The first Pacific War
"The 'Crimean War' was much more than a series of battles in the Crimea. One of the most neglected aspects has been the naval campaign in the Pacific Ocean, where a joint British and French squadron sailed from Chile to Kamchatka to engage Russian naval vessels, only to suffer defeat at Petropavlovsk, following which the British Admiral committed suicide." "Anticipating a return of the British warships, the Russians withdrew from all their Pacific coastal settlements. The British and French then concentrated on searching for the mouth of the Amur river, which they thought was a Russian strong hold - not without reason, for the Russians had indeed considered establishing a base there, and had sent repeated expeditions along the Amur, using the war as an excuse to do so." "China, who claimed to rule along the Amur, and Japan, only just 'opened up' and one of whose ports was commandeered for use as the British advanced base, were also drawn into the conflict. A further dimension was added to the hostilities by the fact that the United States had recently arrived on the Pacific coast and was eyeing Hawaii and Russian Alaska as territories ripe for acquisition: for the first time the strategic significance of the Pacific became apparent to the future Pacific Powers." "Before a decisive action could take place in the Pacific, the fighting in Europe ended. Though they lost in Europe, the Russians achieved a great advance in their Pacific territory, largely at China's expense - including the future site of Vladivostok. Subsequent wars in the Pacific, among them the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and the Pacific War of 1941-45, can be clearly seen as continuations of the international strategic struggles which first emerged during the war of 1854-56"--Jacket.
