Finding sparks rethink of Russo-Japan War
Document from 1904 indicates Russia wanted to avoid conflict, forge alliance
Before starting the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Japanese government ignored a tip that a Russian politician long considered a key war advocate was trying to avoid the conflict by proposing an alliance with Japan, according to papers uncovered by a University of Tokyo historian.
The finding could lead to a revision of the widely accepted view in Japan that it was goaded by Russia into starting the 1904-1905 war, which stemmed from the two countries' rival imperial ambitions over Manchuria and Korea, experts say.
It may also attract attention in Japan because NHK in November began airing a three-year TV drama series based on a saga by the late novelist Ryotaro Shiba that depicts the Russo-Japanese War as one of self-defense for Japan.
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Before starting the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Japanese government ignored a tip that a Russian politician long considered a key war advocate was trying to avoid the conflict by proposing an alliance with Japan, according to papers uncovered by a University of Tokyo historian.
The finding could lead to a revision of the widely accepted view in Japan that it was goaded by Russia into starting the 1904-1905 war, which stemmed from the two countries' rival imperial ambitions over Manchuria and Korea, experts say.
It may also attract attention in Japan because NHK in November began airing a three-year TV drama series based on a saga by the late novelist Ryotaro Shiba that depicts the Russo-Japanese War as one of self-defense for Japan.
A draft of the abortive alliance was discovered at the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg. It bears the signature of Aleksandr Bezobrazov, an informal trade minister and trusted adviser to Czar Nicholas II, according to Haruki Wada, the professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo who found the document.