ABSTRACT
If the actual fighting during the Russo-Japanese War was confined mostly to southern Manchuria and the seas of northern China, the conflict had global ramifications. It affected all the major powers of the day, but especially Great Britain. This, in turn, was rooted in the dual nature of British power. Much emphasis has been given to its traditional concerns with the balance of power in Europe,1 yet Britain was not an exclusively European power. Its far-flung empire consisted of two strategic blocs, or networks of possessions and interests: the British-European and the Anglo-Indian ones. If Britain’s interests were defined globally, then this also necessitated a global reach of British power. Nevertheless, at the opening of the twentieth century wider changes within the constellation among the Great Powers before, during, and after the Russo-Japanese War placed constraints upon Britain’s power. These constraints arose from the dual nature of British power and from the 1902 alliance with Japan. Throughout the nineteenth century Russian expansion in Asia posed the most serious threat to Britain’s strategic interests. Russia was firmly part of the European Great Power system. Its Asian expansion, however, affected the AngloIndian strategic bloc. The 1902 alliance tied Britain to a non-European, and therefore non-systemic, power. Although the Japanese alliance protected British interests in China, it did not address Britain’s core interests. The Russian threat may have been geographically confined to Central and East Asia, but it derived its significance from systemic factors. A conflict between Britain’s non-systemic ally and Russia, therefore, had potentially broader ramifications.
