By: HISTORY.com Editors

1904

The Russo-Japanese War begins

Published: July 20, 2010Last Updated: May 28, 2025

Following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan launches a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. The Russian fleet was decimated.

During the subsequent Russo-Japanese War, Japan won a series of decisive victories over the Russians, who underestimated the military potential of its non-Western opponent. In January 1905, the strategic naval base of Port Arthur fell to Japanese naval forces under Admiral Heihachiro Togo; in March, Russian troops were defeated at Shenyang, China, by Japanese Field Marshal Iwao Oyama; and in May, the Russian Baltic fleet under Admiral Zinovi Rozhdestvenski was destroyed by Togo near the Tsushima Islands.

These three major defeats convinced Russia that further resistance against Japan’s imperial designs for East Asia was hopeless, and in August 1905 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt mediated a peace treaty at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (He was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this achievement.) Japan emerged from the conflict as the first modern non-Western world power and set its sights on greater imperial expansion. However, for Russia, its military’s disastrous performance in the war was one of the immediate causes of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Russo-Japanese War

By: HISTORY.com Editors

Timeline

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Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on February 8th

1587

Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded

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1725

Peter the Great dies

On February 8, 1725, Peter the Great, emperor of Russia, dies and is succeeded by his wife, Catherine I. The reign of Peter, who became sole czar in 1696, was characterized by a series of sweeping military, political, economic, and cultural reforms based on Western European models. Russian victories in major conflicts with Persia and […]

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1862

The Union captures Roanoke Island

Union General Ambrose Burnside scores a major victory when his troops capture Roanoke Island in North Carolina. It was one of the first major Union victories of the Civil War and gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle Sound, allowing them to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond, Virginia, from the south. During […]

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1887

Dawes Severalty Act approved, ending tribal control of land

In a well-meaning but ultimately flawed attempt to assimilate Native Americans, President Grover Cleveland signs an act to end tribal control of reservations and divide their land into individual holdings. Named for its chief author, Senator Henry Laurens Dawes from Massachusetts, the Dawes Severalty Act reversed the long-standing American policy of allowing Indian tribes to […]

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1915

“The Birth of A Nation” opens in L.A., glorifying the KKK

On February 8, 1915, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, a landmark film in the history of cinema, premieres at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles. The film was America’s first feature-length motion picture and a box-office smash, and during its unprecedented three hours Griffith popularized countless filmmaking techniques that remain central to the art […]

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1924

First execution by lethal gas

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1936

Jay Berwanger picked No. 1 in first NFL draft

On February 8, 1936, at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman Trophy winner, is picked No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first NFL draft. His rights are traded to the Chicago Bears, but Berwanger never plays for them or any other NFL team. Berwanger’s contract demands were too […]

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1943

Americans secure Guadalcanal

Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

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1949

Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced

Cardinal József Mindszenty, the highest Catholic official in Hungary, is convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Communist People’s Court. Outraged observers in Western Europe and the United States condemned both the trial and Mindszenty’s conviction as “perversions” and “lynchings.” Mindszenty was no stranger to political persecution. During World War II, Hungary’s fascist government […]

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1960

Construction begins on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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1968

Three protesters die in the Orangeburg Massacre

On the night of February 8, 1968, police officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina open fire on a crowd of young people during a protest against racial segregation, killing three and wounding around 30 others. The killing of three young African Americans by state officials, four years after racial discrimination had been outlawed by federal law, […]

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1978

New England digs out after blizzard

A classic “Nor’easter” storm that brought a severe blizzard to New England finally subsides on February 8, 1978, and the region begins to dig out from under several feet of snow. Over the previous 72 hours, some areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts had received as many as 55 inches of snow. Three major weather […]

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1983

Irish race horse stolen

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1986

Spud Webb, 5’7″, wins NBA dunk contest

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1990

Del Shannon, a ’60s songwriter, dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound

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1994

Jack Nicholson smashes windshield in episode of road rage

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