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
With this result, the Japanese people were disgusted to say the least. 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. While this may make it blatantly wrong to a person already familiar with and indoctrinated with many of the "anecdotal and hitherto unchallenged material" from the abundance of other works, I think that Westwood's portrayal should be praised, and not just for his nonconformist methods. 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. The next four chapters of Westwood's book are sufficient accounts of the major naval and field battles. In concordance, since Russian presence in Manchuria and their objective to obtain Korea as well were national security issues for the Japanese and the Russians had no intentions to rescind these plans, many high-ranking officials on both sides saw a war as inevitable. He also mentions Czar Nicholas's insistence that Russia should not and would not pay an indemnity to Japan, and that they would not make any other "undignified" concessions either (i. In fact, there were even thos!e who saw a war as desirable. What he portrays is an overwhelming lack of respect for the Japanese people by the Russians, evident in their idea of the Japanese as "puny yellow men" and, in Japan, a general feeling of invincibility, as is noted by their teaching that every Japanese war effort had been a success. In his discussion of the negotiations, the main point is made that each side was unwilling, almost completely, to concede anything to the other. This lack of leadership and indecisiveness by the Russian leadership was a perpetual negative burden on the Russian soldier's mind, as he became confused and as is implied, less confident in battle. Still in the first chapter, Westwood delves into the negotiations setup by President Theodore Roosevelt in hopes of a peaceful resolution, although as I read, I realized that they could have been summarized in one word. 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.
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