APWH Unit 6, Chapter 19: Societies at Crossroads & Chapter 20: The Apex of Global Empire Building
Chapter 19: Societies at Crossroads
All four empires- Russia, China, the Ottomans, and Japan dealt with military weakness, vulnerability due to foreign threats, internal weakness due to economic difficulties, financial difficulties, and corruption. All attempted political, educational, and industrial reforms and turned to Western models. They had different results for their reforms. The Ottomans, Russians, and Chinese were unsuccessful, but reform in Japan was more thorough - Japan emerged as an industrial power. The Ottoman Empire struggled to maintain its territories and faced significant challenges from nationalist movements, while Russia's reforms were often met with resistance, leading to social unrest. China, on the other hand, experienced internal strife and the Opium Wars, which further weakened its sovereignty.
Decline of the Qing Dynasty - China
The Manchus ruled the Qing dynasty; the Han Chinese were suppressed, and there was little Chinese contact with foreigners.
The British East India Company exploited the opium in India and sold it in chests to China, where it became extremely popular, and an illegal trade began.
Eventually, a war broke out between China and Britain known as the Opium War (1839-1842). The war emphasized China’s lacking position of industrialization.
They were forced to accept unequal treaties that opened 5 ports to trade with Britain, gave Britain control of Hong Kong, and gave the British extraterritoriality (the British weren’t subject to Chinese laws).
All of the major European powers and Japan began to partition China and claim the land for themselves. Imperialist powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia began to control economic and political activity in their spheres of influence.
Internal troubles also weakened Qing China.
The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was a rebellion against the Qing dynasty. It began with Hong Xiuquan’s anti-Manchu sentiment, which was shared by southern Han Chinese laborers. By the end of the rebellion, the central government and economy were weakened, there was destruction and devastation to the land (increased starvation), an estimated 20-30 million lives were lost, and there was continued social instability.
In the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Japan invaded China and fought for control of Korea, a strategically important region for both countries. The war resulted in a shift of power in East Asia and Japan’s emergence as an imperial power.
The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (the Boxers) began a rebellion (Boxer Rebellion) in 1900, attacking foreigners, their businesses, and Christian missions and missionaries. 8 different countries eventually sent troops to China, and it ultimately marked the beginning of a decline of empire in China.
A revolution broke out in 1911 that ultimately overthrew the government of empress dowager Ci Xi and two-year-old nephew Pu Yi.
Decline of the Ottomans
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Ottoman empire controlled much of Northern Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and the Balkan region of Europe.
The Ottomans did not keep up with Western technology, meaning they lagged in weaponry, tactics, and strategies. They could not mass-produce weapons.
The Janissaries became less disciplined and were eventually disbanded by Sultan Mahmud II.
Egypt gained increased autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, Greece and Serbia became independent states, and wars with the Austrian Empire and Russia caused increased losses of territory in central Asia and the western frontier.
The center of global trade shifted to the Atlantic Ocean Basin by the 1800s.
A series of capitulations weakened the Ottoman Empire. Foreign countries took over businesses and set up their own industries and banks to collect profit (to pay off loans). They also granted extraterritoriality to foreign subjects in the Ottoman Empire.
The Tanzimat era was a period of reorganization that attempted to create a more centralized state based on Enlightenment and constitutional ideals. The reforms created some industry, reclaimed and resettled agricultural lands, created a postal system, and created Western-styled laws and courts.
They had many critics, including religious figures, the upper class, and groups such as the Young Ottomans.
To pay for reforms, loans were taken out from Europe. By 1876, the government failed to make payments.
The Young Turk party pushed for radical secularization of schools, courts, and laws and encouraged the use of Turkish as the official language. They overthrew the sultan and created a sort of “puppet government” where the sultan was mostly for show.
The Transformation of Japan: The Meiji Era
In Tokugawa Japan, the emperor was the figurehead, and a military leader called the shogun actually ran the government. The daimyo were powerful lords who often led armies of Samurai warriors. Under Tokugawa rule, Japan remained isolated from Europe, outlawed Christianity, and ended foreign trade.
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry landed in Japan with a US naval squadron, his guns trained on the shogun, demanding the opening of Japan to commercial and diplomatic relationships.
The Meiji Restoration began in 1869, and during the restoration, the government was reformed (emperor was given the power), all people were made equal under the law, a Western-style bureaucracy was established, the military was strengthened, and the special privileges of samurai and daimyo were ended.
They sent intellectuals to Western Europe and the US to observe the government.
Zaibatsu - consolidates economic power into the hands of a few powerful families
became one of the top steel producers in the world
ended legal distinctions between classes
created a free public educational system, and hired Westerners to teach the next generation new modern technology
The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) was caused by both countries wanting to expand into the North Pacific Ocean. The Japanese won the war.
Russian Empire Under Pressure
The Crimean War (1853-1856) was a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire and its allies (Great Britain and France). It was heavily photographed and is considered the first modern war due to weapons, reporting, telegraph lines, and a nurse front.
Russia was forced to cede some territory, and it exposed the weakness of Russia as compared to the West.
Tsar Alexander II issued the Emancipation Manifesto, abolishing serfdom in hopes of creating a cheap new labor source for factories. He also instituted other reforms, such as a new system for local government (Zemstvos). He was assassinated in 1881 by revolutionaries from the People’s Will.
In response to increased revolutionary activity in Russia, Tsar Alexander III increased the secret police, restored strict censorship, exiled opponents to Siberia, and tried to repress non-Russian peoples through Russification.
Jews were forced into ghettos, and pogroms were issued to persecute them. As a result, many Jews fled to Western Europe and the United States.
Sergei Witte oversaw the beginning of Russian industrialization. His plan focused heavily on railroads (the Trans-Siberian railroad) and coal, iron, steel, and petroleum industries.
Tsar Nicholas II came to power when Russia was still primarily an agrarian society, and rapid industrialization led to poor living and working conditions.
In January 1905, around 200,000 workers marched to the Tsar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition that tsar for better working conditions. An event known as “Bloody Sunday” precipitated the Revolution of 1905.
After the Revolution, a legislature known as the Duma was established. Ultimately, it had very limited power and didn’t even have the power to change Russian policies.
Chapter 20: The Apex of Global Empire Building
Whereas colonialism is the establishment of a colony in a foreign place, Imperaliam is frantic competition among European nations to take another country by force. Imperialism was faster and involved more territory.
Imperialism
By 1900, much of Africa was claimed by European powers. This was known as the “Scramble for Africa.” The Berlin Conference (1885) was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, an agreement regulating European colonization and trade in Africa.
Economic causes for imperialism included the cultivation of land to produce raw materials and cash crops such as sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, rubber, etc.
Colonies also provided markets for goods and outlets for population growth.
Colonies increased the global prestige, national security, and nationalism of a country. It also allowed countries to travel/trade when they established ports in colonies.
The Influence of Sea Power on History was written by Alfred T. Mahan. He claimed that all great powers in history had a great navy and widespread bases.
Europeans felt they needed to spread Christianity to various parts of the world. European imperialism was also justified in the “white man’s burden,” where European powers argued that they were destined by God to bring ideas of order and the Enlightenment to areas around the world.
Herbert Spencer created the idea of Social Darwinism - societies evolve from lower to higher forms, the least capable would die out, and it was wrong to interfere with this process
Steamships and railroad lines allowed imperial powers to travel faster and further.
Medical advancements, such as the development of quinine to combat malaria and Walter Reed’s cure for yellow fever, allowed more imperialism by European countries in areas like Africa.
British Imperialism
Great Britain controlled much of India and surrounding countries.
After a revolution by Indian sepoys for being forced to open cartridges supposedly covered in pork and beef fat, in the Great Rebellion (1857), Indians and the British fought, and it is seen as the first war for independence. As a result, the British put India under direct colonial rule.
US Imperialism
The Monroe Doctrine established that the United States would not allow further European colonization in the Western Hemisphere.
The US turned into an imperial power after the Spanish-American War. Yellow journalism spread sensationalized ideas about the Spanish in Cuba around the United States. Following the explosion of the USS Maine (1898), the United States declared war on Spain. It only lasted a few months but resulted in the United States acquiring the Philippines and other Pacific islands, such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.
They also acquired Hawaii and bought Alaska from Russia.
Panama had a revolution against Columbia, which led to negotiations between Panama and the United States to build the Panama Canal.
President Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary (1904). This established that the US had the right to intervene in Latin America if they thought it was necessary to preserve law and order, specifically regarding financial difficulties.