ABSTRACT
All these events that took place in China following the outbreak of the war in its northeastern territories can be subsumed under the heading “Nationalism and Modernization.” Obviously, the Russo-Japanese War and Japan’s victory were not directly responsible for all these developments. The first steps toward reform and modernization had already been undertaken by the throne in 1901, after the Boxer Rebellion and the invasion by the foreign powers.6 Nationalist consciousness had been rising ever since the last decade of the nineteenth century, when both reformist and revolutionary
organizations had made their appearance. Yet there can be no doubt that Japan’s victory in 1905 served as a catalyst or accelerator that increased the pace and scope of all these developments. While the war invigorated the Indian and other Asian nationalist movements, the effect upon China was more immediate and intense.7
