The Meaning of Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

I could say that today a lot of people live in the Westernized world in terms of social system, educational system, economical system, communication system, etc., and even lifestyle such as food, clothes, sports, amusement, housing, in other words, we share values of Western people and society. Today wherever you go in any developing countries, you see everyone is using mobile phones, TV, DVD, cars, electricity, and so on, so you could say that the West has conquered the world. And it’s a big contribution of Westerners to mankind indeed, though you don’t need to say thank you to them. And thanks to English that is one of Indo-European languages and expanded by the power of British Imperialism, I can tell you about my thoughts, feelings, and ideas today. If you look at negative aspects of the Imperialism like Slavery, you might deny it straightaway, but if you focus on the other side of the coin, there are contributions by the British Empire. Although you should not justify bad acts of “white people” in history, you shouldn’t also judge things around us by only one side of coin. It’s s a page of history of mankind and may be necessarily evil sent by God for mankind.

Well, as the title says, there was the Russo-Japanese War between Russia and Japan from 1904 to 1905. This War is recorded and memorized in history as the first war that the non-white country won against white country with modern weapons. The news of this victory stunned the Western world at that time and encouraged and inspired people living in colonies all over the world like: “Yellow monkey defeated Whitey”, bringing the hope of light to the world. It was the turning point of human history. There had been so many revolts in colonized lands, Africa, Asia, and the South America in centuries, but they were all suppressed by the power of white people. Therefore people tended to think that they couldn’t kick out the imperialism from their motherlands and gave up before they tried. Yet Japan beat Russia that had the strongest Army at that time, so people started thinking, “We can win if we try!” Japan fought Russia in the name of justice, national security and pride and the spirits of Japan changed the mentalities of people under the Western oppression.

And even if imperialism and colonialism exploited people in uncivilized lands, it is very true that Western civilization was superior to any other civilization in human history, so white people deserved to think that they were most superior. I really thank their contribution and admire their pride as white. And in part of the splendid European history, there is a splendid virtue called “Chivalry”, whose core is fairness and which is rooted in the heart of white people. However Japan smashed the pride, “White as Superior” in the War against Russia, and today Japanese knowledge and technology are overwhelming the world in any fields. As a result, the “White as Superior” became a delusion or ideology and the whole world was released from the yoke of White as Superior.

Some scholars say that if Japan hadn’t defeated the West, the dominance of white people would continue in the next few centuries. In 1919 Japan, in fact, proposed the “Racial Equality Proposal” to the League of Nations, but Western countries rejected it. And after the World War II, Europeans were trying to re-colonize Asian countries and Japanese soldiers fought with local people for their independences and a lot of Japanese shed blood and lost lives. Without the win of the Russo-Japanese War, the world would’ve been still sleeping in the dream of “White as Superior”; without the defeat of Japan in the World War II, the world would’ve been still enslaved by white people. To sum up, pride and fairness like Chivalry will dictate your country to a better future.