Russo-Japanese Relations in the Prerevolutionary Period: from Severe Competition to the Militar Alliance

Abstract

The article provides a critical analysis of the monograph of Konstantin Sarkisov «Russia and Japan. One hundred years of mutual relations (1817- 1917)». A special attention is given to the historical circumstances that preceded the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, and to the following rapprochement of the two countries, which reached its peak in 1916, when Moscow and Tokyo entered a full-fledged military alliance. The relevance of the monograph is linked to the present rise in Russian-Japanese relations, which increases interest in the positive historical experience accumulated in the course of their development.