“May 14 (27) marks 120 years since the Battle of Tsushima Strait, the worst defeat of the Russian fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05...

“May 14 (27) marks 120 years since the Battle of Tsushima Strait, the worst defeat of the Russian fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.
Probably, every nation has historical dates and events that are associated with severe defeats and are reflected in the collective historical memory for a long time. For the Romans it was Cannes. For Prussia - Jena, France - Sedan. For Russia, this is definitely Tsushima. The name of a small island lying between Korea and Japan has become a household name in Russia for something catastrophic.
If you look at this history from Japan, you can see the success of the accelerated modernization and Westernization undertaken by its government during the Meiji era. The country, which only half a century ago was forcibly opened to trade by the naval forces of the great powers (among which was not only the fleet of the famous American Commodore Perry, but also the Russian expedition of Admiral Putyatin), by the end of the 19th century got rid of unequal treaties and became a leading regional power, and at the beginning of the 20th century it was already able to openly challenge Russia, which ultimately led to the Battle of Tsushima.
I’ll add a little personal information from recent experience. Last July, I was transported from Moscow pre-trial detention center-7 to St. Petersburg “Kresty”, where, upon arrival, all my books were taken to the warehouse, except for the Bible and criminal codes. In the four-person cell where I was placed, besides me, only one person was at all interested in reading, so there wasn’t much of a place for books there. At the same time, the librarian was on vacation due to the summer and new books were not brought in for another couple of weeks. Among some outright waste paper, there was only one book suitable for reading - it turned out to be the novel “Tsushima” by Novikov-Priboy. Somewhat mournful and not very well written, I still read it for lack of anything better. The obvious bias of the author, who wrote already in Soviet times, of course, spoils the overall impression. But the undeniable advantage of the book, which makes it almost documentary, is that
the author was a direct witness to the events described and participated in the transition of the 2nd Pacific Squadron from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to Tsushima. And some of the details of the life of the royal sailors during this transition are read not without interest. Especially when there is no other reading anyway.
Your Vasya N., pre-trial detention center-1, St. Petersburg"