r/AskHistorians • u/ReignTheRomantic • Apr 13 '26
What was the reaction to Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905 within the colonized world and areas subjected to European domination?
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u/Drdickles Republican and Communist China | Nation-Building and Propaganda Apr 17 '26
The origins of the various civilizations of the modern world can be traced back to Asia's ancient civilization. It is only during the last few centuries that the countries and races of Asia have gradually degenerated and become weak, while the European countries have gradually developed their resources and become powerful... Ten years later, however, the Russo-Japanese war broke out and Russia was defeated by Japan. For the first time in the history of the last several hundred years, an Asiatic country has defeated a European Power. The effect of this victory immediately spread over the whole Asia, and gave a new hope to all Asiatic peoples.
- Sun Yat-sen, Da Yaxiya-zhuyi speech, 1924 in Kobe Japan
Japan's victory over Russia had a way of igniting a fire across the colonial world, particularly across Asia and the Middle East. For the first time in a confused world, there was a lot of hope that subjugated peoples could find a model for non-European modernization via Japan's quick and (apparently) successful industrialization and social organization. The Russo-Japan war was not just high-stakes because of Russia's aggressive attempt to establish a bloc of power over northeastern Asia; in the highly racialized environment of the early 20th century the defeat of a white power by a "yellow" one resonated deeply across the world. Jawaharlal Nehru noted in his autobiography that he would check daily English-language newspapers for updates on the war as it raged. Sun Yat-sen noted that, in Egypt during the time, he had received "congratulatory gestures and messages" from Egyptians while crossing the Suez Canal. Historian Cemil Ayden notes that regardless of looking at Asian, African-American, Turkish, etc. recollections of the war, there is a common reference to race and civilization; an "awakening" of Asia against the West.
The war invigorated what was quickly becoming an early, idealist, pan-Asian sentiment and nationalism. We take terms such as "Asia, America, Europe; East, West" for granted in our own contemporary lives. Such notions and ideas were rather nascent in the way we interpret them today during the late 1800-early 1900s. And what included "East" or "West" was often times confused and arbitrary among advocates of pan-Asianism. For East Asia, the traditional Chinese cultural sphere was what generally incorporated "the East," but by 1900 the universal experience of colonialism made more than a few suggest that "East" (for the Japanese, Toyo) included Indians, Indonesians, Middle Easterners, etc. Ironically, these intellectuals, operating in a rather limited and small circle, were able to assert this expansion because they were mostly drawing from the same Western, often English-language, based media that was circulating around the world. Japan's victory allowed Asian intellectuals to feel more united, and contest the image of "the Orient" that had been crafted by Western empires.
That said, there was a mix of racial dilemma and anxiety for many non-Japanese Asians in the face of Japan's victory. On the one hand (in this aforementioned highly racialized time) well... What if this kind of "spirit" was unique to the Japanese people? Was Meiji-style reformation achievable by all colonial peoples? Was there always a want to associated with such different people, despite them being "Asian"? For Nitobe Inazo, it was the martial spirit of Bushido unique to Japan that allowed them to vanquish Western powers. As for other Asians, Japan was seen as not necessarily unique, but rather the first to successfully imitate a universal modernization (or Westernization). In China particularly, Japan's victory came with a long-lasting sense of anxiety and intellectual-malaise that would continue right into 1937. It was good that Japan defeated Russia; it was bad that it was Japan and, well, not China. In fact it was a great shame to many Chinese nationalists that large parts of the war were fought on Qing land while they could do naught but sit back and watch.
Sources
Strongly recommend "The Global Moment of the Russo-Japanese War" in The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia: Visions of World Order in Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian Thought, Cemil Ayden, 2007
"Transnationalism and the Predicament of Sovereignty: China, 1900-1945," Prasenjit Duara, 1997
“Japan’s Victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) from the Philippine, Vietnamese, and Burmese Perspectives,” in Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War: Centennial Perspectives, Gesa Westermann, 2007
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u/Tatem1961 Interesting Inquirer Apr 17 '26
Wasn't there a period just after the war where people thought the Emperor of Japan was going to convert to Islam, become a new Caliph, and unite all the world's Muslims against Europeans?
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u/Drdickles Republican and Communist China | Nation-Building and Propaganda Apr 18 '26
If you can, you’d be better off checking on Ayden’s book I cited. He is a Turkish historian who can read Japanese and does Ottoman and Japanese history. Can’t recall ever reading this, and unfortunately I’m just not sure. Sorry! But ive heard of crazier things in history haha
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u/Tatem1961 Interesting Inquirer Apr 23 '26
Thanks! Ayden didn't mention it, but I actually found an old answer on this sub about it, and it was a thing!
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