Why Did Japan Invade Russia

In order to accomplish its strategic objectives, Japan needed to destroy the Russian Far East Fleet before her forces would invade Korea and Manchuria. To this effort, Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto notified Admiral Togo of the Russian intentions and moves, which involved the collection of the whole fleet at Port Arthur in order to attract the Japanese forces, and from a position of advantage, force them to expend their strength. The Japanese also successfully anticipated the Russians use of Vladivostok for the launch of raids against coastal Japanese towns with the intent to divide the Japanese fleet. If the Russians had the chance, they would have combined their Port Arthur and Vladivostok squadrons and engage the Japanese fleet. Nonetheless, Russian
Russia would have gained additional time with diplomatic appeasement however, especially if she had set the timetable for the withdrawal to gather strategic intelligence, mobilize her ground and naval forces, build better logistical infrastructure, train and exercise, and finally develop a more accurate military estimate of the Japanese capabilities. Russia could have concentrated her combat power to compensate for her numerical inferiority in the Pacific by combining her Pacific naval forces and deploying its Baltic fleet to the Far East. These actions would have allowed Russia to be in a position to conduct more aggressive naval operations in the Pacific theater and forced Japan to recalculate her military estimates of the Russian fleet. In turn, Japan would have delayed her invasion plans against Korea and Manchuria, especially if there was a combined Russian Baltic, Port Arthur, and Chemulpo Fleet at Valdivostok threatening Japan's lines of communications. However, a combined fleet at Valdivostok alone would not have deterred Japan's invasion plans for long. The Russians would have had to employ a second strategic option of aggressively engaging her naval might if she was to deter or defeat the