The Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

Customer Reviews:

Too expensive.......2007-03-03

I don't care if this book tells you the secret of the meaning of life, it costs too much for a print-only history book. Try "Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: Russia's War with Japan" by Richard Connaughton for an excellent (and affordable) account of the Russian-Japanese War. Aside from that, much of the vast text is pointless gossip that is not really germane to the topic. In short: not very good and certainly not worth the price.

Absolutely Perfect.......2007-02-07

This is how history should be written. The Warner's have perfected the historical narrative to a fine art. They have the perfect combination of the attention to detail, the global view, biographical details on the major participants, and proper attention to military and political events.

There area also the explosion of a few myths: of course the Japanese were daring and intelligent, the Russians were largely incompetent and out-generalled by the Japanese. Basic trends in the Japanese descent in eventual barabarity in their treatment of prisoners was here as well. Japanese DID treat their prisoners well once they were captured, but in the heat of battle they were not so generousl. Many of these myths about the "gallant little Japanese" were purposefully fostered by the British press and butressed by interesting supportive stories from the British military liaison officers.

Japan was not as efficient as she is often protrayed. There was serious lack of fast manuevre warfare in many cases. General Nogi was a pain to not only his troops, but the entire effective Japanese military hierarchy. Generals Oku, Kuroki, Kodama and even the plodding Oyama were much more effective in accomplishing their tasks and regarded Nogi as a pain to be disposed of.

The Japanese did not really effectively bottle up the Russian Fleet in their initial attack. In fact no ships were sunk in the initial attack on Port Arthur. The Russians were really bottled up only in their own mind, but they still managed to effectively throw a continuous scare into the Japanese and Togo did avoid seriously pressing the Russians until he allowed the Army bombardment to effectively sink the Russian Far Seas Fleet.

Togo found his backbone when the Baltic Fleet steamed to its doom at the straits of Tsushima. The Warner's dedicate a lot of time on the travels of the fleet: its firing on British fishboats at Dogger Bank, its time spent in Madagascar and its eventual journey to be seriously out-maneuvred and sank at Tsushima. The maps on this part of the battle are however sparse and I could not help but to have wished that they included more narrative on the sea battle.

I very much enjoyed this book and looked forward to reading chapters every night. Very much a top-rated study on this war. Sources are balanced with very much original work translated from Japanese and Russian and Chinese. All done in a way that engages the reader with a lively and well-paced style.

One of the Best on the R-J War.......2005-12-25

(This would be 5 stars if the maps were better.)

This is a very well researched book on a subject much under-rated in the West. The R-J War was in many ways a prelude to WWI and was fought on the same relative scale and with many of the same novel tactics and weapons that would be brought to bear by the much richer European powers to their mutual exhaustion in 1914-1918. Since the R-J War was partially responsible for the Russian revolution of 1905, perhaps Russia could have avoided the Bolshevik revolution of 1918 if it had heeded its own recent histroy in 1905.

The Warners had extensive experience with Japanese and Chinese culture and history which shows up in their excellent introduction to the diplomatic and historical lead up to the war so that it isn't until page 155 that you actually see the beginning of the war. By that time it actually makes sense to you, in its own twisted way.

Tha R-J War saw the use of trench warfare, the machine gun, and massive infantry assualts on fortified positions. If the European powers had learned anything from their observers in the war they might have avoided many of the same problems that made WWI such a disaster.

The book has one maddening flaw which is no map index. In addition, the maps are not in context so it is hard to tell where on the larger area of conflict a particular battle is taking place. Other than that the sources are extensive and well annotated. There also seems to be a typo in that early on they mention a Japanese 14 centimeter gun as being massive when they had many larger guns available on all their ships.

Who won this war?.......2005-09-16

The book is a very detailed history of a important war that few Americans know about. Sometimes it might pop up in the History books because Teddy Roosevelt helped bring it to a close. But it is important, because it shows Japan not just as an Asian power, but a WORLD power. True, the peace that came afterwards was not to its advantage - it didn't get as much as it wanted, it was in debt, and nations that had been friendly to it before the war were now anti-Japanese - but it had proven itself a match for European powers by defeating Russia on all fronts.
The book also enlightened on some facts I did not know of. The Japanese, for example, helped fuel the unrest within Russia, helping bring the revolution closer to reality. The interaction between the Russian Generals seem to be, to me, almost childish but not as childish as that between the Kaiser and the Tsar. The Battle of Tsushima, in which ANOTHER Russian Fleet was destroyed by the Japanese, becomes the climax of a war fought with machine guns, spies, mines, thousands of men moved by ships and trains, and,it seems, tons of luck.
This is a major turning point in Asian and World history and a great book too.

Invaluable Reference -- Great Resource!.......2005-06-08

The RJW was an extremely comples war. It was the most deadly 1 year war of its time, and Japan nearly lost. The book itself is perhaps the most comprehensive collection of info on the war. But, do not assume that a single reading of this book will bring everything you need to know about the war into place. In fact, despite the great amount of information and good writing style, the authors do an awful lot of bouncing around the clock and calendar. It becomes difficult to know just when the author's passages occurred, and the skiping around can get frustrating.

Still, do get this book and do read it. It will really help understand the developments that occurred in that part of the world from 1850 to 1950.

(Also, consider this -- what would have happened if Russia actually had prepared for war with Japan in the later part of the 1880s and 1890s? What if Japan's intel had been flawed? Could Russia have actually mobilized its 1.1 million soldiers to defeat Japan? The what ifs are fascinating, but in reality, Imperial Russia was a basket case, missing out on the industrial progress other countries in the world were discovering.)

The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 (Men-at-Arms)

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Balanced overview of the Armies
One of the best Osprey MAA titles
A Nice Little Gem

The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 (Men-at-Arms)
Alexei Ivanov
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
The Russian Civil War (2): White Armies (Men-at-Arms)
The Russian Army 1914-18 (Men-at-Arms)
The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima
German Armies 1870-71 (1): Prussia (Men-at-Arms)

ASIN: 1841767085
Release Date: 2004-07-25

Book Description

The Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria was the first 20th century conflict fought between the regular armies of major powers, employing the most modern means – machine guns, trench warfare, minefields and telephone communications; and the battle of Mukden in March 1905 was the largest clash of armies in world history up to that date. Events were followed by many foreign observers; but the events of 1914 in Western Europe suggest that not all of them drew the correct conclusions. For the first time in the West the armies of this distant but important war are described and illustrated in detail, with rare photos and the superbly atmospheric paintings of Russia's leading military illustrator.

Customer Reviews:

Balanced overview of the Armies.......2005-07-19

One of the best Osprey books to come along. It is the perfect, compact introduction to all aspects of the land armies. Unlike some Osprey titles which focus on one area, usually uniforms, the authors have covered everything from weapons and tactics to organization. The photographs here are excellent and I rank the color plates as among the best to appear in this series.

One of the best Osprey MAA titles.......2004-10-11

This is what I was looking for about the Russo-Japanese War! Complete research, plenty of rare pictures and detailed artwork about this important and little known conflict between a decadent and an emergent empire, which defined the power distribution in the Pacific until WWII.

Unless it is focused on the land forces, it doesn't avoid talking about the maritime battles which were decisive. Osprey should work in a complementary title regarding these sea battles and navies, as in their Falklands War collection.

Congratulations to Mr. Karachtchouk, he really made an impressive job!!!

A Nice Little Gem.......2004-09-23

Lately, it seems as if Osprey's Men-at-Arms series has degenerated from its previously decent summaries into a series devoted to explaining obscure military buttons and uniform features. Alexei Ivanov, a former Russian army officer, appears to have actually produced a Men-at-Arms title that is fairly fresh and original, featuring the oft-neglected Russo-Japanese War. Ivanov has not only done excellent research on the Russian side (and readers will enjoy his collection of Russian military photographs), but he has provided good insight into the Japanese side as well. Although Ivanov does discuss uniforms as well as organization, he does not get wrapped up in minor details; instead, he offers a soldier's perspective on why this piece of equipment or uniform item was important. In sum, this little volume on the Russo-Japanese War is a gem.

After a decent introduction and a fairly detailed chronology, Ivanov provides a very interesting section on military innovations in the war (machineguns, communications, trench warfare, observation balloons and guerrilla warfare). For example, few other histories mention that the Russians introduced two wireless radio companies just before the end of the war. Similarly, Ivanov spends the time to discuss how the Russians and Japanese used machineguns differently. For once, a Men-at-Arms title has been written for military specialists and not just model-builders or re-enactors. Ivanov then provides a succinct but detailed summary of the Russian army in 1904, providing details on order of battle, organization, equipment and morale. Although Ivanov spends about seven pages discussing Russian uniforms, he does not beat the reader to death with minutiae. The sections on the Japanese army are noticeably shorter, but quite decent.

The heart of the volume of course is the color plates, which are well worth the cost of this title. The color plates are Russian staff; Russian summer and winter uniforms; Russian Cossacks; Russian Frontier and naval troops; Japanese early war uniforms; Japanese Khaki uniforms; Japanese winter uniforms. The photographs are also quite good, including many from the author's collection.

The McCully Report: The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

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Only extant eyewitness account of Russian side of naval war.

The McCully Report: The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05
Newton A. McCully
Manufacturer: Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0870213717

Customer Reviews:

Only extant eyewitness account of Russian side of naval war........1999-07-24

I am the editor of the McCully Report, and published it in 1967 through the Naval Institute Press. I located the report among the Navy's records at the National Archives and Records Administration. The original report was two volumes and included about 200 photographs and line drawings submitted by McCully as part of his intelligence report. These illustrations were not included with the publication, but may be viewed with the original report.

Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05: Centennial Perspectives

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Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05: Centennial Perspectives

Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 190524603X

The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904-05

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The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904-05

Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312221614

Book Description

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 has been widely seen as a historical turning point. This book goes beyond the military and world political grand narratives to examine the war's social, cultural, literary, and intellectual impact. Containing contributions by established scholars in the fields of military history and the history and literature of both Russia and Japan, it offers for the first time in English a comparative perspective on symbolic meaning of the conflict.

Cause and meaning of the Japan-Russia War

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Cause and meaning of the Japan-Russia War
Clay MacCauley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008CHTXQ

From Libau to Tsushima: A narrative of the voyage of Admiral Rojdestvensky's fleet to eastern seas including a detailed account of the Dogger Bank incident

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From Libau to Tsushima: A narrative of the voyage of Admiral Rojdestvensky's fleet to eastern seas including a detailed account of the Dogger Bank incident
Evgenīĭ Sigizmundovich Politovskīĭ
Manufacturer: J. Murray
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0008BLQ7M

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The McCully Report. The Russo-Japanese War,1904-05
NEWTON McCULLY
Manufacturer: Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KFX1RO

The Peninsular War, 1808-14, and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05, compared from the strategic point of view

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The Peninsular War, 1808-14, and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05, compared from the strategic point of view
T. Miller Maguire
Manufacturer: Hugh Rees
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00088FSS8

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Russia Against Japan, 1904-05
J.N. Westwood
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0333369734

Book Description

In Lord High Executioner, Howard Engel produces a wonderfully wise and witty social history of the men and women who represent our agents of death, and who have done our dirty work over the centuries.

Customer Reviews:

It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it........2007-09-07

Public executions have always attracted large crowds of curious citizens. This was even truer in the pre-mass communication, pre-radio, pre-television era. When the most exciting forms of entertainment were traveling minstrels and circuses, executions were a favorite form of spectator sport. It was even required in some areas that everyone witnesses punishments in hopes that they would avoid breaking the same laws. History records huge crowds coming from great distances to see the final act of their fellow humans. Hangings, impalements, drowning, beheadings, burning people at the stake, drawing and quartering and disemboweling were horrible events. Carrying out these legal executions was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it. And most people weren't anxious to have the job. Sometimes other condemned prisoners had their own sentences commuted if they served as the executioners of their fellow condemned prisoners.
Since executioners were considered practitioners of the worst job on the planet, many of the people serving as the actual final instrument for carrying out the dictates of the judicial system, were ostracized by society. This book does a decent job of portraying the world of the executioner and details the lives of many of England's most infamous executioners. Since so many of these people didn't have any idea of what they were doing, it was a major breakthrough when some of the more sensitive executioners began to develop more humane ways to carry out death sentences. Eventually, these men devised scientific methods to instantly break their client's necks rather than letting them slowly strangle to death. Likewise for developing machines to instantly cut off heads rather than maybe having an executioner have to swing his ax or sword half a dozen times to complete his work.
The book is morbidly fascinating. The author did a good job of trying to stick with the facts and not editorialize on the subject of the death penalty. The author's bias against the death penalty does show up in the text occasionally and usually results in him making bleeding heart (no pun intended) conclusions that defy both common sense and historical fact. The book is still worth reading because it shows that humanity is definitely making progress and is at least trying to be as humane as possible in cases of capital punishment. It also introduces and discusses many fascinating historical characters on both sides of law. It's good to see that some high-minded individuals can make even the dirtiest job in the world more humane and scientific. Those were traits that many of the viewers of these macabre public events didn't really appreciate or desire. Many actually preferred long, drawn out shows and that morbid fact is why most executions are no longer major public events.

Dying to Know More?.......2006-07-29

This is a popular, anecdotal, enjoyable account of executioners. It relies over-much on the stories of the criminals who were executed rather than focusing on the exeuctioners themselves. Alas, this is a necessity for filling pages since the documents are scanty and sparse more than a century back. Still, this book is fun and reads well. For the non-academic reader it should be quite interesting. The scholarly reader would do well to continue searching elsewhere.

Light Jests and Heavy Sermons.......2004-11-11

Wry! Using mock detachment, clinical detail, understatement and overstatement, Howard Engel presents a chronicle of capital punishment through the eyes, ears, minds and hearts of the world's tribe of hangmen, headsmen and their henchmen. With feigned scientific aloofness and a straight face, Engel allows the death penalty to speak for itself against itself. His masterful treatment of a sordid subject proves that a light jester teaches more than a heavy sermonizer.

Executioners are people too............2004-04-08

I found this book to be quite entertaining and informative look at people who executed other people in the name of the law. The book centered more or less around British justice system. In more ways then one, these executioners tries to be as professional as possible in their crafts. The author goes back to the mediveal period to the current time in telling accounts of how executions were done and conducted. Stories like one of James Barry (a hangman) who came up with a chart of how far a man should drop before his neck breaks on the knotted rope based on the body weight revealed that some people tries to make serious work out of their job.

The author writes with clarity and the book appears to be well researched. I supposed the author tries to insert an political anti-capital punishment bias into this book but I thought the effort was partially defeated because the book showed how capital punishment if properly applied, works! (Meaning, murderers don't killed again after they were hung!!) After that read this book, I was more for capital punishment then before.

A vibrant & witty approach to the science of execution.......2001-05-25

Not only does this book take you through the long drop, the short drop, and the always crowd-pleasing beheading, it takes you through the lives of the death bringers themselves. Some who were truly masters of their craft, and humerous tales of those who would need four hits with a sharp axe in order to take the head. Not nearly as dry as most books written on the subject, has good illustrations and would be an excellent research tool for any writer. Begins with an intensive focus on England, especially the infamous "road to Tyburn" and continues onto focus on the hanging methods in Canada, and lastly the evolution of death in America. The volume also gives a brief note to the only documented female headsmen that I have yet to come across. High marks! Where most history books run by numbers, names, and locations, this one takes the time to give you an intense look at the method of execution and the personal character and life of each on of its subjects. Very well researched and I cannot praise the quality of the writing enough.

Book Description

To ensure efficient use of lasers for any large-scale implementation, a thorough knowledge of the fundamental laws governing the interaction of radiation with matter is required. This book provides a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the fundamental principles underlying the physical and chemical mechanisms governing the interaction of laser radiation with solid targets for a wide range of beam parameters. Emphasis is placed on metals in gaseous environments.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful overview.......2006-03-30

This is a great and well detailed text . The authors present extensive
experimental and theoretical background about the field. Quite
mathematically intensive, but well written. Highly recommended
for anyone interested in laser - metal interactions.

Heat treating with lasers.(Heat Treating Progress): An article from: Advanced Materials & Processes

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Heat treating with lasers.(Heat Treating Progress): An article from: Advanced Materials & Processes
Leonard R. Migliore
Manufacturer: ASM International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Advanced Materials & Processes, published by ASM International on August 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2912 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Lasers are becoming popular energy sources for heat treating. Despite being costly when compared with flame, electrical resistance and electrical induction methods, a number of manufacturers prefer the lasers during heat treatment. This is due to lasers' capacity to produce high concentrations of energy, which is very effective in treating small- and unusual-shaped machine parts. The only alternative for laser heat treating is radio frequency heat treating, which is, however, limited by its generation of too much electrical interference.

Citation Details
Title: Heat treating with lasers.(Heat Treating Progress)
Author: Leonard R. Migliore
Publication: Advanced Materials & Processes (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 1998
Publisher: ASM International
Volume: v154 Issue: n2 Page: pH25(5)

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Ignition characteristics of the iron-based alloy UNS S66286 in pressurized oxygen (SuDoc NAS 1.26:183612)

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Ignition characteristics of the iron-based alloy UNS S66286 in pressurized oxygen (SuDoc NAS 1.26:183612)
NASA
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology National Technical Information Service, distributor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00010NX6M

Laser Heating of Metals (Optics and Optoelectronics Ser.)

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Laser Heating of Metals (Optics and Optoelectronics Ser.)
A. M. Prokhorov
Manufacturer: Institute of Physics Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLXIMC

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