But as a Chinese, there are two things that we must remember. The first thing is the signing of the Treaty of Lhasa, and the second thing is the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

AD 1904 was a very ordinary year, so ordinary that many people didn’t know what happened in that year; but as a Chinese, there are two things that we must remember. The first thing is The second thing that happened after the signing of the Treaty of Lhasa was the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

Some people may ask, what does the Russo-Japanese War have to do with us? On the surface, this was a war between Japan and the then Russian Empire , not to mention that the Qing Dynasty also issued a statement declaring outsider neutrality; but in fact, it was precisely because of this statement from the Qing Dynasty that it was even more humiliating. No less than ceding territory and paying compensation.

Because the main battlefield of this war was within the territory of the Qing Dynasty, more precisely in the Northeast; the battle between the two countries was in a third country. How incompetent this third country must be. What's more, the reason why the war broke out between Japan and the Russian Empire was to compete for the interests of the Northeastern region of the Qing Dynasty.

Although this is a battle for interests, the war between the two sides is very fierce. The Russian Empire is an old European power. It was once known as the "European Gendarmerie". The total standing army strength is about 1.05 million people, and the reserve force reaches 375. Ten thousand people, which was definitely a terrifying number at the time. In addition, the Russian Imperial Navy had 361 ships of various types, with a total tonnage of more than 800,000 tons.

As a newly emerging power, Japan has a very strong desire to replace the established powers, or to truly be promoted to a world power, and its military size is naturally not small. At that time, Japan had a population of 44 million, an army with a total strength of about 375,000, and more than 2 million reserve troops that could be mobilized during wartime. The navy had about 152 warships with a total tonnage of more than 260,000 tons.

From the data, Japan's scale is far smaller than that of the Russian Empire, but Japan has its own advantages. Japan's land area is far smaller than that of the Russian Empire, so the Russian Empire's army seems to be large, but in fact it does not count mobile troops. There are many, and the core of the Russian Empire is west of the Ural Mountains, or in Europe. The army should be concentrated in Europe.

Before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Empire had only more than 98,000 regular army troops and 24,000 garrison troops in the Far East . Other weapons and equipment were also very few, so this was Japan's opportunity. But if these troops can sustain until the Russian Empire sends reinforcements, it will be the end of the Japanese army.

Why? Because although Japan's national power has greatly increased after the Meiji Restoration, and then relied on the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" to obtain 230 million taels of silver from the Qing Dynasty, its foundation is still too poor to compete with the old brands. Compared with powerful countries, as long as the Russian Empire can drag Japan into a long-term tug of war, the only outcome waiting for Japan is national bankruptcy.

Japan also knew this very well, so Japan used a legendary spy Akashi Genjiro lurking in the Russian Empire. This Akashi Genjiro was a real genius agent, the king among agents; during the Russo-Japanese War, he It funded the launch of the Russian Revolution of 1905, which turned the hinterland of the Russian Empire upside down, leaving the Russian Empire with no energy to dispatch troops to the Far East.

However, Japan still has a huge threat, and that is the navy of the Russian Empire. As mentioned earlier, the size of the Russian Imperial Navy far exceeds that of Japan; but in fact, most of the Russian Imperial Navy warships are old models, and their overall strength is at best It can barely be regarded as a second-rate navy, and although the total tonnage of the Japanese navy is far less than that of the Russian Empire, most of them are new ships built in the United Kingdom, with good performance and unified specifications.

Moreover, the Russian Imperial Navy had a blind contempt for the Japanese Navy. Not only did it not dispatch the main fleet, it was even very disorganized, which also gave the Japanese Navy an opportunity.

The fighting mentality of both sides is also a key point. Japan almost fought with all its strength with a desperate mentality, while the Russian army went from being disorganized at the beginning to being shocked and defeated later.

Even most of the Chinese in the Northeast region at that time were helping Japan. Generally speaking, in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan had the right time (Russian civil strife), geographical location (close distance), and people (received a lot of help), and was the only one. The shortcoming is that he lacks the foundation to fight a protracted war, and this is made up for by the genius agent Akashi Genjiro.

After reading so much analysis, do you think Japan won too easily? It’s not necessary, because there is a twist in the plot. Although the Russian Empire was unable to dispatch many reinforcements due to civil strife, the Russian army in the Far East eventually reached 788,000, and Japan also increased to 750,000; after a tragic war , the Russian army lost about 270,000 people, including more than 50,000 killed in action, and the Japanese army lost 270,000 people, including more than 86,000 killed.

What's more critical is that in order to defeat the Russian Empire, Japan was forced to borrow a large amount of loans ($410 million) from the United Kingdom and the United States. In fact, although the Russian Empire was defeated, it did not pay any compensation to Japan. Of course, the worst was the Qing Dynasty. According to subsequent statistics, at least 20,000 people died in the war in the Northeast, and property losses amounted to 69 million taels of silver...

Postscript: The defeat of the Russian Empire directly triggered the outbreak of the subsequent revolution. The Russian Empire ultimately perish. Although Japan did not receive compensation, its international status improved and its market expanded, allowing Japan's economy and industry to develop rapidly, and it has truly entered the ranks of powerful countries since then. It can be seen that what can really change the destiny of a country and a nation is war.