After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 95, Japan’s prestige greatly increased. It received a further fillip in 1902 when Japan concluded an alliance with Great Britain with a view to checkmate Russian expansion. Japan was greatly annoyed with Russia because she had seized Port Arthur and connected it by railway with the Trans- Siberian line across Manchuria.
In 1903 when Japan tried to negotiate a sphere of influence agreement over Korea and Manchuria, the attempt was foiled by Russia. As a result, Japan attacked Port Arthur without any declaration of war. Japan secured a series of quick military and naval victories against Russia and obliged her to agree to the Treaty of Portsmouth in September 1906.
As a result of this treaty Japan secured half of the island of Sakhalin, the leasehold on the Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur and recognized Japan’s paramount position in Korea. This paved the way for the ultimate annexation of Korea in 1910.
Japan’s victory over Russia had far-reaching consequences. It demonstrated to the world that Japan had become a first-class power in her own right, and could not be ignored in the politics of Far East.
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Since this was the first victory of an Asian power against a European power, it boosted the morale of the Asians and they began to claim that days of white supremacy were numbered. The exclusion of Russia from Manchuria and her war-water port in the Far East, obliged Russia to pay greater attention to the Balkan region which produced disastrous consequences.