19th Century
Westernization /Modernization
Russia – Japan
Commonality: prior experience of imitation: Russia
–Byzantium; Japan-China
Chapter 27
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I. Russia's Reforms and Industrial Advance
1861, Russia begins social, political reform
Russian Expansion, 1815-1914
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I. Russia's Reforms and Industrial Advance
II. Protest and Revolution in Russia
III. Japan: Transformation without Revolution
Overview: Russia was behind in industrialization compared to other western nations. Peter the
Great and Catherine the Great adopted many western industrial ways but did not tolerate liberal
reforms.
Russia's Industrialization:
• Doesn't develop as quickly as diplomatic sect
• Looks to previous civilizations for industrialization such as Byzantine Empire
• Serfdom becomes extended as a social aspect (still remains agricultural economy with few advances in
foreign equipment but no significant change)
VOCABULARY: emancipation of serfs, zemstvoes, trans-Siberian railroad
Political: Conservative monarchy (Alexander II)
Economic: Serfdom (serf based labor); technologically behind
Conflict:
The Crimean war 1853- Russia felt obligation to protect the Christian in the Balkans
-Helped created Serbia and Bulgaria (1870)
Reaction: Alexander II passed political reforms:
Political Reforms
Issue: Serfdom ended in western Europe 1789; US 1865, Hungary / Prussia 1848.
1861 – The emancipation of the Serfs – ended serfdom
1. Created greater urban labor force
2. Did not spur agriculture productivity
3. Aristocratic class preserved
4. Redemption payment created hardship
5. Freed serfs lacked political power
Greater Reforms by Alexander II – created “Zemstvoes” –local /regional voice
-Promoted military merit promotion
-Increase education (result: women gained skills/traveled outside Russia; upper class women
sought professional occupation: medicine)
-Sergei Witte, Minister of Finance 1870– Trans Siberian Railroad
Protests /Revolts
1. Protests due to famine; peasants in debts; business and professionals
demand political voice
2. Intelligentsia demanded greater reforms (political freedom)- rise of
radicalism; Marxism/Bolsheviks – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
1870 – Alexander II tightened reforms (Okhrana used to subdue radicalism);
censorship, arrest dissidents, etc.
1881- Alexander II assassinated
Nicholas II
Conservative and repressed minority groups (“Pogroms” mass execution
of Jews. Result – Jewish emigration
Russo-Japanese War 1904 –Japanese Victory (Treaty of Portsmouth)
Protests continued:
Results: Duma formed Interior Minister “Piotyr Stolypin” introduced Stoypin Reforms:
1. Granted greater redemption payment to peasants
2. Peasants to buy/sell land
3.
Allowed wealthy peasants to become rural capitalist – “Kulaks”
Farmers of the kolkhozes protest against
the kulaks in 1930
Russian well to do peasants “kulaks”
Japan Overview: A resource poor nation Japan depended on imports
of Western equipment and raw material (coal) for industrial
purposes; paid with silk production.
Isolation ended in 1853 with visit from Commodore Mathew Perry
Treaty of Kanagawa
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III. Japan: Transformation without
Revolution
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B. The Challenge to Isolation
Commander Matthew Perry
1853, Japanese ports forced to
open
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Shogunate bureaucrats
Open doors reluctantly
Others want to end isolation
Conservative daimyos for
isolation
Unrest
1868, shogunate defeated
Meiji restoration
Emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji)
Japanese Colonial Expansion to 1914
Meiji restoration
Charter Oath – Japan new constitution 1868
• Parliamentary constitution. The five articles of the Charter Oath were the
following:
• (1) “Deliberative assemblies shall be established on an extensive scale, and all
governmental matters shall be determined by public discussion.”
• (2) “All classes, high and low, shall unite to carry out vigorously the plan of
government.”
• (3) “All classes shall be permitted to fulfill their just aspirations so that there
will be no discontent.”
• (4) “Evil customs of the past shall be discontinued, and new customs shall be
based on the just laws of nature.”
• (5) “Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world in order to promote the
welfare of the empire.”
Meiji Era – Literacy rate high (40% men; 15% women)
-Dutch Studies in Nagasaki
Industrial and political changes:
1. Abolish feudalism
2. Replaced daimyos with
district administrators
3. Centralize rule by the Meiji
4. Abolish Samurai class
5. New army based on national conscription
6. Political reforms: Meiji leaders to travel abroad
Formed Diet (dual parliamentary) with coequal powers
House of Peer
House of Representatives
(kizokui)
(Shugiin)
Upper House
Lower House
Emperor Meiji
at Age 27
Economic /Industries
1. New govt. Banks provided capital for industries
2. State built railroads
3. Islands connected by steamers
4. Land reforms; clear ownership
5. Mines, shipyards, metallurgical plants
6. Hired western advisors
7. Expanded education (i.e. department of agriculture established at univeristy)
-public schools created; curriculum emphasized science, math, along with loyalty to the national gvt.
-western style of dress and fashion grew in popularity
-Shinotism gained new ground because it stressed allegiance to the emperor.
RESULTS
Capitalist Enterprise “Zaibatsu” (4 main zaibatsu) – Many former
Samurai took advantage and benefitted
1. Takatoshi Mitsui (Sake/textile)
2. Iwasaki Mitsubishi (shipping/mining/ship building)
3. Masamoto Sumitomo (medicine; copper refinery)
4. Yasuda Zenjiro – Brokerage/shipping
Yasuda Zenjiro
Sino Japanese War 1894-95
Issue: Influence over Korea
Result: Treaty of Shimonoseki
a. China recognized Korea’s independence
b. China gave up Liadong Peninsula
c. Japan gained Taiwan
Russo-Japanese War – 1904-05 demonstrated Japan’s military strength
with a modern military force (Imperial Japanese Navy of World War II was the second most
powerful navy in the Pacific War in World War II; third largest navy in the world. During the first years of
the war the Imperial Japanese Navy dominated the Western Pacific.
The naval air service was one of the most potent air forces in the world before its destruction in World War II.)