World War Zero - The Russo-Japanese War

In 1904-05, two expanding imperial powers clashed furiously on land and at sea.

Japan sought to exert itself as a global player, in order to enhance its own prestige and prove that it belonged among the colonial powers. Russia likewise needed to enhance its image with the other European powers - and the czar needed a victory to quell domestic opposition.

With Qing China on its last legs, these two of its neighbors fought over Manchuria, the rich northern section of China (and the Qing imperial family's home region).

To complicate matters further, in 1902 Japan had signed a treaty of amity with Great Britain, the most powerful nation on Earth at the time. Russia had agreements with France and Germany.

In the event, the British limited their contribution to closing the Suez Canal to Russia's Baltic fleet, which had to sail all the way around Africa before it could meet the Japanese navy off Korea. (The Russian ships would have done better to stay home - the vast majority of them ended up on the sea bed.) Britain's support for Japan also dissuaded France and Germany from weighing into the fray.

Japan emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War, to the shock and dismay of western racists. Far from being welcomed into the "Imperial Powers Club," Japan was cast as part of the "Yellow Peril," as a rash of anti-Asian paranoia spread across Europe and North America, which touched off an echo of fury in Japan itself.

In the end, the Russo-Japanese War was the first of the twentieth century to involve, directly or indirectly, many of the major players on the world stage. It was a sort of preview of the devastation to come over the next four decades: a World War Zero, if you will.