My Italian: Chapter 492 Russo-Japanese War ends

When the time came to August, a piece of news caused a sensation in the whole world. The Russians could not bear the war in the Far East and planned to negotiate a peace.

That's right, this news has attracted the attention of the world, because the strength of the two does not match. Russia has the reputation of being a European steamroller. Although Russia lost a lot in the Crimean War decades ago, it was a joint effort between Britain and France. The boss and the second united to fight the third.

And then Russia beat Osman again, showing that he is still the bear that cannot be ignored.

But this time, Russia was defeated by an emerging country, which surprised European countries. Moreover, this emerging country, Japan, defeated Mao Xiong without any direct help, which made all countries look at Japan.

In fact, there is no way for Mao Xiong to be forced to sue for peace, because before, they lost a lot in naval and land battles, and they never won a decent victory. The Russian army is even more unfavorable, because the Japanese Third Army, which was restrained by Lushun, was liberated.

As far as the Japanese army is concerned, to gain a strategic advantage, it is of course necessary to expand the results of the battle and let Russia stand at the negotiating table as soon as possible. I thought that as the war progressed, the Japanese government could no longer afford it. By the time Lushun was conquered, the Japanese government had already spent 1.52 billion yen on the war, and the national treasury was already empty. If the British government had not secretly supported Japan in issuing war bonds in London, Japan would have declared bankruptcy long ago. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Finance, even if there are peace talks now, the debts that Japan bears will require the Ministry of Finance to spend about 35% of its total fiscal revenue every year for debt repayment and interest payments.

Therefore, it has become the consensus of the Japanese government to defeat Russia as soon as possible and end this war.

As the commander of the Manchurian Army, General Dashanyan certainly knew this, so the Third Army, which had just finished the offensive and defensive battle in Lushun, had no time to catch its breath, and was ordered to rush to the front line of Fengtian, preparing to drive the Russian army out of Fengtian. For this reason, at the end of February, the Japanese army assembled 235,000 people from five group armies and 982 artillery pieces on the front line of Shahe, and completed the offensive preparations.

On the opposite side of them, there were 290,000 Russian troops led by General Kuropatkin, with 1,437 artillery pieces, and organized position defense on the front 150 kilometers south of Fengtian.

From the perspective of military strength and equipment, the Japanese army was at a disadvantage and dared to take the lead in launching an offensive.

Of course, there must be a reason why the Japanese army dared to attack. The Russian army was internally corrupt and incompetent, and the morale of its officers and soldiers was very low after several defeats. Since ancient times, in wars, when the gap in strength between the two armies is not too large, the side with high morale has the advantage. So starting from March 2, the two sides started a big battle around Fengtian.

After 16 days of fighting, the Russian army was defeated. After paying the price of more than 90,000 casualties, they were forced to withdraw from the Fengtian line and retreated all the way to Siping.

The victorious Japanese army was also uncomfortable, with more than 70,000 casualties, and was unable to catch up with the retreating Russian army.

The main reason for the higher casualties of the Japanese army than in history is the reason for the training equipment of the Japanese army. Because Japan's finances are lower than in history, even less is allocated to the army. In the case of reduced funds, it is necessary to expand the army on a large scale, so many places can save as much as possible, and the training intensity has also been reduced a lot. Even in the latter part of the war, there were quite a few recruits who were drawn to the battlefield before they even touched their guns a few times after three or four weeks of training.

On the other hand, the Russian army is equipped with a lot of machine guns. The well-known Maxim machine guns were equipped with more than 300 Russian troops on the front line of Fengtian. These machine guns, which served as fire support points, made the charging Japanese army suffer so much that the Russian soldiers operating the Maxim machine guns surrendered Afterwards, he was killed by enraged Japanese officers and soldiers.

On land, the Japanese and Russian armies are now unable to fight. Faced with this situation, Russia can only place its hope on the sea, because everything can only be counted on the sea, because the Second Pacific led by Lieutenant General Roger Stvinsky The fleet finally arrived in the Far East.

The huge Second Pacific Fleet has a total tonnage of 360,000 tons, and has 59 combat ships including 11 battleships and 5 large armored cruisers. Its size is nearly twice that of the United Fleet.

Although among these warships, there are quite a few fake ones, but such a huge warship size puts a lot of pressure on the United Fleet. For this reason, Togo Heihachiro, the commander of the joint fleet, stepped up to urge the shipbuilders to repair the two Genoa-class battleships as soon as possible to supplement the strength of his joint fleet. On the one hand, he judged and analyzed the route of the Russian fleet.

At this time, because Lushun Port had fallen into the hands of the Japanese army, the Russian fleet could only sail to Vladivostok. There are two shipping routes to Vladivostok: either enter the Sea of ​​Japan through the Tsushima Strait, or enter the Sea of ​​Japan via the Soya or Tsugaru Strait from near Hokkaido.

Togo Heihachiro judged that Roger Stvinsky would definitely take the Tsushima Strait, so he concentrated the combined fleet on the Tsushima Island and the Zhenhai Bay of North Korea, waiting for the arrival of the war. In addition, he also sent 4 armed merchant ships and 2 old cruisers to reconnaissance in the East China Sea in order to determine the position of the Russian fleet.

While Togo Heihachiro was waiting for the arrival of the Russian fleet, Roger Stevinsky led the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which was undergoing repairs in Manila.

Because the Russian fleet is too large, the dock in the port cannot repair and maintain all the warships. Roger Stvinsky can only give priority to more advanced battleships for maintenance, so three Genoa-class battleships, two Borodino-class battleships, and three Garibaldi-class cruisers are given priority for maintenance. In addition, the Russian officers and soldiers who had been exhausted for a long time also got a chance to recuperate. These Russian naval officers and soldiers who were almost collapsed even spent their only energy in taverns, prostitutes and gambling.

Of course, with the influx of a large number of Russian officers and soldiers into Manila, there are also a lot of dirty things, such as robbery, extortion, fighting, **** (harmonious) and many other things, are done by these Russians. More than 30 Russian officers and soldiers were arrested. So much so that the governor of Manila sent Roger Stevinsky a serious warning for this. If he does not stop them, they will be driven out of Manila.

Faced with the threat of the Governor of Manila, Roger Stvinsky sent the military police on board the ship to capture these old sailors and punish them, so that these presumptuous sailors finally learned to restrain themselves.

But the good time in Manila didn't last long, and a telegram from St. Petersburg disrupted Roger Stvinsky's good mood. The Tsar ordered them to rush to Vladivostok as soon as possible in order to launch an offensive against Japan from the sea.

Faced with the tsar's strict order, Roger Stvinsky had no choice but to order the officers and soldiers to return to the ship. As for the officers and soldiers arrested by the police station, they were released back to the ship after paying a high bail.

Roger Stvinsky then set off and headed for Vladivostok with a huge fleet. However, at any rate, I still have common sense in naval warfare, knowing that huge auxiliary ships will only drag my footsteps, so after leaving Manila, except for the four faster transport ships and two medical ships, the other auxiliary ships were released. to let it go.

The news that the Russian fleet departed from Manila was quickly learned by Japan.

All the battleships of the United Fleet have already been gearing up, waiting for the Russian army coming from the east and giving them a hard blow. Let me say one more thing here, the two Genoa-class battleships were finally repaired before the Russian ship set off from Manila. Togo Heihachiro, who had two more battleships, was of course overjoyed, and now he is more confident.

On the night of June 12, Roger Stvinsky led the Russian fleet quietly intending to cross the Tsushima Strait, but Japanese armed merchant ships discovered a hospital ship in the Russian fleet. Although Roger Stvinsky ordered a blackout, the hospital ship with the lady was spotted by the Japanese ship because of its bright lights. After some careful judgment, the armed merchant ship sent a telegram that the Russian fleet was sailing northeast.

After receiving the news of the Russian ship, all members of the United Fleet were dispatched, and finally discovered the Russian fleet in the early morning of the 13th. So in the Tsushima Strait, the largest naval battle of the twentieth century began.

Next, Togo Heihachiro raised the Z-flag on the flagship Japanese battleship Mikasa, and issued the famous order. The rise and fall of the imperial kingdom will be fought here, and all members will work hard together.

The naval battle started at eleven o'clock in the morning and continued until nightfall. After a tough naval battle, the United Fleet won this naval battle. More than 40 Russian ships were sunk and captured, 5879 people were killed and 7137 were captured.

Under the leadership of Major General Nobogatov, the Russian ships Eagle (formerly the Italian Garibaldi-class Francisco), the Oslijavia (formerly the Italian Genoa-class Bologna), the Nicholas I, the Auriel, Apraksin, Sinyavin, Great Sisoy, Navarin, Admiral Nakhimov and cruiser Emerald fled towards Vladivostok.

Major General Ankwest had already left the battlefield before nightfall, and led the cruisers Orzi, Aurora and Pearl to the south, and finally sailed to Manila to be disarmed.

In the huge Russian Second Pacific Fleet, the total tonnage of the remaining battleships is only more than 90,000 tons, and they are basically old warships. It can be said that he has lost a lot, and he has no power to fight back.

Of course, the United Fleet won this naval battle without paying a price. More than ten warships including Shikishima, Yakumo, Asama, Takachiho, and Zhenyuan were sunk in this naval battle. The Japanese army suffered 2,741 casualties and lost more than 40,000 tons of tonnage.

There are two main reasons for the combined fleet's greater casualties than in history. One is that the morale of the Russian fleet has been restored to a certain extent because it took a long time to repair in Manila. Secondly, the number of Russian warships is relatively large, and the tonnage is also dominant, so it is completely normal to have the idea of ​​​​trying to compete.

The sea and land were hit hard, so that Russia could no longer see the hope of winning. At this time, there were also internal problems in Russia. The revolutionary sentiment in Russia was originally high. The Russian government intended to use the victory of a war to alleviate internal conflicts, but successive defeats on the battlefield made domestic problems more prominent.

In December 1903, there was a strike in St. Petersburg, and then the number of people who agreed with the strike continued to increase, and the number of strikers climbed to 80,000.

On January 12, 1904, Orthodox clergyman Father Geppang led a worker organization of about 30,000 people to a peaceful demonstration in the square outside the Winter Palace.

Nicholas II has moved to Tsarskoye since January 8, and was not in the Winter Palace on the day of the peaceful demonstration. At that time, the armed soldiers who were in charge of guarding the palace lined up to confront the demonstrators, and the gathered crowd had gradually increased to 200,000. Soldiers later fired warning shots into the air and soon after opened fire on crowds who jostled as they fled in panic. It is conservatively estimated that there were about 1,000 casualties at that time. This **** suppression event aroused public outrage, the Russian people no longer looked to the tsar, and a series of large-scale strikes took place everywhere.

In Łódź, a major industrial town in Poland, workers went on strike with the slogan "Down with dictatorship! Down with war!" At the same time, strikes, demonstrations or marches took place in Warsaw and other industrial centers. On January 28 of the same year, under the instigation of the Socialist Party of Poland, the Kingdom of Poland and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, a large-scale strike was called. More than 400,000 workers across Poland joined and lasted for 4 weeks.

At that time, the demonstrators also demanded to improve the workers' environment and give more autonomy to the Poles. In February, Polish university students joined the demonstrations, and later even middle school and elementary school students joined. The students protested against Russification and demanded the right to learn Polish.

When the domestic turmoil occurred one after another, even Tsar Nicholas II wanted to continue fighting, but he was unable to do what he wanted.

So in the end, only under the mediation of the United States, Russia had to ask for peace talks.

So from August 19, Japan and Russia formally held peace talks in Portsmouth, USA, and signed the "Portsmouth Peace Treaty" on September 9. It declared the end of the Russo-Japanese War, which had been going on for more than a year.

The Treaty of Portsmouth stipulates that Russia recognizes that Japan enjoys "excellent political, military and economic interests in North Korea~www.mtlnovel.com~ and shall not hinder or interfere in Japan's handling of North Korea.

In addition, Russia transferred the lease rights of Lushunkou, Dalian Bay and its adjacent territorial waters and other related privileges to the Japanese government. The railway from Changchun (Kuanchengzi) to Lvshunkou and all branch lines, as well as all ancillary rights, properties and coal mines, shall be transferred to the Japanese government. In addition, the treaty also stipulated that Russia's leasehold rights to the Liaodong Peninsula and all nearby islands would be permanently relinquished to Japan.

The significance of this war is that besides establishing Japan's status as a powerful country, the more important thing is that "for the first time in history, an Asian country defeated a European country, and it was a big empire.

Of course, it is not easy for Japan to win this victory.

In this war, the two sides can be said to go all out.

Russia invested a total of 1.2 million troops, with 270,000 casualties and prisoners, 103 ships lost, and military expenditures of 2.3 billion rubles; Japan participated in the war with a total of 1.09 million troops and 276,000 casualties (97,000 were killed). 96 ships were lost, and the military expenditure was 1.93 billion yen.

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