Northern Eurasia 1905: Battle of Tsushima

Japanese naval dominance in the east allowed them to occupy Korea and land in south Manchuria. After a long siege, they captured the Russian naval base of Port Arthur. Meanwhile the Russians sent their Baltic Sea fleet halfway around the world only to have the Japanese destroy it at Tsushima.

About this map

Download map
(download without labels)

Main Events

16 Jun–30 Jul 1904 Free Japanese Brigade ▲

In June 1904 retired Japanese Lieutenant Sechu Gunzi led the ‘Free Japanese Brigade’—a contingent of more than 100 Japanese irregulars, mostly fishermen—in an invasion of Kamchatka, Russia. Most of the Japanese landed at Yavino, on the Ozernaya River, with twenty others landing at the mouth of the Opala River. After initially retreating inland, local Russians attacked and expelled the invaders in July. in wikipedia

31 Jul 1904–2 Jan 1905 Siege of Port Arthur ▲

Japanese forces advanced on Port Arthur—a heavily fortified Russian naval base on the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, China. After a five-month siege, in which the Japanese suffered about 60,000 casualties and the Russians 31,000, the Russian garrison agreed to surrender. in wikipedia

21–22 Oct 1904 Dogger Bank Incident ▲

Russian Baltic Fleet, bound for the Far East, fires on British trawlers in Dogger Bank, killing 3 fishermen in wikipedia

27 May 1905 Battle of Tsushima ▲

The Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, having traveled 18,000 nautical miles to reach the Far East, approached the Straits of Tsushima in an attempt to pass into the port of Vladivostok. Here they were spotted by the Japanese Combined Fleet of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, which engaged them in battle, sinking 7 of the 11 Russian battleships for no major losses. The remnants of the Russian fleet were mostly destroyed or captured the following day, with only three warships making it through to Vladivostok. in wikipedia