ent forced these oppressed workers to seek illegal means to facilitate change and improvement. In this charged political and economic environment, those means were revolutionary. These domestic factors were essential in the creation of a revolutionary environment. However, one significant matter of foreign policy served to warm the climate of revolution. The Russo-Japanese War was a military disaster for Russia. More so, it became a domestic disaster for Russia’s governing body. This conflict solidified the perception of the Russian autocratic government as “irresponsible, incompetent, and reckless.” The war with Japan did not result from fundamental conflicts over national interests. The basic cause of this war was Russia’s imprudent expansionist policies in the Far East. Russia had forced Japan to “pull back from positions on the Asiatic mainland on several occasions in the 1890’s.” These humiliating Japanese defeats had prompted a massive program of rearmament in Japan. The conflict came to its climax in 1904 when Russian interests in Manchuria and Japanese interests in neighbouring Korea came into conflict. The Japanese diplomatically “offered Russia predominance in Manchuria in exchange for Japanese predominance in Korea.” Russia responded incompetently and brusquely with Tsar Nicholas’ overconfident statement of Russia being “quite conscious of her strength and [having] a limit to her patience.” The cavalier attitude of Russia’s government and military experts extended so far that they light heartedly predicted if Japan was to assault the Russian naval base in southern Manchuria the only defence necessary would be “one flag and one sentinel, and the prestige of Russia [would] do the rest.” The Japanese attack on Russia’s military bases in Manchuria eliminated Russian overconfidence. On January 26, 1904, the Japanese...
