The Tsar's Last Armada

This is a great book about an event that is little studied. The Rise of Japan and the downfall of Russia leading to revolution are both seen in this event. The Armada that was launched to punish the Japanese for their transgressions was a joke. It was barely holding together and it was destroyed by the Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima which established dominance in that region until the end of World War 2. The Russian defeat only spread discontent at home and showed how impotent the Tsars navy had become. This tragic defeat was but one more nail in the coffin that would lead to revolution. The book is well written and does an excellent job of explaining the significance of the battle in addition to what happened. This is a must have for anyone studying Russian or Soviet history.

Given Constantine Pleshakov's stated aims in writing this book, there is little reason to condemn the work to anything less than five stars. He tells a compelling, important story with an engaging style that makes it accessible to those who likely have little interest in the earth-shaking events described. That achievemnet alone puts his book in the highest tier. And if the measure of a book's worth is the images it leaves impressed and cemented in your mind, this book definitely deserves a top rating. Pleshakov describes the Russians and their odyssey the way most want to hear it: what is the human effect; what makes the story WORTH telling; and tell me what is important without boring me. He succeeds. To me the most significant thing about this re-telling is that the 100 year anniversary passed with almost no notice, most certainly in the West, but even here in Japan. Yet reasons are different. In the West few really know its import even though they should. In Japan, the silence is prudent. Yet the victory and Teddy Roosevelt's Treaty of Portsmouth that resulted from this Japanese victory had far ranging ripple effects shaping world events. The Russian communist revolution's success and the emergence of a militaristic and modern Japan stemmed directly from what occurred. The world powers' Dreadnought arms race, the Washington Naval Treaty after WWI, and the genesis of WWII all have connections to this battle as well. Few in the West know what happened at Tsushima, but the Japanese have never forgotten it. Last year I heard a speech given by a JGSDF major general where he referred to the American engineered settlement between Russia and Japan in 1905. It went right over the heads of the senior American officers present--they had no idea what he was talking about. But the Japanese officers all nodded in agreement as the general remarked how the year 1905 and the Russian catastrophic loss led directly to our US military presence in Japan today. He saw the past century as painful, but leading to a healthy alliance from which both countries benefit, an alliance that implies significant geo-political realities that grew directly from what the Russian sailors endured in this saga. Pleshikov's book speaks volumes to the West about what really happened. It matters not that he doesn't describe the niceties of the Borodino class battleship or that we don't know exactly what happened on the bridge of the Mikasa. By the way, the Mikasa, Togo's flagship, is enshrined just outside the US naval base at Yokosuka. It is the only surviving pre-Dreadnought battleship, and a sacred relic to the Japanese. It is poetically fitting that it rests just outside of the home of the only American fleet stationed outside US home waters. The size of a supercarrier creates a feeling of awe anyway, but when the USS Kittyhawk sails out to sea in view of the Mikasa, it is hard not to think what has transpired since Tsushima and the destruction of Tsar Nicholas's flee

The events illuminated by this book take place from the start to finish of the Russo-Japanese war. The journey begins at Port Author with a sudden attack on Russian battle ships Retvizan, Tesarevich and the cruiser Pallada by Japanese torpedo boats around midnight January 26-27th, 1904, and ends with the sudden death of the story's main character Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky, on New Years Day in 1908. The Tsar's Last Armada, by historian and author Constantine Pleshakov is a well-written book. It allows you to see a battle from the losing side, and gives you a view into the courage and heart of the crews that manned the 38 vessels within the Russian Fleet on its 18,000-mile journey to defeat. The events illuminated by this book take place from the start to finish of the Russo-Japanese war. The journey begins at Port Author with a sudden attack on Russian battle ships Retvizan, Tesarevich and the cruiser Pallada by Japanese torpedo boats around midnight January 26-27th, 1904, and ends with the sudden death of the story's main character Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky, on New Years Day in 1908. The Tsars Last Armada takes place just after the turn of the century at Port Author Manchuria on the coastal Yellow Sea, which was forcefully abandoned by the Japanese and now coveted by the Russians seeking to increase presence in the East. The 18,000-mile journey starts from Kronshtadt just north of St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea, travels south around Africa, then East to the Tsushima Straights in the Sea of Japan, and finally North to the Russian Port of Vladivostok. The main characters in this tale are the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, Russian Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky, and Admiral Togo Heihachiro of Japan. Russian Tsar Nicholas II was an un-deciding and easily manipulated leader, especially by his cousins King Edward VII of England, and Keiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The Tsar, acting under peer pressure, had become eager to advance a growing presence and control in Asian affairs. Russian Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky is a great leader on a misguided and ill-equipped mission, ultimately destined to defeat. Admiral Togo Heihachiro of Japan is a master of both sword and sea, who easily defeated the Russian Armada in the Tsushima Straights. The main conflict of this story is that of Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky's character. He is a leader struggling to do an honorable job, but is beset with a fleet of erstwhile and outmoded ships that are manned by crews of unmanageable and ill-trained seamen. The conflict unfolds as Rozhestvenski struggles to get his Tsar to move more quickly and against subordinate officers who were put into positions of authority not by merit or worth, but by their position in Russian society and family prestige. It ends with an ultimately brutal, heartbreaking, and utter defeat at the hands of the organized and well-equipped Japanese fleet, headed by Admiral Togo. Of the 38 ships in the Russian fleet, only

I read this book primarily as a travelogue learning more about the coasts of Western Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean, Southern Asia than I had ever before known. But that is not the book's primary focus. It can be read on several levels, one of which is surely as a travelogue. But it is also a story of startling mismanagement. The Russian Admiral, who is the book's principal figure, is opposed to the mission from the start,because the Russian naval fleet is outmoded, but Nicholas II , driven by revenge, and his advisers press on with the war armada. One of the most interesting facts is that the Russian armada was actually composed of 4 armadas which by circuitous routes joined together for the final devastating defeat near Shanghai. The book is loaded with fine detail about the sailors' and officers' lives on board and at ports of call, which were mainly coal refueling stops; with details about the Russian, British, and Japanese spy network;about the fall of Port Arthur to the Japanese; and with details about the numerous cables between St. Petersburg and the doomed fleet. A fine and rather easy read for anyone interested in this forgotten page of history.

The eponymous Armada spent the better part of a year sailing from the Baltic Sea to the shores of Korea (via the Cape of Good Hope) to confront the Imperial Japanese Navy. 'Twas all for naught. The Japanese sunk the Armada's four primary capital ships in a matter of hours and mopped up the remainder of the fleet in quick succession. This excellent book tells that story from the Russian point of view. Led by a ferociously competant admiral, the coal-fueled Russian task force accomplished an incredible logistical feat only to have their mission end in disaster at the bottom of the Tsushima Straits. The author (a Russian) admits that he didn't use Japanese sources because of the language barrier. But, that being said, he still could have included a bit more information on the composition of Togo's fleet. However, the book is especially strong in detailing St. Petersberg's Vietnamesque micromanagement of the campaign. Overall, this is a wonderful, poignant book about a doomed fleet and the man who led it.