Russo-Corean War
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The Russo-Corean War (Corean: 러-서광 전쟁 La-Sjakwang Tsjantsjeng, Dutch: De Orientale Oorlog, Russian: Русско-Kорейская Bойна Russko-Korejskaja Vojna), also known in the Sinosphere as the Chinese Unification War (統一戰爭, Mandarin: Tung'i Chancheng, Cantonese: Tungjat Tsintsang) was a military conflict fought between 1932–1935. It was primarily waged between the Corea (supported by the Netherlands [until 1934]) and Russia (supported by Japan and the Huaxia Republic).
Context
The monarchy of Canton had been overthrown in 1931 by the Huaxia National Reform Party. This threatened Corea's position in the region. Fearing that the new government of Canton would seek unification with the Great Qing, Corea pre-emptively invaded Hebei on the 8th of February, 1932, breaking the Treaty of Peking (1888) in which both the Russians and Coreans pledged not to invade the Great Qing.
The Coreans invaded during the aftermath of the Russian Civil War, that saw the rise of the Russian Nationalist Union government in its infancy. While initially, Corea hoped that Russia was weakened by the civil war enough that it would not honor the Treaty of Peking, Russia declared war on Corea, being joined by their ally Japan. In turn, Corea calls upon the Netherlands with who it has an alliance. Thus, through a patchwork of alliances that would later see the Huaxia Republic join in, the so-called Russo-Corean war starts. It was a war marked by its high numbers of casualties, use of new technologies & the application of new doctrines, and their impact on modern warfare. Many historians nowadays call this conflict the first “modern” war.
It is often said that the war truly starts during the so-called siege of Peking, it was in the capital of the Qing remnant that some hardline loyalist made a last stand, that in turn proved to last long enough to just halt the invasion of Corea. However overwhelming firepower and air power by the Coreans are enough and within 3 months the Qing remnant forces are largely defeated. However at the end of those 3 months the Russians declare war on Corea, their first strike did not go into Manchuria as Corea suspected, rather it came from the air, a fleet of 95 bombers on the 9th of may conduct the first successful strategic bombing mission. The city of Sjinjang was raised to the ground by a firebombing campaign and many of the city's houses made out of wood were burned to the ground, setting the stage for the kind of war the conflict would become.
Gallery
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Dutch soldiers breaching a British armaments warehouse in Kiangsu Province
