Рейтинг
Порталус

Russo-Japanese War

Дата публикации: 20 сентября 2007
Публикатор: Научная библиотека Порталус
Рубрика: RUSSIA (TOPICS) - Imperial Russia →
Источник: (c) http://russia.by
Номер публикации: №1190296572


Vexed by Russia's expansion into the Liaodong Peninsula after the humiliating Triple Intervention of 1895, challenged by Russian troops in Manchuria even after suppression of the Boxers in China, and denied recognition of its claim to exclusive rights in Korea, Japan spent a decade on countermeasures: application of its Chinese war indemnity to ground and naval buildup, consummation of a defensive alliance with England, and direct negotiations with Russia. When diplomacy foundered in early 1904 Japanese hard-liners prevailed and Tokyo opted for hostilities. Control of the sea lanes to the continent was prerequisite. Japan broke off its diplomatic relations with Russia on 6 February and then struck by surprise on 8 February, when Japanese destroyers mauled the Russian squadron at Port Arthur (Chinese, Lüshun; Japanese, Ryojun). Both parties declared war on 10 February.

The Imperial General Headquarters was established at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. General Kuroki Tamemoto's First Army landed in Korea, easily pressed north, brilliantly defeated the Russians at the Yalu River (30 April-1 May), at a cost of 1,000 men (as opposed to 2,700 Russians), and crossed the river into Manchuria. To encircle and eliminate Russian naval and military power in Liaodong, Nozu Michitsura's Fourth Army debarked west of the Yalu in May; Oku Yasukata's Second Army was placed northeast of Port Arthur. After fierce fighting Oku took Nanshan Hill in late May, allowing entry into the fine Liaodong commercial port of Dalian (Japanese, Dairen; Russian, Dalny). Nogi Maresuke could now bring in his Third Army to besiege the formidable defensive complex at Port Arthur, just south of Dalian. Blockaded by sea and stormed by land, the fortress finally capitulated on 2 January 1905.

Meanwhile, Marshal yama Iwao, commander in chief of the Manchuria Army, ably seconded by General Kodama Gentar, deployed three field armies, numbering 125,000 men, in positions enveloping Liaoyang (200 miles north of Port Arthur), which was defended by 158,000 Russians under General Alexei Kuropatkin. After ten days of stiff fighting, the Russians abandoned Liaoyang, although they lost fewer men than the Japanese (18,000 Russians to 23,600 Japanese). Enfeebled by casualties and low on ammunition, yama could not exploit the Russian retreat, capably conducted by Kuropatkin. Both sides having received reinforcements, a second major battle was fought at the Sha He (5-17 October), pitting between 131,000 and 170,000 Japanese against between 200,000 and 232,000 Russians. At a cost of 21,000 men, the Japanese inflicted twice as many casualties. Both sides then entered winter quarters. Kuropatkin, however, wanted to defeat yama before Nogi could arrive. In late January 1905, 300,000 Russian troops attacked yama's 220,000 men in confused fighting in the snow at Heikoutai-Sandepu. Failing to achieve their objectives, the Russian recoiled toward Mukden (Shenyang).

Now yama wanted success before massive Russian reinforcements from Europe arrived. Incorporating Nogi's Third Army and Kawamura Kageaki's Army of the Yalu, yama launched a preemptive offensive in late February along a broad front at Mukden, generating the largest military engagement in history to that date: 207,000 Japanese (with 992 artillery pieces) versus 291,000 Russians (with 1,219 artillery pieces). In hard-fought combat, 75,000 Japanese fell, while the Russians lost 69,000 dead and wounded, 22,000 prisoners, and mountains of ordnance. On 10 March Kuropatkin fell back toward Harbin; he soon was replaced by N. P. Linievitch. The Japanese were too spent to inflict a mortal blow. Although no major ground combat followed, on 27 and 28 May Admiral Tg Heihachir shattered Z. P. Rozhdestvenski's motley flotilla, sent around the world from the Baltic, in the senseless battle of Tsushima Straits.

Both countries were now ready to talk, the Russians being nudged by Japanese seizure of Sakhalin Island in July and by revolutionary disturbances. Renewal and strengthening of the invaluable English alliance bolstered Japan's hand. President Theodore Roosevelt mediated the consequent Portsmouth Treaty (5 September 1905), under the terms of which Russia recognized Japan's paramountcy in Korea, transferred Liaodong's lease (including Dalian and Port Arthur) and the South Manchurian Railway and other economic interests, ceded southern Sakhalin (Karafuto), and yielded fishing rights. These terms mirrored the impressive Japanese victory but, poisoning Japanese relations with the honest broker, the United States, provision emerged for indemnity by Russia--a source of frustration for a country whose coffers were bare after expending 1.5 billion yen. At the human cost of 90,000 dead (from mobilized forces exceeding one million men), Japan was catapulted into the prestigious club of imperialistic powers. As a result of their generally unexpected triumph over a major European country, the Japanese exerted enormous influence on colonial peoples, although they ruthlessly quelled nationalism burgeoning among Asians within their own orbit. Tapping wellsprings of patriotism and fealty, the victorious Japanese army and navy laid groundwork for aggression abroad and ascendancy at home for the next four decades.


-- Alvin D. Coox

Опубликовано на Порталусе 20 сентября 2007 года

Новинки на Порталусе:

Сегодня в трендах top-5


Ваше мнение?



Искали что-то другое? Поиск по Порталусу:


О Порталусе Рейтинг Каталог Авторам Реклама