The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective

The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective

World War Zero, Volume II

Edited by David Wolff, Steven G. Marks, Bruce W. Menning, David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, John W. Steinberg and Shinji Yokote

Books

Available
Publication year: 2007


Series:	History of Warfare, 40
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 15416 2
ISBN-10:	90 04 15416 7

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xvi, 616 pp. 32 illus.

List price:	€ 173.00 / US$ 257.00

Table of contents

Preface, The Editors
Introduction, Iriye Akira
I.Military Visions and Revisions
1. Study Your Enemy: Russian Military and Naval Attaches in Japan - Wada Haruki
2. Miscalculating One’s Enemies: Russian Intelligence Prepares for War - Bruce Menning
3. Differences Regarding Togo’s Surprise Attack on Port Arthur - Aizawa Kiyoshi
4. Between Two Japano-Russian Wars: Strategic Learning Re-appraised - Yokote Shinji
5. Military Observers, Eurocentrism and World War Zero - David Jones
6. Approaching Total War: Ivan Bloch’s Disturbing Vision - Tohmatsu Haruo
II.The Home Front
7. Japan Justifies War by the “Open Door”: 1903 as Turning Point - Kato Yoko
8. Riding the Rails: The Japanese Railways Meet the Challenge of War - Steven Ericson
9. Japan’s Monetary Mobilization for War - Ono Keishi
10. Patriotic Recession: Kyoto Responds to War - Takemoto Tomoyuki
11. Why Did Japan Fail to Become the “Britain” of East Asia? - Tadokoro Masayuki
12. Unsuccessful National Unity: The Russian Home Front in 1904 - Tsuchiya Yoshifuru
III.The Cultural Prism
13. Shifting Contours of Memory and History, 1904-1980 - Chiba Isao
14. White Hope or Yellow Peril?: Bushido, Britain and the Raj - Hashimoto Yorimitsu
15. Natsume Soseki’s Nuanced Views of the Conflict - Tsukamoto Toshiaki
16. Serial War: Egawa Tatsuya’s Tale of the Russo-Japanese War - Kitamura Yukiko
IV. Regional Relations during and after the War
17. A Damocles Sword?: Korea’s Hopes Betrayed - Ku Daeyeol
18. The War and US-Korean Relations - Kim Ki-jung
19. The “Eastern Miscellany” Informs the Chinese Public - Li Anshan
20. Qing China’s Northeast Crescent: The Great Game Revisited - Nakami Tatsuo
21. Portsmouth Denied: The Chinese Attempt to Attend - Hirakawa Sachiko
22. The “Rat Minister”: Komura Jutaro and US-Japan Relations - Tosh Minohara

Readership

Anyone interested in early 20th century Japanese, Russian, European, and United States military, diplomatic, political, social, economic, or cultural history.

About the author(s)

David Wolff is Professor of Eurasian History at the Slavic Research Center at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. He is the author of To the Harbin Station: The Liberal Alternative in Russian Manchuria, 1898-1914.
Steven G. Marks is Professor of History at Clemson University in South Carolina. He is author of How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Anti-Semitism, Ballet to Bolshevism, and Road to Power: The Trans-Siberian Railroad and the colonialization of Asian Russia, 1850-1917.
Bruce W. Menning is a Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. A specialist in modern Russian military history, he is the author of Bayonets before Bullets: The Imperial Russian Army, 1861-1914.
David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye is Associate Professor of Russian and East Asian History at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. He, together with Bruce Menning, edited Reforming the Tsar's Army: Military Innovation in Imperial Russia from Peter the Great to the Revolution.
John W. Steinberg is Associate Professor of History at Georgia Southern University. His book on the education, training, and performance of the Imperial Russian General Staff, 1898-1914 is forthcoming.
Yokote Shinji is Professor of Russian History and Politics at Keio University. He is most recently author of Higashi Ajia no Roshia (Russia in East Asia).

Like Volume one, Volume two of The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective examines the Russo-Japanese War in its military, diplomatic, social, political, and cultural context. In this volume East Asian contributors focus on the Asian side of the war to flesh out the assertion that the Russo-Japanese War was, in fact, World War Zero, the first global conflict of the 20th century. The contributors demonstrate that the Russo-Japanese War, largely forgotten in the aftermath of World War I, actually was a precursor to the catastrophe that engulfed the world less than a decade after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth. This study also helps us better understand Japan as it emerged at the beginning of its fateful 20th century.

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