Port Arthur Front.
==Jan.01 > The Japanese take the key Wantai fortress north of Port Arthur - commandant Stoessel asks for surrender terms without consulting fortress commander Smirnov
==Jan.02 > Sevastopol, the last serviceable ship in the Port Arthur fleet, is scuttled by its crew [early.AM] - PORT ARTHUR FORMALLY SURRENDERS, with 10,000 surviving troops [700.PM] - looting orgy by the Russian garrison - 31,000 Russian and 58,000 Japanese have been lost in the fighting; both of Japanese commander Nogi’s sons have been killed

Manchurian Front.
==Jan.04 > Kuropatkin proposes a large cavalry raid against the Japanese Army’s rail communications - ~the raid accomplishes little

Naval Operations.
==early.Jan (Russian Xmas) > The Russian Baltic Fleet reaches Nossi Be in Madagascar and refits until Mar - widespread disease among the crews

Diplomacy.
==Jan.13 > At the of urging Germany, US Secretary of State Hay asks the powers to pledge not to carve up China at the end of the Russo-Japanese War - on Jan.19, Britain, France and Italy support the proposal

Russia.
==Jan.22 > Bloody Sunday: troops fire on peaceful workers’ demonstrations in St. Petersburg - THE RUSSIAN 1905 REVOLUTION IS UNDERWAY

Manchurian Front.
==Jan.25 > The Battle of San-de-pu (Hei-kou-tai) to Jan.27: the Russian left wing takes Hei-kou-tai
==Jan.26-27 > Russian forces are stalemated in fighting near San-de-pu - Kuropatkin fails to crush Oyama before Nogi’s army arrives - massive losses from machine guns - ~deep Russian demoralization: Grippenberg resigns, Stackelberg is sacked, 2nd Army’s hospital inspector shoots himself

Japan.
==Jan.29 > The Japanese antiwar Socialist newspaper Heimin Shimbun is suppressed and its editor Kotoku imprisoned for publishing the Communist Manifesto

Manchuria.Japan.
==Jan.--- > After Roosevelt proposes that Manchuria be returned to China and neutralized under the guarantee of the powers, Japanese Foreign Minister Komura pledges that Japan will uphold equal opportunity in Manchuria and ensure Chinese rule  “in substance”

Naval Operations.
==Feb.15 > Russia sends the obsolete ships of the Baltic Fleet to ‘reinforce’ Rozhdestvensky's fleet, despite his objections

Iwao Oyama

Manchurian Front.
THE BATTLE OF MUKDEN, the largest land battle in history to date:
==Feb.22 > The Japanese right flank clashes with Russian cavalry [evening]
==Feb.25 > The planned Russian offensive against San-de-pu fizzles as growing Japanese pressure draws Russian reserves to the east
==Feb.27 > General Oyama launches the main Japanese drives: the Japanese Third Army outflanks the Russian right; the Fourth and First Armies attack just east of Mukden
==Mar.02-07 > Kuropatkin is desperately redeploying westwards to block Nogi’s Third Army - ~looting by Russian troops in Mukden
==Mar.05-06 > Weak Russian counterattacks against the Japanese Third Army fail
==Mar.08-10 > A general Japanese offensive is launched at Mukden as the Russian forces begin to retreat in a blinding dust storm
==Mar.10 > Russian forces abandon Mukden - ~the retreating Russian Second and Third Manchurian Armies are disintegrating, but the Japanese fail to destroy them - 90,000 Russian casualties out of 350,000 troops engaged; 75,000 Japanese losses out of 300,000 - the last major land battle of the war

Diplomacy.
==Feb.25 > The Hague Tribunal rules against Russia in the Dogger Bank dispute

Japan.United States.
==Mar.05 to Sep > Pershing is assigned as the US military attaché to Japan and an observer of the Russo-Japanese War

Diplomacy.
==Mar.09 > Russia pays compensation to Britain for the Dogger Bank incident - British-Russian relations improve

Naval Operations.
==Mar.16 > The Russian Baltic Fleet sails from Nossi Be, Madagascar, for East Asia

Manchurian Front.
==Mar.17 > Kuropatkin is replaced as Russian commander in Manchuria by the 67 year-old Linievitch

Diplomacy.
==Mar.20 > Roosevelt tells Japanese envoy Kaneko that he’s willing to act as a mediator between Russia and Japan

Japan.
==Mar.24 > Japan negotiates its third foreign war loan, for £30 million - the total Japanese foreign war debt is at £52 million
==Mar.28 > Chief of Staff Kodama returns to Tokyo to argue that the war needs to be ended

APRIL 1905

Naval Operations.
==Apr.08 or Apr.07 > The Russian Baltic Fleet steams past Singapore after sailing 4700 miles without touching at a port

Diplomacy.
==Apr.13 > Evasive Russian response to the American offer of mediation

Naval Operations.
==Apr.14-May.14 > The Russian Baltic Fleet anchors at Camrahn Bay and Van Phongin Indochina

Diplomacy.
==Apr.18 > Japan hints at acceptance of American mediation - ~to the US, Japan reaffirms its support of the Open Door Policy in China
==Apr.21 > Roosevelt calls for direct Japanese-Russian peace talks
==Apr.21 > The Japanese cabinet decides on its peace terms

Russia.
==end.Apr > Japan funds gunrunning for Russian revolutionaries

Korea.
==Apr.--- > The Japanese cabinet decides to impose a protectorate on Korea in the near future

Naval Operations.
==May.09 > Nebogatov’s obsolete 3rd Squadron joins the Russian Baltic Fleet off Viet Nam, but receives no orders from Admiral Rozhdestvensky
==May.14 > The reinforced Russian Baltic Fleet sails from Van Phong in IndoChina on its last leg to Vladivostok
==May.25.[late evening] > Togo learns that the Baltic Fleet’s colliers have been sent to Shanghai, and realizes that the Russians will go through Tsushima Strait

THE BATTLE OF TSUSHIMA, the largest naval battle in history to date:
==May.27 > A Japanese picket ship sights the Baltic Fleet, heading for Tsushima Strait [330.AM] - Togo sails from Masan in Korea to intercept [500.AM] - he sights the disordered Russian fleet [119.PM] and orders a U-turn in the face of the enemy [155.PM]; within fifteen minutes both fleets are firing - the battleship Oslyabya is sunk [245.PM] as the Russian fleet falls into chaos - the Russian battleships Suvarov, Bordino, and Alexander III sink [700-730.PM]; the Japanese battleships cease fire
==May.27-28.[night] > Suicidal attacks by Japanese torpedo boats: the Russian battleship Navarin sinks - Sissoi Veliky and Admiral Nakhimov are hit and are eventually scuttled
==May.28-29 > The Russian battleship Orel surrenders [morning] - after being trapped by Togo, Nebogatov surrenders the remnants of the Russian Baltic Fleet [1115.AM] - by May 29, the cruisers Monomakh and Dmitri Donskoi are scuttled; Svetlana and Admiral Ushakov are sunk - Russia has lost 147,000 tons of shipping sunk and 58,000 tons captured or interned compared to Japan’s 300 tons sunk - 4,830 Russian sailors have been lost and 6,000 captured compared to 117 Japanese killed: the young officer Isoroku Yamamoto is wounded - Russian naval power is destroyed; JAPAN HAS CLEARLY BECOME A GREAT POWER

Diplomacy.
==May.31 > Japan urges Roosevelt to invite both combatants to open negotiations

Manchurian Front.
==late.spring > ~The Russian Manchurian army has recovered from its near collapse in Mar - ~Japanese troops are showing signs of war weariness

Russia.
==Jun.02 > The Czar learns the details of the Russian defeat at Tsushima - ~angry public response; bitter attacks on the government from the Russian press

Naval Operations.
==Jun.03 > Admiral Togo meets with the wounded Russian Admiral Rozhdestvensky in the Sasebo naval hospital

Diplomacy.
==Jun.03 > Germany urges Russia to seek American mediation
==Jun.06 > The Czar secretly decides to pursue talks with Japan - a Russian Imperial military conference is held in preparation for seeking peace talks
==Jun.07 > Through the American ambassador, the Czar accepts the US offer to arrange peace talks with Japan
==Jun.08 > America officially offers to host peace talks between Japan and Russia
==Jun.10 > German Chief of Staff Schlieffen assesses Russian forces as “...incapable of standing up to another army...”
==Jun.10 > Japan formally accepts the American offer for peace talks
==Jun.12 > Russia formally accepts the American offer for peace talks

Diplomacy.
==Jul.05 > The Japanese Emperor endorses Komura’s instructions for the upcoming Portsmouth talks
==Jul.06 > China informs Japan, Russia, and America that it will not recognize any peace treaty that it has not approved

Russia (Siberia).
==Jul.07 > Japanese forces invade Sakhalin Island and overrun it within a month against minimal Russian resistance

Diplomacy.
==Jul.08 > Japanese Foreign Minister Komura leaves for the Portsmouth peace conference

Japan.United States.
==Jul.27 > Talks in Tokyo between US Secretary of War Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura
==Jul.29 > The secret Taft-Katsura memorandum: America recognizes Japanese predominance in Korea in return for a Japanese pledge not to interfere in the Philippines
==Jul.31 > The Taft-Katsura agreement is confirmed by Roosevelt

Diplomacy.
==Aug.03 > Russian envoy Count Witte arrives in the US, and begins a successful, though cynical, campaign to ingratiate himself with the American public
==Aug.05 > Roosevelt introduces the Japanese and Russian peace delegates on the presidential yacht at Oyster Bay
==Aug.09-Sep.05 > Japanese-Russian peace talks at Portsmouth open during a severe heat wave
==Aug.12 > The Anglo-Japanese alliance is renewed and expanded to provide mutual support if either is attacked by a single power instead of two and is extended to India - Britain recognizes the Japanese dominance of Korea in return for a Japanese pledge not to threaten Singapore
==Aug.15 > The Portsmouth Conference is stalemated over Russia’s refusal to pay an indemnity or to cede Sakhalin Island
==Aug.18 > Komura draws up a compromise peace plan
==Aug.21-23 > Roosevelt intervenes in the Portsmouth talks, urging Russia to accept a compromise, but the Czar stands firm - ~Witte disobeys the Czar’s order to break off the talks
==Aug.28 > The Japanese envoy Komura packs his bags and prepares to break off the peace talks - a Japanese Imperial Conference decides to accept the Russian terms
==Aug.29.[930.AM] > Just as the Portsmouth talks are about to break down, Japan withdraws its demand for an indemnity and asks for only half of Sakhalin Island - Witte immediately agrees

Japan.
==Aug.30 > Unrestrained outrage in the Japanese press at news of the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth - some papers advocate the assassination of the Japanese Cabinet
==Aug.31 > Japanese ultra-nationalist groups form the Anti-Peace Society to oppose the Treaty of Portsmouth

Russia.
==late summer > ~Numerous minor mutinies by demoralized Russian troops returning from the Far East on the Trans-Siberian Railroad

Diplomacy.
==Sep.01 > The Japanese-Russian armistice is signed

Japan.
==Sep.03 > The Anti-Peace Society calls for a Tokyo rally on Sep.05 to protest the Treaty of Portsmouth

The participants at the Portsmouth peace talks:
Roosevelt is in the center, Baron Komura is on his right,
and on the left Count Witte towers over everyone.

Diplomacy.
==Sep.05.[349.PM] > THE TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH ENDS THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR: Russia recognizes Japanese control of Korea, the Liaotung Peninsula, southern Sakhalin Island, and the southern Manchurian rail system - Russia and Japan are both to evacuate their troops from Manchuria - the final Japanese losses are 60,000 killed in battle and 22,000 dead of disease

Japan.
==Sep.05-07 > The Hibiya Park riots in Tokyo in protest against the Portsmouth Treaty: over 1000 are killed or injured - the only pro-Treaty newspaper in Tokyo is burned down - martial law is in force to Nov - riots in Yokohama and Kobe; rallies nationwide - ~the rise of Japanese anti-Americanism and ultra-nationalism and the rise of mass political action
==Sep.11 > Togo’s flagship Mikasa blows up in Sasebo Naval Yard, sinking with 251 of her crew - the cause has never been determined

Diplomacy.
==Sep.21 > The US-Japanese Taft-Katsura agreement is made public
==Sep.27 > The renewed Japanese-British alliance is made public

Diplomacy.Japan.
==Oct.16 > A Japanese Imperial Rescript ratifies the Treaty of Portsmouth - anti-Treaty disturbances are quieted

Japan.
==Oct.21-22 > A giant naval review is held in Tokyo

Russia.
==Oct.30 > In the wake of an immense Empire-wide general strike, the October Manifesto ends unlimited Czarist autocracy in Russia - Witte becomes the Russian Premier

Korea.
==Nov.17 > Japan imposes a protectorate on Korea

Japan.
==Nov.29 > Martial law is lifted and press freedom is restored in Japan in the wake of the Hibiya Park riots

Diplomacy.
==Nov.--- > Japan and Russia exchange ratifications of the Treaty of Portsmouth, completing the peace process