Empires in Collision: Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia (1800-1900) Study Notes

Connecting Past and Present: The Legacy of Collision

Modern Political Resonance of the Opium War: * In early $2017$ , Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the historical impact of Britain’s nineteenth-century intrusion into China, particularly the opium trade. * This conflict is identified as the start of the "century of humiliation," a central concept in official Chinese government ideology. * The victory of the Chinese Communist Party is credited as the turning point that allowed China to escape this shameful past. * Patriotic Education: Memories of the Opium War serve as a pillar for educating the youth against uncritical admiration of the West and as a rebuttal to Western criticisms of China. * Approximately $180$ years later, the conflict remains emotionally resonant and a politically useful tool for the state.

Global Context: Navigating the Era of Imperialism

Diversity of Global Responses: While China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan are the primary focus, other states also maintained independence while facing the industrializing West.
Persia (Modern Iran): * Persia maneuvering between the rival ambitions of Russia and Great Britain to avoid a total takeover. * Introduced elements of Western science, technology, education, and culture.
Ethiopia: * An ancient Christian East African state. * Battle of Adowa ( $1896$ ): Decisively defeated Italian imperial ambitions. * Modernization under Emperor Menelik II (r. $1889$ - $1913$ ): * Developed telegraph, telephone, and electricity services. * Established railroads and modern banking and postal systems. * Founded a new capital, Addis Ababa. * Acquired a substantial arsenal of modern weapons by playing European powers against each other.
Siam (Thailand): * Maintained independence under King Mongkut (r. $1851$ - $1868$ ) and King Chulalongkorn (r. $1868$ - $1910$ ). * Strategies: Made modest concessions to Europeans and maneuvered between British and French rivalries. * Reforms: Codified laws, allowed petitions to the king, ended slavery and forced labor, initiated a Western-style educational system, built railroads, and established the first electric power-generating plant.
The Nature of the Encounter: These societies participated in networks of trade, investment, and migration centered in capitalist Europe. They engaged with modernity: scientific rationalism, technological achievements, and ideologies like nationalism, socialism, feminism, and individualism.

Reversal of Fortune: The Chinese Century of Crisis

The Turning Point ( $1793$ - $1912$ ): * In $1793$ , Emperor Qianlong rejected British requests for less restricted trade, claiming the "Celestial Empire" possessed all things in abundance and had no need for "barbarian" manufactures. * By $1912$ , the imperial state collapsed, and China shifted from the "Middle Kingdom" to a weak, dependent participant in a European-dominated world.
Internal Pressures (The Crisis Within): * Population Growth: Rose from $100$ million in $1685$ to $430$ million in $1853$ . * Stagnant Infrastructure: No Industrial Revolution accompanied the growth, and agricultural production failed to keep pace. * Lack of Resources: Expansion to the west and south did not provide the wealth equivalent to Europe's overseas empires. * Administrative Decay: Governing institutions failed to perform functions like tax collection, flood control, and social welfare. * Corruption: High levels of corruption among officials and local gentry; an $1852$ report described tax delinquents being beaten so severely that "blood and flesh fly in all directions."
The Taiping Uprising ( $1850$ - $1864$ ): * Nature: A unique millenarian peasant upheaval that rejected Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in favor of a unique form of Christianity. * Leadership: Hong Xiuquan ( $1814$ - $1864$ ) proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus, sent to establish a "heavenly kingdom of great peace." * Revolutionary Goals: Abolition of private property, redistribution of land, sex-segregated military camps, and an end to opium and prostitution. * Gender Roles: * Reflected Hakka people's origins (where women were less restricted). * Hakka women participated as soldiers; Taiping officials ordered an end to foot binding. * Women could sit for civil service exams and held supervisory positions over other women. * Defeat: Crushed in $1864$ by provincial military leaders (not the central imperial army) with Western support. Resulted in $20$ to $30$ million deaths, the most costly conflict of the $19$ th century.

Western Pressures and the Opium Wars

The Opium Problem: * Opium was originally a medicine introduced by Arab traders in the $8$ th century. * The British began using Indian-grown opium to fix trade imbalances (paying for tea/silk). * Import Statistics: $1,000$ chests (each roughly $150$ pounds) in $1773$ rose to $23,000$ chests in $1832$ . * Impact: Illegal smuggling corrupted officials; silver outflow reversed centuries of silver attraction; millions of addicts across all social classes.
First Opium War ( $1840$ - $1842$ ): * Triggered by Commissioner Lin Zexu's crackdown ( $1839$ ), where he confiscated $50,000$ pounds of drug/pipes and eventually $3$ million pounds of raw opium. * Treaty of Nanjing ( $1842$ ): The first of the "unequal treaties." Forced China to open five ports and pay a ransom of $6,000,000$ dollars for the seized opium.
Second Opium War ( $1856$ - $1858$ ): * Resulted in the vandalizing of the Summer Palace near Beijing. * More ports opened; foreigners allowed to travel and buy land; Christianity protected; Chinese forbidden from calling the British "barbarians" in documents.
Further Loss of Territory: Following defeats by France ( $1885$ ) and Japan ( $1895$ ), China lost Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan. Western nations, Russia, and Japan carved out "spheres of influence."

The Failure of Conservative Modernization in China

Self-Strengthening Policies ( $1860s$ - $1870s$ ): * Attempted to reinvest in traditional China while borrowing from the West (arsenals, shipyards, foreign-language schools). * Inhibited by conservative leaders who feared industrialization would erode the power of the landlord class.
The Boxer Uprising ( $1898$ - $1901$ ): * Led by the "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists." * Killed Europeans and Chinese Christians; besieged embassies in Beijing. * Western powers and Japan crushed the rebellion, imposing a huge payment on China.
Emergent Nationalism: * Educated elites formed societies like the "National Rejuvenation Study Society" and the "Understand the National Shame Society." * Qiu Jin ( $1875$ - $1907$ ): Rebellious daughter of a gentry family; argued for liberated women as essential to a strong nation. * The Hundred Days of Reform ( $1898$ ): Squelched by conservatives. * Collapse: The imperial order ended in $1912$ with the abdication of the last emperor.

The Ottoman Empire: "The Sick Man of Europe"

Historical Standing: In $1750$ , the Ottoman Empire was the central political fixture of Islam, with the Sultan serving as Caliph.
The Contraction: * Loss of India, Indonesia, West Africa, and Central Asia to Christian powers. * Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt ( $1798$ ): A stunning blow leading to an independent Egypt that nearly toppled the empire. * Nationalist Movements: Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania achieved independence.
Economic Decline: * Direct oceanic access to Asia by Europeans bypassed Ottoman trade routes. * Capitulations: Agreements granting Westerners exemptions from Ottoman law and taxation. * Debt: By $1881$ , the empire could not pay interest on foreign loans, leading to foreign control of revenue systems.

Ottoman Reform: Tanzimat, Young Ottomans, and Young Turks

Early Efforts: Sultan Selim III (r. $1789$ - $1807$ ) tried moving toward a European-style army but was overthrown and murdered by the Janissaries and ulama.
Tanzimat Reforms ( $1839$ - $1876$ ): * "Reorganization" efforts aimed at a recentralized state. * Economic/Social infrastructure: factories, mining, steamships, railroads, modern postal service, Western-style law codes. * Legal Equality ( $1856$ Proclamation): Non-Muslims granted equal rights; challenged the Islamic character of the state. * Women: Training for midwives ( $1842$ ), girls' secondary school ( $1858$ ), teacher training college ( $1870$ ).
Young Ottomans: * Class of Western-educated lower-level officials and writers. * Promoted "Ottomanism" (inclusive dynastic loyalty) and "Islamic Modernism" (incorporating Western science without materialism).
Young Turks: * Military and civilian elites who advocated militarily secular public life. * Exercise power after a $1908$ coup. * Pushed radical secularization: schools, courts, Law of Family Rights, official Turkish language. * Opened Istanbul University to women and allowed divorce in some situations.

The Japanese Difference: The Rise of a New East Asian Power

The Tokugawa Background ( $1600$ - $1850$ ): * Ruled by a shogun (Tokugawa family) in the name of a powerless emperor in Kyoto. * Managed $260$ rival daimyo (feudal lords). * Social Structure: Four ranks: samurai, peasants, artisans, merchants. * Internal Changes: Samurai became a bureaucratic class; high literacy ( $40\%$ of men, $15\%$ of women); urbanization (Edo had $1$ million residents).
The End of Isolation: * Matthew Perry ( $1853$ ): U.S. Commodore’s "black ships" (nine steamships with $1,800$ men and $100$ cannons) demanded the opening of Japan. * Japan agreed to unequal treaties to avoid the fate of China.
The Meiji Restoration ( $1868$ ): * Decisive political takeover by young samurai from southern Japan. * Claimed to restore power to the young Emperor Meiji ( $15$ years old). * Goal: Saving Japan from foreign domination through a total transformation using Western models.

Modernization Japanese-Style: The Meiji Transformation

National Unity: Abolished daimyo domains; created a national army based on conscription; samurai lost their role and right to carry swords.
Westernization: "Civilization and Enlightenment" became the slogan. Fukuzawa Yukichi argued Japan excelled in nothing compared to the West and must learn.
Selective Borrowing: * Constitution of $1889$ : Modelled on Germany; gift from the emperor; parliament could advise, but power remained with the emperor/oligarchy. * Religion: Shinto was elevated to an official state cult.
Feminism and Regulation: * Kishida Toshiko ( $1882$ ): Two-month speaking tour for equality. * Repression: Peace Preservation Law of $1887$ forbade women from joining political parties. Civil Code of $1898$ grouped wives with "disabled persons."
Industrialization: * State-guided program; infrastructure (railroads, banking, currency). * Labor-Intensive: Relied on abundant workforce (especially young women in textile mills) rather than high capital/machinery. * Zaibatsu: Large firms like Mitsubishi corporation became central.

Japan and the World: Rising Imperialism

Equal Standing: Anglo-Japanese Treaty of $1902$ acknowledged Japan as an equal Great Power.
Imperial Expansion: * Sino-Japanese War ( $1894$ - $1895$ ): Defeated China; gained Taiwan and Korea. * Russo-Japanese War ( $1904$ - $1905$ ): First Asian state to defeat a European power; sparked a revolution in Russia ( $1905$ ).
Impact on Subject Peoples: * Regarded as a model for liberation by Poles, Finns, Jews, and Muslims in Aceh and Turkey. * Oppression: Brutality in Korea ( $1910$ - $1945$ ) where Japanese settlers controlled over half the arable land by $1932$ ; suppression of Korean identity; "comfort women" for sexual services in WWII.

Questions & Discussion

Comparison of Imperialism: How did European actions in $19$ th-century China compare to their actions in the Americas during the $16$ th and $17$ th centuries? * Discussion points: China was never outright incorporated as a colony, whereas the Americas were. Both involved extraction of resources and imposition of foreign culture.
The Opium Trade: What do the figures from the Snapshot: Chinese/British Trade at Canton ( $1835$ - $1836$ ) suggest? * Opium exports constituted a value of $17,904,248$ Spanish dollars, a huge percentage of total British exports ( $32,426,623$ ). * British imports from Canton ( $23,852,899$ ) would have left a trade deficit of approximately $9$ million dollars without opium, but opium created a trade surplus for Britain.
Debating Suppression vs. Legalization: * Xu Naiji ( $1836$ ): Argued for legalization/duty payment because smokers are "idle, lazy vagrants" anyway, and the leakage of silver is the real national danger. * Yuan Yulin ( $1836$ ): Argued for suppression because people of today are the officers of tomorrow; partial prohibition causes government ruin and demoralization of culture.
Historians' Perspective on Success: * Atwill & Atwill: Note that the defeat by Japan in $1894-1895$ was a "horrible shock" because China had been the center of the tributary network for centuries. * James L. Huffman: Notes that victory for Japan ignited an "explosion of patriotic fervor" and poured an indemnity of over $300$ million yen into the economy.