Before We Get Started
 As the modern age progressed, some societies adapted
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to modernization and dominant European values
better than others.
This chapter and the next set the scenes for the
winners and losers in the two upcoming world wars.
Japan and Europe modernize quickly
Russia and China flounder through modernization
The Ottomans continue their slide into powerlessness.
The Ottoman Empire in Decline
 If you recall from chapter 28, the Ottomans suffered
military reversals in the nineteenth century so they
began to only respond to European challenges rather
than direct their interactions with Europeans.
 As they lost power to Europe, their provinces began to
break away and their own population began to
demand reforms.
 The diverse nature of the conquered regions
contributed to a desire for independence from the
Ottomans.
The Ottoman Empire in Decline
 The Nature of Decline
 By the mid 1840s the Ottomans began to lose their territories
as Russia nibbled away at the Black Sea regions and the
Austro-Hungarians carved away at the Balkans.
 Nationalistic movements removed Greece and Serbia from
the Ottoman Empire
 Egypt fell from their control following the Napoleonic wars
 As Europeans bypassed Mediterranean trade routes
controlled by the Ottomans financial problems set in.
 By the twentieth century the Ottomans could not even
maintain their own bureaucracy.
 Had to lower wages for bureaucrats as they increased taxes on
the peasants.
The Ottoman Empire in Decline
 Reform and Reorganization
 The Ottoman response to their troubles was repeated
attempts at reforms starting in the seventeenth century
 Tanzimat – The reorganization period of the mid
eighteenth century.
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Focus was on military, legal, and educational reform.
Attempt shift control from old traditional religious authorities
to a broader range of people.
 This drew wide spread criticism from devout Muslims.
The Ottoman Empire in Decline
 The Young Turk Era
 Young Turk Party
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An exile group that pushed for universal suffrage, free public
education, equal treatment under the law, secularization of
the state, and emancipation of women.
Also extremely nationalistic so they attempted to institute
Turkish as the national language which backfired and make
the subject peoples (like those of Iraq and Syria) resent the
Ottomans even more
The Russian Empire Under
Pressure
 Like the Ottomans, the Russians suffered military defeats
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to western European armies.
It became evident that the Russian military was backwards
and needed to invest in reforms.
Keystone to reform was the emancipation of the serfs
(similar to slaves in other societies).
Social reform then paved the way to the industrial reforms.
Tsars still held tightly to autocratic power
Not until the twentieth century did he Russians experience
radical political change.
The Russian Empire Under
Pressure
 Military Defeat and Social Reform
 Military Defeat
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Russia took on Britain in the Crimean War and found that the
European militaries were much more advanced
 Social Reform
 Russia’s economy based on serfs (almost slaves and could be bought
and sold as slaves were and were tied to the land)
 Became apparent that emancipation of the serfs was necessary.
 Alexander II (1855-1881) was known as the reformist tsar and freed
the serfs
 Implemented other political reforms as well such as the reformed
legal system that was more like European systems, incorporating
principles such as trial by jury.
The Russian Empire Under
Pressure
 Industrialization
 Although industrialization had many successes in
Russia, it was ultimately marred by worker discontent
with poor working conditions and low standards of
living.
The Russian Empire Under
Pressure
 Repression and Revolution
 Anti-government protests increased in the last 30 years
of the nineteenth century
 Mostly led by peasants, urban workers, and students
 Russian government reacted with harsh persecution and
repression, rounding up hundreds of reformers in the
1870s.
 1876 – Alexander II was assassinated, and Nicholas II
(1894-1917) and his father brought an end to reforms
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Set the stage for the Russian Revolution and an end to the
Romanov dynasty.
The Chinese Empire Under Siege
 The Qing empire had even more problems than the
Ottoman and the Romanovs.
 The Opium War and the Unequal Treaties
 The Opium War (1839-1842)
 When European forces defeated the Chinese in the Opium
Wars, the Qing rulers had to agree to treaties that carved
their empire into European spheres of influence.
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Demonstrated how far behind Europeans the Chinese military had
fallen.
China lost a significant amount of previously owned territories.
While they were technically independent, the Qing no longer
controlled their economy.
The Chinese Empire Under Siege
 Internal disruptions and rebellions further weakened
the central government so that the ruling elites were
forced to make reforms that came too little and too
late.
 The Taiping Rebellion (1850)
 Called for the destruction of the Qing dynasty and
multiple radical reforms.
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Abolition of private property, equality of men and women,
shared wealth, free public education, etc.
 Taiping rebellion was eventually put down, but only
after a significant loss of life occurred (estimates range
from 20 to 30 million)
The Chinese Empire Under Siege
 Reform Frustrated
 Multiple reform movements were implemented in China
following the Taiping rebellion, but none occurred fast
enough or made significant enough gains to make a true
difference.
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Self-Strengthening Movement
Hundred Days Reform
Boxer rebellion
The Transformation of Japan
 Tokugawa
 Responded to foreign pressure in the late 1700s and early
1800s by attempting to close off Japan from foreigners
 1853 – Admiral Matthew Perry took a fleet of U.S. gunships
and forced Japan to open their trade ports.
 Led to a series of humiliating and unequal treaties for the
Tokugawa
 Meiji
 Became Emperor in 1868 after the Tokugawa fall from power
and brought Japan into the modern era through the Meiji
Restoration reforms
 Japan became the leading power in Asia as a result