The Russo Japanese war is a war that grew out of rivalries over imperial ambitions of the Japanese and the Russian empires because of the control of Manchuria and the Korean region. The major areas of battle was in the area that is currently, the southern Manchuria along the liadong peninsula and the Mukden region near Korea and adjacent to the yellow sea. The Russians had been searching for warm water on the pacific to satisfy their maritime trade and navy ambitions.
They were being restricted by the treaty of Vladivostok that was only operational during the summer period. After the end of the first Sino Japanese war the Russian tsar wanted to establish talks with the Japanese who were reluctant to give up their hold on Korea (Jukes 20). To maintain the exclusive hold that they had on Korea, the Japanese chose to go on war rather than have amicable talks with the Russians that would have led to their giving up of their dominion.
European nations and the united states of America expected Russian to win the war but the war went contrary to the expectation of many because the fledging military of Japan attained a solid win over Russia and all their forces that had allied with them and it is the dissatisfaction by the tsar regime over the loss to Japan that led to the Russian revolution. This paper will focus on how the Russo Japanese war was reported by concentrating on two newspaper articles that were written at that time and by analyzing two accounts of modern works about the conflict (Jukes 27).
Article reports of the Russo Japanese war in 1905
Article one Battle of Mukden and Sandepu from the British paper, The Guardian
The guardian was one of the newspapers that had sent a large number of journalists to cover the Russo Japanese war and its reportage of the war was very comprehensive. This article focuses on the mid part of the battle that started with the fall of Port Arthur. The article explains how the Japanese gained the stronghold of the positions held by Russia in the Mukden area as the severe winter in Manchuria set on.
Though the Russians were driven out by the Japanese, they camped less than 7O miles away from the Japanese according to the article. The article takes an anti Japanese perspective while attempting to show Russia as the aggrieved party and adopts a position that shows as if the Japanese are the ones losing the battle (The guardian 44). This is because most European nations including the Great Britain where the guardian is published did not want Japan to win this battle and that is why the report lays out an anti
Japanese perspective in its execution.
The other focus of the article is the immediate reaction of the Russian army under the guidance of Oscar Grippenberg who led a severe attack on the Japanese near the city of Sandepu. The article was adopting a very panegyric tone especially because it was an almost breakthrough for Russia that would have seen the Japanese vanquished. However, as the article notes out, the Russian purge stalled in the middle thus allowing the Japanese to regroup immediately and launch a counter attack (The Guardian 45).
The Japanese managed to attack the Russians before they gained entry into the trans-Siberian rail road in Manchuria. The battle proceeded to Mukden after the defeat of Russian. In that battle they would have easily won were they not easily distracted by their top general Kuyropatkin. The Russians were surrounded by the Japanese at Mukden creating a fierce war that forced Russia to curve backward on to the defensive after the pressure from the Japanese became intense. The retreat by Russia was the first sign of the collapse by the Russian that brought to the world the strange reality that Russians were easily losing the battle.
The article denotes the confusion that gripped the Russian forces after being besieged by the Japanese arguing that had Russians curves forward on the offensive they would have easily outsmarted the Japanese (The Guardian 44). The Russians were then forced to withdraw from Mukden and the forces had to disintegrate as fighting units that were continuously hunted by the Japanese. The article is quick to conclude that the Japanese did not win this battle because of their military strength over Russian but because of their execution of the plan of war that would always catch the Russians off guard and the Russians lost because of the confusion brought about by their lack of military plans.
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.
Article two Victory at Tsushima, the Post
This article from a British newspaper focuses on the battle at Tsushima where the second pacific squadron of the Russians went to try and recapture Port Arthur that had been the dominion of the Japanese since the battle of Sandepu. The article documents that while at Madagascar, the fillet heard that the port had fallen and had to change routes and use the Vladivostok one instead of passing through the Tsushima straight where the Japanese were camping (The post 21). This is because it was very dangerous to them. The article makes an analysis of Admiral Toga who was making keen progress on the sail of the Russian towards the fallen port as he laid out the battle plans that would be used to rescue the port. In the analysis, the article puts across some of the challenges that faced the Russian in their progress towards the fallen port such as the fact that the Japanese retained the cruisers that had helped them to defeat Russia at Mukden. In the article, there is a description of how the Russians acquired 18 more sheep to beef up the squadron in attempt to ambush the Japanese.
The article explains how the Russian fleet traveled at height to avoid being discovered but unfortunately, one of the ships emitted a light that was sighted by the Japanese armed cruised who immediately made plans of countering the movement of the Russians. There was a fierce engagement between the Japanese and the Russians at the Tsushima straight and according to this article the whole Russian fleet was completely annihilated by the Japanese. Only three Russian vessels out of 38 escaped and went back to Vladivostok after this conquest, the Japanese army entered the Sakhalin islands as the Russians sued for peace. In the report, the article details how the confidence of the Russians was shaken by the defeat and the mediation that was spearheaded by the American president Theodore Roosevelt led to the president winning the Nobel peace prize in 1905 (The post 22)
Russian was forced to recognize Korea as part of the sphere of influence of the Japanese and was also forced to evacuate Manchuria. The article finishes by reporting how Russia involuntarily agreed to sign a 25 year rights of leasehold to Port Arthur that included a naval base and the whole peninsula around it. Russia was also forced to cede half of the Sakhalin islands to Japan though it was later regained by Russia because majority of the politicians in Japan did not support such acquisition (Daily mail 19).
Modern report of the Russo Japanese War
A) The biography of admiral Heihachiro Togo from the book by George Blond, Georges. Published in 2000
Heihachiro Togo was a fleet admiral in the Japanese Navy and was chiefly involved in the Japanese victory at the Russo Japanese war (Times 14). He is one of the greatest naval heroes that ever lived in the Eastern side of the world and the western journalist often called him the nelson of the east. Togo had been involved in the various wars that Japan had engaged in especially the Franco war and the Sino Japanese war and in 1903 he was made the commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese navy combined fleet (Blond 9). This is because the minister in charge believed that Togo was a man of good fortune. Most of his achievements were gotten during the Russo Japanese war where the admiral helped Japan to destroy the Baltic fleet of the Russians at Port Arthur in 1905.
The major areas of battle was in the area that is currently, the southern Manchuria along the liadong peninsula and the Mukden region near Korea and adjacent to the yellow sea. The Russians had been searching for warm water on the pacific to satisfy their maritime trade and navy ambitions. They were being restricted by the treaty of Vladivostok that was only operational during the summer period (Blond 11). After the end of the first Sino Japanese war the Russian tsar wanted to establish talks with the Japanese who were reluctant to give up their hold on Korea. Admiral Togo shocked the world with an upset that he caused by defeating the Russians at Tushima and this historic win that was engineered by the admiral was the one that broke the Russian domination and strength inn the eastern part of Asia triggering numerous uprisings in the Russian navy in Vladivostok. In 1906, Togo was made a member of the order of merit of the British by the reigning king Edward the fourth (Blonde 14). He later became the chief of the general naval force and a member of the supreme war council. In 1913, he received the honorific title of the fleet admiral. He never entered politics because he had shown a strong dislike for the subject.
The treaty of Portsmouth is the treaty that formally ended the Russo Japanese war and was signed in November 1905 after negotiations were made at the naval shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the United States of America (Jukes 57). The treaty forced both the warring sides, Japan and Russia to evacuate Manchuria and it sated that its sovereignty would be returned to china. In the treaty, the Liadong peninsula that contained Port Arthur was to be leased to Japan while Russia would used its rail system to access its strategic resources in Manchuria.
Japan also received half of the island called Sakhalin from Russia, though it was later returned. In the treaty, Japan was the party that gained a lot and but what Japan got was less than the people of Japan had expected (Pent 6). This caused the hibiya riots that led to the collapse of the Katsura Taros regime. Then president of the United States of America at the time was Theodore Roosevelt and he is the one who led the negotiations that established the treaty of Portsmouth in New Hampshire in the year 1905 leading to the end of the Russo Japanese war. For his efforts, President Roosevelt won the noble peace prize that year (Jukes 59). The negotiations lasted a whole month and prior to this treaty the Japanese had signed the Taft agreement with the United States of America in the same year where the two countries agreed that the US will increase its dominance in the Philippines while Japan would continue its stronghold on Korea.
In the Portsmouth treaty, the two warring sides were seeking peace and Russian was in dire need pf peace because subsequent defeats by the Japanese had left the country in a dire financial situation. The treaty also extended the Anglo Japanese treaty with the United Kingdom that allowed it to cover the whole of East Asia and Britain allowed Japan to take control of Korea and Russia was forced to leave behind its policies of expansion in Korea, something that was not taken well by the Japanese (Jukes 60).
They were being restricted by the treaty of Vladivostok that was only operational during the summer period. After the end of the first Sino Japanese war the Russian tsar wanted to establish talks with the Japanese who were reluctant to give up their hold on Korea (Jukes 20). To maintain the exclusive hold that they had on Korea, the Japanese chose to go on war rather than have amicable talks with the Russians that would have led to their giving up of their dominion.
European nations and the united states of America expected Russian to win the war but the war went contrary to the expectation of many because the fledging military of Japan attained a solid win over Russia and all their forces that had allied with them and it is the dissatisfaction by the tsar regime over the loss to Japan that led to the Russian revolution. This paper will focus on how the Russo Japanese war was reported by concentrating on two newspaper articles that were written at that time and by analyzing two accounts of modern works about the conflict (Jukes 27).
Article reports of the Russo Japanese war in 1905
Article one Battle of Mukden and Sandepu from the British paper, The Guardian
The guardian was one of the newspapers that had sent a large number of journalists to cover the Russo Japanese war and its reportage of the war was very comprehensive. This article focuses on the mid part of the battle that started with the fall of Port Arthur. The article explains how the Japanese gained the stronghold of the positions held by Russia in the Mukden area as the severe winter in Manchuria set on.
Though the Russians were driven out by the Japanese, they camped less than 7O miles away from the Japanese according to the article. The article takes an anti Japanese perspective while attempting to show Russia as the aggrieved party and adopts a position that shows as if the Japanese are the ones losing the battle (The guardian 44). This is because most European nations including the Great Britain where the guardian is published did not want Japan to win this battle and that is why the report lays out an anti
Japanese perspective in its execution.
The other focus of the article is the immediate reaction of the Russian army under the guidance of Oscar Grippenberg who led a severe attack on the Japanese near the city of Sandepu. The article was adopting a very panegyric tone especially because it was an almost breakthrough for Russia that would have seen the Japanese vanquished. However, as the article notes out, the Russian purge stalled in the middle thus allowing the Japanese to regroup immediately and launch a counter attack (The Guardian 45).
The Japanese managed to attack the Russians before they gained entry into the trans-Siberian rail road in Manchuria. The battle proceeded to Mukden after the defeat of Russian. In that battle they would have easily won were they not easily distracted by their top general Kuyropatkin. The Russians were surrounded by the Japanese at Mukden creating a fierce war that forced Russia to curve backward on to the defensive after the pressure from the Japanese became intense. The retreat by Russia was the first sign of the collapse by the Russian that brought to the world the strange reality that Russians were easily losing the battle.
The article denotes the confusion that gripped the Russian forces after being besieged by the Japanese arguing that had Russians curves forward on the offensive they would have easily outsmarted the Japanese (The Guardian 44). The Russians were then forced to withdraw from Mukden and the forces had to disintegrate as fighting units that were continuously hunted by the Japanese. The article is quick to conclude that the Japanese did not win this battle because of their military strength over Russian but because of their execution of the plan of war that would always catch the Russians off guard and the Russians lost because of the confusion brought about by their lack of military plans.
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.
Article two Victory at Tsushima, the Post
This article from a British newspaper focuses on the battle at Tsushima where the second pacific squadron of the Russians went to try and recapture Port Arthur that had been the dominion of the Japanese since the battle of Sandepu. The article documents that while at Madagascar, the fillet heard that the port had fallen and had to change routes and use the Vladivostok one instead of passing through the Tsushima straight where the Japanese were camping (The post 21). This is because it was very dangerous to them. The article makes an analysis of Admiral Toga who was making keen progress on the sail of the Russian towards the fallen port as he laid out the battle plans that would be used to rescue the port. In the analysis, the article puts across some of the challenges that faced the Russian in their progress towards the fallen port such as the fact that the Japanese retained the cruisers that had helped them to defeat Russia at Mukden. In the article, there is a description of how the Russians acquired 18 more sheep to beef up the squadron in attempt to ambush the Japanese.
The article explains how the Russian fleet traveled at height to avoid being discovered but unfortunately, one of the ships emitted a light that was sighted by the Japanese armed cruised who immediately made plans of countering the movement of the Russians. There was a fierce engagement between the Japanese and the Russians at the Tsushima straight and according to this article the whole Russian fleet was completely annihilated by the Japanese. Only three Russian vessels out of 38 escaped and went back to Vladivostok after this conquest, the Japanese army entered the Sakhalin islands as the Russians sued for peace. In the report, the article details how the confidence of the Russians was shaken by the defeat and the mediation that was spearheaded by the American president Theodore Roosevelt led to the president winning the Nobel peace prize in 1905 (The post 22)
Russian was forced to recognize Korea as part of the sphere of influence of the Japanese and was also forced to evacuate Manchuria. The article finishes by reporting how Russia involuntarily agreed to sign a 25 year rights of leasehold to Port Arthur that included a naval base and the whole peninsula around it. Russia was also forced to cede half of the Sakhalin islands to Japan though it was later regained by Russia because majority of the politicians in Japan did not support such acquisition (Daily mail 19).
Modern report of the Russo Japanese War
A) The biography of admiral Heihachiro Togo from the book by George Blond, Georges. Published in 2000
Heihachiro Togo was a fleet admiral in the Japanese Navy and was chiefly involved in the Japanese victory at the Russo Japanese war (Times 14). He is one of the greatest naval heroes that ever lived in the Eastern side of the world and the western journalist often called him the nelson of the east. Togo had been involved in the various wars that Japan had engaged in especially the Franco war and the Sino Japanese war and in 1903 he was made the commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese navy combined fleet (Blond 9). This is because the minister in charge believed that Togo was a man of good fortune. Most of his achievements were gotten during the Russo Japanese war where the admiral helped Japan to destroy the Baltic fleet of the Russians at Port Arthur in 1905.
The major areas of battle was in the area that is currently, the southern Manchuria along the liadong peninsula and the Mukden region near Korea and adjacent to the yellow sea. The Russians had been searching for warm water on the pacific to satisfy their maritime trade and navy ambitions. They were being restricted by the treaty of Vladivostok that was only operational during the summer period (Blond 11). After the end of the first Sino Japanese war the Russian tsar wanted to establish talks with the Japanese who were reluctant to give up their hold on Korea. Admiral Togo shocked the world with an upset that he caused by defeating the Russians at Tushima and this historic win that was engineered by the admiral was the one that broke the Russian domination and strength inn the eastern part of Asia triggering numerous uprisings in the Russian navy in Vladivostok. In 1906, Togo was made a member of the order of merit of the British by the reigning king Edward the fourth (Blonde 14). He later became the chief of the general naval force and a member of the supreme war council. In 1913, he received the honorific title of the fleet admiral. He never entered politics because he had shown a strong dislike for the subject.
The treaty of Portsmouth is the treaty that formally ended the Russo Japanese war and was signed in November 1905 after negotiations were made at the naval shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the United States of America (Jukes 57). The treaty forced both the warring sides, Japan and Russia to evacuate Manchuria and it sated that its sovereignty would be returned to china. In the treaty, the Liadong peninsula that contained Port Arthur was to be leased to Japan while Russia would used its rail system to access its strategic resources in Manchuria.
Japan also received half of the island called Sakhalin from Russia, though it was later returned. In the treaty, Japan was the party that gained a lot and but what Japan got was less than the people of Japan had expected (Pent 6). This caused the hibiya riots that led to the collapse of the Katsura Taros regime. Then president of the United States of America at the time was Theodore Roosevelt and he is the one who led the negotiations that established the treaty of Portsmouth in New Hampshire in the year 1905 leading to the end of the Russo Japanese war. For his efforts, President Roosevelt won the noble peace prize that year (Jukes 59). The negotiations lasted a whole month and prior to this treaty the Japanese had signed the Taft agreement with the United States of America in the same year where the two countries agreed that the US will increase its dominance in the Philippines while Japan would continue its stronghold on Korea.
In the Portsmouth treaty, the two warring sides were seeking peace and Russian was in dire need pf peace because subsequent defeats by the Japanese had left the country in a dire financial situation. The treaty also extended the Anglo Japanese treaty with the United Kingdom that allowed it to cover the whole of East Asia and Britain allowed Japan to take control of Korea and Russia was forced to leave behind its policies of expansion in Korea, something that was not taken well by the Japanese (Jukes 60).
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