In what ways did the Russo-Japanese War precipitate revolution in 1905?
by
scb6 (student)
In what ways did the Russo-Japanese War precipitate revolution in 1905?
Although the Russo-Japanese War wasn’t the only motivation for the 1905 revolution, it was certainly one of the most dominant factors. Russia’s humiliating defeat acted as a catalyst to the breakdown of her society.
The war, itself, did not prompt the revolution; it was the fact that Russia lost, to a much smaller – and almost inferior – country. Russia, a Great Power, could not conquer Japan, a less significant, less developed country. Japan didn’t have the resources or the power that Russia had, so how was it that the Japanese were victorious? That was the question that Russia was faced with after the realisation of their defeat. The people of Russia were angry and embarrassed.
The Russo-Japanese war, on Russia’s part, was a catastrophic, shambolic disaster. For a start, the Russians were extremely arrogant, and thought that the war would be an easy victory. Kuropatkin (Russian Imperial Minister of War) claimed that Russia would need only two soldiers for every three Japanese. The military was poorly trained and poorly equipped, and there were communication issues, as expected when running a war which is happening 6000 miles away. The sheer arrogance and foolishness of the Russian Court, however, wasn’t Russia’s biggest problem. Their biggest problem was the absolute incompetence of the High Command, which strictly followed the military policies of the nineteenth century which cost thousands of Russian lives.
