Who won the Russo-Japanese war?
1 Answer
Japan
Explanation:
To the shock of Russia and the rest of the Western European world Japan easily won the war between Russia and Japan.
The war between Russia and Japan was fought over control of Korea and Manchuria. The war had a greater context of which country would dominate the far East.
The Japanese declared war on Russia on Feb 8 1904. Three hours before the declaration Japan launched a surprize attack on Port Author the only waram water port for Russia in the Pacific.
Port Author was vital to the Russia control of the Pacific. Several times the Russia attempted and failed to break the Japanese blockade of the port. Notably the battle of the Yellow Sea.
On land the Japanese won the battles of the Yalu River and the Battle of Mukden. The victory at Yalu allowed the Japanese to encircle the fortress at port Author and sink the Russian fleet with land based artillery fire. The battle of Mukden from feb 20 1905 -march 10 1905. destroyed the Russian army of Manchuria as an effective fighting force. These were the first military victories of an Asian nation against an European nation in modern times.
To win back control of the far East Russia sent its entire Baltic fleet to the Pacific. The Russian fleet of 8 modern battleships, Cruisers and support vessels was opposed by a Japanese fleet of only 4 battleships and support vessels. The entire Russian fleet was destroyed at the lost of only three Japanese torpedo boats in the Battle of Tsushima Straits in May 1905.
After this loss the Russians had to accept a peace treaty yielding control of Korea and Manchuria to the Japanese. The loss of prestige would hurt Russia in World War I and be a factor in the Russia Revolution of 1917 leading to the end of Czarist Russia.
Japan had won the war against Russia, shocking Russia and the entrée western world.
