In Saint Petersburg, news arrived that the Japanese Government had suddenly announced the severance of diplomatic relations. The entire Tsarist Government was dumbfounded, wearing the same expression—How dare the Japanese...
Whatever gave them the nerve, it had happened. Aside from being angry, the Tsarist Government could only face reality.
Just as the Tsarist Government emerged from its stunned state and began clamoring to teach the Japanese a lesson, something even more unbearable happened.
On February 8, 1904, the Japanese launched an attack on the Russian Army in the Far East without a declaration of war.
Fine. The Japanese Government had made the choice for the Tsarist Government. At this point, there was nothing left to argue about. Willing or not, they could only fight.
Of course, a temporary strategic withdrawal from the Far East, followed by settling accounts with the Japanese after the Siberian Railway opened, might have been the more rational choice—but the Tsarist Government could not do that.
No great power could tolerate its territory falling without declaring war. If the Tsarist Government truly chose to swallow this humiliation, the people at home would probably revolt.
The fighting people's pride was no joke. They could tolerate anything except the Tsarist Government acting like cowards.
From that perspective, blaming Nicholas II for the Russo-Japanese War in the original timeline was simply wronging the man.
The Japanese had already come calling. The Tsarist Government could hardly just take the beating without striking back, could it?
Of course, Nicholas II was not entirely without responsibility. The biggest problem was a strategic misjudgment: he had wishfully assumed that the Japanese would not dare launch an attack and had failed to make preparations for war in advance.
The current situation was much the same as in history. Though the butterfly effect had been