Relations between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire
Encyclopedia
The Relations between the Empire of Japan
and the Russian Empire
(1855–1922) were mostly hostile due to the conflicting territorial expansions of both empires. Diplomatic and commercial relations between the two empires were established from 1855 onwards. Though imperial control over Japan was not fully restored until 1867, Japan was at least in name under control of the Japanese emperor and as a consequence it is appropriate to speak of the "Empire of Japan". Though the Russian Empire officially ended in 1917, no successor state appeared until 1922: the Soviet Union
.
The relations between the two empires predate the Soviet-Japanese relations (1917–1991) and the Russo-Japanese relations (1992–present).
trade policy. This period of isolation did not allow any trade with foreign countries, with the two exceptions of China
and Holland. Trade with these two nations was strongly restricted. Holland was only allowed to trade from the artificial island of Deshima in the port of Nagasaki. Entering Japan itself was strictly prohibited.
Halfway through the 19th century, many colonial powers found themselves in an economic malaise and needed new markets to trade their over-produced goods with. The colonial powers quickly realised the potential of the Asian market, and with it, Japan. Japan was economically important since it was situated as a gateway to the Pacific Ocean
. It also had some strong military advantages. In the 19th century, the colonial powers (USA, Great Britain
, France
, Holland, and Imperial Russia) were fiercely trying to gain as much ground in Asia
as they could.
Being natural neighbors, Japan and Russia had early interactions before the treaty. There had always been quarrels concerning fishing grounds and territorial claims. Various documents speak of the capture of Japanese fishermen as far away as the Kamchatka Peninsula
(полуо́стров Камча́тка). Some of these Japanese captives were taken over the Siberian route to Saint Petersburg
. There, they were used in the education of Japanese language and culture. A practice also not unknown to Japan itself, which used Russian captives in a similar way. It illustrated a growing curiosity between the two countries.
. A Hungarian adventurer, named Baron
Móric Beňovský
, was banished by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great to the Kamchatka Peninsula. However, Beňovský was able to escape and eventually showed up in a Japanese harbor on the sub-tropical island of Amami Ōshima
. He alerted the Dutch on the island of Deshima of the Russian threat to the Far East. The Dutch immediately sent his warnings to the Shogun
and his advisers (bakufu). The Bakufu immediately responded by appointing intellectuals like Hayashi Shihei
to take appropriate defensive measures. The story of Baron Móric Beňovský is a legend. His interactions with the Japanese and his rescue of the inhabitants of Formosa
out of the hands of the Chinese should not be taken too seriously. Many of the sources appeared to be false or quite simply impossible. But he did in fact alert the Bakufu of the approaching Russians.
by the name of Pavel Lebedev-Lastoschkin
arrived in Hokkaidō
with a small expedition. He was told to come back the following year. In 1779, he entered the harbour of Akkeshi, Hokkaidō
, he offered gifts, and politely asked to trade, but in vain. He was told that trade could only be handled in Nagasaki
.
and later Hakodate, he would attempt a first Russian trade agreement with Japan in order to break the exclusive trade rights of the Dutch. The Russian delegation did not succeed. Japan was enclosed in its Sakoku, isolating the country from any foreign contacts, except for Holland and China. The Japanese suggested that Laxman leave, but Laxman had one demand: he would only leave with a trade-agreement for Russia. After a long time and annoyed by the stubborn Laxsman, the Japanese finally handed over a document stipulating Russia's right to send one Russian vessel of commerce to the harbor of Nagasaki. Secondly, it also restricted Russian commerce to Nagasaki. Trade elsewhere in Japan was prohibited. A final note in the document clearly stated that the practice of Christianity
inside Japan was prohibited. Laxman returned to Russia.
Eventually, the Russians sent their vessel of commerce to Nagasaki, but they were not allowed to enter the harbor. The document was of no value. Should Nagasaki have decided to open its harbor to the Russians, Russia would have been the first European power to break the trade monopoly of the Dutch. Angrily, the Russians returned to the mainland, not without consequence. Sources speak of at least two Russian officers who burned down Japanese fishing villages and fishing boats on the islands of Etorofu
. These events introduced the Russian-Japanese dispute concerning the Kuril Islands
. To the present day, this dispute remains.
had started a worldwide Russian representation mission under the lead of Adam Johann von Krusenstern
(Крузенштерн). With Japan in mind, Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov was appointed to the mission. He was the founder of Russian-Siberian trade in fur and the ideal man to convince the Japanese.
In 1804, Rezanov got a chance to exercise his diplomatic strength in Japan. On board the ship Nadezhda, he had many gifts for the Bakufu. He even brought along Japanese fishermen who had been stranded in Russia. But Rezanov could not do what so many had tried before him. An agreement was never reached. During the negotiations, the Shogun remained silent for months; next, the Shogun refused any negotiations and finally gave the Russian gifts back. Now Russia acted more assertively, and soon Russian navigators started to explore and map the coasts of the Kuril Islands. In 1819, the Russian colonel Vasily Golovnin
was exploring Kunashir Island
on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences
. During these operations the Russians clashed with the Japanese. Golovnin was seized and taken prisoner by samurai
. For the following 18 months, he was a prisoner of the Tokugawa
Shogun and intended to learn more about Russian language and culture, the state of the European power struggle, and European science. Through Golownin (and the Dutch), Japan could update its knowledge of nations and the world. Golovnin's memoirs (Memoirs of Captivity in Japan During the Years 1811,1812, and 1813) illustrate some of the methods used by Tokugawa officials.
Later on, these unsuccessful attacks would be disavowed by Russia and its interest in Japan would drop for a full generation. This would be the case until the Opium Wars
in 1834. The Russian Tsar Nicholas I of Russia
realised the territorial expansion of Great Britain
in Asia and the expansion of the USA in the Pacific Ocean and Northern America. As a result, he founded a committee in 1842 to investigate Russia's power in areas around the Amur and in Sakhalin. The committee proposed a mission to the area under the lead of Putiatin. The plan was not approved because officials did not believe Russia had great commercial assets to be defended in these cold and desolate places. Nonetheless, a small expedition was set up to go to the Amur region. A small plan, but a step closer to a bigger plan. Japan itself didn't remain untouched by the events in Asia. The highly esteemed China was surprisingly (in the eyes of the Japanese) beaten by Great Britain in the Opium Wars. In light of these events, Japan gradually modernized its army with artillery
fortresses, artillery schools, and a revision of its coastal defenses. This modernization was supported by the Bakufu, intellectual groups, and even the Japanese emperor
himself. Although Japan was in isolation from the outside world, it refused to be blind to European capabilities and dangers.
, Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin
and Admiral Ivan Unkovsky
). Apparently, these treaties were prompted by the forcible opening of Japan in 1854 by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry.
Three changes have found place during the second half of the 19th century, which caused a gradual shift to hostility in the relations between the two countries. Firstly, while Russia had expanded to the shores of the Pacific since 1639, their position in the region had remained weak. This changed from 1860 onwards, as the Russian Empire by the Treaty of Peking acquired from China a long strip of Pacific coastline south of the mouth of the Amur River and began to build the naval base of Vladivostok
. As Vladivostok was not an ice-free port, the Russian Empire was still striving to obtain a more southern (thus Chinese) port. In 1861. Russian Navy tried to establish an anchorage
in Japan's Tsushima Island
as well, but failed.
Secondly, Japan became an emerging industrial and military power since the opening in 1854. Thirdly, China became increasingly internally weak. Due to these changes, competition between the two empires for Chinese territory arose.
and gave Japan control over all the Kuril Islands
. Japan hoped to prevent Russian expansionism in Japanese territories by clearly delineating the border between the two empires.
chose the second policy, largely under the influence of Count Witte. Russia as one of the three European powers of the Triple Intervention
(France and Germany were the other two) pressured Japan to give up some of its territorial gains from that war. Japan eventually ceded the Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur
(both territories were located in south-eastern Manchuria
, a Chinese province) back to China.
Much to Japan's astonishment and consternation, Russia then concluded an alliance with China (in 1896 by the Li-Lobanov Treaty
), which led in 1898 to an occupation and administration (by Russian personnel and police) of the entire Liaodong Peninsula and to a fortification of the ice-free Port Arthur. Russia also established the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway
, which was to cross northern Manchuria from west to east, linking Siberia
with Vladivostok. Germany, France and even Great Britain also took advantage of the weakened China to seize port cities on various pretexts, and to expand their spheres of influence. When in 1899 the Boxer Rebellion
broke out and the European powers sent armed forces to relieve their diplomatic missions in Peking, the Russian government used this as an opportunity to bring a substantial army into Manchuria. As a consequence, Manchuria became a fully incorporated outpost of the Russian Empire in 1900.
, which would last until 1923. The purpose of this alliance was to contain the Russian Empire in East-Asia. In response to this alliance, Russia formed a similar alliance with France and began to renege on agreements to reduce troop strength in Manchuria. From Russian perspective, it seemed inconceivable that Japan, a non-European power which was considered to be undeveloped (i.e. not-industrial), and almost bereft of natural resources, would challenge the Russian Empire. This view would change when Japan started and won the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05).
The war was ended by the Treaty of Portsmouth
. Both Japan and Russia agreed to evacuate Manchuria and return its sovereignty to China, but Japan was leased the Liaodong Peninsula (containing Port Arthur and Talien) and the Russian rail system in southern Manchuria with access to strategic resources. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin
from Russia.
The alliance with Britain had served Japan greatly by discouraging France, Russia's European ally, from intervening in the war as this would mean war with Great Britain. (If France would have intervened, it would have been the second hostile Power which would trigger article 3 of the Treaty.) The alliance was renewed and strengthened in 1905 and 1911. The treaty expired in 1921 and was officially terminated in 1923.
on the British (and thus Russian) side. Since Japan and Russia were allies by convenience, Japan sold a couple of Russian ships, which Japan had captured during the Russo-Japanese War, back to Russia.
During the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), Japan occupied Vladivostok as an Allied Interventionist Force.
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
and the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(1855–1922) were mostly hostile due to the conflicting territorial expansions of both empires. Diplomatic and commercial relations between the two empires were established from 1855 onwards. Though imperial control over Japan was not fully restored until 1867, Japan was at least in name under control of the Japanese emperor and as a consequence it is appropriate to speak of the "Empire of Japan". Though the Russian Empire officially ended in 1917, no successor state appeared until 1922: the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
The relations between the two empires predate the Soviet-Japanese relations (1917–1991) and the Russo-Japanese relations (1992–present).
Establishment of relations (1778-1860)
In the first half of the 19th century, Japan was a secretive island, isolated from the world by its self-imposed SakokuSakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
trade policy. This period of isolation did not allow any trade with foreign countries, with the two exceptions of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Holland. Trade with these two nations was strongly restricted. Holland was only allowed to trade from the artificial island of Deshima in the port of Nagasaki. Entering Japan itself was strictly prohibited.
Halfway through the 19th century, many colonial powers found themselves in an economic malaise and needed new markets to trade their over-produced goods with. The colonial powers quickly realised the potential of the Asian market, and with it, Japan. Japan was economically important since it was situated as a gateway to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. It also had some strong military advantages. In the 19th century, the colonial powers (USA, Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Holland, and Imperial Russia) were fiercely trying to gain as much ground in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
as they could.
Being natural neighbors, Japan and Russia had early interactions before the treaty. There had always been quarrels concerning fishing grounds and territorial claims. Various documents speak of the capture of Japanese fishermen as far away as the Kamchatka Peninsula
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
(полуо́стров Камча́тка). Some of these Japanese captives were taken over the Siberian route to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. There, they were used in the education of Japanese language and culture. A practice also not unknown to Japan itself, which used Russian captives in a similar way. It illustrated a growing curiosity between the two countries.
18th century contacts
Early in the 18th century, Japan was warned of a possible Russian expansion into the Far EastFar East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. A Hungarian adventurer, named Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
Móric Beňovský
Móric Benovský
Maurice Benyovszky, born as Benyovszky Móric Ágost? , was a Hungarian count with Hungarian, Polish and Slovak ancestry. He was a globetrotter, explorer, colonizer, writer, chess player, ruler of a community in Madagascar, a French colonel, Polish military commander, and Austrian soldier...
, was banished by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great to the Kamchatka Peninsula. However, Beňovský was able to escape and eventually showed up in a Japanese harbor on the sub-tropical island of Amami Ōshima
Amami Oshima
is a semi-tropical island in the Amami Islands, which is part of the larger Nansei Islands in Japan. Ōshima literally means big island, and it is the largest of the Amami Islands. It lies roughly halfway between the islands of Okinawa and Kyūshū. Briefly part of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, in 1624 it was...
. He alerted the Dutch on the island of Deshima of the Russian threat to the Far East. The Dutch immediately sent his warnings to the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
and his advisers (bakufu). The Bakufu immediately responded by appointing intellectuals like Hayashi Shihei
Hayashi Shihei
was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain.His name is sometimes misread as Rin Shihei....
to take appropriate defensive measures. The story of Baron Móric Beňovský is a legend. His interactions with the Japanese and his rescue of the inhabitants of Formosa
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
out of the hands of the Chinese should not be taken too seriously. Many of the sources appeared to be false or quite simply impossible. But he did in fact alert the Bakufu of the approaching Russians.
Pavel Lebedev-Lastoschkin (1778-79)
In 1778, a merchant from YakutskYakutsk
With a subarctic climate , Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from in July to in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast...
by the name of Pavel Lebedev-Lastoschkin
Pavel Lebedev-Lastoschkin
Pavel Sergeyevich Lebedev-Lastochkin was a Russian merchant from Yakutsk who, in the late 18th century, became one of the first Russians to make contact with the Japanese...
arrived in Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
with a small expedition. He was told to come back the following year. In 1779, he entered the harbour of Akkeshi, Hokkaidō
Akkeshi, Hokkaido
is a town located in Akkeshi District, Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaidō. As of February 28, 2008 it has an estimated population of 11,323 and an area of 734.82 km². Lake Akkeshi is a Ramsar Site.- History :...
, he offered gifts, and politely asked to trade, but in vain. He was told that trade could only be handled in Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
.
Adam Laksman (1792)
A second Russian-Japanese interaction took place in 1792. A Russian naval officer named Adam Laxman (alternately identified as Adam Laksman) arrived in Hokkaidō. First in the town of Matsumae, HokkaidōMatsumae, Hokkaido
is a town located in Matsumae District, Oshima, Hokkaidō, Japan. The former home of the Matsumae Han, it has an Edo period castle, Matsumae Castle, the only one in Hokkaidō, and Ryūun-in.The total area of the town is .-Geography:...
and later Hakodate, he would attempt a first Russian trade agreement with Japan in order to break the exclusive trade rights of the Dutch. The Russian delegation did not succeed. Japan was enclosed in its Sakoku, isolating the country from any foreign contacts, except for Holland and China. The Japanese suggested that Laxman leave, but Laxman had one demand: he would only leave with a trade-agreement for Russia. After a long time and annoyed by the stubborn Laxsman, the Japanese finally handed over a document stipulating Russia's right to send one Russian vessel of commerce to the harbor of Nagasaki. Secondly, it also restricted Russian commerce to Nagasaki. Trade elsewhere in Japan was prohibited. A final note in the document clearly stated that the practice of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
inside Japan was prohibited. Laxman returned to Russia.
Eventually, the Russians sent their vessel of commerce to Nagasaki, but they were not allowed to enter the harbor. The document was of no value. Should Nagasaki have decided to open its harbor to the Russians, Russia would have been the first European power to break the trade monopoly of the Dutch. Angrily, the Russians returned to the mainland, not without consequence. Sources speak of at least two Russian officers who burned down Japanese fishing villages and fishing boats on the islands of Etorofu
Iturup
Iturup is the largest island of the South Kuril Islands. It is the northernmost island in the southern Kuril/Chishima islands, and though it is presently controlled by Russia, Japan also claims this island...
. These events introduced the Russian-Japanese dispute concerning the Kuril Islands
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...
. To the present day, this dispute remains.
Rezanov
The race to be the first to have the prestigious honor of opening Japan to the world was still a Russian dream. Tsar Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
had started a worldwide Russian representation mission under the lead of Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern , was an admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe.- Life :...
(Крузенштерн). With Japan in mind, Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov was appointed to the mission. He was the founder of Russian-Siberian trade in fur and the ideal man to convince the Japanese.
In 1804, Rezanov got a chance to exercise his diplomatic strength in Japan. On board the ship Nadezhda, he had many gifts for the Bakufu. He even brought along Japanese fishermen who had been stranded in Russia. But Rezanov could not do what so many had tried before him. An agreement was never reached. During the negotiations, the Shogun remained silent for months; next, the Shogun refused any negotiations and finally gave the Russian gifts back. Now Russia acted more assertively, and soon Russian navigators started to explore and map the coasts of the Kuril Islands. In 1819, the Russian colonel Vasily Golovnin
Vasily Golovnin
Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin .-Early life and career:Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was born in April 1776, in the village of Gulyniki in Ryazan Oblast, on his father's country estate. Both his father and grandfather had served in the Russian military as officers in the elite Preobrazhensky...
was exploring Kunashir Island
Kunashir Island
Kunashir Island , possibly meaning Black Island or Grass Island in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands, which are controlled by Russia and claimed by Japan ....
on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
. During these operations the Russians clashed with the Japanese. Golovnin was seized and taken prisoner by samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
. For the following 18 months, he was a prisoner of the Tokugawa
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
Shogun and intended to learn more about Russian language and culture, the state of the European power struggle, and European science. Through Golownin (and the Dutch), Japan could update its knowledge of nations and the world. Golovnin's memoirs (Memoirs of Captivity in Japan During the Years 1811,1812, and 1813) illustrate some of the methods used by Tokugawa officials.
Later on, these unsuccessful attacks would be disavowed by Russia and its interest in Japan would drop for a full generation. This would be the case until the Opium Wars
Opium Wars
The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire...
in 1834. The Russian Tsar Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
realised the territorial expansion of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in Asia and the expansion of the USA in the Pacific Ocean and Northern America. As a result, he founded a committee in 1842 to investigate Russia's power in areas around the Amur and in Sakhalin. The committee proposed a mission to the area under the lead of Putiatin. The plan was not approved because officials did not believe Russia had great commercial assets to be defended in these cold and desolate places. Nonetheless, a small expedition was set up to go to the Amur region. A small plan, but a step closer to a bigger plan. Japan itself didn't remain untouched by the events in Asia. The highly esteemed China was surprisingly (in the eyes of the Japanese) beaten by Great Britain in the Opium Wars. In light of these events, Japan gradually modernized its army with artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
fortresses, artillery schools, and a revision of its coastal defenses. This modernization was supported by the Bakufu, intellectual groups, and even the Japanese emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
himself. Although Japan was in isolation from the outside world, it refused to be blind to European capabilities and dangers.
Yevfimy Putyatin
Russia established diplomatic and commercial relations with Japan by three treaties between 1855 and 1858 (see Treaty of ShimodaTreaty of Shimoda
The Treaty of Shimoda of 1855, formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia , was signed between the Russian Vice-Admiral Euphimy Vasil'evich Putiatin and Toshiakira Kawaji of Japan in the city of Shimoda, Izu Province, Japan, on February 7, 1855...
, Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin
Yevfimy Putyatin
Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin was a Russian admiral noted for his diplomatic missions to Japan and China which resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855.-Early life:...
and Admiral Ivan Unkovsky
Admiral Ivan Unkovsky
Ivan Semyonovich Unkovsky , was an admiral, explorer and surveyor of the Imperial Russian Navy. After his navy years, Unkovsky formed opposition against Tsar Alexander II's legal system, and was exiled from Russia in 1861....
). Apparently, these treaties were prompted by the forcible opening of Japan in 1854 by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry.
Deteriorating relations and war (1860-1914)
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
. As Vladivostok was not an ice-free port, the Russian Empire was still striving to obtain a more southern (thus Chinese) port. In 1861. Russian Navy tried to establish an anchorage
Tsushima Incident
The Tsushima Incident occurred in 1861 when the Russians attempted to establish a year-round anchorage on the coast of the island of Tsushima, a Japanese territory located between Honshu and Korea.-Arrival of the Posadnik:...
in Japan's Tsushima Island
Tsushima Island
Tsushima Island is an island of the Japanese Archipelago situated in the middle of the Tsushima Strait at 34°25'N and 129°20'E. The main island of Tsushima was once a single island, but the island was divided into two in 1671 by the Ōfunakosiseto canal and into three in 1900 by the Manzekiseto canal...
as well, but failed.
Secondly, Japan became an emerging industrial and military power since the opening in 1854. Thirdly, China became increasingly internally weak. Due to these changes, competition between the two empires for Chinese territory arose.
Treaty of Saint Petersburg
In 1875, the Treaty of Saint Petersburg gave Russia territorial control over all of SakhalinSakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
and gave Japan control over all the Kuril Islands
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...
. Japan hoped to prevent Russian expansionism in Japanese territories by clearly delineating the border between the two empires.
The First Sino-Japanese War
Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95). After this war Russia faced the choice of collaborating with Japan (with which relations had been fairly good for some years) at the expense of China or assuming the role of protector of China against Japan. The tsarTsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
chose the second policy, largely under the influence of Count Witte. Russia as one of the three European powers of the Triple Intervention
Triple Intervention
The was a diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France on 23 April 1895 over the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed between Japan and Qing dynasty China that ended the First Sino-Japanese War.-Treaty of Shimonoseki:...
(France and Germany were the other two) pressured Japan to give up some of its territorial gains from that war. Japan eventually ceded the Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur
Lüshunkou
Lüshunkou is a district in the municipality of Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Also called Lüshun City or Lüshun Port, it was formerly known as both Port Arthur and Ryojun....
(both territories were located in south-eastern Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, a Chinese province) back to China.
Much to Japan's astonishment and consternation, Russia then concluded an alliance with China (in 1896 by the Li-Lobanov Treaty
Li-Lobanov Treaty
The Li–Lobanov Treaty or the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty was a treaty signed on June 3, 1896 in Moscow by foreign minister Alexey Lobanov-Rostovsky and finance minister Sergey Witte on behalf of the Russian Empire and viceroy Li Hongzhang on behalf of China...
), which led in 1898 to an occupation and administration (by Russian personnel and police) of the entire Liaodong Peninsula and to a fortification of the ice-free Port Arthur. Russia also established the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway
Chinese Eastern Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or was a railway in northeastern China . It connected Chita and the Russian Far East. English-speakers have sometimes referred to this line as the Manchurian Railway...
, which was to cross northern Manchuria from west to east, linking Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
with Vladivostok. Germany, France and even Great Britain also took advantage of the weakened China to seize port cities on various pretexts, and to expand their spheres of influence. When in 1899 the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
broke out and the European powers sent armed forces to relieve their diplomatic missions in Peking, the Russian government used this as an opportunity to bring a substantial army into Manchuria. As a consequence, Manchuria became a fully incorporated outpost of the Russian Empire in 1900.
Japanese containment of Russia
In 1902 Japan and the British Empire forged the Anglo-Japanese AllianceAnglo-Japanese Alliance
The first was signed in London at what is now the Lansdowne Club, on January 30, 1902, by Lord Lansdowne and Hayashi Tadasu . A diplomatic milestone for its ending of Britain's splendid isolation, the alliance was renewed and extended in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921...
, which would last until 1923. The purpose of this alliance was to contain the Russian Empire in East-Asia. In response to this alliance, Russia formed a similar alliance with France and began to renege on agreements to reduce troop strength in Manchuria. From Russian perspective, it seemed inconceivable that Japan, a non-European power which was considered to be undeveloped (i.e. not-industrial), and almost bereft of natural resources, would challenge the Russian Empire. This view would change when Japan started and won the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05).
The war was ended by the Treaty of Portsmouth
Treaty of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905 after negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine in the USA.-Negotiations:...
. Both Japan and Russia agreed to evacuate Manchuria and return its sovereignty to China, but Japan was leased the Liaodong Peninsula (containing Port Arthur and Talien) and the Russian rail system in southern Manchuria with access to strategic resources. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
from Russia.
The alliance with Britain had served Japan greatly by discouraging France, Russia's European ally, from intervening in the war as this would mean war with Great Britain. (If France would have intervened, it would have been the second hostile Power which would trigger article 3 of the Treaty.) The alliance was renewed and strengthened in 1905 and 1911. The treaty expired in 1921 and was officially terminated in 1923.
World War I (1914-1917)
The alliance with Britain prompted Japan to enter World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on the British (and thus Russian) side. Since Japan and Russia were allies by convenience, Japan sold a couple of Russian ships, which Japan had captured during the Russo-Japanese War, back to Russia.
Russian Civil War (1917-1922)
Russia
- Russian history, 1855-1892Russian history, 1855-1892-Economic development:Russia's population growth rate from 1850 to 1910 was the fastest of all the major powers except for the United States. Between 1850 and 1900, Russia's population doubled, but it remained chiefly rural well into the twentieth century....
- Russian history, 1892-1917Russian history, 1892-1917-Radical revolutionary parties:During the 1890s, Russia's industrial development led to a large increase in the size of the urban bourgeoisie and the working class, which gave rise to a more dynamic political atmosphere and the development of radical parties...
- Sino-Russian relationsSino-Russian relationsContact between China and Russia began in 1618, when the Tsardom of Russia sent Ivan Petlin to the court of the Chinese Ming emperor as its first official representative. Prior to the 1600s, most of Siberia was controlled by independent tribes...
- Russia–United States relations
Japan
- SakokuSakokuwas the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
- Japan–United Kingdom relations
- People's Republic of China–Japan relations
- Japan–United States relations