The War Some Historians Call ‘World War Zero’
How the Russo-Japanese War elevated Japan and demoralized Russia
The Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905 is not the most well-known war today, but it set the stage for failing morale in Russia, rising imperialism in Japan, and arguably World War I as well. Above all, it was the first time an Asian nation defeated a European one in war, and is labeled by some historians as “World War Zero.”
The Russo-Japanese War is a flashpoint in the early 20th century that often doesn’t get recognized.
According to the editors of History, the Russo-Japanese War took place in northeastern China and was as much of a naval conflict as it was a land conflict.
“The brutal conflict in the western Pacific changed the balance of power in Asia and set the stage for World War I,” History said.
The implications of the war are massive but still contested by scholars. What is not contested is that Czar Nicholas II ruled the Russian Empire at the time, and he would later be deposed in the Russian Revolution of 1917 that ushered the Bolsheviks into power. He was pressured to find a new port city for Russia since the Siberian shipping city of Vladivostok had to close for much of the winter, and Russia needed its own port in the Pacific Ocean to trade…
