The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905

by JUKES, GEOFFREY

• ISBN13: 9781841764467
• ISBN10: 1841764469
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-08-19
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

The Russo-Japanese war saw the first defeat of a major European imperialist power by an Asian country. When Japanese and Russian expansionist interests collided over Manchuria and Korea, the Tsar assumed Japan would never dare to fight. However, after years of planning, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Port Arthur, on the Liaoyang Peninsula in 1904 and the war that followed saw Japan win major battles against Russia. This book explains the background and outbreak of the war, then follows the course of the fighting at Yalu River, Sha-ho, and finally Mukden, the largest battle anywhere in the world before the First World War.

Author Biography

After leaving Oxford in 1953 Geoffrey Jukes spent 14 years in the UK Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Colonial Office, specialising in Russian/Soviet military history, strategy and arms control. From 1967 to 1993 he was also on the staff of the Australian National University. He has written five books and numerous articles on the Eastern Front in the two World Wars.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(7)
Chronology	14	(2)
Background to war
Russia's foothold in the Far East	16	(5)
Warring sides
Relative strengths of Russia and Japan	21	(3)
Outbreak
The strike on Port Arthur	24	(3)
The fighting
Russian might and Japanese manoeuvres	27	(52)
Portrait of a soldier
Russia's harsh reality	79	(3)
The world around war
Russian defeats add to domestic unrest	82	(2)
Portrait of a civilian
The impact on neutral China	84	(2)
Conclusion and consequences
Witte woos the US public	86	(7)
Further reading	93	(1)
Index	94