China Far East Railway
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The China Far East Railway (a.k.a. Chinese Eastern Railway, CER) was a railway connecting China and the Russian Far East. English-speakers referred to key strategic portions of this line as the Manchurian Railway. Russians know this railway as Template:Lang, or Template:Lang (Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga, KVZhD).
The Southern branch known in the West as the South Manchurian Railway became the locus and partial casus belli for several wars— The Russo-Japanese War and Second Sino-Japanese War (Including 'incidents' leading up to this later from 1927).
Image:Harbin Lage.jpg The administration of the CER took place from Harbin. Complete end-to-end rail connection first occurred in 1916 with the completion of the 600-plus-mile long line south of Lake Baikal, which required the construction of hundreds of bridges. Services prior to that trans-shipped by ferry along the lake using a special ferry-cum-icebreaker.
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History of the line
Construction of the CER started in July 1897 along the line Tarskaya - Hilar - Harbin - Nikolsk-Ussuriski. Officially, traffic on the line started in November 1901, but regular passenger traffic from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok across the Trans-Siberian railway started in July 1903.
During the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905), Imperial Russia lost both the Liaodong and the southern spur railway (Harbin to Port Arthur) to Japan, which took over most of this Southern branchline (also known to the West as the South Manchurian Railway and as Changchun to the Japanese) by conquest during the fighting. (See details— Kwantung Leased Territory and Treaty of Portsmouth)
This line serviced the stretch from Harbin to the strategic ice-free ports west of the Korea Bay Dalny (Dalian/Darien) and Port Arthur (Lushun). In an ironic turnabout, the Soviet Government insisted on control of this region after World War II before the communist forces won in China. (See below)
During 1917-1924 (Russian Civil War) the Russian part of the CER came under the administration of the White Army.
After 1924 the USSR and China administered the Northern CER jointly, while Japan maintained conrol of the southern spurline, one of its spoils of the Russo-Japanese War, a large part of which consisted of fighting for control of this line.
In 1935 the USSR had to sell all its rights in the CER to the Manzhouguo government.
From August 1945 the CER again came under the joint control of the USSR and China. Somewhat reversing their stinging losses in 1904-1905, after World War II the Soviet Government insisted on occupying the Liaodong Peninsula but allowed joint control over the Southern branch; all this together received the name of the "Chinese Changchun Railway" (Russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га).
In 1952 the Soviet Union transferred (free of charge) all its rights to the Chinese Changchun Railway to the People's Republic of China.
Manchurian Railway
The Manchurian Railway was a single tracked line extending (and shortening) the famous world's longest railroad, the Trans-Siberian Railway from the Siberian city of Chita via Harbin across northern inner Manchuria to the Russian port of Vladivostok. This route drastically reduced the travel distance required from the original main Northern route (lying wholely outside Chinese Manchuria, in the region known as Outer Manchuria (or Russian Manchuria) ceded to Russia in 1858 and 1860) to Vladivostok by by-passing of a large loop bulging to the north in the mainline theretofore. (This by-passed semi-circular loop can be seen in the tracing of dark shaded red border due north of the eastern tip of Mongolia between the lighter shaded Russian Manchuria. In math terms, this railroad cut the chord by passing through China.)
In contrast to Outer Manchuria, the part of Manchuria that is still part of China, is usually called simply "Manchuria", but can also be referred to as "Inner Manchuria". Outer or Russian Manchuria is the lighter red shaded region to the upper right in the map. Most of the border region is bounded by the Amur River which is easily seen in the lower map.
Genesis of the short road
A Construction Concession was granted by China in 1896 through northern Inner Manchuria, running basically due west from Vladivostok via Harbin to Chita, and construction was drastically accelerated after Russia concluded a (forced) twenty-five year lease (See Kwantung Leased Territory) of Liaodong (or, and literally Eastern Liaoning Province) from the Qing dynasty. By contrast, the Trans-Siberian Railway mainline started in 1891 from Vladivostok, traveled northwards then westwards from this strategic, albeit ice-plagued port.
At this same time in 1898, a 550 mile spur line was started (essentially North to South), The Southern Manchurian Railway, from Harbin down through eastern Manchuria, along the Liaotung (Liaodong) Peninsula, to the ice-free deep water port at Lüshun, a sleepy fishing town almost at the tip of the Liaotung/Liaodong Peninsula, which Russia was fortifying and overhauling into a first class strategic Naval base and Marine Coaling Station for their Far Seas Fleet and Merchant Marine.
This town was known in the west as Port Arthur, and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) was essentially fought over who would possess this region and its excellent harbor, as well as whether it would remain open to traders of all nations (Open Door Policy). The Manchurian Railway was essentially completed in 1902, beating the stretch around Lake Baikal, by fourteen years. Until that portion was completed, cargo on the Trans-Siberian Railway had to be transshipped by ferry the 632 miles along the lake's length.
See also
References
- Mara Moustafine. Secrets and Spies: The Harbin Files. A Vintage Book series, Random House, Australia Pty Ltd, 468 pp.
- F.R. Sedwick, (R.F.A.), The Russo-Japanese War, 1909, The Macmillan Company, N.Y., 192 pp.
- Colliers (Ed.), The Russo-Japanese War, 1904, P.F. Collier & Son, New York, 128 pp.