Perhaps since the beginning of time, but certainly for as long as I can recall, men have been obsessed with “bigness” as a measure of their success in life and of their very masculinity: the size of their homes, their cars and boats, their bank accounts and investment portfolios, their wives’ bosoms, their . . .

Okay, you get the point.

World leaders are no different from the guy next door, except that the scope of their obsession with size is . . . well . . . even larger. It extends to the expanse of their territory, their military forces, and even their conference room tables.

But an event that occurred on this date in 1904 should serve as a reminder to Vladimir Putin that, at least when it comes to winning wars, size isn’t everything.

On February 8, 1904, the (comparatively) tiny island nation of Japan invaded the vast Empire of Russia over a dispute concerning the territories of Manchuria and Korea. In a move that would be repeated by their air force nearly four decades later at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack against the Russian naval base at Port Arthur, decimating the Russian fleet.

The Russian Tsar at the time, Nicholas II — also, not coincidentally, the last Russian Tsar — was no military genius. He and his forces seriously underestimated the Japanese military capabilities. In the ensuing months, Russia suffered three major defeats: the fall of Port Arthur to Admiral Heihachiro Togo in January 1905; the victory of Japanese Field Marshal Iwao Oyama at Shenyang, China, in March; and the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Togo in May. [“This Day In History,” History.com, February 8, 2026.]

At that point, Russia gave in to Japan’s imperialist drive in East Asia, and in August a peace treaty mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The metaphorical “David” had again slain his “Goliath.”

*. *. *

There are two important lessons to be learned from this little bit of history:

First, for Vladimir Putin, who may have forgotten that that defeat by Japan was a major spark that lit the flames of the 1905 Russian Revolution: He thought he could overrun the much smaller and weaker Ukraine in a matter of days, and instead now finds himself entering the fifth year of a war in which he has gained only 20 percent of the territory he had expected to own in its entirety.

Those who forget history . . .

And second, for Donald Trump, who is so frustrated by Barack Obama’s having won a Nobel Peace Prize when the same honor has eluded him: Teddy Roosevelt was also the recipient of the coveted prize, for his role in negotiating the Russo-Japanese peace treaty of 1905.

Nyah, nyah!

Of course, that was a real war, and Roosevelt really did bring it to an end; whereas, the eight “wars” that Trump claims to have ended . . . well, you know. And then there are the ones that he is working so hard to start. But — unlike Putin, who may have chosen to overlook an historic detail or two — Trump was never in possession of the facts in the first place.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/8/26