Chapter 414: 1903

The naval arms race that began at the end of 1902 gave the approaching year of 1903 a rather gunpowder-scented atmosphere.

What was surprising was that the first conflict to erupt was not in the intensely volatile European region, but rather in East Asia, which had previously been quiet.

As time reached 1903, the conflict between Russia and Japan in the Far East became even more intense.

After years of development, one has to admit that Japan, a Far Eastern native once looked down upon by all European nations, now possessed a military force that commanded respect.

In truth, logically speaking, no matter how powerful a military force Japan possessed, it should have been impossible for it to affect European nations.

But who allowed Europe to have a superpower that spanned the Eurasian continent? Although Russia theoretically had no colonies, the east-west width of Russia's mainland reached a terrifying several thousand kilometers, stretching from Europe all the way to the easternmost end of Asia.

It was precisely because of this vast territory that Russia and the newly rising Japan in the Far East came into contact.

Of course, such contact was not a good thing for Russia. Because of the opposition between the Franco-Russian Alliance and the Triple Alliance, Russia had an extremely powerful enemy in Europe: the German Empire, which had once swept across France.

And the gradually rising Japan harbored ambitions to occupy more spheres of influence in the Far East, which brought it into conflict with Russia, which had already taken root in this region.

As early as several years ago, the Japanese ambassador had requested an audience with Tsar Nicholas II, hoping that Russia and Japan could reach a compromise on the situation in the Far East, refrain from infringing on each other's interests, and manage the region in a friendly manner.

But they overestimated Japan's status in the hearts of European nations, and they also overestimated Tsar Nicholas II's impression of Japan.

As early as over a decade ago, on May 11, 1891, Nicholas, who was then the Crown Prince, had visited Japan.

Originally, Crown Prince Nicholas was full of confidence regarding this diplomatic visit; as the heir to the throne of a powerful great power visiting Japan, a backward country in the Far East, the other side would surely do everything in their power to please him, and he could easily complete his mission.

But what was unexpected was that although the Japanese government was as respectful to the Russian Crown Prince as imagined, the Japanese people certainly did not have a good attitude toward this foreign Crown Prince.

At 1: 0 PM, the Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzo chose to assassinate this famous European Crown Prince; although the assassination was unsuccessful, this incident caused a huge uproar in Japan and Europe.

This assassination caused Nicholas II's impression of Japan to plummet, and since he became Tsar, the relationship between Russia and Japan had only grown worse.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this assassination indirectly led to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Whenever the newly rising military power of Japan was mentioned, Nicholas II's face was always filled with rage, wishing he could execute the entire country and all its people to avenge the assassination attempt the Japanese had once made on him.

With the conflict between Japan and Russia following Japan's gradual rise, the relationship between these two countries dropped to the freezing point.

If it had been another country, Nicholas II might have agreed to divide their respective spheres of influence and not interfere with each other's rule.

But the one proposing this was the Japanese government, which was absolutely unacceptable to Tsar Nicholas II.

In the eyes of Nicholas II, these barbaric island monkeys were not qualified to divide spheres of influence with Russia. Although the island nation had undergone decades of reform and possessed decent military strength,

for Russia, one of the hegemons of Europe, what did such military strength amount to?

Do not be misled by the fact that the island nation held the advantage in military strength in the Far East; this was because the majority of Russia's army and navy were deployed in Europe, and what was in the Far East was only a small fraction of Russia's military power.

As for the island nation, their army and navy had to exhaust almost the entire strength of the country to maintain even a tiny advantage over the Russian Far Eastern forces.

Under such circumstances, the Russian government from top to bottom looked down on the island nation, believing that even if Russia rejected the island nation's proposal, they could do nothing about Russia.

Is that really the case?

When the island nation's government learned that Russia had clearly rejected their proposal to divide spheres of influence, almost all the people of the island nation knew that they only had one final method left.

What method? Naturally, it was to achieve their goals through war.

The island nation itself had significant flaws.

The first flaw was its relatively small land area, and it was a country composed of many large and small islands. Such a territorial layout severely limited the island nation's development; if they wanted to become stronger, they could only set their sights on the Asian continent.

To a certain extent, the geographical location of the island nation was somewhat similar to that of the United Kingdom. Its mainland was divided into several larger islands, and both were detached from the continent.

It was just that, unlike the United Kingdom, which led the Industrial Revolution, the island nation completely missed the first Industrial Revolution and barely managed to keep up with the second.

The development of its own territory was insufficient to support the island nation in becoming a superpower; if they wanted to make their country more powerful, they could only adopt some relatively extreme methods.

In the eyes of the island nation's military and some more radical officials, launching a war against Russia might not be the wisest way, but it was certainly the most promising way.

If they did not fight, the island nation would always be trapped within these few islands of its own territory and would never be able to become a world power.

Moreover, the situation was currently advantageous for the island nation.

On one hand, in the current comparison of military strength in the Far East, whether it was the army or the navy, the island nation was the superior party.

On the other hand, Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway had not yet been completed. If Russia wanted to mobilize resources and troops from Europe to the Far East, it needed to cross a distance of several thousand kilometers.

Land transport was extremely difficult without a railway, and sea transport required bypassing vast areas, which would increase the transport distance several times over.

Under such circumstances, even if the island nation could not gain an advantage on the front lines, it could completely fight a war of attrition and directly drag Russia to death on the Far Eastern battlefield.

So the question arises: how did the island nation's government have the confidence to fight a war of attrition against the powerful superpower of Russia?