The Russo-Japanese War is an event that in our day is almost forgotten, which is unfortunate

since the repercussions of this war will echo down through the rest of the 20th century.

In Asia, Japan is now the unquestioned lead power, and for the next 40 years, her influence will expand until only the

United States will stand between her and domination of nearly half the globe.

For Russia, the war marks the end of Russia as an expansionist power.

Weakened and humiliated, Russia will refocus her energies on her most

crucial interests, Europe, and especially the Balkans. Her leading rival, Austria, will pick

up on the first of these facts, Russia's newly weakened state, and move aggressively. Austria will

fail to pick up on the second of these facts

that Russia is now concentrating her energies in the Balkans,

much to her peril,

and to the peril of all Europe.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music to the history of the 20th century. Episode 36, Lessons Learned, Part 1, The Russo-Japanese War.

I want to take a break from a narrative telling of history this week to ponder the Russo-Japanese War and consider what it all means. And in keeping with the spirit of the times in which we live, I'm going to present my conclusions as a listicle, the top ten lessons to learn from the Russo-Japanese War.

I suppose if I really want to do this in the spirit of our times, I should bill it as,

You won't believe these 10 lessons from the Russo-Japanese War that no one learned.

Click here.

Okay, I guess there's nothing to click on, so let's just get started.

Number 10.

Existing battleships are poorly designed.

We will discuss this more in future episodes, but the Russo-Japanese War exposed flaws in the design of the world's battleships.

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