Chapter 414: 1903

The naval arms race that began at the end of 1902 made the upcoming 1903 quite gunpowder-flavored.

What was surprising was that the first conflict to break out was not the fierce European region, but the East Asia region, which had been quiet.

As time came to 1903, the conflict between Russia and Japan in the Far East region also became more intense.

After years of development, it had to be admitted that Japan, a Far Eastern native that all European countries once looked down upon, currently possessed military strength that made people look at it with new eyes.

In fact, according to reason, no matter how powerful military strength Japan possessed, it could not cause an impact on European countries.

But who let Europe possess a super empire spanning the Eurasian continent? Although Russia theoretically had no colonies, Russia's homeland width reached a terrifying several thousand kilometers, spreading from Europe to the easternmost end of Asia.

It was precisely because of such a huge territory that Russia and Japan, which had just risen in the Far East, had a connection.

Of course, such a connection was not a good thing for Russia. Because of the opposition between the Franco-Russian Alliance and the German-Austrian Alliance, Russia possessed an extremely powerful enemy in Europe, the German Empire that once swept across France.

And the gradually rising Japan also vainly attempted to occupy more spheres of influence in the Far East region, which conflicted with Russia, which had already taken root in this region.

As early as a few years ago, the Japanese ambassador had requested to see Tsar Nicholas II, hoping that Russia and Japan could reach a compromise on the situation in the Far East, not infringe on each other's interests, and operate this region in a friendly manner.

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

As early as more than ten years ago, that is, May 11, 1891, Nicholas, who was then the Crown Prince, visited Japan.

Originally, Nicholas Crown Prince was full of confidence in his diplomatic visit; a crown prince of a powerful great power came to visit Japan, this backward country in the Far East, the other side would definitely try every possible way to please himself, and he could also easily complete his task.

But what was unexpected was that although the Japanese government was very respectful to the Russian Crown Prince as imagined, of course, the Japanese did not have a good attitude towards this foreign Crown Prince.

At 1:50 PM, Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzo chose to assassinate this famous European Crown Prince. Although the assassination did not succeed, this incident set off a huge wave in Japan and Europe.

This assassination made Nicholas II's impression of Japan take a sharp turn for the worse. Since he became the Tsar, the relationship between Russia and Japan had also become worse and worse.

It could even be said without exaggeration that this assassination indirectly led to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Whenever Japan, this newly risen military power, was mentioned, Nicholas II's face was always filled with anger, wishing he could execute this country and all its people to avenge the assassination of himself by the Japanese.

With the conflict between Japan and Russia after Japan gradually rose, the relationship between these two countries also dropped to the freezing point.

If it were another country, Nicholas II might still be able to agree to both sides dividing their respective spheres of influence and not interfering with each other's rule.

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

In Nicholas II's view, these barbaric island monkeys were not qualified to divide spheres of influence with Russia. Although the island country had undergone decades of reform, it already possessed quite good military strength.

But for Russia, which was one of the European hegemons, what did such military strength count for?

Don't look at the fact that the island country occupied an advantage in terms of military strength in the Far East region, but this was because most of Russia's army and navy were deployed in the European region, and only a very small part of Russia's military strength was deployed in the Far East region.

And on the island country's side, their army and navy almost used the strength of the whole country to barely maintain that tiny bit of advantage over Russia's Far East troops.

Under these circumstances, the Russian government looked down on the island country, believing that even if Russia rejected the island country's proposal, they could do nothing to Russia.

Was things really like that?

When the island country government learned that the Russian side had clearly rejected the proposal for dividing spheres of influence they had put forward, almost all the island country people knew that they only had the last way left.

What way? Of course, it was to achieve their goal through war.

The island country itself possessed huge defects.

The first defect was that its own land area was relatively small, and it was a country composed of many large and small islands. Such a territorial layout severely limited the development of the island country; if it wanted to become stronger, it could only put its eyes on the Asian continent.

To a certain extent, the geographical location of the island country was somewhat similar to Britain. The homeland was divided into several larger islands, and they were all wandering outside the continent.

It was just that unlike Britain, which led the Industrial Revolution, the island country completely missed the first Industrial Revolution and barely kept up with the second Industrial Revolution.

The development of the homeland was not enough to support the island country to become a super great power; if they wanted to make their country more powerful, they could only adopt some relatively extreme ways.

In the eyes of the island country's military and some relatively radical officials, launching a war against Russia might not be the wisest way, but it must be the most hopeful way.

If they didn't fight, the island country would always be trapped in these few islands of the homeland and would never be able to become a world great power.

And now for the island country, it possessed an advantage.

On one hand, currently in the comparison of military strength in the Far East region, whether it was the army or the navy, the island country itself was in the dominant side.

On the other hand, Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway had not been built yet. 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 without railways was extremely difficult, and sea transport needed to bypass large areas, and the transport mileage would increase several times.

Under these circumstances, even if the island country could not obtain an advantage on the frontal battlefield, it could completely fight a war of attrition and directly drag Russia to death on the Far East battlefield.

So the question came, how did the island country government have the confidence to fight a war of attrition against the powerful super great power Russia? ===== CHAPTER 415 =====