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 404 THE MODERN NATIONS Arthur. Irritation against the foreigners and some of the Chinese officials who favoured foreign ideas was largely re- sponsible for the 'Boxer' rebellion which broke out in 1900; for two months the legations of the European powers .were besieged. Order was not restored till the combined forces of six powers, including Japan, appeared at Pekin. Japan still had before her a task of immense gravity. Russia's advance in Central Asia had been a constant source of alarm and perturbation to Great Britain j it had been the cause of war Japan and between that power and Afghanistan in 1879; in Russia. jggcj it very nearly produced war between Great Britain and Russia herself. Russia was credited with the possession of immense military resources and an effective mili- tary organisation, and the alarm she succeeded in inspiring on all sides made her diplomacy peculiarly successful. But progress in the direction of India was checked, and her attention was now turned to China and Korea. Japan, however, had not forgiven the part she played after the treaty of Shimonoseki, and was pre- paring to challenge the Colossus which overawed the west. At that time she had yielded when Russia had the support of Germany and France ; but now an agreement with Great Britain ensured her British support if Russia were not left to fight her duel alone. Russia was urged on by a war-party in high places ; Japan's attempted negotiations on the subject of Manchuria and Korea were treated with contempt. At last, suddenly and unexpectedly, Japan struck. Her fleets began by attacking and almost disabling the Russian squadrons Russo- (February, 1904), and landing her own first army Japanese in Korea. By land and sea, from the moment the War * war began, the consummate efficiency of her organisation and the utter inefficiency of Russia's were made manifest. The slaughters in the great battles of the Franco- Prussian war fade into insignificance in comparison with those in the terrific engagements by which this war was charac- terised ; the whole number killed in action in the entire course of the Boer war were less than the Russian losses in many single actions. The victory of Japan was decisive and com- plete ; Korea passed under Japanese control, and Russia