Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War (Japanese: 日露戦争/Russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá) is a war between Japan and the Russian Empire between 1902 to 1905 lasting 3 years. It is the first war won by an Asian country against a European nation with Japan as the victorious power and the Russians as a fading colonial power.

Russians in China
The 1881 treaty of Saint Petersburg established Qingniwaqiao and Haishenwai as Russian port cities, and also gave Russia permission to construct a railroad in Manchuria. The goal of this was not only to establish a warm water port, but in the case of Haishenwai, was to establish a border with Korea in order for Russia to expand their influence into the Region. Japan however became an issue in these plans, as after Defeating the Qing in 1895, established their presence in Korea, as well as in Karafuto which threatened the Russians. During the Chinese civil war and after, Russia in order to protect its interests in Manchuria and Korea, bolstered its numbers along the railroad and in its ports, which made the Japanese worry.

Anglo-Japanese Alliance
In 1902 the Japanese and English signed the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which bolstered Japans confidence when it came to its Russian policy. Negotiations were attempted to get Russia to back off a bit from the Region, however the Russians, confident that Japan would not act, simply shrugged off the Japanese as they continued their plans to establish their dominance in East-Asia.

Start of the war
Despite negotiations between the Russians and the Japanese, the Russians refused to give in to the Japanese leading to the negotiation to end in a complete disaster in 1904. On February 4th 1904, the Japanese launched a Surprise attack on the Russians at Qingniwaqiao, now known as Port Arthur, using Torpedo boats to sink Russian ships. The Japanese had failed to sink much, but it had successfully dissuaded the Russians from moving their fleet out of the port, and the Japanese had managed to sink the Tsesarevich, Retvizan, and Pallada. Later on April 12th, the Petropavlovsk and Pobeda battleships left Port Arthur, but struck mines after making it out to sea. The Petropavlovsk sank, and the Pobeda limped back to port, now unable to fight. The Japanese continued to shell the port in order to keep the Russian Pacific fleet bottled up.

Destruction of the Alaskan fleet
When word of the war had reached across the Empire, the Russians moved their small Alaskan fleet from Novo-Arkhangelsk, sailing across the Pacific Ocean. The Small Alaskan fleet met the Japanese at the Kuril Islands, where a small battle ensued. The fleet on only one battleship, five cruisers, eight torpedo boats and a handful of gunboats first ran into mines, before running into the Japanese coastal defense, which proceeded to blast them out of the water with a much smaller, but more well trained force. The Russians lost their battleship, two of their cruisers, and half of everything else, and with no place to go, surrendered to the Japanese.

Battle of Manchuria
The Russian force in Manchuria was impressive in size, but in anything else it was lacking. Bad training, bad command, and poor equipment was bad enough, but to get anything over the dead expanse that was Siberia was a challenge in of itself, with the Trans-Siberian railway nowhere near completed. The Russian offensive on the Yalu river ended in failure, and soon the Japanese had the Russians on the run through Siberia. The Russian fleet in Port Arthur attempts to escape the costal city, and link up with the fleet at Haishenwai, in which the Russians named Vladivostok, resulting in the battle of the Yellow sea, in which Japan failed to sink the Russian fleet, but the Russains failed to make it to Vladivostok, returning to port Arthur. Later the Japanese are able to lay siege to Port Arthur, which is under the command of Anatoly Stessel, who had previously been ordered to leave the port, however he decides to try and hold out, which ends in disaster and the fall of the city, and the fall of the Pacific fleet. With the Pacific fleet gone, the Japanese invade port Vladivostok, taking the city in February of 1905.

Destruction of the Baltic Fleet
The Russians now with no Navy in the Pacific, sent their untrained Baltic fleet to deal with the Japanese, and as they were leaving the Baltic sea, they fired upon British civilian ships, thinking they were Japanese ships in the Baltic. In response, the British closed the Suez canal, forcing the Baltic fleet to go around Africa. When they reached Japan in May, they entered the strait of Tsushima, where the Japanese promptly sunk the fleet, making it one of the most humiliating Naval defeats in history, so humiliating in fact, that not long after revolutions began to spring up in Russia as people lost hope in the Romanov Government.

Revolution
Revolution was in the air, and the Russians had left Manchuria, and sent their reinforcements back to deal with the chaos unfolding at home. Socialist and left wing views were rampant across the country, influenced by the United States, and also the semi-Command economy structure China had adopted in the Wuxu reforms, left wing philosophy spread like wildfire across the peasantry. Revolution however was not just in the Russia. As the war went on, Alaska received no supplies, its people were starving, and after the Dogger Bank incident the Canadian border had closed making Alaska truly isolated. A small revolt occurred in Novo-Arkhangelsk, in which the "Republic of Alaska" was declared, and with no way of reaching Alaska, Saint Petersburg's control over the colony was only on paper.

Treaty of Portsmouth
On September 5th, the Treaty of Portsmouth headed by Confederate President Josephus Daniels would mark the end of the war, seeing Russia Cede Port Arthur, Vladivostok, and most of the Manchurian railway. The treaty also called for Alaska to be transfered to the Japanese, which Russia greatly protested, however with the colony in revolt, the threat of the Chinese joining on the Japanese side should the two powers not stop fighting in Manchuria, as well as Joesphus Daniels own goals as he knew of the Union plan to possibly buy the Russian colony, Russia eventually conceeded, giving Japan Russias only colony.

This war would establish Japan as a true power, and would establish Russia as a fading power, and also the laughing stock of the world as they had lost two fleets and a colony to an oriental island nation in the far east, with the treaty making it so Russia no longer has any influence in East Asia, let alone the Pacific. Though Japan won however, they now had a revolt in Alaska to put down if they wanted to fully establish their control in the pacific.