French postcard by Ed. Alterocca, Terni, no. 4817. Photo: Cinématographes Pathé. Scene from La guerre russo-japonaise (Lucien Noguet, 1904). Caption: The Defence of Port-Arthur.
French postcard by Ed. Alterocca, Terni, no. 4818. Photo: Cinématographes Pathé. Scene from La guerre russo-japonaise (Lucien Noguet, 1904). Caption: Attack of a Fortress.
French postcard by Ed. Alterocca, Terni, no. 4819. Photo: Cinématographes Pathé. Scene from La guerre russo-japonaise (Lucien Nonguet, 1904). Caption: Arrest of a spy.
French postcard by Ed. Alterocca, Terni, no. 4820. Photo: Cinématographes Pathé. Scene from La guerre russo-japonaise (Lucien Nonguet, 1904). Caption: Execution of a spy.
French postcard in the series 'La Guerre Maritime Russo-Japonaise', no. 2. Photo: H. Manuel. The card was mailed in 1906. Caption: Let’s launch our first battleship, ‘The Teacup’; we’ll see if it manages to make it through.
French postcard in the series 'La Guerre Maritime Russo-Japonaise', no. 4. Photo: H. Manuel. The card was mailed in 1906. Caption: He is retreating, glory to the winner Nippon!... To us, Europe, America, China, Korea, and the unknown countries.
The Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan. The war arose from the Japanese Empire’s claims to the Korean Empire and Manchuria. The Russian Empire clung to the ice-free port of Port Arthur on the Gulf of Korea/Yellow Sea, leased from China in 1898 for 25 years and thus connected to the Pacific Ocean, for both its merchant fleet and its navy. Vladivostok was only ice-free in the summer. Japan blockaded, stormed and besieged Port Arthur. The Russians attempted to defend Port Arthur, relieve the siege or break out. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. The war was concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
Russia's war effort was funded primarily by France, while for Japan, a major portion of the total cost of the war was covered by money borrowed from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. While France was Russia's closest ally in the 1890s and early 1900s, it declared that this didn't go for Russia's expansion in the East, so France kept neutral during the war. Instead, the Russian tsar Nicolas II was certain that the German Kaiser Wilhelm II would come to aid, as the latter had been demonising the 'Yellow Peril', but the German help never materialised.
The Russo–Japanese War was covered by dozens of foreign journalists who sent back sketches that were turned into lithographs and other reproducible forms. Propaganda images were circulated by both sides, often in the form of postcards and based on insulting racial stereotypes. These were produced not only by the combatants but also by those from European countries who supported one or the other side or had a commercial or colonial stake in the area. War photographs were also popular, appearing in both the press and in book form. Within the French postcard series on the war, images of the Japanese army were more abundant than those of the Russian side, with photos stemming from the American weekly Colliers.
In the following decades, many films were made about the war. One of the best known is the war drama Port-Arthur / Port Arthur (Nicolas Farkas, 1936) starring Anton Walbrook, Danielle Darrieux and Charles Vanel. The very first film version was also French, La guerre russo-japonaise aka Événements russo-japonais (Lucien Nonguet, 1904). This early silent film was filmed at the Pathé studio in Montreuil. To be faster than the competition, Charles Pathé ordered reconstructions of the events on the basis of what journalists had communicated. No Russian or Japanese soldiers were involved, only local French extras. Sets were approximate, small-sized and partly involved painted backdrops. La guerre russo-japonaise / The Russo-Japanese War (1904) consisted of two series. Part 4 of series 1 was entitled Défense de Port-Artur / The Defence of Port-Arthur. The first series was released from March 1904 onward.
In 1905, the Italian publisher Alterocca released four postcards on the film in France, which are included in this post. Remarkable is that the verso of the cards has no division, while in France, from December 1903 on, postcards had split sections on the verso side. Probably the Italian company adapted this system later.
French or Japanese postcard, mailed from Japan to France. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War.
French postcard. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. The sailors from the Varyag celebrated their return in St Petersburg.
French postcard. Photo: Rogers. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. Prince Khilkoff examining the railway works on Lake Baïkal.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese troops and their carriers are crossing the river Yalou.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. A Japanese artillery canon at Feng-Wang-Cheng.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. Russian artillery in the hands of the Japanese after the Battle of the Yalou.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. Japanese camp in the valleys of the Liao.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. A Japanese soldier dragging his wounded horse during the taking of Kaï-Ping.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. A Japanese field ambulance. Operating on the wounded. Written and mailed within France, from St. Gengoux, 6 November 1905. The text has nothing to do with the war, but is a plea by a French citizen, Louis Cabours, to his brother to send him a better pair of pants. Louis Cabours is working for a boss who makes wine.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly, no. 4. La Guerre Russo-Japonaise, Colliers Weekly. Caption: Japanese soldiers drawing water for their comrades fighting at Port-Arthur. Written and mailed within France, from St. Gengoux, 28 November 1905. Louis Cabours writes to his brother to tell his parents to hurry up and send him his laundry, and also money for a dentist.
French postcard by Colliers Weekly, no. 7. Caption: The Russo-Japanese War. The Russian scouts on a reconnaissance mission in the mountains of the Yalo(u). These mountains may have been those behind the Yalu River in Korea, which mark the border between China and Korea. The card was written and mailed within France, sent from St. Gengoux, 8 December 1905. Louis Cabours writes to a friend to send him 6 mm bullets, as his boss is going for a hunt in the Charolais region.
Sources: Wikipedia (English, Dutch and French), IMDb and Fondation Seydoux-Pathé (French), with thanks to Jean-Claude Séguin.
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