Immediately after the Russian navy had been swept out of existence, President Roosevelt offered to mediate, and received favorable replies from the warring nations. By the treaty signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 5, 1905, Russia withdrew from Manchuria in favor of China, recognized Japan's paramount position in Korea (annexed by Japan in 1910), and surrendered to Japan her privileges in Port Arthur and the Liao-tung Peninsula. In lieu of indemnity, Japan after a long deadlock was induced by pressure on the part of England and the United States to accept that portion of the island of Saghalien south of the parallel of 50 deg.. Thus the war thwarted Russia's policy of aggressive imperialism in the East, and established Japan firmly on the mainland at China's front door. At the same time, by the military debacle of Russia, it dangerously disturbed the balance of power in Europe, upon which the safety of that continent had long been made precariously to depend. REFERENCES _Spanish-American War_ NOTES ON THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR (a series of publications issued by the Office of Naval Intelligence, U. S. Navy Department, 1900). SAMPSON-SCHLEY OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE U. S. SENATE, Gov't Printing Office, 1899. THE DOWNFALL OF SPAIN, H. W. Wilson, 1900. WITH SAMPSON THROUGH THE WAR, W. A. M. Goode, 1899. A HISTORY OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, R. H. Tetherington, 1900. _Russo-Japanese War_ INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE, 3 vols., H. B. Morse, 1918. THE BATTLE OF TSUSHIMA (1906), RASPLATA (1910), Captain Vladimir Semenoff. JAPANESE OFFICIAL HISTORY, translated in U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, July-August, September-October, 1914. THE SHIP OF THE LINE IN BATTLE, Admiral Reginald Custance, 1912. THE RUSSIAN NAVY IN THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR, Captain N. Klado, 1905. OFFICIAL BRITISH HISTORY OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR, 3 vols., 1910. THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE, Debaters' Handbook Series, N. Y., 1916 (with bibliography). CHAPTER XVI THE WORLD WAR: THE FIRST YEAR (1914-1915) The Russo-Japanese war greatly weakened Russia's position in Europe, and left the Dual Alliance of France and Russia overweighted by the military strength of the Teutonic Empires, Germany and Austria, whether or not Italy should adhere to the Triple Alliance with these nations. To Great Britain, such a disturbance of the European balance was ever a matter of grave concern, and an abandonment of her policy of isolation was in this instance virtually forced upon her by Germany's rivalry in her own special sphere of commerce and sea power.