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The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 has been widely seen as a historical turning-point. For the first time in modern history an Asian and a European country competed on equal terms, overturning the prevailing balance of power. Based on a wide range of original source material in Russian, Japanese and other languages, this book goes beyond the military and international political grand narratives to examine the war's social, cultural, literary and intellectual impact in their historical context. In Japan the war reinforced the country's self-image as a 'coming' nation, while in Russia, combined with the revolution of 1905 and later political and social upheaval, it was seen as separating the old régime from the new. Throughout the world, 'spirit' was seen to be a decisive factor, and cultural considerations determined the war's interpretation. Featuring contributions by established scholars in the fields of military history and the history and literature of both Russia and Japan, this book offers for the first time a comparative perspective on the symbolic meaning of the conflict.
List of contents
Acknowledgements Note on Names and Dates Notes on Contributors Foreword Introduction Firepower or Willpower?: The Unlearned Military Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War; S.P.MacKenzie Traditions of War Literature in Medieval Japan: A Study of the Heike Monogatari ; R.Pandey Japanese Literary Responses to the Russo-Japanese War; T.Aoyama Paradigms of War in Russian Literature from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century; D.Wells The Russo-Japanese War in Russian Literature; D.Wells Easts and Wests Befuddled: Russian Intellegentsia Responses to the Russo-Japanese War; A.Jones The Russo-Japanese War and Japan: Politics, Nationalism and Historical Memory; S.Wilson Conclusion Bibliography Index
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"[the book is] quite relevant to our contemporary issues despite its concern with the war of almost a century ago." - Journal of Asian Studies
"This book now fills the gap by gathering specialists of both Russia and Japan...succeeds in showing that the Russo-Japanese war left a deep impact on the historical memory of Russians and Japanese alike." - Russian Review
