90 years of war between Japan and Russia in the Far East: From two treaties to two wars, why does Japan keep complaining about losses?

In modern history, Japan and Russia, who are also expansionist, have continued to compete for territory in the Far East. Among them, the competition for Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands is the most fierce. With the end of World War II, Japan lost the second round of the battle, and southern Sakhalin and the entire Kuril Islands were captured by the then Soviet Union. How important are these two strategic locations? As can be seen from the picture above, the vast Sea of ??Okhotsk has completely become Russia's inland sea by occupying the Sakhalin Island and Kuril Islands "over" Japan's head. Not only that, as the dividing line between the North Pacific and the Sea of ??Okhotsk, The Kuril Islands stretching south from the Kamchatka Peninsula to Hokkaido echo Sakhalin and Vladivostok to the west, forming a three-sided encirclement of Japan. In other words, while the Russian Pacific Fleet was galloping across the Far East, Japan had free access to the North Pacific. The passage was blocked, and from then on, it was impossible to move under the weight of the big bear. Sakhalin Island, this island in the sea outside the Heilongjiang estuary covers an area of ??76,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to two Taiwan islands plus four. The total number of Hong Kong Islands. 01 Historically, Sakhalin Island has been directly or indirectly ruled by the Chinese dynasty, but it did not implement effective jurisdiction. In 1689, China and Russia signed the "Treaty of Nerchinsk", which stipulated that it was north of Heilongjiang and beyond the Xing'an Mountains. South and east of the Ussuri River to the sea are Chinese territories, including of course Sakhalin Island. In 1709, Emperor Kangxi sent a topographic survey team to accompany three Jesuit monks to measure the national territory. The survey team reached the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River and successfully crossed it. The Tatar Strait reached Sakhalin Island, and stone and wooden tablets with Manchu inscriptions were erected on the island. In the 10th year of Yongzheng's reign, the Qing government formally established the three-surnamed Deputy Dutong Yamen to manage the lower reaches of Heilongjiang, the Ussuri River Basin and the East China Sea. The vast territory of the region and Sakhalin was unified by General Jilin. From the Qianlong period to the Xianfeng period in the mid-19th century, there was no dispute that Sakhalin belonged to China legally. The picture above is the territory map of the Qing Dynasty in 1760 in the American history textbook. , you can clearly see the ownership of Sakhalin Island. 02 The Qing army won the battle of Yaksa between the two powers, temporarily blocking Tsarist Russia's aggression to the south of the Xing'an Mountains and the Heilongjiang River Basin. After that, Tsarist Russia turned its expansion direction to the north. In the Pacific region, they reached the Kamchatka Peninsula from the Heilongjiang River Basin, and then landed on Sakhalin Island to conduct "" reconnaissance expeditions" along the east coast. At the same time, the Japanese shogunate also sent personnel to "" survey" Sakhalin Island, while setting up a "" reconnaissance expedition" at the southern end of the island. "Directly administered territory", while sending people to "discuss" with Tsarist Russia to carve up the island. After that, the two countries launched a protracted battle around Sakhalin Island. At one moment, the Tsar announced that "Sakhalin Island belongs to Russia", and at the next moment, the Tokugawa Shogunate issued a "" Russian Ship Expulsion Order", the two sides refused to give in to each other and fought for every inch of territory. In 1854, Tsarist Russia was caught in the Crimean War. In order to avoid attacks by the British and French navies in the North Pacific, the Russian army had to retreat from Sakhalin Island . In 1855, Tsarist Russia and Japan signed the "Japan-Russia Treaty of Shimoda", which stipulated that on the issue of Sakhalin Island, "no boundaries should be drawn and the status quo should be maintained." Sakhalin Island temporarily became an "unsolved matter." In 1856, Crimea After the Asian War, Tsarist Russia gradually recovered. Taking advantage of the Second Opium War launched by Britain and France in China, Tsarist Russia also stepped up its occupation of China's Heilongjiang Basin territory, and at the same time sent troops to occupy Sakhalin Island. It was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, and the Russian army subsequently occupied the southern end of Sakhalin Island. This made the conflict between Japan and Russia over Sakhalin Island even more acute. During this period, Japan proposed to demarcate the border at the 50° north latitude line, while Tsarist Russia insisted on using the 48° north latitude line, the Soya Strait, as the boundary. Negotiations between the two sides broke up unhappily. In 1867, Japan and Russia signed the "Provisional Regulations on Sakhalin Island", which stipulated that Russia would cede four islands including Defu Island in the Russian Kuril Islands to Japan, and the national boundary between the two countries would still be bounded by the Soya Strait. ""Mixed living" state. In 1868, Japan began the Meiji Restoration. As its national power increased day by day, the competition between the Japanese and the Russians in the Far East really began. In 1875, Japan and Tsarist Russia signed the "Katahi Thousand Islands Exchange Treaty", and Tsarist Russia The northern part of the Kuril Islands was given to Japan in exchange for Japan's independence on Sakhalin Island. Japan then announced that it would completely abandon the sovereignty of Sakhalin Island and the entire island was under the control of Tsarist Russia. Later history showed that the Japanese approach at that time was a wise one. As a result, Sakhalin has been an "unsolved issue" for twenty years. Under the circumstances that both South Sakhalin and the Northern Kuril Islands cannot be obtained at the same time, the complete acquisition of the entire "" island chain" of the Kuril Islands may be two-fold. Effect: Firstly, to avoid being blocked by Russia, and secondly, with the help of these bases and springboards, wait for the opportunity to ""advance northward"" when it has the strength in the future. 03 The North-South Division Japan's national power developed rapidly, and twenty years later, it made a decisive move in the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894 After defeating the Qing Dynasty, another ten years passed before the first round of war between Japan and Russia for the interests of the Far East broke out. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan took advantage of the victory and seized the territory of Sakhalin south of the 50th parallel. , which made Tsarist Russia and later the Soviet Union resentful. According to the post-war "Portsmouth Peace Treaty", Tsarist Russia officially ceded South Sakhalin Island to Japan in 1907. Japan established the Huata Civil Affairs Office in the ceded area, which was later upgraded. In 1909, Tsarist Russia established Sakhalin State in the northern part of Sakhalin Island, with its capital being Alexandrovsk. In 1918, Japan took advantage of the Russian October Revolution to occupy the entire island, and did not withdraw its troops until 1925. In addition, the northern part of Sakhalin is firmly in Russian hands.

In 1925, Japan and the Soviet Union signed the "Japan-Soviet Basic Treaty" in Beijing, which stipulated that ""The Treaty of Portsmouth remains valid." The two sides further agreed that ""Japanese troops will withdraw from North Sakhalin Island before May 15, 1925, and Russia will Provide Japan with 50% development rights for the North Sakhalin oil field and coal mine development rights in specific areas within 40 to 50 years. 04 is still an "unsolved case". In this way, Japan and Russia maintained the "North-South Division" on Sakhalin Island for 20 years. In August 1945, under Stalin's order, the Soviet Red Army launched Operation August Storm. As the "Operation August Storm" in the Far East Campaign, The "biggest event" was the battle to seize Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. With the Yalta "Secret Treaty" signed by Roosevelt in hand, the Soviet Union confidently occupied the entire Sakhalin Island and drove all the Japanese in the south back to Hokkaido. 1946 In February of that year, the Soviet Union announced the abolition of the "Hutai Hall" and established the South Sakhalin Oblast in the southern part of Sakhalin Island. The following year, it merged the northern part of Sakhalin Island and the South Sakhalin Oblast to form the Sakhalin Oblast, which was replaced by the Russian Federation. It is directly under the jurisdiction of the Federal Republic of Korea. In September 1951, Japan announced in the "San Francisco Peace Treaty" that it would "completely abandon the sovereignty of Sakhalin Island." However, when disputes over the "Northern Territory" arose, ""Smart" "The Japanese also claimed that Japan itself gave up the territory of Sakhalin, but did not admit that the Soviet Union owned it, and the Soviet Union did not conclude the "San Francisco Peace Treaty". In other words, after a hundred years of hard work, the Sakhalin Islands Page Island is still an "unsolved case". The Kuril Islands are located between the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East and the Hokkaido Island of Japan. They separate the northwest Pacific and the Sea of ??Okhotsk. They are a beautiful arc formed by a string of bead-shaped islands. "Shaped Island Group". The total length of the archipelago is nearly 1,300 kilometers and consists of 56 large and small islands. 01 Secret competition is similar to the situation of Sakhalin Island. The Kuril Islands also benefit from their superior geographical location, and the Ainu people are the indigenous people there. Starting from the 18th century, the Russians began to come here for missionary and trade purposes, and Japan also continued to penetrate into it. In 1721, a group of Russian astronomy and navigation scholars were sent by Tsar Peter I to survey the Kuril Islands, and then mapped out the Kamchatka Peninsula and the island. A map of the Kuril Islands, calling the "Thousand Islands islands of Japan". In 1788, the Russian Empress Catherine II ordered "Russian-Japanese trade" to try to control the Kuril Islands. To this end, Tsarist Russia captured the Three ""Japanese drifters" were sent to Nemuro, Hokkaido, to negotiate with the Matsumae feudal lord on Russian-Japanese trade. In 1801, the Japanese shogunate established a garrison office on Etorofu Island. In the same year, the shogunate sent officials to Tofu Island to impose strict demands on Russia. The people left, prohibited local residents from trading with the Russians, and set up a ""Eternal Japanese Island"" mark on the island. The contacts and exchanges between Japan and Russia in the Kuril Islands area became increasingly unhappy, and gradually developed from a Cold War to a In 1813, Tsarist Russia proposed to Japan the demarcation of the border between the two countries and the development of trade on the border, but Japan's then Tokugawa Shogunate expressed "not interested", and Japan and Russia failed to contact and negotiate on the demarcation issue. In 1828, the Russian-American Company, which received exclusive rights from the Tsarist government, immigrated about a hundred Aleuts to Defu Island, and then continued to ""immigrate". In 1845, Russian ships came to Etortu Island and tried again to fight with Japan. During the trade talks, the Japanese still had a negative attitude, and the Russians were helpless. 02 The North-South partition took a turn for the worse. From 1853 to 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy twice led his ship to "knock" on Japan's door. As the United States and Japan signed the "unequal treaty", other imperialist countries also swarmed in, and Tsarist Russia was of course not to be far behind. In February 1855, Japan and Russia signed the "Japan-Russia Treaty of Peace, Affiliate and Friendship" in Shimoda, stipulating that "the future boundary between Japan and Russia should be between Etorofu Island and Defu Island." The entire island of Etosu belongs to Japan, and the entire island of Defu and the Kuril Islands to the north belong to Russia. On Katai Island, there is no boundary between Japan and Russia, and the past practice is maintained. ” After the treaty was signed, the Japanese believed that “ ” the boundary of the Kurile Islands, which had been unresolved between Japan and Russia for many years, had been demarcated, and the dispute between the two countries was over. "However, the development of the situation is far less optimistic than the Japanese thought. When dealing with the Russians on territorial issues, no one can take advantage of it. While competing with Japan for the Kurile Islands, Tsarist Russia secretly stepped up its occupation of Ukraine, including Sakhalin Island. In the area east of the Suri River, since 1856, Tsarist Russia has continuously conducted "" inspections" of Sakhalin Island and the Chinese territory in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang, and at the same time established a colonial stronghold on Sakhalin Island. Japan has been expanding fishing grounds in the southern part of Sakhalin Island, and Tsarist Russia The constant "encroachment" on the Sakhalin Island made the Japanese very angry. This kind of "no demarcation of borders and maintenance of the status quo" led to the formation of competition and confrontation between Japan and Russia on Sakhalin Island. 03 Sheche Baojun So, in 1875, Japan and Tsarist Russia After signing the "Katai Kuril Islands Exchange Treaty", Tsarist Russia gave the northern part of the Kuril Islands to Japan, and the entire Kuril Islands belonged to Japan; Japan announced that it would give up the sovereignty of Sakhalin Island, and the entire Sakhalin Island belonged to Tsarist Russia. They had no choice but to save the Kuril Islands. The Japanese were confident that one day they would "recover" South Sakhalin. In the Russo-Japanese War 30 years later, Japan, with the support of the United States and Britain, beat Tsarist Russia. In order to take revenge on the Liaodong Peninsula, it also seized the territory of Sakhalin Island south of the 50th parallel in one fell swoop, successfully completing the blockade of Russia.

In 1918, the newly born Soviet Russia encountered the "Armed Intervention of Fourteen Countries", and Japan actively sent troops to the Far East, almost including the Kamchatka Peninsula. After World War II, the defeated Japan had to spit out the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island, and the Soviet Union passed A battle in the Far East resulted in these rich spoils. Regarding Japan's request to "return" the Southern Kuril Islands, Stalin clearly pointed out: The Kuril Islands were obtained with the blood of countless Soviet soldiers, and no one has the right to take them away!" 04 No solution It is true that in the Battle of the Kuril Islands, which lasted for more than half a month, the Soviet army suffered more than a thousand casualties. Although it was not the same as the huge casualties in the Soviet-German war, it was still considered a price paid in blood. To this day, Japan is still obsessed with the four northern islands, and has even set up a special "Northern Territory Day" to express its determination. Just like the "undecided conclusion" about Sakhalin Island, Japan also has a set of arguments for the ownership of the Southern Kuril Islands. : Before the "Katai Kuril Islands Exchange Treaty" was signed with Russia, the Southern Kuril Islands were Japanese territory, and the exchange was for the Northern Kuril Islands. Although Japan announced that it would abandon the Kuril Islands in the "San Francisco Peace Treaty", it did not include the Kuril Islands. The "Four Northern Islands" belonging to Hokkaido, and the "territory acquired after abandoning the Treaty of Portsmouth" in the "San Francisco Peace Treaty" never included the Southern Kuril Islands. On August 18, 1945, the Soviet Union surrendered in Japan The invasion of the Kuril Islands was launched under such circumstances, which was a serious violation of international law. Moreover, when the San Francisco Peace Treaty was concluded in 1951, the Soviet Union did not participate. How are the disputes ultimately resolved?