After the Opium War, the Manchu Qing entered the mode of being beaten, a great power can bully us, lose one battle after another, and sign unequal treaties one after another. In the end, the two great powers of Japan and Russia fought a large-scale war on Chinese soil, but the Manchu Qing remained neutral, as if it had nothing to do with China. In fact, because of this war, more than 100,000 people Chinese died.
After the Sino-Japanese War, the northeast became a coveted target of Japan and Russia. When the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the fire and robbery to send troops to the three eastern provinces, grabbing many benefits, building a Middle East railway, and renting the port of Lushun. This led to conflict with the Japanese, who were Japan's next goal.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army had already captured the Liaodong Peninsula, and under the pressure of Britain, Russia and other countries, it had to return it to China, and incidentally blackmailed China with 32 million silver. The flesh that reached the mouth spat out again, and now it was taken by the Russians, and the Japanese certainly refused to give up.
In 1904, the contradictions between Japan and Russia finally developed to the point of irreconcilability. On February 5, Japan severed diplomatic relations with Russia. As a former European gendarme, Russia looked down on the Japanese very much, and had neither a comprehensive war plan nor a serious preparation for war.
War was imminent, and the Russians in the Far East were almost unsuspecting, believing that the Japanese, if only a little stronger than the Manchus, were effective and could not be rivals to the Russians. The Russian army in the Far East was filled with a strong atmosphere of light enemy up and down.
At midnight on February 8, the Japanese fleet sneaked into the port of Lushun and sank three Russian warships. The commander of the Russian fleet held a cocktail party all night, and when he heard the explosion, he thought it was live fire, and he did not think anything of it. It wasn't until the next morning that they found their harbors blocked and that the Russian fleet couldn't even get out of the door, let alone fight.
Since then, the Russian army has also taken a series of measures to restore the freedom of movement of the fleet, but because the warship on which the commander of the fleet was riding was killed by a mine, it completely abandoned treatment. At this point, the sea control was seized by the Japanese army. The Japanese began a landing operation, targeting the Port of Lushun.
The Japanese army divided into two routes, launching an attack from Korea, breaking through the Russian defense line of the Yalu River and marching towards Liaoyang. This was the rear area of the Russian army in Liaodong, and the occupation of Liaoyang would isolate Lushun.
Another Japanese army landed in Liaodong, captured Jinzhou and Dalian, and surrounded the main Russian army in the Lushun area. The Russians had built strong fortifications in Lushun, and after suffering heavy casualties in several positions on the periphery, the Japanese decided to stop the attack and instead lay a long siege.
The Japanese concentrated the main force of the army and launched the Liaoyang Campaign on August 24. Japan is well aware that although it currently has the advantage, Russia's war potential is far greater than Japan's, and capturing Lushun as soon as possible is the key to victory. Only by capturing Liaoyang and cutting off the reinforcements of the Russian army can we attack Lushun with all our might.
The Russian army in Liaoyang only held for ten days, and then retreated to Fengtian, and most of the Russian troops did not let go of a single shot as a reserve. It was so quick to capture Liaoyang that even the Japanese army did not expect that after confirming the withdrawal of the Russian army, it occupied an empty city.
At this point, the Japanese could finally concentrate most of their forces on attacking Lushun. The Japanese brought in large-caliber heavy artillery from within the country and launched a fierce attack on the fortifications around Lushun. From August until January of the following year, the Russian army finally could not support it, announced surrender, and Lushun was occupied by the Japanese army.
Next, the Japanese army turned back to launch the Battle of Fengtian, and nearly 300,000 Russian troops could not stop the Japanese offensive, retreated to Siping Street, and turned to the defense until the end of the war. This was the land battlefield part of the Russo-Japanese War, and the sea battlefield had only just begun.
After the collapse of the Pacific Squadron, Russia drew ships from several other fleets to form the Second Pacific Fleet, which traveled thousands of miles from Europe to Lushun in an attempt to regain sea supremacy. The Japanese Navy intercepted the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Strait.
The Battle of Tsushima ended with the total destruction of the Russian army, and Russia's hopes of a comeback were completely dashed, and it had to accept the humiliation of defeat in the war. On September 5, 1905, Japan and Russia signed an agreement to end the war. Russia transferred the privileges and property it possessed in northeast China to Japan. In the entire war, 80,000 people died in Japan, and Russia will not be less than this number.
What did the Manchu Qing government do in this war? He did nothing, declared neutrality, and allowed the two countries to fight on Chinese soil. This neutrality is both helpless and shameful.
Throughout the war, japan and Russia forcibly robbed the Chinese people of grain and property and expropriated the Chinese people. In the course of the battle, there was no regard for the safety of the lives of the Chinese people. According to rough statistics, at least more than 100,000 Chinese people have died, hundreds of thousands of people have become refugees, and the damage to their homes and property is uncountable.
This was a catastrophe for the Chinese people, and the three northeastern provinces became a piece of fat for imperialism. The cowardice and incompetence of the Manchus were exposed in this war. This also dooms it to be abandoned by the Chinese people.
References: [Historical Materials of Qing Dynasty Diplomacy", "Three Kingdoms Intervention and the Outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War"]