Yesterday was the 115th anniversary of the start of the Russo-Japanese War that began when the Japanese attack Port Arthur on the western coast of Russia. In that battle, alone, 16,000 men are believed to have died. This was the beginning of a long and brutal war in which Russia continued throwing bodies at the Japanese in order to stave off a pending revolution.

1904: Japanese troops launch a disastrous attack on Russian-held 
Port Arthur (Lushun) in northeastern China during the Russo-Japanese 
War. Of the 51,000 troops involved, about 35,000 survived.