Russian- Japanese war showed the failure of Russia not only in foreign policy, but also in the military sphere. A series of defeats caused irreparable damage to the authority's authority. Japan did not achieve complete victory, having exhausted its resources, was content with small concessions.

Epigraph: Russian soldiers showed heroism both on land and at sea, but their commanders were unable to lead them to victory over Japan.

In previous articles “Causes of the Russo-Japanese War 1904 - 1905”, “The feat of the “Varyag” and the “Korean” in 1904”, “The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War” We touched on some issues. In this article we will consider the general course and results of the war.

Causes of the war

Russia’s desire to gain a foothold on the “non-freezing seas” of China and Korea.

The desire of the leading powers to prevent Russia from strengthening Far East. Support for Japan from the USA and Great Britain.

Japan's desire to oust the Russian army from China and seize Korea.

Arms race in Japan. Raising taxes for the sake of military production.

Japan's plans were to seize Russian territory from the Primorsky Territory to the Urals.

Progress of the war

January 27, 1904- near Port Arthur 3 Russian ships were hit by Japanese torpedoes, which did not sink thanks to the heroism of the crews. The feat of Russian ships " Varangian" And " Korean» near the port of Chemulpo (Incheon).

March 31, 1904- death of the battleship " Petropavlovsk"with the headquarters of Admiral Makarov and a crew of more than 630 people. The Pacific Fleet was decapitated.

May–December 1904– heroic defense of the Port Arthur fortress. The 50,000-strong Russian garrison, with 646 guns and 62 machine guns, repelled the attacks of the 200,000-strong enemy army. After the surrender of the fortress, about 32 thousand Russian soldiers were captured by the Japanese. The Japanese lost more than 110 thousand (according to other sources 91 thousand) soldiers and officers, 15 warships sank and 16 were destroyed.

August 1904- battle under Liaoyang. The Japanese lost more than 23 thousand soldiers, the Russians - more than 16 thousand. Uncertain outcome of the battle. General Kuropatkin gave the order to retreat, fearing encirclement.

September 1904- battle at Shahe River. The Japanese lost more than 30 thousand soldiers, the Russians - more than 40 thousand. Uncertain outcome of the battle. After this, a positional war was fought in Manchuria. In January 1905, revolution raged in Russia, making it difficult to wage the war to victory.

February 1905 – Battle of Mukden stretched over 100 km along the front and lasted 3 weeks. The Japanese launched their offensive earlier and confused the plans of the Russian command. Russian troops retreated, avoiding encirclement and losing more than 90 thousand. The Japanese lost more than 72 thousand.

The Japanese command admitted underestimating the enemy's strength. Soldiers with weapons and provisions continued to arrive from Russia by rail. The war again took on a positional character.

May 1905- tragedy of the Russian fleet off the Tsushima Islands. Admiral's ships Rozhestvensky (30 combat, 6 transport and 2 hospital) They covered about 33 thousand km and immediately entered into battle. No one in the world I couldn’t defeat 121 enemy ships with 38 ships! Only the cruiser Almaz and the destroyers Bravy and Grozny broke through to Vladivostok (according to other sources, 4 ships were saved), the crews of the rest died heroes or were captured. The Japanese suffered 10 severe damage and 3 sank.

Until now, Russians, passing by the Tsushima Islands, lay wreaths on the water in memory of the 5 thousand dead Russian sailors.

The war was ending. The Russian army in Manchuria was growing and could continue the war for a long time. Human and financial resources Japan were exhausted (elderly people and children have already been drafted into the army). Russia signed from a position of strength Treaty of Portsmouth in August 1905.

Results of the war

Russia withdrew troops from Manchuria, transferred to Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, the southern part of Sakhalin Island and money for the maintenance of prisoners. This failure of Japanese diplomacy caused widespread unrest in Tokyo.

After the war external state debt In Japan it grew 4 times, in Russia by 1/3.

Japan lost more than 85 thousand killed, Russia more than 50 thousand.

More than 38 thousand soldiers died from wounds in Japan, and more than 17 thousand in Russia.

Still, Russia lost this war. The reasons were economic and military backwardness, weakness of intelligence and command, the great remoteness and extension of the theater of military operations, poor supplies, and weak interaction between the army and navy. In addition, the Russian people did not understand why they needed to fight in distant Manchuria. The revolution of 1905–1907 further weakened Russia.

Will the right conclusions be drawn? To be continued.

| Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was fought for control of Manchuria, Korea and the ports of Port Arthur and Dalny. On the night of February 9, the Japanese fleet, without declaring war, attacked the Russian squadron on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur, a naval base leased by Russia from China. The battleships Retvizan and Tsesarevich and the cruiser Pallada were seriously damaged.

Military operations began, marking the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. At the beginning of March, the Russian squadron in Port Arthur was led by an experienced naval commander, Vice Admiral Makarov, but on April 13 he died when the flagship battleship Petropavlovsk hit a mine and sank. Command of the squadron passed to Rear Admiral V.K. Vitgeft.

In March 1904, the Japanese army landed in Korea, and in April - in southern Manchuria. Russian troops under the command of General M.I. Zasulich could not withstand the onslaught of superior enemy forces and were forced to abandon the Jinzhou position in May. Port Arthur was thus cut off from the Russian Manchurian army. The 3rd Japanese Army of General M. Nogi was assigned to besiege the city. The 1st and 2nd Japanese armies began to quickly move north and in the Battle of Wafangou on June 14-15 forced the Russian army, commanded by the Minister of War, General A.N. Kuropatkin, to retreat.

In early August, the Japanese landed on the Liaodong Peninsula and approached the outer defensive perimeter of the fortress. The garrison of Port Arthur numbered 50.5 thousand soldiers and officers with 646 guns and 62 machine guns. Subsequently, due to the use of naval artillery on land, the number of guns increased to 652. The Russian fleet in Port Arthur Bay consisted of 6 battleships, 6 cruisers, 2 mine cruisers, 4 gunboats, 19 destroyers and 2 mine transports. The number of crews of ships and coastal services of the fleet was 8 thousand people, who later, after the death of the fleet, were sent to strengthen the ground units. Volunteer squads with a total number of 1.5 thousand people were formed from the local population. The vigilantes delivered ammunition and food to the positions, evacuated the wounded and maintained communication between the headquarters and various defense sectors.

On August 10, 1904, the Russian squadron tried to escape from Port Arthur. The attempt was almost a success, and the Japanese fleet was about to retreat when a high-explosive shell exploded on the captain's bridge of the flagship battleship Tsesarevich. As a result, the squadron commander, Admiral Vitgeft, and his entire staff died. Control of the Russian ships was disrupted; they tried to break through to Vladivostok one by one, but everyone who managed to escape from Port Arthur harbor was interned in neutral ports. Only the cruiser Novik managed to reach the Korsakov post in Kamchatka, where it died in an unequal battle with Japanese cruisers.

The defense of Port Arthur was led by the commandant of the fortress, General A.M. Stessel, but the squadron was not subordinate to him, being under the authority of the fleet commander, and he could not influence the actions of the ships locked in Port Arthur.

The Japanese 3rd Army besieging the city numbered more than 50 thousand people and over 400 guns. On August 19, she tried to take Port Arthur by storm, but five days later she was thrown back to her original positions with heavy losses. The Japanese began to build lines of trenches and field fortifications around the fortress. At the beginning of September they were able to capture the strategically important height of Long. The defenders of the cities managed to defend another height - High. In mid-October, food shortages began to become acute in Port Arthur. This, as well as the onset of cold weather, caused the spread of disease among the besieged. In mid-November, there were more than 7 thousand wounded and sick with scurvy, typhus and dysentery in Port Arthur hospitals. The Chinese population of the city, numbering 15 thousand people during the siege, was in an even more difficult situation and was truly starving.

On October 30, after three days of artillery preparation, the Japanese launched a third assault on Port Arthur, which lasted three days and ended in vain. On November 26, the fourth assault began. On December 5, Japanese troops captured Vysokaya Hill and were able to install 11-inch howitzers to bombard the harbor. This immediately increased the accuracy of artillery fire. On the same day, Japanese batteries sank the battleship Poltava, on December 6 - the battleship Retvizan, on December 7 - the battleships Peresvet and Pobeda, as well as the cruiser Pallada. The cruiser "Bayan" was seriously damaged.

On December 15, the commander of the ground defense of the fortress, General R.I. Kondratenko, was killed. The defenders of Port Arthur had run out of food, although they still had a supply of shells. On January 2, 1905, Commandant Stoessel, believing that there was no chance of rescue from the Manchurian Army in the foreseeable future, capitulated. He was subsequently convicted by a military court for cowardice, but was pardoned by the Tsar. From today's point of view, Stoessel's decision does not deserve condemnation. Under conditions of complete blockade, when all Russian positions were under targeted artillery fire, and the garrison had no food supplies, Port Arthur would not have lasted more than two or three weeks, which could not in any way affect the course of military operations.

In Port Arthur, 26 thousand people surrendered. Russian losses in killed and wounded during the siege amounted to 31 thousand people. The Japanese lost 59 thousand people killed and wounded and 34 thousand sick.

With the fall of Port Arthur, which represented the main point of the Russo-Japanese War, the main Japanese goal was achieved. The battles in Manchuria, despite the fact that many times more ground forces took part there on both sides, were of an auxiliary nature. The Japanese did not have the forces and means to occupy Northern Manchuria, not to mention the Russian Far East. Kuropatkin adhered to the strategy of attrition, hoping that a protracted war would exhaust human and material resources Japan and force it to end the war and clear the occupied territories. However, in practice it turned out that prolonging the war was disastrous for Russia, since a revolution began there already in January 1905. The overall numerical superiority of the Russian army was largely compensated by the fact that with the Far East European part The empire was connected by only one Trans-Siberian railway.

IN Peaceful time the Russian army numbered 1.1 million people, and after the outbreak of war another 3.5 million reservists could be added to it. However, by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, there were only 100 thousand soldiers and 192 guns in Manchuria. The peacetime Japanese army numbered 150 thousand people. An additional 1.5 million were drafted during the war, with more than half of all Japanese forces operating in Manchuria. By the end of the war, the Russian army in the Far East had a one and a half times numerical superiority over the enemy, but could not use it.

First major battle ground forces of Russia and Japan occurred near Liaoyang in the period from August 24 to September 3, 1904. The 125,000-strong Japanese army of Marshal Oyama was opposed by the 158,000-strong Russian army of General Kuropatkin. Japanese troops launched two concentric strikes in an attempt to encircle the enemy, but their attacks on advanced Russian positions on the heights of Liaoyang were repulsed. Then the Russian troops retreated in an organized manner to main position, which consisted of three lines of forts, redoubts and trenches and for 15 km skirted Liaoyang from the west and south, abutting the Taizihe River. On August 31, three brigades of the Japanese 1st Army crossed Taizihe and captured the bridgehead. After it was not possible to eliminate this bridgehead, Kuropatkin, despite the fact that Japanese attacks in the center and on the right western flank were repulsed, fearing a flanking bypass, ordered a retreat. The Japanese lost 23 thousand killed and wounded, and the Russians - 19 thousand.

After the Battle of Liaoyang, Russian troops retreated to Mukden and took up positions on the Hunhe River. The Japanese remained north of Taizihe. On October 5-17, a counter battle took place on the Shahe River. At the beginning of the battle, the Russians managed to knock the enemy from their forward positions, but on October 10, the Japanese launched a counteroffensive and on October 14 broke through the front of the 10th Army Corps. At the end of the battle, both sides switched to positional defense along a 60-kilometer front. The Russian army in this battle numbered 200 thousand people with 758 guns and 32 machine guns and lost 40 thousand people killed and wounded. The losses of the Japanese, who had 170 thousand soldiers, 648 guns and 18 machine guns, were half as much - 20 thousand.

The parties remained in positions within rifle fire until January 1905. During this period, telephone communications were significantly improved in both armies. The devices appeared not only at army headquarters, but also at the headquarters of corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and even at artillery batteries. On January 24, 1905, the Russian army tried to advance in the Sandepu area, but by January 28, the enemy pushed them back to their original positions. Kuropatkin at that moment had 300 thousand soldiers and 1080 guns, Oyama had 220 thousand people and 666 guns. The Russians lost 12 thousand people, and the Japanese - 9 thousand.

From February 19 to March 10, 1905, the largest battle of the Russian-Japanese War took place - Mukden. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army numbered 330 thousand people with 1,475 guns and 56 machine guns. The Japanese, taking into account the 3rd Nogi Army that had arrived from Port Arthur and the new 5th Army that had arrived from Japan, had 270 thousand people, 1062 guns and 200 machine guns. Kuropatkin was preparing to go on the offensive against the enemy’s left flank on February 25, but Oyama, who was trying to cover the Russian army from both flanks, forestalled him. The Russian 2nd Army was surrounded from the west by the Japanese 3rd Army and attacked from the front by the 2nd Army. The Japanese 1st Army under General Kuroki broke through the positions of the Russian 1st Army and threatened to cut the Mandarin Road in the rear of the main Russian forces. Fearing encirclement and already being virtually in the bag, Kuropatkin was able, however, to withdraw the army in order to Telin, and then to the Sypingai positions 175 km north of Mukden.

After Mukden, Kuropatkin was replaced as commander-in-chief by General Nikolai Linevich, who had previously commanded the 3rd Army. It was in the Sypingai positions that the opposing armies met the end of the war, without undertaking any active military operations in Manchuria after the Battle of Mukden.

In the Battle of Mukden, for the first time, there were cases when soldiers shot officers who were trying to stop fleeing people with revolver fire. Almost four decades later, during the Great Patriotic War, soviet soldiers They were no longer so conscious and resignedly allowed the officers to shoot them. At Mukden, the Russians lost 59 thousand killed and wounded and 31 thousand prisoners. Japanese losses reached 70 thousand killed and wounded.

After the death of the Russian squadron in Port Arthur in the battle on August 10, 1904, together with its commander Admiral Vitgeft, the 2nd Pacific Squadron was formed from the Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral Z.P. Rozhestvensky, Chief of the Main Naval Staff. She made a six-month journey to the Far East, where she died in the battle in the Tsushima Strait on May 27, 1905. Rozhdestvensky's squadron consisted of 8 squadron battleships, 3 coastal defense battleships, one armored cruiser, 8 cruisers, 5 auxiliary cruisers and 9 destroyers. The Japanese fleet, under the command of Admiral Togo, had 4 squadron battleships, 6 coastal defense battleships, 8 armored cruisers, 16 cruisers, 24 auxiliary cruisers and 63 destroyers. The Japanese had a qualitative superiority in artillery. Japanese guns had almost three times the rate of fire, and in terms of power, Japanese shells were more powerful than Russian shells of the same caliber.

By the time Rozhdestvensky’s squadron arrived in the Far East, Japanese armored ships were concentrated in the Korean port of Mozampo, and cruisers and destroyers were concentrated near the island of Tsushima. South of Mozampo, between the islands of Goto and Quelpart, a patrol of cruisers was deployed, which was supposed to detect the approach of Russian forces. The Japanese commander was confident that the enemy would try to break into Vladivostok the shortest route- through the Korean Strait, and I was not mistaken.

On the night of May 27, Rozhestvensky's squadron approached the Korean Strait in marching order. Two light cruisers moved ahead, followed by battleships in two wake columns, and behind them the rest of the ships. Rozhdestvensky did not carry out long-range reconnaissance and did not carry out blackout on all of his ships. At 2:28 a.m., the Japanese auxiliary cruiser Shinano-Maru discovered the enemy and reported to the commander. Togo led the fleet out of Mozampo.

On the morning of May 27, Rozhdestvensky rebuilt all the ships of the squadron into two wake columns, leaving behind the transport ships guarded by cruisers. Having been drawn into the Korean Strait, at half past two in the afternoon the Russian ships discovered the main forces of the Japanese fleet, which were advancing on the right bow to intercept Rozhdestvensky’s squadron. Rozhdestvensky, believing that the Japanese intended to attack the left column of his squadron, which was dominated by obsolete ships, rebuilt the squadron into one column. Meanwhile, two detachments of armored ships of the Japanese fleet, having gone out to the left side, began to make a turn of 16 points, being only 38 cables away from the lead ship of the Russian squadron. This risky turn lasted a quarter of an hour, but

Rozhestvensky did not take advantage of the favorable moment to fire at the enemy fleet. However, taking into account the actual firing accuracy of the then naval artillery at this distance and the level of training of the Russian gunners, it is unlikely that in a quarter of an hour Rozhdestvensky’s squadron would have managed to sink at least one large enemy ship.

The Russian ships opened fire only at 13:49, when Togo had already completed the turn of the ships. The Russian artillerymen were very poorly prepared to fire at long distances and were unable to inflict any significant damage on the Japanese. In addition, the quality of Russian ammunition turned out to be low. Many of them did not explode. Due to poor fire control, Russian ships were unable to concentrate fire on individual enemy ships. The Japanese concentrated the artillery fire of their battleships on the Russian flagships Suvorov and Oslyabya.

At 14:23, the battleship Oslyabya, having received heavy damage, left the battle and soon sank. Seven minutes later, the Suvorov was disabled. This battleship stayed afloat until seven o'clock in the evening, when she was sunk by Japanese destroyers.

After the failure of the flagships, the battle formation of the Russian squadron was disrupted, and it lost its unified command. The first was the battleship "Alexander III", and after its failure, the column was led by the battleship "Borodino". At 15:05, fog thickened over the Tsushima Strait, and the opponents lost sight of each other. But 35 minutes later, the Japanese again discovered Rozhdestvensky’s squadron and forced it to change course from north-east to south. Then Togo again lost contact with the enemy and was forced to throw his main forces in search of the Russians. Only at about 6 o'clock in the evening did the Japanese battleships overtake the Russian squadron, which at that moment was exchanging fire with the Japanese cruisers.

Now the battle of the main forces was conducted on parallel courses. At 19:12 it became dark, and Togo stopped the battle. By that time, the Japanese had managed to sink " Alexandra III" and "Borodino". After the end of the battle, the main forces of the Japanese fleet retreated to the island of Ollyndo (Dazhelet). The destroyers were supposed to finish off the Russian squadron through torpedo attacks.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, 60 Japanese destroyers began to cover the main forces of the Russian squadron. At 8.45 pm the Japanese fired their first torpedo salvo. Others followed. A total of 75 torpedoes were fired from a distance of 1 to 3 cables, of which only six reached the target. Targeted launches were hampered by darkness. Reflecting attacks from destroyers, Russian sailors sank two enemy destroyers. Another Japanese destroyer sank and six were damaged when they collided with each other.

On the morning of May 15, Rozhdestvensky’s squadron, due to frequent evasions from attacks by Japanese destroyers, found itself dispersed throughout the Korean Peninsula. Russian ships were destroyed one by one by superior enemy forces. Only the cruiser Almaz and two destroyers managed to break through to Vladivostok. Most of the ships were sunk. Four armored ships and a destroyer, on which the seriously wounded Rozhdestvensky and the junior flagship Rear Admiral N.I. Nebogatov were, were captured.

Regarding the surrender of Nebogatov’s squadron, Soviet historian Mikhail Pokrovsky wrote: “Near Tsushima, Nebogatov’s quick surrender was explained not only by the technical pointlessness of further battle, but also by the fact that the sailors resolutely refused to die in vain; and on the best Nebogatov battleship, the officers faced a choice: either lower flag, or be lowered overboard by the crew." Upon returning to Russia, Nebogatov was made the main culprit of the Tsushima disaster and sentenced to death for surrendering the remnants of the fleet to the enemy (the wounded Rozhdestvensky could not be tried). The death penalty was replaced by 10 years of hard labor, and two years later Nebogatov was pardoned and released. Russian losses in Battle of Tsushima amounted to 5045 killed and 803 wounded, Japanese - 1 thousand people.

In the Russo-Japanese War, Russia's military losses, according to official data, amounted to 31,630 killed, 5,514 died from wounds and 1,643 died in captivity. About 60 thousand military personnel were captured, of which approximately 16 thousand were wounded. There is no reliable data on Japanese losses. Russian sources estimate them to be more significant than the losses of Kuropatkin's army. Based on data from these sources, B.Ts. Urlanis estimated Japanese losses at 47,387 killed, 173,425 wounded and 11,425 died from wounds. In addition, he estimated that 27,192 Japanese died from disease.

But foreign observers believe that Japanese losses were lower than the Russians in most battles, with the exception of the siege of Port Arthur. During this siege, the number of killed and wounded in the Japanese army was 28 thousand more, but at Liaoyang and Shahe, the Japanese losses were 24 thousand less than the Russians. True, at Mukden, Japanese losses in killed and wounded were 11 thousand more than the Russians, but in Tsushima and others naval battles The Russians had more killed and wounded by about the same amount. Based on these figures, it can be assumed that in reality the Japanese losses in killed and wounded were approximately equal to the Russians, while the Japanese captured several times more prisoners.

Also, data on a more than twofold increase in mortality from disease in the Japanese army compared to the Russian army is not credible. After all, the Russian army outnumbered the Japanese by about one and a half times, and the organization of sanitary matters in both armies was approximately at the same level. Rather, we can assume that the number of deaths from disease in both armies was approximately the same. Another thing is that for Japan, whose armed forces and population were significantly smaller, these losses were much more sensitive than for Russian Empire.

According to the Treaty of Portsmouth, concluded on September 5, 1905 through the mediation of the United States, Russia ceded to Japan the lease of the Liaodong Peninsula along with a branch of the South Manchurian Railway, as well as the southern half of Sakhalin Island, where Japanese troops landed shortly before the end of the war. Russian troops were withdrawn from Manchuria, and Korea was recognized as a sphere of Japanese influence. Russian positions in China and throughout the Far East were undermined, and Japan made a bid to become great power and a dominant position in Northern China.

Russia's defeat was primarily due to the weakness of its fleet, which was unable to resist the Japanese and protect the Far Eastern ports, as well as establish naval supplies for Russian troops. The weakness of the home front led to the outbreak of the revolution shortly after the fall of Port Arthur. But even without the revolution, the strategy of attrition pursued by Kuropatkin would hardly have led to success.

Based on materials from the portal "Great Wars in Russian History"

ABOUT Russian-Japanese battles Many serious works and no less frivolous fiction have been written. However, even today, more than a century later, researchers argue: what was the main reason for the shameful and fatal defeat of Russia? Is the huge, disorganized empire completely unprepared for decisive military action, or is it the mediocrity of its commanders? Or maybe the mistakes of politicians?

Zheltorossiya: an unfulfilled project

In 1896, the actual state councilor Alexander Bezobrazov provided the emperor with a report in which he proposed colonizing China, Korea and Mongolia. The “Yellow Russia” project caused lively debate in court circles... And a nervous resonance in Japan, which, in need of resources, laid claim to dominance in the Pacific region. The role of catalyst in the conflict was played by Britain, which did not want Russia to turn into a gigantic colonial power. Diplomats recalled that at all Russian-Japanese negotiations that took place on the eve of the war, the British were present as advisers and consultants to the Japanese side.

Nevertheless, Russia was gaining a foothold on the east coast: the viceroyalty of the Far East was established, Russian troops occupied part of Manchuria, the resettlement to Harbin and the strengthening of Port Arthur, which was called the gateway to Beijing, began... Moreover, preparations for the inclusion of Korea into the Russian Federation officially began empires. The latter became the proverbial straw that overflowed the cup of the Japanese.

One minute before the attack

Actually, war was expected in Russia. Both the “Bezobrazov clique” (as those who financially supported Mr. Bezobrazov’s projects were called) and Nicholas II soberly believed that military competition for the region, alas, was inevitable. Was it possible to bypass it? Yes, but at too high a price - at the cost of the Russian crown abandoning not only its colonial ambitions, but the Far Eastern territories as a whole.
The Russian government foresaw the war and even prepared for it: roads were built, ports were strengthened. Diplomats did not sit idly by: relations with Austria, Germany and France improved, which should have provided Russia with, if not support, then at least non-interference from Europe.

However, Russian politicians still hoped: Japan would not take risks. And even then, when the guns roared, confusion reigned in the country: really, what kind of Japan is compared to the huge, mighty Russia? Yes, we will defeat the adversary in a matter of days!

However, was Russia really that powerful? The Japanese, for example, had three times as many destroyers. And the battleships built in England and France were superior to Russian ships in a number of the most important indicators. Japanese naval artillery also had an undoubted advantage. As for the ground forces, the number of Russian troops beyond Lake Baikal amounted to 150 thousand troops, including border guards and security of various facilities, while the Japanese army, after the announced mobilization, exceeded 440 thousand bayonets.

Intelligence informed the king about the superiority of the enemy. She asserts: Japan is fully prepared for a skirmish and is waiting for an opportunity. But it seems that the Russian emperor forgot Suvorov’s behest that delay is like death. The Russian elite hesitated and hesitated...

The feat of ships and the fall of Port Arthur

War broke out without declaration. On the night of January 27, 1904, an armada of Japanese warships attacked a Russian flotilla stationed in a roadstead near Port Arthur. The Mikado warriors struck the second blow near Seoul: there, in Chemulpo Bay, the cruiser Varyag and the gunboat Koreets, guarding the Russian mission in Korea, took on an unequal battle. Since ships from Britain, the United States, Italy and France were nearby, the duel, one might say, took place before the eyes of the world. Having sunk several enemy ships,

“Varyag” and “Koreyets” preferred the seabed to Japanese captivity:

We did not lower ourselves before the enemy
Glorious St. Andrew's flag,
No, we blew up "Korean"
We sunk the Varyag...

By the way, a year later the Japanese were not too lazy to raise the legendary cruiser from the bottom to make it a training craft. Remembering the defenders of the Varyag, they left the ship its honorable name, adding on board: “Here we will teach you how to love your Fatherland.”

The heirs of the bushi failed to take Port Arthur. The fortress withstood four assaults, but remained unshakable. During the siege, the Japanese lost 50 thousand soldiers, however, Russia’s losses were extremely noticeable: 20 thousand killed soldiers. Would Port Arthur survive? Perhaps, but in December, unexpectedly for many, General Stessel decided to surrender the citadel along with the garrison.

Mukden meat grinder and Tsushima defeat

The battle near Mukden broke the record for military crowds: over half a million people on both sides. The battle lasted 19 days almost without a break. As a result, General Kuropatkin’s army was completely defeated: 60 thousand Russian soldiers died a heroic death. Historians are unanimous: the disaster was caused by the narrow-mindedness and negligence of the commanders (the headquarters gave conflicting orders), their underestimation of the enemy’s forces and blatant sloppiness, which had a detrimental effect on the supply of material and technical means to the army.

The “control” blow for Russia was the Battle of Tsushima. On May 14, 1905, 120 brand new battleships and cruisers flying Japanese flags surrounded the Russian squadron arriving from the Baltic. Only three ships - including the Aurora, which played a special role years later - managed to escape the deadly ring. 20 Russian battleships were sunk. Seven more were boarded. More than 11 thousand sailors became prisoners.

In the deep Tsushima Strait,
Far from my native land,
At the bottom, in the deep ocean
There are forgotten ships
Russian admirals sleep there
And the sailors are dozing around,
They are sprouting corals
Between the fingers of outstretched hands...

The Russian army was crushed, the Japanese army was so exhausted that the proud descendants of the samurai agreed to negotiate. Peace was concluded in August, in Portsmouth, America - according to the agreement, Russia ceded Port Arthur and part of Sakhalin to the Japanese, and also abandoned attempts to colonize Korea and China. However, the unsuccessful military campaign put an end not only to Russia’s expansion to the East, but, as it turned out later, to the monarchy in general. The “small victorious war” that the Russian elite so hoped for overthrew the throne forever.

Noble Enemies

Newspapers of that time are replete with photographs from Japanese captivity. In them, high-cheeked and narrow-eyed doctors, nurses, military personnel and even members of the Japanese imperial family willingly pose with Russian officers and privates. It’s hard to imagine something like this later, during the war with the Germans...

The attitude of the Japanese towards prisoners of war became the standard on the basis of which many international conventions were created years later. “All wars are based on political differences between states,” said the Japanese military department, “therefore, hatred of the people should not be inflamed.”

In 28 camps opened in Japan, 71,947 Russian sailors, soldiers, and officers were kept. Of course, they were treated differently, especially since becoming a prisoner of war for a Japanese means tarnishing his honor, but on the whole the humane policy of the War Ministry was observed. The Japanese spent 30 sen (twice as much for an officer) on the maintenance of a Russian captive soldier, while on their own, Japanese warrior It was only 16 Sep. The prisoners' meals consisted of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea, and, as eyewitnesses noted, the menu was varied, and the officers had the opportunity to hire a personal chef.

Heroes and traitors

More than 100 thousand privates and officers were put into graves by the war. And the memory of many is still alive.
Let's say, the commander of the Varyag, Vsevolod Rudnev. Having received an ultimatum from Admiral Uriu, the captain of the cruiser decided to make a breakthrough, which he informed the crew about. During the battle, the crippled and bullet-ridden Varyag managed to fire 1,105 shells at the enemy. And only after that the captain, having transferred the remnants of the crew to foreign ships, gave the order to open the kingstons. The courage of the “Varyag” impressed the Japanese so much that later Vsevolod Rudnev received a prestigious order from them Rising Sun. True, he never wore this award.

Vasily Zverev, the mechanic of the destroyer “Silny”, did something completely unprecedented: he closed the hole with himself, allowing the ship, broken by the enemy, to return to port and save the crew. All foreign newspapers, without exception, reported about this unthinkable act.

Of course, among the many heroes there were also ordinary ones. The Japanese, who value duty above all else, were amazed by the resilience of intelligence officer Vasily Ryabov. During interrogation, the captured Russian spy did not answer a single question and was sentenced to death. However, even under gunpoint, Vasily Ryabov behaved, according to the Japanese, as befits a samurai - with honor.

As for criminals, such public opinion announced Adjutant General Baron Stoessel. After the war, the investigation accused him of ignoring orders from above, not taking measures to provide Port Arthur with food, lying in reports about his personal, heroic participation in battles, misleading the sovereign, and distributing awards senior officers, who did not deserve them... And finally, he surrendered Port Arthur on conditions humiliating for the Motherland. Moreover, the cowardly baron did not share the hardships of captivity with the garrison. However, Stoessel did not suffer any special punishment: after serving a year and a half in home confinement, he was pardoned by royal decree.

The indecision of military bureaucrats, their unwillingness to take risks, their inability to act in the field and their reluctance to see obvious things is what pushed Russia into the abyss of defeat and into the abyss of cataclysms that occurred after the war.

An important source of imperialist contradictions at the beginning of the 20th century. The Far East appeared. Already in last years In the 19th century, after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the struggle between powers intensified for influence in China, as well as in Korea.

Immediately after the end of the Sino-Japanese War, the ruling circles of Japan began to prepare for a new war, this time against Russia, hoping to oust it from Manchuria (Northeast China) and Korea and at the same time seize Russian territories in the Far East, in particular Sakhalin.

On the other hand, among the ruling circles Tsarist Russia the desire for expansion in Northern China and Korea intensified. For this purpose, with the participation of French capital, the Russian-Chinese Bank was created in 1895, in the board of which the Tsarist Ministry of Finance played a decisive role. At the same time, it was decided to begin construction of a section of the Siberian Railway that would pass through Chinese territory. The initiator of this project, Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte, believed that Russia's receipt of a concession for the construction of this road would open up wide opportunities for economic penetration and strengthening of Russia's political influence throughout Northern China.

After lengthy negotiations, the tsarist government obtained China's consent to grant a concession. At the insistence of the Chinese side, the concession was formally transferred not to the Russian government, but to the Russian-Chinese Bank, which, in order to implement it, created the “Society of the Chinese Eastern Railway”. The signing of the concession agreement (September 8, 1896) opened new stage in the Far Eastern policy of tsarism and in the development of contradictions between Russia and Japan, which also sought to seize the North-Eastern provinces of China.

The situation was complicated by the fact that Russian-Japanese rivalry had also intensified in Korea by this time. According to the agreement signed in Seoul on May 14, 1896, Japan and Russia received the right to maintain their troops in Korea, and the agreement signed in Moscow on June 9 of the same year recognized mutually equal rights in this country for both powers. By founding the Russian-Korean Bank and sending military instructors and a financial adviser to Seoul, the tsarist government at first actually acquired greater political influence in Korea than Japan. But soon Japan, relying on the support of England, began to oust Russia. The tsarist government was forced to recognize Japan's predominant economic interests in Korea, close the Russian-Korean Bank and recall its financial adviser to the Korean king. “We have clearly given Korea under the dominant influence of Japan,” is how Witte assessed the situation.

After Germany captured Jiaozhou and the struggle for the division of China intensified between the main capitalist powers, the tsarist government occupied Lushun (Port Arthur) and Dalian (Dalian), and in March 1898 achieved the conclusion of an agreement with China on the lease of the Liaodong Peninsula, the occupation of the leased territory by Russian troops and granting a concession for the construction of a branch from the Chinese Eastern Railway to Port Arthur and Dalniy. In turn, the ruling circles of Japan accelerated preparations for a new, broader expansion, hoping to complete these preparations before Russia completed the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway. “War became inevitable,” General Kuropatkin later wrote, “but we did not realize this and did not adequately prepare for it.”

The popular uprising of the Yihetuan and imperialist intervention in China further aggravated the contradictions between the powers, in particular between Russia and Japan. European powers, as well as the United States of America, played a significant role in the growth of the Russian-Japanese conflict. In preparation for the war with Russia, the Japanese government sought allies and sought to isolate Russia in the international arena. England, Russia's long-time rival not only in China, but also in the Near and Middle East, became such an ally.

In January 1902, an agreement on the Anglo-Japanese alliance was signed, directed primarily against Russia. Thanks to the alliance with England, Japan could begin to implement its aggressive plans in the Far East, confident that neither France nor Germany would interfere in its conflict with Russia. On the other hand, England had the opportunity to inflict, with the help of Japan, serious blow Russia and, in addition, to strengthen to a certain extent its influence in Europe in the fight against a new rival - Germany.

The ruling circles of the United States of America also hoped, with the help of Japan, to weaken Russia's influence in the Far East and strengthen their own influence in China (in particular, Manchuria) and Korea. To this end, the American imperialists were prepared to provide Japan with far-reaching support. In turn, Germany, seeking to undermine or weaken the alliance between France and Russia, as well as to free its hands in Europe and create more favorable conditions for its penetration into the Middle East, secretly pushed both Russia and Japan to war against each other. Thus, the planned war against Russia corresponded to the interests of not only Japanese, but also British, American and German imperialism.

The tsarist government, convinced that the international situation was developing unfavorably for Russia, decided to sign an agreement with China (April 8, 1902), according to which the Chinese government received the opportunity to restore its power in Manchuria, “as it was before the occupation of the designated area by Russian troops " The tsarist government even pledged to withdraw its troops from there within a year and a half. However, under the influence of court and military circles, the most typical representative of which was the clever businessman Bezobrazov, an aggressive, adventurist course prevailed in the Far Eastern policy of tsarism. The Bezobrazov clique sought concessions in Korea and insisted that the tsarist government keep Manchuria in its hands at any cost. The war with Japan was also supported by that part of the ruling circles that saw in this war a means of preventing the revolution that was brewing in Russia.

Another group led by Witte was also a supporter of expansion in the Far East, but believed that in this moment it is necessary to act primarily using economic methods. Knowing that Russia was not prepared for war, Witte wanted to delay it. In the end, the policy of tsarism was won by the course of military adventure. Exposing the Far Eastern policy of Russian tsarism, Lenin wrote: “Who benefits from this policy? It benefits a handful of capitalist bigwigs who conduct trade with China, a handful of manufacturers producing goods for the Asian market, a handful of contractors who are now making a lot of money on urgent military orders... This policy is beneficial to a handful of nobles who occupy high positions in the civil and military service. They need a policy of adventure, because in it they can curry favor, make a career, and glorify themselves with “exploits.” Our government does not hesitate to sacrifice the interests of the entire people to the interests of this handful of capitalists and bureaucratic scoundrels.”

The ruling circles of Japan were well informed about Russia's unpreparedness for war in the Far East. Covering up their true, aggressive goals with all sorts of diplomatic tricks in negotiations with Russia, the Japanese militarists led the way to war.

On the night of February 9, 1904, a Japanese squadron under the command of Admiral Togo treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the Russian fleet stationed in Port Arthur. It was not until February 10, 1904 that Japan formally declared war on Russia. Thus began the Russo-Japanese War, which was of an imperialist nature both on the part of Japan and on the part of Tsarist Russia.

By launching active operations at sea and weakening the Russian naval forces with unexpected attacks, the Japanese command secured favorable conditions for the transfer and deployment of the main ground forces on the Asian mainland. Simultaneously with the attack on Port Arthur, the Japanese command launched landing operations in Korea. The Russian cruiser "Varyag" and the gunboat "Koreets", located in the Korean port of Chemulpo, were sunk by Russian sailors after a heroic unequal struggle. On April 13, 1904, near Port Arthur, the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk hit a mine and sank, on which was the newly appointed commander of the Pacific Fleet, an outstanding naval commander, Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov (his friend died along with him, wonderful artist V.V. Vereshchagin). At the end of April, having concentrated large forces in the north of Korea, the Japanese army defeated Russian troops on the Yalu River and invaded Manchuria. At the same time large Japanese forces(two armies) landed on the Liaodong Peninsula - north of Port Arthur and besieged the fortress.

The sudden attack of Japan forced Russia to start a war in conditions when the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and large structures in Port Arthur had not yet been completed. The course and results of the war were affected by Russia's military and economic backwardness.

At the beginning of September 1904, the tsarist army suffered a major setback at Liaoyang. Both sides suffered significant losses. The besieged Port Arthur defended itself for a long time and stubbornly. However, on January 2, 1905, the commander of the fortress, General Stessel, surrendered Port Arthur to the Japanese.

The fall of Port Arthur received wide international response. In progressive circles around the world it was regarded as a severe defeat for Russian tsarism. V.I. Lenin wrote about the fall of Port Arthur: “It was not the Russian people, but the autocracy that came to a shameful defeat. The Russian people benefited from the defeat of the autocracy. The capitulation of Port Arthur is the prologue to the capitulation of tsarism.”

In March 1905, the last major land battle took place near Mukden (Shenyang). The main forces were brought into battle. The Japanese command sought to implement its plan of enveloping the Russian army from the flanks. This plan failed. However, the commander of the Russian army, General Kuropatkin, ordered the troops to retreat. The retreat was carried out in an atmosphere of disorganization and panic. The Battle of Mukden was a major failure tsarist army. On May 27-28, 1905, a new military disaster, difficult for Tsarist Russia, occurred: a Russian squadron under the command of Rozhdestvensky, which arrived in the Far East from the Baltic Sea, was destroyed in the Tsushima Strait.

Despite its military successes, Japan was under extreme stress; its financial and human reserves were running low. Under these conditions, as the Japanese imperialists understood, prolongation of the war became extremely undesirable and even dangerous. By the summer of 1905, the international situation had also changed. The ruling circles of England and the United States, which had themselves previously instigated the war between Japan and Russia, now wanted to end it as quickly as possible. England intended to concentrate its forces against its German rival. In addition, in view of the rise of the national movement in India, she sought to introduce new conditions into the alliance treaty with Japan, providing for Japan's participation in the protection of British colonies in East Asia.

The United States of America hoped that the mutual weakening of Russia and Japan would create greater opportunities for American expansion in the Far East. In negotiations with the Japanese government, they declared themselves an unofficial participant in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and expressed their willingness to recognize the seizure of Korea by Japan, provided that Japan guaranteed the United States the inviolability of the Philippines they had captured. In March 1905, the American government put forward a proposal to buy out the railways in Manchuria and place them under “international control”, in which main role American monopolies would play. Later, powerful groups of American financial capital, who financed Japan during the war, laid claim to the right to operate the South Manchurian Railway.

On June 8, 1905, United States President Theodore Roosevelt proposed peace negotiations between Russia and Japan. The tsarist government willingly took advantage of Roosevelt's offer, as it needed peace to strengthen the fight against the unfolding revolution.

Russo-Japanese peace negotiations began in Portsmouth (USA) in August 1905. With the support of the United States and England, the Japanese delegation made enormous demands in Portsmouth. In particular, Japan expected to receive military indemnity from Russia and part of Russian territory - Sakhalin Island. The negotiators' focus was on these two basic Japanese demands. As for Manchuria and Korea, tsarism from the very beginning agreed to recognize the dominant position of Japan in the southern part of Manchuria and actually renounced all claims to Korea.

Faced with opposition from the Russian Commissioner Witte on the issue of Sakhalin and indemnity, the Japanese Commissioner Komura threatened to break off the negotiations. T. Roosevelt, acting as a “mediator,” began to put pressure on Russia, trying to extract concessions from it in favor of Japan. The governments of Germany and France acted behind the scenes in the same direction. When the Tsarist government rejected Japanese demands for territorial concessions and indemnities, the Japanese government invited Komura to sign a peace treaty. However, without knowing this, the Tsar at the last moment agreed to cede the southern half of Sakhalin Island and pay the cost of keeping Russian prisoners of war in Japan.

On September 5, 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed. He transferred part of Chinese territory into the hands of Japan - the so-called Kwantung leased area with Port Arthur and the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Japan received half of Sakhalin Island (south of the 50th parallel), as well as the right fishing in Russian territorial waters. A Japanese protectorate was actually established over Korea.

The defeat of Tsarist Russia in the war with Japan had a serious impact on the balance of power of the imperialist powers not only in the Far East, but also in Europe. At the same time, it accelerated the development of revolutionary events in Russia.

Causes of the war:

Russia’s desire to gain a foothold on the “non-freezing seas” of China and Korea.

The desire of the leading powers to prevent Russia from strengthening in the Far East. Support for Japan from the USA and Great Britain.

Japan's desire to oust the Russian army from China and seize Korea.

Arms race in Japan. Raising taxes for the sake of military production.

Japan's plans were to seize Russian territory from the Primorsky Territory to the Urals.

Progress of the war:

January 27, 1904 - three Russian ships were hit by Japanese torpedoes near Port Arthur, but they did not sink thanks to the heroism of the crews. The feat of the Russian ships “Varyag” and “Koreets” near the port of Chemulpo (Incheon).

March 31, 1904 - the death of the battleship Petropavlovsk with the headquarters of Admiral Makarov and a crew of more than 630 people. The Pacific Fleet was decapitated.

May - December 1904 - heroic defense of the Port Arthur fortress. The 50,000-strong Russian garrison, with 646 guns and 62 machine guns, repelled the attacks of the 200,000-strong enemy army. After the surrender of the fortress, about 32 thousand Russian soldiers were captured by the Japanese. The Japanese lost more than 110 thousand (according to other sources 91 thousand) soldiers and officers, 15 warships sank, and 16 were destroyed.

August 1904 - Battle of Liaoyang. The Japanese lost more than 23 thousand soldiers, the Russians - more than 16 thousand. Uncertain outcome of the battle. General Kuropatkin gave the order to retreat, fearing encirclement.

September 1904 - Battle of the Shahe River. The Japanese lost more than 30 thousand soldiers, the Russians - more than 40 thousand. Uncertain outcome of the battle. After this, a positional war was fought in Manchuria. In January 1905, revolution raged in Russia, making it difficult to wage the war to victory.

February 1905 - The Battle of Mukden stretched over 100 km along the front and lasted 3 weeks. The Japanese launched their offensive earlier and confused the plans of the Russian command. Russian troops retreated, avoiding encirclement and losing more than 90 thousand. The Japanese lost more than 72 thousand.

The Russo-Japanese War in brief.

The Japanese command admitted underestimating the enemy's strength. Soldiers with weapons and provisions continued to arrive from Russia by rail. The war again took on a positional character.

May 1905 - tragedy of the Russian fleet near the Tsushima Islands. Admiral Rozhestvensky's ships (30 combat, 6 transport and 2 hospital) covered about 33 thousand km and immediately entered the battle. No one in the world could defeat 121 enemy ships with 38 ships! Only the cruiser Almaz and the destroyers Bravy and Grozny broke through to Vladivostok (according to other sources, 4 ships were saved), the crews of the rest died heroes or were captured. The Japanese suffered 10 severe damage and 3 sank.

Until now, Russians, passing by the Tsushima Islands, lay wreaths on the water in memory of the 5 thousand dead Russian sailors.

The war was ending. The Russian army in Manchuria was growing and could continue the war for a long time. Japan's human and financial resources were depleted (old people and children were already being drafted into the army). Russia, from a position of strength, signed the Treaty of Portsmouth in August 1905.

Results of the war:

Russia withdrew troops from Manchuria, transferred to Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, the southern part of Sakhalin Island and money for the maintenance of prisoners. This failure of Japanese diplomacy caused widespread unrest in Tokyo.

After the war, Japan's external public debt increased 4 times, and Russia's by 1/3.

Japan lost more than 85 thousand killed, Russia more than 50 thousand.

More than 38 thousand soldiers died from wounds in Japan, and more than 17 thousand in Russia.

Still, Russia lost this war. The reasons were economic and military backwardness, weakness of intelligence and command, the great remoteness and extension of the theater of military operations, poor supplies, and weak interaction between the army and navy. In addition, the Russian people did not understand why they needed to fight in distant Manchuria. The revolution of 1905 - 1907 weakened Russia even more.