The Russo-Japanese War (Russian: Ру́сско-японска́я во́йна, romanized: Rússko-yaponskáya vóyna; Japanese: 日露戦争, romanized: Nichiro sensō; "Japanese-Russian War") was fought during 1904–1905 between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.[4] The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan and the Yellow Sea. Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for its navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the summer, whereas Port Arthur, a naval base in Liaodong Province leased to Russia by China, was operational all year. Since the end of the First Sino- Japanese War in 1895, Japan feared Russian encroachment on its plans to