Treaty of Portsmouth

The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905 [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EFD61431E733A25754C1A9669D946497D6CF&scp=6&sq=order+of+meiji&st=p "Text of Treaty; Signed by the Emperor of Japan and Czar of Russia,"] "New York Times." October 17, 1905.] after negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the United States.

Negotiations

Delegates who signed the peace agreement were Sergius Witte and Roman Rosen for Russia, and Komura Jutaro and Takahira Kogoro for Japan. Fyodor Martens and other diplomats from both nations stayed in New Castle, New Hampshire at the Hotel Wentworth (where the armistice was signed), and were ferried across the Piscataqua River for negotiations held on the base located in Kittery, Maine. The General Stores Building (now Building 86) was used for the meetings. Mahogany furniture patterned after the Cabinet Room of the White House was ordered from Washington.

In accordance with the treaty, both Japan and Russia agreed to evacuate Manchuria and return its sovereignty to China, but Japan was leased the Liaodong Peninsula (containing Port Arthur and Talien), and the Russian rail system in southern Manchuria with access to strategic resources. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin from Russia. Although Japan gained a great deal from the treaty, it was not nearly as much as the Japanese public had been led to expect, since Japan's initial negotiating position had demanded all of Sakhalin and a monetary indemnity as well.cn|date=January 2008 The frustration caused the Hibiya riots, and collapsed Katsura Taro's cabinet on January 7, 1906.

Negotiations for the treaty were taken under the mediation of Theodore Roosevelt, for which he won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. Both sides were seeking a peace — the Russians had been repeatedly defeated and the Japanese were in considerable financial difficulties. Negotiations lasted through August. Prior to the beginning of negotiations, the Japanese had signed the Taft-Katsura Agreement with the United States in July 1905, agreeing to Japanese control in Korea in return for American dominance in the Philippines. Also, the Japanese agreed with Britain to extend the Anglo-Japanese treaty to cover all of Eastern Asia, in return for Britain also agreeing to Japanese control over Korea. The treaty confirmed Japan's emergence as the pre-eminent power in East Asia, and forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policies there, but it was not well received by the Japanese public. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C01E5D8103AE733A25750C0A96F9C946497D6CF&scp=5&sq=order+of+meiji&st=p "Japan's Present Crisis and Her Constitution; The Mikado's Ministers Will Be Held Responsible by the People for the Peace Treaty -- Marquis Ito May Be Able to Save Baron Komura,"] "New York Times." September 3, 1905.]

Centennial

In 2005, a summer-long series of events was held in Portsmouth to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, including a visit by a U.S. Navy destroyer, a parade, and a re-enactment of the arrival of diplomats from the two warring nations. The treaty was signed at 3:47 p.m. on September 5, 1905, marked by an honor guard, the firing of a 19-gun salute and the ringing of area church bells.

Notes

References

* Davis, Richard Harding, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. (1905). [http://books.google.com/books?id=z_dyHgAACAAJ&dq=Russo-Japanese+War:+A+Photographic+and+Descriptive+Review+of+the+Great+Conflict+in+the+Far+East.&client=firefox-a "The Russo-Japanese war; a photographic and descriptive review of the great conflict in the Far East, gathered from the reports, records, cable despatches, photographs, etc., etc., of Collier's war correspondents"] New York: P. F. Collier & Son. [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/21581015 OCLC: 21581015]
* Harcave, Sidney. (2004). [http://books.google.com/books?id=un01HMqbbX0C&dq=sergei+witte&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "Count Sergei Witte and the Twilight of Imperial Russia: A Biography."] Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. 10-ISBN 0-765-61422-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-765-61422-3 (cloth)
* ______________. (1990). [http://books.google.com/books?id=kTswgGNBFBAC&dq=sergei+witte+harcave&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "The Memoirs of Count Witte" (translator, Sidney Harcave).] Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. 10-ISBN 0-873-32571-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-873-32571-4 (cloth)
* Geoffrey Jukes, (2002) [http://books.google.com/books?id=2dyUYl3OOr0C&dq=Geoffrey+Jukes&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905."] Oxford: Osprey Publishing. 10-ISBN 1-841-76446-9; 13-ISBN 978-1-841-76446-7 (paper)
* Kokovtsov, Vladamir. (1935). [http://books.google.com/books?id=J7SJHgAACAAJ&dq=Out+of+My+Past&lr= "Out of My Past" (translator, Laura Matveev).] Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* Korostovetz, J.J. (1920). [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Na2xuUNziMC&dq=Pre-War+Diplomacy+The+Russo-Japanese+Problem&client=firefox-a "Pre-War Diplomacy The Russo-Japanese Problem."] London: British Periodicals Limited.
* Witte, Sergei. (1921). [http://www.archive.org/details/memoirsofcountwi00wittuoft "The Memoirs of Count Witte" (translator, Abraham Yarmolinsky).] New York: Doubleday

External links

* [http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914m/portsmouth.html The Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905, Russo-Japanese War] (actual text)
* [http://www.portsmouthpeacetreaty.com/ Portsmouth Peace Treaty, 1905-2005]
* [http://www.meijimura.com/english/index.html The Museum Meiji Mura]