1904 - Political Events

Political Events

Japanese naval forces under the command of Admiral Koshaku Togo Heihachiro, 57, attack Port Arthur (Lushun) on the Yellow Sea in southern Manchuria February 8, bottling up a Russian squadron and launching the largest war thus far in history—the first in which armored battleships, self-propelled torpedoes, land mines, quick-firing artillery, and modern machine guns will be used (see 1903). Concerned at Russia's failure to withdraw from Manchuria and her continuing penetration of Korea, the Japanese follow their sneak attack with a declaration of war February 10 and defeat the Russians near Wiju on the Yalu River May 1. Commanded by Gen. Baron Tamesada Kuroki under the overall command of Field Marshal Marquis Iwao Oyama, 61, the Japanese First Army has 40,000 men to throw against the 15,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 60 guns of Lieut. Gen. Zasulich, whose overall commander in Manchuria is Alexei Nikolaevitch Kuropatkin, 55. The Russians lose about 3,000 men, including 1,500 killed and 600 taken prisoner; the Japanese lose about 1,000, capture 11 guns and eight machine guns, cross the river, and invade Manchuria, creating wild enthusiasm at home by gaining the first Asian triumph over a Western nation. Japanese troops occupy Dairen May 30, lay siege to Port Arthur, and occupy Seoul.

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Japan proved herself a great naval power, overcoming beriberi in the Imperial Navy's ranks and sinking a Russian fleet.

The Battle of Liaoyang rages on the Mukden-Port Arthur Railway from August 25 to September 3, pitting 150,000 Russians against 125,000 Japanese. Marshal Oyama's forces drive Gen. Kuropatkin and his troops back to Mukden, but Japanese casualties total 23,615 as compared to 17,900 for the Russians, and the victory is not decisive. Both sides receive reinforcements and fighting resumes from October 5 to 17 on the Sha-Ho River, with 210,000 Russians facing 150,000 Japanese. Russian casualties total 44,351, Japanese 20,345, and both sides dig in (see 1905).

Explorer Francis E. Younghusband, now 40, reaches Tuna in Tibet January 4 with a military escort on a mission to establish trade relations with Lhasa (see exploration, 1903; commerce, 1893). Having made grueling marches across the Tang La, nearly 1,000 feet higher than the Jalap La but more gradual in its incline, he prepares to set up winter quarters at Tuna. Twenty men of his 12th Mule Corps are frostbitten, 30 men of the 23rd Pioneers have to be carried in on mules, and there are 70 cases of snowblindness among the 8th Gurkhas. A Tibetan force of nearly 1,500 men confronts Younghusband at Guru, 10 miles from Tuna; the Tibetan general demands that Younghusband return to Yatung, he politely refuses, and a London Daily Mail correspondent is cut down by Tibetan swordsmen (the man sustains 17 wounds and loses a hand but is saved from death by his thick poshteen). The British number fewer than 200, most of them Ghurkas, and they open fire with their 17 machine guns and two Maxims, killing between 700 and 800 Tibetans, including their general, in 90 seconds of continuous firing. The 168 Tibetan wounded expect to be butchered but are treated by British physicians; only 20 of them die (the British sustain half a dozen casualties, none of them fatal). Younghusband blames the incident on the "childishness and stupidity" of the Tibetan general, saying, "They will not believe in our power." Reports of the affair reach London at Easter, and Younghusband is criticized for violating the terms of the 1858 act which stipulated that India's revenues are not to be spent outside her statutory frontiers except to repel aggression without approval of Parliament. Younghusband meets at Simla March 31 with the British viceroy, Lord Curzon, and proceeds on his mission, reaching Gyantse April 11. His post at Chang Lo repels a dawn attack by 800 men May 5 with heavy loss to the Tibetans. A Russian force is reported to be en route to Lhasa in July, Younghusband reaches Lhasa August 3 and meets September 7 with the seventh Dalai Lama (the sixth has been deposed for licentious living). He departs Lhasa September 23, leaving behind 150 men, and returns to find himself accused of insubordination, having been made the scapegoat for leaving Lhasa without having amended the 1893 trade convention with Tibet. Tibetans continue to impose tariffs on the trickle of goods entering from India, and Lord Curzon will resign his viceroyalty next year amidst a storm of controversy.

English political geographer Halford J. Mackinder of the Royal Geographical Society writes a paper, "The Geographical Pivot of History," in which he argues that the decline of sea power and the economic and industrial development of southern Siberia have made the heartland of Asia and eastern Europe the strategic center of the "World Island" (see Nonfiction, 1902; Nonfiction, 1919).

Russia's governor general of Finland is assassinated at Helsinki June 17 at age 65. The ultranationalist Nikolai (Ivanovich) Bobrikov took office in 1898, abolished the Finnish Army, abrogated constitutional rights, forced the Finns to adopt Russian practices in many aspects of their lives, and has ruled ruthlessly since being given dictatorial powers last year, suppressing Finnish resistance by wholesale arrests, banishments, dismissals of office holders, by press censorship, and by personal control of the government; his assassin is the son of a Finnish senator who then kills himself.

Former French premier René Waldeck-Rousseau dies at Corbeil August 10 at age 57.

Cambodia's puppet king Norodom dies at Phnom Penh April 24 at age 69 after a 44-year reign of which 41 have been under a French protectorate. He is succeeded by his 63-year-old half brother Sisovat (Si Suvata), who will visit the Colonial Exhibition at Marseilles in 1906, tour France, and reign until his own death in 1927.

Vietnamese revolutionaries who include nationalist writer Phan Boi Chau and Nguyen Tham organize the Reformation Society (Duy Tan Hoi); they obtain the support of Prince Cuong De in their efforts to gain independence from French rule and reestablish a Vietnamese monarchy. Phan Boi Chau will move with the students in his resistance movement to Japan next year and meet in 1906 with the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, but the French and Japanese will reach an agreement in 1908 and force him and his followers to leave (see 1912).

An Anglo-French agreement signed April 8 strengthens France's position vis-à-vis Germany with regard to Morocco. Negotiated by diplomat Paul Cambon, now 61, it will become known as the Entente Cordiale and will ultimately play a major role in making Britain and France military allies (see 1914). The Moroccan brigand Raisuli and 150 men abduct U.S. expatriate Ion Perdicaris and his British stepson Cromwell Oliver Varley May 18 from the Perdicaris villa three miles outside Tangier, demanding $70,000 ransom from the sultan. Perdicaris actually renounced his U.S. citizenship during the Civil War to protect his South Carolina plantation from being confiscated by the Confederate government. He has become a Greek citizen, but President Roosevelt uses the incident as a campaign issue, he sends a naval squadron to Tangier, and the U.S. consul general there receives a State Department cable June 22 saying, "We want Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead" (Secretary Hay has written the cable with help from a newsman, and it goes on to say that Marines will not be landed without consultation with Washington). Raisuli has already decided to release Perdicaris, and he turns over the hostage June 25 in exchange for the $70,000 and a number of prisoners (see 1906).

Saudi leader Ibn Saud's forces suffer a defeat June 15 at the hands of Ottoman forces, who have responded to an appeal from Ibn Rashid (see 1902). Ibn Saud gains help from the nomadic (and puritanical) Bedouin warriors konw as the Ikhwan, or Muslim brothers; he recontitutes his Wahabi army and will eventually drive out the Turks, who will find it difficult to keep their troops supplied (see 1924; transportation [railroad], 1908).

Zionism's founder Theodor Herzl dies of pneumonia and heart disease at Edlach, outside Vienna, July 3 at age 44. His remains will be moved to Jerusalem in 1949.

Herero and Hottentot tribesmen in German South-West Africa rise against German colonial forces in an insurrection that will continue until early 1908. The revolt will be suppressed only after methodical campaigns by 20,000 German troops.

South African statesman Paul Kruger dies at Clarenz, Switzerland, July 14 at age 78, having built an Afrikaaner nation.

Former Confederate army general James Longstreet dies at Gainesville, Georgia, January 2 at age 82.

The new republic of Panama adopts a constitution February 13 and elects Manuel Amador Guerrero president (see 1903). Colombia's president José Marroquin is succeeded by explorer Rafael Reyes (Prieto), 54, who survived in the Amazon jungle in the 1870s (one of his brothers died of fever, another was eaten by cannibals), established a prosperous business, lost his fortune in a financial panic, and returned home almost penniless to enter politics, allying himself with right-wing elements. Reyes represented his country at Washington last year in the negotiations relating to Panama but failed to obtain financial compensation for the loss of that country; he soon dismisses the legislature, jails some of its members, appoints a puppet assembly, and assumes dictatorial rule that will continue until his forced resignation in 1909.

The Dominican Republic verges on bankruptcy (see 1903). President Roosevelt forces the Dominicans to let U.S. authorities collect customs duties and pay off the nation's creditors, setting a pattern for American imperialism in the Caribbean (see 1905; Nicaragua, 1910).

President Roosevelt wins election in his own right with 336 electoral votes to 140 for the Democratic Party's candidate, Judge Alton B. (Brooks) Parker, 52, of New York, who has been nominated in preference to William Jennings Bryan.

A Massachusetts court convicts James Michael Curley and his brother in November of taking civil service examinations for job applicants in Boston, but on the day they begin serving time they are elected to the offices of alderman and state representative (see 1903). New York's Tammany Hall supports the Curley brothers, and the public excuses their offense on the ground that "they did it for their friends."