Social Science Japan Journal Advance Access originally published online on June 21, 2007
Social Science Japan Journal 2007 10(1):95-103; doi:10.1093/ssjj/jym033
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Social Science Japan Journal 10:95-103 (2007)
© 2007 Oxford University Press
Survey Article |
What Caused the Russo-Japanese War—Korea or Manchuria?
Y
ko*
KAT Yko is an Associate Professor of Modern Japanese History in the Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo. She specializes in the diplomatic and military history of modern Japan. She has authored several books, including Sens no Ronri—Nichiro Sens kara Taiheiy Sens made (The Origins and Logic of War: From the Russo-Japanese War to the Pacific War) (Keis Shob 2005), Chheisei to Kindai Nihon (Conscription and Modern Japan) (Yoshikawa Hirobunkan 1996) and Mosaku suru 1930-nendai: Nichibei Kankei to Rikugun Ch
kens (The Groping Years of the 1930s: Japan-US Relations and Middle-Rank Army Officers) (Yamakawa Shuppan 1993). She can be contacted at the Faculty of Letters, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan, or by e-mail at yknojima{at}l.u-tokyo.ac.jp
The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) has become the focus of academic attention again owing to the recent observance of the 100-year anniversary of the war. This survey article examines new scholarship that has appeared on the historical significance of the war in the wake of this anniversary from among researchers located around the world. This paper will focus on the causes of the war, by questioning the significance of Korea and Manchuria in the diplomatic negotiations leading up to the outbreak of the war. The origins of the war are closely connected to the ‘Korea question’ and the ‘Manchuria question’: if Korea was the reason for the Russo-Japanese War, the war was a defensive war for Japan; if Manchuria was the reason for the war, it was an imperial war. However, I believe that the connections between the Korea question and the Manchuria question became entangled in a way that the actors involved did not realize clearly at the time.
* Translated from the Japanese by Lee Pennington.