Not only the climax of the Japan-Russian War, but a climax to all wars was reached in the Battle of Mukden, fought February 19-March 13, 1905. This memorable struggle, resulting in a sweeping victory for Japan, was practically a campaign in itself. The results, a cataclasm which overwhelmed the Russian army, were not merely what had been expected for this one battle, but comprehended all that the Japanese had hoped for a year's campaign. It was more than rout. It remains a grisly monument to the potentiality of war to write horror on the pages of world history. It was more than defeat, retreat, disaster, it was practical annihilation for Russia's power of resistance in the Far East. Her vaunted military power was trailed in the dust, was obliterated. When the smoke of the contest had rolled away Oyama stood master of Manchuria with only a demoralized horde of the enemy "without form and void" fleeing in panic with no thought but to shake off a foe to whom no resistance could be offered. [Sidenote: The Greatest Battle of History] No nation in the world's history has faced a greater blow to its military prestige, and from the standpoint of the Japanese--no military force has achieved for its nation a more sweeping or more complete victory. The Battle of Mukden is destined to occupy a unique place in the story of the nations for these and other reasons. In point of the territory involved; in point of the number of men engaged; in point of the duration of the struggle; in point of the lessons, the authentic history of the world has no peer for its record. General Kuropatkin, the Russian Commander-in-Chief, had at the beginning of the struggle an army of 300,000 infantry; 26,700 cavalry, and 1,368 guns. This is the estimate of the Japanese intelligence bureau. On the other hand the German Military Review credited Kuropatkin with a total of 370,790 men of whom 36,790 were cavalry. The Germans estimate that the Russians had a total of 1,598 field guns, and 72 heavy guns. Somewhere between these two estimates the actual figures, carefully concealed by the Russians, may be taken to lie. Marshal Oyama had 500,000 men of all arms and artillery equal to that of the Russians with a preponderating number of big guns, a great many having been moved from Port Arthur to the northern battleground. In the two armies therefore, there were in round numbers a total of about 800,000 men. [Illustration: MAP OF THE BATTLE OF MUKDEN.] [Sidenote: Rout and Disaster for Russia]