Between two Japano-Russian wars: Strategic Learning re-appraised

Abstract

Twentieth-century Manchuria was twice the scene of Japano-Russian wars. Before World War I overshadowed the Russo-Japanese War, both Japan and Russia generated and accumulated a substantial amount of literature on the conflict of 1904–05. The Japanese General Staff had more than the Russo-Japanese war on its platter of historical studies. During 1904–07, the General Staff published an eight-volume official history of the Sino-Japanese war of 1894–95. The official history on Russo- Japanese war was truly the product of a painstaking process. Unfortunately, this process introduced a number of important lacunae and distortions into the published history. In the light of Japanese materials, Alexander Svechin’s hypotheses are all questionable. In reality, relations between the Japanese army and the navy were not as smooth and well coordinated as they appeared. Keywords: Alexander Svechin; Japanese army; Japanese General Staff; Japano-Russian wars; Sino-Japanese war; World War I