Inner Manchuria

— In the north, however, the Russians and Japanese had other ideas and looked to lop bits off the old empire that they could control in a more formal way. Russia gained Outer Manchuria in the 1860s, and in 1895 Japan gained Taiwan. What happened next confirmed the worst fears of those who believed that imperialism must lead to war. In 1905, the two rivals went to war over Inner Manchuria, which Russia considered vital because it gave it access to a warm-water port on the Pacific,* and to which Japan felt entitled after its victory in 1895, even if it had been forced to return the Chinese cession of the area in the face of the opposition of the Western powers.