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6. The Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905
- University of Washington Press
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125 CHAPTER 6 The Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR, CAUSED BY THE TERRITORIAL AMBITIONS of several world powers, raged in Manchuria and on the seas between Korea, Japan, and China for a year and a half. The surprise attacks at Port Arthur and Chemulpo (today Incheon, the port of Seoul) on 8–9 February 1904; the battle of Mukden in early 1905; and the annihilation of Russia’s Baltic Fleet1 at Tsushima on 27–28 May 1905 are some of the events recognized as among the most horrendous of modern warfare. Russia was not well prepared for this conflict.2 Supremely disciplined and motivated Japanese forces fought disillusioned Russian troops led by frequently lackadaisical officers, and the final outcome included not only Russian losses of land such as southern Sakhalin and parts of Manchuria but also hundreds of thousands of casualties (more than 30,000 killed and 100,000 wounded just at Mukden). Although telegraphic communications were well developed by this time, news stories in Russia and Japan were regularly censored by being delayed, exaggerated, or not printed at all, and in her letters Eleanor Pray often mentions the blackened-out telegrams in the local papers.3 Victories were magnified , and speculation about both the military advances and the retreats thrived, as one observer put it, “rather to conceal the truth than to disclose it,” adding, but “that is fair in war, and no one can object to it.”4 From her friends on the Vladivostok squadron, Mrs. Pray learned the details of some of the battles, and (despite most Americans’ and Europeans’ pro-Japanese stance) she came to empathize deeply with the Russian people in the increasing difficulties. Remaining on the periphery of the military activities, “our dear Vladivostok” (27 December 1903 to Aunt Anna) was not badly damaged 126 ✴ Chapter 6 in terms of its buildings and streets, but the residents’ psychological scars were deep. Despite as a child having “long[ed] to live in war times” (19 September 1905 to Home), Eleanor Pray turned against all wars due to their inordinate human cost: “It is too bad that the people who make these wars could not be obliged to fight it out man to man, instead of embroiling so many thousands of others in it” (10 February 1904 to Home). Usually cheerful and comforting, Eleanor continued to send regular letters to her family in New England and to Sarah in Shanghai,5 and also instituted a regimen of weekly, open-faced postcards, more than twenty of which still exist. In a peculiarly compelling mixture, this correspondence reflects not only the violence of the war but also the peaceful everyday moments that permeated Eleanor’s home front. On the one hand, a gallery of war-related portraits illuminates the letters: there is Lieutenant Diachkov of the Gromoboi , who asks her to alert his fiancée in Australia when war breaks out; midshipman Blok of the Russia, who is supremely honorable in all of his dealings with her; and chief engineer Ivan Vasilievich Ivanov, who dies a hero on the Rurik. Did Lieutenant Kogan, who seemed so youthfully invincible, really commit suicide because of gambling debts, or because of the war’s unbearable pressure on Russia’s thinking population? On the other hand, the survivors of the military actions would come ashore and again engage in life’s ordinary activities: taking walks, dropping in for tea, and resuming their English lessons. Thus, Eleanor Pray’s calendar-like vignettes from these years flash by like slide images, intensity filling each message, yet soon replaced by new views. That is how humans survive the horror of war. WAITING FOR WAR Already in the fall of 1903, war with Japan was anticipated. Eleanor Pray followed the political developments with both interest and dread, and, on 22 and 23 September, took two remarkable photos of the Bay of the Golden Horn from a popular vantage point high on the hill over Pushkin Street. These haunting images show the harbor dotted with almost a dozen great ships of the Vladivostok and Port Arthur squadrons, splendid in their lines and strong in their reassurance of safety and protection. It was unimaginable that after this war, most of them would not return. Still, despite the troubling possibilities ahead, life at Dom Smith proceeded almost cheerily. Mrs. Pray enjoyed seeing her friends, and the amateur theatricals on the Gromoboi in December were a welcome winter diversion. The Russo-Japanese War ✴ 127 For the...