chapter 31

• “Sick Man of Europe”: The end of the last Gunpowder Empire… Ottomans began a slow decline after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566).
• After colonization of the new world, the Ottomans were no longer the “middle man” of trade between Asia and Europe.
• The Ottoman economy began to collapse which forced them to allow extraterritoriality (exempt from laws) and capitulations (exempt from taxes) to European businesses.
•  As European empires competed against one another, they began to develop better technology than the Ottomans. As the Ottomans declined over the course of a few centuries, their sultans gradually reduced the rights of minorities living within the empire. (During WWI, the Ottomans would carry out a genocide against the Armenians).
• 1. As the empire collapsed, Ottoman society became more divided along religious lines. Religious conservatives fought to maintain power, while others pushed secular reform. 
• 1. The Tanzimat Reforms were the Ottomans greatest attempt to westernize and modernize (army along western lines). Reforms included construction of railroads and canals, as well as codification of Ottoman law and equality for all men. However, these reforms were not enough to prevent the Empire from collapsing.
• 1. Muhammad Ali: Ottoman Governor of Egypt from 1805-1848. Ali helped Egypt become semi-autonomous under the Ottoman Empire and temporarily strengthened Egypt. He modernized and westernized by restructuring the government and military, and began industrializing Egypt through the cotton industry. However, the British gained control of Egypt shortly after his death to begin construction on the Suez Canal.
• 1. In the 19th century, the long-time enemies of the Ottoman and Russian Empires were both falling behind the rest of Europe. The Crimean War was Russia’s attempt to gain access to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and quell rebel movements that were dissatisfied with the czar’s reign. Great Britain and France created an alliance with the Ottomans, in an attempt to preserve the balance of power created at the Congress of Vienna (after Napoleonic Wars, 1815). Russia was easily defeated by the more advanced European armies, forcing Russia to immediately begin industrializing.
• Attempts at modernization in Russia occurred in the aftermath of the Crimean War
• Emancipation of serfs and government-operated industrialization were key components of modernization in Russia
• The emancipation of serfs led to peasants being instantly indebted to their landlords and unable to recover
• Peasants were forced to work on industrial projects as part of the modernization efforts
• Russia tested its progress during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905
• Russia was easily defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, leading to humiliation and Japan being recognized as a world power
• After the Russo-Japanese War and the Bloody Sunday massacre, Czar Nicholas II created the Duma, Russia's first elected assembly
• qing dynasty

  1. Isolation: Export-heavy economy leads to lack of technological advancement. In the mid-1800s, Britain was completely industrialized and looking for ways to avoid giving China more gold and silver, so they smuggled opium into China instead.
• 1. Opium War: Began after Chinese government officials destroyed British opium, which the British had been trading in return for silk, porcelain, and tea. The British won easily (Qing didn’t have a navy), and forced China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first unequal treaty. As a result of the treaty, Britain was able to keep exporting opium into China, Hong Kong was given to Britain as a colony, Britain was able to begin trading in several other port cities, and the British were guaranteed extraterritoriality. 
• 1. Unequal Treaties & Spheres of Influence: After the Opium War, multiple European empires forced China to sign unequal treaties. These treaties forced China to pay reparations, granted each imperializing power extraterritoriality (exemption from local laws), and gave them each a sphere of influence. By 1914, each of the following countries had a sphere of influence in China: Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan.
• 1. Rebellions: 
  2. Taiping (1850s-1860s): Devastating peasant rebellion in the decade after the Opium War. 20 million peasants die as a result of fighting and famine. Rebellion began in response to poverty, Opium War, and disapproval of Qing leadership. The rebellion was destroyed by British and French forces.
• 1. Boxer Rebellion (1900): Begins after the Qing government is repeatedly forced to sign unequal treaties over the last 60 years. Boxers (“Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists”) were told they were impervious to bullets, and attempted to eliminate foreign influence from China. Foreigners, as well as Chinese Christians, were targeted by the Boxers. Rebellion ended when the Eight Nation Alliance (Europe, US, Japan) sent troops in. Imperialists forced China to sign the Boxer Protocol, an extremely unequal treaty. A decade later, the Qing Dynasty collapsed.
• 1. Self-Strengthening Movement (1860-1895): Slogan was “Chinese learning at the base, Western learning for use” - the goal was to adopt certain western western technologies without sacrificing/abandoning traditional Chinese culture. China built shipyards and railroads, but a refusal to make significant changes meant the movement would not solve the problems plaguing the Qing dynasty.
• 1. Hundred Days Reforms (1898): Qing Emperor approves drastic reforms meant to completely restructure Chinese society. Changes included the abolishment of the civil service exams and western-style industrialization. The reforms were nullified when Empress Dowager Cixi overthrew the emperor and imprisoned him.
• 1. Tokugawa Shogunate: Feudal system in Japan from 1603-1868. Japan was extremely isolated during this time (leaving Japan was punishable by death). The shogun had complete power, while the emperor was just a symbolic figure. Daimyo were wealthy landowners who had power and autonomy. 
• 1. Treaty of Kanagawa (1854): American Commodore Matthew Perry arrives and “opened” up Japan to trade, forcing them to sign an unequal treaty. Shortly thereafter, other European nations forced Japan to sign additional unequal treaties. The shogun attempted to reform and modernize Japan, but was unable to do so. In 1868, Emperor Mutsuhito adopted the name Meiji (“Meiji” = Enlightened), and overthrew the shogun to restore the power of the emperor as ruler of Japan (Meiji Restoration).
• 1. Meiji Era (1868-1912): Government-sponsored, rapid industrialization in response to western imperialism. Meiji’s goals were to westernize, modernize, and industrialize other nations. Major changes to Japan at this time include the adoption of western culture, implementation of Enlightenment ideas, a constitutional government based on the Prussian/German model, abolishment of the feudal system, and the introduction of capitalism with a modern banking industry. However, despite constitutional changes, the Meiji reforms (like the Enlightenment) did not expand rights to women.
• 1. Japanese Imperialism: Since Japan lacked natural resources, Meiji acted imperialistically first before industrialization was complete. As a result, Japan carved out a sphere of influence in China (Sino-Japanese War, 1895); Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War - it was the first time in modern history that an Asian nation defeated a major European empire; and later, Japan annexed Korea in 1910. By World War II, Japan’s economy was one of the strongest in the world, led by the “Big Four” zaibatsu, family-owned companies that each had several monopolies.