Although its focus extends beyond 1905, Kaigun by David Evans and Mark Peattie is essential for understanding the naval aspect of the war. David Schimmelpennick van der Oye's Toward the Rising Sun covers the Russian perspective on origins of the war, focusing on the connection between popular imperial ideas and tsarist policy. Ian Nish is the major diplomatic historian who covers the origin of the war from the Japanese perspective, his books are older scholarship,but still essential to gain a grounding in the diplomacy of the period.