Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Portsmouth Treaty (1)
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January 1905, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States.
"I am Sergei Yulievich Witte, State Councilor and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Empire."
"I am Komura Jutarō, Foreign Minister of the Great Japanese Empire."
Witte, who looked a full ten years older thanks to Nicholas II and Bloody Sunday, shook hands with Komura Jutarō, whose face was equally grim, before taking his seat.
With the two men at the center, the Russian delegation faced off against the Japanese delegation, and Theodore Roosevelt, the mediator, opened his mouth with a relaxed expression.
"It seems both the Russian Empire and the Japanese Empire are in dire straits, so let's skip the meaningless preliminaries and get straight to the point."
At Roosevelt's pointed tone, Witte and Komura both let out long, weary sighs without a word.
The situation at home was equally disastrous for Russia as it was for Japan.
First, in Russia, His gracious Majesty Nicholas II had taken pity on his poor subjects and personally gifted them bullets on Saint Andrew's Day. Moved by this, the Russian people had poured into the streets en masse with torches to repay the Tsar's kindness.
That alone was enough to make Witte want to spit blood, but to make matters worse, the revolutionary rabble—cancer cells of this era—were using the opportunity to undermine the Russian Empire with terrorist acts against high-ranking officials across the country.
Just before Witte departed Russia, Grand Duke Sergei—brother of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who had ordered the shooting of the workers and uncle to Nicholas II—had been assassinated in Moscow. That said it all.
The very crisis Witte had dreaded most since before the Russo-Japanese War had finally come to pass.
The war had to end as quickly as possible.
Only then could they focus on quelling the chaos within the Russian Empire.
Japan's circumstances were no better.
As was well known, aside from securing naval supremacy in the Yellow Sea and a tenuous hold on the Korean Empire, Japan had achieved no real gains in this war.
Moreover, the horrific, unsanitary conditions of the trench warfare that had arrived a decade early had brought epidemics to the front lines, pushing casualties past 100,000 and nearing 150,000.
With no word of victory despite the countless lives of Japan's youth sacrificed as the price, furious Japanese citizens took to the streets day after day in protests and riots against the incompetent government and military.
These were the same Japanese people who, in the original history, had erupted in rage upon winning the war yet receiving no reparations from the Russian Empire—contrary to the government's promises of prosperity.
With no meaningful achievements now, their discontent was far greater, not lesser.
[The only news from the front lines is of husbands and sons fallen in battle. Where is the victory the government promised?]
[His Imperial Majesty, father to all Japanese subjects, is enraged! The government and military must take responsibility for their incompetence.]
[Anti-government protests rage on. Hibiya Park in flames. This is the will of the people!]
The entire Japanese archipelago was ablaze with fury against the government.
Hibiya Park in Tokyo, site of the Hibiya arson incident, had long since been burned by enraged mobs, and stones and garbage raining down on the homes of Prime Minister Katsura Tarō, Komura Jutarō, and other high officials had become routine.
Yet what they endured paled in comparison to the families of Japanese commanders like Kuroki Tamemoto, who had piled up mountains of soldiers' corpses at the front.
True to form as the originators of bullying, the Japanese vented their rage and hatred toward incompetent generals on their families without restraint.
It was no different from what Nogi Maresuke's family had suffered in the original history after commanding the siege of Port Arthur.
In this world, however, Nogi Maresuke had been spared such criticism, stationed in rear-area Korea for policing duties since the Japanese army hadn't even reached Lüshun.
Unlike Witte, who had secured prior promises from Germany and Britain regarding spoils, Komura Jutarō wore a far more anxious expression.
If they sacrificed so many lives in this treaty only to gain nothing, he might have to commit seppuku.
But the war had effectively ended in a draw between Russia and Japan, making reparations a lost cause.
'Then we must at least secure some land!'
Fortunately, Russia's Moroccan debacle had tilted the scales slightly in Japan's favor.
It was merely turning a negative into zero, but Komura had to leverage it to extract something.
"For now, let's discuss the conditions each side desires."
"The Russian Empire will cede influence in Port Arthur and Korea in exchange for recognition of its annexation of northern Manchuria, as previously agreed."
Witte replied to Roosevelt's words with a regretful expression.
If not for the Tsar and Bezobrazov, they could have taken Mongolia too.
But the Russian Empire should be grateful just to secure northern Manchuria as promised.
A single misstep could mean ending the war empty-handed.
For Witte, already on the verge of madness from Russia's internal chaos, that was utterly unbearable.
"And what are Japan's demands?"
"The Japanese Empire requests the leaseholds of Lüshun and Dalian, which Russia is ceding."
At Roosevelt's question, Komura cautiously glanced at Witte before speaking.
They were the only territories Japan had any realistic chance of claiming.
"Impossible."
But Witte stated firmly.
"The Russian Empire intends to return Port Arthur to China from the start. It is originally Chinese territory, after all."
"The United States concurs with the Russian Empire's position."
As if pre-arranged, even President Roosevelt backed Witte, making Komura feel as though he could already see his kaishakunin ready to behead him after seppuku. He groaned inwardly.
"However..."
"Once we return Port Arthur to China, what Japan does with the region is no concern of Russia's."
They lacked the strength to care, in any case.
The Russian Empire's problems lay far beyond the Far East.
"That said, I worry what the other great powers might think if Japan sets foot on the Liaodong Peninsula again. I hope the Japanese Empire hasn't forgotten the Triple Intervention of a few years ago."
Komura gave a wry smile at Witte's words.
How could they forget that humiliation?
After winning the Sino-Japanese War, Japan had received Lüshun, Dalian, and the Liaodong Peninsula from China.
But Russia, salivating over Manchuria, didn't want Japan growing stronger in China, so it roped in Germany and France—also with interests there—and applied all-around pressure.
In the end, despite securing the peninsula, Japan was forced to return it to China due to the Triple Intervention by Russia, Germany, and France.
Japan lacked the power to stand against Russia then.
But the Triple Intervention ignited Japan's enmity toward Russia, exploding when the empire leased Lüshun and Dalian for itself in 1898—seized from Japan.
The spark that lit the fuse to the Russo-Japanese War.
'So it won't be any different this time.'
Even President Roosevelt was eyeing him meaningfully.
The European powers aside, America—focused on Pacific hegemony—was also loath to see Japan expand in China.
Yet Komura couldn't back down here.
"But Russia is taking northern Manchuria too, isn't it? Japan may not have won outright, but neither did Russia. We can't return empty-handed!"
Because going home empty-handed meant certain death for him.
Komura had no desire to be the sacrificial lamb to appease the furious populace.
"Doesn't Japan already have Korea?"
Witte said.
"The Russian Empire recognizes Japan's influence in Korea. Make it a colony or annex it outright—do as you please."
Of course, Witte doubted Japan would actually annex Korea.
Even victorious Japan in the original history had struggled; the current Japan, barely scraping a draw, lacked the capacity.
In the original timeline, the great powers were shocked by the 1910 annexation, wondering what madness had seized them.
Swallowing a single-ethnic nation of 20 million at once was unprecedented even then.
Colonial ventures sounded simple but devoured national strength.
Even Britain had gradually devoured India's fractious regions via divide and rule. France spent decades piecemeal annexing Vietnam, smaller than Korea.
'Making Korea a puppet state would be their best bet.'
That was why the dear Baron Hans von Choi had said little about his homeland's tragic fate.
The baron had likely foreseen this from their dealings.
Witte inwardly clicked his tongue at the ruthless Eastern youth who would gamble even his birthplace.
Of course, it had been a tearful decision for Hans, but Witte couldn't know that.
"But that's not enough!"
Recognition of rights in Korea was fine.
But Komura agreed annexation was impossible now; a mere puppet state wouldn't sate the enraged public.
And above all, it wouldn't save his own skin.
'Tch, if not for that Moroccan idiocy, we wouldn't even entertain such nonsense.'
Unwilling though he was, Russia was in no position to lecture.
Witte reluctantly played his trump card to silence Japan.
"In exchange, the Russian Empire cedes southern Sakhalin to the Japanese Empire."
"Southern Sakhalin, you say?"
Komura's near-apoplectic face transformed instantly.
Sakhalin (Сахалин), known as Karafuto (樺太) in Japan—an island north of Hokkaido.
Unlike the 21st century, it held little value for either side back then.
Japan had once rushed to claim it to check Russian southward expansion but, overwhelmed managing just Hokkaido, had ceded it to Russia in exchange for the Kurils via the Treaty of Saint Petersburg.
Whatever its value or history, it tempted Komura, desperate for any territory to bring home.
As clear Russian land, he could claim it as a concession wrung from them.
Most citizens would rage that half of Sakhalin wasn't worth 150,000 youths' lives, but that was for Prime Minister Katsura to handle.
What mattered to Komura was surviving the postwar bloodbath.
For Witte too, ceding southern Sakhalin meant little loss.
Port Arthur's strategic value hurt to yield to British-backed Japan, but barren, harsh Sakhalin could be halved and gifted like charity.
'A fair price for northern Manchuria.'
Moreover, Witte didn't want endless talks like Algeciras.
He had no time for that.
"Very well. If the Russian Empire concedes that much, the Japanese Empire agrees to the treaty."
"Good to wrap this up quickly. As Benjamin Franklin said, time is money—no need to drag it out. Let's proceed with the treaty."
Witte and Komura nodded at Roosevelt's words.
From there, it was smooth sailing.
Thus, in February 1905—the following month—the Treaty of Portsmouth was formally signed between the Russian Empire and the Great Japanese Empire.
Exactly one year after the war began, the Russo-Japanese War came to an end.
And with this altered conclusion, the balance of power in East Asia shifted dramatically.