Chapter 20—Northern Eurasia, 1500-1800
1.Explore the different approaches to imperial rule in Japan, China, and Russia between 1500 and 1800. What
sorts of political structures emerged to administer and incorporate the different peoples of these
regions? What were the infrastructural needs of these empires?
ANS:
An empire creates an overarching governmental structure that rules over diverse peoples. In Japan a
fragmented, almost feudal order existed under the daimyo, although there was an emperor as
figurehead in Kyoto. Hideyoshi's conquest, followed by the Tokugawa Shogunate, created a more
tightly unified, autocratic empire with a central figure in control of the economy, administration, and
military, three factors that must be present for centralized authority. The maintenance of power
necessitates a tightly controlled infrastructure as well, including roads to facilitate trade. In Japan this
was somewhat easy to accomplish because of the relatively small territory and a fairly homogeneous
population. However, fragmentation on a geographic basis continually presented a problem to the
shogun because the outlying lords could keep a better grip on trade and production, despite
government edicts. Loss of control of the economy led to alienation of the samurai, undermining the
central authority of the shogun. The Russian and Chinese empires were considerably larger and had to
incorporate a much broader range of territory and people. Russia's extension to Siberia and points
eastward, as well as its attempts to gain a warm-water port (primarily under Peter), necessitated
incorporating Turkish, Siberian, and Mongol tribes of different linguistic, religious, and even racial
characteristics. To create and maintain such a large empire, Russia needed a large army.
2.What internal and external pressures did Japan face during its period of reunification? How did Japan deal
with these challenges?
ANS:
Students should discuss Japan's internal problems and civil war, which ended with political unification
under the Tokugawa Shogunate and the resulting economic growth. Japan launched assaults on Korea
as well as China, but it also, like much of Asia, was faced with the pressures of European missionaries
and traders in this era. This threat presented Japan with new opportunities as well as problems. Japan
welcomed European trade and European technology such as firearms; however, hostility toward
Christianity led to the closing of Japan to nearly all foreigners, with the exception of a small group of
Dutch traders.
3.How did the Tokugawa Shogunate fall into decline and crisis?
ANS:
Students should recognize that the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate was largely economic and
social in its origins. As population increased and economic growth continued, resources were
outstripped. In addition, Japanese emperors had no political power and remained in virtual exile at the
medieval capital, Kyoto. The shoguns wielded most of the power and lived at Edo, the new capital.
The Tokugawa system of regional lords, who resided part of the time at Edo, required well-maintained
roads, which in turn helped develop new trade and manufacturing centers. The regional lords had selfcontained personal domains that included bureaucracies and military and education systems. Because
both the lords and their followers were paid in rice, an economy using rice as a medium of exchange
blossomed. Merchants and financiers converted rice into currency, lent money to samurai, and wielded
increasing power as a result. Tokugawa shoguns tried to limit the power of the merchant class, but the
decentralized system of rule by regional lords thwarted such efforts. However, the decentralized
system did stimulate economic growth through agricultural mechanization, light industry, finance, and
transport. The Tokugawa Shogunate indirectly encouraged these advances but could not exploit them
for its own purposes. The government was traditional while the society had become innovative.
4.How did the Russian Empire emerge to be one of the major powers of Europe by 1750?
ANS:
Students should discuss the consolidation of Russian power by the princes of Muscovy and their
assault on the Mongol Khanate of the Golden Horde. Once the Mongols were defeated, the Russians
under Ivan IV expanded south and east and eventually into Asia, specifically Siberia for its fur trading.
Although the Russians thought of this empire as a "third Rome," most of the Russian population was
poor, backward, and landlocked. Further expansion to the Amur River put the Russian Empire at odds
with the Ming and Qing Empires. This frontier border was settled between these parties with the
Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689.
5. Did Peter really earn the title "The Great" as the first emperor of Russia? How does his reign compare
with that of earlier tsars? Consider the focus of the earlier tsars on Muscovy, while Peter's focus was
on a Russian empire; how did this new emphasis affect Russia and the reception of the tsar?
ANS:
Peter the Great, the greatest of the Romanov tsars, is famous for his many policies for Russian
development. He worked for Russian expansion by acquiring warm water ports on the Black Sea and
Baltic Sea as well as in the northern Pacific. His plans for Westernization included modeling his
government on the Prussian government, strengthening the position of the tsar as an absolutist
monarch, and building a modern army. He even mandated Western clothing styles and the shaving of
beards. Under his absolutist rule the Orthodox Church was brought under government control and
factories were built. He also increased the obligations of serfs, for whom his rule was not beneficial.
Compared to earlier tsars who attempted to centralize Russia, Peter had more power and incurred a
great deal of resentment from the nobility for his radical changes, whereas a mere seventy years earlier
the nobility had been positioned strongly enough to choose the first Romanov tsar. He was met with
resistance over the question of how much influence the West should have in Russia, as well as over his
efforts to decrease the power of the Orthodox Church.