A war that arose in Manchuria and Korea over rival Russian and Japanese imperial claims over the area, which surprised the world (it was heavily covered by western journalists) with the modern Japanese forces achieving decisive victory.
Much of the land war presaged the first world war in the use of trenches, machine guns and heavy artillery but the lessons were not fully appreciated by western armies.

• Siege of Port Arthur 01 August 1904 - 02 January 1905
• Tsushima 27 May 1905 - 28 May 1905