C 31: Societies at the Crossroads: Ottoman Empire, Russia, Japan and China
Issues that they share
• military weaknesses
• vulnerable to foreigners who could
often force their way in
• propose reform modeled
on the West (education, responsive govt,
Written constitutions, limit power
of rulers, guarantees of equality)
• Suffered from internal pressures
(population/ declining crop production/
Falling income )
Issues where they differ
• Ottoman Empire, Russia
China = elite rulers did
not embrace or support
reform
• Japan = Tokugawa
Shogunate fell, emperor was
restored, reform is thorough
and embraced industrialization
Territorial Losses of the Ottoman Empire (1800-1914)
Muhammad
Ali (r. 1805-1848)
Societies at the Crossroads: The Ottoman Empire 1750-1914
Geography
Religion
Achievements
Political
Geographically diverse- for centuries
controlled trade routes from East to West
_____________________________
Islam
Some resistance to reform by conservative
clerics/ internal conflict
(Christians, Muslims, Jews)
______________________________
Turkish made the official language even
With Arabic and Slavic speakers
See Tanzimat Era/ Young Turks
___________________________
Territorial Losses from Russia, the Balkans
Loss of Egypt (Muhammad Ali) 1820,
Greece 1830, Serbia 1867
Semi-independent war lords are a problem
Corrupt leadership/ private armies
Military weak/ technologically weak
Internal conflict ethnic/ nationalist groups
= REVOLT then Authority under
Sultan Mahmud II(1808-1839)
(however undermined authority of the ulama
Tanzimat Era: 1839-1876 (conservative critics)
Reform accelerated, restructuring of military
Based on European models, attacked Ottoman sharia
laws educational reform, centralized
Societies at the Crossroads: The Ottoman Empire 1750-1914
Economic
Social
Increased economic pressure from Europe
Loss of control (and revenue) from trade due
to shifting focus on Atlantic trade
Reluctance to embrace modern technology
Led to fiscal insolvency, economic
dependence, foreign loans (high interest)
1882 CAPITULATIONS = humiliating
Deprived Ottomans of income (GB didn’t
have to pay taxes)
Extraterritoriality imposed________
YOUNG TURKS: 1889-1908
(Social and Political)
(Parisian Exiles): Universal suffrage
Equality before the law, Freedom of religion
emancipation
Free public education, Nationalistic (Turkish
independence within empire=Arab resistance
united in mistrust of Europe
1908: Inspired an Army Coup
Mehmed V Rashid (r. 1909-1918) puppet sultan
DECLINE: continued to lose wars, subject
peoples wanted autonomy, survived b/c
Europe didn’t know how to divide empire w/o
Upsetting their own balance of power
Sultan
Mahmud II
1808-1839
Tanzimat
Reforms
1839-1876
The
Crimean
Wars:
1854-1856
Sultan Abdul
Hamid II
1876-1901
The Young Turks
1889-1908
Proclamation for the Ottoman Empire (Young Turks 1908)
1. The basis for the Constitution will be respect for the predominance of the national
will. One of the consequences of this principle will be to require without delay the
responsibility of the minister before the Chamber, and, consequently, to consider
the minister as having resigned, when he does not have a majority of the
votes of the Chamber.
2. Provided that the number of senators does not exceed one-third the number of
deputies, the Senate will be named as follows: one-third by the Sultan and two-thirds
by the nation, and the term of senators will be of limited duration………
7. The Turkish tongue will remain the official state language. Official
correspondence and discussion will take place in Turkish………
9. Every citizen will enjoy complete liberty and equality, regardless of
nationality or religion, and be submitted to the same obligations. All
Ottomans, being equal before the law as regards rights and duties relative to the
State, are eligible for government posts, according to their individual capacity and
their education. Non-Muslims will be equally liable to the military law.
The Russian Empire 1801-1914
Peter I the Great (r. 1682-1725)
Catherine II the Great (r. 1762-1796)
Alexander I (r. 1801-1825)
Nicholas II (r. 1894-1917)
Nicholas I (r. 1825-1855)
Alexander II (r. 1855-1881)
Sergei Witte
Societies at the Crossroads: The Russian Empire 1750-1914
Geography
Religion
Achievements
Political
Extremely geographically diverse_______
Russian Orthodox Christianity (1/2)
Judaism (pogroms)
Extreme multi-culturalism
_____________________________
Industrialization
Sergei Witte (Trans- Siberian Railroad)
(however peasant discontent: low wages, long
hrs, uprooted from agrarian lifestyle)
__________________________
Romanov tsars ruled as autocrats w/ support
of church and nobility
Russian military (although backward)
expanded empire to E, S and SW
(threat to Ottoman Empire upset European
balance of power = Crimean War (18531856)= Russian LOSS)
Tsars attempt to censor intelligenisa
(radicals/socialists) (latter 20th C)
Nationalism gains support (Baltics, Poland,
Ukraine, Georgia, central Asia)= tsarist threat
REFORM under Alexander II (regional
assemblies: zemstovs) but subordinate to
tsar/1876 terrorists arm of an anarchist group
assassinated Alexander II (no more reform)
Societies at the Crossroads: The Russian Empire 1750-1914
Political
Economic
Social
Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917): further
police control, further expansion into
Manchuria/Korea = Russo-Japanese War
1905 (Japan destroys Russian navy)
Tsars agree to some political concessions =
The Duma (national legislature) by October
1905 (failed for now- lacked authority)
______________________________
Industrialization with a fundamental agrarian
economy (motivation different than in WEST:
Why??)
Key to modern success = emancipation of
the serfs (WHY?)
Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) abolished
serfdom (landowners compensated for their
loss BUT freed serfs not happy: WHY?)
______________________________
Military defeats (Crimean War, Russo-Japanese War
1905)
Russification: attacks on ethnic minorities
led to riots:
Bloody Sunday (January 1905 march on Winter
Palace)
Social discontent leads to October 1905
Revolution
Bloody Sunday 1905:
Soldiers shot into the crowd
Civilian Deaths=
96-4000
Strike for fair pay,
Suffrage, shorter
Work day
But……
China and Japan: 19th century Pressures
CHINA: Opium Wars and Unequal Treaties 1838-1842
Since 1759: European trade
Limited to port of Guangzhou
Foreign merchants forced to deal with
Chinese firms called cohongs: ONLY
trade in silver buillon
WAR!
40,000 chests of opium a year shipped
to China by 1838
Commissioner Lin Zexu rejected by
Queen Victoria
Lin Zexu confiscated and destroyed 20,000 chests of opium
Forced to grant
extraterritoriality status
UNEQUAL TREATIES/
Spheres of Influence
Unequal Treaties
•
•
•
•
According to the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, the Chinese were to:
Reimburse Britain for costs incurred fighting the Chinese
Open several ports to British trade
Provide Britain with complete control of Hong Kong
Grant extraterritoriality to British citizens living in China
REACTION?
Taiping Rebellion
1850-1864
Opposed the Manchus:
wanted radical
Social change, no
footbinding, no private
property, free public ed,
no concubinage
(men and women equal)
20-30 million lives lost
Massive decline in
economy/ food
1885 France took
Vietnam
1895 Japan forced
Korean independence
1898 Spheres of Influence
China:
The Boxer
Rebellion
1899-1900
Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi
Society of
Righteous and
Harmonious
Fists
University of Pennsylvania
49 lb flawless crystal spheresecond largest in the world
Societies at the Crossroads: China 1750-1914
Geography
Extremely geographically diverse_______
Religion
unequal treaties allowed Christian
missionaries
______________________________
Achievements
Political
__________________________
Qing Dynasty (Manchus) 1644-1911
British introduced opium to end cohong
system
Opium War (1839-1842)- Chinese easily
defeated
unequal treaties
Treaty of Nanjing 1842
lost tribute states of Vietnam, Burma, Korea,
Taiwan
Societies at the Crossroads: China 1750-1914
Political
Economic
Social
1896 Spheres of Influence
1899-1900 Boxer Rebellion (Empress
Dowager Cixi supported militia against
foreigners)
1900- Chinese leaders no longer in control of
economy
1912- collapse of the Qing Dynasty
_____________________________
BEFORE: tight control of foreign trade/
foreign contact/ cohong system
agrarian/ little demand for foreign goods
AFTER: unequal treaties
ultimately severe economic decline (eating
grass, human flesh)
"Self Strengthening" Movement (1860-1895)
failed
_____________________________
popular uprisings 1850-1860s
Taiping Rebellion
defeated by Qing and foreign troops (1864)
government slaughtered 100,000 Taipings
Hundred Days reforms 1898
Deshima, known as Dejima in Japanese, was a small artificial island in Nagasaki Bay
(approximately 150 feet by 500 feet) on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu.
From 1641 to 1845, Deshima served as the sole conduit of trade between Europe and Japan,
and during the period of self-imposed Japanese seclusion (approximately 1639-1854) was
Japan's only major link to the European world.
Closed
Country Edicts
1635 and 1639
JAPAN: Commodore Perry 1853 and Unequal Treaties
Japan had a history of successful imitation and China did not.
Meiji Restoration 1868 ended Tokugawa Shogunate
European style military
Modernized the infrastructure
New public health measures/ population increase
1872 Mass public education system
1890s Massive industrialization (zaibatsu)
Supported consumer culture/ department stores
History of feudalism may have helped them
understand the military aspects of the Western
challenge/ created group loyalties
Treaty of Kanagawa:
March 31, 1854
1. Peace and friendship between the
United States and Japan.
2. Opening of two ports to American
ships at Shimoda and Hakodate
3. Help for any American ships wrecked
on the Japanese coast and
protection for shipwrecked persons
4. Permission for American ships to buy
supplies, coal, water,
and other necessary provisions in
Japanese ports.
Societies at the Crossroads: Japan 1750-1914
Geography
Religion
Achievements
Political
isolation
Extremely geographically diverse_______
Shintoism/ Neo-Confucianism/ Buddhism
unequal treaties allowed Christian
missionaries
______________________________
universal education (primary and secondary)
competitive universities
__________________________
Tokugawa shogunate failing to end crisis
foreign pressure to reverse closed door policy
1840s bakufu plan to attack foreign interests
1853 Commodore Matthew Perry
unequal treaties = humiliation = end of
Tokugawa rule
1868 Meiji Restoration = end to military rule
constitutional government 1889 (parliament,
Diet, political parties) Emperor still
theoretically in charge)
daimyo and samurai lose power
government supported industrial
growth/ outlawed unions and labor
reform
Societies at the Crossroads: Japan 1750-1914
Political
political stability linked to industrial growth
defeated China 1895, Russia 1904
____________________________
Economic
Social
tax system reorganized (grain taxes to fixed
money)
industry: govt take over of industry to
modernize it- then sold some to private
investors (zaibatsu)
railroads, telegraphs, steamships, postal
systems, banking systems, munitions
production)
1899 unequal treaties ended- no limits on
Japanese in trade either
___________________________
peasant class suffer under tax burden
uprisings quickly suppressed
Confucian social order dismantled
Almost all Japanese became legally equal as
commoners- still female infanticide