Résumé

Abstract

Hundreds of books dealing with the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) have been published in Japan during the past years, but they have nearly all chronicled the military operations of her army by means of the gun and the bayonet, and have given very little information regarding the humanside, still less, the effects of the war on the rest of the world other than the contesting parties. Some time before the war, the Meiji government was divided; one party was for peace at any price, and the other was for vindicating national honour by appealing to arms, although even the war advocates were well aware that Japan was far below Russia in natural resources, military strength, and economic power; the national budget of Japan in the year preceding the war was only one-eighth of Russia's. Japan had, however, recognized the right of even the humblest to the opportunity of rising in the intellectual and social scale, whereas Russia was content to leave her people in besotted ignorance, without political rights and privileges, and also to leave her officers and soldiers in utter contempt of their Japanese counterparts so much that a high-ranking officer is said to have declared, “We need not the big gun; the musket will be enough to crush the yellow monkeys in a few weeks.” The Japanese army was, in fact, far better trained than the Russian, in addition to the fact that the Japanese officers and men had had the international law and etiquette of the Red Cross Treaty inculcated in them since 1887 when General Oyama was War Minister.Britain sent a large group of famous war correspondents and artists to the Japanese front, and their thrilling news, photographs, and sketches were collected into book form immediately after the war. Following their materials according to the progress of the war, I have tried to describe the human side, the national characteristics, and the consequent achievements and failures of both armies. In so doing, I have also tried to draw the attention of the reader to the global significance of the RussoJapanese war, which presents many cruel scenes, but provides the reader with a romantic interest reminiscent of a Homeric combat.