The of 8–9 February 1904 (Monday February 8 - Tuesday February 9) marked the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War. It began with a surprise night attack by a squadron of Japanese destroyers on the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur, Manchuria, and continued with an engagement of major surface combatants the following morning; further skirmishing off Port Arthur would continue until May 1904. The battle itself ended inconclusively, though later events would result in the war ending in a Japanese victory. For a major European power to lose to the Japanese was not only inconceivable to the world at large but also fraught with dire circumstances for the Imperial regime; the Russian people, from the nobility down to the recently emancipated serfs, lost confidence in the military and in the Tsarist political system. This led directly to the Russian Revolution of 1905, and would be well-remembered upon yet-more-disastrous defeats to come later in World War I.