Portsmouth Peace: Conditions and Year of Signing

The Portsmouth peace is an agreement between the Russian Empire and Japan on the cessation of hostilities. It was this treaty that put an end to the senseless and destructive Russian-Japanese war that lasted from 1904 to 1905. This momentous event happened on August 23, 1905 in Portsmouth, an American town, with the mediation of the US government. The contract was signed by both parties. Because of it, Russia lost the right to lease the Liaodong peninsula and terminated the union treaty with China, which provided for a military alliance between these states against Japan.

The reasons for the beginning of the Russian-Japanese war

Japan has been a closed country for a long time, but in the second half of the 19th century it began to open up unexpectedly, opened to foreigners, and its subjects began to actively visit European states. Progress was well marked. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Japan had created a powerful navy and army - this was helped by foreign experience, which the Japanese adopted in Europe.

The island state needed to expand the territory, which is why it launched a military aggression directed at nearby countries. The first victim of Japan was China: the aggressor managed to capture several islands, but this was clearly not enough. The state has laid eyes on the lands of Manchuria and Korea. Of course, the Russian Empire could not tolerate such impudence, because the country had its own plans for these territories, building railways in Korea. In 1903, Japan and Russia held repeated talks, hoping to resolve the conflict peacefully, but all in vain. So without agreeing on the division of land, the Japanese side unexpectedly unleashed a war, attacking the empire.

The role of England and the United States in the war

In fact, Japan decided to attack Russia by no means alone. To this, it was pushed by the United States and Britain, because they provided financial support to the country. If it had not been for the complicity of these states, Japan would not have succeeded in smashing tsarist Russia, since it did not represent an independent force at that time. The Portsmouth world, perhaps, would not have been concluded, had it not been for the decision of the sponsors to start with military actions.

After Tsushima, England realized that Japan had intensified even too well, so it largely reduced the cost of the war. The United States strongly supported the aggressor, and even banned France and Germany from standing up for the defense of the Russian Empire, threatening reprisals. President Theodore Roosevelt had his own insidious plan-exhausting both sides of the conflict by lengthy military action. But he did not plan the unexpected strengthening of Japan and the defeat of the Russians. The conclusion of the Portsmouth world would hardly have happened without the mediation of America. Roosevelt worked hard to reconcile the two militant parties.

Unsuccessful attempts to make peace

Having lost financial support for the United States and Britain, Japan has noticeably weakened economically. Despite significant military achievements in the war with Russia, the country, under the pressure of former sponsors, began to incline to peace. Japan has made several attempts to reconcile with the enemy. For the first time about reconciliation, the Japanese began talking in 1904, when in Britain the Russians were invited to conclude a treaty. Negotiations did not take place: Japan demanded that the Russian Empire recognize that it initiated the cessation of hostilities.

In 1905 France acted as an intermediary between the belligerent countries. The war affected the interests of many European states, so they wanted to end it as soon as possible. France at that time was not in the best situation, the crisis was ripening, so she offered her help to Japan and took over the mediation in the conclusion of peace. This time, the aggressor demanded payment of a capitulation indemnity from the Russian Empire, but Russian diplomats flatly refused such conditions.

US Mediation

After the Japanese demanded from Russia a bribe of 1200 million yen and, in addition, the island of Sakhalin, the American government unexpectedly sided with the empire. Roosevelt threatened Japan with the loss of all support. Perhaps the conditions of the Portsmouth world would have been different, had it not been for US intervention. The American president, on the one hand, tried to influence the Russian empire, unobtrusively giving advice to the tsar, and on the other hand, he pressed on the Japanese, making us think about the deplorable state of the country's economy.

The terms of peace put forward by Japan

The aggressor wanted to squeeze out the war to the maximum. That is why Japan wanted to maintain its influence in Korea and South Manchuria, take the entire island of Sakhalin and receive a bribe of 1200 million yen. Of course, for the Russian Empire such conditions were unprofitable, so the signing of the Portsmouth Peace was postponed indefinitely. Witte, the representative of Russia, flatly refused to pay Sakhalin's indemnity and concession.

Assignments of Japan

As later confessed in his memoirs to Ishii, their country dealt with Russia, which never paid anything to anyone. The firmness of Russian diplomacy and the denial of support from sponsors put the Japanese at a dead end. The Portsmouth world was on the verge of collapse, the government of Japan gathered at a meeting that lasted a whole day. They decided whether to continue the war for Sakhalin. August 27, 1905, it was decided to abandon the island and not demand an indemnity. The state was so exhausted that it was not possible to continue military operations.

The Oversight of Russia

In the meantime, the US president sent a telephone message to the Russian Tsar, in which he advised him to give Sakhalin Island. The Russian Empire wanted peace, because the government needed to suppress the brewing revolution. However, the king agreed to cede only the southern part of the island. The Portsmouth world could also be signed on other terms, because the Japanese have already decided not to encroach on Sakhalin. August 27, immediately after the end of the meeting, it became known about the decision of the king. The Japanese government, of course, did not miss the chance to seize the new territory. True, the Japanese risked, because if the information was not correct, then the world would not be concluded again. The official who handed her over would, in case of failure, have to make himself a hara-kiri.

In the end, the Portsmouth Peace was signed on September 5, 1905. The ambassador of Russia has conceded to requirements of Japan as he was ordered by the tsar. As a result, the Tokyo government gained its sphere of influence in Korea, received lease rights for the Liaodong Peninsula, the South Manchurian Railway, and southern Sakhalin. True, Japan had no right to engage in fortification on the island.

What has the Portsmouth Peace brought to both sides of the conflict?

The date of signing the peace treaty was to be the last point in the conflict and the start to raise the economy from the ruins. Unfortunately, neither Russia nor Japan won the Russo-Japanese war. All this was a waste of time and money. The Japanese took the signing of the peace treaty as a personal insult, humiliation, besides, the country was actually ruined. In the Russian Empire, the revolution was already ripening, and the loss in the war was the last straw of popular anger. At the beginning of the twentieth century, not the best of times came for both states. A revolution has begun in Russia ...