The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) occurred between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over conflicting imperial ambitions in the Manchuria region of northern China and Korea. The Russian Pacific Squadron was destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Navy early on, and the Russian Baltic Fleet that was deployed to the Far East was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima. On land, the Imperial Japanese Army drove the Imperial Russian Army back north and took the important base of Port Arthur after a long siege. Thus the war ended in the first victory of an Asian country over a European power, and was also a prelude to the kind of modern warfare that would later be seen in World War I.
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