With the fall of Port Arthur and large Japanese forces in Manchuria, the Russian position looked pretty grim by early 1905.

But Russia still has a large army and a new fleet on the way to replace the ships lost at Port Arthur.

The war is creating unrest in Russia, and Japan is going deeply into debt.

The end of this war may come down to one simple question, which will break first, the Japanese

economy or the Russian political system?

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

...the 20th century. Episode 34. We no longer have a czar.

Last time, we ended with the fall of Port Arthur on January 2nd, 1905.

I want to continue the story from there this week, but before we move forward, I want to mention a couple other things that happened late in 1904.

You may recall that in Manchuria, after the fall of Liao Yang to the Japanese,

Kuropatkin has pulled the Russian army back to the city of Mukden.

In October, Kuropatkin attempted an offensive in the hope of pushing the Japanese back out of Liao Yang,

possibly a first step toward relieving the siege of Port Arthur.

But this offensive petered out without accomplishing anything significant.

And winters are bitter cold in Manchuria, so after that final Russian offensive,

both sides hunkered down and prepared for the cold weather.

But the failure of this offensive pretty much seals Port Arthur's fate.

Back on the Russian home front, there is considerable political unrest.

Emperor Nikolai's insistence on maintaining Russia as an autocracy

never went down well with the Russian people.

Liberals and progressives in Russia, mostly intellectuals and the middle class, have been pushing

for more civil liberties and a constitutional monarchy. But Russia isn't looking anything like

...