Victories and defeats of the past are remembered when problems arise in the present. History is a great teacher, only humanity behaves like a negligent student in homework. Therefore, situations periodically arise that force one to work on errors.
The origins of the problem
In 1639, Japan, fearing foreign influence, closes the harbor, decides not to develop the ocean fleet, expels foreigners. Voluntary self-isolation dragged on for almost two centuries.
Exactly one hundred years later, Russian sailors explored in detail and plotted the Kuril Islands on land maps in the Sea of Okhotsk. This fact was indicated in the Atlas of the Russian Empire in 1796, officially they were assigned to the Okhotsk Region of Kamchatka Uyezd.
In the same period, the Japanese discover the Kuril Islands for themselves, noting in documents that along with the indigenous population they saw on the islands a large number of "foreigners in red clothes."
The interests of the two empires clashed in an area of 15.6 thousand square kilometers.
Driving diplomacy
The Russian Adjutant General, Vice-Admiral Evfimiy Vasilyevich Putyatin, set about eliminating the contradictions between Russia and Japan in claims to distant islands. The Shimodsky treatise of 1855 for the first time at the international level secured the right of ownership and established the boundaries as follows: about. Urup fully and all the northern lands belonged to the possessions of the Russian Empire, about. Iturup and the islands south of it - to Japanese territory, about. Karafuto, as Sakhalin was called before, remained inseparable even without defining borders. The agreement also regulated trade, shipping, and good neighborly relations. For the first time consular missions were opened:
From now on, there will be permanent peace and sincere friendship between Russia and Japan ...
Thus began the document on trade and borders, which we call today the Simodsk Treaty.
Good intentions, as history teaches us, do not always lead to good results. The blurring of Sakhalin’s status, which the document described as “undivided,” became a catalyst for further disagreements between the imperial neighbors. Uncertainty was understood as joint ownership.
But the advantage was on the side of Russia. She used to begin to develop and settle in this harsh territory. Japanese officials immediately began to make complaints and show dissatisfaction with this situation:
There is no benefit to us in allowing us to live together.
So wrote Muragakitr, governor of Hakadate.
Not without the participation of other interested Western powers. The governments of England, the USA and France, in the first place, noted the military-strategic importance of these lands for Russia. With the support of third states, Japan began active settlement of the disputed island. The situation escalated and escalated.
Twenty years after the signing of the Shimodsky Treaty in 1855, the borders, on the initiative of Japan, were revised. According to a general assessment of historians, in favor of an island nation. All the lands of the Kuril ridge were transferred into the possession of the Meiji Empire. The entire territory of Sakhalin, formerly de facto Russian, now de jure fell under the rule of the Russian Emperor. It was a great strategic and political miscalculation of a treaty signed in 1875.
Peace, friendship ... war
All the advantages of the Shimodsky treatise of 1855, the text of which defined the northern islands as Russian territory, were lost. The position of the Russian fleet became vulnerable, access to the Pacific Ocean was threatened by a blockade. The militaristic government of the former allies did not miss this opportunity. In 1904, by attacking Port Arthur, Japan launched military operations against Russia, occupying the southern part of the largest island of the archipelago.
One of the consequences of this war was the signing of another treaty, Portsmouth. From that moment, the entire Kuril ridge became the territory of Japan, and the island with the ancient name Karafuto was cut along the line of the 50th parallel.
The vortices and kinks of the 20th century did not reduce the boiling of passions. After surrender in 1945, the map was redrawn once again, but now without the participation of the losing empire. The Kuril Islands, without exception, and Sakhalin completely came under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union.
It's time to put an end
Diplomats and military, solving global issues of history, forget about the people. Sakhalin is a vivid example of this: at first people were forcibly settled, then they were forcibly deported. For thousands of Japanese people on these shores childhood passed - they remember him now from afar. For hundreds of thousands of Russians, a whole life passed among these hills - the new claims of Japan make their future alarming.
There is hope that all issues will be settled in diplomatic battles and will not have to resort to arms. The problems of our time must be solved on the basis of current realities, without using a document 160 years ago for argumentation. The Shimodsk treatise should be left to the young diplomats for study and edification, so that later they would not have to do work on the mistakes.