Aftermath.

General Alexey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin.

Now Kuropatkin had no other mandate than to hold onto what they still had in Manchuria, and to attempt to save as mush as possible of what remained of Russian dignity. He now had three armies under his overall command totalling 310,000 men, which were now pitted against the combined Japanese forces, including Nogi’s Third Army, of some 300,000. On February 23^rd 1905 the great battle of Mukden opened along a 40-mile front, with both sides dug-in and supplied with hundreds of artillery pieces. The battle lasted until March 10^th when strong Japanese pressure finally allowed them to cut the railway line to the north of Mukden. Now faced with the possibility of being surrounded Kuropatkin ordered a retreat, and fell back to cover his rail link with the town of Harbin. The cost of this, the greatest battle of the war was high. The Japanese lost over 15,000 killed and almost 60,000 wounded, the Russians lost 40,000 killed and captured, plus over 48,000 wounded.

The final act of the drama took place on 26^th May, when the Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo attacked the Russian Baltic fleet, which had entered the China Sea on May 9th. The result was the Battle of Tsushima, and the destruction of the Russian fleet. These events in turn now brought about both sides considering sitting down at the peace negotiation table. On June 10^th American President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and set up and oversaw the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which took place on 29^th August 1905.

Two minor events took place, which were to have an impact far greater than was realised at the time. The first was in the form of an argument that took place on Mukden railway station between the future Russian army commanders Rennenkampf and Samsonov. It will probably never be known what caused them to become involved in a dispute that almost led to blows, but it must have been, at least to these two men, a matter of pride and honour. It was still simmering on at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, and during the battle of Tannenburg could have had much to do with Rennenkampf’s dilatory behaviour when he failed to move rapidly to the support of Samsonov’s army which was about to be surrounded and destroyed.

The seconded incident occurred when Count Marusuke Nogi, the general who had captured Port Arthur, committed ritual suicide after the death of his emperor Meiji. This spectacular act of the old samurai warrior caused the old feudal beliefs and practices known as bushido (the way of the warrior) to become once more linked with the imperial house of Japan. Its effects were to prove disastrous for many young men, women and children during the Second World War, when they choose to sacrifice their lives for their emperor.

 

Graham J. Morris January 2005