Russia Against Japan:
When I first picked up J.N. Westwood's book about the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), I had very little knowledge of the conflict. I remember studying it briefly in high school, but as I recall, it was only mentioned for the simple fact that it was the first time an Asian country had taken on and defeated a major world power in a war. Beyond that point, my knowledge was no more than speculation. However, now that I have read Mr. Westwood's book, I feel that I have a much better understanding of this conflict that occurred almost a hundred years ago. In his preface, he states that he is trying to provide an account of the Russo-Japanese War that does not rely on books like the British Official History, memoirs and, "worst of all," contemporary newspaper accounts. He explains that most of these accounts were of unreliable origin and, in the case of newspaper accounts, even intentionally dishonest since "most writers accepted that unreliable sources make the most exciting nar!ratives." What he used instead was an abundance of accounts written in Russian that had previously been neglected. His hope was to use these materials to display the war from "new or long
dely believed that this war would provide a glimpse to the wars of the future. anything from Russia, and, as Westwood points out, since they were unable to continue the war financially and most likely militarily, they were forced to accept very little compensation. With this result, the Japanese people were disgusted to say the least. They were expecting a large indemnity from Russia, even hoping for the possibility that it might be spread out among the general populous. They had fought a war and, although they had won, it seemed that they had in fact lost. Westwood makes us aware that, as usual, the Japanese press was misinforming the people about the proceedings saying that they had been premature and were conducted suspiciously. In fact, many of their correspondents could only speak Japanese, and the Japanese delegates woul ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "our navy is still strictly observing the laws of neutrality," a comment in reference to the general lack of initiative on their part. In general, these chapters show the deterioration of a major world power's navy that is finally overcome by the Japanese at Port Arthur, as they moved closer to winning the war. The battles described in chapters four, six, and seven are almost mirror images to those of three and five if not for two reasons: 1) the battles in these chapters were fought on land, and 2) the Russians fought quite bravely despite being overmatched, not necessarily in terms of strength however, at this point of the war. This is not to imply that the Russian Navy had not fought hard in their battles with the Japanese, but the Russian Army was overmatched at this point of the war, especially following the fall of their once powerful navy. Returning to the heart of this issue, though, Westwood describes a Russian Army that is without good leadership. One soldier at Port Arthur stated, "unbelievable nonsense reigns and there are no officers, let alone soldiers, who regard our leaders with trust and respect." Once again, the Russian leaders were not taking advantage of their opportunities, and in many cases, retreated when their forces were clearly willing and able to fight! However, the main point Westwood makes is his introduction of military methodology by the opposing officers. His exposure of the Russian officers as unwilling to take risks and unwilling to seize opportunities is key in understanding the outcome of the war. He mentions several times throughout the book that the Russian officers were more afraid of losing a battle than of dying, clearly a poor attitude for a leader. In contrast, the Japanese were much more eager to take advantage of opportunities, but even so, proba
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1845
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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