Loose Bandage Pt. 5
December 1904 – August 1905
- Civil unrest ushers in the new year in the Russian Empire. Despite
the recent string of morale-boosting victories in the Far East, the
average Russian worker is still a peasant, living in squalor and not
getting enough to eat. The relatively prosperous years of the 1880's
have come and gone. The peasants want rights and, contrary to the
beliefs of much of the Russian nobility, they want them now. Thus, in
February of 1905, Georgy Apollonovich Gapon, a revolutionary priest,
leads a crowd of laborers, two-hundred thousand strong, to the Winter
Palace, chanting "God save the Tsar."
The Tsar is not in the mood to listen to these demands, having the war
to fight and all, but he, nevertheless, asks Gapon inside to hear his
demands. While the demands seem fairly unreasonable to the Tsar, it is
obvious that they do not appear so to the thousands gathered outside
of his home. Nicholas reluctantly agrees to form a representative
assembly, the Duma. While not completed placated, Gapon is happy
enough for now. After all, this is only a first step.
Meanwhile, as Gapon is escorted out of the Palace, Nicholas ponders
the wisdom of his decision. After all, he needs support for his war.
But is it worth it to sacrifice so much power? The Tsar shrugs. It is
only a temporary measure, one which he can reverse once the army is
freed from the East. He'll play ball, for now, but God better help
those protestors once the war is over, because he sure won't. The
peasants won't get off lightly for trying to stab the Empire in the
back during its great victory in the East. Just wait until the army is
freed from combat.
- Elihu Root's inauguration, like his nomination and subsequent
election, is an event soon forgotten. The new President's speech,
while displaying a certain level of intelligence, is nothing special.
In fact, its content could very well have been written by the former
President himself. It appears as if the United States is going to have
another four years of a McKinley-like administration and, to most
Americans, that is just fine.
- While the United States goes through the monotony of the most recent
Presidential change, the Japanese fleet steams from Pusan in force.
Intent on crushing the Russian Baltic Fleet, which was sent months
prior to reinforce the weakened Pacific Squadron, Rear Admiral
Heihachiro Togo takes the thirty-one battleships and cruisers
comprising his fleet out into the Straits of Tsushima, separating
Japan from the Korean mainland and finds…nothing.
Meanwhile, eight-hundred miles to the northeast, under the cover of
darkness, the Russian Baltic Fleet glides silently through the choppy
waters of the Straits of Tsugaru, unopposed by the Japanese. Admiral
Makarov's suggestion had paid off. Passing through the Strait in the
early hours of the morning, the Baltic Fleet emerges and steams for
Vladivostok, where the ships of the Baltic will join their Pacific
brethren.
- Many of Root's Cabinet members have been pulled straight from
McKinley's, albeit, in some instances, in different roles. Lyman Gage
stays at Treasury and William Howard Taft replaces Philander Knox as
Attorney General. As it turns out, Roosevelt doesn't get State. That
honor goes to Philander Knox, former Attorney General. Instead,
Roosevelt gets something better (in his mind, anyhow): the War
Department.
- Early announcements from the Root administration seem to present
Elihu Root as more of a tremendously successful mouthpiece than a
take-charge President. New policies come out of the White House which
seem to be the product of the hopes and dreams of his Cabinet, rather
than he himself. Roosevelt-influenced conservation proposals are
announced by the President. Gifford Pinchot joins the Cabinet a month
later, as the Secretary of the Treasury. Indeed, Root appears to be
rather indifferent and uninterested in the more tedious necessities of
life in the White House. A man who will become enlivened by any sort
of action, Root appears to be almost bored by his job, thus far.
Meanwhile, though, President Root takes charge of a major effort to
finance and construct a Central American Canal. Once again,
negotiations between the United States and Colombia break down with
Colombian refusal to sell portions of the Panamanian isthmus, despite
the ongoing rebellion in that region. The US turns to Nicaragua, who
finally appears ready to negotiate with the United States. In fact,
President Root himself journeys to Nicaragua to negotiate, the first
sitting President to leave the country.
This only reinforces the belief that Root's true brilliance only
shines during glamorous periods of action. While this is, in part,
true, this reputation is greatly exaggerated by the newspapers of
William Randolph Hearst, who is gearing up for the New York
gubernatorial race and, in fact, the 1908 Presidential election.
- The Russian Combined Pacific Fleet sails out of Vladivostok in
force, much like its Japanese counterpart had done two months earlier.
Under the command of Admiral Aleksei Makarov, the Russians are out for
revenge.
In the preceding months, the Russian army, facing uncountable waves of
Japanese soldiers, was forced to fall back onto the Liaodong Peninsula
from Fengcheng. Bottled up on the peninsula, General Kuropatkin has
arranged a formidable line of defensive works, designed to stall the
Japanese for weeks, even months, at which point the Russians would be
able to retreat to a similar set of prepared trenches. A keen observer
would later not the striking similarities between Kuropatikin's
defensive tactics and those of the First World War.
Meanwhile, though, the Russian Pacific Fleet sorties, sailing south
into the Sea of Japan. In Pusan, Admiral Togo receives word of the
Russian Fleet's departure and orders his ships to make ready. Two
days later, the Japanese fleet emerges from Pusan, sailing north to
decide the fate of the Russo-Japanese War…