Podcasts about khabarovsk

‘The Gospel of Christ is the Power of God' (Romans 1:16). Evangelism should be part of our spiritual walk with God. If I ask you what are the essentials for every Christian, especially new converts, to do, you would quickly tell me – pray every day – read the Word every day – join a real live church. Water baptism and so on would quickly follow, along with serving God, fellowship with the saints and of course to be filled with the Spirit. I would add to this, evangelise – but not the way so many think of evangelism or evangelists. The Gospel is simply the good news. Your first responsibility after conversion is to spread the wonderful news of what God has done for you!  Acts 2:22-36 describes how Jesus was approved of God through the miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through Him. The Power in the Gospel is indelibly linked with the miraculous. Throughout Jesus' ministry in the Gospels, and then with the disciples in the book of Acts, we read that it was the miracles which was the evidence of the message they preached. In 1994 I was preaching in Khabarovsk, Siberia. The Crusade on the Saturday night saw us under a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, and many hundreds crowded into the open-air of the football stadium as the praise and worship team ministered. Then when I made the appeal almost every person came forward, so many, that surely everyone who had come into that stadium, lonely, lost, without faith or hope, and without Christ, found Him that night. Their hopelessness and despair had changed into the glory of the reality of knowing Him who loved us with a dying and undying love.

Last time we spoke about the Guangzhou, Gansu and Red Spear Uprisings. During China's Warlord Era, the CCP faced many challenges as they sought to implement land revolutions and armed uprisings. Following the Nanchang and Autumn Harvest uprisings, the CCP held an emergency meeting criticizing Chen Duxiu for his appeasement of the KMT right wing. With strong encouragement from Soviet advisors, the CCP planned a major uprising to seize control of Guangdong province. In November 1927, the CCP saw an opportunity as petty warlords in Guangdong and Guangxi engaged in conflict. Zhang Fakui's troops, vulnerable and demoralized, were targeted by the CCP. Mobilizing workers and peasants, the CCP initiated the Guangzhou Uprising. The uprising was ultimately suppressed by superior NRA troops, resulting in heavy CCP casualties and brutal reprisals. The failed uprisings, though unable to achieve immediate goals, ignited a persistent revolutionary spirit within the CCP, marking the beginning of a prolonged civil conflict that would shape China's future.   #121 The Sino-Soviet Conflict of 1929 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. All the way back in 1919, the brand new Soviet government's assistance Commissar of foreign affairs, Lev Karakhan, issued a manifesto to the Beiyang government, promising the return of the Chinese Eastern Railway at zero financial cost. That statement was made in late July and alongside the railway, he also mentioned relinquishing a lot of rights the former Russian Empire had acquired from unequal treaties, such as the Boxer Protocol. This all became known as the Karakhan Manifesto, and it was formed in a time when the Soviets were fighting the Russian Civil War, advancing east into Siberia. In order to secure the war in Siberia the Soviets had to establish good relations with the Chinese. Yet six months after the july manifesto, Karakhan personally handed over a second version of said manifesto, one that did not influence the rather nice deal of handing over the Chinese eastern railway for free. The Soviets official statement was that they had accidentally promised the deal prior. The truth of the matter was some real politik work at play. The Soviets had been trying to secure a Sino-Soviet alliance against the Japanese, but it looked to them it would never come to be so they simply took the deal off the table.  Henceforth the issue cause a lot of friction. In March of 1920 the Fengtian forces disarmed White Russian Troops along the railway and seized control over its operations. In February of 1922 China and the USSR signed a agreement stipulating the Beiyang government would set up a special agency to manage the railway. Then in November the Chinese announced an area within 11 km along the railway would be designated a Eastern Province special district. In December the Soviet Union officially formed and by May the two nations agreed to settle a list of issues. The Soviets agreed to abolish all the unequal treaties formed by the Russian Empire handing over all the leased territories, consular jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, Boxer payments and such, but the Chinese Eastern Railway would be jointly managed by China and the USSR. Now since the railway sat in the area that Zhang Zuolin came to control, in September of 1924 the Soviets signed an agreement with the Fengtian clique. In this agreement, the Soviets lessened the 80 year lease over the railway to 60 years. The Soviets also promised to hand full control to Chinese administrators, but had a trick up their sleeve. The Soviets let the Chinese think they were adding workers and officials loyal to them, in reality the Soviets were creating more jobs on the railway while hiring Soviet workers. In the end the Soviets controlled roughly 67% of the key positions. When Zhang Zuolin went to war with Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun this changed things considerably. In December of 1925, Zhang Zuolin's army owed the Chinese eastern railway some 14 million rubles, prompting the Soviet administrator over the railway, Ivanov to prohibit Zhang Zuolin's army from using it. Fengtian commander Zhang Huanxiang simply arrested Ivanov disregarding his ban. The Soviets then sent an ultimatum to the Beiyang government demanding his release. So Zhang Zuolin ran to the Japanese to mediate. Things smoothed over until 1928 when the Huanggutun incident saw Zhang Zuolin assassinated. As we saw at the end of the northern expedition, his son Zhang Xueliang responded by raising the KMT flag on December 29th of 1928, joining Chiang Kai-Shek. The next day Zhang Xueliang was made commander in chief of the Northeast.  Now Chiang Kai-Shek's government had broken diplomatic relations with the USSR after the Shanghai massacre purge. Thus Zhang Xueliang felt the old treaties signed by his father with the Soviets were null and void and looked upon the Chinese Eastern Railway enviously. To give some context outside of China. At this point in time, the USSR was implementing rural collectivization, ie; the confiscation of land and foodstuffs. This led to wide scale conflict with peasants, famines broke out, I would say the most well known one being the Holodmor in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of people starved to death. The USSR was also still not being recognized by many western powers. Thus from the perspective of Zhang Xueliang, it looked like the USSR were fraught with internal and external difficulties, they had pretty much no friends, so taking the railway would probably be a walk in the park.  Zhang Xueliang began diplomatically, but negotiations were going nowhere, so he got tougher. He ordered his officials to take back control over the Chinese Eastern Railway zone police, municipal administration, taxation, land, everything. He instructed Zhang Jinghui, the governor of Harbin's special administrative zone to dispatch military police to search the Soviet embassy in Harbin and arrest the consul general. Zhang Jinghui did so and closed the Soviet consulates in Harbin, Qiqihar and Hailar. All of this of course pissed off the Soviets who responded by protesting the new Nanjing government, demanding the release of their people, while increasing troops to the border of Manchuria. The Soviets announced they were willing to reduce their control over the railway as a concession. This entire situation became known as the May 27th incident and unleashed a tit for tat situation. On July 13th, the Soviets sent an ultimatum giving three days for a response "If a satisfactory answer is not obtained, the Soviet government will be forced to resort to other means to defend all the rights of the Soviet Union." On the 17th the Soviets recalled their officials, cut off the railway traffic between China and the USSR, ejected Chinese envoys from the USSR and cut off diplomatic relations with China. In the background Joseph Stalin was initially hesitating to perform any military actions, not wanting to antagonize the Japanese in Manchuria. However the Soviet consul in Tokyo, sent back word that Japan was completely willing to stay out of any conflict if the Soviets limited it to just northern Manchuria. Thus Stalin decided to act. On August 6th, Stalin formed the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army under the command of General Vasily Blyukher. It was composed of three infantry divisions; the 1st Pacific Infantry Division, the 2nd Amur Infantry Division, and the 35th Trans-Baikal Infantry Division), one cavalry brigade (the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade), and the addition of the Buryat Mongolian Independent Cavalry Battalion. The total force was said to be as many as 30,000 with their headquarters located in Khabarovsk. Blyukher also had the support of the Far Eastern Fleet, roughly 14 shallow water heavy gunboats, a minesweeper detachment, an aviation detachment with 14 aircraft, and a marine battalion commanded by Yakov Ozolin. Blyukher had served during the civil war and was a military advisor in China attached to Chiang Kai-SHek's HQ. He had a large hand to play in the northern expedition, and was one of the select Soviets Chiang Kai-Shek intentionally made sure got home safe during the purge. Blyukher would exercises a unusual amount of autonomy with his far east command, based out of Khabarovsk. For the upcoming operation a 5th of the entire Red Army was mobilized to assist. On the other side Zhang Xueliang mobilized as many troops as he could, including many White Russians hiding out in Manchuria. His total strength on paper was 270,000, but only 100,000 would be actively facing the Soviets as the rest were needed to maintain public order and to defend southern Manchuria. The person in charge of the Eastern Line of the Chinese Eastern Railway was the brigade commander of the Jilin Army, Ding Chao, and the western line was the brigade commander of the Heilongjiang Army, Liang Zhongjia, and the chief of staff was Zhang Wenqing. Wang Shuchang led the First Army to guard the eastern line, and Hu Yukun led the Second Army to guard the western line. The Soviet army also had a quality advantage in equipment. In terms of artillery, the Soviet army had about 200 artillery pieces, including more than a dozen heavy artillery pieces, while the Chinese army had only 135 infantry artillery pieces and no heavy artillery. At the same time, the Soviet army also had a quality advantage in machine guns because it was equipped with 294 heavy machine guns and 268 highly mobile light machine guns. The Chinese army was equipped with only 99 heavy machine guns. In terms of air force, the Chinese army had 5 aircraft that were combat effective. On July 26th the Soviets bombarded Manzhouli from three directions along the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Two days later a Soviet infantry regiment, 3 armored vehicles and 4 artillery pieces advanced to Shibali station, cutting the lines to Manzhouli. They then ordered the Chinese military and police to withdraw as they captured Manzhouli. Then on the 29th the began bombarding Dangbi. On August 8th, 100 Soviet troops carrying two artillery pieces and 3 machine guns engaged Chinese forces outside the south gate of Oupu County street, casualties were heavy for both sides. 5 Soviet aircraft circled over Suifenhe City firing 200 rounds and dropping bombs over the Dongshan Army defense post and Sandaodongzi. The next day 40 Soviet soldiers established two checkpoints at Guzhan blocking traffic and they even began kidnapping civilians. That same day 300 Soviet soldiers and two gunboats occupied the Hujiazhao factory. On the 12th, Sanjianfang, Zhongxing and Lijia's Oil Mill were occupied by over 2000 Soviet troops. Meanwhile 80 Soviets amphibiously assaulted Liuhetun using 8 small boats, killing its defenders before returning to the other side. The next day two Soviet gunboats, 300 marines and 2 aircraft attacked Suidong county in Heilongjiang province while another force attacked Oupu county with artillery. On the morning of the 14th both counties fell. In response the Nanjing government dispatched Liu Guang, the chief of the military department to inspect the Northeast front. On the 15th Zhang Xueliang issued mobilization orders against the USSR, seeing his standing front line forces bolstered to 100,000. On the 15th the foreign minister of the Nanjing government, Wang Zhengting reported to Chiang Kai-Shek negotiations were going nowhere, the Soviets were adamant about getting their rights returned over the Chinese Eastern Railways. The next day, Wang Zhenting told reporters that if the Soviets attacked anymore China would declare war. The next day Zhang Xueliang was interviewed by the Chicago Daily News and had this to say. "The Soviet Union disregarded international trust, trampled on the non-war pact, and rashly sent troops to invade our country. We respect the non-war pact and have repeatedly made concessions to show our responsibility for provoking the provocation. If the Russian side continues to advance, we will be willing to be the leader of the war, so we have prepared everything and will do our best to fight to the death."  On the 16th two Soviet infantry companies and one cavalry company attacked Zhalannur from Abagaitu along the border. The two sides fought for 2 hours until the Soviets stormed the Zhalannur station. After another 5 hours of combat the Soviets pulled back over the border. By this point enough was enough. China declared war on August 17th escalating what was an incident around the Chinese Eastern Railway zone into a full blown war.  Blyukher had developed a plan for an offensive consisting of two rapid operations. The first would be against the Chinese naval forces and the second against the ground forces via a large encirclement. After the war was declared on the 17th, the Soviet Army advanced into Manchuria from the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Red Banner Special Far Eastern Army initially dispatched a total of 6,091 infantrymen and 1,599 artillerymen in front of Manchuria, equipped with 88 artillery pieces of 76.2 mm or above, excluding artillery belonging to infantry regiments, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, and 9 T-18 light tanks . The army units included: the 35th and 36th Infantry Divisions of the 18th Infantry Army; the 5th Cavalry Brigade; the Buryat Mongolian Cavalry Battalion; an independent tank company equipped with T-18 tanks, the 6th Aviation Detachment, the 25th Aviation Detachment, the 26th Bomber Squadron, the 18th Army Artillery Battalion, the 18th Engineering Battalion, and a Railway Battalion.  The first battle broke out around Manzhouli. Liang Zhongjia, the brigade commander stationed in Manzhouli, reported this to his superiors of the engagement “of the battle situation, the 38th and 43rd regiments under my command fought with a regiment of Soviet infantry and cavalry for 4 hours in the afternoon and are still in a standoff. The Soviet army has more than one division of troops near Abagaitu”. At 10:30 p.m. on the 18th, the Soviets began to attack the positions of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 43rd Regiment of the Northeastern Army in Zhalannur. At 1 p.m. on August 19, the Soviets added about 600 to 700 troops opposite the positions of the 43rd Regiment of Zhalannur. At 5 a.m the Soviets dispatched five aircraft from Abagaitu to Shibali Station. On the 19th, the Soviets captured Suibin County with ease. At 6 a.m. on the 20th, the Soviets used armored trains to transport more than 200 troops to attack the 10th Cavalry Regiment of Liang Zhongjia's troops. After fighting for about an hour, the Soviets retreated. On the 23rd a battle broke out in Mishan and on the 25th 400 Soviet cavalry began building fortifications roughly a kilometer near the Chinese 43rd regiment at Zhalannur. Zhang Xueliang spoke again to the Chinese and foreign press on the 25th stating this. "Foreigners have many misunderstandings about the Eastern Province's actions this time, thinking that it is to take back the Eastern Route and violate the treaty. In fact, we have no intention of violating the 1924 Sino-Russian Agreement or the Agreement with Russia, because China has signed it and has no intention of violating it. China has no intention of taking back the route at all. What it wants is to remove the Russian personnel who are involved in the communist movement. Moreover, in this matter, the Eastern Route is a very small issue. The real point is that the Russians use China as a base for communism, and we have to take measures in self-defense." Between the 28th to the 30th an intense battle broke out at Wangqing.  On the 31st, Soviet gunboats bombarded three garrisons around  Heihe. On September 4th, the Soviet army bombarded the right wing of the 43rd and 38th Regiments stationed in Lannur. At 4 pm on the 9th, a single regiment of the Soviet army, under the cover of artillery, launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army at Manzhouli Station from the Shibali Station, but by 8:30 pm, they pulled back. At 4 pm, 8 Soviet aircraft bombed Suifenhe Station, causing over 50 Chinese casualties and injured a regimental commander. On the night of the 16th, more than 100 Soviet troops attacked the Kukdoboka checkpoint in Lubin County and burned down the checkpoint. On the 18th, the Soviet government announced to the ambassadors of various countries that they had always advocated for a peaceful solution to the issue of the Chinese Eastern Railway, while China's attitude was hypocritical and insincere. It was believed that future negotiations were hopeless, and all previous negotiations mediated by Germany were terminated. From now on, they stated quote “the Soviet Union would not bear any responsibility for any ominous incidents caused on the Sino-Russian border”. With negotiations completely broken down, Blyukher was given the greenlight to launch a fatal blow.  On October 2, more than a thousand Soviet infantryman, supported by aircraft and artillery stormed the positions of the 3rd Battalion of the 38th Regiment in Manzhouli. The two sides fought until the morning of the 3rd. On the 4th Zhang Xueiliang drafted the “national volunteer army organization regulations letter” trying to embolden the population stating "when the foreigners invade the border, the first thing to do is to resist. All citizens or groups who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the country on the battlefield will be volunteers or volunteer soldiers." The new regulations stipulated that volunteers of this new group would be named as the National Volunteer Army. On October the 10th, 30,000 Soviet forces on the Baikal side advanced through the northeastern border of China. At this time, the brigade responsible for defending Liang Zhongjia had been fighting with the Soviet troops for dozens of days. There was no backup and they were in urgent need of help. According to Chinese observations, the Soviets deployed nearly 80,000 troops by land, sea and air on the Sino-Soviet border. Along the eastern front, the Soviets capture in succession Sanjiangkou, Tongjiang and Fujin. Meanwhile at 5am on the 12th the Far Eastern Fleet commanded engaged in a firefight with the Songhua River Defense Fleet, near Sanjiangkou. According to Chinese reconnaissance, the Soviet warships participating in the battle included: the flagship "Sverdlov" a shallow-water heavy gunboat led by Sgassk, the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Sun Yat-sen", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Red East", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Lenin", the inland gunboat "Red Flag", and the inland gunboat "Proletariat", with a total of 4 152mm cannons, 26 120mm cannons, 6 85mm anti-aircraft guns, 8 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and more than ten aircraft for support. The Chinese forces were led by Yin Zuogan who commanded six shallow-water gunboats, including the "Lijie" (flagship), "Lisui", "Jiangping", "Jiang'an", and "Jiangtai", and the "Dongyi" armed barge as a towed artillery platform. Except for the "Jiangheng" of 550 tons and the "Liji" of 360 tons, the rest were all below 200 tons, and the entire fleet had 5 120mm guns. In the ensuing battle the Jiangping, Jiang'an, Jiangtai, Lijie, and Dongyi, were sunk, and the Lisui ship was seriously injured and forced to flee back to Fujin.The Chinese side claimed that they damaged two Soviet ships, sunk one, and shot down two fighter planes; but according to Soviet records, five Soviet soldiers were killed and 24 were injured.  At the same time as the naval battle around Sanjiangkou, two Soviet gunboats covered four armed ships, the Labor, Karl Marx, Mark Varyakin, and Pavel Zhuravlev, carrying a battalion of more than 400 people from the 2nd Infantry Division Volochaev Regiment, landing about 5 kilometers east of Tongjiang County and attacking the Chinese military station there. The Northeast Marine Battalion guarding the area and the Meng Zhaolin Battalion of the 9th Army Brigade jointly resisted and repelled the Soviet's initial attack. The Chinese suffered heavy losses, with more than 500 officers and soldiers killed and wounded, and more than 70 people including the Marine Battalion Captain Li Runqing captured.  On the 14th, the Chinese sank 6 tugboats, 2 merchant ships and 2 warships in the waterway 14 kilometers downstream of Fujin, forming a blockade line; and set up solid artillery positions and a 13-kilometer-long bunker line nearby, destroying all bridges on the road from Tongjiang to Fujin. A battle broke out at Tongjiang and according to the the report of Shen Honglie “the Northeast Navy suffered more than 500 casualties (including marines), 4 warships were sunk, 1 was seriously damaged, and the "Haijun" gunboat (45 tons) was captured by the Soviet army and renamed "Pobieda"; 17 officers including the battalion commander Meng Zhaolin and 350 soldiers of the army were killed; the Chinese side announced that 2 Soviet planes were shot down (some sources say 1), 3 Soviet warships were sunk, 4 were damaged, and more than 300 casualties”. On the 18th, the Soviets completely withdrew from the Tongjiang, allowing the two regiments of Lu Yongcai and Zhang Zuochen of the 9th Brigade to recapture it. On the 30th, Admiral Ozolin led some Soviet land forces in a major attack in the Fujian area. He organized the troops under his jurisdiction into two groups. He led the first group personally, who were supported by heavy gunboats Red East, Sun Yat-Sen and gunboats Red Flag, Proletarian, Buryat, minelayer Powerful and the armored boat Bars. Their mission was to annihilate the remnants of the river defense fleet anchored in Fujin. The second group was commanded by Onufryev, the commander of the Soviet 2nd infantry division. His group consisted of the shallow-water heavy gunboat Serdlov, gunboat Pauper and the transport fleets steam carrying the Volochaev Regiment and the 5th Amur regiment who landed at Fujin.  On the other side the Chinese had concentrated two infantry brigades, 3 cavalry regiments and a team of police with the support of the gunboats Jiangheng,  Lisui, Liji and the tugboat Lichuan. At 9 am on the 31st, the 7 Soviet ships suddenly destroyed the river blocking ropes and entered the Fujin River bank, bombarding the Chinese army, as cavalry landed. The Chinese ships "Lisui" and "Lichuan" sank successively, and only the "Jiangheng" managed to participate in the battle, but soon sank after firing only three shots. At 7 pm 21 Soviet ships sailed up the Songhua River, as part of the cavalry landed at Tuziyuan, advancing step by step towards Fujin. At 9 pm 7 Soviet ships approached the Fujin River bank, with roughly 700 infantry, cavalry and artillery soldiers of the 2nd Amur Infantry Division landed. The Chinese army collapsed without a fight, retreating to Huachuan, and by11am, Fujin county was occupied. Chinese sources reported “the Soviet army burned down the civil and military institutions separately and destroyed all the communication institutions. They distributed all the flour from the Jinchang Fire Mill to the poor, and plundered all the weapons, ammunition and military supplies." On the evening of November 1, the Soviet infantry, cavalry and artillery withdrew from the east gate. On the morning of the 2nd, the Soviet ships withdrew one after another. According to Soviet records, nearly 300 Chinese soldiers were killed in this battle, with thousands captured, while the Soviet army only lost 3 people and injured 11 people . The Chinese Songhua River fleet was completely destroyed, and 9 merchant ships were captured. In early November, the weather in the north became freezing cold, leading the rivers to freeze. Soviet warships retreated back to Khabarovsk, and their infantry and cavalry also returned by land. The war on the Eastern Front was basically over.  As for the western front, the main battlefields revolved around Manzhouli and Zhalannur. Since August 1929, conflicts here continued, a lot of back and forth stuff. The soviets would storm the areas and pull out. Yet in November, the war in the west escalated.  The commander of the Soviet Trans-Baikal Group, was Stepan Vostrezov, wielding the 21st, 35th and 36th infantry divisions, the 5th Cavalry Brigade, 331 heavy machine guns, 166 light machine guns, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, 58 light artillery, 30 heavy artillery, 9 T-18 ultra-light tanks, amongst other tanks. The Chinese side had about 16,000 people. There would be three major battles : the Battle of Zhallanur, the Battle of Manzhouli, and the Battle of Hailar. On November the 16th, the Soviets unleashed a large-scale offensive, tossing  nearly 40,000 troops, 400 artillery pieces, 40 tanks and 30 aircraft against the western front. At 11pm the Soviets crossed over the border. At 3am on the 17th the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade set out from Abagaitui, followed by the 35th Infantry Division who crossed the frozen surface of the Argun River, hooking around the rear of the Chinese garrison in Zhalannur along the east bank of the Argun River. At 7am Soviet aircraft began bombing the western front. The Chinese garrison headquarters, tram house, 38th Regiment building, and military police station were all bombed, and the radio station was also damaged. At noon, the Binzhou Railway was cut off 10-12 kilometers east of the city, and Zhalannur was attacked. Supported by 8 T-18 tanks and fighter planes, they attacked Zhalannur several times. On the morning of the 18th, the Soviet 5th Cavalry Brigade launched an attack against the 7,000-man 17th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding Zhalannur. At 1pm on the 18th the Zhalannur Station and the Coal Mine was occupied by the Soviet army. The Chinese defenders, Brigadier Han Guangdi and Commander Zhang Linyu, were killed in action. More than half of the brigade officers and soldiers were killed and more than a thousand were captured. After capturing Zhalannur the Soviets concentrated their forces against Manzhouli. On the 19th, 7 T-18s supported the 108th Infantry Regiment of the Soviet 36th Division to attack Manzhouli from the east and west. Artillery pounded the city, before it was stormed. The 15th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding the area was quickly surrounded by the Soviet army. Brigade Commander Liang Zhongjia and Chief of Staff Zhang Wenqing, alongside nearly 250 officers, fled to the Japanese consulate and surrendered to the Soviet army on the 20th. According to Soviet records, in the battles of Zhalannur and Manzhouli, over 1,500 Chinese soldiers were killed and more than 9,000 were captured, while the Soviet side lost 143 people, 665 were wounded and 4 were missing. Additionally 30 Chinese artillery pieces and 2 armored trains were captured by the Soviet army. The Soviets claimed that Chinese troops from Lake Khinkai were attacking Iman, modern day Dalnerechensk. In the name of self-defense, the Soviets began bombing Mishan on November 17 and mobilized  the Soviet Primorsky State Army and the 1st Pacific Rifle Infantry Division. The 1st Pacific Division and the 9th Independent Cavalry Brigade advanced towards Mishan, 40 kilometers from the border. Soviet records showed that during this battle the Chinese army suffered more than 1,500 casualties and 135 prisoners. The Soviets seized 6 machine guns, 6 mortars, 500 horses, 6 mortars, 200 horses and a large number of confidential documents. On November 23rd, 12 Soviet aircraft bombed Hailar, before capturing the city the next day.  By late November the Chinese had suffered something in the ballpark of 10,000 casualties along various fronts and an enormous amount of their equipment was taken by the Soviets. The Chinese officially reported 2000 deaths, 1000 wounded with more than 8000 captured. The Soviets reported 812 deaths, 665 wounded with under 100 missing. The Japanese had actually been quite the thorn for the Chinese during the war. They had intentionally barred Chinese forces from advancing north through their South Manchurian Railway zone, a large hindrance. Likewise the Kwantung army stationed in Liaoning were mobilizing, giving the impression they would exploit the situation at any moment.  In the face of quite a catastrophic and clear defeat, Nanjing's ministry of foreign affairs tossed a cease fire demand asking for foreign mediation. By December 3rd, Britain, France and the US asked both sides to stop the war so they could mediate a peace. The USSR rejected the participation of a third nation and suggested they could negotiate with China mono e mono. Zhang Xueliang accepted the proposal, dispatching Cai Yunsheng quickly to Shuangchengzi who signed an armistice with the Soviet representative Smanovsky. On the 16th real negotiations began and on the 22nd a draft agreement was signed. The draft stipulated both nations would re-cooperate over the Chinese Eastern Railway and that the Red Army would pull out of Manchuria as soon as both sides exchanged prisoners and officials. Thus the entire incident was resolved after humiliating China. While this all seemed completely needless, perhaps not significant, don't forget, the Japanese were watching it all happen in real time, taking notes, because they had their own ideas about Manchuria.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so the Soviets and brand new Nationalist Republic of China went to war over, honestly a petty squabble involving railway rights and earnings. It was a drop in the bucket for such a war torn nation and only further embarrassed it on the world stage. Yet the Soviets might not be the foreign nation China should be looking out for. 

Dimanche 8 septembre est le dernier jour de vote pour certaines régions pour renouveler leurs gouverneurs, d'autres désignent en même temps leurs élus locaux. Comme pour le scrutin présidentiel de mars dernier, le résultat général ne fait pas de doutes et devrait voir partout les hommes du président Vladimir Poutine rafler la mise. Surtout que cette fois-ci, même les rares provinces frondeuses sont mises au pas. Exemple à Khabarovsk, une des deux régions les plus à l'est du pays, où notre envoyée spéciale a pu se rendre. De notre envoyée spéciale à Khabarovsk,Ce qui s'apparente désormais avant tout à un rituel a des allures particulières dans la région de Khabarovsk, l'une des plus grandes de Russie. Cette région s'étale du nord au sud sur 2 000 kilomètres de distance entre terre, mer, fleuves et îles isolées.« Nous avons des villages difficiles d'accès, mais nous organisons des sessions de vote anticipé et nous rendons sur place, explique Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko, président de la Commission électorale régionale. Nous devons aussi atteindre des stations météorologiques, les éleveurs de rennes, les pêcheurs, les mineurs qui sont dans des endroits isolés. Nous avons un hélicoptère qui peut faire jusqu'à 1 000 kilomètres entre deux villages, et des navires pour accueillir les électeurs le jour du scrutin. »Emboitant le pas à l'île de Sakhalin et à la Transbaïkalie, pour la première fois, la région a fait aussi voter ses électeurs-soldats dans les régions annexées par la Russie en 2022. Khabarovsk est le siège du district militaire Est.« Pour organiser ce genre de vote, nous avons déterminé les endroits où nos électeurs sont concentrés par unités militaires, et précisé le nombre de bureaux de vote dont nous aurons besoin. Le vote s'y déroule selon les spécificités définies pour les unités militaires. Nous n'y créons pas de commissions électorales, nous mettons en place des commissions composées de soldats. Il faut noter que certains des combattants dans ces commissions spéciales étaient déjà des membres de nos commissions civiles ici. C'est d'une grande aide, car ils savent comment mener des élections, ils connaissent toutes les procédures. J'ai personnellement voyagé là-bas pour leur création. J'ai pris un avion militaire, emportant avec moi tous les documents électoraux. Et les gars sur place, du commandement de notre quartier général, ont aidé avec les voitures, la sécurité, le transport et l'hébergement. »Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko ne se risque pas à faire un pronostic précis de participation. Lors de la présidentielle de mars dernier, elle a été l'une des plus basses de tout le pays. Et selon la politologue Rada Gaal [son nom a été modifié à sa demande, NDLR], cela ne risque pas de s'arranger cette fois-ci : « En 2019, dans la région de Khabarovsk, le parti du président avait la majorité absolue à tous les échelons locaux, explique cette observatrice avisée de la vie locale. Après les élections, ils se sont retrouvés avec moins de 5 %. C'était à l'origine un vote de protestation. Puis le gouverneur Furgal, qui avait été élu par le peuple, en moins d'un an, a gagné la confiance des votants. Il s'est révélé être très bon, actif, faisant preuve d'empathie avec les gens. Le fait qu'il ait fini par être arrêté dès 2020 et mis en prison a énormément touché émotionnellement toute la région, parce qu'il était le choix du peuple. Des manifestations ont commencé, que j'ai couvertes. Il ne s'agissait pas de renverser le gouvernement, ni de séparatisme. Il s'agissait simplement du droit à pouvoir décider de qui nous dirige sur la base des lois existantes. Ici en Extrême-Orient, nous voulons choisir la personne que nous voulons voir aux commandes. Nous voulons juste pouvoir faire un choix. Mais après trois ou quatre mois, les répressions ont commencé, les forces de l'ordre se sont mises en marche, et les arrestations et détentions ont débuté. Alors aujourd'hui, les gens ont cessé de croire qu'ils peuvent influencer les élections. Ils sont frustrés, désespérés, ils vivent en exil intérieur. »L'éventail de la répression et de l'intimidation est à la hauteur de ces manifestations de 2020 totalement inédites par leur ampleur et leur durée. Le gouverneur Furgal a été condamné en février 2023 à 22 ans de prison pour avoir commandité deux meurtres et une autre agression entre 2004 et 2005. Ses partisans ont toujours dénoncé l'affaire et le verdict comme politiques.« Indésirable »Juste avant l'élection présidentielle de mars dernier, un « mouvement Furgal » a été classé « indésirable ». Il n'y a aucune définition juridique de ce que peut être ce « mouvement » - qui n'existe pas sur le papier. Mais il permet de réprimer toute personne présentée comme y appartenant et de la classer individuellement comme « indésirable ». Les forces de l'ordre ne s'en sont pas privées.Aujourd'hui encore, de simples citoyens font des séjours réguliers en prison et, dans cette région à la réputation rebelle, il est même devenu plus délicat qu'ailleurs en Russie de rencontrer des personnalités un tant soit peu critiques. Rien n'a été négligé pour faire passer le message du pouvoir, jusqu'au plus petit symbole : « Ils ont en quelque sorte aussi voulu humilier les électeurs en retirant le statut de capitale de l'Extrême-Orient à Khabarovsk pour le donner à Vladivostok, juste pour nous punir comme de vilains petits enfants pour le choix que nous avons fait », juge la politologue Rada Gaal.À Khabarovsk, le climat est aujourd'hui décrit comme pesant. « L'atmosphère en ville, c'est celle d'une campagne totale et massive pour "Russie unie", le parti du président, décrit un membre d'une commission électorale de la région, ayant, lui aussi, demandé à ce que l'anonymat lui soit impérativement garanti. Dans chaque cour, presque sur chaque panneau d'affichage, sur chaque arrêt de bus, tout l'espace est occupé par la publicité pour "Russie unie". La publicité pour les autres existe, mais elle n'est pas vraiment visible. "Russie unie" a cette année un budget énorme et il n'y a pas d'égalité pour les candidats. Pourquoi "Russie unie" dépense-t-elle autant d'argent ? Ils sentent qu'ils ne contrôlent pas complètement la situation. »À en croire cet activiste, la région concentre « beaucoup de problèmes », dont le plus évident est « l'opération militaire spéciale que certaines personnes ne soutiennent pas. Mais comme dire à haute voix votre désapprobation peut entraîner une punition, les gens ont peur de le dire ».Cet activiste en est certain : il n'y aura en tout cas pas de tentation ce dimanche d'afficher un meilleur score qu'à la présidentielle pour le candidat du pouvoir. Pas question que le gouverneur apparaisse plus populaire que le chef de l'État.À écouter aussiRussie: dans la région de Koursk, la guerre prend ses quartiers

Dimanche 8 septembre est le dernier jour de vote pour certaines régions pour renouveler leurs gouverneurs, d'autres désignent en même temps leurs élus locaux. Comme pour le scrutin présidentiel de mars dernier, le résultat général ne fait pas de doutes et devrait voir partout les hommes du président Vladimir Poutine rafler la mise. Surtout que cette fois-ci, même les rares provinces frondeuses sont mises au pas. Exemple à Khabarovsk, une des deux régions les plus à l'est du pays, où notre envoyée spéciale a pu se rendre. De notre envoyée spéciale à Khabarovsk,Ce qui s'apparente désormais avant tout à un rituel a des allures particulières dans la région de Khabarovsk, l'une des plus grandes de Russie. Cette région s'étale du nord au sud sur 2 000 kilomètres de distance entre terre, mer, fleuves et îles isolées.« Nous avons des villages difficiles d'accès, mais nous organisons des sessions de vote anticipé et nous rendons sur place, explique Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko, président de la Commission électorale régionale. Nous devons aussi atteindre des stations météorologiques, les éleveurs de rennes, les pêcheurs, les mineurs qui sont dans des endroits isolés. Nous avons un hélicoptère qui peut faire jusqu'à 1 000 kilomètres entre deux villages, et des navires pour accueillir les électeurs le jour du scrutin. »Emboitant le pas à l'île de Sakhalin et à la Transbaïkalie, pour la première fois, la région a fait aussi voter ses électeurs-soldats dans les régions annexées par la Russie en 2022. Khabarovsk est le siège du district militaire Est.« Pour organiser ce genre de vote, nous avons déterminé les endroits où nos électeurs sont concentrés par unités militaires, et précisé le nombre de bureaux de vote dont nous aurons besoin. Le vote s'y déroule selon les spécificités définies pour les unités militaires. Nous n'y créons pas de commissions électorales, nous mettons en place des commissions composées de soldats. Il faut noter que certains des combattants dans ces commissions spéciales étaient déjà des membres de nos commissions civiles ici. C'est d'une grande aide, car ils savent comment mener des élections, ils connaissent toutes les procédures. J'ai personnellement voyagé là-bas pour leur création. J'ai pris un avion militaire, emportant avec moi tous les documents électoraux. Et les gars sur place, du commandement de notre quartier général, ont aidé avec les voitures, la sécurité, le transport et l'hébergement. »Denis Alexandrovich Kuzmenko ne se risque pas à faire un pronostic précis de participation. Lors de la présidentielle de mars dernier, elle a été l'une des plus basses de tout le pays. Et selon la politologue Rada Gaal [son nom a été modifié à sa demande, NDLR], cela ne risque pas de s'arranger cette fois-ci : « En 2019, dans la région de Khabarovsk, le parti du président avait la majorité absolue à tous les échelons locaux, explique cette observatrice avisée de la vie locale. Après les élections, ils se sont retrouvés avec moins de 5 %. C'était à l'origine un vote de protestation. Puis le gouverneur Furgal, qui avait été élu par le peuple, en moins d'un an, a gagné la confiance des votants. Il s'est révélé être très bon, actif, faisant preuve d'empathie avec les gens. Le fait qu'il ait fini par être arrêté dès 2020 et mis en prison a énormément touché émotionnellement toute la région, parce qu'il était le choix du peuple. Des manifestations ont commencé, que j'ai couvertes. Il ne s'agissait pas de renverser le gouvernement, ni de séparatisme. Il s'agissait simplement du droit à pouvoir décider de qui nous dirige sur la base des lois existantes. Ici en Extrême-Orient, nous voulons choisir la personne que nous voulons voir aux commandes. Nous voulons juste pouvoir faire un choix. Mais après trois ou quatre mois, les répressions ont commencé, les forces de l'ordre se sont mises en marche, et les arrestations et détentions ont débuté. Alors aujourd'hui, les gens ont cessé de croire qu'ils peuvent influencer les élections. Ils sont frustrés, désespérés, ils vivent en exil intérieur. »L'éventail de la répression et de l'intimidation est à la hauteur de ces manifestations de 2020 totalement inédites par leur ampleur et leur durée. Le gouverneur Furgal a été condamné en février 2023 à 22 ans de prison pour avoir commandité deux meurtres et une autre agression entre 2004 et 2005. Ses partisans ont toujours dénoncé l'affaire et le verdict comme politiques.« Indésirable »Juste avant l'élection présidentielle de mars dernier, un « mouvement Furgal » a été classé « indésirable ». Il n'y a aucune définition juridique de ce que peut être ce « mouvement » - qui n'existe pas sur le papier. Mais il permet de réprimer toute personne présentée comme y appartenant et de la classer individuellement comme « indésirable ». Les forces de l'ordre ne s'en sont pas privées.Aujourd'hui encore, de simples citoyens font des séjours réguliers en prison et, dans cette région à la réputation rebelle, il est même devenu plus délicat qu'ailleurs en Russie de rencontrer des personnalités un tant soit peu critiques. Rien n'a été négligé pour faire passer le message du pouvoir, jusqu'au plus petit symbole : « Ils ont en quelque sorte aussi voulu humilier les électeurs en retirant le statut de capitale de l'Extrême-Orient à Khabarovsk pour le donner à Vladivostok, juste pour nous punir comme de vilains petits enfants pour le choix que nous avons fait », juge la politologue Rada Gaal.À Khabarovsk, le climat est aujourd'hui décrit comme pesant. « L'atmosphère en ville, c'est celle d'une campagne totale et massive pour "Russie unie", le parti du président, décrit un membre d'une commission électorale de la région, ayant, lui aussi, demandé à ce que l'anonymat lui soit impérativement garanti. Dans chaque cour, presque sur chaque panneau d'affichage, sur chaque arrêt de bus, tout l'espace est occupé par la publicité pour "Russie unie". La publicité pour les autres existe, mais elle n'est pas vraiment visible. "Russie unie" a cette année un budget énorme et il n'y a pas d'égalité pour les candidats. Pourquoi "Russie unie" dépense-t-elle autant d'argent ? Ils sentent qu'ils ne contrôlent pas complètement la situation. »À en croire cet activiste, la région concentre « beaucoup de problèmes », dont le plus évident est « l'opération militaire spéciale que certaines personnes ne soutiennent pas. Mais comme dire à haute voix votre désapprobation peut entraîner une punition, les gens ont peur de le dire ».Cet activiste en est certain : il n'y aura en tout cas pas de tentation ce dimanche d'afficher un meilleur score qu'à la présidentielle pour le candidat du pouvoir. Pas question que le gouverneur apparaisse plus populaire que le chef de l'État.À écouter aussiRussie: dans la région de Koursk, la guerre prend ses quartiers

MARI WILD (RUSSIA) MARI WILD is Techno & House DJ from Russia. She became a DJ in Russia, playing techno and house music in her homeland, in the Far East in cities Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The DJ's further career continued in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Recently started to perform in India, played at parties hosted by Kita Records /Goa/, Adam & Eva promo group /Koh Phangan/. She is often asked to play at private & pool parties, cos she is able to create a unique positive vibe with her authenticity and style. By the way, style is an integral part of Mari, because in addition to DJing, she is also a professional barber/stylist.

We have all heard about Mengele and the atrocities committed by the Nazi's in WWII, but have you heard about Shiro Ishii and Unit 731?

光明頂. 2024 04 16 - 點保持香港優勢 俄國Khabarovsk發現輻射源 內地卻噤若寒蟬 馮智政 嘉賓主持 劉夢熊

With overseas territories from all over the world taking part, the Coupe de France is one of the world's most intriguing domestic football competitions. But who funds it? How do they decide who plays home and away? And could an overseas side play in a UEFA competition if they won the tournament. In Part 1, co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson answer all the key questions about the French Cup and reflect on their recent journey to the sleepy rural town of Saint-Mesmin to watch sixth-tier Saint-Méziéry play host to Tahitian cup winners AS Pirae in the seventh round of the tournament. Next up in Part 2: the world's most isolated clubs! There's a mention for Rapa Nui FC of Easter Island, who hosted the mighty Colo Colo in a 2009 Chilean Cup clash, Khabarovsk, who travel around 100,000km per season to fulfil their away fixtures in the Russian second tier, and Perth Glory, who cut an isolated figure in the Australian A-League. That's followed by the remarkable story of Papua New Guinea's exit from the Pacific Games and a look back at some other harsh tournament eliminations, including the coin toss at EURO 1968 and the madness of the 1994 Caribbean Cup, where goals briefly counted double! In the third and final segment, it's time for a round-up of the remaining stories. Erling Haaland paid for 200 fans of his first club, Bryne, to travel to Kristiansand for a play-off match, only for the Start groundsman to fail to turn on the undersoil heating and the game to be cancelled. There's cucumber throwing and so much more besides at the Mascot Olympics in Spain, which was won by Valencia's representative Amunt the Bat. And finally, two Tiktokers have bought and relocated Latvian second-division club Leevon Saldus with the aim of getting them promoted to the Virslīga. We hope you enjoy the show! *Correction: AS Pirae qualified for the 2023/24 Coupe de France by winning the Coupe de Polynésie. RUNNING ORDER: Part 1: The magic & madness of the Coupe de France and our trip to watch Saint Méziéry vs. AS Pirae of Tahiti in the seventh round (00:47) Part 2: The world's most isolated clubs and Papua New Guinea's incredibly harsh elimination from the Pacific Games (22:27) Part 3: The undersoil heating fiasco in Norway, the Mascot Olympics in Spain & the Latvian club bought by Tiktokers (44:12)

Last time we spoke about the Blagoveshchensk massacre and war over the Amur river. The Chinese began a bombardment of the city of Blagoveshchensk striking panic and fear into her Russian inhabitants. The panic and fear led the Russian commanders ordered the deportation of many Chinese over the Amur river and this soon became a large-scale massacre. Countless Chinese drowned or were killed under the orders of the local Russian commanders. After the horrors on the Amur river the russians gradually received reinforcements and began a large scale offensive over the river to stop the Chinese attacks. First to be hit was Sakhalian, sending its Chinese defenders fleeing towards Aigun and Tsitsihar. The Chinese tried to fortify mountain positions to stop the Russians, but each fell one by one until the Russians had taken the cities. More Russians were crossing the border into Manchuria, the minor conflict had become a full scale invasion.    #70 The Russo-Chinese War Part 3: The Conquest of Northern Manchuria   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The conflict spread anywhere there was a Russian presence in Manchuria. The Manchu were gradually tossing their lot in with the Boxer cause and to be honest, the Manchu always hated the Russian encroachment in their homelands. Harbin held the headquarters for railroad construction in Manchuria. Its population swelled since the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, with refugees pouring in from the Liaodong peninsula, including other nationalities and Chinese christians. The month of june was rather peaceful for Harbin, the Chinese continued to work on the railway alongside their Russian colleagues. 60,000 Chinese laborers had recently come to Harbin to work and telegrams poured in from Manchu generals from Heilungchiang, Fengtian and Kirin guaranteeing the complete safety of the railway and Russians. But beginning in July, rumors spread of anti-foreign activity, telegrams from other Russian settlements being attacked flooded in. On July 5th, a report came in that the Roman catholic mission in Mukden had been destroyed and its Bishop was murdered. Civilians began to evacuate Harbin to Khabrovsk on steamers and barges. Harin braced itself for a Chinese attack, volunteer militias sprang up. Thousands of Chinese inhabitants of Harbin fled as Russian refugees flooded in from all over. Large numbers of Qing forces were reportedly converging on Harbin, so Captain Rzhevutskii came over from Tiehling with 6 officers, 250 Cossacks, militiamen and all of their families. His arrival bolstered the Harbin garrison who were only around 600 men, 300 of which had just come from Tsitsihar on July 14th. A force of 67 Cossack fought their way out of Kirin against a much larger force of Chinese. Their commander Savitskii was found at Laoshaokou on July 19th with only 38 Cossacks left, many wounded. Savitskii's left eye was riddled with bullet splinters and his arm was in a sling. His men had rode out under the assurances of safe passage from the Manchu General of Kirin only to be attacked by 500 Manchu with artillery support. The Manchu fired shrapnel not just over the Cossacks, but their own infantry when they engaged in hand to hand combat. Savitskii claimed their killed some 200 Chinese before breaking through their lines and were pursued for over 5 days. A eyewitness to their arrival in Harbin had this to say “tears welled up in our eyes and anger began to boil in our hearts, when we saw the valiant heroes who had arrived. The men walked barefoot, with feet that were skinned almost to the bones, many only in their underwear, exhausted and emaciated. Truly one could not believe somehow that the Chinese had not succeeded in wiping this handful of men from the face of the earth”. Luckily for Harbin, on July 21st a steamer arrived to her dock from Khabarovsk carrying 1000 rifles, ammunition and 4 companies of reservists. Now Harbin counted 2000 defenders. On July 22nd a telegram came to Harbin from the Manchu General of Heilungchiang. It stated that while there had been cooperation with the Russian railway builders until this point, he regarded the Russian drowning of Chinese to be tantamount to a declaration of war and now both sides were free to attack the other. The message confused the Russians at Harbin for some time, having not heard of the Blagoveshchensk massacre. The rest of the message was crystal clear. The same Manchu General proclaimed the assault against Harbin would come soon and that the Russians should fight bravely for they would be exterminated without mercy. He did however offer safe passage for women and children out of Manchuria. 3000 women, children and wounded men departed Harbin aboard steamers on July 23rd. Meanwhile the Russians prepared their defenses and on the 25th the Chinese arrived. At 4am on the 26th the Chinese began firing their artillery from across the river. Their forces approached Harbin from the south and east successfully seizing the railway depot of the First Sungari Station and that railroad between the New part of the city and old Harbin. A Cossack counter attack during the afternoon drove most of the Chinese back in the direction of Ashiho. The Russians attempted to encircle the Chinese and quickly capture their artillery, but the Chinese withdrew in haste before they could. Countless Chinese who failed to rejoin the main body of their force were cut down by Cossacks. A smaller group of Chinese tried to hunker down at the railway depot and offered a stubborn fight until they were killed.  The Chinese took up a new position at the Hanhsin plant which had some large walls with towers providing good defense. From their fortifications the Chinese fired back upon the Russians, but once they burst open the main gate the Chinese were again on the move. As Sergei Grudzinskii entered the plant he had this to say of the scene “The corpses of men and cadavers of horses lay strewn about everywhere. Sabers and bayonets sparkled. People jostled each other in disorder. All had agitated faces, as if drunk. The noise of voices and swear words filled the air, which was saturated with the heavy smell of blood, sweat and gunpowder. Frightened children, ducks, oxen and horses ran around. Now and then the short, whiplashed like shots of our 20 caliber rifles were heard. The men had gotten all excited. There was no mercy for anyone. Aroused, someone had set fire to a house, and thick, black smoke rose to the sky, as the bright sun beamed indifferently on the picture of death and destruction below”. The Russians captured many Krupp field guns, German rifles and other war materials.  On July the 27th and 28th the Chinese continued to bombard Harbins dock from across the river and fired upon any trains going by. The Chinese were using any local infrastructure around for protection so the Russains began burning everything. By July 28th the Chinese were abandoning their positions on the other side of the river. Some skirmishing was done with rearguards and some Chinese POW's revealed a second offensive, 25,000 men strong was scheduled to hit Harbin for August 3rd. But when the time came no Chinese army was to be found and steamers were coming to Harbin with relief forces, the siege of the city was over. With reinforcements on hand, the Russians sent word to nearby Ashih-ho where some 10,000 Chinese forces were gathering. The Russians notified them they wanted to re-establish friendly relations and called upon the Chinese to disband. They also wrote to the Manchu General of Heilungchiang who responded simply “I will be seeing you soon”. The commander of Ashihho responded by sending a small battery to fire upon Harbin. On August 17th the Russians advanced upon Ashiho, Major General Gerngros led a Cossack vanguard; Major General Alekseev commanded the main body around a mile behind; and overall command was under Major General Sakharov. They were 16 companies, 12.5 sotnias and 16 artillery pieces. By the 18th they reached Ashihho, they sent word to the Manchu commander asking his surrender and he replied he would disband his forces when General Sakharov compensated China for the destruction of Pa-yen-tung, Sanhsing and other places damaged while withdrawing from Manchuria. It seems his words were braver than his actions, for when the Russians stormed the gates they would find the city in a state of evacuation. Cossacks with artillery support stormed around the city from the west and east to cut off the fleeing Chinese. A large number were killed, many others taken prisoner. The commander of the 4th East Siberian Rifle regiment was appointed commandant of Ashihho. The major objections of the Russians in Manchuria by this point was to defeat the Qing forces allying themselves to the Boxers, to secure the railway construction and secure the Amur River navigation. For logistical purpose the job was divided in two; north manchurian campaigns were led by Lt General Grodekov and South Manchurian were under Vice Admiral Alekseev. Russia sought to recover the main railway line of the Chinese eastern railway that ran from the Transbaikal region, to Tsitsihar, Harbin, Pogranichnaia and Nikol'sk-Ussuriiskii. Alongside this the Russians also needed to seize Kirin and Mukden to consolidate control in the region. Now this was all a colossal task, the sheer distance from the Transbaikal region to Manchuria was incredible. There was a shortage of steamers, so barges and rafts had to be constructed, bad harvests resulted in less provisions and just getting men and supplies to the front was hellish. Nonetheless the job was to be done, and between June and July 16 battalions, 38 guns, 6 sotnias, 2 sapper companies and 2 railway companies were rushed from Priamur to Kwantung and Pechihli. To compensate for depleting the Priemur region, Siberia would need to send forces.   The mobilization was incredible. In the Transbaikal region in 1900 there was roughly 25,000 Russians of working age, from these 5000 men made up 5 cavalry regiments, 4 cavalry batteries and 4 infantry battalions were tossed together to form the “Hailar detachment” called so because they would advance against Hailar. They all had military training, but lacked a lot of discipline. The men were notorious for smoking in front of their superiors and during saluting times would often just nod their head. The Cossacks amongst them would not let superior officers strike them which was a custom in the army. But the men were pretty crack shots and could live off meager rations. Furthermore most of them had dealings and were on good terms with Mongols and Manchu. The leader of the Hailar detachment was Major General Orlov who mobilized them on July 25th and they proceeded from Abagaitui to cross the border. They followed the Hailar rivers until they reached the Dalai Nor railroad station on July 27th. They captured there 51 well armed Mongols without resistance and sent them back to Russia to help construct the Transbaikal railroad. From here they advanced to Ongun whereupon they saw at a distance some Manchu and Mongol cavalry spread out in orderly lines of single rank, behind them were infantry. According to some Chinese prisoners, the force was around 10,000 strong under the command of a General in Hailar. The Mongol cavalry advanced and fired upon them from a great distance, not hitting very much. The Russians held their fire, so the Mongols drew closer and pelted them with bullets. This time the Russian returned fire, but the Mongols persisted and dismounted from their horses, beginning to dig foxholes. The Russians resumed their defensive stance, watching the Chinese pull up artillery. At 11:45am the Russian's received some reinforcements, 2000 additional bayonets, 1000 savers and 6 cannons of the Verkhneudinsk Cossack regiment. The Chinese artillery was roughly 5000 feet away, their riflemen just 800 or so. The Verkneudinsk regiment rode out upon their right flank at 1:50pm signaling the Russian general attack. Orlov took the left flank performing a small envelopment maneuver. It was a bold and bloody advance. At 2:10pm the Russian artillery began to fire and it was deadly accurate, the Chinese artillery quickly evacuated, unable to properly return fire. At 2:25pm Orlov tossed some reserves into the advance and soon the Russians were charging across an open plain driving the Chinese from a hill position. The mounted Cossacks pursued any retreating Chinese forces who were seen tossing their weapons and equipment as they ran. Orlov got caught up in the chase and excitement and was almost shot while his staff officer screamed “Sir! You're being shot at!” Some Boxer forces stood their ground defiantly against Cossack sabers, butchered on the spot. The Russians had only 8 deaths and 17 wounded and claimed an incredible 900 casualties for the Chinese. Orlov sent his mounted forces to pursue the enemy and perform reconnaissance of Hailars defenses which his scouts reported was being abandoned. Orlov ordered a Cossack battery to rush to Hailar during the night of August 1st as he led more men against Urdingi. The roads were littered with abandoned equipment, but Orlov received a new report in the morning, Hailar was not abandoned after all. There was a call for help at the Hailar front, so Orlov sent two Sotnias of the 4th and 6th battalions and he personally came by August 3rd. Upon seeing the reinforcements, the Chinese began to abandon the city and Orlov would have his dinner inside Hailar on that day. Hailar was a small district city, but it was important strategically for the Chinese eastern railway's construction. Orlov formed a supply depot at Hailar not only for his detachment, but for other Russian forces going through the area. Upon seeing the taking of Ongun and Hailar, the Mongols realized the Russians were stronger than the Manchu. The Mongols began abandoning the Chinese and fled to their homelands to wait out the conflict.  Meanwhile General Bao, one of China's more able commander, realized the loss of Hailar was significant and began to approach the region from the Greater Hsing-an Mountains with a force 7000 strong. Cossack patrols reported Bao's advance to Orlov and Orlov decided to go out and meet him. On August 14th the Russian took up a position at Ya-koshih some 23 miles east of Hailar. The two forces would clash at 2pm and the battle would rage for many hours. The brunt of the fighting was felt by the Transbaikal Cossack battalions who charged into Bao's left flank. A severe thunderstorm broke out during the battle and Orlov used it to conceal a held back reserve battalion to charge into the right flank of the Chinese. When both flanks were being hit Orlov called for a general forward assault. General Bao was a well recognized figure and some Russian sotnias came across his dead body on the battlefield before they crashed into a Chinese rear guard at 10pm. The Chinese had routed and enraged by the intensity of the battle the Cossacks ran them down hard. The victory at Yakoshih would give Russia control over the western part of Manchuria up to the Greater Hsing'an Mountains. On the mountains a newly formed detachment under General Chou Mien established a heavily fortified position.  A flying detachment led by Bulatovich was sent to Hsing-an on August 19th and the approached the Chinese positions on the mountain to prod their defenses. Bulatovich personally led a small group to drive out a Chinese forward post near a bridge so most of his forces could get across a river to venture into the foot of the mountains. A full reconnaissance was performed, while the rest of the Hailar detachment were 40 miles away enroute. On August 20th, without waiting for reinforcements that were due to Hailar at any moment, Orlov advanced. Orlov took his forces to seize the Mien-tu-ho station, Ha-la-kuo station and I-Lieh'ko'te from which at a moment's notice he could help Bulatovich's position, being just 10 miles away or so. Orlov ordered the forces to slowly push into the mountains proclaiming to the men “Well done Verkhneudinks Cossacks! With God, lets see what the mysterious Greater Hsing-an is like!” From the 3 different locations the men advanced. Orlov planned to cross over a ridge 20 miles south of the Chinese position to get behind their rear and cut off their road towards Tsitsihar. While planning his attack, Orlov received word that Beijing had just been taken by the 8 nation alliance on August 14th and that Harbin was occupied by Russians as well.  At 5am on August 23d, Bulatovich began a envelopment maneuver while the main body advanced with Orlov. The Chinese would be unable to see the main bodies movements due to the mountain ranges. Once they approached the Chinese rear, Orlov began planning out artillery positions and watched with binoculars through some bushes at the Chinese positions. His report of the actions state the Chinese trenches were dug absurdly, in a line of square holes across the main road that could only face a frontal attack. He was also surprised to find out many nearby heights held no enemy posts, they easily could be used against them. Orlov took up a position that overlooked the entire left flank of the Chinese position. His artillery positions were perfect, nothing would obstruct their bombardment. At 2am the next day Orlov sent forward companies to seize the nearby heights lest the Chinese grab them at the last minute. At 6:45am the Chinese had advanced forward on the right flank catching the Russian position in enfilade fire. Cossacks charged into them swiftly and at 7:30am the Russian artillery began its bombardment which quickly silence the Chinese artillery. Suddenly the Chinese right flank was hit with Cossack sotnia's causing confusion. Chinese riflemen tried to get out of their trenches but were pinned down by the artillery shrapnel and soon the Cossacks were firing into the trenches butchering them. The battle was a brief one, the Chinese were simply not prepared to face attacks from multiple directions. After only 50 minutes the Chinese began a withdrawal. The Russians would have completely encircled and annihilated them, but the rear units rushed over to help a pinned down Russian company. Russian reported 3 deaths and 9 wounded, taking countless Chinese lives and seizing 5 artillery pieces and 120 carts of war materials.  The Chinese fled to Tsitsihar the capital of Heilungchiang province. Manchu General Shou Shan held a very strong garrison there. A detachment led by Bolsheretsk was already advancing upon Tsitsihar and Orlov was to meet up with him. On September the 2nd, Orlov arrived to the outskirts of Tsitsihar and 2 days later he entered the city, as the Bolsheretsk detachment had already battled and taken the city by August 28th. Its large Chinese garrison had fled towards Petuna. The reason they had fled was due to the psychological impact of General Rennenkampfs daring campaign, as you will recall General Shou Shan had committed suicide having lost to him. Apparently Shou Shan swallowed gold to rupture his intestines, I've never heard of that one before.  With the Hailar detachment and Bolsheretsk detachment together at Tsitsihar, they now had a force of 12 battalion, 14 sotnias and 22 artillery pieces altogether. Orlov sent orders for Rennenkampt to take 12 sotnias and 6 cavalry guns to advance upon Petuna while he would follow behind. Petuna was around 200 miles away and the Russians would have to ford the Nonni and Sungari rivers. Rennenkampft managed to get to Petuna in 5 days and found it sheltered 1500 Chinese Infantry and 150 cavalry units. A Qing official named Li rode out to parley with Rennenkampt, asserting to him they had 5000 men and asked for a armistice of 2 days. Rennenkampf replied that his detachment would be within Petuna that very evening and that by 6am all of the Chinese must come to their camp and lay down their arms. Rennenkampf really does seem like a badass doesn't he? At 6am on september 12th, the Chinese cavalry fully armed approached the camp and made a display of surrendering their arms. Then the Chinese infantry followed suit. The Chinese forces were herded away to help construct the railroad. On the 19th the main body reached Petuna, there Orlove and the other commanders decided to hit Kirin city, the capital of Kirin province. Mounted Cossacks were sent south of the Sungari river to hit Kirin from the south while the main body would advance north of the Sungair to hit Kirin from the north. Rennenkampf elected himself to perform a reconnaissance and set out on September 22nd with two sotnias. At 3pm the village of Tashuiho which lied on the junction of Mukden and Kirin was attacked by Rennekampfs force. Rennekampf was nearly speared to death during the attack, but they managed to fight off the Chinese. At 7am on the 23rd Rennenkmapf arrived to Kirin and a bearer of a flag of truce came out. The flag bearer asked for an armistice and again Rennenkampf rejected this and literally galloped into Kirin and headed for the Governor's mansion. This guy fancies himself Julius Caesar I guess. 220 Chinese cavalry who guarded the mansion were quickly surrounded and disarmed. Within Kirin Rennenkampf captured 69 modern rifles and 5000 other rifles of various dates which he tossed into the Sungari river. Rennenkampf had thus taken a fortified city of 120,000 inhabitants with 200 Cossacks, an unbelievable feat. But in reality, Prince Qing had actually ordered the governor of Kirin to suspend all hostility against the Russians. I bet Rennenkampf forgot to mention that part in his action report. Like I said a Julius Caesar kind of guy haha.  With Kirin in their hands, Orlovs detachment turned back to Harbin, where he would soon receive orders to return home so the Transbaikal Cossacks could tend to their farms, just in time for harvesting. Rennenkampf would remain in Kirin until the arrival of Major General Kryshanovskii with 4 squadrons of dragoons, 1 Chita Cossack sotnia, the 3rd Transbaikal cossack battery and a mounted train of artillery on September 26th. Rennenkampf took his small force to Tiehling where Russian forces were preparing for a large offensive against Mukden. Orlov's campaign was an extremely fast one, his forces covered extreme distances, going 20 miles or so per day. A telegram from Lt General Matsievskii, the commander of the Transbaikal Cossack forces told Orlov his men had broken all records in the campaign. Casualties for the Hailar detachment were 468 in total. The Chinese had been routed, not by cowardice however. They fought bravely and were well armed, it seemed to Russian eye witness accounts they lacked proper marksmanship. The Qing officers seemed to be ignorant of modern military tactics and this heavily affected their organization. The Manchu General of Heilungchiang had sent troops simultaneously in three directions against the Hailar detachment, the Bolsheretsk detachment and the Khabarovsk detachment, not to mention sending other dispatches against Harbin. Orlov believed the Chinese could have won if they consolidated and hammered the Russians one force at a time. With the capture of Kirin, Qing officials now tried to ingratiate themselves with the Russians, giving them the old wine and dine treatment.  The final Russian offensive would be mounted in southern Manchuria. Major General Fleisher, was appointed commander of the newly formed South Manchurian Detachment. On August the 8th after Yingkou was taken, Mishchenko joined up with Domrovskii at Tashihciao. The Chinese had consolidated around Haicheng with a strength of around 4 battalion and 4 artillery pieces. The Russian forces at Tashihciao did not have many mounted Cossacks to perform a proper reconnaissance and as a result would not have a good idea of the Chinese strength. Thus the Russians overestimated the enemy. Fleisher ordered 3 columns to advance, in the middle was Colonel Aurenius leading the 3rd East Sierian rifle regiment with 8 guns and a section of Cossacks; on the left was Mishchenko with two companies, two Cossack squadrons and the 1st Transbaikal Cossack battery; and on the right was Dombrovskii with 4 and a half companies of the 11th east siberian rifle regiment, 4 guns and a squadron of Cossacks. The three columns departed Tashihciao on August 10th. Aurelius's central column ran into a Chinese outpost who upon seeing them began to flee north towards Haicheng, only to run into Mishchenko's forces. Dombrovskii's column were advancing through some difficult mountain terrain to try and block escape routes for the Chinese. Mishchenko's force suffered casualties from Chinese artillery, but when the Chinese tried to press an attack, the 1st Cossack Battery battered their formations. Aurelius tried to advance faster to catch up to the Chinese, but they kept slipping away. In the face of the advancing Russians, the Chinese evacuated Huchuangtun, destroying all useful war materials there. On August 11th the Russian columns reunited for and made camp, then the next day continued towards Haicheng in two columns. The main column commanded by Fleisher consisted of his detachment, Dombrovskii's detachment and sotnia of Cossacks. They advanced northward along the railway line. The other column led by Mishchenko traveled parallel with the main column to the left.  General Shou planned to lure the Russians over towards Newchwang and spring a trap, but his subordinates refused to abandon Haicheng without a fight. Yun assumed command over the Haicheng militia and had his forces harass Mishchenko's smaller column as they advanced. Yun set up an ambush for Mishchenko, deploying some artillery on a mountain range, but the Russians quickly overran them. While Mishchenko was fighting in the mountain range, a large force of Boxers from Haicheng tried to recapture the Chinese artillery. The Russians saw a hoard of yellow sash wearing Boxers, most of whom were prepared for hand to hand combat. The Boxers charged the Russians furiously, and Russians reported seeing very old men, some young boys and even a few girls amongst their force. Cossacks reported the Boxers tried to grab them down from their horses, but were no match for sabers. At 2am on August 12th the Russians were brushing off the attacks and ambushes and continuing their advance. By this point the Chinese had roughly 4000 regular troops, 8 artillery pieces and 1000 Boxers who had all retreated during the night for Haicheng. When the Russians reached Haicheng, the Chinese defenses collapsed. The Russian artillery had only just begun firing as the Chinese artillery crews abandoned their equipment and began fleeing. The only real resistance would be rear guard actions as the Russians stormed into Haicheng. Patrols were first sent into the city to see what kind of state it was in. Many inhabitants were known to the Russians as they were workers on the railway and the patrol forces assured them all they would see no harm. As the Russian main force entered the city, the Chinese came out with gifts of chicken, eggs and vegetables and both sides were quite relieved by the outcome. Konstantin had entered the city and met with some Chinese families he knew from railway work, gave them all assurances there was going to be no violence within the city. Railway guards were initially stationed in the city, but soon relieved whereupon regular Russian troops came in. Konstantin had departed Haicheng for some meetings and when he returned some days later, he went to a Chinese family acquaintance to find they had been butchered inside the home. Konstantin recalled “two old men lay in puddles of blood, bayoneted to death, while a young boy, about eight years old, with his belly ripped open, squirmed in agony”. Konstantin was livid, and went to the nearest sergeant major to ask where the other Chinese were and was told “they are farther away from their sin”. That same day a doctor in Konstantins regiment was called upon to revive an old woman and younger girl. Both had been expelled for the city, ran into solders who killed the older womans husband and raped the younger girl. In agony the two tossed themselves into a river to commit suicide. The old woman was revived, and the girl died. Konstantin bitterly watched as more innocent bystanders died. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Northern Manchuria is firmly under Russian control and gradually southern Manchuria is falling to the same fate. The price of war as usual is always felt heaviest on the innocent civilian populations. Unfortunately Manchuria will face such horror for decades to come. 

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Russo-Chinese War of 1900. Though its been only referred to as the Russian invasion of Manchuria during the Boxer Rebellion, this event was far larger and more impactful than it seems. The recent Russian acquisitions after the Triple Intervention brought numerous railway workers and guards into the Manchu homelands. It was a joint venture between the Qing and Russian empires, but the year of 1900 brought the Boxer movement into the mix. The Russians were isolated in various pockets throughout Manchuria and were being attacked by Boxers and Manchu's who likewise shared their anti foreign sentiment. Violence broke out in places like Hsiungyuehcheng, Baitouzi, Liaoyang and Haicheng, seeing Russian forces fleeing one to the next, trying to consolidate for protection. The Russians have received a pretty bloody nose, but they were just about to punch back.   #69 The Russo-Chinese War Part 2: The Blagoveshchensk Massacre on the Amur River    Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The Russo-Chinese War is a bit more difficult to talk about in a chronological order as so much is going on in different places at roughly the same time. It differed from the conflict going on in China proper also in the fact it was very much bilateral rather than international. However there were exceptions seen in places like Yingkou. Yingkou was a treaty port on the Liaodong gulf and had an international settlement. Foreign consulates and missions were present. Yingkou was going to be connected to the South Manchurian railway line and would experience Boxer agitation early on. Boxers began by plastering the city with anti-christian placards, proclamations and youth were practicing martial arts in her streets. Then adult Boxers began pouring into Manchuria where they gradually harassed westerners. It did not happen overnight, it was gradual work, but soon Boxers were fortifying positions. In June of 1900, Vice Admiral ALekseev telegraphed the Russian Minister of War from Yingkou, indicating he required more guards. The Minister of War forwarded the telegram to the Minister of Foreign affairs with the recommendation the Admiral should be given authority to take whatever measures necessary to prevent the outbreak of hostilities near Russian held railway territory. The foreign Minister, Count Mikhail Murav'ev agreed and recommended Russian forces not go far beyond the Kwantung region in their efforts. Tsar Nicholas II also added comments “It is extremely important for us not to scatter our forces”. When Tientsin saw an outbreak of violence, and the railway lines in Manchuria were being attacked, Colonel Dombrovskii was sent from Port Arthur to Tashihciao with the 11th East Siberian Rifle regiment, a battery and a Sotnia of Cossacks. Colonel Khoreunzhenkov followed this up with his detachment from Port Arthur coming via train to Tashihciao while the 7th and 8th East Sierian rifle regiments proceeded to Yingkou and Tashihciao via sea transport. Because Yingkou was a treaty port, Russian gunboats were on hand when the violence erupted. When Qing forces began to mass up around Yingkou a bit due north, the Russians sent an envoy to meet with the local General Shou to inform him Russian gunboats would level the city to the ground should the Chinese attack the Russian settlement. General Shou was livid at this, but kept everything at Bay until August 4th. By that point in time, Russian Consul Andrei Timchenko-Ostroverkhov had asked Colonel Mishchenko and General Fleisher who arrived on July 29th not to disrupt the peace with any military actions.  Meanwhile General Chin Cheng the commander of Qing forces in the province of Fengtian decided to counteract Russian occupations of key points in the Liaodong Peninsula. He deployed large numbers of troops to Yingkou and Anshanchan, while retaining a reserve at Shahotzu. Chin Cheng also sent a request to Beijing to release 20 battalions to the Liaodong Gulf to operate behind the Russian lines and smash their railway lines. Smaller detachments would fight delaying actions while gradually pulling back to Yingkou. The Qing's plan was to lure the Russians over to Anshan, then overwhelm them with superior numbers from 3 directions coming from Yingkou, Shahotzu and the Chienshan mountains. The detachments coming from Yingkou and Beijing would cut off escape routes. Before this, the Qing were more or less uncoordinated and not very effective in their military actions. However now with forces larger than, 50,000 men each, with 60 or so artillery pieces under the command of a commander in chief, they were about to become a lot more threatening.  Now while this large maneuver was being prepared, a smaller battle took place at Yingkou on July 26th. Mishchenko now at Yingkou received reports that Khorunzhenkov had pushed out many Qing forces away from Hsiungyuehcheng, and now those said forces were enroute to Yingkou. Mishchenko elected to go out and meet them head on with two and a half companies alongside two artillery pieces. His forces advanced northeast of the city walls and proclaimed the Qing there had one hour to remove their forces from the walls. The Qing defenders armed with Mauser rifles fired off in defiance and soon messengers from incoming Qing forces began galloping towards the city. 15 minutes before an hour had passed the Russians began deploying themselves to a fight. Konstantin and Mamonov led their companies towards the northern and eastern forces; Troitskii and Prokipenko with their 7th siberian companies guarded the right flank incase Qing came from the city. When the ultimatum expired the Russians began to open fire, met equally back with Qing fire. Within 15 minutes the Russians had battered the walls with their artillery and were scaling the walls. The Qing fired back while making an evacuation of the city. Two Cossack squadrons with sabers in hand pursued the fleeing Qing. The Russians gradually advanced against the city, then suddenly a special message arrived from the Consul demanding they halt the attack. The fleeing Qing forces from Hsiungyuehcheng whom Mishchenko was trying to cut off from Yingkou had found out about their attack and were now scattering amongst neighboring towns. Thus Mishchenko's actions seemed to have worked. Mishchenko's forces would have to sporadically raise up similar actions against the hostile elements within Yingkou, seeing countless Boxers and sympathizers flee the city. This peaked one day seeing a small battle before the Russians finally stormed the city now greatly depleted of its warriors. The Russians captured the arsenal and military stores and left a half company to guard the entrance to the city. On August 5th, Vice Admiral Evgenii Alekseev arrived at Yingkou on the cruiser Zabiiaka. Alekseev was 55 years old at the time, a short stocky man, with a rather large head and hooked nose. His large beard was beginning to gray, but the man was full of energy and demanded swift action from his men. He issued a speech on August 6th “the hostile behavior of the Chinese authorities who had first encouraged the rebellion and then declared that they could not maintain order ended in an open attack on our forces placed in the city in accordance to the wish of the Consular body. During the said attack the Chinese authorities had fled leaving the town to its fate. To avoid disorder and looting by the Chinese mo and with the object of protecting the commerce of the port and the property of the foreigners the Russian military authority found it necessary to place the town under the guard of the Imperial Russian troops.” Foreign consuls began to request Alekseev send for more reinforcements, stating if he did not do so they would have to ask the Japanese. The British were not very keen on the Russian occupation, and when the Russians attempted placing their flags over British owned establishments it got pretty heated. But the foreigners did feel more at ease with Russian forces guarding the international settlement, for now it seemed peaceful. Over on the western side of the Amur River at its juncture is a place called Blagoveshchensk. It was founded in 1856 as a military post, originally named Ust-zeisk. In 1858 because of its strategic location and economic value, it became the military, civil and judicial center of the newly formed Amur province. It also held a seat for a military governor. It was renamed Blagoveshchensk meaning “good news place” and its first governor General, Nikolai Murav'ev Amurskii announced its annexation in 1858. Soon some Cossacks moved in to form a local village called Verkhne-Blagoveshchensk “upper blagoveshchensk”. The city grew quickly, by 1900 she had nearly 38,000 inhabitants with over 3700 houses. An American traveler descried the city “as fine for its leading banks and stores as Portland, Maine or Oregon could show, or any smaller city of the Union. ”.The city had schools, libraries, a theater and telephone service. Now the Amur river formed the boundary between the Qing dynasty and the Russian empire going for hundreds of miles. To the east opposite Blagoveshchensk was the Manchu city of Sakhalian. Sakhalian had opened up to foreign trade in 1858 when there was a Manchurian gold rush and in the 1880's her population boomed to 50,000. Both cities freely went back and forth by boats and junks or over ice in winter to trade.  In May of 1900, reports of unrest in China reached Blagoveshchensk, but this aroused little concern, it sounded to everyone like the common troubles of any given year. The people of Manchuria resented foreign activity in their heartland and were eager for the Russians to withdraw, but for decades relations between the Russians and Chinese were pretty good, friendly, certainly more so than with other western powers at least. The residents of Blagoveshchensk failed to see the signs of the looming conflict. On July 8th, Chinese living in Blagoveshchensk suddenly began crossing the Amur river, with all of their belongings.  By late May some Russians went to trade for cattle in Sakhalian and reported sighting 7000 troops in the mountains beyond Sakhalian. The activity was dismissed as routine maneuvers. On June 24th word was received that the 8 nation alliance had just ceased the Taku forts and that same day posters emerged in Blagoveshchensk about mobilizing the Priamur region. Reservists began pouring into the city from neighboring towns, ships were carrying men up the Zeia river. The city's residents thought everything was ridiculous, how could China resist so many powers, was this all necessary? A resident of Blagoveshchensk, A .V Kirkhner wrote this of the situation “So accustomed had everyone become to looking on China and the Chinese with utter disdain, and so familiar had their cowardice become to all inhabitants along the border, that there was hardly anyone who expected a serious war with china”. The russian reservists were pretty angry about the situation. They had been pulled away from their work, their families, now with nothing but bottles of vodka to drown their sorrows. Many cursed the Chinese for driving wages down in the region and this led to violence on the Russian side. Angry Russians would frequently harass neighboring villages, causing many Chinese to flee across the Amur. On June 28th telegrams came to Blagoveshchensk conveying the Russian government's declaration made on the 24th that there was no war with China, the troops that took Taku and Tientsin were merely helping the Qing government crush the insurgents who were destroying railroads. This created more confusion for the people in the Amur region. The governor feared things might get out of hand so he closed down bars and warned residents to not spread false rumors or cause panic and above all else not to molest the Chinese inhabitants, anyone who did would be punished. The military began preparing measures to stop internal disorder, to quell possible bandit raids. Cossacks were dispatched out to protect telegraph lines and patrols were sent to thwart banditry. Chinese and Russian homes began to be robbed or at least rumors suggested as such and the different nationalities became suspicious of the other. Newspapers began spreading messages to thwart violence, asking the Russian population to have a “sober view” of things. News came of von Kettelers murder on July 12th, and of the outbreak of hostility at Harbin and along numerous railway lines in Manchuria. However the people of Blagoveshchensk simply believed all of the hostility was confined to the area of Beijing and perhaps the interior of Manchuria, certainly it would not reach them in such a remote place. On July 14th a private steamer, the Mikhail enroute from Khabarovsk to Blagoveshchensk alongside 5 barges passed by the Qing village of Aigun, when Qing officials signaled them to dock. The Russians failed to understand what they wanted and kept going. The Qing opened fire on Mikhail until it stopped, they then came aboard and saw the cargo was all military supplies, thus they placed the crew under arrest. A few hours later the Russian steamer Selenga was going downstream and came over to investigate the Mikhail. The Qing officials on the shore screamed at the vessel and her commander COlonel Kol'shmit could see there were Qing troops set up on the shore. He quickly ordered his men to go full steam ahead, but when they did the Qing opened fire. The Colonel, 4 Cossacks and 2 sailors were severely wounded in the mayhem. Kol'shmit rushed Blagoveshchensk with his battered ship.  News of the conflict raised an alarm that this was a premeditated act of war. The arrested men of the Mikhail were let go and returned bearing a message from the district chief of Aigun stating he had acted on the orders of the military governor of Tsitsihar, not to let any ship pass. That same night two companies of the 2nd East Siberian line battalion, 6 artillery pieces and the Amur Cossack regiment crossed the Zeia river taking up defensive positions. The next day Blagoveshchensk organized a volunteer defense force. On July 15th, everything seemed quite calm, some Manchu came over to Blagoveshchensk calmly asking to fetch some belongings. A steam cutter patrolled the Amur and police searched any Chinese who came over. The reservists were at ease, many cooped up in their barracks. Suddenly the Qing began firing from across the river caughting the Russians by surprise. Panic ensued, residents fled the Amur river area, pursued by Qing bullets. Rumors spread that the Manchu were landing on their side of the river, countless turned to defend their homes, women and children surged out of the area. When volunteer fighters found Chinese trying to get across the river away from Blagoveshchensk they immediately attacked them, all having heard of the rumors Chinese had landed ashore on their side. Chinese tossed grenades in the streets wounding many innocent civilians. By 9pm the Qing guns finally went silent as volunteers dug trenches along the waterfront. Steamers Mikhail and Selenga proceeded up the Amur and saw Chinese forces building ramparts along the river bank.  On July 16th the Qing opened fire again, this time on a larger scale. Men were now in foxholes, police were running through the streets looking for Chinese. Boxer posters were discovered in the Chinese quarter of the city. Allegedly, these posters stated that Manchu had landed ashore and for all Chinese in the city to raise up arms against the Russians. The police began rounding up any Chinese they found, aided by volunteers. Many Chinese were beaten up, all weapons were confiscated. Wild rumors were rampant amongst the residents. At 5pm a force was seen on the horizon, many thought it was Manchu coming to kill them all. It turned out to be more Chinese being herded from local villages by Cossacks. All the Chinese were being kept at the police station, but now the numbers were swelling to several thousand. There was simply no room for the mass of people at the police station, so many were moved to a lumber mill along the Zeia. They were left under the guard of 80 recruits armed with axes. The night was quiet, none tried to escape. The next day, the first group of Chinese, around 3500, were moved to the Verkhne-Blagoveshchensk station for deportation across the river. They were escorted by a small forces, marching 6 miles during a particularly hot day. Many of the old and sick collapsed and some police officers ordered them axed to death, several were killed. Evidence later would show countless were robbed. A number of armed Cossacks rode out to meet the caravan and help convoy them across the river. There were no boats, not even sampans at the shore they were brought to. Some Russians argued they could not send the Chinese back, as there was a siege-like situation. They argued they could not provide the guards for 3000 Chinese in the city.  Ten years after this controversial event that had been argued to this very day, a Russian journal called Vestnik Evropy tried to tell the story of what happened based on gathered evidence and testimony of locals. This is what the article had to say “Nevertheless the point of crossing was the width of the river at this place was over 700 feet, while the depth reached 14 feet. The current was very strong here, and furthermore a considerable wind was blowing. Having chosen the place, it was decided that this was enough, that nothing further was needed for the crossing. The Chinese were simply driven into the water and ordered to swim. Part of those in front went into the water. Some swam, but soon began to drown. The remainder did not dare to go into the water. Then the Cossacks began to urge them on with nagaikas (whips) and all who had rifles, Cossacks, settlers, old men and children opened fire. The shooting lasted about half an hour, after which a considerable number of Chinese corpses piled up on shore. Then, after the shooting, the commander of the detachment decided to resort to ordinary arms as well. The Cossacks chopped with their sabers, while the recruits were ordered to kill the “disobedient” Chinese with their axes. When some of the recruits lacked fortitude for this, the Cossacks threatened “to decapitate them as traitors”. The Chinese cried; some crossed themselves with the “orthodox cross” pleading that they not be killed, but nothing helped. Before the completion of the crossing a mounted party of Cossacks from one of the Amur Cossack regiments also participated in the shooting at the Chinese. The commander of the mounted party at first had not wanted to fire, but upon the demand of the Police chief ordered his men to fire five rounds each, and then continued on his way, in spite of the request of Ataman N (commander of the Cossacks who came out to meet the caravan), to remain with his detachment and “shoot a while longer”, as the Cossacks of the settlement had run out of ammunition. He agreed only to take a note from the Cossack commander to the squadron commander about the sending of help; but this request remained unfulfilled. During the crossing of the first party of Chinese, it was found, the majority had perished, some had drowned, others had been slain. Not more than a hundred Chinese had swum to the other shore and saved themselves. The article goes on to state the crossing was more of an extermination. Many recruits testified during the investigations after that orders were to drown the Chinese.  This massacre did not seem to satisfy the Russians involved, for on July 19th and 21st two more parties were sent to the crossing of 170 and 66 Chinese. They were killed in a similar fashion, all of this was overseen by the chief of police. Some Chinese swam to safety, but not many. The people who butchered the Chinese did not hide their actions, though their superiors sent reports that most of the Chinese had swam to the other side and only a few were killed for disobedience. The military governor of the Amur region demanded an inquiry be made, but he did not self report the matter to the Governor General after the investigation showcased the horror. General Griskii was indicted for the crime, he argued in his defense that he acted in accordance with preserving the peace and that he left the matter to the chief of police. He had taken no interest in the details of what occurred during deportation operation. The chief of police accused a Colonel chairman of the Amur military government for being responsible for the massacre.  There was an investigation looking into atrocities committed elsewhere in the Amur region. It was found out in the village of Poirkovkaia, 85 Chinese including a Qing colonel were arrested and the chief of police at Blagoveshchensk telegram the police over there “send Chinese river or annihilate if they resist”. When the police replied whether they were to drown the Chinese or just let them cross the river the chief replied on July 20th “one must be crazy and foolish to ask what to do with the Chinese. When one is told to do away with them, one should do so without deliberation. The Chinese colonel is not to be kept in a separate place, but in a cell on the same level as the others. Everything in his possession should be taken away. All my orders are to be executed without any evasion; do not act willfully or bother me with nonsense.” The chief would then sent a circular telegram out to all his subordinates stating “annihilate Chinese appearing on our side, without asking for instructions”. The police force at the village testified they provided boats to the Chinese, but that Cossacks who were providing escort had fired upon them and killed most of them. At the village of Albazinskaia it was reported that 100 Chinese were peacefully boated across the river when they saw the telegrams. At the village of Pokrovka, the local forces asked for confirmation of the telegram orders from General Gribskii, who ordered on July 20th “that it be impressed on the local Russian authorities that Russia's struggle was with armed Chinese, who engaged in hostilities against them. Peaceful, harmless Chinese, particularly unarmed ones, are not to be harmed in any war. To save their lives, they are to be sent to their side on boats or steamers”. Upon hearing this, the police chief of Blagoveshchensk suddenly reversed his telegram orders and now stated that peaceful Chinese must not be molested.  In the end, the investigation found no real steps were taken by the Russian government to punish the guilty. General Gribskii was relieve of his duties, but in consideration of his otherwise perfect record, he was not dismissed from the service. The chief of police was dismissed from his position and other culprits of the ordering of atrocities were discharged dishonorably, but all subordinates who performed the murders were freed of the responsibility. In the public eyes, Gribskii and the others were disgraced. The topic of the massacre on the Amur was one the Russians would continue to avoid. Not all the villages in the region treated the Manchu poorly. At Dzhalinda, Markova and Ignashina, where boats were available, they safely moved the Chinese across. At Stretenskaia station Chinese residents were not molested. But certainly at Blagoveshchensk it saw the very worst horrors.  The gunfire across the Amur gradually ceased, the Russian population on their side of the border were relieved many of the Chinese had crossed to the other side. The Russian residents of Blagoveshchensk began returning to their homes. However the lull was a deception. During the night thousands of Chinese crossed the Amur river between Aigun and military post no 1 near the mouth of the Zeia. They got over undetected and were within 1400 feet of the military post, guarded by a handful of soldiers with some militiamen, around 400 men strong in all. At dawn on July 18th the Chinese opened fire at the militiamen. The men of the military post fired back, but made a withdrawal over to Blagoveshchensk. The Chinese followed quickly towards a part of the Zeia. Fortunately for the fleeing Russians a steamer was coming that way carrying a large number of Cossack troops who immediately landed and began to face the Chinese. One of the Chinese detachments tried to flee across the Amur and was wiped out. Rumors spread in Blagoveshchensk that the Manchu were trying to get around the city from the rear, and this caused a panic. The situation was critical, the few military troops in the area were moving back and forth between Blagoveshchensk and Aigun exhausting themselves. If the Chinese had seriously tried to invade, they would have easily overwhelmed the Russians settlements, but they didn't. It could perhaps be due to simply fear or poor strategy, but the Chinese never took advantage of the situation. Russian artillery, vastly outnumbered, tried to reply to the Qing artillery. One night when the Chinese fire was slack, 150 Russians crossed the Amur to prod the Chinese positions leading to a minor skirmish.  On July 19th, the Chinese tried to cross the Amur in two places, but were repulsed. The Qing gunfire continued to pound Blagoveshchensk and harass the Russian forces who were slowly being reinforced by men coming over from Khabarovsk. The Russians gradually were crossing the Amur to harass and cease Qing held outposts. Between July 19-21st, many smaller Chinese settlements on the Russian side of the Amur beyond the Zeia were plundered and destroyed. On the 22nd the Sungari made its way to the city dropping off large quantities of ammunition and guns from Khabarovsk. 380 rifles were then brought via horseback from Poiarkova and 700 new recruits were landed by the steamer Chikoi. The bombardment of Blagoveshchensk continued sporadically, but the Chinese were losing morale and disertions were increasing. On the 27th the steamer Selenga performed a reconnaissance of the enemy fortifications at Sakhalian as the Chinese fired wildly upon it. Selenga bombarded the enemy entrenchments and on the night of the 29th landed a detachment of Cossacks. General Gribskii estimated the Chinese had around 18,000 men and 45 artillery pieces in the Aigun-Blagoveshchensk region. By the end of the month the Chinese opportunity to take the city had passed, now the Russians were pouring their troops between Aigun and Blagoveshchensk, pressing the war upon the Chinese side. The Russians planned to attack Sakhalian and Aigun on the night of August 1st. In overall command were Major General Subotich and Captain Zapol'skii. The plan called for Colonel Pechenkin and Lt Colonel Ladyzhenskii to take the 4th and 5th Sotnias of the Amur Cossack regiment and 1st Sotnia of the Nervchinsk Cossack Regiment over the Amur just above Verkhne-lagoveshchensk. They would perform reconnaissance and take up an assembly position on the right flank. Colonel Frimann with 4 companies of the 2nd East Siberian Line battery, 8 guns of the 2nd east Sierian artillery brigade and half a sotnia of Amur Cossack regiment across from Verkhne-Blagoveshchensk. Frimann would be followed up by Colonel Shverin with 3 companies of the Chita Reserve regiment, 3 companies of the Stretensk reserve regiment, 8 guns of the 1st battalion of the Transbaikal artillery division and half a sotnia of the Amur Cossack regiment. Lt Colonel Poliakov would cross with the compositie reserve battalion of 5 companies. The steamer Aigun and the barge Kalifornia alongside 52 smaller vessels would convey the troops.  The Chinese artillery fired upon the steamers Selenga, Grazhdanin, Mikhail and Sungari who were going up and down the Amur trying to deflect enemy attention from the invasion. The Chinese expected a landing near the No 1 military post and placed their units accordingly. Where the Russians would actually land had a very small number of Chinese defenders. The Russians encountered little resistance landing and by the time the Chinese advanced to the landing site from the direction of Sakhalian, the Russians had already occupied strategic positions. The Russians bombarded the coastal entrenchments from the flank, driving the Chinese to abandon them. By 7:30am the Russians advanced against the incoming Chinese. At first the Chinese were withdrawing orderly, continuing to fire back, but by noon they began to route and fled for the mountains towards the road to Aigun. A major blunder on the side of the Chinese was continuing to use their artillery on the Russian steamers rather than hitting the advancing troops. The Chinese believed the steamers were carrying the invasion force and were duped.  Sakhalian was being evacuated without a fight, Cossack raiders would enter the city putting everything to the torch leaving just a few buildings standing. By 6pm when the Russian infantry reached Sakhalian, the Manchu town ceased to exist. While Sakhalin was being taken, the military transports and reserve of Major General Aleksandrov were ferried across the Amur and the Chinese were regrouping at Aigun. The Chinese dug into the mountains building up fortifications. When the Russians prodded their defenses on August 3rd, the Chinese fire was heavy upon them. However when the Chinese tried to follow up their successes, the Russians flanked them forcing them back to their entrenchments. The Russian Cossack cavalry made wild charges followed up with bayonet charges overrunning the Chinese positions. Most of the Chinese fled south for other mountain spurs in the direction of Tstsihar. Many of the units were scattered unable to provide much resistance. Around 200 Chinese were killed in the mountains while the Russians reported 5 deaths and 24 wounded. At 2pm on August 4th, the Russians resumed their offensive against Aigun, expecting a fierce resistance as it was an important commercial town. The main defensive entrenchments between the mountains and Aigun had to be taken one by one. For 5 hours the Russians advanced under Chinese fire, but their losses were light. The Chinese attempted a counter attack in the mountains, but were met with harsh artillery fire forcing them back by 7pm. Once in range Russian artillery began smashing Aigun. Fotengauer guns were setting the town ablaze while 400 Chinese infantrymen valiantly fought on the open field to their death to try and stop them. The Chinese were forced to abandon Aigun during the night. The following day the Russians moved in fighting house to house against the stubborn towns defenders who did not flee. In Aigun the Russians ceased cannons, machine guns and ammunition. Meanwhile Rennenkampf's Cossack pursued the fleeing Chinese from village to village fighting skirmishes. Between August 7th to the 9th, Chinese rear guards, roughly 800 men with 300 cavalry, tried to fight the Cossacks off. On August the 10th the Chinese rallied to make a stand at the Hsing-an mountains. Rennenkampfs force of around four and half sotnia's and 2 cavalry guns ran right into 4000 Chinese infantry and another 4000 Manchu Cavalry supported by 12 guns. The Cossacks galloped beyond the Chinese positions causing an onslaught that devolved into a struggle for survival for all. Cossacks slashed wildly as Chinese fired at point blank range. Artillery blasted the area causing carnage. The Chinese eventually were dislodged, but Rennenkampf had to wait for reinforcements to do so. It was on August 16th the Russians stormed the Chinese positions and on the 17th the Hsing-an pass was taken. Rennenkampt received a report the Chinese had fled to Tsitsihar and so he carried on for it. Tsitsihar was the capital of Heilungchiang province and on August 20th as Rennekampf's cavalry approached 45 miles from it a flag of truce bearer sent by General Shou Shan, the Manchu General of the province proposed armistice. Rennekmapt rejected the offer and pushed forward. On August 18th Rennekampf took the city with 460 Cossacks while one of his units secured the ford across the Nonni river. The Chinese offered light resistance, General Shou Shan had poisoned himself. Rennenkampfs forces entered the city on August 29th captured 31 guns, it was an incredible set of victories. From this point Lt General Gribskii made a official proclamation to the Chinese of Manchuria telling them they had started the war by attacking Blagoveshchensk and now Russian held Aigun and countless towns in the region. Soon they would come to all of their villages and if they did not shoot at them, no harm will come to them. He said the Russians only wanted to peacefully build railroads and everyone would be left in peace to tend to their fields as was before. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The horrible massacre that occurred along the Amur river is a sore spot to this very day between Russia and China. What began as a rather small conflict quickly unfolded into a full blown Russian invasion of the Manchu homeland.

Last time we spoke about the 8 nation alliances occupation of Beijing, the flight of the royal family and the Boxer Protocol. You would think after taking the city, everything was won and done, but not necessarily. Empress Dowager Cixi with her faithful guardian Dong Fuxiang fled to the northwest of China. Meanwhile Peitang waited longer than most for their rescue, enduring an unbelievable amount of hardship during their siege. Poor Li Hongzhang was forced to endure another humiliation on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, negotiating peace with the western powers. The indemnity payments would last until world war two for China. Empress Dowager Cixi escaped any punishment, while other officials literally lost their heads. In a grandeur fashion, the empress returned to Beijing, performing a large spectacle. It was intentional and brilliant PR work. Things were going to dramatically change for China.   #68 The Russo-Chinese War Part 1: Manchuria rises up   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. As we have seen, as of June 1900 the eyes of the world were focused on Beijing. The foreign diplomats of numerous nations were under siege by the fanatical Boxers and Qing forces such as the Kansu army. The Boxer Rebellion as a whole is captured by this focus, go find any book on it, there are many. What you often come across, is the mention of Russian forces somewhat to the distance in Manchuria. Typically if anything is said at all, you get a few paragraphs stating when the escalations began, the Russians invaded Manchuria. Invaded Manchuria, that sounds like a hell of a story no? Its simply overshadowed by the events that played out around Beijing, but an entire other war really sprang up in Manchuria. The event is virtually unknown to the west. When the Boxers sprang up and expeditions emerged, the two closest powers were Japan and Russia and as we have seen when it came to the march upon Beijing, the Japanese sort of took the lionshare. Yet Russia was the most capable to rush troops to the scene, given her work on the Manchurian railways.  The Boxer Rebellion was a bit awkward for Russia. Yes Russia took up the side of the western forces and joined the 8 nation alliance. However, her views on what exactly the Boxer Rebellion was, differed from the rest. Russia felt the Boxer movement was not directed against her, but rather at the Manchu dynasty. Russia in many ways intervened to save the Manchu dynasty from a full blown revolution. She saw the symptoms of the revolutionaries as a result of western economic and missionary encroachment in China. The Chinese often referred to westerners as “ocean devils”. The Russians did not come from the sea, they shared a vast border with the Chinese. Russia and China had a special relationship unlike the rest, one that had been going on for centuries. Russia typically acted with greater restraint and often spoke of Russo-Chinese friendship. But don't get me wrong. Like Britain, Germany, France, Japan, etc, Russian was most definitely taking advantage of a weakened Qing dynasty, she certainly encroached, specifically in Manchuria. Their border was one of the longest frontiers in the world. Siberia was underpopulated and exposed to Chinese infiltration. A buffer zone existed in Manchuria and Mongolia.  The trans-siberian railway's construction began in 1891 for strategic and economic reasons. It was to be the worlds longest railroad, initially thought to wind along the Amur River up to Khabarovsk then south to Vladivostok. But the terrain proved hellish, the route too circuitous, thus a shortcut through Manchuria was strongly advised. In 1896 Russia obtained concessions from the Qing to begin construction of a station on the Trans Baikal section of the Siberian railway. Following her lease of Part Arthur and Dalien, Russian then sought to connect a new railway line to the main line of what would be called the Manchurian railway. Construction began from both ends simultaneously at a pace of 1.75 miles per day. Vladivostok and Port Arthur were linked up by July of 1900. It would not be too long until the Trans-Siberian railway and the Chinese eastern railway would bridge the land mass from the Baltic sea to the Pacific Ocean, giving the Russian empire an unbelievable toehold in the Asia-Pacific.  The line passing through Manchuria was under the control of a private corporation, the Chinese eastern railway company. The majority stakeholder was Russian, but there were also Qing investments. Now the protection of the railway, its workers and other infrastructure was not going to be defended by standard Russian troops. Instead the company hired special military forces. The engineers were nearly all Russian, the laborers, 100,000 or so, were Chinese coolies. The project was done in collaboration between the two empires, it heavily depended on China. If the Qing were to, let's say, pull back the laborers, the construction efforts would stop dead. Worse, what if the Chinese began sabotaging the construction? Well both of these things began in 1900.  A railway guard named Konstantin Kushakov had been in southern Manchuria for two and a half years. He witnessed the shooting of a Russian captain and two Cossacks by Qing soldiers in April 1900. In May at the small city of Hsiungyuehcheng, placards were erected stating the local populace should help exterminate the foreigners. The Boxer movement was hitting Manchuria. Locals told Konstantin not to be alarmed and the Qing commanders stated the placards were just the work of youthful pranksters. Then one evening, Konstantin saw Chinese wearing yellow sashes and headbands speaking through interpreters to Russian commanders. When Konstantin approached for a closer look the Chinese had their lips, cheeks and eyebrows painted, one of them was doing bizarre gymnastic exercises and shouting furiously. A nearby Cossack remarked “that has to be a Boxer”. One of the interpreters stated that was not true, there were no Boxers in this part of China. The next morning, more Boxer youths emerged doing gymnastics in the open, then the local merchants began to quickly sell whatever arms they had in stock and blacksmiths began forging knives, swords and spears. Sabotage work began to occur. Russian telegraph lines were being repeatedly cut, attempts were made to derail trains by lifting up rails or pilling up stuff on tracks. It seemed to all the Russian-Chinese cooperation was falling apart. Countless interpreters, servants, laborers quit their jobs. Russian supervisors and foremen who were notoriously cruel to their Chinese workers, no longer lashed out at them, instead they walked around armed to the teeth. The Russians also noticed an increased in Qing soldiers, many of whom were not recognized from the area. But the Russian commanders believed the Chinese were a submissive and inoffensive people, so they took all these signs with a grain of salt. The situation became worse, more railway guards were needed, but as you can imagine, Manchuria is an enormous place. Konstantin had roughly 240 men to guard a sector of around 172 miles. Thus to strengthen one post would weaken another. There were troops in the Kwantung region on the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula guarding Port Arthur and Dalien. Colonel Mishchenko, commander of the railway guards along the Port Arthur Line requested further troops from Vice Admiral Evgenii Alekseev the commander in chief of the Russian land forces in the Kwantung region and naval forces for the far east. He was denied, because Chief Engineer Iugovich stated on July 2nd that the Chinese were peaceful and wanted to continue the joint project. There was also the belief, if they sent more troops the Qing would be more inclined to the Boxer cause. On May 23rd, a mob attacked 3 Cossacks that Konstantin had sent to purchase supplies for a kitchen, the men escaped having to saber down a few Chinese. The populace was in an uproar, the Qing commander at Hsiungyeuhcheng demanded Russian troops be barred from the city. In June Boxers were out in the open screaming for violence against the foreigners. Many Qing officials refused to collaborate with the Boxers and were run out of towns. Boxers were taking control over large areas and recruiting a militia. The Boxers began to assemble around Mukden. On July 2nd, Mishchenko telegraphed Konstantin that the northern outposts were in serious danger and ordered him to rush over to Liaoyang with all the guards that could be spared from southern outposts. A detachment of 56 soldiers and 20 cavalrymen was raised. Konstantin tried to use a locomotive, but the Qing switchman sabotage it. Soon Konstantin heard word Qing detachments and Boxers were sabotaging multiple railway stations, outposts were under attack. Konstantin ordered all construction efforts to cease and for all Russians to prepare themselves at posts for attacks. He promised the men reinforcements would soon arrive from the south, many replied they didn't need the help to face off against “Boxer riff-raff, whom we would soon teach how to fight”. Konstantin worried not for the outposts with 15-20 men, but some only had a handful of guards. He recalled “I kept thinking, what will they die for? It is too dear a sacrifice to the stubbornness of 3, 4 high railway agents. To die for the Tsar, to die for the glory of the fatherland, that is an enviable death; but to let honorable and selfless soldiers perish for the sake of stubbornness or mistake would be regrettable indeed”. He ordered the smallest outposts to be abandoned, and for the men to rush to the nearest larger outpost.  The Russians saw multiple villages emptied of women and children, railway lines likewise were abandoned. Konstantin arrived to Liaoyang with 76 men on July 3rd, he quickly made way to the nearby village of Baitouzi where the 2nd company headquarters and Mishchenko were. Konstantin was informed hostilities had begun in the region. On June 27th, a railroad bridge and barracks near Liaoyang were razed to the ground, the men there chased off by gunfire from local Qing forces. Two Cossacks and their horses were killed, the telegraph lines were being damaged constantly, coal mines were attacked, Mishchenko bitterly complained that Port Arthur refused to send reinforcements and instead berated them for their lack of cooperation with the Qing. Suddenly a Cossack messenger arrived to the HQ reporting 400 Qing soldiers with 100 cavalrymen and mountain guns were engaging a forces of 50 Cossacks, casualties were already mounting. Mishchenko immediately took 56 railway guards of the 6th company under Konstantin and 25 men of the 2nd company led by Shchekin to go save the force.  They arrived at the scene of a battle, the Qing were moving around the Russian's eastern side trying to cut them off from Liaoyang. The Qing were trying to push the Russians towards their main force, over 3000 men strong who were advancing upon Mukden. Konstantin jumped off the train with his men to hit the right flank of the enemy, but the Qing diverted over to a local village to better prepare defenses against them. The Russian lines advanced quickly and once they were 300 paces from the enemy, Shchekin and his men took the train directly to the village, leapt off and charged with bayonets fixed. The men screamed “ura!” as they stormed the Qing who fell into a rout quickly galloping towards Mukden. Many Chinese were killed in hand to hand combat, volleys also took lives as they fled. The Russians reported 200 dead while receiving 4 deaths and 5 wounded in return. The victorious Russians returned by train to Liaoyang, reflecting on how the situation had changed. A force of nearly 3000 regular Qing soldiers were most definitely in league with the Boxers. They had even brought artillery, they would most likely hit Mukden soon where they could join possibly 10 newly formed Qing battalions. What were the Russians to do in the face of such numbers? On the way back to Liaoyang, Boxers were seen burning bridges over the Sha river, 12 miles south of the city. Russians rushed over to put out the fires and sent patrols to hunt down Boxers, but found none. As they approached Liaoyang station, the Chinese switchmen sabotaged the rails and fled. Engineer Girschman, the chief of railway construction for the southern section that passed through Liaoyang was ordered by Mishchenko to inform Port Arthur of the recent clashes and to again request reinforcements. Girschman still thought there was no cause for alarm, he asserted over 5000 taels had been given to the local Manchu General in charge of Liaoyang who promised they were safe to work. Thus Girschman ordered railway employees back to work. Girshman's train was to be the last train from Liaoyong as on July 6th the bridge south of the station was destroyed. Liaoyang was cut off. Girshman was left behind with 104 civilian employees and their families. The Qing offered Mishchenko free passage for all Russians, but he refused to leave Liaoyang. Instead he ordered Shtabs-kapitan Sakharov with the 3rd Sotnia to join up with him and demand of Port Arthur more reinforcements. He dispatched Cossacks to the various northern posts to spread word of what was going on and if they could run to him, or Harbin.  Mishchenko decided to fortify a wooden, iron roofed isolated barracks near Baitouzi. His men numbered 204, exhausted from endless patrolling of a vast region. They were enclosed by a 7 foot earth wall, which the Russians with Chinese labor help, added breastworks. Their shelter was an ice house, where the families were taking cover. Meanwhile the Qing forces were digging their own trenches on nearby hills to the north, east and south. The Russians could see them working, multiple Qing scouts came over to look at what the Russian were doing. Chinese were torching all buildings the Russians had previously utilized in the villages around Liaoyang. Any Russians caught at isolated posts were tortured, many beheaded. Barracks, stations, railway lines, coal mines all were burnt down. Mishchenko was livid that Port Arthur was not sending more men. He was unable to hold on indefinitely and could not hope to cut his way through, he had nowhere to turn. His Cossack scouts reported on July 6th, in all directions Qing forces were seen erecting barricades, moving artillery and fortifying. From Liaoyang the Chinese began taking potshots at the Russians, but they were too far away to hit anything. The Chinese were not advancing, too busy plundering what was left behind at Baitouzi. Firecrackers and celebrations could be heard, as Qing troops arrived from Mukden. Konstantin was talking to an interpreter on July 6th who told him he heard rumors the Chinese would attack the next morning. The next morning began with an artillery bombardment. Mishchenko watched using binoculars from a breastwork and proclaimed ‘they have begun their advance. Forbid the men to shoot needlessly. Instead, begin to fire platoon volleys at those cannons there. They have already adjusted their fire well, and must be silenced”. Suddenly grenades were lobbed into the inner courtyard, one ripped open the stomach of a horse and wounded some men. Rifle fire was cracking from Baitouzi and nearby hills. Konstantin was commanding the southern defenses, Shchekin and Sotnik Mamonov the east, Denisov the north, Mishchenko held overall command. The Russians remained calm, taking orders for targets. Mishchenko walked the perimeter encouraging men, he never was killed twice by rifle fire and grenades. Konstantin directed guns at the Qing artillery. It took a dozen or so volleys to get the Qing to move their positions. Suddenly a private yelled ‘Sir! The Chinese are crawling already from the railway embankment nearby!”. The Chinese were nearly 400 paces, Mishchenko ordered volleys and the well-aimed rapid fire drove them back. At 10am, the Chinese were advancing on foot and upon horse using large carts to cover themselves from fire. The Qing hit the Russian right flank hard, killing a few, wounding many. The Qing artillery was performing something akin to a creeping barrage, and soon the Qing riflemen were crawling towards the Russian lines. When the Chinese appeared, the Russians opened fire. The defensive lines were small, around 350 square feet. Blood, corpses and body parts littered the area.  The Qing launched several consecutive attacks, but the Russians gutted their offensives. Suffering heavy casualties the Qing were cautious in their approaches until they withdrew from Baitouzi to Liaoyang. They had no idea the Russians were on the brink of collapse. Russian munitions had shrunk to 20 cartridges per a man, the men were exhausted, men were literally falling asleep as the battles began. The Russian positions at Baitouzi was critical, they could not survive another attack, there was zero indication Port Arthur was sending help, thus Mishchenko called for a meeting of all commanders. They decided their only hope was to fight their way south towards the Kuan Cossack Sotnia of Shtabs-Kapitan Strakhov, who at that time was battling their way towards them. That night they buried 9 men before abandoning countless costly railway equipment, a ton of silver taels which were dumped into a local well and other personal belongings.  Upon seeing the activity the Qing began another attack. The Russians threw up volleys dangerously as they had only so much ammunition left. Their bayonets were fixed at all times. Instead of waiting for a Chinese wave to close in on them, Mishchenko ordered a feint attack. The 2nd company of Malinov and Shchekin charged screaming hurrahs at the Chinese. This was a brilliant move for it saved them all. The Qing fled back to Liaoyang to defend the city allowing the Russians to quickly move south. Konstantin led the vanguard, the civilians were in a panic, countless Cossacks got off their horses and gave them to women, children and wounded. It was a grueling trek as they marched 2 miles west of the railroad trying to avoid detection. Only twice were shots made upon them, but they did not respond and simply carried on quicker. On July 8th they reached the Sha River to see its bridge, the Russian barracks and other buildings over at Shahotzu had been burned down. There were Chinese corpses and expelled shell casings indicated a battle had occurred. It would turn out to be the work of a local guard post of 12 Russians, they were besieged by roughly 200 Chinese. They locked themselves in their stone walled barracks, kept the enemy at bay until their ammunition ran out. Then Boxers came and began burning the doors and windows. Miraculously a train came nearby and began firing upon the position shrilling its whistle. The Russians stormed out with bayonets, attacked the Chinese and fled for the train to escape to Anshanchan. Back over at the Sha River area, the Russians saw Strakhov with 70 Kuban Cossacks of his 3rd Sotnia alongside 40 infantry of the 2nd company coming forward. They had fought their way from Yingkou to Liaoyang station only to find Mishchenko's party gone. They had missed each other en route because Strakhov had followed the railroad tracks. Strakhov reported seeing the Qing plundering the Russian barracks, some local christian Chinese told Strakhov that Mishchenko and the rest fled south, so he came looking for them. Their numbers were thus bolstered to 307 railway guards and 102 civilians, some of whom were armed and would have to fight. Mishchenko's force continued along the railway to Anshanchan to find its bridge and pump house had been destroyed. However the telegraph line and railway to Port Arthur was still intact from Anshanchan. He dispatched an officer to Port Arthur to give a detailed report of the situation and to purchase more ammunition. Meanwhile the wounded and civilians were escorted to Tashishciao where Colonel Dombrovskii had a detachment of men. On July 11th, another 100 men from the southern railway posts led by Poruchiks Gulevich and Rozhalin joined Mishchenko to bolster him to 450 men. Now Mishchenko was prepared to play the role of a forward detachment and execute army orders. However Port Arthur  was not recognize Mishcheckno's detachment as a regular army force, and thus would not supply him with artillery or additional troops for any offensive actions. Instead Port Arthur ordered him to withdraw to Tashishciao within army protection. The next day native Chinese sympathizers reported to Mishchenko that 200 Qing troops were approaching, they were a patrol for a much larger army. Soon Russian scouts were reporting that several hundred Chinese were approaching. The Russians had no provisions, nor tents, thus a siege was not going to favor them. They soon found out from the chief of Haicheng station that over 2000 Qing soldiers had threatened his station and the railway line there. It seemed senseless to hold out at Anshanchan, better to rush over to Haicheng to save it from the fate befalling other stations. At 7pm when they were just about to depart, Cossack scouts rode up reporting that a large Qing detachment with artillery were near the eastern heights and had engaged some of their patrols. Mischchenko dispatched Rozhalin with a half sotnia to the eastern heights to distract the enemy attention away from their departure.  Dawn the next day the Russians made it to Haicheng station. Friendly locals urged Mishchenk to avoid Haicheng because a large Qing force was present, but he was confident in his force after their string of victories. Mishchenko requested aid from the 7th company of the 7th east siberian rifle regiment led by Dombrovskii. Dombrovskii sent them via train from Tashihciao and they arrived an hour after Mishchenko. The western heights near Haicheng was occupied the Qing troops who had to be cleared out if the trains were to come closer to Haicheng. The Russians took cover behind the railway embankment and began advancing up the height shooting from ridges as they did. The Russians eventually began to charge hitting the Qing right flank, sending them scattering. Cossack cavalry ran many down before being called back to protect against a possible assault from the city. The Russians placed 4 artillery pieces on the height and dug in, they now held a good overlooking view of the city. At 9am on the 14th, Dombrovskii came over with an additional company of his regiment and a half battery. The company was led by Captain Ivanov, the artillery by Shtabs Kapitan Petrenko and COlonel Nikolai Desenko held overall command of the whole detachment. Mishchenko sent word to the civilians in Haicheng to warn them a battle was soon to take place. But before the Russians could launch their assault, Qing forces stormed out of the city to hit their flanks. The 7th company, 7th regiment stayed to defend the artillery while company of the 11th regiment took the right flank, the 2nd and 6th companies took the left. Russian volleys and artillery rained hell on the incoming Qing. Petrenko led an excellent bombardment, spraying shrapnel across the Qing formations. Soon the artillery began to bombard Haicheng as the Qing rushed out of its east gate heading for nearby hills. Haicheng fell to the Russians mercy quickly, but Dombrovskii gave strict orders not to go on the offensive, the Russians did not press into the city.  The half battery and company of the 11th regiment departed via train back to Tashihciao, half an hour later the company of the 7th regiment began loading upon another train. When the Qing troops saw this they began swooping down the hills, and set fire to the train station buildings, the pump house and railway bridge. The Qing cavalry even attempted attacking the locomotive carts, but Russian volleys kept them away. Slowly the trains moved south, with Cossacks patrolling their flanks. When they were around 6 miles from Tashihciao, Chinese militia forces and Boxers with antiquated rifles attacked the trains. Russians leapt off the carts and took cover while returning fire. Rozhalin led his Kuban Cossack squadron to run down the enemy killing many. By 8pm Mishchenko and his men reached Tashihciao. At Tashihciao was the south Manchurian detachment consisting of a regiment, a company, a Cossack sotnia and field battery there; there was also another unit from Hsiungyuehcheng consisting of 3 rifle regiments with some stronger batteries from Port Arthur, 86 fortress guns at Jinzhou and some men of a Cossack regiment were patrolling the railway line. This was all of course welcomed, but Mishchenko was still livid to learn no additional troops nor ammunition had departed Port Arthur to help them. 170 miles of railroad north of Tashihciao was in the hands of the Qing, who continuously argued there was no conflict and no destruction of railways was taking place. Konstantin estimated property damage incurred by Russia at this point amounted to some 18 million rubles on the southern line alone. Mishchenko had lost 62 men dead, 53 wounded, 12 missing in action.  Over in province of Fentien, was a Manchu General who was very much against the Boxer cause. He was well educated, and realized China did not at the time wield the necessary power to drive out the foreigners and the Boxer's and their supporters were adding to China's plight. He was zealous persecuting the Boxers in his province, many were arrested, many executed. He then decided he was going to expose their professed invulnerability spells in front of his people. He gathered 400 arrested Boxers and proclaimed a large execution would take place. The Boxers would be killed by firing squad, obviously to showcase how their spell would not work against the bullets. He entrusted the execution operation to a General in the army, unbeknownst to him, there were many Boxers within his army and the General was one of them. The General secretly removed the bullets from the cartridges for the firing squad weapons. Thus at the appointed time the crowds gathered alongside the military governor to watch several volleys fail to kill the Boxers. The Manchu General in fury ever ran up, grabbed a rifle and fired 6 times doing no harm to the boxers. The Boxers stood and bowed politely to the crowd. People began to cheer them on. The Manchu General kept up his anti-boxer campaigns, but the public was dissatisfied with them and his own military was becoming quite insubordinate. The Manchu General reported to Beijing his plight before handing over control to local forces, walking away from his duty.  The railway station located about 10 miles from Mukden was guarded by the 2nd Transcaspian rifle battalion of Poruchik Valevskii. Valevskii received a report on July 5th, the Qing forces were gathering artillery and digging in near his station. He ordered neighboring outposts to join hi mat once and the next day the Qing unleashed an artillery bombardment upon his barracks. The Russians estimated the Qing had 3000 infantry and 5000 cavalry. The Russians trapped in the barracks watched as they fired on the enemy as they cut the telegraph lines and burned bridges and buildings around them. At 1am 14 Russians from a neighboring outpost came rushing in from the north fighting their way to the barracks. The Russians received word from Chinese christians that all the outposts were under attack. Valevskii gathered all the troops and civilians and made a dash over to the Mukden station to find Qing forces plundering it. From there they fled south to the station of Su-chia-tun only to find it burned down, with Russian corpses littering the area. Next Valevskii led them to Yentai station where they ran into Qing forces coming over from Liaoyang. They defeated the Qing forces in two engagements and made their way to Liaoyang.  By this point, Valevskii was trying to reconnoiter the enemy positions and find Colonel Mishchenko who had given out orders for all forces in the region to come to him. From a captured Qing soldiers they learnt Mishchenko's detachment had fled the area and was being pursued. The railway lines appeared to be destroyed, there was no aid coming from Port Arthur. Valevskii announced they would turn eastward to try to get to Yingkou where perhaps Russian ships could get them to somewhere safe. They traveled east along the Taitzu river, running into small Qing forces along the way. Valevskii was hit with a rifle bullet to the chest. Pilipenko took over command and announced they would proceed to Korea for safety. It was a long and arduous journey, they lost many civilians and soldiers. Their story was to be one of many, Manchuria was falling into chaos.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Boxer Rebellion had spread to Manchuria. Railway station, barracks, anything foreign was being destroyed, countless isolated Russian pockets were now under threat, not just by the Boxers, but by a angry and vengeful Manchu populace. 

On this episode, Lera and Cullan chat with Tatiana Tkacheva, a research fellow at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, about the strategies of the autocrat in dealing with regional governors. In her paper, she and her co-authors attempt to answer this question by using the example of premature withdrawals and dismissals of Russia's regional governors from office. Tatiana also talks about her previous publications about the United Russia (UR) party and their declining popularity in Russia. Thanks for listening! PRODUCER'S NOTE: If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email slavxradio@utexas.edu and we will be in touch! We are conducting a talent search and are now auditioning university students (graduate level preferred) for all team positions, but especially to be show hosts. Please be in touch if you would like to become a part of the SlavX team. This episode was recorded on November 10th, 2022 in Chicago at the ASEEES 2022 Convention. CREDITS Host/Associate Producer: Lera Toropin (@earlportion) Host/Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig (@cullanwithana) Assistant Producer: Taylor Ham Assistant Producer: Sergio Glajar Assistant Producer: Misha Simanovskyy (@MSimanovskyy) Social Media Manager: Eliza Fisher Supervising Producer: Katherine Birch Recording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel Music Producer: Charlie Harper (@charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Beat Mekanik, Broke For Free, Joey Hendrixx, Polkavant) Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (@MSDaniel) www.msdaniel.com DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin. https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/9/9a59b135-7876-4254-b600-3839b3aa3ab1/P1EKcswq.png Special Guest: Tatiana Tkacheva.

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there's a starting point to the relationship between Russia and China, it's likely the 1650s—when Manchu and Cossack forces clash near Khabarovsk, and when Russia sends its first, and unsuccessful, embassy to China. It's an inopportune start to four centuries of trade, diplomacy, imperialism, ideology–and a lot of personal griping between different Russian and Chinese leaders, as charted by Philip Snow's China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord (Yale University Press, 2023) Snow writes of Russian territorial grabs, China's reliance on its northern neighbor for diplomatic support and training, Russia's confused attitude towards Asia—and then the rapid reversal of power and status with the death of Stalin. In this interview, Philip and I talk about the China-Russia relationship, spanning four centuries–and what that history tells us about China and Russia's relations today. Philip Snow has traveled extensively in Russia and China since the 1960s and has lived in Hong Kong since 1994. An expert in China's international relations, he is the author of The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa (Cornell University Press: 1989) and The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (Yale University Press: 2003) You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of China and Russia. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Last time we spoke about the Gapsin Coup. Li Hongzhang snipped the bud of war before it could bloom after the Imo uprising and the Daewongun stole back power in Korea. The Daewongun was spanked and sent into exile yet again, but now Korea had become greatly factionalized. The progressives and conservatives were fighting bitterly to set Korea on a Japanese or Chinese path to modernization. This led radicals like Kim Ok-kyun to perform the Gapsin coup which was terribly planned and failed spectacularly. Japan and China were yet again tossed into a conflict in Korea, but China firmly won the day for she had more forces to bear. Japan licked her wounds and went home, learning a bitter lesson. That lesson was: next time bring more friends to the party.   #48 This episode is the Assasination of Kim Ok-kyun & the Donghak Rebellion   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.   Now despite the Gapsin coup, Japan and China still tried to cooperate against the west. But Japan was learning much from the outside world, particularly by the actions of imperialistic nations. Britain had begun large scale operations in Shanghai, developing the international settlement there. King Leopold of belgium established the Congo Free state of 1862, and likewise France and Britain were also establishing colonies all over Africa. The Dutch held Java, but then they invaded Aceh in Sumatra in 1873 and other parts of Indonesia after that. The Russians were taking large swathes of land including Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, parts of the Sakhalin, even territory close to Korea in the region of Priamur. Once the ports of Wonsan and Inchon were opened up, Japanese manufactured goods began to pour in. By 1893 91 percent of imports into Korea would be from Japan while 8 percent would be from China. While China tried to keep Japan out, the Meiji restoration had created an industrial powerhouse that made goods, and China had not managed this herself. Of Korea, 49 percent went to China and 50 percent went to Japan. In the eyes of Koreans, even though she was not formally a colony of Japan, the way the Japanese were behaving looked imperialistic.  Now in 1886 the Beiyang Fleet was responsible for protecting China's northern coastline and she would make a fateful call to Nagasaki. The purpose of this call was to show off her 4 new modern battleships she had purchased from Germany, the Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Jiyuan and Weiyuan. These ships were far larger than anything Japan had at the time, a large reason because Japan was following the Jeune Ecole naval strategy. This strategy was developed by France basically to combat the British royal navy. It emphasized using small rapid assault craft, cruisers and destroyers to thwart the might of capital ships like battleships. For my fellow world of warship players, the idea was simple, instead of slamming money into large battleships to fight other large battleships, the French began to experiment more with the capability of torpedo technology. With faster, smaller ships, the French thought they could be used more like raiders, to attack the enemy and cripple them. The Jeune ecole doctrine also sought to use strongly armed fast ships, thus its kind of a glass cannon situation. Anyways the implicit message from China was to show Japan how foolish they would be to go to war with her. On August 13th, 500 Chinese sailors took a shore leave in Nagasaki and they went to the local red-light district. As you can imagine, one thing led to another and some altercations began with the locals. The locals claimed the Chinese sailors got drunk and starting causing havoc, regardless the Chinese sailors began fighting some Japanese cops apparently using swords they bought at some stores. One source I found says over 80 people died during this which is pretty nuts. The next day a conference was held by the governor of Nagasaki, Kusaka Yoshio and the Qing consulate Xuan Cai which led to an agreement the Beiyang navy would prohibit their men from going ashore for a day. Then on August 15th at 1pm, 300 Chinese sailors went ashore, some wielding clubs apparently and they attacked 3 police officers killing one. A rickshaw saw the conflict and tried to punch a CHinese sailor, and this all snowballed into a riot. More cops showed up, more fighting, and this led to the deaths of 2 more cops, 3 sailors and more than 50 wounded. It was a real shit show, and the Qing decided not to apologize for the ordeal. In fact the Qing made demands to the Japanese government that from then on Japanese cops would not prohibit Chinese from wielding swords and forced the Japanese to make a large sum of reparation payments.  Now aside from the drunken debauchery, which in the grand scheme of things was not much of a deal, the real deal was the Japanese reaction to the Beiyang fleet. When the Japanese saw the Dingyuan, they basically went 100% in on the Jeune D'ecole doctrine to counter it. They IJN immediately decided to construct 3 large cruisers with firepower identical to the Dingyuan, basically this meant they were making battleship killers. While Japan was aggressively modernizing and pouring a ton of money into their navy by the late 1880s, in China the reconstruction of the summer palace was taking enormous sums of funding. The marble boat pavilion, as I mentioned, was taking funds intended for the Beiyang fleet thanks to empress dowager Cixi and thus no major investments would be made for the Qing navy in the last 1880's and early 1890s. To give more of an idea, 1/10th of the salaries of for civil officials and military officers in Japan was being deducted to add additional funding for the construction of naval ships and purchase of arms, Japan was not messing around. Now something that often goes more unnoticed is Japan's early efforts at gaining intelligence on China. Despite the Sino-Japanese relations falling apart because of the Korea situation, trade between China and Japan was growing in the 1880s. Japanese businessmen expected trade with China to only increase and in preparation for the expansion they began collecting information of Chinese market opportunities. But for those who know a bit about Meiji era Japan, the Zaibatsu driven system meant private business went hand in hand with the government of Japan and this led the Japanese government to ask the businessmen to look at other things in China. What sort of things, military installations, military dockyards, everything military. In 1879 Katsura Taro took a trip to China with 10 Japanese observers to survey Chinese military facilities. He would publish a book describing Chinese military bases, weapons and organization in 1881 and that book would be revised in 1882 and 1889. By the time of 1894, the Japanese military had access to detailed information about China's geography, her economy, her railways, roads, ports, installations, the whole shebang, thanks to Japanese journalists and businessmen. Of course amongst all of these were full blown Japanese spies, but for the most part China did not do enough due diligence to hide its military capabilities. Rather ironically, the Japanese businessmen who opposed military actions and just wanted to help develop China contributed a lot of information that would hurt China. On the other side of the coin, chinese reports about Japan were a complete 180. China's consul general in Nagasaki wrote reports on the ships coming and going within Nagasaki harbor. Alongside him, the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo, Li Shuchang who served from 1881-1884 and 1887-1890 sent some warnings about developments in Korea. Other than those two, Japan attracted virtually no interest from Beijing. Just before the war would break out in 1894, the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo Wang Fengcao, reported to Beijing that the Japanese were so obsessed with internal politics they were unlikely to be active externally. I think its interesting to point out, while Japan was indeed building up its IJA/IJN, she never stopped pointing that gun at Russia. China and Japan right up to the conflict we will be talking about had its tensions, its conflicts, its escalations, but they never gave up the chance at cooperation against the west. Take a legendary figure like Yamagata Aritomo, who led the development of the IJA and was the head of the Japanese privy council. In 1893 he publicly stated Japan should cooperate with China against their main enemies, Russia, France and Britain. Despite all the tensions in Korea, vast amounts of Japanese and Chinese scholars who studied the causes of the first sino-japanese war, came to agree it would not have occurred if not for two key events. The first one is a assassination and the second is a rebellion. In early 1894, Kim Ok-kyun was invited to visit Li Hongzhang in Shanghai. After living nearly a decade in fear of assassination, he accepted the invitation, perhaps believing this was his only chance to reclaim normality in his life. Well unbeknownst to him another Korean acquaintance of his named Hong Jong-u had actually gone to Japan in 1893 trying to hunt him down and he found out about the voyage. A source claims Hong Jong-u was working for King Gojong and went to Japan befriending him, while trying to lure him back over to Shanghai. Regardless Hong Jong-u got aboard and murdered Kim Ok-gyun by shooting him on March the 27th. Hong Jong-u was arrested by British authorities in Shanghai for his crime, but in accordance with their treaty obligations they surrendered the assassin over to Qing authorities for trial. The Qing instead freed him, whereupon he became quite the celebrity for his actions. Hong Jong-u would return to Korea and would be appointed to a high office position, giving credence to the theory he was working for King Gojong the entire time. When Kim Ok-kyun's body arrived to Korea it was shrouded in some cloth bearing the inscription “Ok-kyun, arch rebel and heretic”. On april 14th, King Gojong ordered the body decapitated, so the head could be displayed in Seoul while 8 other body parts would be sent to each of Korea's 8 provinces to be showcased likewise. His severed body parts were showcased in various cities in Korea to display what happens to those who commit treason. Kim Ok'kyun's father was hanged and his brother, wife and daughter were all imprisoned. Under Korean practice at this time it was common practice for the family of the guilty to be punished as well, that's some hardcore stuff there folks. The wife and daughter would become slaves to the governmental offices, a standard punishment for the female household members of rebels. It was during this time one of Kim Ok-kyun's traveling companions, a Chinese linguist for the legation in Tokyo claimed to reporters that Kim Ok-kyun had come to Shanghai by invitation from Lord Li Jingfang, the former minister at Tokyo and adopted son of Li Hongzhang.    The Japanese public was outraged. Japanese newspapers interpreted all of this to mean Viceroy Li Hongzhang had planned the whole thing. It was also alleged Li Hongzhang had sent a congratulatory telegram to the Korean government for the assassination. Many others pointed towards King Gojong since the assassin claimed to be under direct orders from the king. Kim Ok-kyun had been a guest in Japan and the Qing authorities had seemingly done nothing to protect him and made no attempt to bring the assassin to justice. The Qing had likewise handed over the corpse, knowing full well what the Koreans would do to it, as was their custom for treason. From the Japanese point of view, the Qing had gone out of their way to insult the Japanese in every possible manner. From the Chinese point of view, Kim Ok-kyun had committed high treason and deserved his fate.  Fukuzawa Yukichi led a funeral ceremony held in Tokyo at Aoyama Cemetery for Kim Ok-kyun. He had taught the man, and spoke in his honor reflecting Japan's respect for his efforts to modernize Korea. The Japanese press began to fill with public calls for a strong national response. The Chinese reaction during this time period reflected their deep-seated prejudices concerning the Japanese. Even with official communications, the Qing routinely referred to the Japanese as ‘Woren” which is a racist term meaning Japanese Dwarf basically. Wo is the word for dwarf, and the link to the Japanese was a racial term emerged during the times the Japanese were pirating the waters around China's coast, the “wokou”. By the way do not use this word today to refer to Japanese haha. During the upcoming war a Qing official expressed these types of racial attitudes, that this quote for example "It took them 48,000 years before they made contact with China, while in 3,600 years they still have not accepted our celestial calendar...illegitimately assuming the reign title of Meiji (Enlightened Rule), they in reality abandon themselves all the more to debauchery and indolence. Falsely calling their new administration a 'reformation' they only defile themselves so much the more." One Captain William M Lang, a British officer who helped train the Beiyang Squadron of the Qing fleet from 1881 to 1890 had noted this about the Chinese and Japanese. "treated Japan with the utmost contempt, and Japan, for her part, has the same feeling towards China." One German military advisor in China said “The Chinese looked upon Japan as a traitor towards Asia”. Thus before the war broke out, the Chinese for the most part considered the Japanese to be another inferior neighboring people, below the status of a tributary since Japan had severed that link to China. The more tense the situation got between the two nations saw the Chinese viewing the Japanese with more contempt. They would ridicule the Japanese for the communal bathing habits, the attire of their women and the way they imitated western culture. The Japanese as you might guess resented this a lot.  In 1891 Alexander III issued a special imperial rescript announcing Russia's intention to build a trans-siberian railway. From the Japanese point of view, this amounted to a foreign policy manifesto equivalent to the monroe doctrine of the united states. Just as America had kicked out all other powers from the Americas, so to it seemed Russia would do the same with the Asian mainland. For the great Meiji leadership of Japan, it looked like Russia would seize control over Korea and thwart Japan's dreams of empire and the ever coveted status of a great power that came with it. Once the trans-siberian railway was announced the Japanese knew they had roughly a decade to resolve the Korea situation before the balance of power would be irrevocably changed and the door would be shut upon them. Yet as bad as the situation was for Japan it was even worse for China. The trans-siberian railway would allow the Russians to deploy troops along the Chinese border in areas that would prove difficult for the Chinese to do the same as they did not have a major railway. On top of this Japan was pursuing an increasingly aggressive foreign policy focused on the Korean peninsula. Qing strategists had long considered Korea a essential buffer for their defenses. With the Russians pushing from the west and the Japanese from the east, Li Hongzhang was hard pressed to take a more aggressive stance in Korea. Now as I said, two major reasons were attributed to the outbreak of the first sino-japanese war, the first being the assassination of Kim Ok-kyun, the second is known as the Tonghak rebellion. I can't go to far into the rabbit hole, but the Tonghak movement began around 1860 as a sort of religion, emphasizing salvation and providing rituals to achieve this. It was much akin to the Taiping Rebellion, a sect that was deeply upset with a corrupt government. It was formed by a poor member of the Yangban class whose father had been a local village scholar and it was largely created to give hope to the poor class. It had some roman catholicism and western learning associated with it, again very much like the Taiping. The peasantry class of Korea found this sect very appealing and the Tonghak influence was particularly strong in Cholla province, the breadbasket of Korea. Members of the sect were angry that corrupt Joseon officials in Seoul were imposing high taxes on them. The leaders of the sect were all poor peasants who, because of their inability to pay their taxes, had either lost their land or were about to lose their land. Their leader was Choe Jeu who described the founding of the Tonghak religion as such  “By 1860, I heard rumours that the people of the West worship God, and caring not for wealth, conquer the world, building temples and spreading their faith. I was wondering whether I, too, could do such a thing. On an April day, my mind was unnerved and my body trembled... Suddenly a voice could be heard. I rose and asked who he was. "Do not fear nor be scared! The people of the world call me Hanulnim. How do you not know me?" Said Hanul. I asked the reason he had appeared to me. "...I made you in this world so that you could teach my holy word to the people. Do not doubt my word!" Hanulnim replied. "Do you seek to teach the people with Christianity?" I asked again. "No. I have a magical talisman... use this talisman and save the people from disease, and use this book to teach the people to venerate me!" The Joseon Dynasty quickly banned the religion and executed its leader in 1864 for “tricking and lying to the foolish people”.  Regardless the tonghak spread across Gyeongsang province by the 1870's under new leadership. However in the 1870's the rice agriculture in Korea had become increasingly commercialized as Japanese merchants bought more and more of it to ship back to Japan. Korea was not producing enough to meet the needs of its own population as a result. Japanese merchants would begin to lend money to local Korean peasants and when the peasants could not repay the funds, the rice merchants confiscated their land. This obviously was seen as dishonest and exploitative, as it was and the Tonghak gradually became very anti-Japanese. The Tonghaks performed a series of lesser rebellions against excessive taxation. There were revolts in 1885, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1893. By the 1890's the Donhak's began a petition to overturn the 1863 execution of Choe Jeu, to stop the ban on them, to expel all western missionaries and merchants and to kill corrupt officials, a tall order. So yeah King Gojong did not want to give in to such reasonable petitions and told them “go to your home, If you do, I may grant your plea”. A lot of the Tonghak wanted to march on Seoul, and they began threatening westerners and Japanese. Soon a group of over 80,000 Donghak believers led by a southern leader named Jeon Bongjun began marching with flags stating “expel westerners and Japanese”. Now this is a really confusing a large scale event, one of if not the biggest rebellion in Korean history. One thing to focus on though is that a particularly oppressive county magistrate named Jo Byeonggap in Northern Cholla, seemed to have provided the “straw that broke the camel's back”. The magistrate had forced young men to work on a water reservoir and then charged them and their families for use of the water. He overly taxed, fined peasants for dubious crimes including infidelity, lack of harmony, adultery and needless talents, no idea how that last one works out. He also sent spoiled rice sacks to Seoul while keeping unspoiled sacks from himself. Basically this guy was an embezzling scumbag, by today's standards we would refer to him as a member of the US congress.  By march 22nd tens of thousands of Tonghak rebels destroyed the new reservoir, burnt down the governmental offices and some storage facilities in northern Cholla. They then occupied Taein by April 1st, and a few days later Buan. The local Joseon government sent commander Yi Yeonghyo with 700 soldiers and 600 merchants to quell the rebellion only to be lured into an ambush at the Hwangto pass. Many of the troops were killed, some deserted and the Tonghak rebellion spread further north. King Gojong panicked, because news spread the rebels were being joined not only by countryside peasants but by many of his soldiers! Worried that the Joseon military would not be able to quell the rebellion King Gojong called upon his Qing allies to send reinforcements.  Now there are two narratives that come into play. The first involved the Qing responding quickly, on June the 7th following the Tianjin treaty's requirements that if one country sent troops to Korea the other had to be notified, they informed Japan they were sending 2000 troops to Inchon. The Japanese leaders, having bitterly remembered what occurred the last time they sent a smaller force into Korea did not make the same mistake this time. Within just hours of receiving the notification they dispatched 8000 troops to Korea and notified China of this. The other narrative has it that on june 2nd the Japanese cabinet decided to deploy troops to Korea should China do so. On june the 3rd, King Gojong under advice of Empress Min and Yuan Shikai requested the Qing aid. In doing so he gave Japan the rationale to deploy their own troops. On June 5th the first Imperial headquarters was established and the next day the ministeries of the IJA and IJN instructed the Japanese press to not print any information concerning warlike operations. China notified Japan on june th of their deployments, and within hours the Japanese sent their notifications for the same. There is evidence many Japanese leaders accused China of not sending the notification thus breaching the treaty of Tianjin, but it seems highly likely they did send the notification. Regardless what is a fact is that Japan had already been pre planning its deployment during the end of May, thus it all seemed a likely rationale to start a conflict. This conflict would change the balance of power in asia, and begin a feud between two nations that still burns strongly to this very day. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The endless conflicts between China, Japan and little Korea had finally sprung a large scale war, one that would change the balance of power in the east forever. Little brother was going to fight big brother.  

Максим Жук - кандидат филологических наук, доцент, организатор и лектор просветительского проекта "Культурная интервенция", лектор просветительского проекта "Arzamas", выпускник программы Фулбрайта, TEDx-спикер, лауреат премий «Есть за что!» (2013), «Неравнодушный гражданин» (2017), «Лучший лектор страны» (2018), автор и ведущий литературного интернет-ради ЖУК-FM. 14 лет назад он основал образовательный проект "Культурная интервенция". Это публичные лекции Максима, посвященные американской и европейской литературе для его студентов, вольнослушателей, горожан Владивостока, Хабаровска, Москвы, Санкт-Петербурга, Стамбула, Тбилиси, Еревана и других городов. Среднее количество слушателей, посещающих лекции этого проекта, составляет от 50 до 150 человек. В 2018 году он организовал книжную серию, которую назвал «Модернизм от Франца Кафки до Сэмюэля Бэккета». В 2018 году Максим издал первую книгу из этой серии «Путь к Замку, или Курс лекций о Франце Кафке». А в 2019 году вышел его post/роман «Письма для Карла». Maksim Zhuk - PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, organizer and lecturer of the educational project "Cultural Intervention", lecturer of the educational project "Arzamas", Fulbright graduate, TEDx speaker, winner of the "There is a reason!" (2013), "Careful Citizen" (2017), "The Best Lecturer in the Country" (2018), author and host of the literary Internet radio ZhUK-FM. 14 years ago he founded the educational project "Cultural Intervention". These are Maxim's public lectures on American and European literature for his students, volunteers, citizens of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Yerevan and other cities. The average number of students attending the lectures of this project ranges from 50 to 150 people. In 2018, he launched a book series called "Modernism from Franz Kafka to Samuel Beckett". In 2018, Maxim published the first book in this series, The Way to the Castle, or a Course of Lectures on Franz Kafka. And in 2019, his post/novel “Letters for Karl” was released. FIND MAKSIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook | VKontakte | YouTube | Telegram ================================SUPPORT & CONNECT:Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/denofrichTwitter: https://twitter.com/denofrichFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.develman/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/denofrichInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/Hashtag: #denofrich© Copyright 2023 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to PNW Haunts & Homicides on iHeartRadio - https://ihr.fm/3Bfo3UMSubscribe on Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/3Rm0TlsSubscribe Everywhere else - https://bit.ly/3IpHRqlThis week in a special segment, we finally have a clever name for, "Sister City Crime," we're briefly touching on one of Caitlyn's major no-no topics with the case of Sofia Zhukova in one of Portland's sister cities. We're visiting the Russian city Khabarovsk. Some details are far too sadistic and salacious for the show notes, but others, like her missing date of birth, are just wild!If the topic proves to be entirely too upsetting for your stomach, we highly recommend revisiting the Pittock Mansion or Heathman Hotel episodes that have recently been featured by platforms aimed at supporting indie podcast discovery. A big round of applause and many thanks to Feed Drops, the Indie Drop-In Network, & Sitch Radio!This week we shared a promo for Serial Sistaaas!If you're enjoying our podcast, please consider leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. It helps get us seen by more creepy people just like you! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link. Another great way to support the show is by making a one-time donation through BuyMeACoffee.AD Music from Uppbeat License YWG9BPO0I7XYQBBQ. Cover art by Chris & Cassie.Pastebin: for sources. Password: 3Xi4hVxSJ2

Subscribe to PNW Haunts & Homicides on iHeartRadio - https://ihr.fm/3Bfo3UMSubscribe on Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/3Rm0TlsSubscribe Everywhere else - https://bit.ly/3IpHRqlThis week in a special segment, we finally have a clever name for, "Sister City Crime," we're briefly touching on one of Caitlyn's major no-no topics with the case of Sofia Zhukova in one of Portland's sister cities. We're visiting the Russian city Khabarovsk. Some details are far too sadistic and salacious for the show notes, but others, like her missing date of birth, are just wild!If the topic proves to be entirely too upsetting for your stomach, we highly recommend revisiting the Pittock Mansion or Heathman Hotel episodes that have recently been featured by platforms aimed at supporting indie podcast discovery. A big round of applause and many thanks to Feed Drops, the Indie Drop-In Network, & Sitch Radio!This week we shared a promo for Serial Sistaaas!If you're enjoying our podcast, please consider leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. It helps get us seen by more creepy people just like you! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link. Another great way to support the show is by making a one-time donation through BuyMeACoffee.AD Music from Uppbeat License YWG9BPO0I7XYQBBQ. Cover art by Chris & Cassie.Pastebin: for sources. Password: 3Xi4hVxSJ2

Hello Passengers! Thanks for listening! Become a First Class Passenger! Get all of the bonuses, support the show and Save The Music Foundation! www.patreon.com/accidentaldads   Units 731 is a hardcore metal band formed in Pittsburgh, PA, in 2005. The band combines death metal, hardcore, and slam to create a heavy and chaotic sound for which Pittsburgh bands are notable. Influences include Dying Fetus, All Out War, Irate, and Built Upon Frustration. Ok, wait… wrong notes. Um… ok, here it is. The Unit 731 we're here to talk about is short for Manshu Detachment 731. It was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that participated in lethal human experimentation and the production of biological weapons during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. Unit 731 was based in the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Manchukuo's government was dissolved in 1945 after the surrender of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. The territories claimed by Manchukuo were first seized in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 and then formally transferred to the Chinese administration in the following year.  For those of you wondering, "what in the Jim Henson hell is a puppet state," well, according to Wikipedia, a puppet state "is a state that is legally recognized as independent but, in fact, completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders. Puppet states have nominal sovereignty, but a foreign power effectively exercises control through financial interests and economic or military support. The United States also had some puppet states during the Cold War: Cuba (United States), (before 1959) Guatemala (United States), (until 1991) South Korea A.K.A. United States Army Military Government in Korea (United States), (Until 1948) The Republic of Vietnam A.K.A. South Vietnam (United States), (Until 1975) Japan A.K.A. Allied Occupation of Japan (United States), (Until 1952) Some of the most infamous war crimes committed by the Japanese military forces were caused by this Unit. Internally dehumanized and referred to as "logs," humans were regularly used in Unit 731 testing.    Some atrocious experiments included: disease injections, controlled dehydration, hypobaric chamber experiments, biological weapons testing, vivisection, amputation, and weapons testing. Babies, children, and pregnant women were among the victims. Although the victims were from various countries, the majority were Chinese. Additionally, Unit 731 created biological weapons employed in regions of China, including Chinese cities and towns, water supplies, and farms, that were not held by Japanese soldiers.    Up to 500,000 people are thought to have been murdered by Unit 731 and its related activities. It was called "The Kwantung Army's Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department." Unit 731 was first established by the Kenpeitai military police of the Empire of Japan. General Shiro Ishii, a combat medic officer in the Kwantung Army, took control and oversaw the unit until the war's conclusion. Ishii and his crew used the facility, constructed in 1935 to replace the Zhongma Fortress, to increase their capabilities.    Up to the end of the war in 1945, the Japanese government generously supported the initiative. Facilities for the manufacturing, testing, deployment and storage of biological weapons were controlled by Unit 731 and the other units of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. While researchers from Unit 731 detained by Soviet troops were convicted in the Khabarovsk war crime trials in December 1949, those seized by American forces were secretly granted immunity in exchange for the information obtained during their human experimentation.    As if we needed more bullshit to make us question the tactics of the U.S. government, The U.S. quelled the talk of the human experiments and paid the accused of doing it an actual salary. So then, similar to what they did with German researchers during Operation Paperclip, the Americans siphoned and took their knowledge of and expertise with bioweapons for use in their own program for biological warfare. Japan started its biological weapons program in the 1930s, partly because biological weapons were banned by the Geneva Convention of 1925; they reasoned that the ban verified its effectiveness as a weapon.    This begs the question, does this type of government appropriation, paying off and hiring those guilty of explicit acts on humans to use their knowledge to create our own versions of what they committed, considered an act "for the greater good?" Does allowing these turds' immunity to extract their heinous experience worth it?   Japan's occupation of Manchuria began in 1931 after the Japanese invasion. Japan decided to build Unit 731 in Manchuria because the occupation not only gave the Japanese advantage of separating the research station from their island but also gave them access to as many Chinese individuals as they wanted for use as human experimental subjects. They viewed the Chinese as no-cost research subjects and hoped they could use this advantage to lead the world in biological warfare. Most research subjects were Chinese, but many were of different nationalities.    Sound familiar? Maybe a precursor to what a bunch of mind fucked Nazis attempted AND SUCCEEDED IN DOING to so many Jews and Jewish sympathizers?    In 1932, Surgeon General Shirō Ishii, chief medical officer of the Imperial Japanese Army and protégé of Army Minister Sadao Araki, was placed in command of the Army Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory (AEPRL). Ishii organized a secret research group, the "Tōgō Unit," for chemical and biological experimentation in Manchuria. Ishii proposed the creation of a Japanese biological and chemical research unit in 1930, after a two-year study trip abroad, because Western powers were developing their own programs. Colonel Chikahiko Koizumi, who eventually served as Japan's Health Minister from 1941 to 1945, was one of Ishii's most fierce supporters inside the Army. In 1915, during World War I, Koizumi and other Imperial Japanese Army officers were inspired by the Germans' successful use of chlorine gas at the Second Battle of Ypres (EEPRUH), in which the Allies suffered 5,000 fatalities and 15,000 injuries as a result of the chemical attack. As a result, they joined a covert poison gas research committee. As a result, unit Togo was started in the Zhongma Fortress, a prison/experimentation camp in Beiyinhe, a hamlet on the South Manchuria Railway 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Harbin.    To start the tests on those in good health, prisoners were often well-fed on a diet of rice or wheat, meat, fish, and perhaps even wine. The inmates were then starved of food and drink and had their blood drained over many days. Finally, it was noted that their health was declining. Shocker.  Some were vivisected as well. For those who don't watch or listen to disturbing documentaries, vivisection is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structures. Others had been purposefully exposed to the plague bacterium and other pathogens. Ishii had to close down Zhongma Fortress due to a jailbreak in the fall of 1934 that jeopardized the facility's secret and an explosion in 1935 that was thought to be sabotage. Then he was given permission to relocate to Pingfang, which is 24 km (15 mi) south of Harbin, to set up a new, much larger facility.  Emperor Hirohito signed a decree in 1936 approving the unit's growth and its incorporation as the Epidemic Prevention Department into the Kwantung Army. It had bases at Hsinking and was split into the "Ishii Unit" and "Wakamatsu Unit." The units were collectively referred to as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army" from August 1940 onward. Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Mikasa, toured the Unit 731 headquarters in China and wrote in his memoir that he watched films showing how Chinese prisoners were "made to march on the plains of Manchuria for poison gas experiments on humans." The decree also mandated the construction of a chemical warfare development unit, the Kwantung Army Technical Testing Department, and a biological warfare development unit, the Kwantung Army Military Horse Epidemic Prevention Workshop (later known as Manchuria Unit 100). (subsequently referred to as Manchuria Unit 516).    Sister chemical and biological warfare organizations known as Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Units were established in significant Chinese towns during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Unit 1855 in Beijing, Unit Ei 1644 in Nanjing, Unit 8604 in Guangzhou, and Unit 9420 in Singapore were among the detachments. Ishii's network, which at its height in 1939 had control over 10,000 people, was made up of all these organizations. In addition, Japanese medical practitioners and academics were drawn to Unit 731 by the opportunity to perform human experiments, which was highly unusual, and the Army's robust financial support.   Experiments   Human subjects were used in studies for a specific project with the codename Maruta. Test subjects were selected from the local populace and were referred to as "logs," as in the phrase "How many logs fell?" Since the facility's official cover story to local authorities was that it was a timber mill, the personnel first used the word as a joke. The initiative was internally known as "Holzklotz," which is German, meaning log, according to a junior uniformed civilian employee of the Imperial Japanese Army working in Unit 731. Nothing like dehumanizing the poor people you're experimenting on.   Another similarity was the cremation of the "sacrificed" participants' corpses. Additionally, Unit 731 researchers published some findings in peer-reviewed publications while posing as non-human primates termed "Manchurian monkeys" or "long-tailed monkeys" to do the research.   According to American historian Sheldon H. Harris:   "The Togo Unit employed gruesome tactics to secure specimens of select body organs. If Ishii or one of his co-workers wished to do research on the human brain, then they would order the guards to find them a useful sample. A prisoner would be taken from his cell. Guards would hold him while another guard would smash the victim's head open with an ax. His brain would be extracted off to the pathologist, and then to the crematorium for the usual disposal."   Nakagawa Yonezo, professor emeritus at Osaka University, studied at Kyoto University during the war. While there, he watched footage of human experiments and executions from Unit 731. He later testified about the "playfulness of the experimenters:"   'Some of the experiments had nothing to do with advancing the capability of germ warfare, or of medicine. There is such a thing as professional curiosity: 'What would happen if we did such and such?' What medical purpose was served by performing and studying beheadings? None at all. That was just playing around. Professional people, too, like to play.""   Prisoners were injected with diseases disguised as vaccinations to study their effects. For example, to analyze the results of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea, then studied. Prisoners were also repeatedly subjected to rape by guards.   Vivisection Thousands of people held in prisoner of war camps were subjected to vivisection (You all know what that is now. Organizations against animal experimentation generally use the phrase as a derogatory catch-all term for experiments on living animals, whereas practicing scientists seldom ever do. Live organ harvesting and other forms of human vivisection, as we also know, have been used as torture.), which was frequently done without anesthetic and was typically fatal. Okawa Fukumatsu, a former member of Unit 731, said in a video interview that he had vivisected a pregnant woman. Prisoners were infected with numerous illnesses before having their bodies vivisected. Invasive surgery was conducted on inmates to remove organs and learn how the condition affects the human body.   Inmates' limbs were severed so researchers could monitor blood loss. Sometimes the victims' corpses' severed limbs were reattached to their opposite sides. In addition, some convicts had surgical procedures to remove their stomachs and reconnect their esophagus to their intestines. Others had parts of their organs removed, including the brain, the liver, and the lungs. According to Imperial Japanese Army physician Ken Yuasa, at least 1,000 Japanese soldiers participated in vivisection on humans in mainland China, suggesting that the practice was commonly done outside Unit 731.   Biological warfare   Throughout World War II, Unit 731 and its related units—including Unit 1644 and Unit 100—were engaged in the study, production, and experimental use of epidemic-producing biowarfare weapons in attacks against the Chinese population (both military and civilian). For example, in 1940 and 1941, low-flying aircraft carried plague-carrying fleas over Chinese towns, notably coastal Ningbo and Changde, in the Hunan Province. These fleas were produced in the labs of Unit 731 and Unit 1644.   With bubonic plague epidemics, these flea bombs claimed tens of thousands of lives. During an expedition to Nanjing, typhoid and paratyphoid virus were dispersed into water supplies across the city's wells, marshes, and residences and infused into snacks served to inhabitants. Soon after, epidemics spread to the joy of many scientists, who concluded that paratyphoid fever was "the most effective" of the diseases.   At least 12 large-scale bioweapon field tests were conducted, and biological weapons were used to target 11 Chinese cities. According to reports, a 1941 raid on Changde resulted in some 10,000 biological injuries and 1,700 deaths among poorly equipped Japanese soldiers, most of which died of cholera. In addition, Japanese researchers conducted experiments on inmates suffering from cholera, smallpox, bubonic plague, and other illnesses. The defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb, which were used to spread the bubonic plague, were developed as a result of this study. Ishii presented the concept of designing some of these bombs using porcelain shells in 1938.   These bombs allowed Japanese forces to launch biological strikes, infecting crops, water supplies, and other places with cholera, typhoid, anthrax, and other deadly illnesses via fleas. Researchers would study the victims dying during biological bomb trials while protected by protective suits. Aircraft would deliver contaminated food and clothes into parts of China that were not under Japanese control. Additionally, innocent people received candies and food that had been tainted.   On several targets, bombs containing plague fleas, contaminated clothes, and infected goods were dropped upon the unsuspecting citizens. As a result, at least 400,000 Chinese citizens were killed due to cholera, anthrax, and plague. Also tested on Chinese citizens was tularemia, Also known as rabbit fever or deer fly fever, which typically attacks the skin, eyes, lymph nodes, and lungs.   Chiang Kai-shek dispatched military and international medical specialists delegation to document the evidence and treat the sick in November 1941 in response to pressure from various stories of the biowarfare assaults. However, the Allied Powers did not respond to a report on the Japanese deployment of plague-infected fleas on Changde until Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a public warning in 1943 denouncing the attacks. The announcement was made publicly available the following year.   Obviously, this is ridiculous and inhumane, but it couldn't be used on us here in the U.S. of "Don't Tread On Me" A, right?   Well, hold on to your stars and stripes because during the final months of World War II, codenamed "Cherry Blossoms at Night," Unit 731 planned to use kamikaze pilots to infest San Diego, California, with the plague. The plan was scheduled to launch on September 22, 1945, but Japan surrendered five weeks earlier. So yep, if the United States had not dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there could have been a man-made plague set upon the west coast.   Weapons testing Human targets were used to test grenades positioned at various distances and positions. Flamethrowers were also tested on people. Victims were also tied to stakes and used as targets to test pathogen-releasing bombs, chemical weapons, shrapnel bombs with varying amounts of fragments, explosive bombs, and bayonets and knives.   To determine the best course of treatment for varying degrees of shrapnel wounds sustained on the field by Japanese Soldiers, Chinese prisoners were exposed to direct bomb blasts. They were strapped, unprotected, to wooden planks staked into the ground at increasing distances around a bomb that was then detonated. After that, it was surgery for most and autopsies for the rest.   This info was taken from the documentary — Unit 731, Nightmare in Manchuria   Other experiments   In other diplorable tests, subjects were deprived of food and water to determine the length of time until death. They would then be placed into low-pressure chambers until their eyes popped from the sockets. Next, victims were tested to determine the relationship between temperature, burns, and human survival. Next, they were hung upside down until death; crushed with heavy objects; electrocuted; dehydrated with hot fans, placed into centrifuges, and spun until they died. People were also injected with animal blood, notably horse blood; exposed to lethal doses of X-rays; subjected to various chemical weapons inside gas chambers; injected with seawater; and burned or buried alive.   The Unit also looked at the characteristics of several other poisons and chemical agents. Prisoners were subjected to substances like tetrodotoxin (the venom of pufferfish or fugu), heroin, Korean bindweed, bactal, and castor-oil seeds, to mention a few (ricin). In addition, according to former Unit 731 vivisectionist Okawa Fukumatsu, large volumes of blood were removed from some detainees to research the consequences of blood loss. At least half a liter of blood was taken in one instance at intervals of two to three days.    The human body only contains 5 liters.   As we mentioned, dehydration experiments were performed on the victims. These tests aimed to determine the amount of water in an individual's body and how long one could survive with little to no water intake. Victims were also starved before these tests began. The deteriorating physical states of these victims were documented by staff at periodic intervals.   "It was said that a small number of these poor men, women, and children who became marutas were also mummified alive in total dehydration experiments. They sweated themselves to death under the heat of several hot dry fans. At death, the corpses would only weigh ≈1/5 normal bodyweight."   — Hal Gold, Japan's Infamous Unit 731, (2019)   Unit 731 also performed transfusion experiments with different blood types. For example, unit member Naeo Ikeda wrote:   In my experience, when 100 cc A type blood was transfused to an O-type subject, whose pulse was 87 per minute and temperature was 35.4 degrees C, 30 minutes later, their temperature rose to 38.6 degrees with slight trepidation. Sixty minutes later, their pulse was 106 per minute, and the temperature was 39.4 degrees. The temperature was 37.7 degrees two hours later, and the subject recovered three hours later. When 120 cc of AB-type blood was transfused to an O-type subject, an hour after the subject described malaise and psychroesthesia (feeling cold) in both legs. When 100 cc of A.B. type blood was transfused to a B-type subject, there seemed to be no side effects.   Taken from— "Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century" (2006) pp. 38–39 Unit 731 tested a slew of chemical agents on prisoners and had a building dedicated to gas experiments. Some of the agents tested were mustard gas, lewisite, cyanic acid gas, white phosphorus, adamsite, and phosgene gas. To put things in horrific perspective, the mortality rate from mustard gas was only 2-3%. Still, those who suffered chemical burns and respiratory problems had prolonged hospitalizations and, if they recovered, were thought to be at higher risk of developing cancers during later life. The toxic effects of lewisite are rapid onset and result from acute exposures. The vesicant properties of lewisite result from direct skin contact; it has been estimated that as little as 2 ml to an adult human (equivalent to 37.6 mg/kg) can be fatal within several hours. Airborne release of cyanide gas, in the form of hydrogen cyanide or cyanogen chloride, would be expected to be lethal to 50% of those exposed (LCt50) at levels of 2,500-5,000 mg•min/m^3 and 11,000 mg•min/m^3, respectively. When ingested as sodium or potassium cyanide, the lethal dose is 100-200 mg. According to a medical report prepared during the hostilities by the ministry of health, "[w]hite phosphorus can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed." The report states that burns on less than 10 percent of the body can be fatal because of liver, kidneys, and heart damage. Adamsite (D.M.) is a vomiting compound used as a riot-control agent (military designation, D.M.). It is released as an aerosol. Adverse health effects from exposure to adamsite (D.M.) are generally self-limited and do not require specific therapy. Most adverse health effects resolve within 30 minutes. Exposure to large concentrations of adamsite (D.M.), or exposure to adamsite (D.M.) within an enclosed space or under adverse weather conditions, may result in more severe adverse health effects, serious illness, or death.  Phosgene is highly toxic by acute (short-term) inhalation exposure. Severe respiratory effects, including pulmonary edema, pulmonary emphysema, and death, have been reported in humans. Severe ocular irritation and dermal burns may result following eye or skin exposure. It is estimated that as many as 85% of the 91,000 gas deaths in WWI were a result of phosgene or the related agent, diphosgene A former army major and technician gave the following testimony anonymously (at the time of the interview, this man was a professor emeritus at a national university): "In 1943, I attended a poison gas test held at the Unit 731 test facilities. A glass-walled chamber about three meters square [97 sq ft] and two meters [6.6 ft] high was used. Inside of it, a Chinese man was blindfolded, with his hands tied around a post behind him. The gas was adamsite (sneezing gas), and as the gas filled the chamber the man went into violent coughing convulsions and began to suffer excruciating pain. More than ten doctors and technicians were present. After I had watched for about ten minutes, I could not stand it any more, and left the area. I understand that other types of gasses were also tested there."   Taken from— Hal Gold, Japan's Infamous Unit 731, p. 349 (2019)   Super gross. Takeo Wano, a former medical employee of Unit 731, claimed to have observed a Western man being pickled in formaldehyde after being chopped in half vertically. Because so many Russians were residing in the neighborhood at the time, Wano suspected that the man was Russian. Additionally, Unit 100 experimented with poisonous gas. The captives were housed in mobile gas chambers that resembled phone booths. Others donned military uniforms, while others were made to wear various sorts of gas masks, and other people wore nothing at all. It's been said that some of the tests are "psychopathically cruel, with no possible military purpose." One experiment, for instance, measured how long it took for three-day-old newborns to freeze to death. Jesus christ. Additionally, Unit 731 conducted field tests of chemical weapons on detainees. An unknown researcher at the Kamo Unit (Unit 731) wrote a paper that details a significant (mustard gas) experiment on humans from September 7–10, 1940. Twenty participants were split into three groups and put in observation gazebos, trenches, and fighting emplacements. One group received up to 1,800 field cannon rounds of mustard gas for 25 minutes while wearing Chinese underpants, without a cap or a mask. Another set had shoes and a summer military outfit; three wore masks, while the others did not.   They also were exposed to as many as 1,800 rounds of mustard gas. A third group was clothed in summer military uniform, three with masks and two without masks, and were exposed to as many as 4,800 rounds. Then their general symptoms and damage to the skin, eye, respiratory organs, and digestive organs were observed at 4 hours, 24 hours, and 2, 3, and 5 days after the shots.  Holy shit. Then the psychopaths injected the blister fluid from one subject into another, and analyses of blood and soil were also performed. Finally, five subjects were forced to drink a water solution of mustard and lewisite gas, with or without decontamination. The report describes the conditions of every subject precisely without mentioning what happened to them in the long run. The following is an excerpt of one of these reports:   "Number 376, dugout of the first area:   September 7, 1940, 6 pm: Tired and exhausted. Looks with hollow eyes. Weeping redness of the skin of the upper part of the body. Eyelids edematous (uh-dim-uh-tose)(Swollen with fluid), swollen. Epiphora. (excessive watering), Hyperemic conjunctivae (ocular redness).   September 8, 1940, 6 am: Neck, breast, upper abdomen, and scrotum weeping, reddened, swollen. Covered with millet-seed-size to bean-size blisters. Eyelids and conjunctivae hyperemic and edematous. Had difficulties opening the eyes. September 8, 6 pm: Tired and exhausted. Feels sick. Body temperature 37 degrees Celsius. Mucous and bloody erosions across the shoulder girdle. Abundant mucus nose secretions. Abdominal pain. Mucous and bloody diarrhea. Proteinuria (excess protein in urinal, possibly meaning kidney damage).   September 9, 1940, 7 am: Tired and exhausted. Weakness of all four extremities.   Low morale. Body temperature 37 degrees Celsius. Skin of the face still weeping.   Taken from— "Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century" (2006) p. 187 Frostbite testing   Hisato Yoshimura, an Army engineer, carried out tests by forcing captives to stand outside, putting various limbs into water at multiple temperatures, and letting the limb freeze. Yoshimura would then use a small stick to whack the victims' frozen limbs while "producing a sound similar to that which a board emits when it is struck." The damaged region was then treated with different methods, such as dousing it in water or exposing it to the heat of a fire once the ice had been chipped away.   The sadistic fuck, Yoshimura, was described to the members of the Unit as a "scientific devil" and a "cold-blooded animal" because of the strictness with which he would carry out his evil experiments. In an interview from the 1980s, Unit 731 member Naoji Uezono revealed a super uncool and nightmare-inducing incident when Yoshimura had "Researchers placed two nude males in an area that was 40–50 degrees below zero and documented the entire process until the individuals passed away. [The victims] were in such pain that they were tearing at each other's flesh with their nails ". In a 1950 essay for the Journal Of Japanese Physiology, Yoshimura revealed his lack of regret for torturing 20 kids and a three-day-old baby in tests that subjected them to ice water and ice temperatures below zero.   Although this article drew criticism, Yoshimura denied any guilt when contacted by a reporter from the Mainichi Shimbun. Yoshimura developed a "resistance index of frostbite" based on the mean temperature of 5 to 30 minutes after immersion in freezing water, the temperature of the first rise after immersion, and the time until the temperature rises after immersion. In several separate experiments, it was then determined how these parameters depend on the time of day a victim's body part was immersed in freezing water, the surrounding temperature and humidity during immersion, and how the victim had been treated before the immersion. Variables like ("after keeping awake for a night", "after hunger for 24 hours", "after hunger for 48 hours", "immediately after heavy meal", "immediately after hot meal", "immediately after muscular exercise", "immediately after cold bath", "immediately after hot bath"), what type of food the victim had been fed over the five days preceding the immersions concerning dietary nutrient intake ("high protein (of animal nature)", "high protein (of vegetable nature)", "low protein intake", and "standard diet"), and salt intake (45 g NaCl per day, 15 g NaCl per day, no salt).   Oh, science....   Then there's syphilis.   For those that may not know, syphilis is a chronic bacterial disease contracted chiefly by infection during sexual intercourse but also congenitally by infection of a developing fetus. The first sign of syphilis is a small, brownish dot on the infected person's left hand. How many of you looked? You dirty birds!  Actually, the first stage of syphilis involves a painless sore on the genitals, rectum, or mouth. After the initial sore heals, the second stage is characterized by a rash. Then, there are no symptoms until the final stage, which may occur years later. This final stage can result in damage to the brain, nerves, eyes, or heart. Syphilis is treated with penicillin. Sexual partners should also be treated. Unit members orchestrated forced sex acts between infected and noninfected prisoners to transmit syphilis, as the testimony of a prison guard on the subject of devising a method for transmission of syphilis between patients shows:   "Infection of venereal disease by injection was abandoned, and the researchers started forcing the prisoners into sexual acts with each other. Four or five unit members, dressed in white laboratory clothing completely covering the body with only eyes and mouth visible, rest covered, handled the tests. A male and female, one infected with syphilis, would be brought together in a cell and forced into sex with each other. It was made clear that anyone resisting would be shot."   These unfortunate victims were infected and then vivisected at various stages of infection to view the interior and exterior organs as the disease developed. Despite being forcefully infected, many guards testified that the female victims were the viruses' hosts. Guards used the term "jam-filled buns" to refer to the syphilis-infected female detainees' genitalia.   And THAT is so gross on just about every level.   Inside the confines of Unit 731, several syphilis-infected children grew up. "One was a Chinese mother carrying a baby, one was a White Russian woman with a daughter of four or five years of age, and the final was a White Russian woman with a kid of around six or seven," recounted a Youth Corps member who was sent to train at Unit 731. Similar tests were performed on these women's offspring, focusing on how prolonged infection times influenced the success of therapies.   Just when you thought this shit was bad enough, the rape and forced pregnancies came.   For use in experiments, nonpregnant female convicts were made to get pregnant. The declared justification for the torture was the possible danger of infections, notably syphilis, being transmitted vertically (from mother to kid). In addition, their interests included maternal reproductive organ injury and fetal survival. There have been no reports of any Unit 731 survivors, including children, even though "a considerable number of newborns were born in captivity." Female captives' offspring are said to have either been aborted or murdered after birth.   While male prisoners were often used in single studies so that the results of the experimentation on them would not be clouded by other variables, women were sometimes used in bacteriological or physiological experiments, sex experiments, and as the victims of sex crimes. The testimony of a unit member that served as a guard graphically demonstrated this violent and disturbing reality:   "One of the former researchers I located told me that one day he had a human experiment scheduled, but there was still time to kill. So he and another unit member took the keys to the cells and opened one that housed a Chinese woman. One of the unit members raped her; the other member took the keys and opened another cell. There was a Chinese woman in there who had been used in a frostbite experiment. She had several fingers missing and her bones were black, with gangrene set in. He was about to rape her anyway, then he saw that her sex organ was festering, with pus oozing to the surface. He gave up the idea, left and locked the door, then later went on to his experimental work."   What in the actual fuck.   Prisoners and victims   An "International Symposium on the Crimes of Bacteriological Warfare" was convened in Changde, China, the scene of the plague flea bombardment, as mentioned earlier, in 2002. There, it was calculated that around 580,000 people had been killed by the Imperial Japanese Army's germ warfare and other human experimentation. According to American historian Sheldon H. Harris, more than 200,000 people perished. In addition, 1,700 Japanese soldiers in Zhejiang during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi war were killed by their own biological weapons while attempting to release the biological agent, showing major distribution problems in addition to the Chinese deaths. Additionally, according to Harris, animals infected with the plague were released close to the war's conclusion, leading to plague outbreaks that, between 1946 and 1948, killed at least 30,000 people in the Harbin region.   Those chosen as test subjects included common criminals, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, political prisoners, homeless people, and people with mental disabilities, including infants, men, elderly people, and pregnant women, in addition to those detained by the Kenpeitai military police for alleged "suspicious activities." About 300 researchers worked at Unit 731, including medical professionals and bacteriologists. However, many people have become numb to carrying out harsh tests due to their experience with animal experimentation.   Without considering victims from other medical research facilities like Unit 100, at least 3,000 men, women, and children: 117—of which at least 600 each year were given by the Kenpeitai—were subjected to Unit 731 experimentation at the Pingfang camp alone. Although the literature generally accepts the number of 3,000 internal casualties, former Unit member Okawa Fukumatsu challenged it in a video interview. He claimed that the Unit had at least 10,000 internal experiments victims and that he had personally vivisected thousands of them.   S. Wells said that Chinese people made up most of the casualties, with smaller proportions of Russian, Mongolian, and Korean people. A few European, American, Indian, Australian, and New Zealander prisoners of war may have also been among them. According to a Yokusan Sonendan paramilitary political youth branch member who worked for Unit 731, Americans, British, and French were present, in addition to Chinese, Russians, and Koreans. According to Sheldon H. Harris' research, the victims were primarily political dissidents, communist sympathizers, common criminals, low-income residents, and those with mental disabilities. According to estimates by author Seiichi Morimura, about 70% of the Pingfang camp's fatalities (both military and civilian) were Chinese, while roughly 30% were Russian.   Nobody who went inside Unit 731 survived. Let me repeat that: "Nobody that went inside Unit 731 survived".  At night, prisoners were usually brought into Unit 731 in black cars with no windows but only a ventilation hole. One of the drivers would exit the vehicle at the main gates and head to the guardroom to report to the guard. The "Special Team" in the inner jail, which was led by Shiro Ishii's brother, would then get a call from that guard. The convicts would then be taken to the inner prisons via an underground tunnel excavated beneath the center building's exterior.   Building 8 was one of the jails housing men and women while building 7 held just women. Once inside the inner jail, technicians would take blood and feces samples from the inmates, assess their kidney function, and gather other physical information. Prisoners found healthy and suitable for research were given a three-digit number instead of their names, which they kept until they passed away. Every time a prisoner passed away following the tests they had undergone, a clerk from the 1st Division crossed their names off of an index card and took their shackles to be worn by newly arrived captives.   At least one "friendly" social interaction between inmates and Unit 731 employees has been documented. Two female convicts were engaged by technician Naokata Ishibashi. One prisoner was a Chinese woman, age 21, while the other was a Soviet woman, age 19. Ishibashi discovered that she was from Ukraine after asking where she was from. The two inmates urged Ishibashi to acquire a mirror since they claimed to have not seen their own faces since being taken prisoner. Through a gap in the cell door, Ishibashi managed to covertly get a mirror to them. As long as they were healthy enough, prisoners were regularly employed for experimentation. Once a prisoner had been admitted to the Unit, they had a two-month life expectancy on average. Many female convicts gave birth there, and some inmates remained alive in the unit for nearly a year. The jail cells each featured a squat toilet and wood floors. The prison's exterior walls and the cells' outer walls were separated by space, allowing the guards to pass behind the cells. There was a little window in each cell door. When shown the inner jail, Chief of the Personnel Division of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, Tamura Tadashi, stated that he glanced inside the cells and observed live individuals in chains, some of whom moved around, while others lay on the bare floor and were in a very ill and helpless condition.   Yoshio Shinozuka, a former Unit 731 Youth Corps member, testified that it was difficult to look through these prison doors because of their tiny windows. Cast iron doors and a high level of security made up the inner jail. No one was allowed admission without specific authorization, a picture I.D. pass, and the entry/exit timings were recorded. These two inner-prison structures were the "special team's" workspaces. This group wore white overalls, army caps, rubber boots, and carried guns.   A former member of the Special Team (who insisted on anonymity) recalled in 1995 his first vivisection conducted at the Unit:   "He didn't struggle when they led him into the room and tied him down. But when I picked up the scalpel, that's when he began screaming. I cut him open from the chest to the stomach, and he screamed terribly, and his face was all twisted in agony. He made this unimaginable sound, he was screaming so horribly. But then finally he stopped. This was all in a day's work for the surgeons, but it really left an impression on me because it was my first time."   — Anonymous, The New York Times (March 17 1995)   According to some reports, it was standard procedure at the Unit for doctors to place a piece of cloth (or a portion of medical gauze) inside a prisoner's lips before starting vivisection to muffle any screams.   Even though the jail was pretty secure, there was at least one effort to break out... That failed. According to Corporal Kikuchi Norimitsu's testimony, a fellow unit member informed him that a prisoner had been taken "jumped out of the cell and ran down the corridor, grabbed the keys, and opened the iron doors and some of the cells" after "having shown violence and had struck the experimenter with a door handle." Only the bravest of the inmates were able to jump free, though. These brave ones were killed ". Seiichi Morimura goes into further depth about this attempt at escapology in his book The Devil's Feast.   Two male Russian prisoners were being held in handcuffs in a cell. One of them was lying flat on the ground and acting like he was sick. One of the staff members noticed and decided to go inside the cell. The Russian on the ground, suddenly sprang up and overpowered the guard. The two Russians yelled, unlocked their shackles, grabbed the keys, and opened a few more cells. Other Russian and Chinese prisoners were freaking out, up and down the halls while shouting and screaming. Finally, one Russian yelled at the members of Unit 731, pleading with them to shoot him rather than use him as a test subject.   This Russian was gunned down and murdered. One employee who saw the attempted escape remembered what happened: "In comparison to the "marutas," who had both freedom and weapons, we were all spiritually lost. We knew in our hearts at the moment that justice was not on our side ". Even if the prisoners had been able to leave the quadrangle, a vigorously defended facility staffed with guards, they would have had to traverse a dry moat lined with electric wire and a three-meter-high brick wall to get to the complex's outside.   Even members of Unit 731 weren't free from being subjects of experiments. Yoshio Tamura, an assistant in the Special Team, recalled that Yoshio Sudō, an employee of the first Division at Unit 731, became infected with bubonic plague due to the production of plague bacteria. The Special Team was then ordered to vivisect Sudō. About this Tamura said:   "Sudō had, a few days previously, been interested in talking about women, but now he was thin as a rake, with many purple spots over his body. A large area of scratches on his chest were bleeding. He painfully cried and breathed with difficulty. I sanitised his whole body with disinfectant. Whenever he moved, a rope around his neck tightened. After Sudō's body was carefully checked [by the surgeon], I handed a scalpel to [the surgeon] who, reversely gripping the scalpel, touched Sudō's stomach skin and sliced downward. Sudō shouted "brute!" and died with this last word."   Taken from— Criminal History of Unit 731 of the Japanese Military, pp. 118–119 (1991)   Additionally, Unit 731 Youth Corps member Yoshio Shinozuka testified that his friend, junior assistant Mitsuo Hirakawa, was vivisected due to being accidentally infected with the plague.   Surrender and immunity Operations and experiments continued until the end of the war. Ishii had wanted to use biological weapons in the Pacific War since May 1944, but he was repeatedly told to fuck off.   With the coming of the Red Army in August 1945, the unit had to abandon its work in a hurry. Ministries in Tokyo ordered the destruction of all incriminating materials, including those in Pingfang. Potential witnesses, such as the 300 remaining prisoners, were either gassed or fed poison while the 600 Chinese and Manchurian laborers were all frigging shot. Ishii ordered every group member to disappear and "take the secret to the grave." Potassium cyanide vials were issued for use in case the remaining personnel was captured.   Skeleton crews of Ishii's Japanese troops blew up the compound in the war's final days to destroy any evidence of their activities. Still, many were sturdy enough to remain somewhat intact.   Among the individuals in Japan after its 1945 surrender was Lieutenant Colonel Murray Sanders, whose name doesn't really sound Japanese and who arrived in Yokohama via the American ship Sturgess in September 1945. Sanders was a highly regarded microbiologist and a member of America's military center for biological weapons. Sanders' duty was to investigate Japanese biological warfare activity, and B.O.Y. was there a shit ton! At the time of his arrival in Japan, he had no knowledge of what Unit 731 was. Until he finally threatened the Japanese with bringing the Soviets into the picture, little information about their biological warfare was being shared with the Americans. The Japanese wanted to avoid prosecution under the Soviet legal system, so the morning after he made his threat, Sanders received a manuscript describing Japan's involvement in biological warfare. Sanders took this information to General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers responsible for rebuilding Japan during the Allied occupation. As a result, MacArthur struck a deal with Japanese informants: he secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731, including their leader, in exchange for providing America, but not the other wartime allies, with their research on biological warfare and data from human experimentation. Yessiree, bob! You heard that correctly! American occupation authorities monitored the activities of former unit members, including going through and messing with their mail. The Americans believed the research data was valuable and didn't want other nations, especially those guys with the sickle, you know... the Soviet Union, to get their red hands on the data for biological weapons.   The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal heard only one reference to Japanese experiments with "poisonous serums" on Chinese civilians. This took place in August 1946 and was instigated by David Sutton, assistant to the Chinese prosecutor. The Japanese defense counsel argued that the claim was vague and uncorroborated, and it was dismissed by the tribunal president, Sir William Webb, for lack of evidence! The subject was not pursued further by Sutton, who was probably unaware of Unit 731's activities and allegedly a fucking idiot. His reference to it at the trial is believed to have been "accidental."   While German physicians were brought to trial and had their crimes publicized, the U.S. concealed information about Japanese biological warfare experiments and secured immunity for the monsters. I mean perpetrators.  Critics argue that racism led to the double standard in the American postwar responses to the experiments conducted on different nationalities. For example, whereas the perpetrators of Unit 731 were exempt from prosecution, the U.S. held a tribunal in Yokohama in 1948 that indicted nine Japanese physician professors and medical students for conducting vivisection upon captured American pilots; two professors were sentenced to death and others to 15–20 years' imprisonment. So, it's one thing to do it to THOUSANDS OF CHINESE AND RUSSIANS, but HOW DARE you do that to one of us! The fuck?   Although publicly silent on the issue at the Tokyo Trials, the Soviet Union pursued the case and prosecuted 12 top military leaders and scientists from Unit 731 and its affiliated biological-war prisons Unit 1644 in Nanjing and Unit 100 in Changchun in the Khabarovsk war crimes trials. Among those accused of war crimes, including germ warfare, was General Otozō Yamada, commander-in-chief of the million-man Kwantung Army occupying Manchuria.   The trial of the Japanese monsters was held in Khabarovsk in December 1949; a lengthy partial transcript of trial proceedings was published in different languages the following year by the Moscow foreign languages press, including an English-language edition. The lead prosecuting attorney at the Khabarovsk trial was Lev Smirnov, one of the top Soviet prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials. The Japanese doctors and army commanders who had perpetrated the Unit 731 experiments received sentences from the Khabarovsk court ranging from 2 to 25 years in a Siberian labor camp. The United States refused to acknowledge the trials, branding them communist propaganda. The sentences doled out to the Japanese perpetrators were unusually lenient by Soviet standards. All but two of the defendants returned to Japan by the 1950s (with one prisoner dying in prison and the other committing suicide inside his cell). In addition to the accusations of propaganda, the U.S. also asserted that the trials were to only serve as a distraction from the Soviet treatment of several hundred thousand Japanese prisoners of war; meanwhile, the USSR asserted that the U.S. had given the Japanese diplomatic leniency in exchange for information regarding their human experimentation. The accusations of both the U.S. and the USSR were true. It is believed that the Japanese had also given information to the Soviets regarding their biological experimentation for judicial leniency. This was evidenced by the Soviet Union building a biological weapons facility in Sverdlovsk using documentation captured from Unit 731 in Manchuria.   Official silence during the American occupation of Japan As we, unfortunately, mentioned earlier, during the United States occupation of Japan, the members of Unit 731 and the members of other experimental units were set free. However, on May 6, 1947, Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, wrote to Washington to inform it that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii, can probably be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'war crimes' evidence."   One graduate of Unit 1644, Masami Kitaoka, continued to perform experiments on unwilling Japanese subjects from 1947 to 1956. While working for Japan's National Institute of Health Sciences, he completed his experiments. He infected prisoners with rickettsia and infected mentally-ill patients with typhus. As the unit's chief, Shiro Ishii was granted immunity from prosecution for war crimes by the American occupation authorities because he had provided human experimentation research materials to them. However, from 1948 to 1958, less than five percent of the documents were transferred onto microfilm and stored in the U.S. National Archives before they were shipped back to Japan.   Post-occupation Japanese media coverage and debate Japanese discussions of Unit 731's activity began in the 1950s after the American occupation of Japan ended. In 1952, human experiments carried out in Nagoya City Pediatric Hospital, which resulted in one death, were publicly tied to former members of Unit 731. Later in that decade, journalists suspected that the murders attributed by the government to Sadamichi Hirasawa were actually carried out by members of Unit 731. In 1958, Japanese author Shūsaku Endō published The Sea and Poison about human experimentation in Fukuoka, which is thought to have been based on an actual incident.   The author Seiichi Morimura published The Devil's Gluttony in 1981, followed by The Devil's Gluttony: A Sequel in 1983. These books purported to reveal the "true" operations of Unit 731 but falsely attributed unrelated photos to the Unit, which raised questions about their accuracy.   Also, in 1981, the first direct testimony of human vivisection in China was given by Ken Yuasa. Since then, much more in-depth testimony has been given in Japan. For example, the 2001 documentary Japanese Devils primarily consists of interviews with fourteen Unit 731 staff members taken prisoner by China and later released.   Significance in postwar research on bio-warfare and medicine Japanese Biological Warfare operations were by far the largest during WWII, and "possibly with more people and resources than the B.W. producing nations of France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and the Soviet Union combined, between the world wars. Although the dissemination methods of delivering plague-infected fleas by aircraft were crude, the method, among others, allowed the Japanese to "conduct the most extensive employment of biological weapons during WWII." However, the amount of effort devoted to B.W. was not matched by its results. Ultimately, inadequate scientific and engineering foundations limited the effectiveness of the Japanese program. Harris speculates that U.S. scientists generally wanted to acquire it due to the concept of forbidden fruit, believing that lawful and ethical prohibitions could affect the outcomes of their research.   Unit 731 presents a particular problem since, unlike Nazi human experimentation, which the United States publicly condemned, the activities of Unit 731 are known to the general public only from the testimonies of willing former unit members.   Japanese history textbooks usually reference Unit 731 but do not detail allegations following there strict principles. However, Saburō Ienaga's New History of Japan included a detailed description based on officers' testimony. The Ministry for Education attempted to remove this passage from his textbook before it was taught in public schools because the testimony was insufficient. The Supreme Court of Japan ruled in 1997 that the testimony was sufficient and that requiring it to be removed was an illegal violation of freedom of speech.   In 1997, international lawyer Kōnen Tsuchiya filed a class action suit against the Japanese government, demanding reparations for the actions of Unit 731, using evidence filed by Professor Makoto Ueda of Rikkyo University. All levels of the Japanese court system found the suit baseless. No findings of fact were made about the existence of human experimentation, but the court's ruling was that reparations are determined by international treaties, not national courts.   In August 2002, the Tokyo district court ruled that Japan had engaged in biological warfare for the first time. Presiding judge Koji Iwata ruled that Unit 731, on the orders of the Imperial Japanese Army headquarters, used bacteriological weapons on Chinese civilians between 1940 and 1942, spreading diseases, including plague and typhoid, in the cities of Quzhou, Ningbo, and Changde. However, he rejected victims' compensation claims because they had already been settled by international peace treaties.   In October 2003, a Japan's House of Representatives member filed an inquiry. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi responded that the Japanese government did not then possess any records related to Unit 731 but recognized the gravity of the matter and would publicize any records located in the future. As a result, in April 2018, the National Archives of Japan released the names of 3,607 members of Unit 731 in response to a request by Professor Katsuo Nishiyama of the Shiga University of Medical Science.   After World War II, the Office of Special Investigations created a watchlist of suspected Axis collaborators and persecutors who were banned from entering the United States. While they have added over 60,000 names to the watchlist, they have only been able to identify under 100 Japanese participants. In a 1998 correspondence letter between the D.O.J. and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Eli Rosenbaum, director of O.S.I., stated that this was due to two factors:   While most documents captured by the U.S. in Europe were microfilmed before being returned to their respective governments, the Department of Defense decided to not microfilm its vast collection of records before returning them to the Japanese government.   The Japanese government has also failed to grant the O.S.I. meaningful access to these and related records after the war. In contrast, European countries, on the other hand, have been largely cooperative, the cumulative effect of which is that information on identifying these individuals is, in effect, impossible to recover.   Top Movies about war crimes   https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&genres=war&genres=Crime   All info comes from the inter webs. Blame them.    Damn, this was a gross episode.   Are you actually reading this? That's awesome! How's it going? Life good?   

Một cán bộ cấp phòng ở thành phố Đà Nẵng bị đình chỉ công tác từ hôm 3/10 sau khi có cáo buộc là ông này ném tiền lẻ tung tóe trong một quán ăn và thậm chí còn tát chủ quán, báo chí Việt Nam cho hay. Xem thêm: https://bit.ly/3wSHe49 Tin tức đáng chú ý khác: Việt Nam phát hiện ca nhiễm đậu mùa khỉ đầu tiên. Cựu tù nhân lương tâm Chu Mạnh Sơn đến Canada tị nạn. Hạ viện Nga thông qua luật sáp nhập 4 khu vực của Ukraine. Mỹ, Ukraine chống lại hành động sáp nhập của Nga tại Liên hiệp quốc. Nga: Phân nửa số người được động viên ở Khabarovsk bị trả về, chính ủy bị sa thải. Khoa học gia Thụy Điển thắng Giải Nobel Y Sinh 2022. OPEC+ tính giảm mạnh sản lượng để giữ giá dầu. Nếu không vào được VOA, xin hãy dùng đường link https://bit.ly/VOATiengViet3 hoặc https://bit.ly/VOATiengViet4 để vượt tường lửa.

Một cán bộ cấp phòng ở thành phố Đà Nẵng bị đình chỉ công tác từ hôm 3/10 sau khi có cáo buộc là ông này ném tiền lẻ tung tóe trong một quán ăn và thậm chí còn tát chủ quán, báo chí Việt Nam cho hay. Xem thêm: https://bit.ly/3wSHe49 Tin tức đáng chú ý khác: Việt Nam phát hiện ca nhiễm đậu mùa khỉ đầu tiên. Cựu tù nhân lương tâm Chu Mạnh Sơn đến Canada tị nạn. Hạ viện Nga thông qua luật sáp nhập 4 khu vực của Ukraine. Mỹ, Ukraine chống lại hành động sáp nhập của Nga tại Liên hiệp quốc. Nga: Phân nửa số người được động viên ở Khabarovsk bị trả về, chính ủy bị sa thải. Khoa học gia Thụy Điển thắng Giải Nobel Y Sinh 2022. OPEC+ tính giảm mạnh sản lượng để giữ giá dầu. Nếu không vào được VOA, xin hãy dùng đường link https://bit.ly/VOATiengViet3 hoặc https://bit.ly/VOATiengViet4 để vượt tường lửa.

A garantia é dada pelo governador da região russa de Khabarovsk, Mikhail Degtyarev. A contestação interna à mobilização tem sido notada e chega até de oficiais russos, habitualmente apoiantes das decisões de Vladimir Putin.

This week in a special segment we finally have a clever name for, "Sister City Crime," we're briefly touching on one of Caitlyn's major no-no topics with the case of Sofia Zhukova in one of Portland's sister cities.  We're visiting the Russian city Khabarovsk.  Some details are far too sadistic and salacious for the show notes but others like her missing date of birth are just wild! If the topic proves to be entirely too upsetting for your stomach we highly recommend revisiting the Pittock Mansion or Heathman Hotel episodes that have recently been featured by platforms aimed at supporting indie podcast discovery.  A big round of applause and many thanks to Feed Drops, the Indie Drop-In Network, & Sitch Radio! This week we shared a promo for Serial Sistaaas!If you're enjoying our podcast, please consider leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. It helps get us seen by more creepy people just like you!  Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Patreon,  & more!  If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link.  Another great way to support the show is by making a one time donation through BuyMeACoffee.AD Music from Uppbeat License YWG9BPO0I7XYQBBQ. Cover art by Chris & Cassie. Pastebin: for sources.  Password: 3Xi4hVxSJ2Smart Passive Income PodcastWeekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your online business the smart way.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

This is a war of propaganda': John Pilger on Ukraine and Assange | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo - ( Start @ 1:30   Australian journalist, author and documentary filmmaker John Pilger has dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth and shining a light on inconvenient facts that often contradict the mainstream media narrative. In this episode of Talking Post, Pilger sits down with SCMP chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo to discuss the war in Ukraine, the West versus China and the plight of jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.  Japan's secret Unit 731 – where biological warfare was conceived. (start 0:10)In December 1949, 12 members of Japan's Kwantung Army faced trial in Khabarovsk for the atrocities they'd committed while developing biological weapons and testing them on prisoners of war. But Shiro Ishii, the head of the unit, never faced the tribunal. Instead, he was offered immunity and taken to the US, where he masterminded biological warfare during the Korean War. Until today, the US continues developing biological weapons in its dual-purpose labs, like the Lugar Laboratory in Georgia, and multiple facilities in Ukraine, whose activities have been causing alarm. Shiro Ishii's successors allegedly continue their experiments on human subjects.

Dina Belenko is a conceptual photographer from Russia who: shoots magical still lifes with falling cups, knitted labyrinths and a Bengal fire supernova, explores the nature of ordinary, routine things, their connection with human emotions, and the stories they can tell, combines her career as a photographer with a whole range of hobbies: mind games, podcasts, cross-step waltz, slackline and cognitive science, writes books with detailed instructions for beginner photographers, teaches the basics of conceptual still life to hundreds of students, believes that inspiration comes from a broad outlook, so it is important for a photographer to be interested in not only photography. Now Dina lives in Khabarovsk, collaborates with companies around the world and teaches creative thinking. FIND DINA ON SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram | Facebook | Telegram ================================ SUPPORT & CONNECT: Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/denofrich Twitter: https://twitter.com/denofrich Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denofrich YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/denofrich Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/den_of_rich/ Hashtag: #denofrich © Copyright 2022 Den of Rich. All rights reserved.

In Episode 118 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores the possibility that Putin's criminal adventure in Ukraine could backfire horribly, actually portending the implosion of the Russian Federation into its constituent entities, the "autonomous" republics, oblasts and krais. Troops from Russia's Far East were apparently involved in the horrific massacre at the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. But indigenous leaders from Siberia and the Russian Arctic are breaking with Moscow over the Ukraine war. Rumblings of separatist sentiment are now heard from Yakutia (Sakha), Khabarovsk, Kalmykia, Kamchatka, Tatarstan, Tuva, the Altai Republic, and the entirety of Siberia. China, which controlled much of what is now the Russian Far East until the 1850s, has its own expansionist designs on the region. Frederick Engles called for the "destruction forever" of Russia during the Crimean War, but it may collapse due to its own internal contradictions rather than Western aggression. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 31 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 32!

Greetings, Comrades! As we promised to Bob, here's our episode on the postal service of the USSR. This was a huge subject and we had to cut some stuff out as this was already a long episode - but it's chock full of interesting facts and stories, like a care package sent to some poor conscript in Vorkut or Khabarovsk. This episode made me realize that logistics are a nightmare and that folks who care about our mail are unsung heroes. And hey - if some of them will listen to this ep, while doing their delivieries, it'll make me a tad bit happier. This one's dedicated to you, postal workers! Enjoy!Oh, and please, consider becoming our patron at patreon.com/theeasternborder or donating via the link on our homepage, theeasternborder.lvHappiness is Mandatory!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theeasternborder. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Heggie Daily Success Strategies 467: Takes More Than Heart with Dennis Mellen https://jeffheggie.com/2021/12/29/dennis-mellen-takes-more-than-heart/ Dennis Mellen, a USAF Academy graduate (1975), is a retired Air Force pilot after serving as a lieutenant colonel and chief pilot for 20 years until his retirement from the Air Force Reserves in 1996. At the time, he simultaneously worked as an instructor pilot and fleet captain at Alaska Airlines where he was the head of training over 550 pilots and 40 instructors. He was also part of the instructor cadre instrumental in establishing the Alaska Airlines route structure in eastern Russia from the destinations: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. And as a veteran, he participated in the Desert One preparation, he was deployed to Sudan (in 1986) to counter Libyan incursions in Chad, and participated in Desert Shield/Storm. After retiring in 2012 from his 28-year flying career due to a heart attack, Dennis continued searching for a new purpose and new opportunities. He worked in aviation management at two air carriers heading up their training and standardization departments. He also worked as a training consultant and certified International Air Transport Association Operation Safety auditor before becoming a high school baseball coach, speaker, and author. His goal with his first book is to provide motivation, education, and humor to inspire those who face serious challenges in their lives. Dennis and his wife, Heidi of 37 years, live in the Chicago suburbs, and they have four sons and just welcomed their first grandchild as of August 2020—they look forward to helping raise their granddaughter, as well as welcoming more grandchildren. Website: www.takesmorethanheart.com Email: dennismellen@hotmail.com Facebook: @BeABean914 Twitter: @beabean14 Instagram: @beabean14 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/beabean Takes More Than Heart: Changing the Journey's Challenges into Opportunities In life, you will encounter many obstacles, if you have not already. How you deal with these challenges will define your character. All about a driven heart and pure grit, Takes More Than Heart: Change the Journey's Challenges into Opportunities is for anyone—from athletes to business people— who has suffered a life-changing event and desires to transform their challenges into opportunities. It instructs how to live your life fully while understanding that events may come at you, but you influence the outcomes through your reactions—as in “fall down seven times, get up eight.” The key themes include: • What's Important Next (W.I.N.). • The Navy SEAL acronym: D.W.I., as in Deal With It. • Take care of the next two hundred feet on the journey to reaching your goal. Part self-help book, part memoir, this book will touch anyone who has experienced a business setback, career/life-changing event, such as an athlete with a season-ending or career-ending injury, and inspire them to recover from their challenging event. This book will inspire readers to sustain their grit and persevere in order to make a difference and lead a purposeful life. Entrepreneur Success Strategies: https://mindset.jeffheggie.com/ Mental Strength Training for Athletes: www.JeffHeggie.com/ConfidentAthlete

https://jeffheggie.com/2021/12/29/dennis-mellen-takes-more-than-heart/ Dennis Mellen, a USAF Academy graduate (1975), is a retired Air Force pilot after serving as a lieutenant colonel and chief pilot for 20 years until his retirement from the Air Force Reserves in 1996. At the time, he simultaneously worked as an instructor pilot and fleet captain at Alaska Airlines where he was the head of training over 550 pilots and 40 instructors. He was also part of the instructor cadre instrumental in establishing the Alaska Airlines route structure in eastern Russia from the destinations: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. And as a veteran, he participated in the Desert One preparation, he was deployed to Sudan (in 1986) to counter Libyan incursions in Chad, and participated in Desert Shield/Storm. After retiring in 2012 from his 28-year flying career due to a heart attack, Dennis continued searching for a new purpose and new opportunities. He worked in aviation management at two air carriers heading up their training and standardization departments. He also worked as a training consultant and certified International Air Transport Association Operation Safety auditor before becoming a high school baseball coach, speaker, and author. His goal with his first book is to provide motivation, education, and humor to inspire those who face serious challenges in their lives. Dennis and his wife, Heidi of 37 years, live in the Chicago suburbs, and they have four sons and just welcomed their first grandchild as of August 2020—they look forward to helping raise their granddaughter, as well as welcoming more grandchildren. Book: Takes More Than Heart - https://amzn.to/33NJBJz Website: www.takesmorethanheart.com Facebook: @BeABean914 Twitter: @beabean14 Instagram: @beabean14

A guest mix for the project of my friends from Khabarovsk is "Nice and Easy", a telegram channel, a podcast series and a book in one project. About art, psychology, the world around us, music and aesthetics in all of this. Link: https://t.me/niceandeasyme The mix was recorded with music that is atypical for me - the thoughtful and foggy electronics of night cities and large expanses - I call this music "Nightronic" for myself and have been collecting it for a long time, and now I have the opportunity to record a full-fledged mix to build a whole picture. Enjoy listening! Гостевой микс для проекта моих друзей из Хабаровска - "Найс энд Изи", телеграм-канал, серия подкастов и книга в одном лице. Про искусство, психологию, мир вокруг нас, музыку и эстетику в этом всём. Ссылка на канал: https://t.me/niceandeasyme Микс записан с нетипичной для меня музыкой - задумчивой и туманной электроникой ночных городов и больших просторов - я для себя такую музыку называю "Nightronic" и давно собираю, а теперь выдалась возможность записать полноценный микс, чтобы выстроить цельную картинку. Приятного прослушивания! Tracklist: 1. Bronze Whale - Austin Is Fading 2. FURRER - Every Atom Is Buzzing 3. Weval - The Battle 4. Kasbo - Places We Dont Know ford. remix 5. Larry Gus - The Sun Describes 6. Tycho - Into The Woods 7. Tourist - Elixir 8. Lugovskiy - Touch Of Arms (feat. Dylan Kidd) [Alternative Mix] 9. Bonobo - Linked 10. Tantsui - Aint enough 11. OTHERLiiNE, George FitzGerald, Lil Silva - Chimes 12. Jamie xx - Sleep Sound 13. Four Tet - Anna Painting 14. Mount Kimbie - Made To Stray 15. Milosh - You Make Me Feel

On July 9, 2020, the governor of Russia's Khabarovsk territory, Sergey Furgal, was detained outside of his home and taken to Moscow. There, he was interrogated and later jailed on charges of organizing multiple murders. The Russian Investigative Committee initially claimed to have "irrefutable evidence" of Furgal's involvement in the killings - but over a year later, they still haven't been able to offer any proof. The case hearings, which sparked massive protests in Khabarovsk, are being held behind closed doors. Meduza has obtained case materials containing the testimonies at the center of the case against Furgal, and their authenticity has been verified by two sources familiar with the case. Meduza special correspondent Anastasia Yakoreva, who studied the case documents thoroughly, describes them here for the first time. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/07/22/if-only-he-d-stayed-out-of-politics

Jailed former governor Sergey Furgal has added an eighth lawyer to his defense team. Dmitry Dovgy - a former senior investigator who was sent to prison in 2009 on bribery and abuse of office charges - officially joined the Furgal case during a closed-door remand hearing on July 5. Also during the hearing, the Moscow City Court extended Furgal's arrest until October 7. Dovgy told Meduza that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and will begin studying the case file soon. Here's what we know about the former Khabarovsk krai governor's newest lawyer.

Pinchas Goldschmidt has been the Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Russia since 1993 serving at the Moscow Choral Synagogue. He also founded and heads the Moscow Rabbinical Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 1989, and since 2011 serves as President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) which unites over seven hundred communal rabbis from Dublin to Khabarovsk. For entire BIO- click here Launching a Podcast? Click here!

Поздравляем студентов!!! (Greetings Students!!!) Welcome to this episode of The Professor Travel. In this week's episode, we are joined by our Visiting Professor Ishaan Gokhale (Wanderer Ishaan) as he takes us through a once in a lifetime train journey on The Trans-Siberian Railway. Join us as we start the journey from the eastern city of Vladivostok on the journey westbound to Moscow. Come with us as we take the railway through cities like Khabarovsk to Ulan Ude, onto Irkutsk and on to disembarkation. You can download the podcast FREE at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcasts from. Enjoy and make everyday a travel adventure.

The clash between scholarship and politics—between truth and propaganda— had always been a conflict of great importance. In the 1920s the Commission for the Collection, Study, and Publication of Materials on the October Revolution and History of the Communist Party (Istpart, in abbreviated Russian) was formed. Istpart's historians were tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution: The Unmaking of Russia's Official History of 1917 (Indiana UP, 2021), Larry E. Holmes focuses on the work of Istpart's main office in Moscow and of its branch in Viatka. Istpart initially hoped to abide by the demands of both scholarship and politics when formulating the principles of historical research and when writing about the 1917 revolution. In that effort, Istpart in Moscow and its affiliate in Viatka acted sometimes in concert but often in conflict. Istpart's initial faith in a symbiosis of scholarship and politics eroded, slowly at first, then rapidly. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party's master narrative. Revising the Revolution explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power. This book addresses two issues of relevance to today's Russian Federation. Once again the center's politicians demand of professional historians a useful and not necessarily objective rendition of the past. Yet this authoritarian state with its power-vertical, as Vladimir Putin likes to call it, cannot always get its way without resistance from below. As recent events in Ekaterinburg and Khabarovsk indicate, people in Russia's provinces, as in Viatka earlier in Istpart's history, act on their own interests and, in the case of officials, in the interests of the institutions and the region they represent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

The clash between scholarship and politics—between truth and propaganda— had always been a conflict of great importance. In the 1920s the Commission for the Collection, Study, and Publication of Materials on the October Revolution and History of the Communist Party (Istpart, in abbreviated Russian) was formed. Istpart’s historians were tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution: The Unmaking of Russia's Official History of 1917 (Indiana UP, 2021), Larry E. Holmes focuses on the work of Istpart’s main office in Moscow and of its branch in Viatka. Istpart initially hoped to abide by the demands of both scholarship and politics when formulating the principles of historical research and when writing about the 1917 revolution. In that effort, Istpart in Moscow and its affiliate in Viatka acted sometimes in concert but often in conflict. Istpart’s initial faith in a symbiosis of scholarship and politics eroded, slowly at first, then rapidly. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party's master narrative. Revising the Revolution explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power. This book addresses two issues of relevance to today’s Russian Federation. Once again the center’s politicians demand of professional historians a useful and not necessarily objective rendition of the past. Yet this authoritarian state with its power-vertical, as Vladimir Putin likes to call it, cannot always get its way without resistance from below. As recent events in Ekaterinburg and Khabarovsk indicate, people in Russia’s provinces, as in Viatka earlier in Istpart’s history, act on their own interests and, in the case of officials, in the interests of the institutions and the region they represent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

The clash between scholarship and politics—between truth and propaganda— had always been a conflict of great importance. In the 1920s the Commission for the Collection, Study, and Publication of Materials on the October Revolution and History of the Communist Party (Istpart, in abbreviated Russian) was formed. Istpart’s historians were tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution: The Unmaking of Russia's Official History of 1917 (Indiana UP, 2021), Larry E. Holmes focuses on the work of Istpart’s main office in Moscow and of its branch in Viatka. Istpart initially hoped to abide by the demands of both scholarship and politics when formulating the principles of historical research and when writing about the 1917 revolution. In that effort, Istpart in Moscow and its affiliate in Viatka acted sometimes in concert but often in conflict. Istpart’s initial faith in a symbiosis of scholarship and politics eroded, slowly at first, then rapidly. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party's master narrative. Revising the Revolution explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power. This book addresses two issues of relevance to today’s Russian Federation. Once again the center’s politicians demand of professional historians a useful and not necessarily objective rendition of the past. Yet this authoritarian state with its power-vertical, as Vladimir Putin likes to call it, cannot always get its way without resistance from below. As recent events in Ekaterinburg and Khabarovsk indicate, people in Russia’s provinces, as in Viatka earlier in Istpart’s history, act on their own interests and, in the case of officials, in the interests of the institutions and the region they represent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The clash between scholarship and politics—between truth and propaganda— had always been a conflict of great importance. In the 1920s the Commission for the Collection, Study, and Publication of Materials on the October Revolution and History of the Communist Party (Istpart, in abbreviated Russian) was formed. Istpart's historians were tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution: The Unmaking of Russia's Official History of 1917 (Indiana UP, 2021), Larry E. Holmes focuses on the work of Istpart's main office in Moscow and of its branch in Viatka. Istpart initially hoped to abide by the demands of both scholarship and politics when formulating the principles of historical research and when writing about the 1917 revolution. In that effort, Istpart in Moscow and its affiliate in Viatka acted sometimes in concert but often in conflict. Istpart's initial faith in a symbiosis of scholarship and politics eroded, slowly at first, then rapidly. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party's master narrative. Revising the Revolution explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power. This book addresses two issues of relevance to today's Russian Federation. Once again the center's politicians demand of professional historians a useful and not necessarily objective rendition of the past. Yet this authoritarian state with its power-vertical, as Vladimir Putin likes to call it, cannot always get its way without resistance from below. As recent events in Ekaterinburg and Khabarovsk indicate, people in Russia's provinces, as in Viatka earlier in Istpart's history, act on their own interests and, in the case of officials, in the interests of the institutions and the region they represent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

The clash between scholarship and politics—between truth and propaganda— had always been a conflict of great importance. In the 1920s the Commission for the Collection, Study, and Publication of Materials on the October Revolution and History of the Communist Party (Istpart, in abbreviated Russian) was formed. Istpart’s historians were tasked with preserving the documentary record, compiling memoirs, and upholding ideological conformism within the national narrative of the 1917 revolution. In Revising the Revolution: The Unmaking of Russia's Official History of 1917 (Indiana UP, 2021), Larry E. Holmes focuses on the work of Istpart’s main office in Moscow and of its branch in Viatka. Istpart initially hoped to abide by the demands of both scholarship and politics when formulating the principles of historical research and when writing about the 1917 revolution. In that effort, Istpart in Moscow and its affiliate in Viatka acted sometimes in concert but often in conflict. Istpart’s initial faith in a symbiosis of scholarship and politics eroded, slowly at first, then rapidly. However, they quickly realized that the party rejected any version of history that suggested nonideological or nonpolitical sources of truth. By 1928, Istpart had largely abandoned its mission to promote scholarly work on the 1917 revolution and instead advanced the party's master narrative. Revising the Revolution explores the battle for the Russian national narrative and the ways in which history can be used to centralize power. This book addresses two issues of relevance to today’s Russian Federation. Once again the center’s politicians demand of professional historians a useful and not necessarily objective rendition of the past. Yet this authoritarian state with its power-vertical, as Vladimir Putin likes to call it, cannot always get its way without resistance from below. As recent events in Ekaterinburg and Khabarovsk indicate, people in Russia’s provinces, as in Viatka earlier in Istpart’s history, act on their own interests and, in the case of officials, in the interests of the institutions and the region they represent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In today's episode we return to the roots of the podcast and focus our attention on conservation issues directed towards the Russian Far East, and the waterways surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk. In this episode we will explore the salmonid populations of the area, Hucho taxmen in particular, and examine some successful major conservation initiatives. We are very fortunate today to be able to host Dr. Mikhail Skopets, a prominent Russian fisheries scientist and the godfather of fly fishing in Russia's Far East. Dr. Skopets was born in the Ural Mountain region in a town called Ekaterinburg, in the former USSR. From 1977 onwards he has been living in the Russian Far East, in the in the city of Khabarovsk on the shores of the Amur River. Dr. Skopets is an adventurous fisheries biologist with nearly 40 years' field experience in Russia. During his numerous expeditions he was able to find four new species, two of them belonging to new genus, including one new salmonid (a char) discovered in a meteor crater in Siberia. For Dr. Skopets catching a fish that is completely new, one that has never even been described by anyone, there simply is no better thrill. Many fly fisherman talk about the excitement of the catch, but for Dr. Skopets it is the discovery! From 1994 thru 2005 Dr Skopets worked with the Wild Salmon Center based in Oregon, USA. One of his most valuable contributions to conservation efforts over the years was his rapid scientific assessments of rivers in the Russian Far East, which laid the groundwork for future protected areas in the region. Since he left the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2007, Mikhail has been working independently as a scientist and expedition/fishing guide. He is also a photographer and writer, regularly contributing to publications such as Fly Fishing Magazine and is currently working on a new book: “Fly Fishing Russia. The Far East“. He continues to work with fly-fishermen, collaborate with sport-fishing clubs of the Russian Far East, and takes part in casting and fly-tying training programs. To learn more about Dr. Skopets, or to purchase a copy of his book, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/FlyFishingRussiaFarEast/?ref=py_c

Cosa sta succedendo al clima del pianeta? Probabilmente tutti si sono già fatti questa domanda. Ma è stata data una risposta? L'aumento dei cataclismi climatici di anno in anno è una conseguenza dei processi astronomici globali che influenzano direttamente la geologia del nostro pianeta e non è un fattore antropogenico, che purtroppo inganna la comunità mondiale per lunghi anni. Ma la domanda sorge spontanea: se non siamo in grado di influenzare questi processi, allora cosa possiamo fare? Unendo le forze le persone possono fare molto, compreso il superamento delle conseguenze dei disastri climatici. E questo processo è già in corso. Alla conferenza internazionale online "Società Creativa. Che cosa sognavano i Profeti", la comunità internazionale ha espresso la richiesta di unificazione e il cambiamento del formato di vita consumistico in uno creativo. In senguito vedremo: La sincronizzazione dei cataclismi naturali è stata osservata con una frequenza crescente. Il 18 aprile 2021 ci fu una serie di forti terremoti in diverse parti del pianeta. Il primo e già record super tifone si è formato nell'Oceano Pacifico nord-occidentale. Il tifone Surige ha raggiunto un'intensità estrema il 17 aprile, la prima data dell'anno nell'emisfero settentrionale da decenni. Ha portato precipitazioni catastrofiche nelle Filippine e nelle isole della Micronesia. A metà aprile 2021 gli abitanti del Tatarstan hanno osservato un fenomeno naturale insolito. Il cosiddetto "tsunami di ghiaccio". I blocchi di ghiaccio arrivavano a riva con una forza tale da spazzare via pietre, rami e piccoli alberi sul suo cammino. E il 22 aprile i residenti di Khabarovsk sono stati testimoni di una deriva del ghiaccio sul fiume Amur. Non è esagerato dire che costruire una Società Creativa, in cui ogni vita umana ha valore, è l'unica via d'uscita per tutti noi. Dopo tutto, tutte le forze della società saranno dirette verso la creazione di tali condizioni, dove la sicurezza è garantita ad ogni uomo. "Società Creativa. Che cosa sognavano i Profeti | Conferenza online Internazionale | 20 Marzo 2021" https://youtu.be/upl8JUf0JRw​​ ​ Il programma "La Società Creativa unisce tutti". (sott. ita) https://youtu.be/HVJNvS9ntkw​​ ​ Conferenza "Società Creativa. Insieme possiamo farlo | Conferenza online internazionale". https://youtu.be/QUebwC0Ej1k​​ ​ Programma "Apocalisse‌ ‌Climatica:‌ ‌Illusione‌ ‌o‌ ‌realtà‌?" (sott. ita) https://youtu.be/RwPFfujeuRc​​ ​ Il sito ufficiale del Volontariato Internazionale "ALLATRA TV" https://allatra.tv​​ ​E-mail: info@allatra.tv #cataclismi​ #causedelcambiamentoclimatico​ #eventiclimatici​ #inondazioni​ #tayfunsurige

Alexander Jepsen och Filip Bolmgren diskuterar det senaste om Lakers. Emil Pettersson på väg mot NHL? Drömkvalet är nära?

Most Russians have long stopped expecting that any real change may come from electoral politics, a playing field tightly controlled by the Kremlin. And yet, a slew of recent, successful popular movements are proving that, even without real elections, Russians can stand up for their interests. People have defended their electoral choice in Khabarovsk, prevented unwanted construction in Yekaterinburg, and stopped a huge landfill from being built in the Arkhangelsk region. Russia's most prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny also recently returned to Moscow from Berlin, where he had received medical treatment in the aftermath of his attempted poisoning. Navalny was promptly arrested, but his followers are organizing protests all over Russia. The Kennan Institute's Maxim Trudolyubov discusses Russia's newfound social and political activism with Zhanna Nemtsova, co-founder of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. The organization is named after Boris Nemtsov, Zhanna's father, who was murdered almost six years ago.

Our guest this week is Pavel Chikov. Pavel is a well-known lawyer, human rights activist and public figure who is head of Agora International Human Rights Group. He lives in Kazan. During the podcast we discuss strategic issues of court practice and what distinguishes successful court practice from unsuccessful; Agora's priorities in litigation; the degree of independence of Russian courts; the regulatory framework for NGOs in Russia and the impact of the law on "foreign agents"; the recent constitutional changes; the role of the European Court of Human Rights in Russia; the attractiveness of working in the field of human rights for young lawyers; events in Khabarovsk and Belarus; and the future of human rights in Russia. Sergei Nikitin writes: Everyone knows Chikov. Well, or almost everybody. So that even more people get to know him better, Simon Cosgrove and I talked to Pavel. We had a very interesting conversation. Pavel Chikov talked about what success in the world of lawyering is and about the cases on which Agora's lawyers are working. We discussed a great deal apart from legal issues: about the fact that human rights vocabulary is not very clear to ordinary citizens, about how almost a thousand cases are handled by Apology of Protest, a specialised group set up by Agora, about Agora's work protecting activists, bloggers, journalists and NGOs. In 2015 the Agora Interregional Association of Human Rights Organizations, which had existed since 2005, was transformed into the Agora International Human Rights Group, with Pavel Chikov at its head. Listen to our conversation, I'm sure you'll find it very interesting.The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

This week our guest is Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny. Viktor Valentinovich is a commentator on public affairs, writer and philosopher. Since 1989 he has been actively involved in public life. He started as an activist of Moscow Tribune and Memorial and in 1990-91 he worked with the Voters' Club of the Academy of Sciences and the Interregional Group of Deputies of the First Congress of Soviet People's Deputies. He was an aide to the chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. Since 1992, he has been chair of the board of the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, which has now become the NGO, Regional Civic Initiative - Right to Life and Civil Dignity. Viktor Valentinovich is one of the founders of Memorial Human Rights Centre and a member of its board. Since 1995, he has been an advisor both to the Yabloko party and to Grigory Yavlinsky. Among the topics we discuss in the podcast are the death penality in Russia, Amnesty International, the links between political developments and human rights, the recent apparent poisoning of Aleksei Navalny and events in Khabarovsk and Belarus. Sergei Nikitin writes: Viktor Valentinovich Kogan-Yasny is the latest guest of our podcast. Simon Cosgrove and I spent a very interesting hour with Viktor Valentinovich. I was especially interested to hear his story about how he found premises for Amnesty International in Moscow. In 1991 Marjorie Farquharson, the first representative of the oldest human rights organization in Russia, opened an office for the organisation on Herzen Street with the help of Viktor. The phone number that was allocated to the Amnesty office has remained unchanged for almost 30 years. Victor may not be very familiar to the general public, but he is a very interesting interlocutor. In 1990-91. Viktor Kogan-Yasny was an assistant chair of the Human Rights Committee of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. It was he who founded the Society against the Death Penalty and Torture, where in 1992 he became chair of the board. I read with great interest the posts of Viktor Kogan-Yasny, one of the oldest members of the Yabloko Party, writer and philosopher.The podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to this podcast on Podcasts.com (www.podcasts.com/simon-sergei-0b5d072c0), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/7HdmvhzC2P6VQS8ijICNHZ) and Itunes (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simo...ei/id1495261418). The music is from the Elegy for Solo Viola by Stravinsky, performed by Karolina Herrera.

In this episode, Matt spoke with Dr. Mark Galeotti about the pressing issues of the day in Eurasia: the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the ongoing protests in the far-eastern city of Khabarovsk, and the Kremlin's view on the post-election crisis in Belarus. Using his keen understanding of the Kremlin's decision-making process, Dr. Galeotti, creator of the blog and podcast "In Moscow's Shadow", provides a number of timely insights for our listeners. We eagerly await your feedback! Check out Dr. Galeotti's latest book here: https://www.amazon.com/We-Need-Talk-About-Putin/dp/1529103592/ref=sr11?dchild=1&keywords=mark+galeotti+putin&qid=1598298607&sr=8-1 https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Uavu44UNL._SX313_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg If you #follow #Eurasia #geopolitics, the news has been coming fast. From Alexei Navalny #poisoning in #Russia to #protests in Khabarovsk, & the #Belarus crisis. #Listen to @RANEnetwork Matt Orr break everything down with @MarkGaleotti on @SlavXRadio https://t.co/LmMzOale8T— Stratfor - a RANE Company (@Stratfor) August 25, 2020 ABOUT THE GUEST https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1196790504752648193/6WTTzv2U.png Mark Galeotti (born October 1965) is a London-based lecturer and writer on transnational crime and Russian security affairs and principal director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence. He is an Honorary Professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies and a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, as well as a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of International Relations Prague and previously head of its Centre for European Security. He writes on his own blog, In Moscow's Shadows (https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/) as well as guest writes for Raam op Rusland, EUROPP, oD:Russia, the International Policy Digest, and other blogs. He also contributes articles to The Moscow Times and War on the Rocks (https://warontherocks.com/) (from the Texas National Security Review), and is a contributing editor to Business New Europe. NOTE: This episode was recorded on Sunday, August 23, 2020 via Zoom. https://axs1qa.sn.files.1drv.com/y4mfEm-n9Da_2qheVdGaBh_5nnns9XGaqLHexM2klX8s1RAtNGD67sjKQ9pUnIbeEMG-6p70nvMPEEK8SkI_2Bk7G15t4f98xVwq6TJFyTTAPva4zpXv56PxC_CskphzfbOj5N6dPTaGiJqzXoq1S5UhnfU9tTUDjFsZ11o8USQBSfkfMFdOc6LjsszDIcYYh5YejYRR0RMaDHQdZyErHzAoA?width=3832&height=1902&cropmode=none CREDITS Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew) Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom) Associate Producer: Lera Toropin Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig Assistant Producer: Samantha Farmer Assistant Producer: Milena D-K Assistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-Crate Recording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel Additional Editing: Jada Geraci Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Boss Bass, and Blue Dot Sessions) Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin. Had a nice chat on Sunday with the @SlavXRadio folk at @UTCREEES for their Slavic Connexion podcast: Belarus, Navalny, adhocracy and more...https://t.co/cpjlmc7KhT— Mark Galeotti (@MarkGaleotti) August 25, 2020 Special Guest: Mark Galeotti.

Greetings, Comrades! This is our take on the protests in Khabarovsk – and of course, their new governor, which is a candidate for “weirdest bills introduced in a parliament ever” award. It's crazy. Also, don't forget that we just published a new historical episode too – so, check it out, your feed should contain both! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theeasternborder. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There is more to Putin's regime than his capacity to threaten and unleash violence - but this is a crucial element, and as his legitimacy wanes, this may come to the fore. Thrones of bayonets are uncomfortable, though, and so today I consider the mood of the police and other security forces, and what scope the opposition may have in wooing, or at least neutralising them.In a short second part, I explain why I think the claims of hacking British and others' coronavirus research sounds wholly plausible.My article on the Khabarovsk protests in Raam op Rusland is here, and the Riddle article on military voting is here. Gallyamov's Ekho Moskvy commentary is here.You can also follow my blog, In Moscow's Shadows, and become one of the podcast's supporting Patrons and gain question-asking rights and access to exclusive extra materials right here. 

In Hokkaido, where Ainu, the indigenous people thrived since the 10th century, a national museum called "Ainu Museum and Park" has opened last Sunday. At the opening ceremony, there were the governor of Hokkaido, Naomichi Suzuki, and the head of office of Ainu, Toshiya, Tone. A day before the ceremony, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide visited the facility as well. As far as I researched, none of the attendances raised topics such as discrimination towards Ainu and the occupation of the land by the Japanese pioneer in Meiji era. The facility also known as Upopoy which means "singing in a large group" in Ainu language. Should it be exploited by the tourism? https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200712_03/ In the far east of Russia, thousands of protesters marched for the jailed governor of Khabarovsk, Sergei Furgal who is remanded in custody over the alleged murder 15 years ago. Furgal defeated the candidate of Putin's United Russia party in elections two years ago. Estimates by regional media and opposition put the number of demonstrators on Saturday, at between 5,000 and 40,000, BBC reported. According to the Russia's law, Putin will review this case personally and decide whether Furgal resume his duty or not. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53373132 A Chinese activist in Melbourne was tracked by the authority in China over her online activity. A woman known as Zoo organised rallies in Melbourne in support of Hong Kong protesters and whistleblower Li Wenliang, the Wuhan doctor who died after first warning of the coronavirus outbreak. Her father has been questioned in relation to her online activity, she said. The video footage shows a police officer telling that she is "not permitted" to post via a Twitter account despite Zoo denied that is not her account, SBS reported. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/this-activist-says-she-is-being-tracked-and-harassed-in-australia-by-chinese-police

Today's show looks at the case against Khabarovsk Governor Sergey Furgal, whom federal agents arrested on Thursday, July 9, and promptly flew him to Moscow where he was arraigned on charges that he organized violence (including several contract killings) against business rivals in 2004 and 2005.Today's guest is András Tóth-Czifra, a political analyst based in New York and the author of the No Yardstick blog, where he's written for almost 10 years about Russian politics, often focusing on the country's more remote regions.Music and audio:Ну погоди, episode 14Олег Анофриев, Бременские музыканты, “Говорят, мы бяки-буки”Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod / Link / LicenseSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

The west often dismissed the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial as "Communist Propaganda." However, it was the first time the scientists from the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department" of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) came forward with the crimes they committed during World War 2. To confuse others about what their mission is, they frequently use the name, "Water Supply and Prophylaxis Administration of the Kwantung Army," or "Hippo-Epizootic Administration of the Kwantung Army." Book The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Unearthing Biological Warfare in WWII --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pacific-atrocities-education/support

00:38 Intro 03:36 Godspeed Miles 04:07 Balancing Battlecruisers 07:30 Revising Maps 15:26 Maps and Game Balance 17:43 How will the CV Rework affect Game Balance? 19:57 How do you become a Game Balancer or Map Creator? 26:09 What is the worst balanced ship and worst map? 26:51 What's up with Ocean? 29:50 Favorite ships and Maps 32:05 How much do you play the game? 35:33 How does Player feedback influence the game? 37:21 When are ships over- or under-performing? 39:48 Destroyers that depended on stealth firing 43:13 Historical Maps 44:35 Tournament Spawns in maps 46:27 Arms Race 47.59 Khabarovsk balanced? 52:42 Who would win in a Midway 1v1? A brief tribute to Miles Mortensen opens our special Episode 100 before we have Wargaming Saint Petersburg developers Ivan Komarov (Head of Game Balance) and Danil Pavlov (Head of Map Design) stop by for a host of questions about their specialties! Tune in for deep discussion, funny moments, and loads of information!