For fleeting moment, Togo's victory raised Asian hopes
09/28/2007
BY IZUMI SAKURAI,THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
In June, Lee, a 77-year-old former South Korean soldier and a friend of mine, made a surprise visit to Tokyo. He grew up in Japan, joined the South Korean army after World War II and fought in the 1950 Korean War as a second lieutenant. I first met Lee's son while on a reporting assignment and later made friends with Lee.
The fortress at Mount Higashikeikanzan (Dongjiguanshan), which Russian troops held in Lushan in Chinaich (IZUMI SAKURAI)
Phan Boi Chau
Liang Qichao
Chen Tianhua
A 1905 Page one headline in The New York Times
"It has been a while since I last visited Japan," Lee said. "Where should I go this time?" he asked.
Leafing through a guidebook for tourists, Lee decided to visit Togo Shrine in Tokyo's Harajuku district. The shrine is dedicated to Heihachiro Togo, the fleet admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy who became a war hero for defeating the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War.
"We can learn a lot from the Japanese fighting method. I have great respect for Adm. Togo," Lee said.
He appeared happy as he posed for a snapshot in front of a painting of the Battle of Tsushima displayed in the shrine.
Masayoshi Matsumura, a former Foreign Ministry official and an expert on Japanese foreign policy during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) who now heads the Russo-Japanese War Association, referred to the Russo-Japanese War as "a landmark event in which a newly rising Asian country stood up against a major European power."
According to Matsumura, the development inevitably roused so much international interest that the Japanese military was swamped with applications from foreign media organizations to have their reporters accompany it as war correspondents.
In May 1905, the combined fleet of the Japanese navy led by Togo destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet in a naval battle off Tsushima island in the Sea of Japan.
Japan's lopsided victory shocked the world. The New York Times devoted about half of its front page as its top news event under the headline "Togo smashes Russian fleet." The Times of London, in a dispatch from Tokyo, wrote that Japan had virtually annihilated the Baltic Fleet to the huge surprise of the international community.
Japan was not the only country that relished its victory.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who later became India's first prime minister, wrote during his imprisonment in the 1930s: "The victory of Japan, an Asian country, had a major impact on all Asian countries. I often told you how, as a child, I was moved."
This quote is taken from "Glimpses of World History: Being Further Letters to His Daughter Written in Prison and Containing a Rambling Account of History for Young People." The Japanese translation by Satoshi Oyama is published by Misuzu Shobo.
The Chinese revolutionary and political leader Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) pointed out that Japanese victory not only affected its Asian neighbors but also motivated independence movements in Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan. In short, he said it gave hope to people of color who had been suppressed by the Western powers. Black American intellectuals also praised the feat by "yellow people."
I also remembered Phan Boi Chau (1867-1940), who led the Vietnamese independence movement from French colonial rule. Upon learning of Japan's engagement in the Russo-Japanese War, Chau secretly left Vietnam in early 1905 and arrived in Japan in the spring. What led him to cross the ocean to visit such a faraway country? To find out, I called on Chuong Thau, 72, a historian at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences in Hanoi who has been doing research on Chau for many years.
"Japan was quick to modernize when the Meiji Restoration came into being. Having introduced constitutionalism, it defeated a major power, Russia," Thau said. "Japanese and Vietnamese people share the same kanji culture and skin color. The way the Japanese accomplished this feat set an example to people who were suffering from aggression by great powers."
As soon as he arrived in Japan, Chau visited Chinese philosopher and reformist Liang Qichao (1873-1929) in Yokohama, where he was living in exile. Having failed to accomplish political reform in his native land in the waning years of the Qing Dynasty, Liang fled to Japan. Chau had read Liang's book in Vietnam and visited him at the address that was printed at the end of the book. Born to a family of Confucian scholars, Chau had read Chinese classics since his childhood and was able to communicate with him in Chinese and Japanese by writing in kanji characters.
The purpose of Chau's visit was to secure Japan's support in the form of supplies of weapons and troops to drive out the French. Liang introduced Chau to Shigenobu Okuma and Tsuyoshi Inukai and other prominent Japanese politicians. They declined to offer military support on grounds it could cause a diplomatic rift between Japan and France. Instead, they advised Chau to focus on military training and general knowledge, such as mathematics and geography, in Tokyo.
With funding by Japanese supporters, Chau started the Dong-Du (Go East) movement to invite young Vietnamese to study in Japan. At one point, the number of Vietnamese students in Japan reached 200. However, they did not stay in Japan for very long.
Having won the Russo-Japanese War, Japan signed an agreement with France in June 1907 that effectively gave them carte blanche to colonize Korea and Indochina, respectively. In signing the agreement, the French government demanded that Japan crack down on the Vietnamese independence movement.
"The Japanese government teamed up with the French colonial administration to expel the Vietnamese students and eventually deported Chau. The Dong-Du movement was crushed," reads a high-school history textbook that I purchased in Hanoi.
In March 1909, Chau was expelled from Japan where he had lived for four years. A letter Chau wrote to Japanese Foreign Minister Jutaro Komura is kept in the archives of the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. In it, Chau harshly criticized the foreign minister for "despising the yellow-skinned races and driving them out regardless of whether they had committed a crime" and accused Japan of joining hands with major Western powers. Holding the letter written in Chau's meticulous handwriting with attention to each kanji, I felt his outpouring of anger.
At the time, there were many more Qing students in Japan. In 1896, soon after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty started dispatching students to Japan. By 1905, some 10,000 were studying on these shores.
I visited Tianjin to see Li Xisuo, a Nankai University professor who is well-versed in the situation of Qing students who came to Japan toward the end of the Qing Dynasty.
"Why did Qing lose the First Sino-Japanese War to Japan? Qing started sending students and missions to Japan to find out the answer to this question," Li said.
The Chinese apparently thought it would be more efficient to learn from the Japanese experience than to study modern Western thoughts and systems from scratch. Another more realistic reason is that it cost less to travel to Japan than to Europe and North America. The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 also led to the idea that Japan would serve as a new place of learning, according to Li.
When Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, the view that Japan's "constitutionalism" defeated Russia's "autocracy" took hold in Qing Dynasty thinking. As a result, interest toward Japan rose, according to Xiong Dayun, professor of history at Yamanashi Gakuin University.
"Japan's victory opened the eyes of the Chinese people and hastened moves to introduce the constitutional system," Xiong said.
In 1906, the Qing government belatedly promised to implement constitutional politics.
Around the same time, the Qing students in Japan received a shocking blow. In November 1905, the Japanese government promulgated "regulations to control Qing students." The decision was made in response to a request by the Qing government, which feared the students were inclined to resort to revolutionary tactics to overthrow it. The students objected to this directive by boycotting lessons and other means. The Asahi Shimbun at the time criticized their behavior! as "self-indulgent and contemptible." Upon reading the newspaper, Chen Tianhua, a revolutionary activist who was studying in Japan, drowned himself in the ocean off Tokyo in protest.
"The students wanted to learn from Japan, a major Asian power," said Li. "At the same time, they were developing mistrust and antipathy toward Japan, which was strengthening its control over Korea and northeastern China. They had mixed feelings and were troubled."
Today, the Chinese side is wary about moves in Japan to revise the Constitution. Differences in historical recognition also present a thorny problem between the two countries.
"We want to learn from Japan but at the same time, we are wary of it," said Li Lairong, a graduate student under Li Xisuo. "The way we look at Japan has not changed much over the years."
How does China view the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War today? I visited Lushun, the site of a hard-fought battle.
The port of Lushun continues to be an import!ant base for the Chinese navy. With the exception of some tourist attractions, the movement of foreign nationals is restricted.
"Lushun and Dalian were the sites of fierce fighting during the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese victory served as a springboard for Japan to invade China," said a Chinese-language video I saw at a museum that exhibits relics of the Russo-Japanese War in Lushun. The museum also serves as an educational center for national defense.
Han Xingyuan, 82, who works at a souvenir shop at the foot of 203 Highland, named by the Japanese army during the war because the altitude is 203 meters, said he was required to learn Japanese in Lushun as a child. Speaking in fluent Japanese, Han talked about the war.
In answer to my question, "What did the Russo-Japanese War mean to China?" Han said in a moderate tone: "It was an annoying war of aggression. Some people say that Japan helped China by driving out Russia, but that is wrong. Even after the war, Japan stayed behind and ruled Lushun. It eventually spread its influence over China in its entirety."
What about Japan?
I visited Yushukan, a museum attached to Yasukuni Shrine, on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II. The corner dedicated to the Russo-Japanese War reverberated with "Gunkan March" (Warship march) and many people were gathered around a screen that was showing a video of Japan's victory.
"When Japan, a small country of the Orient, defeated Russia, a major power, the victory gave great hopes and dreams to the peoples of colonies that were under the rule of Russia and Europe," the narration went.
Perhaps that may be true to some extent. But the "hopes and dreams" must have faded much quicker for countries that were closer to Japan, such as Korea and China, than elsewhere.
Shinobu Oe, an Ibaraki University professor emeritus of modern history, said: "Immediately after the war, Japan turned Korea into a protectorate and the hopes of Asian people changed to disappointment. It is true that Japanese victory provided hope but we must not forget that it also soon let them down."
'World War Zero'
In recent years, some historians have begun referring to the Russo-Japanese War as "World War Zero."
This view was discussed at an international conference to commemorate the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War held at Keio University in 2005. According to Shinji Yokote, a Keio University professor of Russian political and diplomatic history who took part in the meeting, this is because the conflict shared many import!ant characteristics with World War I which raged a few years later (1914-1918).
For one thing, the involvement of major Western powers was a reflection of the international environment at the time. Japan had an alliance with Britain, while Russia had entered into an alliance with France. For example, Britain was at odds with Russia over the control of Afghanistan and Persia and had much to gain from joining hands with Japan. Meanwhile, the United States was opposed to Russia's occupation of northeastern China and extended financial aid to Japan.
Another characteristic is "total war." With the advancement of weapons and the expansion in the scope of fighting, countries had to gather their resources to concentrate on war. The concept of "total war" spread during World War I but already, it had begun with the Russo-Japanese War, Yokote said. According to Oleg Airapetov, a Moscow State University associate professor of history, the Russo-Japanese War was total war of the land and ocean. In order to win, a nation had to effectively combine ground and naval forces.
Chronology of events in East Asia before and after the Russo-Japanese War
1895: Empress Myeongseong of Korea is assassinated by Japanese and other forces.
1896: King Gwangmu of the Joseon Dynasty moves to a Russian legation for a year.
1897: Joseon Kingdom changes its name to the Korean Empire.
1898: Russia obtains a lease on Dalian and Lushun from the Qing Dynasty and wins the right to construct a rail network in southern Manchuria.
1900: Boxer Rebellion flares in Beijing.
1902: Japan and Britain sign the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
1904: Russo-Japanese War breaks out. Under the First Japan-Korea Agreement, the Korean Empire accepts financial and diplomatic advisers recommended by Japan.
1905: Japan and Russia sign the Treaty of Portsmouth. Under the Second Japan-Korea Agreement, Japan deprives the Korean Empire of its diplomatic rights and makes it a Japanese protectorate. Hirobumi Ito is appointed the first resident-general of Korea.
1907: Under the Third Japan-Korea Agreement, Korea is put under Japanese control also in terms of domestic affairs. Korea disbands its military in compliance with a memorandum.
1910: Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty is signed.
Fact File: Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Japan and Russia were fighting for control of Korea and northeastern China (former Manchuria). The death toll on the Japanese side was about 84,000, roughly 6.5 times the approximately 13,000 lives it lost in the 1894-1895 First Sino-Japanese War. The Russian death toll was about 50,000.
After the First Sino-Japanese War, Russia strengthened its influence over Korea, leased Lushun and Dalian from the Qing Dynasty in 1898 and set about building a rail network to give it an ice-free port. According to Oleg Airapetov, a Moscow State University associate professor of history, Russia's basic foreign policy at the time centered on naval superiority. Russian Czar Nicholas II eagerly embraced the policy.
In 1900, Russia dispatched troops to the Qing Dynasty to help it suppress the Boxer Rebellion. But even after the rebellion was brought under control in 1901, Russia maintained its military presence there. Meanwhile, Japan began negotiations with Russia while stepping up its war preparations. Negotiations broke down and Japanese forces attacked the Russian fleet in Lushun in February 1904. They also landed on Incheon in Korea and war broke out. While Japan suffered heavy losses, it seized 203 Highland that commands a view of Lushun port in December and took control of a fortress in Lushun in January of the following year. When the Japanese combined fleet annihilated the Baltic Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and mediated peace talks. Russia was in chaos with the spread of a revolutionary movement and chose to negotiate peace to concentrate on domestic affairs. Japan also agreed to make peace since it had exhausted its resources to fight the war.
Fact File: Treaty of Portsmouth
The treaty that formally ended the Russo-Japanese War was signed in September 1905 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Japanese Foreign Minister and plenipotentiary Jutaro Komura and Russian plenipotentiary former Finance Minister Sergius Witte. Under the treaty, Russia agreed to recognize Japan's right to control Korea, concede its lease over Lushun and Dalian from the Qing Dynasty and the railway system south of Changchun to Japan. Japan also received the southern half of the island of Sakhalin under 50 degrees north latitude and gained fishing rights in the Littoral Province of Siberia and the Kamchatka region. The Japanese public, which had been led to believe that Russia would pay a huge amount in war reparations, staged riots in Tokyo.
(IHT/Asahi: September 28,2007)
09/28/2007
BY IZUMI SAKURAI,THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
In June, Lee, a 77-year-old former South Korean soldier and a friend of mine, made a surprise visit to Tokyo. He grew up in Japan, joined the South Korean army after World War II and fought in the 1950 Korean War as a second lieutenant. I first met Lee's son while on a reporting assignment and later made friends with Lee.
The fortress at Mount Higashikeikanzan (Dongjiguanshan), which Russian troops held in Lushan in Chinaich (IZUMI SAKURAI)
Phan Boi Chau
Liang Qichao
Chen Tianhua
A 1905 Page one headline in The New York Times
"It has been a while since I last visited Japan," Lee said. "Where should I go this time?" he asked.
Leafing through a guidebook for tourists, Lee decided to visit Togo Shrine in Tokyo's Harajuku district. The shrine is dedicated to Heihachiro Togo, the fleet admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy who became a war hero for defeating the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War.
"We can learn a lot from the Japanese fighting method. I have great respect for Adm. Togo," Lee said.
He appeared happy as he posed for a snapshot in front of a painting of the Battle of Tsushima displayed in the shrine.
Masayoshi Matsumura, a former Foreign Ministry official and an expert on Japanese foreign policy during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) who now heads the Russo-Japanese War Association, referred to the Russo-Japanese War as "a landmark event in which a newly rising Asian country stood up against a major European power."
According to Matsumura, the development inevitably roused so much international interest that the Japanese military was swamped with applications from foreign media organizations to have their reporters accompany it as war correspondents.
In May 1905, the combined fleet of the Japanese navy led by Togo destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet in a naval battle off Tsushima island in the Sea of Japan.
Japan's lopsided victory shocked the world. The New York Times devoted about half of its front page as its top news event under the headline "Togo smashes Russian fleet." The Times of London, in a dispatch from Tokyo, wrote that Japan had virtually annihilated the Baltic Fleet to the huge surprise of the international community.
Japan was not the only country that relished its victory.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who later became India's first prime minister, wrote during his imprisonment in the 1930s: "The victory of Japan, an Asian country, had a major impact on all Asian countries. I often told you how, as a child, I was moved."
This quote is taken from "Glimpses of World History: Being Further Letters to His Daughter Written in Prison and Containing a Rambling Account of History for Young People." The Japanese translation by Satoshi Oyama is published by Misuzu Shobo.
The Chinese revolutionary and political leader Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) pointed out that Japanese victory not only affected its Asian neighbors but also motivated independence movements in Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan. In short, he said it gave hope to people of color who had been suppressed by the Western powers. Black American intellectuals also praised the feat by "yellow people."
I also remembered Phan Boi Chau (1867-1940), who led the Vietnamese independence movement from French colonial rule. Upon learning of Japan's engagement in the Russo-Japanese War, Chau secretly left Vietnam in early 1905 and arrived in Japan in the spring. What led him to cross the ocean to visit such a faraway country? To find out, I called on Chuong Thau, 72, a historian at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences in Hanoi who has been doing research on Chau for many years.
"Japan was quick to modernize when the Meiji Restoration came into being. Having introduced constitutionalism, it defeated a major power, Russia," Thau said. "Japanese and Vietnamese people share the same kanji culture and skin color. The way the Japanese accomplished this feat set an example to people who were suffering from aggression by great powers."
As soon as he arrived in Japan, Chau visited Chinese philosopher and reformist Liang Qichao (1873-1929) in Yokohama, where he was living in exile. Having failed to accomplish political reform in his native land in the waning years of the Qing Dynasty, Liang fled to Japan. Chau had read Liang's book in Vietnam and visited him at the address that was printed at the end of the book. Born to a family of Confucian scholars, Chau had read Chinese classics since his childhood and was able to communicate with him in Chinese and Japanese by writing in kanji characters.
The purpose of Chau's visit was to secure Japan's support in the form of supplies of weapons and troops to drive out the French. Liang introduced Chau to Shigenobu Okuma and Tsuyoshi Inukai and other prominent Japanese politicians. They declined to offer military support on grounds it could cause a diplomatic rift between Japan and France. Instead, they advised Chau to focus on military training and general knowledge, such as mathematics and geography, in Tokyo.
With funding by Japanese supporters, Chau started the Dong-Du (Go East) movement to invite young Vietnamese to study in Japan. At one point, the number of Vietnamese students in Japan reached 200. However, they did not stay in Japan for very long.
Having won the Russo-Japanese War, Japan signed an agreement with France in June 1907 that effectively gave them carte blanche to colonize Korea and Indochina, respectively. In signing the agreement, the French government demanded that Japan crack down on the Vietnamese independence movement.
"The Japanese government teamed up with the French colonial administration to expel the Vietnamese students and eventually deported Chau. The Dong-Du movement was crushed," reads a high-school history textbook that I purchased in Hanoi.
In March 1909, Chau was expelled from Japan where he had lived for four years. A letter Chau wrote to Japanese Foreign Minister Jutaro Komura is kept in the archives of the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. In it, Chau harshly criticized the foreign minister for "despising the yellow-skinned races and driving them out regardless of whether they had committed a crime" and accused Japan of joining hands with major Western powers. Holding the letter written in Chau's meticulous handwriting with attention to each kanji, I felt his outpouring of anger.
At the time, there were many more Qing students in Japan. In 1896, soon after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty started dispatching students to Japan. By 1905, some 10,000 were studying on these shores.
I visited Tianjin to see Li Xisuo, a Nankai University professor who is well-versed in the situation of Qing students who came to Japan toward the end of the Qing Dynasty.
"Why did Qing lose the First Sino-Japanese War to Japan? Qing started sending students and missions to Japan to find out the answer to this question," Li said.
The Chinese apparently thought it would be more efficient to learn from the Japanese experience than to study modern Western thoughts and systems from scratch. Another more realistic reason is that it cost less to travel to Japan than to Europe and North America. The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 also led to the idea that Japan would serve as a new place of learning, according to Li.
When Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, the view that Japan's "constitutionalism" defeated Russia's "autocracy" took hold in Qing Dynasty thinking. As a result, interest toward Japan rose, according to Xiong Dayun, professor of history at Yamanashi Gakuin University.
"Japan's victory opened the eyes of the Chinese people and hastened moves to introduce the constitutional system," Xiong said.
In 1906, the Qing government belatedly promised to implement constitutional politics.
Around the same time, the Qing students in Japan received a shocking blow. In November 1905, the Japanese government promulgated "regulations to control Qing students." The decision was made in response to a request by the Qing government, which feared the students were inclined to resort to revolutionary tactics to overthrow it. The students objected to this directive by boycotting lessons and other means. The Asahi Shimbun at the time criticized their behavior! as "self-indulgent and contemptible." Upon reading the newspaper, Chen Tianhua, a revolutionary activist who was studying in Japan, drowned himself in the ocean off Tokyo in protest.
"The students wanted to learn from Japan, a major Asian power," said Li. "At the same time, they were developing mistrust and antipathy toward Japan, which was strengthening its control over Korea and northeastern China. They had mixed feelings and were troubled."
Today, the Chinese side is wary about moves in Japan to revise the Constitution. Differences in historical recognition also present a thorny problem between the two countries.
"We want to learn from Japan but at the same time, we are wary of it," said Li Lairong, a graduate student under Li Xisuo. "The way we look at Japan has not changed much over the years."
How does China view the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War today? I visited Lushun, the site of a hard-fought battle.
The port of Lushun continues to be an import!ant base for the Chinese navy. With the exception of some tourist attractions, the movement of foreign nationals is restricted.
"Lushun and Dalian were the sites of fierce fighting during the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese victory served as a springboard for Japan to invade China," said a Chinese-language video I saw at a museum that exhibits relics of the Russo-Japanese War in Lushun. The museum also serves as an educational center for national defense.
Han Xingyuan, 82, who works at a souvenir shop at the foot of 203 Highland, named by the Japanese army during the war because the altitude is 203 meters, said he was required to learn Japanese in Lushun as a child. Speaking in fluent Japanese, Han talked about the war.
In answer to my question, "What did the Russo-Japanese War mean to China?" Han said in a moderate tone: "It was an annoying war of aggression. Some people say that Japan helped China by driving out Russia, but that is wrong. Even after the war, Japan stayed behind and ruled Lushun. It eventually spread its influence over China in its entirety."
What about Japan?
I visited Yushukan, a museum attached to Yasukuni Shrine, on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II. The corner dedicated to the Russo-Japanese War reverberated with "Gunkan March" (Warship march) and many people were gathered around a screen that was showing a video of Japan's victory.
"When Japan, a small country of the Orient, defeated Russia, a major power, the victory gave great hopes and dreams to the peoples of colonies that were under the rule of Russia and Europe," the narration went.
Perhaps that may be true to some extent. But the "hopes and dreams" must have faded much quicker for countries that were closer to Japan, such as Korea and China, than elsewhere.
Shinobu Oe, an Ibaraki University professor emeritus of modern history, said: "Immediately after the war, Japan turned Korea into a protectorate and the hopes of Asian people changed to disappointment. It is true that Japanese victory provided hope but we must not forget that it also soon let them down."
'World War Zero'
In recent years, some historians have begun referring to the Russo-Japanese War as "World War Zero."
This view was discussed at an international conference to commemorate the centennial of the Russo-Japanese War held at Keio University in 2005. According to Shinji Yokote, a Keio University professor of Russian political and diplomatic history who took part in the meeting, this is because the conflict shared many import!ant characteristics with World War I which raged a few years later (1914-1918).
For one thing, the involvement of major Western powers was a reflection of the international environment at the time. Japan had an alliance with Britain, while Russia had entered into an alliance with France. For example, Britain was at odds with Russia over the control of Afghanistan and Persia and had much to gain from joining hands with Japan. Meanwhile, the United States was opposed to Russia's occupation of northeastern China and extended financial aid to Japan.
Another characteristic is "total war." With the advancement of weapons and the expansion in the scope of fighting, countries had to gather their resources to concentrate on war. The concept of "total war" spread during World War I but already, it had begun with the Russo-Japanese War, Yokote said. According to Oleg Airapetov, a Moscow State University associate professor of history, the Russo-Japanese War was total war of the land and ocean. In order to win, a nation had to effectively combine ground and naval forces.
Chronology of events in East Asia before and after the Russo-Japanese War
1895: Empress Myeongseong of Korea is assassinated by Japanese and other forces.
1896: King Gwangmu of the Joseon Dynasty moves to a Russian legation for a year.
1897: Joseon Kingdom changes its name to the Korean Empire.
1898: Russia obtains a lease on Dalian and Lushun from the Qing Dynasty and wins the right to construct a rail network in southern Manchuria.
1900: Boxer Rebellion flares in Beijing.
1902: Japan and Britain sign the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
1904: Russo-Japanese War breaks out. Under the First Japan-Korea Agreement, the Korean Empire accepts financial and diplomatic advisers recommended by Japan.
1905: Japan and Russia sign the Treaty of Portsmouth. Under the Second Japan-Korea Agreement, Japan deprives the Korean Empire of its diplomatic rights and makes it a Japanese protectorate. Hirobumi Ito is appointed the first resident-general of Korea.
1907: Under the Third Japan-Korea Agreement, Korea is put under Japanese control also in terms of domestic affairs. Korea disbands its military in compliance with a memorandum.
1910: Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty is signed.
Fact File: Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Japan and Russia were fighting for control of Korea and northeastern China (former Manchuria). The death toll on the Japanese side was about 84,000, roughly 6.5 times the approximately 13,000 lives it lost in the 1894-1895 First Sino-Japanese War. The Russian death toll was about 50,000.
After the First Sino-Japanese War, Russia strengthened its influence over Korea, leased Lushun and Dalian from the Qing Dynasty in 1898 and set about building a rail network to give it an ice-free port. According to Oleg Airapetov, a Moscow State University associate professor of history, Russia's basic foreign policy at the time centered on naval superiority. Russian Czar Nicholas II eagerly embraced the policy.
In 1900, Russia dispatched troops to the Qing Dynasty to help it suppress the Boxer Rebellion. But even after the rebellion was brought under control in 1901, Russia maintained its military presence there. Meanwhile, Japan began negotiations with Russia while stepping up its war preparations. Negotiations broke down and Japanese forces attacked the Russian fleet in Lushun in February 1904. They also landed on Incheon in Korea and war broke out. While Japan suffered heavy losses, it seized 203 Highland that commands a view of Lushun port in December and took control of a fortress in Lushun in January of the following year. When the Japanese combined fleet annihilated the Baltic Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and mediated peace talks. Russia was in chaos with the spread of a revolutionary movement and chose to negotiate peace to concentrate on domestic affairs. Japan also agreed to make peace since it had exhausted its resources to fight the war.
Fact File: Treaty of Portsmouth
The treaty that formally ended the Russo-Japanese War was signed in September 1905 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Japanese Foreign Minister and plenipotentiary Jutaro Komura and Russian plenipotentiary former Finance Minister Sergius Witte. Under the treaty, Russia agreed to recognize Japan's right to control Korea, concede its lease over Lushun and Dalian from the Qing Dynasty and the railway system south of Changchun to Japan. Japan also received the southern half of the island of Sakhalin under 50 degrees north latitude and gained fishing rights in the Littoral Province of Siberia and the Kamchatka region. The Japanese public, which had been led to believe that Russia would pay a huge amount in war reparations, staged riots in Tokyo.
(IHT/Asahi: September 28,2007)