Imperialism: Turkey (Ottomans), China, and Japan

The Ottoman Empire:

  • The “sick man of Europe”
  • In the 1800’s: went from great power to weak territory
  • Couldn’t keep up with Western Europe
  • Lost many regions to European control

Causes of Territorial Losses

  • European aggression:
    • Invasions from Russia, Britain, France, and Austria
    • 1798: Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt
  • Nationalism and Independence Movements within the Ottoman Empire
    • Independence gained by Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania
    • Driven by Nationalism

More Problems for the Ottomans

  • Weak central government
  • Increased power of local authorities
  • Unable to effectively create revenue
  • Growing military and technology gap with Europe
  • Decreasing power of Janissaries (Ottoman infantry units)
  • Economic Issues:
    • Europeans gained direct sea access to Asia: no longer needed to travel through the Ottoman Empire
    • Ottoman artists put out of work by European manufacturing
    • Series of unbalanced agreements between European powers and Ottomans → allowed Westerners to infiltrate the Ottoman economy
    • Ottomans came to rely on foreign loans to sustain itself → unable to repay these debts or the interest on them; led to foreign control of much of its revenue-gaining system

Attempts at Reform

  • Defensive Modernization
    • Earlier, more sustained, more vigorous than the “self-strengthening” movement in China
  • Began with Sultan Selim III
    • Wanted to reorganize and update the army
    • Wanted to draw on European advisors and techniques
    • Opposition from Ulama (Muslim religious scholars) and Janissaries → believed the reforms threatened their power
  • Future Sultans crushed the Janissaries and brought the Ulama under state control
  • Started the Tanzimat reform:
    • Factories making cloth, paper, and arms
    • Modern mining operations
    • Resettlement of agricultural land
    • Telegraphs, steamships, railroads, modern postal service
    • Western-style law codes and courts
    • New elementary and secondary schools
    • Equal rights for Muslims and Non-Muslims
  • Supporters of Reforms:
    • Young Ottomans - Lower level officials and military officers, writers, poets, journalists
    • New view of Ottoman Empire - secular state whose people were loyal to the dynasty that ruled it
    • Wanted a European-style democratic, constitutional government
    • “Islamic Modernism” - idea that Muslim societies can embrace Western technical and scientific knowledge, while rejecting its materialism
      • Islam can be modern and retain its religious character
    • Young Ottomans → not much success → authoritarian rule continued
    • Young Turks - group of military and civilian elites
    • Opposed tyrannical rule
    • Wanted completely new secular law code
    • supported continuing modernization based on European achievements
    • viewed the Ottoman Empire and a Turkish National State → antagonized Non-Turks
    • Were successful in 1908
      • Established “Law of Family Rights”
      • Opened up secular schools and modern schools for women
      • Women could wear Western clothing
      • Restricted polygamy
      • Women could get divorces in some situations
      • Encouraged Turkish as the official language

China Vs. the Ottomans

  • Both semi-colonies within informal empires of Europe

  • Hurt by rapidly shifting balance of global power

  • Kept formal independence

  • Attempted to modernize → never truly succeeded

  • No restoration of strong state

  • Both gave rise to new nationalist views of society

  • Both empires officially collapsed in the early 20th century

  • Difference: China→ communist government rose after the fall; Ottoman → smaller, independent countries took control of the land

  • Difference: China → rejection of Confucian culture; Ottoman → held onto Islam in society

China

  • Massive population growth in the 18th century
    • resulted in growing pressure on land, smaller farms for China’s huge peasant population, unemployment, poverty, starvation, and misery
  • China’s centralized government did not expand to cope with growing population
  • Unable to effectively:
    • Collect taxes
    • Provide social welfare
    • Control flooding
    • Provide public security
  • Central government lost power to officials in provinces and local landowners
    • Many were corrupt; treated peasants harshly
  • Power shift between Europe and China → Opium Wars
  • British illegally sold China Opium (a highly addictive drug) to make up for a trade imbalance
  • Very profitable market for the British, America, and Western merchants

Opium Trade

  • Problems with Opium Trade:
    • Political: Opium was illegal → disregarded Chinese law which led to the corruption of many Chinese officials who were bribed to keep a blind eye
    • Economic: Massive outflow of silver to pay for Opium caused serious economic decline
    • Social: Millions became addicted and couldn’t function as productive citizens
  • Chinese Emperor cracked down on Opium Use → millions of pounds of Opium destroyed without compensation
    • Western merchants expelled from China
  • British sent a Naval response to China → 1st Opium War → British easily won (stronger Navy)
    • Treaty of Nanjing ended the war
    • Imposed restrictions on the power of the Chinese emperor
    • Opened 5 ports to European traders

Taiping Rebellion

  • Solved many peasant rebellions and uprisings
  • Leading Figure: Hong Xiuquan → claimed to be Jesus’ younger brother and was sent to “establish a heavenly kingdom of great peace in the world” by God
  • Goals:
    • Abolition of private property
    • Radical redistribution of land
    • Equality of Men and Women
    • End of foot binding, prostitution, and opium smoking
    • Sexually segregated military camps of Men and Women
    • Expulsion of all “foreigners”
    • Transformation of China into an industrial nation with railroads, health care for all, and universal public education
  • Established their capital in Nanjing
  • Uprising eventually failed due to:
    • Divisions and indecisiveness within the leadership of the rebellion
    • Inability to link up with other rebel groups in China
    • Western military support for pro-Qing forced
  • Rebel forced finally crushed in 1864
  • Effects on China:
    • Weakening of centralized government
    • Disruption and weakening of China’s economy
    • Destruction and devastation to the land
    • Estimated 20-30 million dead
    • Continued social instability

China’s defeats

  • Second Opium War - British victory
    • Ended by Treaty of Tientsin - 10 ports opened to foreign traders; foreigners could travel freely in and out of China; free to preach Christianity; Foreigners allowed to navigate along China’s major rivers
    • Chinese forbidden to call British “Barbarians” in official documents
  • Sino-French War - French victory
    • Lost Vietnam to the French
  • Sino-Japanese War - Japanese Victory
    • Lost Korea and Taiwan to the Japanese
  • European powers, Russia, and Japan all carved out Spheres of Influence in China
    • Established military bases
    • Extracted raw materials
    • Built railroads
  • Failed “Self-Strengthening” policies
    • Overhauled civil-service exam
    • Support for landlords
    • Repair of irrigation systems
    • Creation of modern arsenals, shipyards, and foreign language schools
    • Few textile factories
    • Coal mines expanded
    • Little support from conservative leaders → Cixi
    • New industries only helped local authorities, not the state

The Boxer Rebellion

  • Indication of failed “self-strengthening” program
  • Anti-foreign movement
  • Led by militia organizations
  • “Boxers” killed many Europeans and Chinese Christians and attacked Beijing embassies
  • Europeans and Japanese crushed the rebellion
    • Imposed huge payment on China as punishment
  • Clear China was dependent on other Countries

Chinese Nationalism

  • Educated Chinese people began searching for ways to save desperate China
  • Frustrated with Qing Dynasty → foreign and ineffective
  • Admired Western technology and science
  • Admired Western political practices
  • Only thing that would save China: a truly unified nation in which rulers and ruled were closely related
  • Qing dynasty could not respond to new pressures by Chinese Nationalists
  • 1911: Ancient imperial order of China collapsed (Lasted 2,000 years)

Japan

  • Very different from China and Ottomans: did not succumb to Western domination
  • Turned itself into a powerful, modern, industrialized nation
  • Joined in on imperialism - created East Asian empire
  • Japan unified under Tokugawa Shogunate (Shogun = Military Leader)
    • Chief Task: prevent civil war between daimyo
    • Feudal Lords: each own band of samurai
    • Shoguns brought peace to Japan for 2+ centuries
  • System to keep daimyos in check: must stay at house in Edo (capital) every other years and left their families behind as hostages → Japan was peaceful, but not unified
  • Centuries of peace led to economic growth, commercialization, and urban development → emerging capitalism, encouragement of education → produced literate population
  • Merchants thrived in this economy → had wealth but no status
    • Many daimyo and samurai borrowed money from them
  • Peasants devoted themselves to farming, live simply, and avoid luxuries
  • Tokugawa Shogunate lost control:
    • Corrupt and harsh officials;
    • Severe famine
    • Expressions of frustration from the poor

American Intrusion of Japan

  • Since the early 1600’s Japan deliberately limited its contact with the West
    • Expulsion of European missionaries
    • Harsh suppression of Christianity
    • Japanese forbidden from leaving
    • Only 1 port for Dutch to trade
  • Early 1800’s: Europe and US were “knocking on Japan’s door”
    • All were turned away
    • Even shipwrecked sailors were jailed/executed
  • 1853: US Commodore Matthew Perry opened Japan
    • Perry demanded:
    • Humane treatment of castaways
    • Right of American ships to refuel and buy supplies
    • Opening of Japanese ports for trade
    • Perry was authorized to use force if necessary → instead he approached them with gifts and a white flag
    • War was avoided
    • Treaty of Kanagawa: opened ports in Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade; permitted establishment of US consulate (like an embassy) in Japan
    • Perry arrived when the Shogun was dying → Shogun’s son asked the daimyo’s for their opinions → showed weakness in shogunate rule
  • Japan agreed to a series of unequal treaties with the US and other Western powers
    • They knew what happened to China when they resisted Western demands - didn’t want to fall into ruin
  • Results of these decisions:
    • Loss of support for the shogunate
    • Reform forces rallied around the new, young emperor (the Meiji Emperor) and won a brief civil war
    • Sitting shogun resigned, ended the shogunate → all power in the hands of the emperor
    • Began a series of major social, economic, and political changes

The Meiji Restoration

  • Goals:
    • Save Japan from foreign domination
    • Transform and modernize Japanese society by drawing upon Western achievements and ideas
  • From feudal system to major industrial power in approx. 50 years
    • Haha, this took Europe centuries
  • Transformation was possible due to:
    • No massive violence or destruction in Japan as in China (Taiping Rebellion)
    • Less pressure from Western powers than China and the Ottomans
    • Japan = less sought after by Europeans bc its location wasn’t very strategic and had less of a population or riches
    • US ambitions slowed due to the Civil War and its aftermath

Japanese Modernization

  • True national unity - required an attack on the power and privileges of daimyo and samurai
  • Ended semi-independent domains of daimyo
    • Many daimyos became governors appointed by and responsible to the national government
    • Samurai lost their positions (the end of samurai)
  • Taught an developed a unique Japanese ideology that was nationalistic, based on ancient samurai ethics
    • Placed emperor at the head of society (he still didn’t hold much power)
  • Sets up future military rule (lasts till the end of WWII (Emperor Hirohito))
  • National government collected taxes and raised a national army (conscription)
    • Army modernized with modern weapons and modern fighting techniques from Western countries
  • Universal Education system based on Western teaching methods
  • The most radical social and economic transformation up to this point
  • Development of a nation-wide economy
  • Feudal system abolished and replaced with prefectures (districts) which still exists today
    • All Japanese became legally equal
    • Merit based system
  • Official missions to Europe and the US to learn about the West
  • Japan borrowed many ideas from the West and combined them with Japanese elements
    • Goal: modernize but keep Japanese culture
  • Constitution of 1889: included a parliament, political parties, and democratic ideals, but it was presented as a gift from the Sun Goddess
  • State-Guided Industrialization Program: government set up a number of enterprises and later sold them to private investors