Introduction
Throughout history, Russia has fought many wars to improve its economic position and obtain new territories. One of the most serious wars was the Russo-Japanese War, which arose from Russia’s expansion into the East. Currently, Russia is conducting a war in Ukraine to capture its lands, but the plan to occupy Ukraine within three days failed. Therefore, similarly to the Russo-Japanese War, Russia is suffering significant losses that may affect its internal political and social system. Hence, it is essential to analyze the importance of the Russo-Japanese War and its influence on the revolution in Russia and compare it with the war in Ukraine.
The Russo-Japanese War
Russia’s expansion in the Middle East collided with Japan’s interests, which tried to extend its possessions to Manchuria, Korea, Mongolia, Transbaikalia, and the island of Sakhalin. In 1891, Russia built a railroad across the entire Asian space to Vladivostok, and part of the railroad passed through Chinese territory (Nish 34). Thus, Russia’s expansion into the East was the most fundamental reason for the Russo-Japanese War.
However, the root problem was the occupation of the Liaodong Peninsula, which had been seized by Japan, resulting in military regime reform and the weaponization of Japan. As a result, Japan was preparing for such a war and had the United States and the United Kingdom, which were also spreading their influence in China, and partly France behind it (Nish 41). Russia remained isolated from any allies and was not properly ready to fight in such a war.
It is crucial to emphasize that the Japanese tried to solve the problem peacefully. When their policy failed, however, on February 8, 1904, they unexpectedly attacked the Russian squadron in Port Arthur, destroyed it, and started a war that lasted until September 1905 (Nish 48). Russia did not have the necessary number of troops in the Middle East, nor did it have appropriate fortifications, nor was it organized in terms of supply, as the only railroad line through Siberia could not transport all the supplies.
It also could not deliver troops and military material by ship because the Black Sea Fleet, according to the treaty of July 1841, was not allowed to pass the Bosporus and the Dardanelles (Nish 52). Consequently, Russia experienced great material losses, completely undermining the people’s trust in the government. In contrast, with the support of other countries and organized logistics, Japanese troops achieved several victories. They captured Pyongyang and, two months later, reached the Korean-Chinese border (Nish 57). Moreover, Japanese troops began fighting on the Kwantung Peninsula and occupied the port of Dalny, which opened the possibility of an attack on Port Arthur.
Therefore, in January 1905, after a several-month siege, Port Arthur fell. In the spring, the Russians were defeated near Mukden and Shenyang in mainland Manchuria, where Field Marshal Iwao Oyama’s troops defeated them. In addition, the Russians lost near the Tsushima Islands, where in May, the Pacific Fleet under the command of Admiral Zinoviy Rozhdestvensky suffered a crushing military failure (Nish 59). These three strategic defeats of Russia effectively determined the fate of the war.
The war’s outcome was definitely in Japan’s favor, but the crisis devastated its economy. This prompted Japan to engage in peace treaties, and on August 9, the members of the Russo-Japanese War started a peace conference in Portsmouth. Even though the Russian Pacific Fleet was almost decimated during the war, the war caused more than 100,000 soldiers’ losses (Kennan 75). Japan also achieved one of its main goals: to stop Russia’s expansion to the East. The defeat demonstrated the vulnerability of imperial policy, which, to some extent, promoted the growth of revolutionary attitudes and resulted in the revolution.
The Impact of the War on the Revolution
Complicated conditions at the front significantly impacted the economic state of society in the Russian Empire. Together with the lack of political freedom, they strengthened the revolutionary movement (Kennan 100). Labor began to demand better rights for themselves to change their living conditions. Moreover, zemstvo leaders organized congresses and meetings in several Russian cities, including Ukraine, where they approved petitions asking the tsar to grant more rights to the public (Kennan 101). Meanwhile, students demanded freedom of education and internal university life, as it was in Western Europe, and, most importantly, they sought to introduce a constitutional order in Russia.
It is significant to mention that gradual changes in Russia’s leadership began to take place, caused by the defeat in the war and the people’s discontent. In 1904, the brutal Minister of the Internal Affairs of the Russian government, Vyacheslav Pleve, who had tried to maintain order in the state by repressive means, was assassinated (Kennan 103). As a result, Svyatopolk Mirsky was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, who mitigated censorship and released many zemstvo leaders from prison. To inspire confidence in his government in Ukraine, Mirsky allowed a zemstvo congress to convene in November 1904 in three provinces on the Ukrainian left bank: Chernihiv, Poltava, and Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, in January 1905, a strike took place in Saint Petersburg involving more than 100,000 workers from 382 enterprises who protested against the country’s poor social conditions (Kennan 105). Despite the demonstration’s peaceful intentions, the king interpreted it as a riot, and as it approached the Winter Palace, he ordered the demonstrators to be killed. Consequently, this resulted in a peaceful labor demonstration that entered Russian history as Bloody Sunday.
Accordingly, the violence of peaceful employees who were dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the state caused revolutionary uprisings throughout the Empire. They first resulted in a general strike of railroad and industrial workers who blamed the Moscow autocracy for economic troubles, political persecution, and inept warfare in the Middle East (Kennan 106). Under the influence of the revolutionary events, the tsar began to make minor concessions. Still, they further enraged the enslaved peoples of the Empire.
During the revolution of 1905-1907, the tsar was forced to make concessions, and the manifesto of October 17, 1905, granted the peoples of the Russian Empire political rights and freedoms (Kennan 106). Hence, the Russian Revolution resulted from the poor economic and social situation of its inhabitants and the defeat of the war with Japan.
Russo-Japanese and Russo-Ukrainian Wars
The Russo-Japanese War can be contrasted with the war waged by Russia in Ukraine. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 began like the current large-scale invasion in February (Szőke and Kusica 282). Russian newspapers and street propagandists of the time claimed that Russia would win a quick victory over Japan. Similarly, in February 2022, Russia planned to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in three days and the whole of Ukraine in a week afterward (Szőke and Kusica 280).
Moreover, the flagship of the first Pacific squadron of the Russian Navy, the battleship Petropavlovsk, was hit by a Japanese mine and sank on March 31, 1904, on the 55th day of the war. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Moscow missile cruiser, was hit by two Ukrainian R-360 Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles on April 13, 2022, on the 49th day of the war (Szőke and Kusica 284). This demonstrates that, once again, Russia is gradually suffering significant losses, as it did in the Russo-Japanese War.
During the Russo-Japanese War, eleven partial mobilizations were conducted, during which more than a million and a half people were recruited from all provinces. Now, Russia is conducting new mobilizations for the war in Ukraine, but as with Japan, human resources alone are not enough to defeat a smaller state (Szőke and Kusica 290).
It is worth noting that the Japanese Empire was assisted by the British Empire and the United States during the war. The United Kingdom and the United States are Ukraine’s key partners today. Hence, the Japanese-Russian war equals Russia’s war in Ukraine (Szőke and Kusica 291). Although the consequences of the current war have not led to a revolution in Russia and do not have such significant implications for its people, the analogy with the Japanese war suggests adverse outcomes for Russia.
Conclusion
In summary, Russia’s wars throughout its history have many common features. They demonstrate that great power does not have sufficient preparation to win quick victories. Furthermore, Russia lost a lot of human and material resources in the Japanese and Ukrainian wars. In the case of the Russo-Japanese War, this led to revolutionary sentiment in Russia. The war in Ukraine is not over yet. Still, its implications may be similar for Russia, which is why the Russo-Japanese War is significant in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Works Cited
Nish, Ian. The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5: Volume 6. Brill, 2022.
Szőke, Júlia, and Kolos Kusica. “Military Assistance to Ukraine and Its Significance in the Russo-Ukrainian War,” Social Sciences, vol. 12, no. 5, 2023, pp. 280-294. Web.
Kennan, George. Russia Leaves the War. Vol. 40. Princeton University Press, 2023.