Editing Battle of Tsushima (section)

===Political consequences===
Imperial Russia's prestige was badly damaged and the defeat was a blow to the [[House of Romanov|Romanov dynasty]]. Most of the Russian fleet was lost; the fast armed yacht ''Almaz'' (classified as a cruiser of the 2nd rank) and the destroyers ''Grozny'' and ''Bravy'' were the only Russian ships to reach Vladivostok.{{sfn|Willmott|2009|p=119}} In ''[[The Guns of August]]'', the American historian and author [[Barbara Tuchman]] argued that because Russia's loss destabilized the balance of power in Europe, it emboldened the [[Central Powers]] and contributed to [[World War I|their decision to go to war in 1914]].{{sfn|Tuchman|1962}}

The battle had a profound cultural and political impact on the world. It was the first defeat of a European power by an Asian nation in the modern era.<ref>{{harvnb|Forczyk|2009|loc=Back cover}}</ref>{{sfn|Pleshakov|2002|page=xvi}} It also heightened the alarm of "The [[Yellow Peril]]" as well as weakening the notion of [[white superiority]] that was prevalent in some Western countries.{{sfn|Corbett|2015a|pp=31, 32, 56}}<ref>{{cite web|title=the Impact of the Russo-Japanese War in Asia|url=http://www.globaled.org/vietnamandcambodia/lessons/russojapanesewar.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030106134152/http://www.globaled.org/vietnamandcambodia/lessons/russojapanesewar.php |archive-date=2003-01-06|publisher=The American Forum for Global Education|access-date=2010-04-25}}</ref> [[Mahatma Gandhi]] ([[India]]), [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] ([[Turkey]]), [[Sun Yat-sen]] ([[China]]) and [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] ([[India]]) were amongst the future national leaders to celebrate this defeat of a colonial power.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mishra |first1=Pankaj |title=The guns of Tsushima, and the birth of modern Asia |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/pankaj-mishra-the-guns-of-tsushima-and-the-birth-of-modern-asia |work=National Post |date=20 March 2013 }}</ref> The victory established Japan as the sixth greatest naval power{{sfn|Sondhaus|2001|p=192}} while the Russian navy declined to one barely stronger than that of [[Austro-Hungarian Navy|Austria-Hungary]].{{sfn|Sondhaus|2001|p=192}}

In ''The Guinness Book of Decisive Battles'', the British historian [[Geoffrey Regan]] argues that the victory bolstered Japan's increasingly aggressive political and military establishment. According to Regan, the lopsided Japanese victory at Tsushima:<blockquote>...created a legend that was to haunt Japan's leaders for forty years. [[Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope|A British admiral]] once said, 'It takes three years to build a ship, but 300 years to build a tradition.'<!--this quote is a bit iffy; it was first said in WW II--> Japan thought that the victory had completed this task in a matter of a few years ... It had all been too easy. Looking at [[Tōgō Heihachirō|Tōgō]]'s victory over one of the world's great powers convinced some Japanese military men that with more ships, and bigger and better ones, similar victories could be won throughout the Pacific. Perhaps no power could resist the Japanese navy, not even Britain and the United States.{{sfn|Regan|1992|page=178}}</blockquote>

Regan also believes the victory contributed to the Japanese road to later disaster, "because the result was so misleading. Certainly the Japanese navy had performed well, but its opponents had been weak, and it was not invincible... Tōgō's victory [helped] set Japan on a path that would eventually lead her" to the Second World War.{{sfn|Regan|1992|page=178}}

Takano Isoroku, the future Japanese admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto|Yamamoto Isoroku]] who would plan the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] and command the Imperial Japanese Navy through much of the [[Second World War]], served as a junior officer (aboard {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Nisshin||2}}) during the battle and was wounded and lost two fingers by an accidental explosion of an 8-inch shell in a forward gun. Had he lost a third, he would have been medically discharged from the [[Imperial Japanese Navy|IJN]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Egorov|first=Boris|title=Yamamoto Isoroku, who fought the Imperial Russian Navy: One Scene from Battle of the Sea of Japan|date=29 November 2021|publisher=Russia Beyond|url=https://jp.rbth.com/history/85829-roshia-teikoku-kaigun-to-tatakatta-yamamoto-isoroku|access-date=19 April 2024|language=ja}}</ref>