Sino-Russian War

1884-1885

It was twenty years after the start of the reform period that China's strength would be tested for the first time. Although the war was not as bloody or as large scale as the First Great War that would occur two decades later, it was still one of the wars that would change the course of History. It pitted the Russian Empire with the Chinese empire, both are continent sized powers in terms of population, land area and resources.

Tsarist Russia was a major power with an empire stretching from Poland to the far eastern Siberia with an industrial potential a bit larger than France and a population of a hundred million. It had colonial ambitions in the Far East, wanting to consolidate its gains in the treaty of Aigun and perhaps extend its sphere of influence further into Manchuria.

Qing China on the other hand was an empire that was larger than non-Russian Europe with an industrial potential a bit larger than Russia and a population that was more than for times than that of the former. Its defeat and signing of unequal treaties with Western powers are still in recent memory, which was the opposite of what happend during the Sino-Dutch wars. And is currently embarked in ambitious reform programs to modernize the empire. Now the people would see whether or not the radical changes to Chinese society had been useful. China during this stage was far from the industrial Juggernaut that would fight in the Second Great War but it wasn't the half dead corpse that fought the Opium Wars either, it was something in between.

On paper, Russia was the more powerful power militarily. It was a colossus, it had some four million trained soldiers while China only has three million with only six hundred thousand that could be considered as equipped and trained up to modern standard and the rest in various states of modernization and training.

On sea the apparent discrepancy was even greater. Russia had more battleships than any country except for Britain or France. In the Far East alone, Russia had several pre-dreadnought battleships, first-class cruisers, and destroyers. China had half the amount in first class cruisers and two thirds in destroyers and no battleships as the navy was considered to be of lower priority in their modernization plan. And the Far East fleet was by no means the bulk of Russia's navy. It had equally powerful fleets in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.

The catch was that the Russian troops in the Far East had to be supplied through several thousand kilometers of Siberia or by sea. While those in Central Asia had to be supplied through large steppes and mountain ranges. This meant it would take months for a Russian battalion to be moved to these outlying regions. This also meant that Russia could not support such large amounts of troops in these regions. The largest battle in the far east only involved around a hundred and forty thousand Russian troops which was already a large majority of the forces in the area. Central Asia could support something around those levels but the front for the entire duration of the conflict was relatively quiet, involving only a few skirmishes of a few hundred sometimes thousand men.

The incident that sparked the war was something very personal in character. It should haven't expanded into a war if it wasn't for the warmongering of one of the sides. Fr. Nicholas who was in his missionary work and only recently transferred from Japan to China was stabbed by an unknown assailant in 29th of June 1884.

Not wanting war as China was still in the middle of its reforms the Grand Council ordered the Chinese minister in St. Petersburg to give a document to the Russian government a proposal on how to peacefully end the incident along with other pending issues between the two powers on 12th August.

Which basically states the few things:

China will investigate the incident and arrest the perpetrator(s) when found.

China will pay indemnity for the death of the Missionary.

China will send the Missionary's body back.

On 3rd of October the Russian Minister to the Chinese government stating their counter proposal.

Russia will investigate the incident and arrest the perpetrator(s) when found.

China will pay indemnity for the death of the Missionary.

China will send the Missionary's body back.

Russia will lease the Liaodong Peninsula for a hundred years.

Demilitarization of Chinese Manchuria.

After reading the counter proposal by the Grand Council, this put several members in an uproar. Several members called for an outright Declaration of War. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the issue on what to do was called for a vote. The Ministers who wanted a war lost in a three to five vote with the Prince-Regent not needing to cast a vote since there was no tie. The notable figures of Prince Gong and Minister Lao favored caution and a diplomatic solution as they were not yet confident that China would win in case of a war. More notably Prince Gong said that "Wars cost gold and that gold could instead be placed somewhere else." With that negotiations then followed, China presented a counter proposal increasing the amount of indemnity and a clause on respecting and mutual recognition of each other's borders.

By January the Chinese government had realised that Russia was neither interested in settling the Manchurian issue nor the issue of the dead Missionary. Instead, Russia's goal was buying time – via diplomacy – to further buildup militarily and solve the issue militarily. By 4 February, no formal reply had been received and on 6 February, the Chinese minister, called on the Russian foreign minister, to take his leave. China severed diplomatic relations with Russia on 6 February 1885.

China issued a declaration of war on 8 February , three hours before China's declaration of war was received by the Russian government, the Chinese Army already crossed the Sino-Russian Border and the night before the Chinese Navy already Mined Vladivostok.

One question that troubled the Chinese government was why would Alexander III who was a man of peace refuse to negotiate and the peace that they were offering was a fair and generous one. Unknown to them the Tsar was influenced by his generals is deciding this fateful decision. They repeatedly guaranteed him that the Chinese army was an antiquated one and would fall down at the drop of a hat. As well as saying that this war would bring our nationalism and unify Russia.

"Give me a thousand good men and I will give you China." One of his generals famously said, although it was a hyperbole, this highlighted how the Russian Command Staff looked down on their Chinese counter parts.

All the Western Powers predicted that Russia would decisively win. Prince Gong and Minister Lao was of the belief that China would win this war but not decisively and very costly in terms of lives and resources. Only Minister Yin, the Minister of Defense and General Hung, the Creator of China's new army were confident that China would win decisively.

Russian strategy in the Far East called for the occupation of Manchuria and the decisive defeat and destruction of the Chinese army at the earliest possible time. While Chinese strategy in the Far East was similar. The occupation of the Russian Far East and the decisively beating and destroying their Russian counterpart.

China opened the war with a massive offensive against the Russian Far East with its main thrust centered around capturing Vladivostok. In charge of this offensive was General Hung. While the Russians were supposed to wait for further reinforcements until declaring war. But the Chinese beat them to the punch and already invaded Russia itself.

Not knowing the Chinese offensive plans, upon receiving the news of the declaration of war a Russian General took all the men he had and ordered an offensive into Manchuria.

It was generally an awkward surprise for both armies when they met near the settlement of Nikolskoye (present day Ussuriysk) which was around ninety-eight kilometers north of Vladivostok.

The Battle of Nikoskoye was one of the opening battles of the Sino-Russian War, it was the Largest battle in the War involving a Hundred and forty thousand Russian troops. One that decided the entire course of the War in the Far East.

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Battle of Nikolskoye

The Old General

He was the Commander of the entirety of the Russian Imperial Forces in the Far East. He was currently mounted on a horse above a small hill watching through his binoculars the enemy troop movement. His second in command was similarly mounted beside him and doing the same thing.

The battle field was a flat plane with forest cover her and there. He occupied a flat ground while the enemy was defensively positioned in a similarly flat ground with a forest in its left flank. It stopped snowing and the ground is only covered with a thin layer of snow.

"Smart" he though, this meant that he was forced to attack before enemy troops were able to build ditches. According to his scouts they were slightly outnumbered by the Chinese, them having a hundred and sixty thousand compared to his Hundred and forty thousand and artillery wise they had the same number which was around four hundred artillery pieces each. But that didn't matter a bit, a single Russian was easily worth a dozen Chinese, with that in mind the opposing army would be out fought.

He deployed his men in a standard manner as he thought that cleaver tactics were not needed against the Chinese with his main infantry forming a line and his guns at the back and his cavalry to both flanks.

While the Chinese line was something similar as well. Its main infantry force forming a line having a forest protect its left flank and their guns also placed at the back. Their cavalry however was concentrated in the right flank. The General thought that this troop disposition meant one thing, they were severely outnumbered in terms of cavalry so they had to concentrate theirs. He could see that even with the enemy cavalry concentrated on their right flanks they still had around the same number as his cavalry in the same side.

"Hmmm, these bunch of Chinese rabble seems more disciplined than what I was told" he thought to himself after looking at the Chinese line. "But no matter we will still cut them like grass."

"Sir Guns are in position." His second in command announced.

"Very well order the guns to fire." With that his second in command gave the announce meant and a few moments later he could feel the ground shaking and several cracks of "boom" again and again. Which meant that his guns were already firing and hitting the ground, and probably Chinese a lot of Chinese troops.

He glanced back at his binoculars he could see his guns hitting a few on the Chinese line, seeing this he noticed that the enemy line began to move. Then he heard several "booms" it was not from his guns but from enemy guns. He looked at his advancing lines via binoculars, he could see earth exploding as they were hit by enemy guns, he could also see men from his advancing lines doing the same thing.

"The Chinese are replying in kind" he said out loud "and by the looks of it they're replying quite well for technologically obsolete rabble."

Then he went back looking at the enemy lines, he wanted to see the effects of his guns. The enemy movement after opening his guns became apparent to him, and they did it with great discipline. It seemed to him that this was done with the same amount of professionalism as he would have expected from a Prussian or more likely a French army, but not a Chinese one. This put chills to his spine.

"Sir, the enemy is shifting their lines to the right." His second in command stated what was already obvious to the General.

"Match enemy movement." His second in command once again signaled commands.

The General once again looked at his lines with his binoculars, he could see his infantry lines tilt in response division by division. It however didn't look as disciplined or as professional as what the Chinese did. He didn't want to know what this implied.

"Why are they shifting their lines in the first place?" he thought. His response was only natural as a shift on the enemy lines without a counter tilt would mean that a lot of pressure would be pressed into one of his flanks.

"Perhaps the enemy was just testing if he was smart enough to tilt his in response."

He then looked back at the enemy lines. He saw they enemy lines now back into a continuous line and this time properly shifted to the right.

It was then that he saw it, and by the god he saw it. "You may instill discipline in a Chinese army but those yellow apes still have awful tactical minds, this mistake would win me the battle and probably the whole god damn war" He thought.

What he saw was a gap in the Chinese infantry line. A gap between the line and the forest that used to protect their left flank. The Chinese infantry line was previously protected by a forest in their left flank, now they had decently sized gap between the end of their lines and the forest. A gap he was more than willing to exploit. The Chinese general trying to place extra pressure on his lines, actually placed a hole in his. This made him smile at the incompetence of his enemy.

Just when he actually thought he might lose this battle then something like this falls from heaven.

"Order our cavalry on the left side to exploit the gap in the enemy lines between the forest and their left flank." He ordered his second in command, who merely nodded in acknowledgement. "Also send in two divisions to follow though."

He could hear his second in command give out the orders, but he was too busy looking through his binoculars and looking at the movement of his troops. His left flank cavalry was now moving towards the gap in the enemy lines and closely followed by two divisions of infantry.

Then the Chinese lines began to reform again, and basing on what he saw it was shifting some more to the right. "What the hell are they doing, they know I will simply counter tilt my lines." But then he noticed something that he didn't noticed in the first tilt. The troops in the left most part of the enemy lines were the least professional of the enemy group. And he remembered a while ago that they were the last to finish in reforming their lines.

He shifted looking back to his moving cavalry, he calculated the distance. "Yes! They could probably reach there before the Chinese left could reform." He thought as the ground shook as his artillery fired.

"Sound the Charge, order the cavalry and infantry divisions moving towards the enemy left flank to charge. Tell the cavalry not to wait up!" He ordered, as he hoped that his cavalry would make contact with the left most units of the enemy infantry line before they reform.

He was clutching his binoculars in anticipation as whether or not his cavalry could hit the enemy before they form up. The minutes went by really slow as he waited for contact. As his cavalry and infantry moved closer and closer to his enemy. He noticed that the enemy didn't notice his flanking maneuver. This made him very excited, he was very ready to give the charge command to the rest of his line. To charge the enemy center when his flanking troops made contact with the enemy left flank.

Then as his cavalry was moving past the forest that was protecting the enemy flank before. Suddenly a lot of his cavalry fell specially those nearest to the forest. Then again and again. His infantry were not in a better situation either.

He looked at the direction of the forest. They were being hit by hidden Chinese troops, and decent amount of them he didn't fully see how many as most of them were hidden but judging by the amount of fire he presumed that it was at least two divisions, his cavalry and two infantry divisions probably outnumbered them.

He saw his cavalry halt the charge and began to reposition to attack the enemy ambush troops in the forest.

"Order the cavalry to reform!" he began shouting orders "Send in another division from our left most flank." He continued, he was really busy at shouting orders.

Then a division of enemy cavalry sallied out of the forest and hit the two divisions of infantry he had at the left flank while they were busy attacking the Chinese troops in the forest.

He began again barking out orders as to prevent the loosing of his left most troops and also glance the area in his binoculars from time to time. Then he saw one soldier beginning to run then another then another. Soon what was left of those two infantry divisions were running for their lives.

"Cowards" he muttered "this battle could still be won." Then he saw that instead of chasing down his fleeing troops he saw the enemy cavalry hit the left flank of his main infantry line. Which was very devastating as they were caught off guard because were already firing at their front.

"Their front? Cyka blyat! I didn't notice that the main enemy line already swarmed my front." He began looking around for things he did not notice, while he was busy with his left flank. He saw his right flank cavalry was already starting to route.

"Bloody yellow monkeys! They bested me now. You have won the battle but you still haven't won the war!" he muttered then looked at his second in command who was also similarly concerned.

"Order general retreat." Hearing that his second in command ordered the retreat. He then he saw at his binoculars the retreat of his main infantry line seemed to be orderly as he was inspecting his lines from left to right. Then he saw some movement in the snowy ground in the right flank. Then what was a single movement turned to be an army coming in the nick of time.

"Ahh reinforcements, we may still win this battle yet." He said as he saw the figures in the snow move. He could judge that there was something like sixty thousand men coming towards the battle. Which is more than enough to turn the tide. Then he froze.

"These are not Russians but Chinese. Fresh Chinese troops entering the battle and a lot of them." He said.

"Cancel the retreat order, raise white flags and prepare to surrender."

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The Chinese won battle after battle in the Far Eastern front. Causing a total of forty thousand deaths and three times that in wounded in the Russian side while the Chinese lost less than a third that. Which also resulted in Chinese control over vast swaths of the Russian Far East.

Reinforcements that trickled to the Russian Far East was nowhere near the amount to replace the troops lost while Chinese numbers were growing daily.

Reinforcements were also continuously being sent to Xinjiang in the hopes of attacking Russian Central Asia but the war would be over before they did.

On land Russia was completely outmatched, on the sea however it was more or less a stalemate.

Night before the declaration of war the Chinese navy already started in placing Mines in the waters of Vladivostok. When the Russian Far Eastern Fleet sally forth to attack the Chinese Cruisers blockading the waters the Russian Flagship, another battleship and one Cruiser hit mines and sunk beneath the waves. This coupled with a cruiser sinking due to an ammunition accident made the Russian Fleet think twice before going out again.

Or so they thought. The truth was there was only one battleship that actually hit a mine. The rest was destroyed with the intervention of the Sun Tzu. The Space battleship simply teleported a mine right beside an enemy ship, and a C4 charge in the ammunition stores of the destroyed cruiser.

Plus, everyone was of the opinion that this War would be decided on land. So the Russian Admiral preferred to preserve the Fleet and instead wait for a victory in Land that would not come.

Situation looked increasingly bad for the Russians as their spies reported the Chinese forces being gathered in Manchuria and Xinjiang. Together with the capture of Vladivostok and several Russian Generals this made the Russian situation seem increasingly hopeless.

15th of November 1884 Tsar Alexander III himself requested the end to fighting through the British. The Chinese agreed. It was to be held on Shanghai at the Start of 1885 and to be Arbitrated by the British.

So ended the Sino-Russian War.

Although the War was quite limited and short it left behind a lasting legacy into the world. From then on the world would no longer look at China and see weakness but see a great power in its own right. It also showed the world that a modernized Asian power can beat a European power.

When historians talk about times when destinies of countries are turned around, most would remember the Sino-Russian War as the time China's turned.

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Notes: There is not Sino-French war as there is no Black Flag Army and Vietnam and Tientsin are already French.

Next: Treaty of Shanghai