Siege of Port Arthur 1904
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1904 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | China | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Russo-Japanese War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | 3rd Army | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.7964, 121.2361 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順攻囲戦, romanized: Ryojun Kōisen; Russian: Оборона Порт-Артура, romanized: Oborona Port-Artura; August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.
Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, had been widely regarded as one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world. However, during the First Sino-Japanese War, General Nogi Maresuke had taken the city from the forces of Qing China in only a few days. The ease of his victory during the previous conflict, and overconfidence by the Japanese General Staff in its ability to overcome improved Russian fortifications, led to a much longer campaign and far greater losses than expected.
The siege saw the introduction of much technology used in subsequent wars of the 20th century (particularly in World War I) including massive 28 cm howitzers that fired 217-kilogram (478-pound) shells with a range of 8 kilometers (5.0 miles), rapid-firing light howitzers, Maxim machine guns, bolt-action magazine rifles, barbed wire entanglements, electric fences, arc lamp, searchlights, tactical radio signalling (and, in response, the first military use of radio jamming), hand grenades, extensive…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Port Arthur (revision 1381229468), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Lüshun 1634 · 3 km
- Battle of Port Arthur 1904 · 3 km
- Battle of Lüshunkou 1894 · 6 km
- Battle of Nanshan 1904 · 53 km
- Battle of the Yellow Sea 1904 · 60 km
- Battle of Te-li-Ssu 1904 · 128 km
Other battles of the Russo-Japanese War
- Battle of Chemulpo Bay 1904
- Battle of Hsimucheng 1904
- Battle of Korsakov 1904
- Battle of Liaoyang 1904
- Battle of Motien Pass 1904
- Battle of Nanshan 1904
- Battle of Port Arthur 1904
- Battle of Shaho 1904
- Battle of Tashihchiao 1904
- Battle of Te-li-Ssu 1904
All 16 battles of the Russo-Japanese War →
Browse more: battles in China · Asia · 19th century battles