== Russo-Japanese War== During the 1890s, the Russians had focused on increasing their economic activity and industrial output. A part of the 20-Year Plan was the development of the Siberian wastes. Vladivostok was now the sixth-largest port in Russia, and the colony at Port Arthur in China was almost as large (as an ice-free backup for harsh winters). This had meant that the Russian influence in Manchuria was now almost enough to worry the other Great Powers--especially Japan. From 1901 to 1904, Tokyo made repeated requests for negotiations regarding "the worrisome conflict of interest between our nations' repective interests in North-East China, and how this situation may best be resolved through diplomacy as opposed to the taking up of arms." However, while Alexander II had taken a conc