Rather than maintain Manchukuo as a Soviet satellite, the Russians looted it, then used it to bolster the position of the People’s Liberation Army. Neither Communist nor Nationalist Chinese forces had the strength the contest this move, but the Soviet invasion of August 1945 quickly annihilated the Kwantung Army. In 1931 the Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria and declared it independent of China, installing the last emperor of the Qing dynasty in what became Manchukuo. Japan, however, took advantage of Chinese disorder.
Fortunately for China, Russia remained in such disorder that it could not take advantage to its own territorial aggrandizement, and in any case Japanese power held Russia in check. With the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, and the ensuing collapse of the Chinese state, China was unable to resist foreign encroachments upon its territory. Had the Russians maintained their position in Asia in 1905, this might have turned out much differently. Although Japanese success at sea was not replicated to the same extent on land, the Japanese victory did place stark limits on the extent of Russian power in the Pacific.Įven after the Soviets won a decisive victory over Japan at Khalkin Gol, and crushed the Kwantung Army in the waning days of World War II, circumstances prevented permanent territorial aggrandizement. The waning power of the Qing dynasty in the 19th century set the state for Russo-Japanese conflict in Northeast Asia. Via ‘ The Russo-Japanese War Fully Illustrated,’ 1904
Above - an illustrated scene from the Russo-Japanese War. The power of conscripts and rapid-fire weapons would prefigure the experience of 20th century land combat, while fighting between “castles of steel,” would lend key lessons for naval planners in both world wars. The conflict also had important legacies for the conduct of war.
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