Russian-japanese War :: essays research papers

     The Russian- Nipponese war of 1904 was a Europeanconflict that wasfought because one country was becoming too strong. The conflict was in the mainfought because two separate countries had theirown special interests in far eastcountries like Korea, China, and Manchuria.     Britainand Japan recognized the independance of China and Korea, but atthe same cartridge clip authorized each other to intervene in either territory if their own"special interests" were threatened by another(prenominal) power or by internal disorder.That power was now Russia. There was already a rivalry going on betweenBritain and Russia because of the Trans-Siberian railway but now there wasanother dimension. Russia now had access to the pacific. Her presence inAsiathreatened already established Britain interests. China leased theice-free PortArthur to Russia and allowed them to store their war shipsthere. The twoempires were tack together on a collision cou rse.     Britain wasvery reluctant to commit herself to a distant threat of war so shetooka step to allying herself with the growing industrial power of Japan. Indoing so, Britain found her soldiers in the east.     At this time Russia failedto realize how powerful Britain and Japan hadmade themselves. Russiawas unable to take Japan seriously heretofore though theyhad many reports onhow large the Japanese naval and military forces were.Unfortunately,Russias constant penetration into Korea and Manchuriacontinued unabateddespite the presence of numbers of Japanese immagrantsand traders.     Russiahad succeeded in replacing the now defunct Chinese influence withher own.Russia now began taking over the administrative departments and hadtheirofficers train the Korean army to fight on their side.     In April, May, andJune of 1903, Russians had told the Japanese that theywould move outof China. They did not a nd continued to occupy the land. InJuly of thethat same year, the Japanese Ambassador proposed that Russia andJapanwere to recognize the independance of China and Korea. both(prenominal) nationswereto rcognize preponderance, the Japanese in Korea balanced by russians inManchuria. They were to recall their military man from their respective area assoon aspossible. In return, the Russians would protect the railways inManchuria andthe Japanese would do the same in Korea.     It came to theattention of the Japanese that the Russians were building uptheir navaland military forces in the far east. They were also moving troops notonly into Manchuria, but also into North Korea. It now became obvious to theJapnese that the Russians had no intention of releasing their hold on Manchuriaand Korea. Nevertheless, the negotiations went on. On February 10th, 1904,both nations produced testis declarations of war.     On February 8th, a largepart of the Russ ian Pacific squadron lat anchor in