Russo-Japanese War and Japan's Rise as a Great Power
- Date
- 1904–1905
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- East Asia (Manchuria, Korea, Sea of Japan)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.
Japan, which had industrialised rapidly following the Meiji Restoration, launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur and went on to win decisive land victories, including the massive Battle of Mukden, and a crushing naval triumph at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, where Admiral Togo Heihachiro annihilated the Russian Baltic Fleet. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and signed on 5 September 1905, by which Russia recognised Japanese dominance in Korea, ceded the southern half of Sakhalin, and surrendered its leases on Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsula. The conflict marked the first time in the modern era that an Asian power decisively defeated a European great power, transforming the global balance of power and establishing Japan as a recognised great power. The defeat also humiliated the Russian government and helped trigger the Russian Revolution of 1905, while inspiring anti-colonial and nationalist movements across Asia and the wider colonised world.
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Empires active in 1904–1905
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- German Empire1871 CE – 1918 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the outbreak of World War I28 June – 4 August 1914
- Italy Invades Ethiopia1935–1936
- Second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre7 July 1937 – 2 September 1945
- German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II1 September 1939
- The Franco-Prussian War, German unification and the Paris Commune19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871; German Empire proclaimed 18 January 1871
- Attack on Pearl Harbor7 December 1941
Further reading
The wider story
China's Last Empire: The Great Qing
Readable synthesis of the Qing (Harvard History of Imperial China).
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