May 28: Today´s date is the anniversary of the end of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, which produced the first Russian Revolution by the humiliating defeat they received from the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905).

The Battle of Tsushima in 1905 was the result of the rivalry between the empires of Russia and Japan. The Japanese destroyed the Russian fleet causing a humiliating defeat to Russia´s Empire of the Tsars. The rivalry came by the ambition to take over Manchuria and Korea. Indeed, the war lasted 18 months with an overwhelming Japanese victory that surprised the world observers.

The Revolution of 1868, driven by Emperor Meiji, produced innumerable changes in the cultural, economic, military, and social society in Japan. The Meiji Emperor ordered commissions to copy Western constitutions and progress. So he left behind the ostracism of the old Japanese nation.

The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905

Imperial Russia had been expanding from Poland to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the East. Additionally, the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway scared Japan, which produced the declaration of war. That war was an outstanding lesson to the world. It was actually the beginning of the Russian revolutions against the totalitarian Tsarism, inefficient, and unable to understand democratic participation, which eventually led to the demise of the tsars.

Scene of the Battle of Tsushima

Consequently, the balance of power in East Asia was transformed with the emergence of Japan as a new military world power.

Russo japanese war 1904 1905 leonard a lauder collection of Japanese