Japan's rifle supply to Russia during the First World War and the Fourth Russo-Japanese Agreement : Focusing on Russian materials

This paper examines the role of Japan's rifle supply in the conclusion of the 4th Russo-Japanes agreement during the First World War. Since the outbreak of the First World War, unable to secure an adequate supply of rifles from the major advanced industrialized nations in time, Russia turned to Japan for rifles. Japan saw this as an opportunity to seize the initiative in relations with Russia and tried to conclude an agreement which had been pursued since before the war, to make Russia to the partner of her continental policy. Grand Duke Georgy's visit to Japan was a symbolic event that showed that relations between the two countries had turned in Japan's favor as discussions of the Russo-Japanese agreement intensified. Initially, Russia insisted that the purpose of the visit was solely to express gratitude for the arms assistance and to congratulate Emperor Taishō on his enthronement, denying any political intentions. However, Japan insisted on discussing the rifle supply issue on the premise of concluding the Russo-Japanese agreement. Finally, Russia agreed to discuss the basic terms of the agreement and promised to purchase rifles. During the negotiations for agreement, Japan proactively led the discussions and weaponized the rifle supply to strengthen its dominance over Russia. Conversely, Russia, which was dependent on Japan for rifles, accepted almost all of Japan's unfavorable demands. Thus, the unstable compromise that had been maintained in bilateral relations since the Russo-Japanese War finally ended with the conclusion of the 4th Russo-Japanese agreement led by Japan during World War I, as Japan took the initiative by weaponizing the rifle supply, a change triggered by the shortage of rifles in Russia.