Russo-Japanese War

Also called: Treaty of Portsmouth 1905 · Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Displacing Indigenous Peoples"; Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"

Meaning

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) was a war between Japan and Russia over who would control Korea and Manchuria (north-east China). Japan won, and the war ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth, signed on 5 September 1905 [4]. It matters because it was the first time an Asian country beat a major European power in a modern war. It also gave Japan a free hand in Korea, which Japan annexed in 1910 [4].

Explanation

Background and causes

• The first win over China, 1894–95. Japan and China fought over Korea, and China lost.
• The Treaty of Shimonoseki (17 April 1895) made China accept that Korea was independent, meaning no longer under Chinese protection [2].

• China gave Japan Taiwan, the Pescadores and the Liaodong Peninsula [2].

• The Triple Intervention, 1895. Russia, France and Germany forced Japan to give Liaodong back to China, in return for 30,000,000 taels more [3].

• Russia then took a lease on Port Arthur and Liaodong for itself. A lease is the right to use and control land for a fixed time.

• Japanese leaders felt cheated. They concluded that only a bigger army and navy would make the West respect Japan.

• Rivalry over Korea and Manchuria. Both powers wanted to control Korea and Manchuria. Japan saw Russian power so close to Korea as a direct danger to itself.

Course of the war

• 1904. The war began in February 1904 with a Japanese attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
• Where it was fought. Most of the land fighting was in Manchuria, on Chinese soil, and in Korea. The big naval battles were fought at sea.
• 1905. Japan won major battles on land and at sea. At the Battle of Tsushima (May 1905), Japan destroyed Russia's Baltic Fleet, which had sailed halfway round the world.
• Peace talks. Talks opened at Portsmouth, New Hampshire (USA), on 9 August 1905 [4]. US President Theodore Roosevelt acted as the go-between.

Treaty of Portsmouth (5 September 1905) — the terms

• Russia gave up its leases on Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsula [4].
• Russia left Manchuria [4].
• Russia handed over the southern half of Sakhalin island to Japan [4].
• Russia accepted that Korea was in Japan's sphere of interest, meaning an area where Japan had the main say [4].

Results

• Korea lost its freedom step by step.
• November 1905: Japan forced the Korean emperor to sign a treaty that made Korea a protectorate, a state whose foreign affairs Japan controlled [4].
• Then the Korean army was disbanded [4].

• 1910: Japan annexed Korea, taking it over completely [4].

• Japan became a world power. New lands meant new "frontiers to defend", and that became the reason for still more military spending.

• Russia was shaken at home. The defeat added to the anger behind the Russian Revolution of 1905.
• Asia was inspired. Nationalists across Asia, including in India, saw that a European power could be beaten.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 1904–05. Japan was then under the Meiji emperor, and Russia was ruled by the Tsar.
• Places:
• Manchuria and Port Arthur (on the Liaodong Peninsula): the main areas of land fighting.
• Korea: the prize both sides wanted.
• Tsushima Strait: the site of the decisive sea battle.
• Sakhalin: the island whose southern half went to Japan.

• Portsmouth, New Hampshire (USA): where the peace treaty was signed [4].

• Key people: US President Theodore Roosevelt (the go-between at Portsmouth), the Korean emperor (forced to accept the 1905 protectorate) [4], and Japan's leaders, who pushed for a stronger army and navy after 1895.

• How we know:
• The text of the Treaty of Portsmouth and the November 1905 Japan–Korea treaty [4].
• Government records of the peace talks.
• The NCERT account in Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation".

Don't confuse with

• Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895): this ended the war between Japan and China, not Russia. Through it Japan got Taiwan, the Pescadores and Liaodong [2]. Portsmouth (1905) ended the war with Russia.
• Triple Intervention (1895): Russia, France and Germany forced Japan to return Liaodong [3]. Under Portsmouth, Russia itself gave up its own lease on Liaodong [4].
• Mukden Incident (18 September 1931): this was the start of Japan's takeover of Manchuria and the creation of Manchukuo [5]. Do not mix it up with the 1905 land battle at Mukden in the Russo-Japanese War.
• Annexation of Korea (1910): Portsmouth only made Korea part of Japan's sphere of interest [4]. Korea became a protectorate in November 1905 and was fully annexed in 1910 [4].

Prelims Hooks

• The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on 5 September 1905 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA; peace talks began on 9 August 1905 [4].
• Under Portsmouth, Russia gave Japan the southern half of Sakhalin and its leases on Port Arthur and Liaodong, and left Manchuria [4].
• The peace talks were held in the USA, with President Theodore Roosevelt as go-between. They were not held in Europe or Japan.
• Correct order: Shimonoseki (1895) → Triple Intervention (1895) → Portsmouth (1905) → Korea a protectorate (Nov 1905) → Korea annexed (1910) [2][3][4].
• The war was the first victory of an Asian power over a major European power in modern times.
• Trap: the Triple Intervention powers were Russia, France and Germany [3]. Britain was not one of them.

Mains Points

• Empire as the price of modernisation.
• Japan's win over Russia came out of its fast Meiji-era modernisation.
• The win also turned Japan into a colonial power. Korea moved from protectorate (1905) to annexation (1910) [4].

• In Japan, "catching up with the West" and "becoming a coloniser like the West" turned into the same project.

• The myth of Western invincibility broke.

• An Asian nation beating a European empire gave hope to nationalists across Asia, including in India during the Swadeshi period.

• The same victory also fed Japan's later idea of leading Asia, which ended in the Greater East Asia project and the Pacific War (1941–45).

• Treaties used to hide conquest.

• Under Portsmouth, Korea was placed in Japan's "sphere of interest". Then came a protectorate, a disbanded army, and finally annexation [4].
• This is like the way colonial powers in India used treaties and "protection", such as subsidiary alliances, to take over states.

Related concepts

• First Sino-Japanese War
• Japanese aggressive nationalism
• Manchurian Incident 1931
• Nanjing Massacre 1937
• Overcoming Modernity

Read more

• Empire, war and 'Overcoming Modernity'