World War Zero - The Russo-Japanese War Explained

It's 2023 and we are witnessing the tense tug-of-war of current global affairs, where the shadow of the Ukraine conflict casts a familiar chill. Ever heard of the Russo-Japanese war? Well, our military experts are here to talk about it today and here's why. This is not your typical history lesson. This is a tale of audacity, ambition and unexpected outcomes. Picture this. It's the early 20th century. Conflict between two great powers is about to break out in the Pacific, following a surprise attack by Japan on one of its enemy's most important naval bases. The coming war will have vast consequences, changing the course of world history and balance of power in Asia, in ways few could imagine. But this isn't 1941, it's 1904. The naval base Japan is attacking doesn't belong to the United States, but to the Russian Empire. The war about to be fought will not end in Japan's unconditional surrender, but in its rise to the status of a modern military power. Often overlooked today, this is the story of one of the most important conflicts of the 20th century, the Russo-Japanese war. Today, let's dive into this fascinating period of military history. Like many other conflicts of its day, the Russo-Japanese war had its roots in the colonial expansionism of European empires. By the early 17th century, the Russian Empire had grown to immense proportions, even securing its hold over the frozen reaches of Siberia. But the Empire's attempt to expand southward into East Asia were repeatedly blocked by China well into the 18th century. In an effort to secure more warm-water seaports during his rule from 1825 to 1855, Russian Emperor Nicholas I began a policy of expansion. And after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War of 1853 to 56, this process mainly took place in the Empire's Far East. Russia's Pacific expansion continued for several decades. As China's power declined due to European colonialism and events like the Taiping Rebellion, it was eventually forced to cede large chunks of territory to Russia. For the next 30 years, Russia consolidated its borders in the Pacific region, founding the crucial port of Vladivostok in 1860. But after the ascension of Emperor Nicholas II in 1894, putting it in direct competition with Asia's most prominent rising power, Japan. Japan's transformation from a backwater feudal state into a modern, industrialized empire began in 1868. That year marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the restoration of the Meiji Emperor to power after nearly 500 years of isolated military rule. During the Meiji era, Japan began an incredibly rapid process of political, economic, military and social change, resulting in both modernization and westernization. Observers were astonished at the pace of this transformation, such as journalist George Rittner, who noted that in less than 20 years, Japan has acquired the knowledge it has taken us centuries to learn. As Meiji Japan grew in power, it began to present a challenge to other regional powers, including Russia. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, Russia provided military support to the Chinese Qing Dynasty, putting the two countries in direct competition. Despite this, Japan triumphed over Imperial China, leaving it as the strongest power in East Asia by the turn of the 20th century. This competition intensified as Tsar Nicholas set his sights on the Liaodong Peninsula, located in present-day China. The Russian Empire already leased a port on the Liaodong Peninsula from China, then named Port Arthur, but it wanted to have a base of naval operations totally under its control. Given the Russian Empire's history of military expansionism, the Japanese initially tried for a deal, offering to cede control of Manchuria in northeastern China. Under the terms of the proposal, Japan would have maintained influence over Korea and headed off Russian ambitions. But this was not to be. Russia refused Japan's offer and demanded that Korea north of the 39th parallel serve as a neutral zone. Thus, when negotiations broke down in 1904, Japan opted to go to war, a scenario it had long been preparing for. By that year, the country's armed forces had grown to around 400,000 men, and it boasted the fourth-largest navy in the world, while a staggering 82% of the national budget was devoted to military spending. The new military was highly professional, modeled off the Prussian general staff and prioritizing education and tactical leadership over inherited position. It also managed to replace the long-standing clan loyalties in Japanese society with emerging nationalism, inspiring an almost fanatical loyalty, summed up in the reminder to soldiers that duty is heavier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather. The Imperial Japanese Navy both modeled itself off the British Royal Navy and managed to acquire top-of-the-line British-built capital ships, which it would soon put to good use. Together, these factors made the Japanese military one of the most battle-ready forces in the world. The contrast with Russia couldn't have been more stark. Following centuries of expansion, by the start of the 20th century, the Russian Empire had entered a period of stagnation. Despite being more than one million strong, most of its vast army was in Europe, while only 150,000 were actually stationed in the Far East. The vast majority of these were undertrained, poorly equipped, and severely lacking in organized leadership. The Japanese officer corps was mainly composed of aristocrats who received their positions due to favoritism, not ability. The Russian Imperial Navy was in a similar state by 1904. Most sailors come from landlocked areas and had almost no real experience at sea, while many officers did not even know the names of those serving under them. And while Russia had seven battleships and eleven cruisers near Port Arthur and Vladivostok, they were far older than Japan's fleet and also in poor repair. So when negotiations failed, Japan was in a far better position than most assumed. While the initial attack would come from the Navy, the idea was to score decisive early victories both on land and at sea, in order to achieve a peace agreement with highly favorable terms. Because Russian financial resources and manpower were still far greater than those of Japan, the Japanese wanted a short, decisive conflict, which would force Russia to abandon Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula. Japanese officials planned a dual operation, where one group of soldiers would land in Korea and force their way north into Manchuria, while another landed at Port Arthur and moved up to defend the southwestern flank. The two groups would then join together and stage a combined offensive to push Russian troops back to the city of Harbin. Ideally, the United States or Britain would then intervene and broker a peace treaty favorable to Japan. To pull off this audacious strategy, Japan chose to lead with a devastating surprise attack on the Russian Navy around Port Arthur. This was inconceivable to the Russian leadership, who believed that their numerical advantage and supposed racial superiority would doom any Japanese attack. So the Port Arthur attack came as a shock to Nicholas, who had been told by his advisors that the Japanese would not challenge Russia militarily, even after negotiations between the two powers had collapsed. So on February 8th, 1904, when Japan officially declared war on Russia and sailed its combined fleet into Port Arthur, things went pretty much how you'd expect. Russia had only light defenses outside the harbor, with most ships unprepared for combat and troops ashore. Japanese Admiral Togo Hayachiro was still worried about the possibility of Russian artillery taking out Japanese ships, so the attack was carried out under the cover of darkness. Several ships waited outside of the gun's range, while ten destroyers armed with torpedoes crept towards the unsuspecting Russian fleet. At 11.30pm, the first four launched their attack, severely damaging three of the largest vessels, the Tesarevich, Retvezan, and Polada. Russia was able to open fire at the second group of Japanese destroyers, forcing them to retreat. The battle for Port Arthur began in earnest the next day. While the rest of Russia's Far East fleet remained largely protected within the harbor at Port Arthur, Japanese initial attacks stopped the cautious Russian commanders from taking the battle to the open seas. So even though attempts to establish a Japanese blockade of the port failed, the move was a potent psychological victory. And even the Russian ships that evaded the Japanese did not escape entirely unscathed. On April 12th, 1904, the battleships Petropavlovsk and Pobeda were able to leave Port Arthur, but struck mines just after making it out to sea. Petropavlovsk sank, while Pobeda chugged back to port heavily damaged. While Russia responded to that attack with mines of its own, severely damaging two Japanese battleships, the Japanese fleet retained the upper hand at Port Arthur, continuing to bombard the harbor with heavy shelling and containing a true Russian counterattack. Another theater of the war soon opened on land. Without waiting for a major victory at sea, the Japanese had begun in March transporting their first army, under the command of General Temomoto Kuroki, across the sea to Korea, landing it at Incheon, not far from Seoul, and at Nampo in the north. Many days later, the Japanese army moved into position on the town of Uju, on the Yalu River. On May 1st, the Japanese attacked, and after brutal fighting defeated the Russians by storming across the river. Japanese losses were about 1,100 men out of a force of 40,000, while Russian losses were 2,500 out of a force of 7,000 defending troops. The Battle of the Yalu River was incredibly significant. Although the outnumbered Russians made an orderly withdrawal and did not suffer overwhelming losses, it was Japan's first successful battlefield victory against a Western country. The next major turning point was the Battle of Liaoyang, where after nine days of stubborn fighting, the Japanese won a significant victory in spite of inferior numbers, 130,000 against 180,000 Russians. Russian troops under the command of General Kuro Patkin retreated to the city of Mukden. Two major battles of the Xiaohou River and Sendepu proved to be indecisive. Despite the Russians receiving nearly 30,000 men per month in reinforcements, the Russian garrison at Mukden would remain there for several months before attempting another offensive. At sea, Russia fared far worse. By the end of 1904, the Japanese Navy had sunk every ship in Russia's Pacific Fleet and had gained control of its garrison on a hill overlooking the harbor at Port Arthur. However, the Japanese found the Russian garrison there much stronger than they had expected. The Russian defenders had highly fortified their position with breastworks and barbed wire, and had several well-placed machine guns. After making several very costly attempts to take the fortress, the Japanese abandoned general assaults and resorted to siege tactics. Observers from the armies of Western Europe and the United States were embedded with both the Japanese and the Russians, and the effect of machine gun fire on massed infantry assaults was reportedly horrifying. However, the lessons of Port Arthur would be essentially ignored by European commanders, who would replicate the same human wave tactics on the Western Front during World War I. But despite the huge casualties, Japan continued its relentless siege of the port. Then in early January 1905, Russian Major General Anatoly Stessel, commander of the Port Arthur garrison, decided to surrender, surprising both the Japanese and Russian leadership in Moscow. Stessel, believing that the harbor was no longer worth defending in the face of humiliating losses and trying to save his men, that meant Japan had achieved another hugely significant victory in the war. Perhaps unsurprisingly for Russia, Stessel was later convicted of treason and sentenced to death for his decision, though he would ultimately be pardoned. After the freezing winter of 1904 forced a temporary slowdown in the fighting, things resumed in the spring of 1905. This set the stage for the last and greatest land battle of the war, the Battle for Mukden. From February 19th to March 10th, 1905, Kurapatkin decided to attack, but was cut off by the Japanese advance. This left three Russian armies facing the Japanese, together comprising a massive force of 330,000 men and 1,475 guns. This force faced off against three Japanese armies under the command of Marshal Iwayo Ayama, who had some 270,000 men and 1,062 guns. The following struggle was the largest battle of the modern era, fought prior to World War I, and potentially the largest single battle in world history up to that point. The resources expended also marked the beginning of modern warfare as we know it. In ten days, the Japanese side alone fired 20.11 million rifle and machine gun rounds and almost 300,000 artillery shells, roughly the same amount of ammunition as the Prussian army used across the entire 191-day Franco-Prussian War. Losses in the Battle of Mukden were also exceptionally heavy, with approximately 89,000 Russian and 71,000 Japanese casualties. The battle left both sides essentially unable to continue the land campaign. The Russians then retreated his forces to the north, allowing Japan to take over the mostly ruined city of Mukden. The Japanese forces were in similarly poor shape, despite their victory, and it would fall to the country's navy to win the final, decisive victory of the war, the Battle of Shishima. The Russian leadership in St. Petersburg had decided to send their larger Baltic Fleet to East Asia, under the command of Admiral Zinoviy Petrovich Rozhestvensky, assuming that once the Russians had gained control of the sea, the Japanese campaign would collapse. The Baltic Fleet spent the entire summer of 1904 preparing to sail, and it set out from Latvia on October 15th, 1904. Mid-voyage at Nosy Be near Madagascar, Rozhestvensky learned of the surrender of Port Arthur, and proposed returning to Russia. However, since naval reinforcements were already on their way from the Baltic via Suez in early March 1905, he made the very foolish choice to proceed toward Japan. Rozhestvensky linked up with his reinforcements off the coast of modern Vietnam, and his full fleet seemed to be a powerful armada. In reality, however, many of the Russian ships were old and unserviceable, especially compared to Japan's modern fleet. So early in May 1905, the fleet reached the China Sea, and Rozhestvensky headed towards Vladivostok via the Shishima Strait. Japanese Admiral Togo lay in wait for him off the southern coast of Korea near Busan. On May 27th, as the Russian fleet approached, Togo attacked. The Japanese ships were far superior in speed and firepower to the outdated Russian vessels. In the course of the two-day battle, over two-thirds of the Russian fleet was sunk. Six ships were captured, four reached Vladivostok, and six fled and took refuge in neutral ports. It was an overwhelming defeat for Imperial Russia. After voyaging seven months and getting within a few hundred miles of its destination, the Baltic fleet was totally shattered, and with it, Russia's imperial dreams in the Far East. Shishima is also an often-overlooked watershed moment in 20th century military history. The battle was the only decisive engagement ever fought between modern steel battleship fleets, and the first in which radio communications played an important role, allowing for improved coordination between Japanese vessels and commanders. The battle was described by British military official Sir George Clark as, by far the greatest and most important naval event since Trafalgar. For Russia, the disastrous conflict had seriously aggravated unrest inside the country, and the surrender of Port Arthur, followed by the loss of Mukden and the devastating defeat at Shishima, made the Emperor accept an offer of mediation by the US President Theodore Roosevelt. Negotiations were held in the state of Maine from August to September. In the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan gained control of the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur. The South Manchurian Railway leading to the port, as well as half of Sakhalin Island. Russia agreed to evacuate southern Manchuria, which was restored to Chinese control, and Japan's colonial control of Korea was recognized. Roosevelt would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the conflict. The war would have far-reaching geopolitical consequences. The costly and humiliating Russian defeat left the Russian Empire demoralized, and added to Russia's growing anger at the failed policies of Tsar Nicholas II. It would help the rising popular anger that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of the government during the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the eventual establishment of the Soviet Union. The war also began to shift the global balance of power, marking the first time in modern history that an Asian nation had defeated a European Empire in combat. It was the beginning of a long period of intensified warfare involving global powers in the Pacific region. Similarly, in her book The Guns of August, American historian Barbara Tuchman argued that because Russia's loss destabilized the balance of power in Europe, it emboldened the central powers and contributed to their decision to pursue war in 1914. The outcome of the war also increased Western alarm over Japan, sparking the racist Yellow Peril myths. It also damaged the notion of white supremacy that was widespread in most Western countries. The victory also established Japan as the greatest naval power outside of Europe, which as military historian Geoffrey Reagan has argued, created a legend that was to haunt Japan's leaders for 40 years. A British admiral once said, it takes three years to build a ship, but 300 years to build a tradition. Japan thought that the victory had completed this task in a matter of a few years. It had all been too easy. Looking at Togo's victory over one of the world's greatest powers convinced some Japanese military men that with more ships, and bigger and better ones, similar victories could be won throughout the Pacific. Perhaps no power could resist the Japanese Navy, not even Britain and the United States. In fact, the future Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who would go on to plan the attack on Pearl Harbor and command the Imperial Japanese Navy during much of World War II, served as a junior officer aboard the armored cruiser Nishin during the battle, which may have given him inspiration for his own surprise attack 37 years later. In the end, the most important lessons of the Russo-Japanese War may be those not learned. Despite the carnage inflicted by modern weaponry on both sides, European powers did not change their battlefield tactics, setting the stage for the horror of both world wars. Similarly, Japan's increasing aggression after its victory showed a failure to learn from Russia's expansionist mistakes, while Russian failure was so complete that it would result in one of history's most consequential revolutions. Yet, despite its enormous importance, earning it the nickname World War Zero, the Russo-Japanese War is largely forgotten today, overshadowed by the terrible conflicts which followed it. But what do you think? Just how much did this short conflict shape our modern world? And what might things have looked like if the outcome were different? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe for more military content and analysis.