Latest / Ridiculous History / That Time Japan Absolutely Rinsed Russia, Part One: The Race For Manchuria

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That Time Japan Absolutely Rinsed Russia, Part One: The Race For Manchuria · Ridiculous History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: for tuning in. Uh that's our own Tzar of podcasting
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: super producer mister Max Williams Bizar Hizar Hizzar. Indeed, Uh,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I am Ben Bullen.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: You are Noel Brown and Noel.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: This is probably gonna be a two part episode.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: We gotta get think it's gotta be dude, this one
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: gets pretty in the in the russo Japanese weeds in
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: the best good way ever.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we are definitely going to be on our
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: p's and q's because I am currently stuck in Japan.
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  Speaker 2: But luckily this is a story. This is a.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Story where in Japan spoiler history, Buffs emerges victorious. So
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I won't get hassled too much. I think trying to
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: get out of here.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You're a japan booster is what you.
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  Speaker 1: There we go and we are so we are coming
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  Speaker 1: to you from around the world, folks. And this is
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  Speaker 1: a story brought to us by our research associate, doctor
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: z the Man, the myth, the legend about I love
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: his title here that one time Japan rinsed Russia doctor.
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  Speaker 3: Z is a master phrase turner. I don't know that
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I've ever heard rints used in that way, but if
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: you follow the man on Instagram, he's always posting some
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: stuff with some very clever little aphorisms that are largely
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: of his own making.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Which I obviously totally vibe with that. Here's the piece
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  Speaker 1: in a pod bro Pie's in a pod, Noll. Here's
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  Speaker 1: the gist cast memory back. It's September nineteen oh five,
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  Speaker 1: the end of the Russo Japanese War. The world is
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: shaking because Japan, a country that has long been considered
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: underdeveloped and prime real estate for colonization, just like less
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: than fifty years ago, has absolutely whipped Russia on the Keastern.
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  Speaker 1: They gave them a spanking at a time when Russia
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  Speaker 1: was the largest empire in the world. This is the
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  Speaker 1: For some historians, this is kind of the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the end for Sarist Russia, and then for others it's
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of.
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  Speaker 2: The beginning for modern Japan.
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  Speaker 3: You remember that's Smashing Pumpkins song from the Batman and
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Robin soundtrack. The end is the beginning is the end?
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  Speaker 3: I do, okay if you don't. It was a bit
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: of a mind. I don't even know if it was
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: a hit. It had a really dumb video. It was
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  Speaker 3: specifically written for that soundtrack. What but I always thought
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: the name was funny. A lot of this early stuff
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: we're talking about here comes from a fabulous piece on
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  Speaker 3: the Collector by Ilias. I forget the pronunciation here. I'm
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  Speaker 3: doing my best. Ben abd Jalalil, who is a Masters
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: of International Relations. Russo Japanese War the affirmation of a
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  Speaker 3: global Asian power highly worth checking.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Out, as is the Russo Japanese War in world history.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: From our friends at the Association of Asian Studies. We'll
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  Speaker 1: be leaning on some of their findings in this story.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Let's flash back, right because we kind of did a
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  Speaker 1: Tarantino thing, folks. We started in the at the end
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of the story, and now we're going back to the beginning.
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  Speaker 1: Here's why Russia and Japan started beefing up anyway, So
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  Speaker 1: Russia and Japan had conflicting ambitions. They wanted to both
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  Speaker 1: be the ultimate sovereigns of Manchuria and Korea. To Russia,
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  Speaker 1: the idea of expanding Russian territory into Manchuria was just
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  Speaker 1: part of an ongoing policy that you can trace back
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  Speaker 1: as far as the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Shout
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: out to our ongoing series on honorifics, and you know what,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I think we should call that one now, dishonorifics.
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  Speaker 3: That's true. I do believe even the Terrible came up,
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  Speaker 3: and I think I made the point that in this case,
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  Speaker 3: this was probably an honorific that he would have been
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  Speaker 3: cool with, because terrible in this case doesn't just mean
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: like God, that guy was awful. It means like a terrible,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: like a like a terrible giant, or an ogre or
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  Speaker 3: someone to be feared.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and it's it's pretty good marketing rights. It may
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  Speaker 1: as well be synonymous with Ivan the Mighty, for instance,
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  Speaker 1: strikes fear into the hearts of the little folk, of
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  Speaker 1: which I count myself among their number. And Japan's rise
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  Speaker 1: to prominence at this point had been extraordinary, not unprecedented,
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  Speaker 1: but quite anomalous. They had no industrial revolution or political
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  Speaker 1: franchise of any sort when they were contacted in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty three by commodore Perry. The Great Black Fleet arrived
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: in Edo Bay, and they because they didn't have this
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I guess governmental infrastructure and economic infrastructure. At the time,
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  Speaker 1: they were very vulnerable to what we call the Great
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Powers and the age of imperialism. You know, this is
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: the time when a lot of forces in Europe, and
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: you know, Russian forces figured hey, if I just walk
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  Speaker 1: over to a new land and I put my flag
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  Speaker 1: on the ground, it's mine.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, just plant the flags like they did on the Moon.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: We on the moon.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a lot of you know, dehumanization of
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  Speaker 1: native populations things like that. But Japan understood that there
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  Speaker 1: was a lot at stake here and one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that they prioritized as a nation was maintaining their autonomy. No,
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  Speaker 1: you can't come trade here. They did something that you
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  Speaker 1: should do in any relationship, which is set up serious boundaries.
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  Speaker 3: Mm hmm. Sure did. They were very good. They had
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  Speaker 3: a good therapist as a country. I guess you could
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  Speaker 3: call this sort of an isolationist way of doing business.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, And we could call it selective isolationism.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, because they wanted to choose who they traded
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  Speaker 3: with or who they did business with, and they were
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  Speaker 3: not opposed to expanding into neighboring territories.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely nailed it. And I would say It's also
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  Speaker 1: selective isolationism in that Japan embraced all the scientific and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: technical and political expertise from the West as long as
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  Speaker 1: they deemed it appropriate. So you can't run our good bits. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we'll take the good man. You can't run our country,
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  Speaker 1: but teach us the biggest innovations in manufacturing and we'll
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  Speaker 1: take that.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they and we certainly know Japan has always
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  Speaker 3: been quite good at that sort of assimilation of other cultures,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean, like with their focused on technology,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: with all of their rebuilding in the image of the
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  Speaker 3: future kind of posts the bombs.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of innovations, I saw something recently that still
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: confuses me. I'll send Max and you a picture of
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  Speaker 1: this after we record. I was walking around in what
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: towers and big cities. Lots of big cities have a
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  Speaker 1: tourist attraction that's just a gigantic tower and they've got
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  Speaker 1: shopping and stuff around it, and it's kind of like
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  Speaker 1: a fair ground in some places. And yesterday I saw
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  Speaker 1: a I saw an amazing food stall. It was unfortunately closed,
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  Speaker 1: and all it said was turkey and marshmallow.
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  Speaker 3: And stick at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, a stick with a marshmallow and a turkey on it,
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  Speaker 1: like a turkey leg, like a piece of turkey, not
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  Speaker 1: like a Thanksgiving treat where you dip a marshmallow and
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  Speaker 1: chocolate and put turkey eyes on it.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know that that's that's that's the thing you need. Yeah, Oh,
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  Speaker 3: I'm learning so much. And yeah, of course Japan has
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  Speaker 3: taken that spirit of innovation and you know, put it
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  Speaker 3: into their cuisine as well. Have you seen those crazy
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  Speaker 3: omelets they make that's like a tornado style omelet and
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  Speaker 3: then they slice it and they put it over rice
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  Speaker 3: and slice it with a knife and it sort of
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  Speaker 3: turns itself inside out. Wow, amu rice esthetically beautiful?
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  Speaker 2: Agreed? And this is uh.
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  Speaker 1: I'm bringing this tangent in just because I'm still I
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  Speaker 1: have many questions about turkey marshmallow. I gotta send this
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  Speaker 1: to you guys, all right, so.
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  Speaker 3: I gotta see it.
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  Speaker 2: It's weird.
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  Speaker 1: We've got to try it when we all go together.
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  Speaker 1: So the idea here is that after acquiring various innovations
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  Speaker 1: and due to other regional tensions, Japan gets involved again
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  Speaker 1: in beef with Chinese forces from eighteen ninety four to
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety five, there's the Sino Japanese War, and after
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  Speaker 1: being victorious in this conflict, the Japanese government believes we
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  Speaker 1: can make a convincing case that we are the great
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  Speaker 1: power in Asia, not a Western colonial power. If you
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  Speaker 1: want to do business in Asia, you mess with us.
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  Speaker 1: We're the big dogs. Like look at me, I am
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  Speaker 1: the captain now.
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  Speaker 3: And if I'm not mistaken, they did kind of have
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  Speaker 3: to take an l on their isolationist views when the
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  Speaker 3: European hours strong armed a bit of their territory away
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  Speaker 3: from them, right.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, yeah, the Laodong Peninsula. And forgive my pronunciation there, folks,
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  Speaker 1: despite taking this up, they said, look, we're still going
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  Speaker 1: to do it. We're going to have our own empire.
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  Speaker 1: We are not going to be a vassal state nor
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  Speaker 1: a servant of the West. And to put it simply,
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  Speaker 1: Russia took that personally because Russia, as we mentioned earlier,
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  Speaker 1: had their own plans for the Korean Peninsula for centuries
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  Speaker 1: and centuries and even now in the modern day. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, rulers of Russia have always tried to tackle
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  Speaker 1: one huge problem for their land, which is they don't
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  Speaker 1: have a lot of warm water ports.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, so they wanted to open up sea trade
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  Speaker 3: routes with these warm water ports, and for that they
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  Speaker 3: had been eyeing that Korean peninsula. So in eighteen feet
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  Speaker 3: Russia acquired a region known as Zolotoi Rog which they
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  Speaker 3: acquired from China along the Pacific coast, and that established
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  Speaker 3: the port of a city that you may well have
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: heard of, Vladivostok. But it was a bit of a
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  Speaker 3: seasonal bargain. This coastal port was only able to be
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  Speaker 3: used during the warm months of the year because other
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  Speaker 3: times of the year, I believe it would have been
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  Speaker 3: you know, frozen.
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  Speaker 1: Over, yes, yeah, locked in the ice. And that is
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  Speaker 1: something that is something that was still, to their estimation,
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  Speaker 1: better than nothing, right, because they did get a navigable
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  Speaker 1: sea route, they did get access to the wider world
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  Speaker 1: and the Pacific. However, they wanted more so on the
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  Speaker 1: other side of the war. After you know, after Japan
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  Speaker 1: kind of whips Chinese forces in eighteen ninety five, as
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  Speaker 1: we said, the nation of Japan acquires Port Arthur. It
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  Speaker 1: is the ancestor of today's Lushunku province in China. And
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Russia was really mad about this. For any fans of
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the strategy game's Civilization by sid Meyer. You'll see a
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  Speaker 1: thing that happens whenever you build a city or extend
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: your territory too close to another territory, even if you're
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: friendly with each other, you'll get a message that says, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you're getting too close to our stuff. And that's what
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  Speaker 1: Russia was doing. They said, Japan, you getting a little
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: too close to our backyard. Imagine like if you have
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: a backyard in your own life ridiculous historians. Imagine if
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: your neighbors build a fence and it's a decent fence,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and then they they take a few years with that
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  Speaker 1: boundary and you wake up one day and the fence
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  Speaker 1: has moved three feet.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
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  Speaker 3: I to completely know what you mean. It's funny. Actually,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: I had a neighbor who purchased a plot of land
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: next to my house and is building a house, a
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: brand new house, and he came knocking on my door
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: and told me, hey, by the way, ignited me choose
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: my name, And by the way, it turns out that
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  Speaker 3: your fence was incorrectly built and it is actually three
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  Speaker 3: feet on my property. But it's okay because I'll pay
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: for it to be moved, And in my mind, I'm like,
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  Speaker 3: do I check him on this? Do I just take
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  Speaker 3: his word? And this seems like it opens up a
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: lot of questions on a very micro example of this
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  Speaker 3: sort of macro geopolitical maneuvering.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we have to remember that the imperialism and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: the racial attitudes of the time are inseparable from policy.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: So Russia, Sarist Russia is able to go to France
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and Germany and essential say, all right, fellow Europeans, right,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: because the Tsarist Russia would switch between call these self
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Asiatic or European or just Russian, however it suited them.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, it's interesting, though, Ben, because in my
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  Speaker 3: mind I always kind of forget how much Russia is
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: very much part of Asia because they are just so
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: uniquely their own thing in my mind, the way they've
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: established themselves and really have very little in common with
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Asian culture, and yet they are absolutely a part of
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: that region of the world. Right, any any thoughts on that?
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I'm still baffled that we consider and it
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: always ruffles feathers when I say it, but I'm still
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: baffled that we consider Europe Western Europe its own continent
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: because there's no there's no big water separating it from Asia.
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  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: You can wake up and you can wake up in Paris,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and if you have enough time, you can and walk
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to Beijing. It'll take a while, it'll take one.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: We'll take him minute flat at least it's not flat. No,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: there's a ton of stuff in the way. But anyhow,
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: so Russia decides to pull this card and they go
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: to France and Germany and they say, fellow Europeans and
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: they're like, oh, you're European this week and they go yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Move past it.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: We switch yeah, exactly, we need your help with these
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Asiatic forces they're acting up in France and Germany say okay,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: right on, we and yeah, And this creates something called
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the Triple Intervention wherein Russian ruler Nicholas the Second gains
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: control of Port Arthur and then Russian armies go into
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Manchuria in nineteen hundred, taking advantage of the massive chaos
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: during the Boxer rebellion in China and.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: When there's an absolute bloodbath. Yes, it's actually portrayed very
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: interestingly in some like kind of weird Disneyland esque sort
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: of dioramas in BioShock Infinite, the video game it has
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: that portrays the Boxer rebellion from a very let's call
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: it propagandistic perspective in the world, the kind of you know,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: bizarro alternate future world of that game.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and with this we we again. I can't leave
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: this fence analogy just yet because we're not to an.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Active war with the sit on it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, the Russian nice the Russian army. Now from
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the Japanese perspective, the Russian nation, I should say, they
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: have moved their fence closer and Japan is going and
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: they're so concerned about this. Tensions are so high that
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Japan says, in nineteen oh two, hey, we can play
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: this game with the Europeans as well. They signed a
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: defensive pact with Great Britain, and then they say that
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: at the same time they go to Russia and concurrently
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: they say, look, guys, let's turn the temperature down a bit,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: let's demilitarize Manchuria. And then France comes back and says,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: all right, publicly, everybody, Russia is getting a little thirsty,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: get a little hungry over there in the Far East.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Let's not escalate things Okay, Nikki, that's what they called
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: each other. They called Nicholas the second Nikki. They were like, Nikki,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: you're a good boy. You know, what would your mom
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: think if he kept escalating like this? And Nicholas it
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: turns out, didn't vibe with that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe he didn't like being called NICKI.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: No, he's a bit of an escalator.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there, it is an habitual linestepper. As Charlie Murphy
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: would say, and shout out to anybody who got that
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Dave Chappelle reference. Oh gosh, Charlie Murphy's storytelling. Remember when
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: he tells the story about Rick James and then Prince Oh,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: it's so good.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: It's the best. Some of the best comedy ever ever
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: put to video film. So Korea and Manchuria back to
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: them jointly kind of represented a very important, very key
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: objective for Russia. They were not would not let go
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: of Port Arthur. So in nineteen oh one, Russia had
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: concluded the construction of a very very modern and long railway,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: the longest in fact in the world. You may have
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: heard of it, the Trans Siberian Railway. I think there's
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: a isn't there a band called the Trans Siberian orches
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: something or other orchestra. That's it. There you go. The
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: idea is to connect Vladivostok, that seasonal port on the
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Pacific coast, with Moscow.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And this would be followed up. You know, constructing railways
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: is a lot like rivers and tributaries, right. This would
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: be followed by a bunch of smaller railways that would
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: connect Manchuria to the rest of Russia. And this is
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: a very big move. This is what Jack Miles and
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you and I will call an historical flex. Japan knows
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: what's going on. The Emperor is pod about this. He is.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Not happy.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: He sees what's in the winds, he sees what they're
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: trying to do, pushing these boundaries literally. And so on
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: February fourth, nineteen oh four, they break all diplomatic ties
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: with Russia. And this is where things get even more hectic.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Just a few days later, it's February eighth. Japan doesn't
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: wait for someone to declare war. They launch a surprise
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: attack on the Russian naval base of Port Arthur on
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the coast of Manchuria. And they never publicly diplomatically declare
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: war or cause for war.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: They just do it.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, tactic that will later be practiced to Pearl Harbor
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: in Hawaii.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Wrecked definitely gave me Pearl Harbor vibes. So in the nights,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Japanese destroyer ships approached the Russian Pacific fleets that were anchored.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: These ships were anchored in the harbor, sailors asleep on board,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: they had their lights on, they were very easy to spot,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: and they fired torpedoes that were the Japanese that is,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: and hit two of these Russian battleships known as the
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Retvisan and the Sarevich, in addition to a cruiser. To
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: believe ben is a smaller vessel, a smaller military vessel
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: known as the Palada. And then when the sun came out,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: the Japanese battleships began to shell the Russian warships that
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: had taken refuge in their batteries on shore.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we want to shout out our pal Richard
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Cavendish writing for History Today, who's giving us that blow
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: by blow? And yeah, I don't you know, maybe we're
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: oversimplifying with the comparison to Pearl Harbor, but the tactic,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the heart and soul of the tactic remains the same.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: You know, and when they when they damage these ships.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: The attack is audacious and bold, even though it's not
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: an automatic knockout, right, there's not a kill shot, not
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a kill shot. Yeah, there's still other other naval forces
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: that exist that can retaliate. The Times of London says,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the Japanese navy has opened the wall by an act
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: of dabbering, which is destined to take a place of
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: auto in naval adults.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: And that's how you kind of started that East mid
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Atlantic and then you kind of turned it into into British.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: I love it. It's a great combo.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: I could do it again. I mean, transit is pretty
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: much both.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: But it's sort of like I felt like it had
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: a nice morphing flow to it, and I was I'm
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: a fan. I thought it was cool.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Well, the.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: European forces clearly thought that the attack by Japan was
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: as you said, cool, bold, ambitious, and it.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Took a job at a Japanese navy right.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And navy annals cour naval annimals, of course, is just
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the the records of maritime war.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so the.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Night after this sneak attack, that's very much what it was.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: The Japanese Navy comes back. They've launched multiple assaults on
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: aspects of the Russian fleet positioned in southern Manchuria, and
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the Russians take a lot of losses heavy casualties, but
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: with the help of ground artillery, they were able to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: repel the forces of the Japanese. And the Japanese at
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: this time are led by an admiral named Togo Haihachiro,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and Haiachiro says, all right, the attack that we're doing,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: you know, the thing about these sneak attacks and the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: shocking aw stuff is it kind of only works once,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: so we have to figure out something.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Else, that's right, Awamiral Togo pivoted to a less flashy
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: approach and more of like, let's wade them out, let's
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: smoke them out of their holes, or starve them out
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: of their holes. They decided to blockade the city, which
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: is pretty effective strategy, but it is sort of more
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: of a long game, right.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a long game, partially because the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: people on the boats have to eat too. So the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Russian Navy could not break through this Japanese blockade, which
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: meant that they couldn't stop Japanese forces from invading Korea
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in nineteen oh four. By the end of the month,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Japan's troops were crossing into Manchuria, and then they were
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: defeating Russians on land, especially in the Battle of the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Yalu River on May one. Now at this point, if
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: you go to our friends at Brilliant Maps, you'll find
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: a quote that stood out to doctor Z and to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: us as well.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: That's right. I think this does a fine job of
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: summing up the situation at hand in nineteen oh four.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Russia in nineteen oh four was more of a paper
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: tiger than a sleeping giant. Japan benefited from much shorter
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: supply lines than Russia. Therefore, while the initial assault on
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Port Arthur failed to achieve its goal, the Japanese were
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: able to quickly follow the attack with a blockade and
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: then a siege of the port. More of a paper
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: tiger than a sleeping giant.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: And Russia reinforcements do exist, the Russian reinforcements Russian to
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the region.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Wow, yeah, alliterative.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: King Oh dude, that's a quote from our friends at
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the collect So they say, look, we've got to stop
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: this Japanese advance. We cannot have them completely encircling Port
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Arthur by sea and by land because we will never
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: get it back. And so on October fifteenth, nineteen oh four,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the Russian Baltic fleet sets out from Saint Petersburg and
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: they say, all right, we're going to reach the theata
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of war here in the Far East. Can you guys
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: hold on for seven months?
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Sure, why not? We got snacks. So on its way,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: the fleet in and of itself almost started another war
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: one with Great Britain by firing on some British fishing
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: vessels on October the twenty first, having accidentally clocked them
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: as enemy ships.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Again. Yeah, whoop.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: See, tensions are high, and the British government gets mad
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: about this and they say, you know what, since you
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: guys are being such pills and rascals, we're going to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: close the Suez Canal to the Russian fleet. And this
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: is where, you know again, we see the Defensive Pact
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that England and Japan had already signed back a few
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: years ago in nineteen oh two, and they said, look,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: we're going to remain neutral in the event that either
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: of us getting a scrap with a third party. That's
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: why England doesn't enter the Free Well, Britain I should
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: say that's why they don't enter the fray because they cannot.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: They cannot go to war with Russia just because Japan
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: is doing it, right, if everybody else is doing it,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: why can't we, et cetera. So they have to fight
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: back in less direct ways. That's why they closed the canal.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: And in either case, this means the Russian forces have
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: to now travel around the Cape of Good Hope, which
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: makes their journey even longer.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: It's such a positive sounding cape.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: It really is.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: It's like the pursuit of happiness. It sounds really good
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: till you think about it, like the Cape of Good Hope.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I hope this is going to be all right around
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: the court.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it wasn't always, was it.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: No, it wasn't always. But that's the nature of hope.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: And there's another thing Doctor Z points out that that
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I think bears bears some cogitation. You would imagine, let's cogitate, Yeah,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you would imagine at this point, right that all right,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: we're in the early nineteen hundreds, so people aren't People
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: are still using sailing ships, but people have also switched
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: to coal powered steamships and putting a coal powered ship
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: on the map is really great at this time, so
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: long as you have a constant supply of coal. Kind
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: of like how electric cars when they were getting mainstream,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: they were really great, so long as you had a
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: way to plug your car in.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like a really long extension car. That is the
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: rub there. And at this point, Japan has kind of
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: opened up to the rest of the Western world in
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: eighteen fifty three, and that's in part because the American
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: government wanted the Japanese to help them set up coaling
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: stations some of its ports that would then help facilitate
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: trade between China and the US.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and because this stuff that happened way back in
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three, now Russia's empire is is kind of screwed.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: They don't have those coaling stations because they're largely a
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: land empire, right, And this means that the Second Pacific Squadron,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: these Russian forces, when they leave Ussia, they have to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: carry tons of coal, like literal tons of coal just
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: to keep the boats going. And the Suez Canal gets
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: cut off, so they're they're like literally I picture them
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: counting bricks of coal one by one going through the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Cape or going around the Cape of Good hope, and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: they are only able to refuel when they reach Madagascar,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: which is controlled by France.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: And the clock's taking away. With the Baltic fleet making
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: its way towards the Pacific, Theatah the Japanese Empire then
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: begins to kind of close that open hand into a
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: fists and tighten their grasp on Manchuria and that port
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: of Arthur. The Russian Navy at this point tries several
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: little skirmishes or what do you call these? Ben The
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: collector describes them as sorties. He has always sounded very
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: high follutant to me. What's a sortie versus a skirmish?
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: A specific type of attack? Aren't these kind of like
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: mini attacks?
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: A sorty is specifically an attack made from a made
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: when you're surrounded.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: So like an invasion. Yes, it's like.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: You're cornered, right, and then you say, all right, I'm
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: not going down without a fight.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, got it?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: So these guys are Yeah, these guys are encircled by
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: the Japanese forces holding that blockade, and every so often
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: they go out there and do a little, but they
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: can't quite sink any of the Japanese ships. They're different
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: famous battles in this regard that you can read about,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: but what you need to know is that none of
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: those sorties worked at all, and I sort of not
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: even sorty of yeah, not on land nor on sea.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: And after multiple defeat, the Russian forces get knocked again
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: by the Japanese army, which sieges or besieges Port Arthur
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: from the ground. The last general in the city, anatotally Stecil,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: surrenders to Japanese forces on January tewod nineteen oh five,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: which means now Port Arthur and Manchuria are officially controlled
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: by the Japanese Empire. This is the end of that war.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: Thank god took long enough.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, imagine being those being those poor guys on
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the Russian squadron who are just trying to get coal
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and they're there for seven months and they don't really
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: know what's happening on the ground. Talked about showing up
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: late to the party, right, But wait, as Billy Mays
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: was wont to say there's more war ahead, we played
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: with this quote a little bit. I don't think he
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: ever said war as a product.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: No, he was known for that war. Warren never changes
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: Billy Mays.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, that's right.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: No, in fact check us, but do check back in
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: with us for part two on the one time Japan
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: rinsed Russia.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: We you know, this one's a little bit in the weeds,
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: but I think it's one for a lot of you
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: war wonks out there, and maybe we can kind of
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: set the stage a little bit about what's to come.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, so we'll have a recap here too, because as
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you pointed out, there is a lot of back and
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: forth here. The Japanese Empire is ready to call it
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: a day on this front and to expand further. Russia
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: now has a real act to grind because Japan has
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: yet to conquer Manchuria. Tune in for part two to
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: see what happens now. In the meantime, Thanks to the
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: ridiculous historians you all form our empire, we couldn't be
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: more happy that you're here. Thanks to Max Williams. Thanks
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: to Alex Tijuana Williams, who composed this.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Slap and bop.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: Indeed, Baham Alex Tijuana Bahama Breeze Williams Wall, No, no, no,
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: it's a j Bahamas Jacobs. What am I doing here?
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: We've got the puzzler, aj Bahamas Jacobs the Quizzler Quizzler, Sure, yeah,
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: I like the Quizzler though.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: That's fun.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: That would be Jonathan Aloisious Strickland the third.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Ed of course.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: As always, if there are any criticisms, feedback or complaints,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: please please do not hesitate to email us twenty four
• 33:44
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• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland at iHeartMedia dot com.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: That's right, but if you want to say nice things,
• 33:52
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  Speaker 3: it that anymore. What I think it's fun. We like
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  Speaker 3: a literally here on Ridiculous History. I am Instagram exclusive
• 34:03
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• 34:06
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• 34:09
  Speaker 1: as well. You can also just drop by the website
• 34:13
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• 34:18
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• 34:28
  Speaker 4: And you're on the internet. Someone is someone's on being
• 34:33
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• 34:38
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• 34:39
  Speaker 1: They don't want you to do episode on that big
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: thanks to our research associate, doctor Z. What a legend,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: what an absolute mention and Noel Big thanks to you.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: And follow that guy on Instagram too. By the way,
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: he goes by Herbert Underscore Chill with seven Eyes, seven Eyes,
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• 35:07
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