Where is Sakhalin Island? Why did the island become an arena for Japanese-Russian wrestling?

Sakhalin Island is the name of China, also known as Kuye Island, Kuwu Island, Gushi Island or Black Dragon Island. Sakhalin Island is located in the northeast of Eurasia, southeast of the estuary of Heilongjiang, facing the Sea of Okhotsk in the east, facing Eurasia in the west through Miyako Strait, and adjacent to Hokkaido in Japan across Zonggu Strait in the south. Sakhalin Island, with a total area of 76,400 square kilometers, is the 23rd largest island in the world. Now the island belongs to Russia and is the largest island in Russia. Under the jurisdiction of Sakhalin Island, Russia calls it Sakhalin Island.

According to the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar Chu signed by China and Russia in 1689, Russia recognized Sakhalin Island as the territory of the Qing Dynasty. However, with the decline of the Qing dynasty after the Opium War, Russia took advantage of the fire and robbed it. In 1858 and 1860, it forced the Qing government to sign the Aihui Treaty and the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty, and cut Sakhalin Island from the Qing government.

Sakhalin Island actually lost control of it from the end of 18. Russian immigrants landed from the northern part of Sakhalin Island, and Japanese immigrants landed from the southern part of Sakhalin Island. /kloc-In the middle of the 0/9th century, the two countries controlled the northern and southern parts of Sakhalin Island respectively. In order to compete for the territory and fishing rights of Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island, Japan and Russia fought fiercely in the middle and late18th century.

1875, Japan and Russia reached a temporary compromise, and Russia exchanged the southern part of Sakhalin Island with Japan for its controlled 18 Thousand Islands. So the two countries formed a situation in which Japan controlled the entire Kuril Islands and Russia controlled the entire Sakhalin Island.

As time went by 19, Japan's national strength increased greatly after the Meiji Restoration. At this time, in order to curb Russia's expansion in the Far East, Britain also strongly supported Japan's development of armaments. The great increase in national strength and military strength, backed by the support of Britain, has made Japan's ambition to expand its territory burning. But now that the whole world has been carved up by western imperialists, Japan has nothing to expand. However, during this period, Russia's national strength declined sharply, so Japan once again turned its attention to Sakhalin Island across the sea from itself. However, Russia's strong national strength still makes Japan very jealous, and it is not easy to make mistakes and can only wait for the opportunity.

1894 In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, with the full support of Britain, Japan defeated the Qing government and extended its hand to the northeast of China, which Russia regarded as its own. Therefore, after the Sino-Japanese War, Russia and France and Germany forced Japan to give up cutting Liaodong Peninsula, and the tension between Japan and Russia further escalated.

Japan and Russia directly collided in the northeast of China and launched fierce colonial competition. Japan wants to monopolize the whole northeast of China, while Russia not only covets the northeast for Japan to monopolize Korea, but also has ambitions. As a result, the contradictions between Japan and Russia, two imperialist powers, kept piling up, and both sides wanted to drive each other out of the Northeast through war. As a result, the two countries continued to send more troops to the northeast, and the situation was tense and war was imminent.

With the financial support of Britain, Japan's naval strength increased greatly, and by the beginning of the 20th century, it had the strength to fight against the Russian navy. 1902 The formal establishment of the Japan-Britain alliance strengthened Japan's determination to drive Russia out of the Northeast by war. So1February 8, 904, Japan took risks and launched a surprise attack on the Russian Far East Fleet in Lushunkou, which provoked the Russo-Japanese War without an announcement.

1905 During the naval battle against Malaysia from May 27th to May 28th, Japan almost wiped out the Russian Second Pacific Fleet and gained the sea control right in the Sea of Okhotsk. 1905, a series of unrest and uprisings broke out in Russia, which made it impossible for Russia to continue its confrontation with Japan, so it had to hold peace talks with Japan, and Japan took the opportunity to put forward its territorial claim to Sakhalin Island.

1On September 5th, 905, Japan and Russia formally signed the Portsmouth Treaty. One of the treaties that was obviously unfavorable to Russia was that Russia ceded Sakhalin Island to Japan south of 50 degrees north latitude.

Japan, which has mastered the entire Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin Island, will lock Russia's seaport in the North Pacific Ocean, which will inevitably cause Russia's rebound. Russia's signing of the Portsmouth Treaty is only a stopgap measure. Once the domestic situation in Russia is settled, it is ready to go to war with Japan and retake Sakhalin Island. However, since then, there has been internal turmoil in Russia. With the outbreak of World War I, the Russian Empire finally disintegrated.

19 18 At the beginning of this year, Japan participated in the intervention army of the Allies, and it took the opportunity to seize the whole Sakhalin Island. However, the Japanese army was no match for the Soviet Red Army and was defeated again and again. Finally, Japan had to withdraw all its intervention troops in Russia. According to the agreement reached by the Soviet Union and Japan, the two countries continue to occupy half of Sakhalin Island at 50 degrees north latitude.

The establishment of the Soviet Union was a watershed in the Sakhalin dispute between Japan and Russia. Prior to this, Japan and Russia competed for the main fishing rights and territory of sakhalin island. After the founding of the Soviet Union, the dispute between the two countries around Sakhalin Island mainly focused on oil resources.

Since Japan's scarce oil resources were discovered in Sakhalin Island in 1930s, Japan once again became interested in purchasing the whole Sakhalin Island. Finally, in order to get rid of diplomatic isolation, the Soviet Union agreed that Japan had the right to exploit the whole Sakhalin Island. With the conclusion of this agreement, the sovereignty dispute between the Soviet Union and Japan over Sakhalin Island did not come to an end until the end of World War II.

1945 At the meeting held in Yalta Palace, Crimea, Soviet Union from February 4 to February 0, Britain and the United States agreed that the area north of the Great Wall of China was the Soviet sphere of influence, in exchange for the Soviet troops to send troops to the northeast of China, the Korean peninsula was occupied by the United States and the Soviet Union on the 38th parallel, and Sakhalin Island and the Thousand Islands were divided into Soviet territory after the war.

1945 August11-On September 5th, the Soviet Union marched into the northeast of China, sent troops to attack Sakhalin Island and Thousand Islands, and occupied the whole territory of the two places. Since then, Sakhalin Island has become the territory of the Soviet Union (Russia).

Although there is no legal basis for Japan's territorial claim to Sakhalin Island again, Japan is constantly provoking disputes over the four islands of the South Kuril Islands, probably to prepare for further reaching out to Sakhalin Island in the future.