Russian-japanese War :: essays research papers

The Russian-Japanese war of 1904 was a European conflict that was fought because one country was becoming too strong. The conflict was mainly fought because two separate countries had their own special interests in far east countries like Korea, China, and Manchuria. Britain and Japan recognized the independance of China and Korea, but at the same time authorized each other to intervene in either territory if their own "special interests" were threatened by another power or by internal disorder. That power was now Russia. There was already a rivalry going on between Britain and Russia because of the Trans-Siberian railway but now there was another dimension. Russia now had access to the pacific. Her presence in Asia threatened already established Britain interests. China leased the ice-free Port Arthur to Russia and allowed them to store their war ships there. The two empires were set on a collision course. Britain was very reluctant to commit herself to a distant threat of war so she took a step to allying herself with the growing industrial power of Japan. In doing so, Britain found her soldiers in the east. At this time Russia failed to realize how powerful Britain and Japan had made themselves. Russia was unable to take Japan seriously even though they had many reports on how large the Japanese naval and military forces were. Unfortunately, Russia's constant penetration into Korea and Manchuria continued unabated despite the presence of numbers of Japanese immagrants and traders. Russia had succeeded in replacing the now defunct Chinese influence with her own. Russia now began taking over the administrative departments and had their officers train the Korean army to fight on their side. In April, May, and June of 1903, Russian's had told the Japanese that they would move out of China. They did not and continued to occupy the land. In July of the that same year, the Japanese Ambassador proposed that Russia and Japan were to recognize the independance of China and Korea. Both nations were to rcognize preponderance, the Japanese in Korea balanced by russians in Manchuria. They were to recall their troops from their respective area as soon as possible. In return, the Russians would protect the railways in Manchuria and the Japanese would do the same in Korea. It came to the attention of the Japanese that the Russians were building up their naval and military forces in the far east. They were also moving troops not only into Manchuria, but also into North Korea. It now became obvious to the Japnese that the Russians had no intention of releasing their hold on Manchuria and Korea. Nevertheless, the negotiations went on. On February 10th, 1904, both nations produced formal declarations of war. On February 8th, a large part of the Russian Pacific squadron lat anchor in