Timeline of the Russo-Japanese War

For a topical guide, see Outline of the Russo-Japanese War.

For Timeline of the Russian Revolution of 1905, see Timeline of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Russo-Japanese War
Clockwise from top: Russian cruiser Pallada under fire at Port Arthur, Russian cavalry at Mukden, Russian cruiser Varyag and gunboat Korietz at Chemulpo Bay, Japanese dead at Port Arthur, Japanese infantry crossing the Yalu River
Date 8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905 (1 year, 6 months and 4 weeks) Location Manchuria, Yellow Sea, Korea, Sea of Japan Result Japanese victory Territorial changes Russia cedes Port Arthur and Dalniy in the Liaodong peninsula, Southern Sakhalin, and the control of the South Manchuria Railway to Japan Kvantunskaya Oblast and Southern Sakhalin become Kwantung Leased Territory and Karafuto Prefecture respectively
Belligerents
Russia	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Roman Kondratenko   † Anatoly Stessel   Oskar Gripenberg Mikhail Zasulich Yevgeni Alekseyev Stepan Makarov   † Wilgelm Vitgeft   † Robert Viren Zinovy Rozhestvensky	Emperor Meiji Katsura Tarō Ōyama Iwao Kodama Gentarō Nogi Maresuke Kuroki Tamemoto Oku Yasukata Terauchi Masatake Tōgō Heihachirō Itō Sukeyuki Kamimura Hikonojō
Strength
1,365,000 (total) [1] 900,000 (peak) [2]	1,200,000 (total) [1] 650,000 (peak)
Casualties and losses
Total: 43,300–71,453 dead [3] [4] 34,000–52,623 killed or died of wounds 9,300–18,830 died of disease 146,032 wounded 74,369 captured Material losses: 8 battleships sunk 2 battleships captured	Total: 80,378–99,000 dead [3] [4] [5] 47,152–47,400 killed 11,424–11,500 died of wounds 21,802–27,200 died of disease 153,673–173,400 wounded Material losses: 2 battleships sunk

This is a chronological timeline of the Russo-Japanese War; covers the period from the outbreak of the war in February 1904 to the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth in September 1905. ^{[6] [7]} The timeline includes major battles, naval engagements, and significant events that shaped the course of the conflict. ^[a]

Overview

The Russo-Japanese War ^[b] ; (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.

Timeline of non-military events

• 30 January 1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance signed – sets diplomatic groundwork for Japanese confidence in confronting Russia.
• 6 February 1904: Japan severs diplomatic relations with Russia. ^[8]
• 10 February 1904: Japan declares war on Russia. ^[8]
• 11 February 1904: Russia declares war on Japan – formal response following Japanese declaration. ^[9]
• April–May 1904: Japan assumes control of Korea’s military administration. ^[10]
• 21–22 October 1904: Dogger Bank incident nearly provokes war between Britain and Russia.
• Late 1904: Growing unrest in Russia with strikes and revolutionary agitation. ^[11]
• Early 1905: Japanese financial and logistical strain begins to influence push for peace ^[12]
• January 1905: Bloody Sunday massacre triggers the 1905 Russian Revolution.
• February 1905: Peace overtures quietly begin among neutral powers.
• March–April 1905: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt begins informal mediation between Russia and Japan.
• June 1905: Mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin.
• August 1905: Treaty of Portsmouth negotiations begin in the United States.
• September 1905: Hibiya incendiary incident – riots in Tokyo over dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Portsmouth.
• 5 September 1905: Treaty of Portsmouth formally ends the war.
• October 1905: October Manifesto issued in response to revolutionary pressure.
• 1905: Union of the Russian People formed – reactionary movement opposing revolutionary unrest.
• 1906: Theodore Roosevelt awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the treaty.

Timeline of military engagements

• 8–9 February 1904: Battle of Port Arthur – Initial naval clash marking the outbreak of the war
• 9 February 1904: Battle of Chemulpo Bay – Japanese naval victory off the Korean coast
• 30 April – 1 May 1904: Battle of the Yalu River (1904) – First major land battle, marking Japanese offensive into Manchuria
• 14–15 June 1904: Battle of Te-li-Ssu – Early Japanese success driving Russian forces from the field
• 15 June 1904: Hitachi Maru Incident – Russian interception and sinking of Japanese troop transports
• May 1904: Raid on Yingkou – Japanese naval raid targeting Russian logistics
• 25 May 1904: Battle of Nanshan – Bloody assault securing Japanese advance toward Port Arthur
• 10 July 1904: Battle of Hsimucheng – Japanese victory over Russian forces in eastern Manchuria
• 10 July 1904: Battle of Motien Pass – Early clash securing Japanese control of a strategic mountain pass
• 24–25 July 1904: Battle of Tashihchiao – Japanese tactical victory in southern Manchuria
• 10 August 1904: Battle of the Yellow Sea – Major fleet engagement during breakout attempt from Port Arthur
• 24 August – 4 September 1904: Battle of Liaoyang – One of the largest land battles of the war
• 5–17 October 1904: Battle of Shaho – Costly engagement with no clear victor
• 21–22 October 1904: Dogger Bank incident – Mistaken Russian attack on British fishing vessels en route to Asia
• 25–29 January 1905: Battle of Sandepu – Inconclusive winter battle in Manchuria
• 20 February – 10 March 1905: Battle of Mukden – Massive battle and turning point ending in Russian retreat
• 30 July 1904 – 2 January 1905: Siege of Port Arthur – Prolonged siege of Russia’s key naval stronghold
• 14 August 1904: Battle off Ulsan – Clash between Russian Vladivostok squadron and Japanese cruisers
• 20 August 1904: Battle of Korsakov – Naval skirmish near Sakhalin
• 27–28 May 1905: Battle of Tsushima – Decisive naval engagement ending Russian naval presence in East Asia
• 27–28 May 1905: Battle of Tsushima order of battle – Listing of ships and formations in the decisive battle
• 7–31 July 1905: Japanese invasion of Sakhalin – Final campaign capturing Russian island territory

See also

• Russo-Japanese War
• Outline of the Russo-Japanese War
• List of battles of the Russo-Japanese War

References

Notes

1. Dates are given in the New Style (Gregorian) calendar. Russia used the Old Style (Julian) calendar until 1918, but all dates here follow the internationally standard Gregorian system unless otherwise specified.
2. Russian: Русско-японская война, romanized: Russko-yaponskaya voyna; Japanese: 日露戦争, romanized: Nichi-ro sensō

Citations

1. Mitchell, T. J.; Smith, G. M. (1931). Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 6. OCLC   14739880.
2. Reese, Roger R. (2019). The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 197. ISBN   978-0-7006-2860-5.
3. Dumas, S.; Vedel-Petersen, K.O. (1923). Losses of Life Caused By War. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp.  57–59.
4. Matthew White. "Mid-Range Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century – Russo-Japanese War". Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
5. Uralanis, Boris (1960). Войны и народонаселение Европы: людские потери вооруженных сил Европейских стран в XVII-XX веках[Wars and the population of Europe: human losses of the armed forces of European countries in the XVII-XX centuries] (in Russian). Moscow: Социально-экономическая литература. p. 134.
6. "Milestones: 1899–1913 – Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905". Office of the Historian. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
7. "The Russo‑Japanese War". BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time. BBC. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
8. Koda, Yoji (2005). "The Russo–Japanese War: Primary Causes of Japanese Success". Naval War College Review. 58 (2): 10–44.
9. Streich & Levy (2016). "Information, Commitment, and the Russo–Japanese War of 1904–1905" (PDF). Foreign Policy Analysis. 12 (4): 489–511.
10. Lee, Chul-Joo (2006). "Korea's Railway Network the Key to Imperial Japan's Control". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Japan ignored Korea's declaration of neutrality… forcing the Korean government to sign an agreement that gave Japan's military control of railway projects.
11. Britannica, ed. (2025). "Russo‑Japanese War". Encyclopædia Britannica. The disastrous course of the war had seriously aggravated unrest inside the country, and 1904 saw massive strike waves break out in Odessa in the spring, in Kiev in July, and in Baku in December
12. Schiff, Jacob H. (2004). "Jacob H. Schiff and the Financing of the Russo‑Japanese War". Financial History Review. 11 (2): 123–145. Japan's total war expenditures amounted to ¥1,716 million… With reserves quickly depleted, Japan became dependent on large foreign loans—particularly from London and New York. By early 1905, these financial constraints played a role in Tokyo's growing interest in peace.

External links

• Britannica - Russo-Japanese War