Victory generates defeat

One constant theme is how decisions were influenced by a misguided concept of racial superiority. Although at the turn of the century Japan was rapidly industrialising and had equipped itself with some of the best warships money could buy (cheerfully supplied by their ally, Britain), the Russians constantly underestimated them. It was surely folly to send a fleet 18,000 miles to the Far East to relieve besieged Port Arthur. When the Russians arrived, their ships and men were so exhausted that the faster Japanese ironclads, superbly commanded by Admiral Heihachiro Togo, were able to outmanoeuvre and destroy them. But in that smashing victory the seeds were sown that led inexorably to Hiroshima and Nagasaki 40 years later. (Moon+ Reader v3.0.1, The Economist [Thu, 05 Nov 2015])