The U.S.S.R. and Japan: An analysis of their political relations, 1918-1945

One can easily see by merely looking at the map of the Far East that there are many points of contact and consequently of inevitable conflict between two great powers, Russian and Japan. In the course of the last half century, relations between these two countries have never been too cordial. In fact, many times they have been on the verge of armed clashes. Manchuria and Mongolia, Sakhalin and the Kuriles were two important disputed areas to both Russia and Japan, and no matter how they tried to settle their differences in the matter of expansion into these territories, there were times when they had to resort to the test of arms.