Russo-Japanese War

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Russo–Japanese War
Image:RUSSOJAPANESEWARIMAGE.jpg
Date February 8, 1904 – September 5, 1905 Location Manchuria, Yellow Sea Result Japanese victory; Treaty of Portsmouth
Combatants
Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russian Empire Image:Flag of Montenegro (1941-1944).svg Principality of Montenegro [1]	Image:Flag of Japan - variant.svg Empire of Japan
Commanders
Image:Flag of Russia.svg Emperor Nicholas II Image:Flag of Russia.svg Aleksey Kuropatkin Image:Naval Ensign of Russia.svg Stepan Makarov †	Image:Flag of Japan - variant.svg Emperor Meiji Image:Flag of Japan - variant.svg Oyama Iwao Image:Naval Ensign of Japan.svg Heihachiro Togo

v • d • e Russo-Japanese War
1st Port Arthur – Chemulpo Bay – Yalu River – Nanshan – Telissu – Motien Pass – Tashihchiao – Hsimucheng – Yellow Sea – Ulsan – 2nd Port Arthur – Liaoyang – Shaho – Sandepu – Mukden – Tsushima

The Russo–Japanese War (Japanese: 日露戦争 Nichi-Ro Sensō, Russian: Русско-японская война Russko-Yaponskaya Voyna, Chinese: 日俄戰爭　Rìézhànzhēng, February 10, 1904–September 5, 1905) was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of the Russian Empire and the Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden, and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea.

The Russians were in constant pursuit of a warm water port on the Pacific Ocean, for their navy as well as for maritime trade. The recently established Pacific seaport of Vladivostok was the only active Russian port that was reasonably operational during the summer season; but Port Arthur would be operational all year. Negotiations between the Tsar's government and Japan between the end of the First Sino-Japanese War and 1903, had proved futile. The Japanese chose war to maintain exclusive dominance in Korea.

The resulting campaigns, in which the fledgling Japanese military consistently attained victory over the Russian forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. These victories, as time transpired, would dramatically transform the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a sober reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. The embarrassing string of defeats increased dissatisfaction of the Russian populace with the inefficient and corrupt Tsarist government, and was a major cause of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Contents 1 Origins of the Russo-Japanese war 1.1 Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) 1.2 Port Arthur Ceded 2 War 2.1 Campaign of 1904 2.2 Campaign of 1905 2.2.1 Harsh winter and final battles 2.2.2 Victory at Tsushima 3 Peace 3.1 Casualties 3.2 Aftermath and consequences 4 Assessment of war results 5 List of battles 6 Art and literature 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Origins of the Russo-Japanese war

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Meiji government embarked on an endeavor to assimilate Western ideas, technological advances and customs. By the late 19th century, Japan had emerged from isolation and transformed itself into a modernized industrial state in a relatively short time. The Japanese desired to be recognized as an equal with the Western powers.

Russia, a major Imperial power, had ambitions in the East. By the 1890s it had extended its realm across Central Asia to Afghanistan, absorbing local states in the process. The Russian Empire stretched from Poland in the west to the Kamchatka peninsula in the East^[2]. With its construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the port of Vladivostok, Russia hoped to further consolidate its influence and presence in the region.

[edit] Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

Japan's victory over China in the First Sino-Japanese War led to the Treaty of Shimonoseki (17 April 1895), under which China abandoned its own suzerainty over Korea and ceded Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula, which includes Lüshunkou (Port Arthur), to Japan. However, three Western powers (Russia, the German Empire and France), by the use of the Triple Intervention of 23 April 1895, applied pressure on Japan to relinquish its claim on the Liaodong Peninsula and Port Arthur.

[edit] Port Arthur Ceded

In December 1897 a Russian fleet appeared off Port Arthur. After three months a convention was agreed between China and Russia by which Russia was leased Port Arthur, Talienwan (a town which had interested Britain), and the surrounding waters. It was further agreed that the convention could be extended by mutual agreement. Russia clearly believed that would be the case for she lost no time in occupation and in fortifying Port Arthur, their sole warm-water port on the Pacific coast, and of great strategic value. A year later, in order to consolidate her position, she began a new railway from Harbin through Mukden to Port Arthur. The development of the railway was a contributory factor towards the Boxer Rebellion and the railway stations at Tiehling and Lioyang were burnt. Russia acted predictably, mobilized, and occupied Manchuria.^[3]

Meanwhile, Japanese forces were trying to take over Korea, which had a protection pact with Russia and China.

Ito Hirobumi started to negotiate with Russia. He believed that Japan was too weak to evict Russia militarily, so he proposed giving Russia control over Manchuria in exchange for Japanese control of northern Korea. Meanwhile, Japan and the British Empire made the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, the British seeking to restrict naval competition by keeping the Russian Pacific seaports of Vladivostok and Port Arthur from their full use. The alliance with the British meant, in part, that if any nation allied itself with Russia during any war with Japan, then Britain might or would enter the war on Japan's side. Russia could not now receive help from Germany or France without there being a danger of the British Empire's involvement with the war. With such an alliance, Japan felt free to commence hostilities, if necessary.

On July 28, 1903, the Japanese Ambassador at St. Petersburg was instructed to represent his country's view opposing Russia's consolidation plans over Manchuria. Trade-offs followed and the situation was reached on January 13, 1904 whereby Japan proposed a formula of Manchuria being outside her sphere of influence and sought in return a similar statement relating to Russia's discontinuing interest in Korea. By February 4, 1904 no formal reply had been forthcoming and on the 6th February Mr. Kurino, the Japanese Ambassador, called on the shocked Russian Foreign Minister, Count Lamsdorf, to take his leave.^[4] Japan severed diplomatic relations on February 6, 1904.

[edit] War

Japan issued a declaration of war on February 8, 1904. However, three hours before Japan's declaration of war was received by the Russian Government, Japan attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur. Tsar Nicholas II was stunned by news of the attack. He could not believe that Japan could initiate a warlike act without a formal declaration of war, and had been assured by his ministers that the Japanese would not fight. Russia declared war on Japan eight days later.^[5]

[edit] Campaign of 1904

Port Arthur, on the Liaodong Peninsula in the south of Manchuria, had been fortified into a major naval base by the Russians. Since it needed to control the sea in order to fight a war on the Asian mainland, Japan's first military objective was to neutralize the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. On the night of February 8, 1904, the Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo opened the war with a surprise torpedo boat attack on the Russian ships at Port Arthur. The attack badly damaged two battleships. These attacks developed into the Battle of Port Arthur the next morning. A series of indecisive naval engagements followed, in which Admiral Togo was unable to attack the Russian fleet successfully as it was protected by the shore batteries of the harbor, and the Russians were reluctant to leave the harbor for the open seas, especially after the death of Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov on April 13, 1904.

However, these engagements provided cover for a Japanese landing near Incheon in Korea. From Incheon the Japanese occupied Seoul and then the rest of Korea. By the end of April, the Japanese army under Kuroki Itei was ready to cross the Yalu river into Russian-occupied Manchuria.

In contrast to the Japanese strategy of rapidly gaining ground to control Manchuria, Russian strategy focused on fighting delaying actions to gain time for reinforcements to arrive via the long Trans-Siberian railway which was at the time incomplete near Irkutsk. On May 1, 1904, the Battle of the Yalu River became the first major land battle of the war, when Japanese troops stormed a Russian position after an unopposed crossing of the river. Japanese troops proceeded to land at several points on the Manchurian coast, and, in a series of engagements, drove the Russians back towards Port Arthur. These battles, including the Battle of Nanshan on May 25, 1904, were marked by heavy Japanese losses from attacking entrenched Russian positions, but the Russians maintained their focus on defending, and did not counterattack.

The Japanese next attempted to deny the Russians use of Port Arthur. During the night of February 13-14, the Japanese attempted to block the entrance to Port Arthur by sinking several cement-filled steamers in the deep water channel to the port, but they sank too deep to be effective. Another similar attempt to block the harbor entrance during the night of 3-4 May also failed. In March, the charismatic Vice Admiral Makarov had taken command of the First Russian Pacific Squadron with the intention of breaking out of the Port Arthur blockade.

On April 12, 1904 two Russian pre-dreadnought battleships, the flagship Petropavlovsk and the Pobeda slipped out of port but struck Japanese mines off Port Arthur. The Petropavlovsk sank almost immediately, while the Pobeda had to be towed back to port for extensive repairs. Admiral Makarov, the single most effective Russian naval strategist of the war, had perished on the battleship Petropavlovsk.

On April 15, 1904 the Russian government made overtures threatening to seize the British war correspondents who were taking the ship Haimun into warzones to report for the London-based The Times newspaper, citing concerns about the possibility of the British giving away Russian positions to the Japanese fleet.

The Russians learned quickly, and soon employed the Japanese tactic of offensive minelaying. On 14 May 1904, two Japanese battleships, the Yashima and the Hatsuse, were lured into a recently laid Russian minefield off Port Arthur, each striking at least two mines. The Yashima sank within minutes, taking 450 sailors with her, while the Hatsuse sank under tow a few hours later. On June 23, 1904, a breakout attempt by the Russian squadron, now under the command of Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft failed. By the end of the month, Japanese artillery were firing shells into the harbor.

Japan began a long siege of Port Arthur. On August 10, 1904, the Russian fleet again attempted to break out and proceed to Vladivostok, but upon reaching the open sea were confronted by Admiral Togo's battleship squadron. Known to the Russians as the Battle of August 10, but more commonly referred to as the Battle of the Yellow Sea, battleships from both sides exchanged gunfire. The battle had the elements of a decisive battle, though Admiral Togo knew that another Russian battleship fleet would soon be sent to the Pacific. The Japanese had only one battleship fleet, and Togo had already lost two battleships to Russian mines. The Russian and Japanese battleships continued to exchange gunfire, until the Russian flagship, the battleship Tsesarevich, received a direct hit on the bridge, killing the fleet commander, Admiral Vitgeft. At this, the Russian fleet turned around and headed back into Port Arthur. Though no warships were sunk by either side in the battle, the Russians were now back in port and the Japanese navy still had battleships to meet the new Russian fleet when it arrived. Eventually, the Russian warships at Port Arthur were sunk by the artillery of the besieging army. Attempts to relieve the besieged city by land also failed, and, after the Battle of Liaoyang in late August, the Russians retreated to Mukden (Shenyang). Port Arthur finally fell on 2 January 1905 when the garrison's commanding officer ceded the port to the Japanese without consulting his high command.

Meanwhile, at sea, the Russians were preparing to reinforce their fleet by sending the Baltic Sea fleet, under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, around the world via the Cape of Good Hope to Asia. On October 21, 1904, while passing by the United Kingdom (an ally of Japan but neutral in this war), they nearly provoked a war in the Dogger Bank incident by firing on British fishing boats that they mistook for enemy torpedo boats.

[edit] Campaign of 1905

[edit] Harsh winter and final battles

Main articles: Battle of Sandepu and Battle of Mukden

With the fall of Port Arthur, the Japanese 3rd army was now able to continue northward and reinforce positions south of Russian-held Mukden. With the onset of the severe Manchurian winter, there had been no major land engagements since the Battle of Shaho the previous year. Both sides camped opposite each other along 60 to 70 miles (110 km) of front lines, south of Mukden.

The Russian Second Army under General Oskar Grippenberg, between January 25–29, attacked the Japanese left flank near the town of Sandepu, almost breaking through. This caught the Japanese by surprise. However, without support from other Russian units the attack was stalled, Grippenberg was ordered to halt by Kuropatkin and the battle was inconclusive. The Japanese knew that they needed to destroy the Russian army in Manchuria before Russian reinforcements arrived via the Trans-Siberian railroad.

The Battle of Mukden commenced on February 20, 1905. In the following days Japanese forces proceeded to assault the right and left flanks of Russian forces surrounding Mukden, along a 50-mile (80 km) front. Both sides were well entrenched and were backed with hundreds of artillery pieces. After days of harsh fighting, added pressure from both flanks forced both ends of the Russian defensive line to curve backwards. Seeing they were about to be encircled, the Russians began a general retreat, fighting a series of fierce rearguard actions, which soon deteriorated in the confusion and collapse of Russian forces. On March 10, 1905 after three weeks of fighting, General Kuropatkin decided to withdraw to the north of Mukden.

The retreating Russian Manchurian Army formations disintegrated as fighting units, but the Japanese failed to destroy them completely. The Japanese themselves had suffered large casualties and were in no condition to pursue. Although the battle of Mukden was a major defeat for the Russians it had not been decisive, and the final victory would depend on the navy.

[edit] Victory at Tsushima

Main article: Battle of Tsushima

The Russian Second Pacific Squadron (the renamed Baltic Fleet) had journeyed 18,000 miles (29,000 km) to relieve Port Arthur. However, Port Arthur had fallen and the demoralizing news reached the fleet while at Madagascar. Admiral Rozhestvensky's only hope now was to reach the port of Vladivostok. There were three routes that existed to Vladivostok, but the Tsushima Straits between Korea and Japan was the shortest and most direct route, however, it was also the most dangerous as it was very close to the Japanese home islands.

Admiral Togo was aware of the Russian progress and understood that with the fall of Port Arthur, the Second and Third Pacific Squadrons would try to reach the only other Russian port in the Far East, Vladivostok. Battle plans were laid down and ships were repaired and refitted to intercept the Russian fleet.

The Japanese Combined Fleet, which had originally consisted of six battleships, was now down to four (two had been lost to mines), but still retained its cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats. The Second Pacific Squadron contained eight battleships, including four new battleships of the Borodino class, as well as cruisers, destroyers and other auxiliaries for a total of 38 ships.

By the end of May the Second Pacific Squadron was on the last leg of its journey to Vladivostok. Unfortunately for the Russians, one of their hospital ships exposed a light, which was sighted by the Japanese armed merchant cruiser Shinano Maru. Wireless communication was used to inform Togo's headquarters, where the Combined Fleet was immediately ordered to sortie. Still receiving naval intelligence from scouting forces, the Japanese were able to position their fleet so that they would "cross the T" of the Russian fleet. The Japanese engaged the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Straits on 27 May–28 May, 1905. The Russian fleet was virtually annihilated, losing eight battleships, numerous smaller vessels, and more than 5,000 men, while the Japanese lost three torpedo boats and 116 men. Only three Russian vessels escaped to Vladivostok. After the Battle of Tsushima, the Japanese army occupied the entire Sakhalin Islands chain to force the Russians to sue for peace.

[edit] Peace

The defeat of the Russian Army and Navy shook Russian confidence. Throughout 1905, the Imperial Russian government was rocked by revolution. Tsar Nicholas II elected to negotiate peace so he could concentrate on internal matters.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt offered to mediate, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his effort. Sergius Witte led the Russian delegation and Baron Komura, a graduate of Harvard, led the Japanese Delegation. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on 5 September 1905^[6] in the U.S. naval facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Witte became Russian Prime Minister the same year.

Russia recognized Korea as part of the Japanese sphere of influence and agreed to evacuate Manchuria. Japan would annex Korea in 1910, with scant protest from other powers.

Russia also signed over its 25-year leasehold rights to Port Arthur, including the naval base and the peninsula around it. Russia also ceded the southern half of Sakhalin Island to Japan. It was regained by the USSR in 1952 under the Treaty of San Francisco following the Second World War. However, the cession of Southern Sakhalin to the USSR was not supported by the majority of Japanese politicians.

[edit] Casualties

Sources do not agree on a precise number of deaths from the war. The number of Japanese dead in combat is put at around 47,000 with around 80,000 if disease is included. Estimates of Russian dead range from around 40,000 to around 70,000. The total number of dead is generally stated at around 130,000.^[7]

[edit] Aftermath and consequences

This was the first major victory of an Asian power over a European one in the modern era. Japan's prestige rose greatly as it began to be considered a modern Great Power. Concurrently, Russia lost virtually its entire Eastern and Baltic fleets, and also lost international esteem. This was particularly true in the eyes of Germany; Russia was France's ally, and that loss of prestige would have a significant effect on Germany's future when planning for war with France.

In the absence of Russian competition and with the distraction of European nations during World War I, combined with the Great Depression which followed, the Japanese military began its efforts to dominate China, which eventually led to the Pacific War of World War II.

In Russia, the defeat of 1905 led in the short term to a reform of the Russian military that allowed it to face Germany in World War I. However, the revolts at home following the war planted the seeds that presaged the Russian Revolution of 1917.

All above dates are believed to be New-Style (Gregorian, not the Julian used in Tsarist Russia: for conformity, where there are two, use the one that reads 13 days "later" than the other).

A lock of Admiral Nelson's hair was given to the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Royal Navy after the war to commemorate the victory of the 1905 Battle of Tsushima; which was in tune with Britain's victory at Trafalgar in 1805. It is still on display at Kyouiku Sankoukan, a public museum maintained by the Japan Self-Defense Force.

[edit] Assessment of war results

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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007)

Russia had lost two of its three fleets. Only its Black Sea Fleet remained, and that had been due to an earlier treaty that had prevented the fleet from leaving the Black Sea. Jakob Meckel, a German military advisor sent to Japan, had a tremendous impact on the development of the Japanese military training, tactics, strategy and organization. His reforms were credited with Japan's overwhelming victory over China in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. However, his over-reliance on the use of infantry in offensive campaigns also led to the large number of Japanese casualties in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese were on the offensive for most of the war, and used massed infantry (human wave) tactics against defensive positions, which would be the standard by all European armies during World War I. Battles during the Russo-Japanese War were a precursor to trench warfare of World War I, in which machine guns and artillery had taken their toll on Japanese troops.

Military and economic exhaustion affected both countries.^{[citation needed]}

Popular discontent in Russia after the war added more fuel to the already simmering Russian Revolution of 1905, an event Nicholas II of Russia had hoped to avoid entirely by taking intransigent negotiating stances prior to coming to the table at all. In ten more years, that discontent would boil over into the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Although the war had ended in a victory for Japan, widespread discontent had spread through the populace upon the announcement of the treaty terms. Riots erupted in major cities in Japan. Two specific demands, expected from such a costly victory, were especially lacking: territorial gains and monetary reparations to Japan. The peace accord led to feelings of distrust, as the Japanese had intended to retain all of Sakhalin Island, but they were forced to settle for half of it after being pressured by the U.S.^{[citation needed]}

Russia's defeat had been met with shock both in the West and across the Far East, that an Asian country could defeat an established European power in a large military conflict.

Japanese historians consider this war to be a turning point for Japan, and a key to understanding the reasons why Japan may have failed militarily and politically later on. The acrimony was felt at every stratum of Japanese society and it became the consensus within Japan that their nation had been treated as the defeated power during the peace conference. As time went on, this feeling grew and added to their growing distrust towards the West, which would lead to Japan's involvement in World War II.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] List of battles

• 1904 Battle of Port Arthur, February 8: naval battle Inconclusive
• 1904 Battle of Chemulpo Bay, February 9: naval battle Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Yalu River, April 30 to May 1: Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Nanshan, May 25 – May 26, Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Telissu, June 14 – June 15 , Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Motien Pass, July 17, Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Ta-shih-chiao, July 24, Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Hsimucheng, July 31, Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of the Yellow Sea, August 10: naval battle Japanese victory strategically/tactically inconclusive
• 1904 Battle off Ulsan, August 14: naval battle Japanese victory
• 1904–1905 Siege of Port Arthur, August 19 to January 2: Japanese victory
• 1904 Battle of Liaoyang, August 25 to September 3: Inconclusive
• 1904 Battle of Shaho, October 5 to October 17: Inconclusive
• 1905 Battle of Sandepu, January 26 to January 27: Inconclusive
• 1905 Battle of Mukden, February 21 to March 10: Japanese victory
• 1905 Battle of Tsushima, May 27 to 28 May naval battle: Japanese victory

[edit] Art and literature

• The Russo-Japanese War was covered by dozens of foreign journalists who sent back sketches that were turned into lithographs and other reproducible forms. Propaganda images were circulated by both sides and quite a few photographs have been preserved.
  • The Russo-Japanese War is the setting for the first part of the novel The Diamond Vehicle, in the Erast Fandorin detective series by Boris Akunin.
• The Domination series by S.M. Stirling has an alternate Battle of Tsushima where the Japanese use airships to attack the Russian Fleet. This is detailed in the short story "Written by the Wind" by Roland J. Green in the Drakas! anthology.

[edit] See also

• Russian Imperialism in Asia and the Russo-Japanese War
• Imperialism in Asia
• List of wars
• Baron Rosen
• Sergius Witte

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Connaughton, R.M., The War of the Rising Sun and the Tumbling Bear—A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904-5, London, 1988, ISBN 0-415-00906-5.
• Corbett, Sir Julian. Maritime Operations In The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. (1994) Originally classified, and in two volumnes, ISBN 155-7501-297.
• Grant, R., Captain, D.S.O. Before Port Arthur In A Destroyer. (The Personal Diary Of A Japanese Naval Officer-Translated from the Spanish Edition by Captain R. Grant, D.S.O. Rifle Brigade). John Murray, Albemarle St. W. (1907).
• Hough, Richard A. The Fleet That Had To Die. Ballantine Books. (1960).
• Jukes, Geoffry. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). ISBN 9-78184-17644-67.
• Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-4927-5.
• Morris, Edmund (2002). Theodore Rex. The Modern Library. ISBN 0-8129-6600-7.
• Aleksei Novikov-Priboy|Novikov-Priboy, Aleksei. Tsushima. (An account from a seaman aboard the Battleship Orel (which was captured at Tsushima). London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (1936).
• Nish, Ian (1985). The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War. Longman. ISBN 0-582-49114-2.
• Okamoto, Shumpei (1970). The Japanese Oligarchy and the Russo-Japanese War. Columbia University Press.
• Pleshakov, Constantine. The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima. ISBN 0-46505-792-6. (2002).
• Saaler, Sven und Inaba Chiharu (Hg.). Der Russisch-Japanische Krieg 1904/05 im Spiegel deutscher Bilderbogen, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien Tokyo, (2005).
• Seager, Robert. Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man And His Letters. (1977) ISBN 0870-21359-8.
• Semenov, Vladimir, Capt. The Battle of Tsushima. E.P. Dutton & Co. (1912).
• Semenov, Vladimir, Capt. Rasplata (The Reckoning). John Murray, (1910).
• Tomitch, V. M. Warships of the Imperial Russian Navy. Volume 1, Battleships. (1968).
• Warner, Denis & Peggy. The Tide at Sunrise, A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. (1975). ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.

[edit] External links

• Russo-Japanese War research society
• Database of Russian Army Jewish soldiers injured, killed, or missing in action from the war: http://www.bfcollection.net/fast/rjmain.html
• Text of the Treaty of Portsmouth: http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914m/portsmouth.html
• Russian Navy history of war: http://www.navy.ru/history/hrn10-e.htm
• Meeting of Frontiers (Library of Congress): Russo-Japanese Relations in the Far East
• Treaty of Portsmouth now seen as global turning point from the Christian Science Monitor, by Robert Marquand, December 30, 2005
• The New Student's Reference Work/Russo-Japanese War
• Japan and Montenegro declare peace (United Press International)
• Montenegrins in the Russo-Japanese War (Montenegrin)ar:الحرب الروسية-اليابانية

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