APWH: Chapter 32: Societies at Crossroads

Janissaries

By the late seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire was begininning to decline. The Ottomans were far behind on technological advances and faced defeat against others such as the Russians and Austrians. The Janissary corps, which had served as the imperial force since the fifteenth century had begun to weaken by their own doing. The Janissaries repeatedly planned to take power from palaces, and by the 19th century, they had become a prominent political power in the Ottoman Empire. They neglected their training and refused to adopt to advances in military technology. The significance of the Janissaries and their declining effectiveness was that if they were no longer as disciplined to strengthen themselves and progress towards better protection of the state, the Ottoman Empire became vulnerable to threats outside and within the state.

Count Sergei Witte

Count Sergei Witte served as the minister of finance in Russia from 1892 to 1903. Up until his efforts, reform was beginning to take place in Russia, and people had hopes of moving forward economically with industrialization. Witte was one of the more prominent advocators of progressing industrialization. He proposed his first plan in 1893, where he planned to get rid of unfavorable conditions that were holding back the economy. He then began to implement policies to stimulate economic development, where he planned for railway construction, remodeling of banks and the creation of savings banks. He also supported infant industries as well as securing large loans from Western Europe to finance industrialization. The significance of Count Sergei Witte is that his plans were very successful and industrialization flourished in Russia. However, it would also lead to peasant rebellion against working conditions, similar to those in Western Europe and the US in North Amercia.

Czar Alexander II

Czar Alexander II ruled Russia from 1855 to 1881. He ruled Russia throughout its period of social, political and legal reformation. During this period of reform ,he has suggested that it was better to grant serfs their freedom than to face rebellion, and in 1861, he abolished serfdom. When he abolished serfdom, his intentions were to create a mobile labor force for emerging industries, and his gov't encourage industrialization as a way of strengthening Russia. He also signed the Treaty of Paris in 1856, ending the Crimean War caused by Russian attempts to expand its empire. Even though he and his gov't worked to balance the lives of lords and serfs, freedom had been unfavorable to most peasants, since most fell into lifetime debt and won few political rights. Other reforms he established were the zemstvos in 1864, which remained subordinate, but dealt with local issues of health, education, and welfare. The significance of Alexander's rule is that he gave way to major reform in Russia, with the abolishment of serfdom. This provided laborers to move forward in industrialization, even if the lives of peasants didn't improve as much as expected.

Czar Nicholas II

Czar Nicholas II ruled from 1894 to 1917. He took the throne after Alexander II, during which time Russia had been terrorism. Nicholas supported oppression and police control. To distract the people from revolution and domestic issues, he and his gov't sent ventures into east Asia. These expeditions led to the Russo Japanese war, and the defeat of the Russian navy. Defeats led to uprisings and in 1905, workers marched to his Winter Palace at St. Petersburg to demand political grants. The gov't sent troops to kill them, and killing around 130 only provoked more opposition. Sergei Witte, appointed by Nicholas to negotiate w Japan, urged Nicholas to establish a legislative assembly. The czar then created the Duma, and even though they had no power over gov't, people still considered it a major concession. Violence and disorder continued afterwards, and although the gov't was able to restore order, the Russian empire was on its way to decline. The significance of Nicholas' rule is that he was able to give some satisfaction to the people, granting them some change in gov't.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi lived from 1835 to 1908. While China was going through a prosperous time of reformation and westernization, as well as industrialization, she took the gathered funds and decided to build a marble boat as a centerpiece for China, instead of diverting them towards the military. However, this didn't help Chinese problems with foreign control and invasion, and now there was less money in the economy to deal with the navy and foreigners.

Commodore Matthew C. Perry

Japan, just like China, experienced a lot of foreign pressure and control, but for Japan, the major instigator was the USA. In 1844, several foreign countries sailed to Japan looking to establish ties. The USA wanted to be able to trade with Japan on several ports linking the pacific coast. Japan didn't like this as they wanted to ignore foreign influence. Late 1840's, Japan was preparing for an attack. Eventually in 1853 a U.S. Naval squad sailed to Japan under the leadership of Matthew C Perry, who carefully was ready to shoot at modern day Tokyo. Matthew demanded commercial ties with Japan and friendship. They quickly agreed, afraid of being attacked. Later on, this would allow for other European countries to gather in and ask for similar ideas. This went against Japan's ideals, forcing them to establish foreign ties.

Emancipation of the Serfs

Serfdom in Russia was abolished in 1861, even though afterwards it still remained in practice. Since the eighteenth century, people had begun to oppose serfdom, both on moral grounds and by the belief that serfdom was an obstacle to economic development in Russia. Serfdom had also become a cause of peasant revolt and instability. It had been abolished by Tsar Alexander II, who believed that it was better to free the serfs than letting them free themselves through rebellion. Even though peasants had gotten their freedom and had the opportunity to become landowners, they gained only some political rights and had to pay a tax on lands they received. This hen caused some of them to fall into a lifetime of debt. Also, there was little increase in agricultural production. The significance of the emancipation of the serfs is that it made no valuable progress for the reformation of Russia and for peasants, since very little of them were able to prosper after freedom. However, freeing serfs had been one of the most important aspects of social reform in Russia.

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion began in 1899. It began when Empress Cixi believed foreign powers were pushing for her retirement, so she began to support antiforeign militia units who called themselves the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, but the foreign press regarded them as Boxers. In 1899, the Boxers rampaged through China, killing foreigners, Chinese Christians, and Chinese people who had connections to foreigners. About 140,000 of them had seized foreign embassies in Beijing in 1900. British, French, Russian, U.S., German, and Japanese forces soon crushed them, and the Chinese gov't had to pay an indemnity and allow foreign powers to station troops in Beijing at their embassies and along the sea route. The significance of the Boxer Rebellion is that it had been instigated by a ruler, not the usual chase of discontent among a society. Also, it provoked other revolutions, as well as causing the Qing dynasty to be considered bankrupt.

Crimean War

The Crimean war took place from 1&53 to 1856. By this time, Russia was a powerful empire in constant expansion. They had already expanded east into Manchuria, south in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and southwest towards the Mediterranean Sea. They had attempted to go into the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman empire, which during this time was going into decline. This was not favored by European States, and Britain, France, the King of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire entered into conflict with Russia. In 1854, allied forces went against Sevastopol in Crimean peninsula, where Russia had its Black Sea Fleet headquarters. This rendered Russian forces almost useless, and they faced a humiliating defeat. The significance of the Crimean War is that it demonstrated Russia's weaknesses, economically and militaristically. They could face the Ottomans and the Qing Dynasty, but were weak against Western European forces. Also, their agrarian society based on free labor was able to support such expansion.

Opium War

The Opium War took place from 1839 to 1842. Since Chinese products could only be bought with silver, Western European traders began trading opium for the silver bullion, causing social and economic problems for China. The Chinese gov't took into its hands to destroy the opium trade, and this caused a loss of money for Britain, who depended on this trade to acquire silver to pay for Chinese exports. British commercial agents began a military retaliation, with naval vessels easily dominating the seas. On land, the Chinese were also rendered weak against the controlled firepower of the British forces. Still, the Chinese refused to back down.Britain the. Decided to strike at the Grand Canal, which served as major connection between the Yellow and Yangzi River. In May of 1842, 70 ships went up the Yangzi River, and by the time they reached the intersection of the Grand Canal, China was ready for peace. The significance of the Opium War is that it demonstrated the clear differences between Britain and China in technological development and military effectiveness, as Britain's advanced weaponry and technology had a clear superiority over China's.

Russian Revolution of 1905

The Russian Revolution took place in 1905. Up until this time, military defeats were causing discontent among society. In January of 1905, a group of workers marched on the tsar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition Nicholas for a popularly elected assembly and other political demands. Government troops armed with rifles killed 130 of them. This caused labor unrest, peasant inssurrection, student demonstrations, and mutinies in both the army and navy. Peasants even planned to take the property of their landlords, and urban workers created councils called soviets to organize strikes and negotiate with employers and gov't authorities. Sergei Witte then urges the tsar to created a legislative assembly, which results in the creation of the Duma, the first parliamentary institution. The Duma lacked the power to create or bring down governments, but was still considered a major progress. Disorder still continued, and by the time order was restored, Russia was weak and falling into decline.

Self Strengthening Movement

The Self Strengthening Movement took place from 1860 to 1895. One of the most imaginative reform programs, the self strengthening movement sought to blend Chinese culture with European industrialism. Is movement had given leaders the authority to raise troops, levy taxes, and run bureaucracies, and led them to promote military and economic reform. Reformers stuck to Confucian values and the maintaining of a agrarian society, while still constructing shipyards, railroads, establishing weapon industries, steel foundries with blast furnaces, and academies to develop scientific expertise. The significance of this movement is that it did not bring significant change to China. Industrialist progress was not enough to strengthen the military or economy, and funds were not used for their rightful purpose. It also ran on a contradiction, since European education would divert people from Confucianism and industrialism would remove an agrarian society.

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion began in 1850 and ended in 1864. Cause of this and other rebellion that erupted throughout China were increasing drug addiction, increasing poverty and discontent, strain of population growth, land concentration to the wealthy elite, and government corruption. A prominent leader of the Taiping rebellion had been a schoolteacher named Hong Xiuquan, who had called for the destruction of the Qing Dynasty, and for a reconstruction of Chinese society. His proposed reform program called for the abolition of private property, creation of communal wealth distributed based on needs, prohibition of foot binding and concubinage, free public education, simplification of the written language, and literacy for the masses. Other leaders also called for the establishment of a democracy and industrialism. In 1853, Hong and his army took Nanjing and made it the capital of the Taiping Kingdom. They continued their campaign and had towns and villages join them. While Qing forces had the ability to resist them, eye had soon become a threat to Shanghai. After the Taipings overcame Manchu forces, the Qing gov't sent regional armies staffed by Chinese soldiers equipped with European weaponry to overcome them. The Taipings were defeated, and by 1864, Hong had committed suicide. Afterwards the taiping capital fell, and the gov't slaughtered taiping members. The sick acne of the Taiping rebellion is that it caused severe poverty among people to where they resorted to eating grass, claimed over twenty million lives, and caused major declines in agricultural production. However, it did lead to major change in China.

Tanzimat Movement

The Tanzimat Era took place in the Ottoman state from 1838 to 1876. By this time, Ottomans were facing continuing military defeats and rise of separatist movements. Reforms during this era were inspired by Enlightenment thought and constitutions established in Western Europe. Reformers promulgated a commercial code, penal code, maritime code, reformed the civil code, and in 1869 introduced a compulsory, free primary education system. Other educational reform included the introduction of a system of primary and secondary school that led up to university level instruction, supervised by the government. Besides education, decrees issued protected the rights of subjects. These rights included a guarantee of a public trial, privacy, and seen as equal before the law. Effects of this reform was the undermining of the ulama, and an in case in authority for the state. The reformers also faced opposition by conservative Muslims and the Young Ottomans, as well as from the Ottoman bureaucracy. In a positive prospective, the Ottoman society was strengthened by these reforms.

Treaty of Nanjing

The Treaty of Nanjing was created in 1842, ending the Opium War between Britain and China, which had been caused by the Chinese emperor wanting to put an end to the social and economic Orin,elms the import of Opium had been causing in China. Considered an unequal treaty, it ceded Hong Kong Island in perpetuity to Britain, opened five Chinese ports including Guangzhou and Shanghai; to commerce and residence, forced the Qing gov't to recognize Britain as the most favored nation, granted extraterritoriality to British subjects, exempting them from being subject to Chinese law. The significance of this treaty is that it legalized the opium trade again, allowed for Christianity to flow into China, and gave foreign countries authority over China. China then lost a great amount of control over their economy and how they wanted to be influenced by other countries.

The Young Turks

The Young Turk Party was founded in 1889 by Otto an subjects living in Paris. By this time, the Ottoman Empire was undergoing reform by the sultan, and there was increasing industrialization and inspiration from the Western European states, as well as changes in the economy. The Young Turk party greatly supported reform and expressed their support through the newspaper, which had just been introduced. Some of the goals they had in mind were universal suffrage, equality before law, freedom of religion, free public education, secularist ion of the state, and the emancipation of women. In 1908, they forced the current sultan to reinstate the constitution and parliament. By 1909, they had dethroned the sultan and put in a puppet sultan. Afterwards, a sultan held the title but had no real authority. The Young Turk party also had nationalist goals, such as making Turkish the official language and maintaining Turkish hegemony. The significance of the Young Turks is that they represented a symbol of nationalism for the Ottoman Empire, however, at the same time, they wanted rights for their subjects. While being advocators of reform in favor of the society, they also aggravated tensions between rulers and subjects.

Letter of Lin Zexu

The letter of Lin Zexu to Queen Victoria was written in 1839, where Lin Zexu, the emperor of a China at that time was determined to end the Opium trade, which had been causing major social and economic problems for China. In the letter, he tries to gain Queen Victoria's support by saying that the British who are trading the opium for their own benefit cannot be tolerated, and that if she abolished the the production and sell of it, that the heavens will greatly protect her. He also says that they will gladly warn the merchants of the consequences of continuing the trade of opium. The significance of this letter is that it demonstrated efforts by Lin Zexu to settle such a conflict in peace, even thought the letter was never delivered.

Zaibatsu

The zaibatsu were financial advisors in the 1880s. They had lots of economic power in a group of a few people. This helped to put japan on board with industrial powers of the world. They rapidly industrialized, and peasants were very helpful to the economy as they worked in factories and yielded more and more harvests. This allowed for 90% of governmental revenue to be based off the peasants. Eventually, peasants became discontent and rioted, but the government did nothing to help solve the unhappiness of the peasants. They were malnourished, starved, and poor. No labor unions or any sort of promotion of the workers welfare were allowed. Although these were negative impacts, they helped form japan into a major industrial power like it is today.

Meiji Restoration

Tokugawa authorities didn't quietly yield power but instead acted violently to dissidents in society. In 1868 a boy named Mutsuhito took reign of power, and ruled officially from 1852-1912. During his rule he got rid of social order, getting rid of the samurai class but this prevented any threats to power. There was also foreign influences by places like Germany on their constitutions of Japan. This allowed the emperor to have the right to dissolve parliament, and this also allowed for more debate in Japanese society. The tax system was also rearranged, allowing Japanese peasants to have a set amount of money owed, and they would then deal with revenues and market prices. There wasn't anymore taxes that were paid by a crop or harvest, and we're now paid with actual money. Later, this empire would establish transportation, communication, and education. This would be significantly helpful to economic growth and prosperity.

Tokugawa Shogunate

While the Tokugawa Shogunate was still in place, Japan began to undergo reform. In 1853. US troops arrived at Tokyo Bay and de,added to start commercial and diplomatic relations with Japan. The Tokugawa shogun was forced into signing unequal treaties, and opposers in Japan began to use foreign influence as an excuse to overthrow the shogun. By the early nineteenth century, Japan was facing declining agricultural productivity, periodic crop failure and famines, harsh taxation, and starvation. These and other increasing economic problems caused peasant rebellion and protest late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Between 1841 and 1843, the shogunate began measures to stimulate growth by cancelling debts that samurai and daimyo owed to merchants, abolished merchant guilds, and persuaded peasants to return to land cultivation. Most of these reforms were ineffective and provoked protest. The Tokugawa shogunate also faced foreign pressure with other countries wanting to establish commercial and diplomatic relations, even though Japan continued to trade only wi a small group of Dutch merchants. By the 1840s the shogunate made preparations to face any attacks. Force by Perry to sign an unequal treaty, the shogun soon granted similar rights to other countries and Japan lost control over their global economic influence. Complying wit he demands of the other countries caused protest and eventually led to the collapse of the Tokugawa bakufu.