fortress.

The number of troops in the fortress is about 53 thousand people, as well as 646 guns and 62 machine guns. The siege went on for 5 months. The Japanese army lost 92 thousand people, Russia - 28 thousand people.

Liaoyang and Shahe

During the summer of 1904, a Japanese army of 120,000 men approached Liaoyang from the east and south. The Russian army at that time was replenished with soldiers arriving along the Trans-Siberian Railway and slowly retreated.

On August 11 (24) there was a general battle at Liaoyang. The Japanese, moving in a semicircle from the south and east, attacked the Russian positions. In prolonged battles, the Japanese army, led by Marshal I. Oyama, suffered 23,000 losses, Russian troops, led by Commander Kuropatkin, also suffered losses - 16 (or 19, according to some sources) thousand killed and wounded.

The Russians successfully repelled attacks in the south of Laoyang for 3 days, but Kuropatkin, assuming that the Japanese could block the railway north of Liaoyang, ordered his troops to retreat to Mukden. The Russian army retreated without leaving a single gun.

Armed clashes take place on the Shahe River in autumn. The beginning was the attack of the Russian troops, and a week later the Japanese launched a counterattack. Russia's losses amounted to about 40 thousand people, the Japanese side - 30 thousand people. The completed operation on the river. Shahe set a time of calm at the front.

On May 14-15 (27-28), the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Tsushima defeated the Russian squadron, which was redeployed from the Baltic, commanded by Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky.

July 7 is the last major battle - Japanese invasion of Sakhalin. The 14,000th Japanese army was resisted by 6,000 Russians - they were mostly convicts and exiles who joined the army in order to acquire benefits and therefore did not have strong combat skills. By the end of July, Russian resistance was crushed, more than 3 thousand people were captured.

Effects

The negative impact of the war was also reflected in the internal situation in Russia:

the economy is undermined;
stagnation in industrial areas;
price increase.

Industry leaders pushed for a peace treaty. A similar opinion was shared by Great Britain and the United States, which initially supported Japan.

Military operations had to be stopped and forces should be directed to extinguish the revolutionary trends that were dangerous not only for Russia, but also for the world community.

On August 22 (9), 1905, with the mediation of the United States, negotiations begin in Portsmouth. The representative of the Russian Empire was S. Yu. Witte. At a meeting with Nicholas I. I., he received clear instructions: not to agree to an indemnity that Russia never paid, and not to give up land. In view of Japan's territorial and monetary demands, such instructions were not easy for Witte, who was already pessimistic and considered losses inevitable.

Following the results of the negotiations, on September 5 (August 23), 1905, a peace treaty was signed. According to the document:

The Japanese side received the Liaodong Peninsula, a section of the Chinese Eastern Railway (from Port Arthur to Changchun), as well as South Sakhalin.
Russia recognized Korea as a zone of influence of Japan and concluded a fishing convention.
Both sides of the conflict had to withdraw their troops from the territory of Manchuria.

The peace treaty did not fully respond to the claims of Japan and was much closer to Russian conditions, as a result of which it was not accepted by the Japanese people - waves of discontent swept through the country.

The countries of Europe were satisfied with the agreement, as they expected to take Russia as an ally against Germany. The United States, on the other hand, believed that their goals had been achieved, they had significantly weakened the Russian and Japanese powers.

Results

War between Russia and Japan 1904−1905 had economic and political reasons. She showed internal problems Russian management and diplomatic mistakes made by Russia. Russia's losses amounted to 270 thousand people, of which 50,000 were killed. Japan's losses were similar, but there were more killed - 80,000 people.

For Japan, the war turned out to be much more intense. than for Russia. She had to mobilize 1.8% of her population, while Russia - only 0.5%. Military operations quadrupled the external debt of Japan, Russia - by 1/3. The ended war influenced the development of military art in general, showing the importance of weapons equipment.

The causes of the Russo-Japanese War are probably the least studied topic among those guys who are preparing for the exam in history. In general, few people remember the whole story with the Asian countries: about the Nerchinsk Treaty, for example. Therefore, in this article we will briefly point by point, and at the same time we will thoroughly analyze the topic of the causes of the war between Russia and Japan.

Prerequisites

As I have repeatedly said on this site, any event in world history has prerequisites, causes, course of events and outcomes. And the Russo-Japanese War is no exception.

It all started around the beginning of the 90s of the 19th century, when the then Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (the future Nicholas II) arrived in Japan. In 1891, when visiting the town of Otsu, one Japanese policeman drew his samurai sword (mostly former samurai served in the police, as well as in the army) and hit Nikolai Aleksandrovich on the head. No, he didn't. I would kill if I wanted to. And so he only scratched, and even more embittered Nicholas against a distant Asian country.

Otsu Incident

So those who say that Nicholas II did not know Japanese realities are lying. In the 90s, Japan became a world power, and, according to the apt expression of the Japanese figure Fukuzawa Yukichi, turned from meat on the table into a guest at a banquet!

The second prerequisite was a larger event - the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. In this war, feudal China became a dish for Japanese imperialism. And although the war ended very successfully for Japan (the Chinese loaded the cannons with fireworks, of course!), however, the Japanese failed to make China their province. Blame the demarche of the great powers, led by Russia, who sent their troops to China to protect their consulates. Because of such military pressure, Japan had to give in: the country was divided into zones of influence.

But Japanese politicians and strategists will remember Russia's initiative for a long time. Then the Minister of Finance of Russia S.Yu. Witte wrote that there would be war. And so it happened.

Causes

The main reason for the Russo-Japanese War was the military and economic penetration of Russia into Korea. Japan has always looked at it as its own fiefdom. Moreover, the Japanese Minister of War, Yamagata Aritomo, called Korea a dagger aimed at the heart of Japan, since the countries were separated only by the Sea of Japan.

From the beginning of the 20th century, Russia began to actively buy up concessions in Korea and in every way economically penetrate this territory. The point was not that there were no forests in the country itself. It’s just that around the weak-willed Nicholas II, a “bezobrazovskaya clique” arose - such a club of the emperor’s friends who advised him how to get Russia out of the crisis and from the one that appeared on the horizon.

VK. Plehve

Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Plehve called this plan "a small victorious war." What is it, Russia can’t cope with some kind of Japan or what? With savages? Yes, yes, that was exactly the idea of the Russian elite about the Land of the Rising Sun.

Occasion

So we figured out the reasons, now about the reason. The fact was that in 1900, the Yihetsuan uprising broke out in China - a movement for the independence of China. The name of the movement is translated as "Fist in the name of justice and harmony." So, in defense of their diplomatic missions, the great powers sent their troops into China. Russia also introduced its own expeditionary corps, and took under the protection of the SCR (South China Railway).

The South Caucasus Railway was a branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which went through Manchuria, which Japan also looked at as its own fiefdom. As a result, an agreement was concluded with the Japs that Russia would withdraw its troops from Manchuria at a certain time. As a result, Russia went to a conscious confrontation, violating this agreement.

As you can see, in order to know history, you need to know a lot of various events. And you also need to solve tests, and even have them checked by a professional! Fortunately, in our training courses, all the material is disassembled in the form of video lessons, we also provide ALL materials for preparation, tests in a special service for solving and with verification by the teacher.

Sincerely, Andrey Puchkov

At the beginning of the 20th century, active development of new lands was going on in the Far East, which provoked a war with Japan. Let's figure out what are the reasons for the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.

Background and causes of the war

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan experienced a period of powerful development. Contacts with England and the USA allowed her to raise the economy to a new level, reform the army, and build a new modern fleet. The "Meiji Revolution" made the Rising Sun Empire a leading regional power.

At this time, Nicholas II came to power in Russia. His reign began with a crush on the Khodynka field, which left a negative imprint on his authority among his subjects.

Rice. 1. Portrait of Nicholas II.

To raise the authority needed a "small victorious war" or new territorial expansion to demonstrate the greatness of Russia. The Crimean War marked the territorial claims of Russia in Europe. AT Central Asia Russia ran into India, and conflict with Britain had to be avoided. Nicholas II turned his attention to China, weakened by wars and European colonization. There were also long-term plans for Korea.

In 1898, Russia leased the Liaodong Peninsula with the fortress of Port Arthur from China, and the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) began. The development of the territories of Manchuria by Russian colonists was actively going on.

The course of the war and the results

The war began with the active actions of the Japanese army and navy. First, Russian ships were attacked in Chemulpo and Port Arthur, and then the landing force was landed in Korea and on the Liaodong Peninsula.

Rice. 3. The death of the cruiser Varyag.

Russia was actively defending, waiting for the approach of reserves from Europe. However, poor infrastructure and supplies prevented Russia from turning the tide of the war. Nevertheless, the prolonged defense of Port Arthur and the victory of the Russian troops at Liaoyang could bring Russia victory in the war, since the Japanese had practically exhausted their economic and human reserves. But General Kuropatkin each time, instead of attacking and defeating the enemy army, gave orders to retreat. First, Port Arthur was lost, then the battle of Mukden took place, the Russian Second and Third Pacific squadrons were defeated. The defeat was obvious and the parties moved on to peace negotiations.

The consequence of the defeat in the war was an even greater deterioration in the authority of the king among the people. This resulted in the First Russian Revolution, which lasted until 1907 and limited the power of the tsar through the creation of the State Duma.

Thanks to S. Yu. Witte, Russia managed to make peace with minimal territorial losses. Japan was given South Sakhalin and left the Liaodong Peninsula.

What have we learned?

From the history article for grade 9, we learned briefly about the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. It should be noted that the main reason was the clash of colonial interests, which could not be resolved through diplomacy.

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(1904-1905) - the war between Russia and Japan, which was fought for control of Manchuria, Korea and the ports of Port Arthur and Dalniy.

The most important object of the struggle for the final division of the world at the end of the 19th century was economically backward and militarily weak China. It was to the Far East that the center of gravity of the foreign policy activity of Russian diplomacy was shifted from the mid-1890s. The close interest of the tsarist government in the affairs of this region was largely due to the appearance here by the end of the 19th century of a strong and very aggressive neighbor in the face of Japan, which had embarked on the path of expansion.

By decision of the Japanese commander-in-chief, Marshal Iwao Oyama, Maresuke Nogi's army began the siege of Port Arthur, while the 1st, 2nd and 4th armies, which landed at Dagushan, moved to Liaoyang from the southeast, south and southwest. In mid-June, Kuroki's army occupied the passes southeast of the city, and in July repulsed an attempted Russian counteroffensive. The army of Yasukata Oku, after the battle at Dashichao in July, captured the port of Yingkou, cutting off the connection of the Manchurian army with Port Arthur by sea. In the second half of July, three Japanese armies joined at Liaoyang; their total number was more than 120 thousand against 152 thousand Russians. In the battle near Liaoyang on August 24 - September 3, 1904 (August 11-21, O.S.), both sides suffered huge losses: the Russians lost more than 16 thousand killed, and the Japanese - 24 thousand. The Japanese were unable to surround the army of Alexei Kuropatkin, which withdrew to Mukden in perfect order, but they captured Liaoyang and the Yantai coal mines.

The retreat to Mukden meant for the defenders of Port Arthur the collapse of hopes for any effective assistance from the ground forces. The Japanese 3rd Army captured the Wolf Mountains and began an intense bombardment of the city and the internal raid. Despite this, several of her assaults in August were repulsed by the garrison under the command of Major General Roman Kondratenko; the besiegers lost 16,000 dead. At the same time, the Japanese succeeded at sea. An attempt to break through the Pacific Fleet to Vladivostok at the end of July failed, Rear Admiral Witgeft died. In August, the squadron of Vice Admiral Hikonojo Kamimura managed to overtake and defeat the cruiser detachment of Rear Admiral Jessen.

By the beginning of October 1904, thanks to reinforcements, the number of the Manchurian army reached 210 thousand, and the Japanese troops near Liaoyang - 170 thousand.

Fearing that in the event of the fall of Port Arthur, the Japanese forces would increase significantly due to the released 3rd Army, Kuropatkin launched an offensive to the south at the end of September, but was defeated in the battle on the Shahe River, losing 46 thousand killed (the enemy - only 16 thousand) and went on the defensive. The four-month "Shahei Sitting" began.

In September-November, the defenders of Port Arthur repulsed three Japanese assaults, but the 3rd Japanese Army managed to capture Mount Vysokaya, which dominated Port Arthur. On January 2, 1905 (December 20, 1904, O.S.), the head of the Kwantung Fortified Region, Lieutenant General Anatoly Stessel, without exhausting all possibilities for resistance, surrendered Port Arthur (in the spring of 1908, a military court sentenced him to death, replaced by ten years imprisonment).

The fall of Port Arthur sharply worsened the strategic position of the Russian troops and the command tried to turn the tide. However, the successfully launched offensive of the 2nd Manchurian army on the village of Sandepa was not supported by other armies. After joining the main forces of the Japanese 3rd Army

Feet their number was equal to the number of Russian troops. In February, Tamemoto Kuroki's army attacked the 1st Manchurian Army southeast of Mukden, and Nogi's army began bypassing the Russian right flank. Kuroki's army broke through the front of Nikolai Linevich's army. On March 10 (February 25 O.S.), 1905, the Japanese occupied Mukden. Having lost more than 90 thousand killed and captured, the Russian troops retreated north to Telin in disarray. The largest defeat at Mukden meant the loss of the campaign in Manchuria by the Russian command, although he managed to save a significant part of the army.

Trying to achieve a turning point in the war, the Russian government sent the 2nd Pacific squadron of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, created from part of the Baltic Fleet, to the Far East, but on May 27-28 (May 14-15, O.S.) in the Battle of Tsushima, the Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian squadron . Only one cruiser and two destroyers reached Vladivostok. At the beginning of the summer, the Japanese completely ousted the Russian detachments from North Korea, and by July 8 (June 25, O.S.) they captured Sakhalin.

Despite the victories, Japan's forces were exhausted, and at the end of May, through the intermediary of US President Theodore Roosevelt, she invited Russia to enter into peace negotiations. Russia, which found itself in a difficult domestic political situation, agreed. On August 7 (July 25, O.S.), a diplomatic conference opened in Portsmouth (New Hampshire, USA), which ended on September 5 (August 23, O.S.), 1905, with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth. According to its terms, Russia ceded to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin, the rights to lease Port Arthur and the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula and the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway from the Changchun station to Port Arthur, allowed its fishing fleet to fish off the coast of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, recognized Korea as a zone of Japanese influence and gave up its political, military and commercial advantages in Manchuria. At the same time, Russia was exempted from paying any indemnities.

Japan, which as a result of the victory took the leading place among the powers of the Far East, until the end of World War II celebrated the day of the victory at Mukden as the Day of the Ground Forces, and the date of the victory at Tsushima as the Day of the Naval Forces.

The Russo-Japanese War was the first major war of the 20th century. Russia lost about 270 thousand people (including over 50 thousand killed), Japan - 270 thousand people (including over 86 thousand killed).

In the Russo-Japanese War, for the first time, machine guns, rapid-firing artillery, mortars, hand grenades, a radiotelegraph, searchlights, barbed wire, including those under high voltage, naval mines and torpedoes, etc., were used on a large scale.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809


	Manchuria, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, Sakhalin
	Collision of zones of influence of the Japanese and Russian empires in Korea and Manchuria
	Empire of Japan victory
Territorial changes:	Annexation by Japan of the Lushun Peninsula and South Sakhalin
Opponents


Commanders
	Emperor Nicholas II
Oyama Iwao	Alexey Nikolaevich Kuropatkin
Maresuke's legs	Anatoly Mikhailovich Stessel
Tamemoto Kuroki	Roman Isidorovich Kondratenko
Togo Heihachiro	Admiral General Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich
Side forces
300,000 soldiers	500,000 soldiers
Military casualties
killed: 47,387; wounded, shell-shocked: 173,425; died of wounds: 11,425; died of disease: 27,192; total deadweight losses: 86,004	killed: 32,904; wounded, shell-shocked: 146,032; died of wounds: 6,614; died of disease: 11,170; captured: 74,369; total deadweight losses: 50,688

(Niti-Ro senso:; February 8, 1904 - August 27, 1905) - the war between Russia and Japan for control of Manchuria and Korea. Became - after a break of several decades - the first big war with the use of the latest weapons: long-range artillery, battleships, destroyers.

In the first place in the entire Russian policy of the first half of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, there were issues of the Far East - the "big Asian program": during his meeting in Reval with Emperor Wilhelm II, the Russian emperor directly said that he was considering strengthening and strengthening Russia's influence in East Asia as the task of His government. The main obstacle to Russian predominance in the Far East was Japan, the inevitable clash with which Nicholas II foresaw and prepared for it both diplomatically and militarily (a lot was done: an agreement with Austria and improved relations with Germany provided the Russian rear; the construction of the Siberian roads and the strengthening of the fleet provided a material opportunity for struggle), but in Russian government circles there was also a strong hope that fear of Russian power would deter Japan from a direct attack.

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, having carried out a large-scale modernization of the country's economy, by the mid-1890s Japan switched to a policy of external expansion, primarily in geographically close Korea. Faced with Chinese resistance, Japan inflicted a crushing defeat on China during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). The Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed at the end of the war, recorded China's renunciation of all rights to Korea and the transfer of a number of territories to Japan, including the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria. These achievements of Japan sharply increased its power and influence, which did not meet the interests of the European powers, therefore Germany, Russia and France achieved a change in these conditions: the Triple Intervention undertaken with the participation of Russia led to Japan's abandonment of the Liaodong Peninsula, and then to its transfer in 1898 year of Russia for lease use. The realization that Russia had actually taken the Liaodong Peninsula from Japan, captured during the war, led to a new wave of Japanese militarization, this time directed against Russia.

In 1903, a dispute over Russian forest concessions in Korea and the ongoing Russian occupation of Manchuria led to a sharp deterioration in Russo-Japanese relations. Despite the weakness of the Russian military presence in the Far East, Nicholas II did not make concessions, since for Russia the situation, in his opinion, was fundamental - the issue of access to non-freezing seas, Russian predominance over a vast territory, and almost uninhabited expanses of land was being decided Manchuria. Japan strove for its complete dominance in Korea and demanded that Russia clear Manchuria, which Russia could not do for any reason. According to the researcher of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, Professor S. S. Oldenburg, Russia could only avoid the fight against Japan at the cost of capitulation and its self-exclusion from the Far East, and no partial concessions, of which many were made (including the delay in sending reinforcements to Manchuria), they failed not only to prevent, but even to delay the decision of Japan to start a war with Russia, in which Japan, both in essence and in form, became the attacking side.

A sudden attack by the Japanese fleet on the Russian squadron on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur on the night of January 27 (February 9), 1904, without an official declaration of war, led to the disabling of several of the strongest ships of the Russian squadron and ensured the unimpeded landing of Japanese troops in Korea in February 1904 of the year. In May 1904, taking advantage of the inaction of the Russian command, the Japanese landed their troops on the Kwantung Peninsula and cut off the railway communication between Port Arthur and Russia. The siege of Port Arthur was started by Japanese troops by the beginning of August 1904, and on January 2, 1905, the garrison of the fortress was forced to surrender. The remnants of the Russian squadron in Port Arthur were sunk by Japanese siege artillery or blown up by their own crew.

In February 1905, the Japanese forced the Russian army to retreat in the general battle of Mukden, and on May 14 (27) - May 15 (28), 1905, in the Tsushima battle, they defeated the Russian squadron deployed to the Far East from the Baltic. The reasons for the failures of the Russian armies and navy and their specific defeats were due to many factors, but the main ones among them were the incompleteness of military-strategic training, the colossal remoteness of the theater of operations from the main centers of the country and the army, and the extremely limited communications networks. In addition, starting from January 1905, a revolutionary situation arose and developed in Russia.

The war ended with the Peace of Portsmouth, signed on August 23 (September 5), 1905, which fixed Russia's cession to Japan of the southern part of Sakhalin and its lease rights to the Liaodong Peninsula and the South Manchurian Railway.

background

Expansion of the Russian Empire in the Far East

In the mid-1850s, the Crimean War marked the limits of the territorial expansion of the Russian Empire in Europe. By 1890, after reaching the borders of Afghanistan and Persia, the potential for expansion in Central Asia was exhausted - further advancement was fraught with direct conflict with the British Empire. Russia's attention shifted further to the East, where Qing China, weakened in 1840-1860. crushing defeats in the opium wars and the uprising of the Taipings, could no longer hold the northeastern lands, in the 17th century, before the Nerchinsk Treaty, which already belonged to Russia (see also the Far East of Russia). The Aigun Treaty, signed with China in 1858, recorded the transfer of the modern Primorsky Territory to Russia, on the territory of which Vladivostok was founded already in 1860.

In 1855, the Shimoda Treaty was concluded with Japan, according to which the Kuril Islands north of Iturup Island were declared the possessions of Russia, and Sakhalin was declared joint possession of the two countries. In 1875, the St. Petersburg Treaty fixed the transfer of Sakhalin to Russia in exchange for the transfer of all 18 Kuril Islands to Japan.

Further strengthening of Russian positions in the Far East was limited by the small number of the Russian population and remoteness from the populated parts of the empire - for example, in 1885 Russia had only 18 thousand troops beyond Baikal, and, according to the calculations of the Amur Military District, the first battalion sent to Transbaikalia from European Russia marching order, could come to the rescue only after 18 months. In order to reduce the travel time to 2-3 weeks, in May 1891, construction began on the Trans-Siberian Railway - a railway line between Chelyabinsk and Vladivostok, about 7 thousand kilometers long, designed to connect the European part of Russia and the Far East by rail. The Russian government was extremely interested in the agricultural colonization of Primorye, and as a result - in ensuring unhindered trade through the ice-free ports of the Yellow Sea, such as Port Arthur.

Japan's struggle for dominance in Korea

After the Meiji Restoration, which took place in 1868, the new government of Japan ended the policy of self-isolation and set a course for the modernization of the country. Large-scale economic reforms made it possible by the beginning of the 1890s to modernize the economy, creating such modern industries as the production of machine tools and electrical equipment, and start exporting coal and copper. The army and navy, created and trained according to Western models, gained strength and allowed Japan to think about external expansion, primarily to Korea and China.

Korea, due to its geographical proximity to Japan, was seen by the latter as "a knife aimed at the heart of Japan". Preventing foreign, especially European, control over Korea, and preferably taking it under its control, was main goal Japanese foreign policy. Already in 1876, Korea, under Japanese military pressure, signed an agreement with Japan, which ended the self-isolation of Korea and opened its ports to Japanese trade. The ensuing struggle with China for control of Korea led to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895.

On March 30, 1895, at a special meeting on the Japanese-Chinese war, the Chief of the General Staff, Adjutant General N. N. Obruchev said:

The Chinese fleet was defeated in the Battle of the Yalu River, and its remnants, hiding in the heavily fortified Weihai, were destroyed (partially captured) by the Japanese in February 1895, after a 23-day combined land and sea attack. On land, the Japanese army defeated the Chinese in Korea and Manchuria in a series of battles and occupied Taiwan in March 1895.

On April 17, 1895, China was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, according to which China renounced all rights to Korea, transferred the island of Taiwan, the Pescador Islands and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, and also paid an indemnity of 200 million liang (about 7.4 thousand tons of silver) , which was equivalent to a third of Japan's GDP, or 3 annual budgets of the Japanese government.

Immediate causes of the war

Triple intervention

On April 23, 1895, Russia, France and Germany, concerned about the strengthening of Japan, undertook the Triple Intervention - in an ultimatum form, they demanded that Japan abandon the annexation of the Liaodong Peninsula. Japan, unable to withstand the combined pressure of the three European powers, conceded.

Russia took advantage of the return of Liaodong to China. On March 15 (27), 1898, a convention was signed between Russia and China, according to which Russia was leased the ice-free ports of the Liaodong Peninsula Port Arthur and Dalniy and was allowed to lay a railway to these ports from one of the points of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

The realization that Russia actually took away the Liaodong Peninsula captured during the war from Japan led to a new wave of militarization of Japan, this time directed against Russia, under the slogan "Gashin-shotan" ("dream on a board with nails"), which called on the nation staunchly to postpone the increase in taxation for the sake of military revenge in the future.

Russian occupation of Manchuria and the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese alliance

In October 1900, Russian troops occupied Manchuria as part of the suppression of the Yihetuan uprising in China by the troops of the Coalition of Eight Countries (English).

In May 1901, the relatively moderate Hirobumi Ito cabinet fell in Japan and the Taro Katsura cabinet came to power, more confrontational towards Russia. In September, Ito, on his own initiative, but with the consent of Katsura, went to Russia to discuss an agreement on the division of spheres of influence in Korea and Manchuria. The Ito minimum program (Korea - entirely Japan, Manchuria - Russia), however, did not find understanding in St. Petersburg, as a result of which the Japanese government chose to conclude an alternative agreement with Great Britain.

On January 17 (January 30), 1902, an Anglo-Japanese treaty was signed, Article 3 of which, in the event of a war between one of the allies and two or more powers, obliged the other side to provide military assistance. The treaty gave Japan the opportunity to start a fight with Russia, having the confidence that not a single power (for example, France, with which Russia had been in alliance since 1891) would provide Russia with armed support for fear of a war not only with Japan, but also with England. The Japanese ambassador, when asked by the British about a possible casus belli with Russia, explained that "if Korea's security is guaranteed, Japan probably won't go to war over Manchuria or Mongolia or other outlying parts of China."

On March 3 (16), 1902, the Franco-Russian declaration was published, which was a diplomatic response to the Anglo-Japanese alliance: in the event of "hostile actions of third powers" or "unrest in China", Russia and France reserved the right "to take appropriate measures ". This declaration was of a non-binding nature - France did not provide significant assistance in the Far East to its ally Russia.

Growing Russo-Japanese Confrontation

On March 26 (April 8), 1902, a Russian-Chinese agreement was signed, according to which Russia pledged to withdraw its troops from Manchuria within 18 months (that is, by October 1903). The withdrawal of troops was to be carried out in 3 stages of 6 months each.

In April 1903, the Russian government failed to complete the second phase of the withdrawal of its troops from Manchuria. On April 5 (18), a note was sent to the Chinese government, setting the closure of Manchuria to foreign trade as a condition for further withdrawal of troops. In response, Britain, the United States and Japan protested to Russia against the violation of the terms for the withdrawal of Russian troops, and China was advised not to accept any conditions at all - which the Chinese government did, declaring that it would discuss "any questions about Manchuria" - only "on the evacuation ".

In May 1903, about a hundred Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes were brought into the village of Yongampo in Korea, located in a concession zone on the Yalu River. Under the pretext of building timber warehouses, the construction of military facilities was started in the village, which was perceived in Great Britain and Japan as Russia's preparation for the creation of a permanent military base in the north of Korea. The Japanese government was particularly alarmed by the possibility of the development of the situation in Korea according to the Port Arthur scenario, when the fortification of Port Arthur was followed by the occupation of all of Manchuria.

On July 1 (14), 1903, traffic was opened along the Trans-Siberian along its entire length. The movement went through Manchuria (along the CER). Under the pretext of testing the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the transfer of Russian troops to the Far East immediately began. The section around Baikal was not completed (cargo was transported through Baikal by ferries), which reduced the throughput of the Trans-Siberian to 3-4 pairs of trains per day.

On July 30, the governorship of the Far East was formed, uniting the Amur Governorate General and the Kwantung Region. The purpose of the formation of the governorship was to unite all the organs of Russian power in the Far East to counter the expected Japanese attack. Admiral E. I. Alekseev was appointed viceroy, to whom the troops, fleet and administration (including the strip of the Chinese Eastern Road) were placed under his command.

On August 12, the Japanese government submitted to the Russian a draft bilateral treaty that provided for the recognition of "Japan's predominant interests in Korea and Russia's special interests in railway (only railway!) enterprises in Manchuria."

On October 5, a response project was sent to Japan, which provided, with reservations, Russia's recognition of Japan's predominant interests in Korea, in exchange for Japan's recognition of Manchuria as lying outside the sphere of its interests.

The Japanese government categorically did not like the provision on the exclusion of Manchuria from the zone of its interests, however, further negotiations did not introduce significant changes in the positions of the parties.

On October 8, 1903, the deadline set by the agreement of April 8, 1902 for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Manchuria expired. Despite this, the troops were not withdrawn; in response to Japan's demands to comply with the terms of the agreement, the Russian government pointed to China's failure to comply with the terms of the evacuation. At the same time, Japan began to protest against Russian activities in Korea. According to the researcher of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II S. S. Oldenburg, Japan was only looking for an excuse to start hostilities at a convenient moment.

On February 5, 1904, Japanese Foreign Minister Jutaro Komura (English) telegraphed the ambassador in St. Petersburg "to stop the present meaningless negotiations", "due to delays, which remain mostly inexplicable", and to break off diplomatic relations with Russia.

The decision to start a war against Russia was made in Japan at a joint meeting of members of the secret council and all ministers on January 22 (February 4), 1904, and on the night of January 23 (February 5), an order was given to land in Korea and attack the Russian squadron in Port Arthur. Following this, on January 24 (February 6), 1904, Japan officially announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia.

The most advantageous moment for Japan was chosen with high precision: the armored cruisers "Nissin" and "Kasuga" bought by her from Argentina in Italy had just passed Singapore and no one could stop them on the way to Japan; the last Russian reinforcements (“Oslyabya”, cruisers and destroyers) were still in the Red Sea.

The balance of forces and communications before the war

Military establishment

Russian empire, possessing an almost threefold advantage in population, could put up a proportionally larger army. At the same time, the number of Russian armed forces directly in the Far East (beyond Baikal) was no more than 150 thousand people, and, taking into account the fact that most of these troops were connected by the protection of the Trans-Siberian Railway / state border / fortresses, it was directly available for active operations about 60 thousand people.

The distribution of Russian troops in the Far East is shown below:

near Vladivostok - 45 thousand people;
in Manchuria - 28.1 thousand people;
the garrison of Port Arthur - 22.5 thousand people;
railway troops (protection of the CER) - 35 thousand people;
fortress troops (artillery, engineering units and telegraph) - 7.8 thousand people.

By the beginning of the war, the Trans-Siberian was already operating, but its throughput was only 3-4 pairs of trains per day. The bottlenecks were ferry crossing through Baikal and the Trans-Baikal section of the Trans-Siberian; the capacity of other sections was 2-3 times higher. The low capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway meant the low speed of the transfer of troops to the Far East: the transfer of one army corps (about 30 thousand people) took about 1 month.

According to the calculations of military intelligence, Japan at the time of mobilization could put up an army of 375 thousand people. The Japanese army, after mobilization, numbered about 442 thousand people.

Japan's ability to land troops on the mainland depended on control of the Korea Strait and the southern part of the Yellow Sea. Japan had a sufficient transport fleet to simultaneously transport two divisions with all the necessary equipment, and it was less than a day's journey from the ports of Japan to Korea. It should also be noted that the Japanese army, actively modernized by the British, had some technological advantage over the Russian one, in particular, by the end of the war, it had significantly more machine guns (at the beginning of the war, Japan did not have machine guns), and artillery mastered firing from closed positions.

Fleet

The main theater of operations was the Yellow Sea, in which the Japanese Combined Fleet under the command of Admiral Heihachiro Togo blocked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur. In the Sea of Japan, the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers was opposed by the 3rd Japanese squadron, whose task was to counter the raider attacks of Russian cruisers on Japanese communications.

The balance of forces of the Russian and Japanese fleets in the Yellow and Japanese seas, by type of ship
Theaters of war	Yellow Sea		Japanese Sea
Ship types	Russian squadron in Port Arthur	Japanese Combined Fleet (1st and 2nd squadrons)	Vladivostok detachment of cruisers	Japanese 3rd Squadron
Squadron battleships
Armored cruisers
Large armored cruisers (over 4000 tons)
Small armored cruisers
Mine cruisers (advisos and minelayers)
Seagoing gunboats
Destroyers
destroyers

The core of the Japanese Combined Fleet - including 6 squadron battleships and 6 armored cruisers - was built in Great Britain in 1896-1901. These ships surpassed their Russian counterparts in many parameters, such as speed, cruising range, armor coefficient, etc. In particular, the Japanese naval artillery was superior to the Russian one in terms of projectile mass (of the same caliber) and technical rate of fire, as a result of which the side salvo (total weight fired shells) of the Japanese United Fleet during the battle in the Yellow Sea was about 12,418 kg versus 9,111 kg for the Russian squadron in Port Arthur, that is, it was 1.36 times more.

It is also worth noting the qualitative difference in the shells used by the Russian and Japanese fleets - the content of explosives in Russian shells of the main calibers (12", 8", 6") was 4-6 times lower. At the same time, melinite, used in Japanese shells, according to explosion power was approximately 1.2 times higher than the pyroxylin used in Russian.

In the very first battle on January 27, 1904, near Port Arthur, the powerful destructive effect of Japanese heavy high-explosive shells on unarmored or lightly armored structures, which did not depend on the firing range, was clearly manifested, as well as the significant armor-piercing ability of Russian light armor-piercing shells at short distances (up to 20 cables) . The Japanese drew the necessary conclusions, and in subsequent battles, having superiority in speed, they tried to maintain a firing position 35-45 cables from the Russian squadron.

However, the powerful but unstable shimoza collected its "tribute" - the destruction from the explosions of its own shells in the gun barrels caused the Japanese almost more damage when fired than the hits of Russian armor-piercing shells. It is worth mentioning the appearance in Vladivostok by April 1905 of the first 7 submarines, which, although they did not achieve significant military successes, were still an important deterrent that significantly limited the actions of the Japanese fleet in the area of Vladivostok and the Amur Estuary during the war.

At the end of 1903, Russia sent the battleship Tsesarevich, which had just been built in Toulon, and the armored cruiser Bayan, to the Far East; they were followed by the battleship Oslyabya and several cruisers and destroyers. Russia's strong trump card was the ability to equip and transfer from Europe another squadron, approximately equal in number to the one in the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the war. It should be noted that the beginning of the war found a fairly large detachment of Admiral A. A. Virenius halfway to the Far East, moving to reinforce the Russian squadron in Port Arthur. This set a strict time frame for the Japanese, both at the start of the war (before the arrival of the Virenius detachment), and the destruction of the Russian squadron in Port Arthur (before the arrival of help from Europe). The ideal option for the Japanese was the blockade of the Russian squadron in Port Arthur, followed by its death after the capture of Port Arthur by the Japanese troops besieging it.

The Suez Canal was too shallow for the newest Russian battleships of the Borodino type, the Bosphorus and Dardanelles were closed for the passage of Russian warships from a fairly powerful Black Sea squadron. The only way to meaningfully support the Pacific Fleet was from the Baltic around Europe and Africa.

The course of the war

Campaign of 1904

The beginning of the war

The break in diplomatic relations made war more than likely. The command of the fleet, one way or another, prepared for a possible war. The landing of numerous troops and active fighting the latter on land, requiring constant supply, is not possible without domination navy. It was logical to assume that without this superiority, Japan would not start ground operations. The Pacific squadron, according to pre-war estimates, contrary to popular belief, if inferior to the Japanese fleet, then not significantly. It was logical to assume that Japan would not start a war before the arrival of Kasuga and Nishina. There was only the possibility of paralyzing the squadron, before they arrived, by blocking it in the harbor of Port Arthur with blockships. To prevent these actions, warships were on duty in the outer roadstead. Moreover, to repel a possible attack by the forces of the entire fleet, and not just blockships, not destroyers, but the most modern battleships and cruisers stood in the roadstead. On the eve of the war, S. O. Makarov warned about the danger of such tactics, but his words at least did not have time to reach the addressees.

On the night of January 27 (February 9), 1904, before the official declaration of war, 8 Japanese destroyers carried out a torpedo attack on the ships of the Russian fleet stationed in the outer roadstead of Port Arthur. As a result of the attack, two of the best Russian battleships (Tsesarevich and Retvizan) and the armored cruiser Pallada were put out of action for several months.

On January 27 (February 9), 1904, the Japanese squadron, consisting of 6 cruisers and 8 destroyers, forced the Varyag armored cruiser and the Korean gunboat, which were in the Korean port of Chemulpo, into battle. After a 50-minute battle, the Varyag, which received heavy damage, was flooded, and the Korean was blown up.

After the battle in Chemulpo, the landing of units of the 1st Japanese Army under the command of Baron Kuroki continued, with a total number of about 42.5 thousand people (began on January 26 (February 8), 1904).

On February 21, 1904, Japanese troops occupied Pyongyang, by the end of April they reached the Yalu River, along which the Korean-Chinese border ran.

The attitude of the Russian public to the beginning of the war with Japan

The news of the beginning of the war left few in Russia indifferent: in the first period of the war, the people and the public were dominated by the mood that Russia had been attacked and it was necessary to repulse the aggressor. Petersburg, as well as other major cities empire spontaneously arose unprecedented street patriotic demonstrations. Even the students of the capital, known for their revolutionary moods, completed their university gathering with a procession to the Winter Palace singing "God Save the Tsar!"

The circles in opposition to the government were taken by surprise by these sentiments. Thus, the zemstvo-constitutionalists, who gathered on February 23 (O.S.), 1904, for a meeting in Moscow, made a collective decision to stop any proclamation of constitutional demands and statements in view of the outbreak of war. This decision was motivated by the patriotic upsurge in the country caused by the war.

The reaction of the world community

The attitude of the leading world powers to the beginning of the war between Russia and Japan split them into two camps. England and the United States immediately and definitely took the side of Japan: the illustrated chronicle of the war that began to appear in London even received the title "Japan's Struggle for Freedom"; and American President Roosevelt openly warned France against her possible action against Japan, declaring that in this case he "would immediately take her side and go as far as necessary." The tone of the American press was so hostile to Russia that it prompted M. O. Menshikov, one of the leading publicists of Russian nationalism, to exclaim in Novoye Vremya:

France, even on the eve of the war, considered it necessary to clarify that its alliance with Russia only applies to European affairs, nevertheless, was dissatisfied with the actions of Japan, which started the war, because it was interested in Russia as its ally against Germany; with the exception of the extreme left, the rest of the French press maintained a strictly correct allied tone. Already on March 30 (April 12), a “cordial agreement” was signed between France, an ally of Russia, and England, an ally of Japan, which caused a certain bewilderment in Russia. This agreement marked the beginning of the Entente, but at that time it remained almost without reaction in Russian society, although Novoye Vremya wrote about this: “Almost everyone felt a breath of cold in the atmosphere of Franco-Russian relations.”

On the eve of the events, Germany assured both sides of friendly neutrality. And now, after the start of the war, the German press was divided into two opposing camps: the right-wing newspapers were on the side of Russia, the left-wing ones were on the side of Japan. The personal reaction of the German emperor to the beginning of the war was essential. Wilhelm II noted on the report of the German envoy to Japan:

Blockade of Port Arthur

On the morning of February 24, the Japanese tried to flood 5 old transports at the entrance to Port Arthur harbor in order to lock the Russian squadron inside. The plan was thwarted by the Retvizan, which was still on the outer roads of the harbor.

On March 2, the Virenius Detachment received an order to return to the Baltic, despite the protests of S. O. Makarov, who believed that he should follow further to the Far East.

On March 8, 1904, Admiral Makarov and the famous shipbuilder N. E. Kuteinikov arrived in Port Arthur, along with several wagons of spare parts and equipment for repairs. Makarov immediately took energetic measures to restore the combat effectiveness of the Russian squadron, which led to an increase in military spirit in the fleet.

On March 27, the Japanese again tried to block the exit from the harbor of Port Arthur, this time using 4 old transports filled with stones and cement. The transports, however, were scuttled too far from the harbor entrance.

March 31, while going to sea, the battleship "Petropavlovsk" ran into 3 mines and sank within two minutes. 635 sailors and officers died. These included Admiral Makarov and the famous battle painter Vereshchagin. The battleship Poltava was blown up and out of order for several weeks.

On 3 May, the Japanese made their third and final attempt to block the entrance to Port Arthur harbor, this time using 8 transports. As a result, the Russian fleet was blocked for several days in the harbor of Port Arthur, which cleared the way for the landing of the 2nd Japanese army in Manchuria.

Of the entire Russian fleet, only the Vladivostok cruiser detachment ("Russia", "Gromoboy", "Rurik") retained freedom of action and during the first 6 months of the war went on the offensive against the Japanese fleet several times, penetrating into Pacific Ocean and being off the Japanese coast, then, leaving again to the Korea Strait. The detachment sank several Japanese transports with troops and guns, including on May 31 Vladivostok cruisers intercepted the Japanese Hi-tatsi Maru transport (6175 brt), on board of which there were 18 280-mm mortars for the siege of Port Arthur, which made it possible to tighten the siege of Port Arthur for several months.

Japanese offensive in Manchuria and the defense of Port Arthur

On April 18 (May 1), the 1st Japanese Army of about 45 thousand people crossed the Yalu River and in the battle on the Yalu River defeated the eastern detachment of the Russian Manchurian army under the command of M. I. Zasulich, numbering about 18 thousand people. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began.

On April 22 (May 5), the 2nd Japanese Army under the command of General Yasukata Oku, numbering about 38.5 thousand people, began landing on the Liaodong Peninsula, about 100 kilometers from Port Arthur. The landing was carried out by 80 Japanese transports and continued until April 30 (May 13). The Russian units, numbering about 17 thousand people, under the command of General Stessel, as well as the Russian squadron in Port Arthur under the command of Witgeft, did not take active steps to counter the landing of the Japanese.

On April 27 (May 10), the advancing Japanese units interrupted the railway communication between Port Arthur and Manchuria.

If the Japanese 2nd Army landed without losses, then the Japanese fleet, which provided the landing operation, suffered very significant losses. On May 2 (15), 2 Japanese battleships, the 12,320-ton Yashima and the 15,300-ton Hatsuse, were sunk after hitting a minefield set by the Russian minelayer Amur. In total, during the period from May 12 to 17, the Japanese fleet lost 7 ships (2 battleships, a light cruiser, a gunboat, an aviso, a fighter and a destroyer), and 2 more ships (including the Kasuga armored cruiser) went to Sasebo for repairs.

The 2nd Japanese Army, having completed the landing, began to move south, to Port Arthur, in order to establish a close blockade of the fortress. The Russian command decided to take the fight on a well-fortified position near the city of Jinzhou, on the isthmus that connected the Kwantung Peninsula with the Liaodong Peninsula.

On May 13 (May 26), a battle took place near Jinzhou, in which one Russian regiment (3.8 thousand people with 77 guns and 10 machine guns) repelled the attacks of three Japanese divisions for twelve hours (35 thousand people with 216 guns and 48 machine guns) . The defense was broken through only in the evening, after the approaching Japanese gunboats suppressed the Russian left flank. The losses of the Japanese amounted to 4.3 thousand people, the Russians - about 1.5 thousand people killed and wounded.

As a result of the success during the battle at Jinzhou, the Japanese overcame the main natural barrier on the way to the Port Arthur fortress. On May 29, the port of Dalniy was occupied by Japanese troops without a fight, and its shipyards, docks and railway station went to the Japanese practically intact, which greatly facilitated their supply of troops besieging Port Arthur.

After the occupation of Dalny, the Japanese forces split up: the formation of the 3rd Japanese Army under the command of General Maresuke Nogi began, which was tasked with taking Port Arthur, while the 2nd Japanese Army began to move north.

On June 10 (23), the Russian squadron in Port Arthur attempted to break through to Vladivostok, but three hours after going to sea, noticing the Japanese fleet on the horizon, Rear Admiral V.K. Witgeft ordered to turn back, as he considered the situation unfavorable for fight.

On June 1-2 (14-15) in the battle near Vafangou, the 2nd Japanese Army (38 thousand people with 216 guns) defeated the Russian 1st East Siberian Corps of General G. K. Shtakelberg (30 thousand people with 98 guns), sent by the commander of the Russian Manchurian army Kuropatkin to lift the blockade of Port Arthur.

The Russian units retreating to Port Arthur, after the defeat at Jinzhou, took up a position “on the passes”, about halfway between Port Arthur and Dalny, which the Japanese did not attack for quite a long time in anticipation of the full complement of their 3rd army.

On July 13 (26), the 3rd Japanese Army (60 thousand people with 180 guns) broke through the Russian defenses "on the passes" (16 thousand people with 70 guns), on July 30 they occupied the Wolf Mountains - positions on the distant approaches to the fortress itself, and already on August 9, it reached its original positions along the entire perimeter of the fortress. The defense of Port Arthur began.

In connection with the beginning of the shelling of the harbor of Port Arthur by Japanese long-range artillery, the fleet command decided to attempt a breakthrough to Vladivostok.

On July 28 (August 10), the Battle of the Yellow Sea took place, during which the Japanese fleet, due to the death of Vitgeft and the loss of control by the Russian squadron, managed to force the Russian squadron to return to Port Arthur.

On July 30 (August 12), not knowing that the attempt to break through to Vladivostok had already failed, 3 cruisers of the Vladivostok detachment entered the Korea Strait, with the goal of meeting the Port Arthur squadron breaking through to Vladivostok. On the morning of August 14, they were discovered by Kamimura's squadron consisting of 6 cruisers and, unable to evade, accepted the battle, as a result of which the Rurik was sunk.

The defense of the fortress continued until January 2, 1905 and became one of the brightest pages of Russian military history.

In the fortress area cut off from the Russian units, there was no single undisputed leadership, there were simultaneously three authorities: the commander of the troops, General Stessel, the commandant of the fortress, General Smirnov, and the commander of the fleet, Admiral Witgeft (due to the absence of Admiral Skrydlov). This circumstance, together with the difficult communication with the outside world, could have had dangerous consequences if General R.I. Kondratenko had not been found among the command staff, who “with rare skill and tact managed to coordinate, in the interests of the common cause, the conflicting views of individual commanders ". Kondratenko became the hero of the Port Arthur epic and died at the end of the siege of the fortress. The defense of the fortress was organized by his efforts: fortifications were completed and put on alert. The garrison of the fortress consisted of about 53 thousand people, armed with 646 guns and 62 machine guns. The siege of Port Arthur lasted about 5 months and cost the Japanese army about 91 thousand people killed and wounded. Russian losses amounted to about 28 thousand people killed and wounded; Japanese siege artillery sank the remnants of the 1st Pacific Squadron: the battleships Retvizan, Poltava, Peresvet, Pobeda, the armored cruiser Bayan, and the armored cruiser Pallada. The only remaining battleship "Sevastopol" was launched into the Bay of the White Wolf, accompanied by 5 destroyers ("Angry", "Statny", "Fast", "Brave", "Vlastny"), the port tug "Strongman" and the patrol ship "Brave ". As a result of the attack undertaken by the Japanese under cover of night, the Sevastopol was seriously damaged, and since in the conditions of the bombed port and the possibility of shooting through the internal raid by the Japanese troops, repair of the ship was impossible, it was decided to sink the ship by the crew after the preliminary dismantling of the guns and the removal of ammunition .

Liaoyang and Shahe

During the summer of 1904, the Japanese slowly moved to Liaoyang: from the east - the 1st Army under the command of Tamemoto Kuroki, 45 thousand, and from the south - the 2nd Army under the command of Yasukata Oku, 45 thousand and the 4th Army under the command of Mititsura Nozu, 30 thousand people. The Russian army slowly retreated, at the same time constantly replenished by reinforcements arriving along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

On August 11 (24), one of the decisive battles of the Russo-Japanese War began - the battle of Liaoyang. Three Japanese armies attacked the positions of the Russian army in a semicircle: the army of Oku and Nozu advanced from the south, and Kuroki attacked in the east. In the battles that continued until August 22, Japanese troops under the command of Marshal Iwao Oyama (130 thousand with 400 guns) lost about 23 thousand people, Russian troops under the command of Kuropatkin (170 thousand with 644 guns) - 16 thousand (according to other sources 19 thousand . killed and wounded). The Russians successfully repelled all Japanese attacks south of Liaoyang for three days, after which A.N. Kuropatkin decided, by concentrating his forces, to go on the offensive against Kuroki's army. The operation did not bring the desired results, and the Russian commander, who overestimated the strength of the Japanese, deciding that they could cut the railway from the north of Liaoyang, ordered a withdrawal to Mukden. The Russians retreated in perfect order, leaving not a single gun. The overall outcome of the battle of Liaoyang was uncertain. Nevertheless, the Russian historian Professor S. S. Oldenburg writes that this battle was a heavy moral blow, since everyone in Liaoyang was waiting for a decisive rebuff to the Japanese, but in fact, the historian writes, it was another rearguard battle, extremely bloody besides .

On September 22 (October 5), a battle took place on the Shah River. The battle began with an attack by Russian troops (270 thousand people); On October 10, Japanese troops (170 thousand people) launched a counterattack. The outcome of the battle was uncertain when, on October 17, Kuropatkin gave the order to stop the attacks. The losses of the Russian troops amounted to 40 thousand killed and wounded, the Japanese - 30 thousand.

After the operation on the Shahe River, a positional lull was established at the front, which lasted until the end of 1904.

Campaign of 1905

In January 1905, a revolution began in Russia, which complicated the further conduct of the war.

On January 12 (25), the Battle of Sandepu began, in which the Russian troops tried to go on the offensive. After the occupation of 2 villages, the battle was stopped on January 29 by Kuropatkin's order. The losses of the Russian troops amounted to 12 thousand, the Japanese - 9 thousand people killed and wounded.

In February 1905, the Japanese forced the Russian army to retreat in the pitched battle of Mukden, which took place over a 100-kilometer front and lasted three weeks. Prior to World War I, it was the largest land battle in history. In heavy fighting, the Russian army lost 90 thousand people (killed, wounded and captured) out of 350 thousand who participated in the battle; The Japanese army lost 75 thousand people (killed, wounded and captured) out of 300 thousand. On March 10, Russian troops left Mukden. After that, the war on land began to subside and took on a positional character.

On May 14 (27) - May 15 (28), 1905, in the Battle of Tsushima, the Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian squadron transferred to the Far East from the Baltic under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky.

On July 7, the last major operation of the war began - the Japanese invasion of Sakhalin. The 15th Japanese division of 14 thousand people was opposed by about 6 thousand Russian people, who consisted mainly of exiles and convicts who joined the troops only to acquire benefits for serving hard labor and exile and were not particularly combat-ready. On July 29, after the surrender of the main Russian detachment (about 3.2 thousand people), the resistance on the island was suppressed.

The number of Russian troops in Manchuria continued to increase, and reinforcements arrived. By the time the peace was concluded, the Russian armies in Manchuria occupied positions near the village of Sipingai (English) and numbered about 500 thousand fighters; the troops were located not in a line, as before, but in echelon in depth; the army was significantly strengthened technically - the Russians got howitzer batteries, machine guns, the number of which increased from 36 to 374; communication with Russia was no longer maintained by 3 pairs of trains, as at the beginning of the war, but by 12 pairs. Finally, the spirit of the Manchu armies was not broken. However, the Russian command did not take decisive action at the front, which was greatly facilitated by the revolution that began in the country, as well as Kuropatkin's tactics to maximize the depletion of the Japanese army.

For their part, the Japanese, who suffered huge losses, also showed no activity. The Japanese army, which stood against the Russian, numbered about 300 thousand fighters. The former rise in it was no longer observed. Japan was economically exhausted. Human resources have been exhausted, among the prisoners there were old people and children.

The results of the war

In May 1905, a meeting of the military council was held, where Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich reported what, in his opinion, was necessary for the final victory: a billion rubles of expenses, about 200 thousand losses and a year of hostilities. After reflection, Nicholas II decided to enter into negotiations with the mediation of the American President Roosevelt to conclude peace (which Japan had already proposed twice). S. Yu. Witte was appointed the first authorized Tsar and the very next day he was received by the Emperor and received the appropriate instructions: in no case agree to any form of payment of indemnity that Russia had never paid in history, and not to give “not an inch Russian land". At the same time, Witte himself was pessimistic (especially in the light of the demands of the Japanese side for the alienation of all of Sakhalin, Primorsky Krai, the transfer of all interned ships): he was sure that “indemnity” and territorial losses were “inevitable”.

On August 9, 1905, peace negotiations began in Portsmouth (USA) through the mediation of Theodore Roosevelt. The peace treaty was signed on August 23 (September 5), 1905. Russia ceded to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin (already occupied by Japanese troops at that time), its lease rights to the Liaodong Peninsula and the South Manchurian Railway, which connected Port Arthur with the Chinese Eastern Railway. Russia also recognized Korea as a Japanese zone of influence. In 1910, despite protests from other countries, Japan formally annexed Korea.

Many in Japan were dissatisfied with the peace treaty: Japan received less territory than expected - for example, only part of Sakhalin, and not all, and most importantly, did not receive monetary indemnities. During the negotiations, the Japanese delegation put forward a demand for an indemnity of 1.2 billion yen, but the firm and unshakable position of Emperor Nicholas II did not allow Witte to yield on these two fundamental points. He was supported by US President Theodore Roosevelt, who informed the Japanese that if they insisted, the American side, which had previously sympathized with the Japanese, would change its position. The demand of the Japanese side for the demilitarization of Vladivostok and a number of other conditions were also rejected. Japanese diplomat Kikujiro Ishii wrote in his memoirs that:

As a result of the peace talks, Russia and Japan pledged to withdraw troops from Manchuria, use the railways only for commercial purposes, and not obstruct the freedom of trade and navigation. The Russian historian A.N. Bokhanov writes that the Portsmouth agreements were an undoubted success for Russian diplomacy: the negotiations were more an agreement of equal partners, and not an agreement concluded as a result of an unsuccessful war.

The war cost Japan a huge, in comparison with Russia, strain of forces. She had to put under arms 1.8% of the population (Russia - 0.5%), during the war its external public debt increased 4 times (in Russia by a third) and reached 2400 million yen.

The Japanese army lost in killed, according to various sources, from 49 thousand (B. Ts. Urlanis) to 80 thousand (Doctor of Historical Sciences I. Rostunov), while the Russian from 32 thousand (Urlanis) to 50 thousand (Rostunov) or 52,501 people (G. F. Krivosheev). Russian losses in battles on land were half that of the Japanese. In addition, 17,297 Russians and 38,617 Japanese soldiers and officers (Urlanis) died from wounds and diseases. The incidence in both armies was about 25 people. per 1000 per month, but the mortality rate in Japanese medical institutions was 2.44 times higher than the Russian figure.

According to some representatives of the military elite of that time (for example, the chief of the German General Staff, Schlieffen), Russia could well continue the war, it was only necessary to better mobilize the forces of the empire.

Witte admitted in his memoirs:

Opinions and ratings

General Kuropatkin in his "Results" of the Japanese war wrote about the command staff:

Other facts

The Russo-Japanese War gave rise to several myths about the explosive used by the Japanese, shimoza. Shells filled with shimose exploded upon impact with any obstacle, giving a mushroom cloud of suffocating smoke and a large number of fragments, that is, they had a pronounced high-explosive effect. Russian shells filled with pyroxylin did not give such an effect, although they were distinguished by better armor-piercing. Such a noticeable superiority of Japanese shells over Russian shells in terms of explosiveness gave rise to several common myths:

The explosion power of shimose is many times stronger than pyroxylin.
The use of shimosa was a Japanese technical superiority that caused Russia to suffer naval defeats.

Both of these myths are false (detailed in the article on shimose).

During the transition of the 2nd Pacific squadron under the command of Z. P. Rozhestvensky from the Baltic to the Port Arthur region, the so-called Hull incident occurred. Rozhdestvensky received information that Japanese destroyers were waiting for the squadron in the North Sea. On the night of October 22, 1904, the squadron fired on British fishing vessels, mistaking them for Japanese ships. This incident caused a serious English-Russian diplomatic conflict. Subsequently, an arbitration court was established to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

Russo-Japanese war in art

Painting

On April 13, 1904, as a result of the explosion of the battleship Petropavlovsk on Japanese mines, the talented Russian battle painter Vasily Vereshchagin died. Ironically, shortly before the war, Vereshchagin returned from Japan, where he created a number of paintings. In particular, one of them, "Japanese", he created at the beginning of 1904, that is, just a few months before his death.

Fiction

	Book title	Description
Doroshevich, V. M.	East and war	The main theme is international relations during the war
Novikov-Priboy
Kostenko V.P.	On the "Eagle" in Tsushima	Main theme - Battle of Tsushima
Stepanov A. N.	"Port Arthur" (in 2 parts)	Main topic - Defense of Port Arthur
Pikul V.S.	Cruisers	Operations of the Vladivostok detachment of cruisers during the war
Pikul V.S.	Wealth	Defense of the Kamchatka Peninsula
Pikul V.S.		The landing of Japanese troops on Sakhalin Island. Defense of Sakhalin.
Pikul V.S.	The Three Ages of Okini-san	Life story of a naval officer.
Daletsky P. L.	On the hills of Manchuria
Grigoriev S. T.	Ensign "Gromoboy"
Boris Akunin	Diamond Chariot (book)	Japanese espionage and sabotage in Russian railway during the war
M. Bozhatkin	Crab goes to sea (novel)
Allen, Willis Boyd	The north Pacific: a story of the Russo-Japanese war	Russo-Japanese War through the Eyes of US Navy Sailors

War in music

Waltz by Ilya Shatrov "On the hills of Manchuria" (1907).
Song by an unknown author "The sea spread wide" (1900s) about the 2nd Pacific squadron: L. Utyosov, L. Utyosov video, E. Dyatlov, DDT
The song “Upstairs you, comrades, all in places” (1904), dedicated to the death of the cruiser “Varyag”: stills from the film “Varyag”, M. Troshin
The song "Cold waves are splashing" (1904), also dedicated to the death of the cruiser "Varyag": Alexandrov Ensemble, 1942, O. Pogudin
Song to the verses of Alexander Blok "The girl sang in the church choir" (1905): L. Novoseltseva, A. Kustov and R. Stanskov.
Oleg Mityaev's song "Alien War" (1998) from the point of view of a sailor of the 2nd Pacific squadron - a resident of Tobolsk.

Causes

Main events

Battle of Chemulpo

Blockade of Port Arthur

Liaoyang and Shahe

Effects

Results

Prerequisites

Causes

Occasion

Background and causes of the war

The course of the war and the results

What have we learned?

Topic quiz

Report Evaluation

background

Expansion of the Russian Empire in the Far East

Japan's struggle for dominance in Korea

Immediate causes of the war

Triple intervention

Russian occupation of Manchuria and the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese alliance

Growing Russo-Japanese Confrontation

The balance of forces and communications before the war

Military establishment

Fleet

The course of the war

Campaign of 1904

The beginning of the war

The attitude of the Russian public to the beginning of the war with Japan

The reaction of the world community

Blockade of Port Arthur

Japanese offensive in Manchuria and the defense of Port Arthur

Liaoyang and Shahe

Campaign of 1905

The results of the war

Opinions and ratings

Other facts

Russo-Japanese war in art

Painting

Fiction

War in music

ecosystems

Zoology

Biology

Long 19th century

recent history

Middle Ages

new time

Interwar period