Russia,+Japan,+and+the+West

1. What was the Decemberist uprising? What were its causes and effects? The Decemberist uprising was a revolt of western-oriented army officers in 1825 which inspired the new tsar Nicholas I, to still more adamant conservatism. One of the effects of this uprising was the repression of political opponents stiffened and the secret police expanded. Newspapers and schools which were already confined to a small minority were tightly supervised. One of the largest causes was how the Russian elite continued to welcome artisitc styles and took a new pride in Russia's growing cultural respectability. However, they tried to censor intellectuals who tried to incorporate liberal or radical political values. Due to this Russia was able to avoid revolutions taht had spread through Europe in 1830 and 1848 making it seem that the were operating in a different political orbit than the west.
 * Russia**

2. What were the weaknesses of the Russian economy? The Russian economy was significantly weaker than many of the countries that were currently making up the west. Due to this, Russia began to fall behin in technology and trade. Russian landlords began to take advantage of western markets for grain, but they increased their exports by tightening labor restrictions and obligations for the serfs. In return for low cost grain exports Russia imported some western machinery and other costly equipment as well as luxury goods from the aristocrats to display as badges of cultured respectablility. Few isolated facoties began to use imitation of Wester European industrialization but there was no significant change in overall manufacturing or transportation mechanisms. Russia remained a profoundly agricultural society based mainly on serf labor, but it now became a visibly stagnant society.

3. What caused the Crimean War? what were its major efects? One of the major causes of the Crimean War, was the widening gap between Russia and the west, which dramatically increased between 1854 and 1856. British and French forcces were not content with diplomatic maneuvering to limit Russian gains, but came directly to the sultans aid. The Crimean War was fought on the Balck Sea, yet Western forces won, driving the Russian armies from their entrenched positions.Each side lost about 250,000 troops in the difficult struggle. The loss of this many people was found disturbing by Russian leadership, because the west did not win because of great tactics, but because of their industrial advantage. The Crimean war helped to convince Russian leaders that it was time for a change. Reform meant some resolution to Russia's leading social issue, serfdom. Only if serfdom changed would Russia be able to develop a more mobile labor force, therefore they would be able to industrialize.

4. Why were serfs emancipated? how did their emancipation differ from the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.? What changes did it create? Russia's final decision to emancipate the serfs in 1861, which came significantly close to the same time when the United states and Brazil decided to free slaves. Serdom was stopped because it no longer suited the economic needs of a society seeking an independent position in the western dominated world trade. Emancipation of serfs was more generous than the freedom of slaves in the Americas. Aristocrats retained some of the land, the most fertile holdings, but the serfs got most of the land in contrast to how the Americas slaves received their freedom but nothing else. Russian emancipation also, was careful to preserve essential aristocratic power, the tsar was not interested in destroying the nobility. Emancipation was designed to retain the tight grip of the tsarist state. The serfs obtained no new political rights at a national level much like the slaves of the Americas. However emancipation did bring changes to Russia. For example. it helped create a larger urban labor force. It however did not create a rise in agricultural productivity because most peasants continued to use traditional methods on their small plots. Peasant uprisings began to become more common in Russia.

5 What were the Zemstvoes? How successful were they? The zemstvoes were local political councils created by the tsar which had a voice and say in regulating roads, schools, and other regional policies. The zemstvoes gave some Russians particularly the middle class people such as doctors and lawyers new political experience and they undertook important inquiries into local policy, however they had no influence or national policy. The tsar maintained his own authority and an extensive bureaucracy.

6. What was the significance of the Trans-Siberian railroad? The significance of the trans-siberian railroad is that it connected European Russia with the Pacific when completed in the 1880's. The railroad boom stimulated expansion of Russia's iron and coal sectors. It also stimulated the export of grain to the west which became essential to earn foreign currency, which was needed to pay for advanced werstern machinery. The railroad also opened Siberia up to new development which brought Russia into a more active and contested Asian role.

7. What economic reforms were enaced by Sergei Witte Sergei Witte, minister of the finances from 1892 to 1903 and an ardent economic modernizer. Under his lead, the government enacted high tariffs to protect new Russian industry which improved its banking system, and encouraged western investors to build huge factories with advanced technology. By 1900 half of the Russian industry was foreign owned and much of it was foreign oriented continued by Britain, Germany, and France. Discipline and military efficiency were lax. Bussiness people and professionals grew in numbers, but were ofter dependent on state initiatives such as zemstro employment for doctors and economic guidance for business people.

8. What were the signs that Russia was headed to revolution? (think about - intelligentsia, anarchists, Marxists, Bolsheviks.) Intelligentisa- a Russian term for articulate intellectuals also known as a class. anarchists- Russian radicals who sought to abolish all formal govenment. Marxists- doctrines spread from the western socialist movement to a regiment of the Russian intelligentsia. Bolsheviks- Russian Marxists or majority party.

Alexander II's reforms as well as economic change and the greater population molility involved encouraged nationalities to make demands of the empire. Social protest became more vigorous., Recurrent famines provoked peasant uprisings and peasants deeply resented redemption payments and taxes and oftern seized and burned the records that indicated what they owed. Many bisiness and professional people began to seek a fuller political voice and new rights such as greter freedom in the schools and press they argued for liberal reforms.

1. Explain major developments in Japan in the early 1800's During the first half of the 19th century the shogunate continured to combine a central bureaucracy with semifeudal alliances between the regional daimyos and the samurias. This led to the government always running into financial problems. Taxes were based on agriculture, despite the growing comercialization of the economy in Japan. At the same time maintaining the feudal system could be pricy. The government paid stipends to the Samuri in the return for their loyalty. A long budget reform spurt late in the 18th century built a successful momentum for a short time, but a shorter effort between 1841 and 1843 was notably successful, which weakened the shogunate in the 1850's. Japanese intellectual life and culture also developed under the Tokuwaga regime. Neo-confucianism continued to gain among the ruling elite at the expense of Buddhism. Japan gradually became more secular particularly in the upper class. Various Confucian schools actively debated in the early 19th century keeping Japanese intellectual life fairly creative. Schools and academics therefore expanded reaching past the economic class and schools such as terakoya were set up to teach reading, writing, and the rudiments of Confucianism to ordinary people. By 1859 more than 40% of all men and over 15% of all women were literate which was a far higher percentafe than anywhere in the world outside of the west. Even though Confucianism remained dominant, other beliefs challenged it. Tensions between traditionalists and reformist intellectuals were emerging. A national studies group praised Japanese traditions including the office of emperor and the Shinto religion. The influence of the national studies school grew somewhat in the 19th century and it would help to inspire iltranationalist sentiment at the end of the century and beyond. A second minority group the Dutch Studies was recognized. Major western works had been banned when the policy of isolation was adopted, a group of Japanese translators kept alive the knowledge of Dutch to deal with the traders of Nagasaki. The ban of Western books ended in 1720. Commerce expanded as big merchant companies established monopoly privileges in many centers. Manufacturing gained ground in the countryside in such consumer goods industries as soy, sauce and silks much of which was organized by city merchants. By the 1850's however economic growth had showed a situation that has prompted some scholars to stress Japan's bakwardness compared to the west. At the same time rural riots increased as many regions. They were not overally political but like many rural protests aimed at wealthy peasants, merchants, and landlord controls. Authorities put down this unrest with little difficulty, the protests contributed to a willingness to condiers change when challenged by societies on the outside.
 * Japan: Transformation without Revolution**

2. What effect did the actions of Commodore Perry have on Japan? (include details on Samurai discontent) American Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 arrived with a squadran in Edo Bay near Tokyo and used threats of bombardment to insist that Americans be allowed to trade. The United states was increasingly an active part of the West's core economy, thus launched the same kind for Japan. In 1854 Perry returned and won the right to station an American consul in Japan; in 1856 through a formal treaty two ports were quicly opened to commerce. The bureaucrats of the shogunate saw no alternative but to open up Japan given the superioroty of the Western naives. There was also the Japanese people who had grown impatient with strict isolation and their numbers swelled as the Dutch schools began to expand. On the other hand, the daimyos intensely conservative, were opposed to the new concessions and their opposition forced the shogun to appeal to the emperor for support. Soon, the samurai opponents of the bureaucracy were also appealing to the emperor who began to emerge from his centuries-long confinement as a largely religious and ceremonial figure. Most daimyos defended the staus quo, however many of the samurais were more divided. The result was not an immmediate collapse however in the late 1850's Japanese life seemed to go on much life before.

3. List the actions taken by the Meiji State The new Mejii government promptly set about abolishing feudalism replacing the daimyos in 1871 with a system of nationality appointed prefects. Political power was effectively centralized and from the base of the Mejii rulers- the emperor and his close advisors, drawn from loyal segments of the aristocracy- began to expand power of the state to effect economic and social change. The Japanese government therefore sent Samurai officials abroad to western Europe and the United States to study economic and political institutions and technology. After experiencing and seeing what they saw, the samurai pulled back from their earlier antiforeign positions and gained increasing voice over the other officials in the government. Their basic goal was Japan's domestic development, accompanied by a careful diplomatic policy that avoided antagonizing the West. Fundamental improvements in government finance followed. Between 1873 and 1876 the Mejii ministers introduced a real social revolution. They abolished the samurai class and the stipends that the group had received.The tax on agriculture was therefore converted tp a woder tax payable in money rather than loyalty. The samurai were compensated by government backed bonds, but these decreased in value leading many of the samurai to become poor. This led to a huge uprising in 1877, however the government had introduced a new army based on national consription and by 1878 the nation was miltarily secure. Individual samurai's found new jobs in politics and business. The process of political reconstruction crested in the 1880's. Mejii leaders traveled abroad to discover modern political forms. In 1884 they created a new conservative nobility stocked by former nobles and Mejii leaders.They reorganized the bureaucracy which led to an increase in the number of officials. In 1890 there were 29,000 officials and it increased to 72,000 by 1908.

4.Explain how Japan Industrialized - (Private and government roles) Political situations were essential afyer the crisis of the 1860's, but they were soon matched by other initiatives. The new army, based on the universal conscription of young men was further improved by former officer training and by upgrading arnaments according to western standards. With the aid of new western advisors, a modern navy was established. Attention also began to focus on the creation of conditions necessary for the industraizlization. New goverment banks funded growing trade and provieded capital for industries. State-built railroads spread across the country and the islands were connected by rapid steamers. New mehods raised agricultural output to feed people of the growing cities. The new economic structure depended on the destruction of many older restrictions. Guilds and internal road tariffs were abolished to create a national market. Land reform created clear individual ownership for many farmers which helped motivate expansion of production and the introduction of new fertilizers and equipment. Government initiative dominated manufacturing not only in the creation of transportation networks bu also in state operation of mines, shipyards, and metalurgical plants. Scarce capital and the unfamiliarity of new technology seemed to compel state direction. Government control also helped check the the many foreign advisors needed by the early Japanese industry. Japan established the Ministry of Industry in 1870 and it quickly became one of the key government agencies setting overall economic policy as well as operation specific sectors. By the 1880's model shipyards, arsenals, and factories provided experience in new technology and disciplined work systems for many Japanese. Finally by expansing technical training and education setting up banks, and post offices, and regularizing commercial laws, the government provided a structure within which Japan could develop on many fronts. Measures in this area largely copied established practices in the West, but with adaptation suitable for the Japanese conditions well before European university. Private enterprisse quicly played a role in Japan's growing economy, particularly in the vital textile sector. Some businesspeople came from older merchant families, although some of the great houses had been ruined with the financial destruction. By the 1890's huge new industrial combines later known as zaibutsu were being formed as a result of of accumulations of capital and farflung merchant and industrial operations.

5. List ways that Industrialization changed Japan
 * Better nutrition and new medical provisions reduced death rates, and the upheaval of the rural masses cut into traditional restraints on births. The result was a steady population growth that strained Japanese resources and stability, although it also ensured the constant supply of low-cost labor. This was one of the causes of Japan's low class tensions.
 * The Japanese governmet inroduced a universal education system, providing primary schools for all. This education stressed science and the importance of technical subjects along the political loyalty to the nation and the emperor. Elite students at the university level also took courses that emphasized science and many Japanese students went abroad to study technical subjects in other countries. Education also revealed Japanese incistence on distinctive values. After a heady reform period in the 1870's when hundreds of Western teachers and imported professors for high level advice on the whole system.
 * Many Japanese copied Western fashions as part of the effort to become modern. Western-style haircuts replaced the samurai shaved head with a topknot-another example of westernization of hair in world history. Western standards of hygiene spread and the Japanese became enthusiastic toothbrushes and consumers of patent medicines.
 * Japan also adopted the Western calender and the metric system, however few Japanese people converted to Christianity.

6. What division within Japanese society were created by modernization? Japanese achievements had taken a toll on the financial state of Japan including poor living standards in the crowded cities. Many Japanese conservatives resented the passion other Japanese people viewed the West. Disputes between generations with the old clinging to traditional standards and the young more interested in Western styles were very troubling in a society that stressed the importance of parental authority. Some tension began to enter into political life. Political parties in Japan's parliament clashed with the emperor's ministers over rights to determine policies. The government had to dissolve the Diet and call for new elections seeking a more workable parliamentary majority. Political assasinations and attempted assasinations reflected grievances including direct action impulses on Samurai tradition. Many Japanese scholars copied Western philosophies and literary styles and there adaptation to prevent the emergence of a full steady Russian intelligetsia.


 * Read //Good-Bye Asia// by Fukuzawa Yukichi. From Riley. Discuss article
 * Read In Depth p. 627 and answer questions
 * Analyze the two faces of Western Influence p.630