Empire of Japan–Russian Empire relations

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Russian Empire–Imperial Japan relations
Map indicating locations of Russian Empire and Empire of Japan

Russia
Japan

Relations between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire (1855–1917) were minimal until 1855, mostly friendly from 1855 to the early 1890s, but then turned hostile, largely over the status of Manchuria and of Korea. The two empires established diplomatic and commercial relations from 1855 onwards. The Russian Empire officially ended in 1917, and was succeeded by Communist rule formalized in 1922 with the formation of the Soviet Union.

For later periods, see Japan–Soviet Union relations (1922–1991) and Japan–Russia relations (1992–present).

Historical relations

Establishment of relations (1778–1860)

From the beginning of the 17th century, the

Nagasaki. Entering Japan itself was strictly prohibited. From the early 19th century, the western colonial powers especially Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Russia, were expanding politically and economically into new markets, and were seeking to impose hegemony over much of Asia. Japan was important due to its strategic location off the China coast, with a large and untapped economic potential. As neighbors, Japan and Russia had early interactions, usually disputes over fishing grounds and territorial claims. Various documents speak of the capture of Japanese fishermen on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Some of these Japanese captives were taken to Saint Petersburg, where they were used in the teaching of Japanese language and culture.[1]

18th century contacts

Russians meeting Japanese in 1779.

In 1778,

Akkeshi, he offered gifts, and asked to trade, but was told that foreign trade would be only permitted in Nagasaki.[2]

Japanese painting of Adam Laxman, 1792

A second episode took place in 1792 concerning

Matsumae and later Hakodate, returning two Japanese castaways to their home country, he attempted to establish a Russian trade agreement with Japan in order to break the exclusive trade rights of the Dutch. The Japanese suggested that Laxman leave, but Laxman had one demand: he would only leave with a trade agreement for Russia. 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. Eventually, the Russians sent their vessel of commerce to Nagasaki, but they were not allowed to enter the harbor. The promise was of no value.[3]

Tsar

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.[4]

In 1804, Rezanov got a chance to exercise his diplomatic strength in Japan. On board the ship

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 remained a prisoner in Japan, where officials of the Tokugawa Shōgun questioned him about the Russian language and culture, the state of the European power struggles, and European scientific and technical developments. Golovnin's memoirs (Memoirs of Captivity in Japan During the Years 1811, 1812, and 1813) illustrate some of the methods used by Tokugawa officials.[5]

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

Yevfimy Putyatin. The plan was not approved because officials expressed concerns it would disrupt the Kyakhta trade, and many did not believe Russia had great commercial assets to be defended in these cold and desolate places. The highly esteemed China was surprisingly (in the eyes of the Japanese) beaten by Great Britain in the Opium Wars. Although Japan was in isolation from the outside world, it was not blind to European capabilities and dangers. In light of these events, Japan began modernization of its military and coastal defenses.[6]
)

Yevfimy Putyatin

Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia
("Treaty of Shimoda"), 7 February 1855.

In 1852, on learning of American plans to send Commodore

Matthew Perry in an attempt to open Japan for foreign trade, the Russian government revived Putyatin's proposal, which received support from Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia. The expedition included several notable Sinologists and a number of scientists and engineers, as well as the noted author Ivan Goncharov, and the Pallada under the command of Ivan Unkovsky was selected as the flagship. After many mishaps, Putyatin signed three treaties between 1855 and 1858 by which Russia established diplomatic and commercial relations with Japan. (see Treaty of Shimoda)[7]

Deteriorating relations and war (1860–1914)

Three changes took place during the second half of the 19th century, which caused a gradual shift to hostility in the relations between the two countries. While Russia had expanded to the shores of the Pacific since 1639, their position in the region had remained weak, with perhaps 100,000 settlers and a very long supply line. This changed from 1860 onwards, as Russia by the

to establish an anchorage, but failed largely due to political pressure from Great Britain and other western powers. Japan very rapidly became an emerging industrial and military power, borrowing and adapting the best technology and organizational ideas of Western Europe. Meanwhile, China became increasingly internally weak and was too weak militarily and economically to defend its vast holdings.[8]

Treaty of Saint Petersburg

Main article: Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875)
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875).

In 1875, the Treaty of Saint Petersburg gave Russia territorial control over all of Sakhalin 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.[9]

Tensions escalated in 1890s

Port Arthur
(both territories were located in south-eastern Manchuria, a Chinese province) back to China. China later leased it to Russia. This new Russian role angered Tokyo, which decided Russia was the main enemy in its quest to control Manchuria, Korea and China. Witte underestimated Japan's growing economic and military power while exaggerating Russia's military prowess.

Russia concluded an alliance with China (in 1896 by the

Peking. Russia 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, and Japan made ready to fight Russia.[11]

Japanese containment of Russia

Main articles: Anglo-Japanese Alliance and Russo-Japanese War

In 1902 Japan and the British Empire forged the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 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).[12]]

War with Russia 1904-1905

Main article: Russo-Japanese War

In 1895, Japan felt robbed of the spoils of her decisive victory over China by the Western Powers (including Russia), which revised the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 saw Japan and Russia as allies who fought together against the Chinese, with Russians playing the leading role on the battlefield.[13]

In the 1890s, Japan was angered at Russian encroachment on its plans to create a sphere of influence in Korea and Manchuria. Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government decided on war to stop the perceived Russian threat to its plans for expansion into Asia.[14]

After negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at

Tsar Nicholas II kept on with the expectation that Russia would win decisive naval battles, and when that proved illusory he fought to preserve the dignity of Russia by averting a "humiliating peace". The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. It was the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one.[15]

In 1905, U.S. President

South Manchurian Railway in southern Manchuria with access to strategic resources. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin from Russia. Japan dropped its demand for an indemnity. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for his successful efforts. Historian George E. Mowry concludes that Roosevelt handled the arbitration well, doing an "excellent job of balancing Russian and Japanese power in the Orient, where the supremacy of either constituted a threat to growing America."[16][17]
The alliance with Britain had served Japan greatly by discouraging France, Russia's European ally, from intervening in the war with Russia as this would mean war with Great Britain. (If France had intervened, it would have been the second hostile Power, and, as such, would have triggered Article 3 of the Treaty.)

Relations were good 1905–1917, as the two countries divided up Manchuria and Outer Mongolia.[18]

World War I (1914–1917)

Main article: World War I

The alliance with Britain prompted Japan to enter World War I on the British (and thus Russian) side. Since Japan and Russia had become allies by convenience, Japan sold back to Russia a number of former Russian ships, which Japan had captured during the Russo-Japanese War. Due to the lack of supplies in the Eastern Front, Russia also ordered rifles, carbines, ammunitions, mountain guns and howitzers from Japan during the war in 1916.[19]
For 1917–1991, see Japan–Soviet Union relations.

Notes

  1. ^ Marius B. Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan (2000) pp 258-64.
  2. ISBN 9781602230668
    .
  3. ISBN 9780415297301
    .
  4. ^ George A. Lensen, "Early Russo-Japanese Relations" Far Eastern Quarterly 10#1 (1950), pp. 2-37.
  5. ISBN 9781108497572
    .
  6. ^ G.B. Sansom, The Western World and Japan, a Study in the Interaction of European and Asiatic Cultures (1949), pp 212-14, 232, 243-45.
  7. ISBN 9781135071615
    .
  8. ^ John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reischauer and Albert M. Craig (1979). A History of East Asian Civilization: East Asia: The modern transformation. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 468–70.
  9. ISBN 9781317272670
    .
  10. ISBN 9780198221685
    .
  11. ^ B. V. Ananich, and S. A. Lebedev, "Sergei Witte and the Russo-Japanese War." International Journal of Korean History 7.1 (2005): 109-131. Online Archived 2019-08-09 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Gordon Daniels et al. "Studies in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923)" (London School of Economics, 2002) online Archived 2019-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Petr E. Podalko, "‘Weak ally’ or ‘strong enemy?’: Japan in the eyes of Russian diplomats and military agents, 1900-1907." Japan Forum 28#3 (2016).
  14. ^ Ian Hill Nish, The Origins of the Russo–Japanese War (1985).
  15. ^ Geoffrey Jukes, The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 (2002) excerpt
  16. ^ George E. Mowry, "The First Roosevelt," The American Mercury, (November 1946) quote at p. 580
  17. ^ Eugene P. Trani, The Treaty of Portsmouth: An Adventure in American Diplomacy (1969).
  18. ^ David J. Dallin, The Rise of Russia in Asia (1949) pp 87-122.
  19. ^ Baryshev Eduard, Transformation in Russian and Soviet Military History, USAF Academy, The Issue of Armaments Supply in Russo-Japanese Relations during the First World War (August 1914 – March 1917)

Further reading

See also

Russia

Japan

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