Industrialization+Outside+the+West

Japan and Russia: Industrialization Outside the West



1. What was the Decemberist uprising? What were its causes and effects?
 * Russia **

A revolt of western-style army officers in 1825, inspires the Russian tsar, Nicolas, the secret police expand. Schools and public works were tightly administered. Political opponents rose against the government. They tried to keep away from the evolutional spirits. The uprising lead to a start of reform, they wanted to prevent these nationalistic changes against their political affairs. The Russians wanted to stay on top of things like diplomatic and military force. It started with a conflict of who would succeed in the throne.

2. What were the weaknesses of the Russian economy?

No industrial power that was gained by the Europeans, they increasingly behind their trade and technology. They tightened the obligation of the serfs and tried to compete with Europe. It remained a proudly agricultural society, but had no access to technology and transportation. The significance of the failure to industrialize was demonstrated by the Crimean War (1854-1856). Britain and France came to the support of the Ottomans and defeated the Russians because of their industrial economies. That is why Tsar Alexander II was convinced that reforms were necessary, and that meant resolving the issue of serfdom. Landlords were taking advantage

3.What caused the Crimean War? What were its major effects?

The French and British were looking for power and didn’t want any major opponent; they also wanted diplomatic gain and a stronghold of power with the world, France there for wanted to be a western champion of Christian ideology. This resulted in the war that happened in Russia’s backyard in the Black Sea, yet the western forces won because of their stronghold of weaponry and military supplies. It forced the tsar Alexander II to believe that it is time to change such as sufficient economic reforms and adjustment; this would be through a mobilized labor force than the idea of serfdom. A need for cheep labor, they abolished serfdom, but ironically the western style changes and reform caused more damage than resolve the issue.

4.Why were serfs emancipated? How did their emancipation differ from the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.? What changes did it create? The emancipation of serfs was more generous than the freedom of slaves. The serfs were emancipated in 1861; they received land but did not gain any political freedoms. They were tied to their villages until they paid for the lands they had received because they wanted to preserve essential power. They were paid and increasing taxation, kept most peasants very poor. The emancipation created a larger urban labor force, but it did not spur agricultural productivity. Peasants continued to use old methods on their small holdings. Peasant risings persisted because of the enduring harsh conditions that were exacerbated by population growth.

5. What were the Zemstvoes? How successful were they? Alexander II improved law codes and created local political councils (zemstvoes) which are people who had voice in regulating roads, school, and authority over regional matters. The councils gave political experience to middle-class people, but they had no influence on national policy. Military reform included officer promotion through merit and increased recruitment. There was limited extension of the education system. It was successful in ways such that literacy increased rapidly and a market for popular reading matter developed. Some women gained access to higher education and to the professions. tsars still had power.

6. What was the significance of the Trans-Siberian railroad? It was a move to industrialization was part of the process of change. State support was vital, since Russia lacked a middle class and capital. A railway system was created in the 1870s; it connected European Russia to the Pacific in the 1880s. The railways helped with the iron and coal sectors, as well as the export of grain to the West. They also opened Siberia to development and increased Russian involvement in Asia. Factories appeared in Russian and Polish cities by the 1880s, and the government quickly acted to protect them from foreign competition.

7. What economic reforms were enaced by Sergei Witte

Under Count Witte, from 1892 to 1903, the government passed high tariffs, improved the banking system, and encouraged Western investment. By 1900, about half of industry was foreign owned. Russia became a big nation, but the industries did not produce economic functions. Even though by 1900 some Russian industries were challenging world leaders, the Russian industrial revolution was in its early stages. Its world rank was due to its great size and rich resources, not its technology or trained workforce. Despite all the reform, Russia remained a traditional peasant society that had not experienced the many change occurring with Western industrialization very quick.

8. What were the signs that Russia was headed to revolution? (think about - intelligentsia, anarchists, Marxists, Bolsheviks.)

The new reforms served as a way for more demands for a nationalistic empire. Social protest was a big example, famines that caused peasant uprising. A group of aristocrats rose they were the intelligentsia became active for intellectual beliefs against political actions. They were radical who wanted changes and eliminations of the limitation that exists. Many were also anarchists who hoped to get peasant support, since they failed they moved to different sides which were violent and lead to the formation of a terrorist movement, this only strengthened the wave of political hold. But the current protest gained more force. Marxist doctrines spread from western socialism movement. One of the most important activists was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov known as Lenin a man from the bureaucratic family introduced important innovations. It animated the groups of Russian Marxists known as Bolsheviks. Working unrest was major in the cities formed unions and conducted strikes arousing rural unrest. All these issue had made the revolution inevitable, and made it difficult for compromise.


 * Japan: Transformation without Revolution **

1. Explain major developments in Japan in the early 1800's In the early 1800s, the shogunate continued to combine a central bureaucracy with some feudal alliances between regional daimyos and samurai. The government encountered financial problems because taxation was based on agriculture, while the economy was becoming more commercialized. Reforms were widespread and met many gaps until the caused responses to Western pressure. Japanese intellectual and cultural life continued to expand under the Tokugawa. Older tradition still existed like neo-Confucianism kept its hold among the elite at the expense of Buddhism. Education expanded beyond the upper classes and led to the highest literacy rate outside of the West however, there were many intellectual rivals. Another group issued Dutch studies or an interest in Western scientific progress. The Japanese economy continued to develop as internal commerce expanded and manufacturing spread into the countryside. Intellectuyal life was under the Tokugawa, confucianism still existed 2. What effect did the actions of Commodore Perry have on Japan? (Include details on Samurai discontent) In 1853, an American naval competitor commanded by Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to the West. Later negotiations won the right to station a consul and open ports for commerce, so the European nations quickly secured equal rights. The shogunate bureaucrats had yielded to Western naval superiority; other Japanese favored the ending of isolation. They were opposed by conservative daimyos then all sides appealed to the emperor. The shogunate had depended on the policy of isolation and proved unable to withstand the stresses caused by foreign intervention. Internal disorder resulted in the 1860s and ended in 1868 with the defeat of the shogunate and the proclamation of rule by Emperor Mutsuhito, called the formation of Meiji. Sumeria were sent to Europe to study economic and were impressed by what they had seen. 3. List the actions taken by the Meiji State The Meiji government abolished feudalism and nationally appointed people to replace the daimyos in 1871. The new centralized administration expanded state power to carry out economic and social change. Samurai officials were sent to Europe and the United States to study their economies, technologies, and political systems. Between 1873 and 1876, the government abolished the samurai class and its state people. Most samurai changed sides, and revolt resulted in 1877. The reformed army, based on national approaches, quickly rose. Samurai continued to exist and many sought opportunities in commerce and politics. By 1889, the political reconstruction was complete. The Meiji created a new conservative nobility from former nobles and Meiji leaders; they sat in a British-style House of Peers. The bureaucracy was reorganized, expanded, and opened to those taking civil service examinations. The constitution of 1889 gave major authority to the emperor and lesser power to the lower house of the house. Japan had copied the West but had retained its own identity. governmnet finance improved introduced a real revolution, abolished sumeria 4. Explain how Japan Industrialized - (Private and government roles) Japan's reorganization went beyond political life, a Western-style army and navy were created. New banks were established to fund trade and provide investment capital and railways and steam vessels improved national communications. Many old restrictions on commerce, such as guilds and internal tariffs, were removed. Land reform cleared the way for individual ownership and stimulated production. Model factories were created to provide industrial experience, and an expanded education system offered technical training. Private enterprise was involved in the growing economy, especially in textiles. Entrepreneurs came from all social ranks so by the 1890s, huge industrial combines (zaibatsu) had been formed. Thus, by 1900, Japan was fully engaged in an industrial revolution. Its success in managing foreign influences was a major accomplishment, but Japan before World War I was still behind the West. It depended on Western imports of equipment and coal and on world economic conditions. Successful exports required inexpensive labor and poorly paid women. expanded influences ownerships. 5. List ways that Industrialization changed Japan Industrialization and other changes went along with a massive population increase that supplied cheap labor but strained resources and stability. In the cultural aspect, the government introduced a universal education system stressing science, technology, and loyalty to the nation. The scientific approach enhanced the earlier life of elite culture. Western fashions in dress and personal care were adopted, along with the calendar and other system. Christianity, however, gained few converts. In family life, the birthrate dropped as population growth forced movement from the land and factory labor made children less useful. Family instability showed in a high divorce rate. The traditional view of the inferiority of women in the household continued. Shintoism found new believers, the changes in Japan's economic power influenced foreign policy so by the 1890s, they joined the imperialist nations. The change gave displaced samurai a role and provided nationalist stimulation for the populace. Japan's need for raw materials helped pressure expansion. China and Japan fought over Korea in 1894-1895; Japan's quick and prosperity victory demonstrated the presence of a new Asian power. A 1902 alliance with Britain made it an equal partner in the great power diplomatic system.

6. What division within Japanese society was created by modernization? Japanese success had its costs, among them poor living standards in crowded cities and arguments between generations over Westernization. The emergence of political parties caused disputes with the emperor and his ministers, leading to frequent elections and political assassinations. Many intellectuals worried about the loss of identity in a changing world and others were concerned at lack of economic opportunities for the enlargement-educated class. To counter the changes, officials urged loyalty to the emperor as a center of national identity. Japanese nationalism built on traditions of superiority, and the tensions from change. Its strength was a main factor in preventing the revolutions occurring in other industrializing nations. No other nation outside the West matched Japan's achievements.

Japan and China, despite both being part of the same civilization orbit, responded very differently to Western pressures. Both nations had chosen isolation from outside influences from about 1600 to the middle of the nineteenth century, and thus fell behind the West. China had the capability to react to the challenge, but did not act. Japan, with knowledge of the benefits of imitation, acted differently. Japan’s limited population pressure, in contrast to Chinese population growth, also assisted its response. In political affairs China, by the middle of the nineteenth century, was suffering a dynastic crisis; Japan maintained political and economic vigor. In the late nineteenth century, the East Asian world split apart. Japan became the stronger of the two nations.
 * In Depth**: The Separate Paths of Japan and China.