Measures In Which The Russian-Japanese War Affected The Respective Participating Empires During And After The Conflict

Measures in which the Russian-Japanese war affected the respective participating empires during and after the conflict

This work has the main objective of analyzing the change of the empires of Russia and Japan during and after its contest between 1904 and 1905, taking into account the factors that led to the development of this social and political conflict. The question that guides the investigation is: to what extent the Russian-Japanese war affected the respective participating empires during and after the conflict? In this way, the course and evolution that war and the changes conceived in the political and territorial structure in the main countries involved in the war will be analyzed.

Source 1: Treaty of Portsmouth, September 5, 1905

The first source is a document formulated with the political purpose of completing the dispute between the nations of Russia and Japan, using articles proposed by both parties; Serguéi Witte and Román Rosen as legal representatives of Russia who worked together with Komura Juarō and Takahira Kogoro, representatives of Japan. Within the brief, essential articles are added for the peace statement, among which there are also arrangements about the distribution of Chinese territory, in order to avoid future confrontations.

For this reason, the source is of the utmost importance to understand the agreements to which both empires arrived to maintain peace, respecting the territories taken by the winning side, continuing with the series of treaties signed as articles.

However, the source is limited to expressing the political relations between the two nations involved, not to mention the specific situation of Russia and Japan, or the way in which the laws described in the document was carried out.

Source 2: International Relations Magazine – No. 26 (Digital Segment) Institute of International Relations – First Semester of 2004

The analyzed magazine constitutes a secondary source, in which the article entitled "The Japanese Russian War of 1904-1905" is found whose objective is to inform about the historical facts and their impacts within the countries that participated in them and the repercussions that They caused the conflict, also, the development of the war chronologically is contemplated.

The content of this source is examined from several perspectives that allow identifying the consequences of events. On the other hand, there are several limitations such as the shortage of information, which hinders the understanding of the subsequent situation at the end of the war. Similarly, partiality can represent a restrictive factor during the project research process.

Research

The Russian-Japanese war took place between 1904 and 1905, mainly because the expansionist sense of both countries revolved around the Port Arthur area, due to its strategic position for commercialization. However, there were other territories that were disputed, which were located within the regions of Korea and China.

Expansionism, both from Russia and Japan, would help meet its imperial goals. On the one hand, the Russians ambitioned to expand their territory through the extension of the Transiberian route towards a maritime exit and enhance its international trade. In addition, the railroad was a goal coveted by the population as it would connect Moscow, Vladivostok and Port Arthur.

On the other hand, Port Arthur for Japan was desired to provide a direct connection with the Asian continent, especially to practice agricultural activities; and implement naval logistics centers.

In addition, the sources used provide detailed information on the creation of the articles of the Treaty of Portsmouth and reveal arguments for the end of the conflict between the Russian nation and Japan. In addition, this source being a government statement shows an original version of the events after the conflict, allowing to know the perspective of Russia and Japan, since the position of the authorities, the measures and justifications established within the opinion of Russian Japanese war. On the other hand, a limitation is the author’s role on the decision of these governments, coming to persuade the reader about the context of the battle, considering it as partial, biased and unnecessary.

Causes of conflict

Japan claimed the Chinese territories: Port Arthur, the Fisherman Islands and the Liao-Tung Peninsula, after his victory in the war against China in 1894. Consequently, and due to the pressure exerted by Russia, France and Germany, the Shimonoseki treaty was signed, in which it was stated that Japan had to renounce the Liao-Tung peninsula and return it to China.

In recognition of Russian intervention, China signs a treaty in 1896 that allowed Russian ships to freely sail their Chinese ports in addition to allowing Port Arthur to be used as a naval base of Japan, while the ambition of Russia and Japan by territories Koreans continued. In addition to Japan wanted.

In 1900 in China, the rebellion known as “Boxers [Footnoteref: 1]” was pronounced, which protested against the economic and political activity of European powers, China was in a critical state. This lifting against China was slowed down by the militarized action of powers such as Great Britain, France, Japan, Russia, Germany and the United States, during this Japan and Russia were in a momentary truce.

In 1904, the boxers surrender, and Japan asks Russia to withdraw from the territories of Manchuria and Korea, however, Tsar Nicolás II decided to maintain their position, so that the conflict began.

War development

The tensions of both Russia and Japan gradually increased, but it was not until February 8, 1904 that the war began as a result of the Japanese attack towards the ships of the Russian Navy in its attempt to leave the Naval Port of Korea; Although the Russian Empire was surprised at what happened did not decide to respond to it, for this reason on February 10, Japan formally declared the war against the Russian Empire.

Once the war began, both countries took full advantage of their resources to defeat their antagonist. Russia was known due to her extensive experience in the war because she had participated in war conflicts previously. However, this was not a potential advantage because the sea was the main stage of the battle and the Japanese were the ones who managed to take advantage of the skills acquired by their soldiers as a result of their participation in the war against China in 1895. Despite this, Russia had more ships compared to Japan, this meant that she had more opportunities to defeat enemy ships. However, Japanese technology was superior, allowing him to attack more efficiently and cause more damage to the naval units corresponding to the Russians.

In the development of the Russian war, it had a total of 350,000 in regards to human resources while Japan had a figure greater than 850,000 men and their transport was much easier since the yellow sea, area As a battle located in China, it was closer to this country, in Russia contrast, it had.

Based on this, the Japanese army managed to overcome Russian soldiers in number, this caused their chances of triumphing in the war to be reduced considerably. Despite this fact, Russia fully trusted the experience and skills of her veteran militia in conflicts like the one they were going through, but Japan’s supremacy became evident and predominant in naval clashes because the great Russian ships were destroyed; This was a consequence of the difficulty of camouflaging in the aquatic environment, so it was easy to distinction the black colors with yellow that the same possessed.

By virtue of these factors the war had a short duration and on May 26 a decisive naval confrontation was made, where Russia ended with 4 830 dead, 5907 prisoners and large number of injured, as a result of the shipwreck of several ships by the attacks of The Japanese. On the other hand, Japan had 117 dead and 583 injured since the Russians failed to cause significant damage to their opponents’ ships. Product of failure, the Russian emperor decided to surrender.

Therefore, on September 5, 1905 with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, the war ends up declaring Japan as the winner. Therefore, Russia was forced to leave Korea and Manchuria, and Japan recovered the Liao-Tung Peninsula.

Impact

For Russia, war was a key factor in demonstrating its strength as superpower and solving the subsistence crisis that its population was going through and the armies involved in this conflict; In addition, Russia had the necessary material to meet its initial objective that was to conquer the territory of Liao-Tung, in Manchuria. However, her subsequent defeat wounded her national pride, since citizens accused the government of incompetent for the numerous human and material losses that resulted in this conflict.

On the other hand, Japan could not continue with the battle because its economic resources were exhausted and international support had been denied by the stubborn to continue with this rivalry; Therefore, the emperor decided to accept the mediation help of the president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, and sign the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905 that included Russia and Japan.

Among the points within the agreement was that Russia, after her defeat, had to deliver Liao-Tung, Port Arthur and Darién, abandon the southern Manchuria railway and yield half of the south of the island of Sajalín. Also, Japan’s domain was granted over Korea, making it a Japanese territory and that the relations between these two nations were maintained in good terms.

After this event, the repercussions for Russia was the 1905 revolution where the proletariat rose against the emperor, making that in 1917 they will specify its objective. In addition, he managed to conserve the northern part of the island of Sajalín and the right to the territories established in the previous agreement. However, Russia received the contempt from other European countries having been defeated by a non -western country.

On the other hand, Japan managed to attach Korea as protectorate in 1910, and the social impact that this enmity had allowed Japan to be recognized as superpower, that the nationalist feeling expands worldwide by counteracting the perspective that the world had on the inferiority of the non -western countries and that its imperialist ideology was strengthened through military, economic and political power. However, Japan obtained the rejection of its population for not considering economic resources during and after the war.

In summary, the Russian-Japanese war was a decisive event for the future of both countries, since they were great nations in an exponential growth. Japan’s victory allowed him to grow as one of the first global powers by leaps and bounds, in addition to completely changing the Russian government system due to the humiliation of the defeat that caused the discontent of the population with the authorities giving an end to an era And began a totally new one, crossing adversities such as the bad positioning before its European allies, this war went down in history as one of the most important events and the first in its class witnessed by the world.

Reflection

The investigation was carried out in an adequate and deep enough way to get to know the important aspects that intervened in the historical fact, in this way the course and evolution that war and the changes conceived in the political and territorial structure in the political and territorial structure were analyzed The main countries involved in war. However, there were limitations during this process, which could represent a great difficulty for historians since there were the scarce of primary sources that allow to appreciate the events that have occurred in a better way because, the use of a treaty as a source of research does not demonstrate information does not demonstrate information too favorable as a written or spoken testimony of a character who has been present in the facts, and can comment on the situation of the moment highlighting the social, psychological and economic aspects that arose.

One of the main difficulties for a historian to carry out a job that communicates the events, is the partiality with respect to an opinion since they mostly happen from two or more sides, ideologies or positions regarding a topic, which can cause debate regarding the point of view with which the information is transmitted.

Bibliography

• Japanese, h. (s.F.). Japanese history. Obtained from the Russian-Japanese War 1904-1905 an unexpected victory: https: // www.Japanese history.com
• Maffeo, a. J. (2004). The Japanese Russian War of 1904-1905 . History of international relations, 2-13.
• Sabuco. (s.F.). Russian War. Obtained from Perseo Sabuco: http: // Perseo.Sabuco.com/Historia/Russiajapon2017.PDF