The course of the war 1904 1905. Russo-Japanese war

(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 bluntly 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 dominance in Far East there 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 an improvement in relations with Germany provided the Russian rear; the construction of the Siberian road and the strengthening of the fleet provided a material opportunity to fight ), but there was also strong hope in Russian government circles that fear of Russian power would keep Japan from attacking directly.

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 rail link between Port Arthur and Russia. The siege of Port Arthur was started by the 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 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 Treaty of St. Petersburg fixed the transfer of Sakhalin to Russia in exchange for the transfer of Japan of all 18 Kuril Islands.

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 to modernize the economy by the beginning of the 1890s, creating such modern industries as the production of machine tools and electrical equipment, 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, the 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 Russian government failed to complete the second stage 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 lumberyards, the construction of military installations began in the village, which was perceived in Great Britain and Japan as Russia's preparation for the creation of a permanent military base in northern 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 it from Argentina in Italy, had just passed Singapore and no one could stop them anywhere 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

The Russian Empire, having an almost threefold advantage in population, could field 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 throughput it was only 3-4 pairs of trains per day. The bottlenecks were the ferry across Lake 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 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 region of Vladivostok and the Amur Estuary during the war.

At the end of 1903, Russia sent the battleship Tsesarevich and the armored cruiser Bayan, which had just been built in Toulon, 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 a constant supply, is not possible without the dominance of the 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. In St. Petersburg, as well as other large cities of the empire, unprecedented street patriotic manifestations spontaneously arose. Even the students of the capital, known for their revolutionary moods, completed their university meeting with a procession to 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 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 several times went on the offensive against the Japanese fleet, 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 Japanese landing.

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, 12,320-ton Yashima and 15,300-ton Hatsuse, were sunk after hitting a minefield set by the Russian mine layer 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 advice note, 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 loss 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 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 general battles of the Russian- Japanese war- 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 to in perfect order without leaving a single weapon. 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 Nikolayevich 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, informing 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 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:

1. The explosion power of shimose is many times stronger than pyroxylin.
2. 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 Anglo-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

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.

One of the largest confrontations is the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The reasons for it will be discussed in the article. As a result of the conflict, armadillo guns, long-range artillery, and destroyers were used.

The essence of this war was which of the two warring empires would dominate the Far East. Emperor of Russia Nicholas II considered it his primary task to strengthen the influence of his power in East Asia. At the same time, Emperor Meiji of Japan sought to gain complete control over Korea. War became inevitable.

Background of the conflict

It is clear that the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (the reasons are connected with the Far East) did not start instantly. She had her prerequisites.

Russia advanced in Central Asia to the border with Afghanistan and Persia, which affected the interests of Great Britain. Unable to expand in this direction, the empire switched to the East. There was China, which, due to complete exhaustion in the opium wars, was forced to transfer part of the territory to Russia. So she received control of Primorye (the territory of modern Vladivostok), the Kuril Islands, and partly Sakhalin Island. To connect distant frontiers, the Trans-Siberian Railway was created, which, along the railway line, provided communication between Chelyabinsk and Vladivostok. In addition to the railroad, Russia planned to trade on the ice-free Yellow Sea through Port Arthur.

In Japan, at the same time, their transformations were taking place. Having come to power, Emperor Meiji ended the policy of self-isolation and began to modernize the state. All his reforms were so successful that a quarter of a century after they began, the empire was able to seriously think about military expansion to other states. Its first targets were China and Korea. The victory of Japan over China allowed her to get in 1895 the rights to Korea, the island of Taiwan and other lands.

A conflict was brewing between two strong empires for dominance in East Asia. The result was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The causes of the conflict should be considered in more detail.

The main causes of the war

It was extremely important for both powers to show their military achievements, so the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 unfolded. The reasons for this confrontation lie not only in the claims to the territory of China, but also in the internal political situations that had developed in both empires by that time. A successful campaign in a war not only gives the victor an economic advantage, but also raises her status on the world stage and silences opponents of her existing power. What did both states count on in this conflict? What were the main causes of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905? The table below reveals the answers to these questions.

Precisely because both powers were striving for an armed solution to the conflict, all diplomatic negotiations did not bring results.

The balance of power on land

The causes of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 were both economic and political. The 23rd Artillery Brigade was sent to the Eastern Front from Russia. As for the numerical advantage of the armies, the leadership belonged to Russia. However, in the East, the army was limited to 150 thousand people. However, they were scattered over a wide area.

• Vladivostok - 45,000 people
• Manchuria - 28,000 people
• Port Arthur - 22,000 people
• Security of the Chinese Eastern Railway - 35,000 people.
• Artillery, engineering troops - up to 8000 people.

The biggest problem of the Russian army was the remoteness from the European part. Communication was carried out by telegraph, and delivery was carried out by the CER line. However, a limited amount of cargo could be delivered by rail. In addition, the leadership did not have accurate maps of the area, which negatively affected the course of the war.

Japan before the war had an army of 375 thousand people. They studied the area well, had fairly accurate maps. The army has been modernized by English specialists, and the soldiers are devoted to their emperor to death.

The balance of power on the water

In addition to land, battles also took place on the water. Admiral Heihachiro Togo led the Japanese fleet. His task was to block the enemy squadron near Port Arthur. In another sea (Japanese), the squadron of the Land of the Rising Sun counteracted the Vladivostok group of cruisers.

Understanding the causes of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Meiji state thoroughly prepared for battles on the water. The most important ships of her United Fleet were produced in England, France, Germany and were significantly superior to Russian ships.

Major events of the war

When in February 1904 the Japanese forces began to cross into Korea, the Russian command did not attach any importance to this, although they understood the reasons for the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.

Briefly about the main events.

• 09.02.1904. The historical battle of the cruiser "Varyag" against the Japanese squadron near Chemulpo.
• 27.02.1904. The Japanese fleet attacked the Russian Port Arthur without declaring war. The Japanese used torpedoes for the first time and disabled 90% of the Pacific Fleet.
• April 1904. The clash of armies on land, which showed Russia's unpreparedness for war (inconsistency in form, lack of military maps, inability to fence). Due to the fact that Russian officers had white tunics, Japanese soldiers easily figured out and killed them.
• May 1904. Capture of the port of Dalniy by the Japanese.
• August 1904. Successful Russian defense of Port Arthur.
• January 1905. Surrender of Port Arthur by Stessel.
• May 1905. The naval battle near Tsushima destroyed the Russian squadron (one ship returned to Vladivostok), while not a single Japanese ship was injured.
• July 1905. Japanese invasion of Sakhalin.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the reasons for which were of an economic nature, led to the exhaustion of both powers. Japan began to look for ways to resolve the conflict. She resorted to the help of Great Britain and the United States.

Battle of Chemulpo

The famous battle took place on February 9, 1904 off the coast of Korea (the city of Chemulpo). Captain Vsevolod Rudnev commanded two Russian ships. These were the cruiser "Varyag" and the boat "Korean". The squadron of Japan under the command of Sotokichi Uriu consisted of 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 8 destroyers. They blocked the Russian ships and forced them to join the battle.

In the morning, in clear weather, the Varyag and the Koreyets weighed anchor and tried to get out of the bay. In honor of the exit from the port, music began to play for them, but after only five minutes the alarm sounded on the deck. The battle flag went up.

The Japanese did not expect such actions and expected to destroy the Russian ships in the port. The enemy squadron in a hurry raised anchors, battle flags and began to prepare for battle. The battle began with a shot from the Asama. Then there was a battle with the use of armor-piercing and high-explosive shells from both sides.

In unequal forces, the Varyag was badly damaged, and Rudnev decided to turn back to the anchorage. There, the Japanese could not continue shelling because of the danger of damaging the ships of other states.

Having lowered the anchor, the Varyag team began to study the condition of the ship. Rudnev, meanwhile, went for permission to destroy the cruiser and transfer his team to neutral ships. Not all officers supported Rudnev's decision, but two hours later the team was evacuated. They decided to sink the Varyag by opening its floodgates. The bodies of the dead sailors were left on the cruiser.

It was decided to blow up the Korean boat, having evacuated the team before that. All things were left on the ship, and secret documents were burned.

The sailors were received by French, English and Italian ships. After carrying out all the necessary procedures, they were delivered to Odessa and Sevastopol, from where they were disbanded by the fleet. By agreement, they could not continue to participate in the Russo-Japanese conflict, so they were not allowed into the Pacific Fleet.

The results of the war

Japan agreed to sign the peace treaty with the complete surrender of Russia, in which the revolution had already begun. According to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty (08/23/1905), Russia was obliged to fulfill the following points:

1. Relinquish claims to Manchuria.
2. Renounce in favor of Japan from the Kuril Islands and half of Sakhalin Island.
3. Recognize Japan's right to Korea.
4. Transfer to Japan the right to lease Port Arthur.
5. Pay Japan an indemnity for the "maintenance of prisoners."

In addition, the defeat in the war had for Russia Negative consequences in economic terms. Stagnation began in some industries, as their lending from foreign banks decreased. Living in the country has risen in price significantly. The industrialists insisted on the speedy conclusion of peace.

Even those countries that initially supported Japan (Great Britain and the United States) realized how difficult the situation in Russia was. The war had to be stopped in order to direct all forces to the fight against the revolution, which was equally feared by world states.

Mass movements began among workers and military personnel. A striking example is the uprising on the battleship Potemkin.

The causes and results of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 are clear. It remains to find out what were the losses in human terms. Russia lost 270 thousand, of which 50 thousand were killed. Japan lost the same number of soldiers, but more than 80,000 were killed.

Value judgments

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the reasons for which were of an economic and political nature, showed serious problems within the Russian Empire. He also wrote about this. War revealed problems in the army, its weapons, command, as well as blunders in diplomacy.

Japan was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. The state lost too much in the fight against the European enemy. She hoped to get more territory, but the United States did not support her in this. Discontent began to brew inside the country, and Japan continued the path of militarization.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the reasons for which were considered, brought many military tricks:

• use of spotlights;
• the use of wire fences under high voltage current;
• field kitchen;
• radiotelegraphy for the first time made it possible to control ships from a distance;
• switching to fuel oil, which produces no smoke and makes ships less visible;
• the appearance of ships - minelayers, which began to be produced with the spread of mine weapons;
• flamethrowers.

One of the heroic battles of the war with Japan is the battle of the Varyag cruiser at Chemulpo (1904). Together with the ship "Korean" they opposed the whole squadron of the enemy. The battle was obviously lost, but the sailors still made an attempt to break through. It turned out to be unsuccessful, and in order not to surrender, the crew led by Rudnev sank their ship. For courage and heroism, they were awarded the praise of Nicholas II. The Japanese were so struck by the character and stamina of Rudnev and his sailors that in 1907 they awarded him the Order rising sun. The captain of the sunken cruiser accepted the award, but never wore it.

There is a version according to which Stessel surrendered Port Arthur to the Japanese for a fee. How true this version is, it is already impossible to verify. Be that as it may, because of his act, the campaign was doomed to failure. For this, the general was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in the fortress, but he was pardoned a year after imprisonment. He was deprived of all titles and awards, while leaving a pension.

On February 8, the Japanese fleet attacked Russian warships that were in Port Arthur. As a result of such an unexpected move by the Japanese army, the most powerful and powerful ships of the Russian fleet were completely destroyed. After that, Japan officially declared war. The military announcement was made on 10 February. According to historical data from Japan, main reason An unexpected war was the assignment of the east to its possessions by Russia, as well as the capture of the Japanese Liaodong Peninsula. The unexpected attack by Japan and the announcement of hostilities against Russia caused a wave of indignation in Russian, but not in world societies. England and the United States of America immediately took the side of Japan, sharp anti-Russian attacks appeared in their magazines and newspapers. Russia's ally, France, took a friendly neutral position, the reason for this was the fear of a rising Germany. However, this did not last long: France went over to the side of England on April 12, 1905, thereby cooling its relations with the Russian government. At the same time, Germany, taking advantage of the situation, declared a warm friendly neutrality towards Russia.

Despite the initial victorious actions and many allies, the Japanese failed to capture the fortress. A second attempt was made on August 26 - General Oyama, commanding an army with 46 thousand soldiers, attacked the fortress of Port Arthur, but, having met decent resistance on August 11 and suffered huge losses, he was forced to retreat. On December 2, Russian General Kondratenko died, an act was signed by the commanders, and the fortress, despite the remaining forces and the ability to hold on, was given to the Japanese along with 30 thousand prisoners and the Russian fleet.
The victory was almost on the side of the Japanese, but, having exhausted the economy with a long and exhausting war, the emperor of Japan was forced to sign a peace treaty with Russia. On August 9, the Russian and Japanese governments began peace talks. In Tokyo, this treaty was accepted coldly and with protest.

AT Russian politics this war showed many gaps that needed to be filled. Many soldiers and officers betrayed the country and deserted, and the Russian army was unprepared for a sudden war. The weakness of the tsarist government was also revealed, on the basis of which the revolution was subsequently organized in 1906. However, there was also a good consequence of the war: thanks to the previous mistakes revealed during the Russo-Japanese War, Russia stopped exploring the east and actively began to transform and reform the old order, which then increased both the internal and external political power of the country.

Shang dynasty and state

The Shang or Shang-Yin dynasty (1600 - 1650 BC) is the only prehistoric Chinese dynasty that established a state that was officially recognized as existing: real archaeological excavations have proven this. As a result of the excavations, stone slabs with ancient hieroglyphs describing the life and government of the emperors of that era.

There is an opinion that the Shang-Yin family descended from the imperial son Xuan-Xiao, who overthrew his father Huang-di from the throne with the help of minister Yi-Yin close to him. After this incident, the ancient Chinese astrologer, historian and writer, famous for writing the Shi Ji, a historical record from the mythical ages to his time, fled the capital five times, only to be brought back by the Shang rulers.

The Shang state was not numerous - only about 200 thousand people. They lived in the basin of the Chinese Yellow River, which influenced the way of life of the inhabitants of the Shang-Yin state. Since there were practically no wars in this state (there were only rare raids by nomads from neighboring countries), some men were mainly engaged in agriculture and hunting, others made tools and weapons. Women were engaged in gathering, looked after the house and taught children. Basically, boys were taken for training by men, and girls at home were taught by their mothers all the worldly wisdom of women.

The Shang people were very religious. Their main deity was Sky or Shandi, which was identified with the home of the souls of the supreme rulers and emperors. The emperor, who accepted gifts and offerings, as well as performed the rituals of worshiping the spirits of the dead, was popularly called the Son of Heaven and was holy immunity. An attempt on the life of the Son of Heaven was considered blasphemy and punishable by death.

The palace of the emperors of the Shang-Yin dynasty was richly decorated with frescoes and wall paintings. Under the ceilings there were high gilded columns that depicted scenes from ancient Chinese mythology and history. The paintings were painted in oil moments from wars and foreign campaigns.

Unlike the rich palaces of the emperors, ordinary residents lived in dugouts built from dried wooden “bricks” that were held together with clay.

The Shang-Yin dynasty was interrupted when, after a rebellion, Emperor Xia Jie Shang was killed and Tang Zhou, the next emperor of China and founder of the Zhou dynasty, ascended the throne. started new era in the history of the ancient Chinese Empire.

Elizabeth II

The eldest daughter of King George VI (originally Prince Albert), Elizabeth (Alexandra Mary) of York (abbreviated Elizabeth II) is the holder of the title of "Britain's longest-lived reigning monarch." Elizabeth II on April 21, 2018 turned exactly 92 years old, she rules the country from twenty-five, that is, she has been on the throne for 67 years, which is a record in the history of England. In addition to Great Britain, she is also the queen of 15 states. The ruler of Great Britain is a descendant of many kings of England, which means that she is of the purest royal lineage.

Basically, Elizabeth performs foreign policy actions, with little or no influence on the internal government of Britain. Her royal duties include receptions foreign ministers and ambassadors, presenting awards, visiting countries on diplomatic business, etc. However, she plays her part well. It is with her, thanks to advanced computer technology, that the queen can communicate with the people outside the castle. So, the ruler of Great Britain has been a participant and user of such social networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube.

Despite her high status, the monarch loves gardening and breeding dogs (she mainly breeds spaniels, great danes and labradors). Recently, she has also become interested in photography. She photographs the places she has visited in her life. You should know that the queen has visited 130 countries, and on her account more than 300 foreign trips - in addition to her native English, she is fluent in French. She is also very punctual, but this does not make her less polite and kind.

But, despite all these good qualities, the Queen of England strictly observes royal ceremonial: newspapers sometimes published articles about how the queen, visiting hospitals, was extremely polite and courteous to everyone, but did not allow anyone to touch her and did not even take off her gloves . Surely this will seem strange, but even when receiving especially important guests at a tea party (for example, officials and important people from other countries), a separate tent is set up especially for Elizabeth, her family and those close to her, in which no outsider is allowed.

According to surveys of the population of Great Britain, all residents are satisfied with their ruler and appreciate and respect her very much, which definitely assures her good-natured and hospitable character traits, which are so loved by all her royal subjects.

(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 keen interest of the tsarist government in the affairs of this region was largely due to the appearance here of late XIX century of a strong and very aggressive neighbor in the face of Japan, which has embarked on the path of expansion.

After Japan acquired the Liaodong Peninsula as a result of victory in the war with China in 1894-1895 under a peace treaty, Russia, acting as a united front with France and Germany, forced Japan to abandon this part of Chinese territory. In 1896, a Russian-Chinese treaty on a defensive alliance against Japan was concluded. China granted Russia a concession to build a railway from Chita to Vladivostok through Manchuria (northeast China). The railway line, known as the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), began to be built in 1897.

Japan, having established its influence in Korea after the war with China, was forced in 1896 to agree to the establishment of a joint Russian-Japanese protectorate over Korea with the actual predominance of Russia.

In 1898, Russia received from China on a long-term lease (for 25 years) the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, the so-called Kwantung Region, with the city of Luishun, which also had a European name - Port Arthur. Since March 1898, this ice-free port has become the base for the Pacific squadron of the Russian fleet, which led to a new aggravation of contradictions between Japan and Russia.

The tsarist government decided to aggravate relations with its Far Eastern neighbor because it did not see Japan as a serious adversary and hoped to overcome the impending internal crisis that threatened revolution with a small but victorious war.

Japan, for its part, was actively preparing for an armed clash with Russia. True, in the summer of 1903 Russian-Japanese negotiations began on Manchuria and Korea, but the Japanese military machine, which had secured direct support from the United States and England, had already been launched. On February 6 (January 24 O.S.), 1904, the Japanese ambassador presented Russian minister Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Lamzdorf, a note on the severance of diplomatic relations, and on the evening of February 8 (January 26, O.S.), 1904, the Japanese fleet attacked the Port Arthur squadron without declaring war. The battleships "Retvizan" and "Tsesarevich", the cruiser "Pallada" were seriously damaged.

Military operations began. In early March, the Russian squadron in Port Arthur was led by an experienced naval commander, Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, but already on April 13 (March 31, O.S.), 1904, he died when the flagship battleship Petropavlovsk hit a mine and sank. The command of the squadron passed to Rear Admiral Wilhelm Witgeft.

In March 1904, the Japanese army landed in Korea, and in April - in the south of Manchuria. Russian troops under the command of General Mikhail Zasulich could not withstand the onslaught of superior enemy forces and in May were forced to leave the Jinzhou position. Port Arthur, thus, was cut off from the Russian Manchurian army.

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 of 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 encircle 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 help from 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 dominates 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 penalty commuted to ten years in prison).

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 Noga'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.) 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 renounced its political, military and trading 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

Causes:
one). The rapid strengthening of Russia in the Far East (in 1898 the Chinese Eastern Railway was built in Manchuria, in 1903 - through the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, Russia built naval bases on the Liaodun Peninsula. Russia's positions in Korea were strengthened) worried Japan, the USA and England. They began to push Japan to start a war against Russia in order to limit its influence in the region;
2). The tsarist government strove for a war with a seemingly weak and distant country - a "small victorious war" was needed, V. K. Plehve and others believed;
3). It was necessary to strengthen Russia's position in the international arena;
4). The desire of the Russian government to distract the people from the revolutionary mood.
The main result of the war was that, despite the hopes that the "victorious war" would delay the revolution, in the opinion of S. Yu. Witte, it brought it "for decades."

Stroke: January 27, 1904 - A surprise attack by a Japanese squadron of Russian ships off Port Arthur. Heroic battle between Varangian and Korean. Attack repulsed. Russian losses: Varyag is flooded. Korean is blown up. Japan ensured superiority at sea.
January 28 - Re-bombardment of the city and Port Arthur. Attack repulsed.
February 24 - Arrival in Port Arthur of the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice-Admiral SO Makarov. Makarov's active actions in preparation for the general battle with Japan at sea (offensive tactics).
March 31 - The death of Makarov. The inaction of the fleet, the rejection of offensive tactics.
April 1904 - Landing of the Japanese armies in Korea, forcing the river. Yaly and entry into Manchuria. The initiative in actions on land belongs to the Japanese.
May 1904 - The Japanese began to lay siege to Port Arthur. Port Arthur was cut off from the Russian army. An attempt to release it in June 1904 was unsuccessful.
August 13-21 - Battle of Liaoyang. The forces are approximately equal (160 thousand each). Japanese attacks were repulsed. Kuropatkin's indecisiveness prevented him from building on his success. On August 24, Russian troops retreated to the river. Shahe.
October 5 - The battle on the Shahe River began. Fog and mountainous terrain interfered, as well as Kuropatkin's lack of initiative (he acted only with part of the forces he had).
December 2 - The death of General Kondratenko. R. I. Kondratenko led the defense of the fortress.
July 28 - December 20, 1904 - The besieged Port Arthur heroically defended itself. December 20 Stesil gives the order to surrender the fortress. The defenders withstood 6 assaults on the fortress. The fall of Port Arthur was a turning point in the Russo-Japanese War.
February 1905 - Battle of Mukden. 550 thousand people participated from both sides. Kuropatkin's passivity. Losses: Russians -90 thousand, Japanese - 70 thousand. The battle was lost by the Russians.
May 14-15, 1905 - Naval battle at about. Tsushima in the Sea of ​​Japan.
Tactical mistakes of Admiral Rozhdestvensky. Our losses - 19 ships sunk, 5,000 killed, 5,000 captured. The defeat of the Russian fleet
August 5, 1905 – Peace of Portsmouth
By the summer of 1905, Japan began to clearly feel the lack of material and human resources and turned to the United States, Germany, and France for help. The US stands for peace. Peace was signed in Portsmouth, our delegation was headed by S. Yu. Witte.

Results: Loss of the Kulil Islands. Complete destruction, unpreparedness for war, lack of discipline in the armies.
An attempt to get out of the crisis with a lightning (victorious) war.