Russo Japanise War

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How far was the Russo-Japanese War responsible for the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution? The Russo-Japanese War which happened beetween1904 to 1905 was a terrible event in Russian history. Russia suffered many great defeats in this war, against a nation that was considered inferior and was not one of the Great Powers. This humiliated the people of Russia, and caused them to lose confidence in Tsar Nicholas II, as well as causing great military, economic, and political problems. Therefore, the Russo-Japanese War would be seen to be partly responsible for the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution, as the need for change was very clear. However, although it was a major input, the war was not the only reason for the need of a revolution. Huge military defeats were caused by the Russo-Japanese War, which highlighted the weakness of the military and caused national humiliation, thus contributing to the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution. An example of such a defeat was in January 1905 when the army had to surrender their Port Arthur naval base in Northern China, which they had the power of before the start of the war. Another example of a great failure of the military was at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. The Russian Baltic fleet consisting of the 35 warships had sailed from northern Europe to the Far East, only to lose 25 warships in a defeat by the Japanese navy. The crushing of Russian’s military added impetus to the 1905 Revolution, as it made the people of Russia aware of the weakness of their military and ashamed to be Russian. They were losing to a nation very few had heard of and this was one of the major factors of why there was a need for change. The Russo-Japanese War also brought about economic problems for Russia, and this therefore meant there was a significant lack of money to solve any other problems present in Russia. The war cost an extreme amount of
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