Downtrodden Empires: Japan and Russia

When the Japanese modernized they made sure to keep their traditional values. According to document 1, in the timeline, after the Meiji Constitution was adopted, The Sino-Japanese War Began( in which Japan fought the Qing Dynasty over Taiwan and Korea(Doc 1, N.d, line 7). Japan won these territories and benefited from their resources. It wasn’t until 1904 Japan declared another war on Russia to protect and keep Korea for its resources( Alfred Stead, 1904, Doc 9). This was the first time any other country defeated a European imperialist country.

United States, a time called the Meiji Period caused newly learned ideas to change the Japanese

During the 1800s, the island nations of Great Britain and Japan depended on their location to move them forward. Although they share many geographical similarities, they began handling their government policies very differently. While Japan's isolationist policies kept it locked in the past, imperialist Britain charged forward into a bright and powerful future. It would take the weakening of one Japanese government to bring about the rise of another, a government that would be far more modern and progressive than the last. Overall, when handled to their advantage, the geography of these island nations seemed to positively influence them.

Japan and China had many contrasting responses to western penetration in the nineteenth century, including economic interaction - economically China suffered and Japan prospered, Japanese agricultural productivity increased while China’s did not, and China only accepted a small amount of goods while Japan accepted a wide range of goods- and political interaction - China went to war but Japan did not, Japan adopted western learning styles but China did not, and Japan heavily increased taxes on their people after 1890, while China did not -but had very comparable geographic traits – both had ocean borders – Japan was completely surrounded by water while China was bordered on a large percentage of itself, both kept their ports either fully

China suffered the worst of the two nations after trying to stand up to European powers during the Opium Wars and the anti-western Boxer Rebellion. Japan, however, embraced foreign ideas and was able to prove itself to be a threatening world power after their war with Russia.

Two ships can arrive at the same destination; however that does not necessarily mean that they used the same route on their journey. Such is the same with the industrialization of Britain and Japan. Both rose to become the two great pioneers of the modern world; however the paths they took to success were different. This paper will compare Japan and Britain, exploring the causes of its industrialization, and how the countries drastically changed because of it. What sets Britain’s industrialization process apart from Japans is that it did not have a role model to base its development on; it was the first industrial nation. Therefore the cause of its industrialization must have much

When it comes to modernization, the paths taken by Japan and China were strikingly similar. Well, I say paths taken, however I would argue that it was more along the lines of them being forced upon paths out of necessity in order to survive in a world in which the Western powers of Europe and the United States were increasingly encroaching and interfering in East Asia. The paths I will be looking at for these two nations will both begin with the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan and the Kangxi emperor in China, and several aspects of how these nations and forms of governance operated, as well as large changes in governance. I will look at how these two nations and the West interacted, and how their interactions began to change as time went on. From

Both Japan and Western Europe practiced feudalism and they were both unusually successful in industrial development. They are both also proven adept at running capitalist economies, so the political accomplishments of both Japan and Western Europe have matched their economic achievements.

Great Britain and Japan have had troubles as well as helpful things that have happened because of their geography seeing as they're both mostly islands. With both of these countries being mostly islands, they also had better ports and a greater trading ability, but had less land and materials to utilize even though people say that great Britain was in the best spot it could've been for trade (Doc 4). Japan was surrounded by mountains on most sides of the country but was also very open to sea and commercial trade yet it didn't have the needed raw materials so they had to take from neighboring countries starting there imperialism and helping to develope there military/economy(Doc 7) .So to cope with this great Britain decided to increase there trade with other countries as well as Japan, mostly to import and export cotton and make more money to be able to buy new raw materials for industrialization(Doc 2).Because  Britain had a lot of farm land as well as many ports they also decided to sell a lot of opium to China  but eventually had to start smuggling it into China because it was illegal (Doc 5) .Both of these countries also had to widely expand to gain new land, raw materials, gain a better military/navy, and better more efficient ports .

They both had to accept the Western advisers intruding their countries to make technological advancements, but both kept their own cultures. Both Russia and Japan added to the growing sense of competition between the established Western power. Russia made changes after the Crimean War since they lose to the inferior Ottomans, British and French that had superior weapons of rifles, cannons and heavy equipment. The Crimean War in 1854-1856 demonstrated how far Russia had fallen behind the West so Tsar Alexander II that reform was needed. In Russia, they industrialized to improve technology and weapons and wanted to keep their ports safe.

Russia had a smaller economy, Russia was technologically limited, Russia was bigger, exerted more power

The age of imperialism was an important part of history, it was during the 19th and 20th centuries. During this time period, European countries were taking over great sections of the world. It wouldn't be long before they started to take over Asia. Some countries such as, India and China, went under European control and influence. While Japan adopted reforms to meet the western challenge. How was it possible that Japan was able to be strong while India and China couldn't?

China and Japan had similar but different experiences with the Western civilization. China and Japan reacted differently to the Western nations and it was China’s reactions to the West that would break the Chinese’s isolation leaving their traditions behind. The Industrial trade in Europe and the United States had created a gap between Asia and the West, This left china and Japan far behind technologically and they were not able to stand up against the western nations and although at different times China and Japan both ended up having to sign unequal treaties, and to open their ports for merchants.

The nineteenth century was a turbulent time of western imperialism and a major Asian power shift. European powers and the United States had a destabilizing effect on the region and the choices Japan and China made in response their imposing expansion was a major contributor to the trajectory of their respective futures. Social factors, such as the differences in national and religious unity, also played a role in the how the two nations emerged from the Age of Imperialism.

Similar to the United States, Japan and Russia also wanted to expand their territory and create larger domains. They went about this through imperialism, mimicking the other European powers. Japan knew that with expanding, they would create an image of superiority and greatness. They were also aware that with the rapid expansion of other European powers that they would need to establish themselves in the same league. Russia on the other hand, expanded out of need.