In February 1904, the Russian Empire found itself at war with the Empire of Japan

over what was territory in the current nation of China.

The problem for Russia was that a big chunk of its Navy was located in the Baltic Sea, and the war was in Asia.

The Baltic fleet was sent on an incredibly long and interesting voyage to get the ships

into battle.

Learn more about the disastrous voyage of the Imperial Russian Baltic Fleet

and how it helped change the course of Russian history

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The In 1904 Russia found itself at war with Japan.

The approximate cause of the war was a Japanese attack on the primary Russian port in the Pacific at the time, Port Arthur.

Today, Port Arthur is the Chinese city of Lu Shenko.

The causes of the Russian-Japanese War were numerous and is not the focus of this episode but suffice it to say

that Japan was in a sentence and Russia was in decline and this was the point

where their interests clashed. When the war started no one in Europe really thought much of it. An Asian nation had never

beaten a European one since the days of the Mongol Empire. Everyone assumed, including the Russians,

that the war would be a cakewalk.

Unfortunately, the war took place in Asia,

and most of Russia's military was in Europe.

Most importantly for this episode,

the largest part of their Navy was located in the Baltic Sea

outside of St. Petersburg. A bit about Russian geography, despite being an

enormous country Russia has very little in the way of sea access.

Getting a warm water port has been on the Russian wish list for centuries.

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