The Russo-Japanese War
The war arose from competing Russian and Japanese imperialism in Manchuria and Korea. Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur on 8–9 February 1904 without a formal declaration of war. The decisive blow came at sea: Russia's Baltic Fleet, which had sailed 18,000 miles around the world, was annihilated in the Tsushima Strait in May 1905 in less than two days. Admiral Tōgō's tactical crossing of the Russian 'T' sank or captured virtually the entire fleet. The Treaty of Portsmouth (brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for the effort) gave Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and recognition of dominance over Korea. The political reverberations were global: the myth of European racial and military supremacy was shattered. Nationalists from India to Egypt cited Japan as proof that Asian nations could master Western modernity and prevail.
- Year: 1904 CE
- Category: Military
