Russia
1. What was the Decemberist uprising? What were its causes and effects?
The Decemberist uprising was a revolt of army offciers from the West who wanted to incorporate liberal political ideas into the intellectuals. Nicholas I (a tsar) established conservatism in Russia as well as giving additional power to the secret police.
2. What were the weaknesses of the Russian economy?
The weaknesses of the Russian economy were that it lacked industrialization that other Western European nations contained. Russia was an argrarian nation in contrast to the West.
3. What caused the Crimean War? What were its major effects?
The Crimean War was caused by a religious dispute between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, when France and England did not want a power like the Russians trying to protect Christian rights in the Holy Land. The war resulted in the West being victorius, and Russia knew they had to reform economic and military aspects of their society.
4. Why were serfs emancipated? How did their emancipation differ from the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.? What changes did it create?
Serfs were emancipated because Russia wanted to develop a different work force for them in order to industrialize their society like the West. The emancipation changed and the numbers in urban labor force increased.
5. What were the Zemstvoes? How successful were they?
The Zemstvoes were local political councils that had the control to regulate schools, railroads, and other policies within the region. They lacked national government, but provided the middle class with a small amount of power.
6. What was the significance of the Trans-Siberian railroad?
The significance of the Trans-Siberian Railroad was that it helped spread Russia's iron and te export of grain to the West. Siberia was opened as a result as well for new development, therefore Russia had control in Asia as well.
7. What economic reforms were enaced by Sergei Witte?
Sergei Witte established high tariffs to protect the Russian industries that were established, and also improved the economic bank system, and encouraged even Westerners to build factories like the Russians with new techonology and skill.
8. What were the signs that Russia was headed to revolution? (think about - intelligentsia, anarchists, Marxists, Bolsheviks.)
The signs that Russia was headed to revolution consisted of when people, the intelligentsia, pursued social and political rights. To get their rights provoked them to attack facilities. The anarchists also rose to try and abolish the Russian government entirely. The Marxists brought new doctrines from the West into Russia to suggest the idea of a proletariat revolution. The Bolsheviks were a group of Russian Marxists who strongly desired the proletariat revolutioni idea of government.
Japan: Transformation without Revolution
1. Explain major developments in Japan in the early 1800's
The shounate combined a central bureaucracy with semifuedal alliances between the regional daimyos and samurai during the first half of the 19th century. Japanese intellectual life developed under the Tokugawa regime. Neo-Confucianism gained among the ruling elite and Japan became more secular. Schools and academies expanded, even commoner schools called terakoya which taught reading and writing and Confucianism. Traditionalists and reformist intellectuals had tensions because of different ideaologies. Commerce expanded as big merchant companies established monopolies in various centers as well, causing the Japanese economy to develop into the 19th century.
2. What effect did the actions of Commodore Perry have on Japan? (include details on Samurai discontent)
Commodore Matthew Perry effected Japan when a formal treaty in 1856 allowed two ports to be opened to commerce (American ports) in Japan. Westerneners living in Japan would be governed by their own respresentatives instead of Japanese law. Samurai opponents of the bureaucracy appealed to the emperor who began to emerge from his confinement as a religious figure. The samurai were dived, some saw the oppurtunity for change, like unseating the sogunate. Civil war also broke out in 1866 as the samurai armed themselves with American weaponry, causing Japan's artiocracy to come to terms with Western armanents. ---Commodore Perry used threats of bombardment to insist that Americans be allowed to trade. Japan was forced to open up.
3. List the actions taken by the Meiji State
In the Meiji state, key samurai leaders put down the troops of the shogunate. They put changes in Japan's political structure; they wanted to abolish feudalism. The government sent officials to western Europe and the US to study their ways to bring back to Japan. The Meiji ministers introduced a social revolution; abolished samurai class, tax on agriculture was converted to a wider tax, samurai were compensated by government bonders, introduced army based on national conscription, created a conservative nobility, reorganized the bureaucrracy, insulated from political pressures, and opened talent on examination service. The political structure came to involve centralized imperial rule by Miji advisors as well as respresetative instituions mimicked by the West. ---
4. Explain how Japan Industrialized - (Private and government roles)
The new army was improved by official training and upgrading armanents to Western standards. New government banks funded growing trade and provided capital for industry. Railroads were established and islands were connected by rapid streamers. The economic structure involved guilds and road tariffs to be abolished in order for a national market to exist. Land reform created indivual ownershpi for farmers which led to good production and new eqipment. Government dominated manufacturing in transportation networks, operation of mines, shipyards, and metallurgical plants. Private enerprise played a small role in the economy as well. Industrial combines known as zaibatsu was formed as a result of capital and merchant and industrial operations.
5. List ways that Industrialization changed Japan
The new changes enouraged a more aggressive foreign policy. Japanese society had a mjor population increase. Better nutrition was needed therefore a decrease in death rates occured. The education focus stresses importance of technical subjects as well as loyalty to the nation. Japanese copied Western fashions as a part of their effort to become modern with haircuts, hygiene spread with toothbrushes, the Western calender and the metric system. However, few converted to Christianity; Japan preserved their values and morals, but practiced the West's techniques.
6. What division within Japanese society were created by modernization?
Some Japanese resented the passion other Japanese displayed for Western fashions. Tension entered political life when the Japanese parliament clashed with the emperor's ministers over rights to determine policy. They had to dissolve the Diet and make new elections. Political assassinations reflected grievances and action impulses in the samurai tradition. Also, many Japanese scholars copied Western philosophies and literary styles. Other intellectuals expressed a deep pessisim about the loss of identity while changing their world. They were confused over Japan not being tradional, but not Western either. Japanese nationalism built on traditions of superiority, cohesion, and deference to rulers. Nationalism was why Japan avoided revolutionary pressure in 1900.
1. What was the Decemberist uprising? What were its causes and effects?
The Decemberist uprising was a revolt of army offciers from the West who wanted to incorporate liberal political ideas into the intellectuals. Nicholas I (a tsar) established conservatism in Russia as well as giving additional power to the secret police.
2. What were the weaknesses of the Russian economy?
The weaknesses of the Russian economy were that it lacked industrialization that other Western European nations contained. Russia was an argrarian nation in contrast to the West.
3. What caused the Crimean War? What were its major effects?
The Crimean War was caused by a religious dispute between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, when France and England did not want a power like the Russians trying to protect Christian rights in the Holy Land. The war resulted in the West being victorius, and Russia knew they had to reform economic and military aspects of their society.
4. Why were serfs emancipated? How did their emancipation differ from the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.? What changes did it create?
Serfs were emancipated because Russia wanted to develop a different work force for them in order to industrialize their society like the West. The emancipation changed and the numbers in urban labor force increased.
5. What were the Zemstvoes? How successful were they?
The Zemstvoes were local political councils that had the control to regulate schools, railroads, and other policies within the region. They lacked national government, but provided the middle class with a small amount of power.
6. What was the significance of the Trans-Siberian railroad?
The significance of the Trans-Siberian Railroad was that it helped spread Russia's iron and te export of grain to the West. Siberia was opened as a result as well for new development, therefore Russia had control in Asia as well.
7. What economic reforms were enaced by Sergei Witte?
Sergei Witte established high tariffs to protect the Russian industries that were established, and also improved the economic bank system, and encouraged even Westerners to build factories like the Russians with new techonology and skill.
8. What were the signs that Russia was headed to revolution? (think about - intelligentsia, anarchists, Marxists, Bolsheviks.)
The signs that Russia was headed to revolution consisted of when people, the intelligentsia, pursued social and political rights. To get their rights provoked them to attack facilities. The anarchists also rose to try and abolish the Russian government entirely. The Marxists brought new doctrines from the West into Russia to suggest the idea of a proletariat revolution. The Bolsheviks were a group of Russian Marxists who strongly desired the proletariat revolutioni idea of government.
Japan: Transformation without Revolution
1. Explain major developments in Japan in the early 1800's
The shounate combined a central bureaucracy with semifuedal alliances between the regional daimyos and samurai during the first half of the 19th century. Japanese intellectual life developed under the Tokugawa regime. Neo-Confucianism gained among the ruling elite and Japan became more secular. Schools and academies expanded, even commoner schools called terakoya which taught reading and writing and Confucianism. Traditionalists and reformist intellectuals had tensions because of different ideaologies. Commerce expanded as big merchant companies established monopolies in various centers as well, causing the Japanese economy to develop into the 19th century.
2. What effect did the actions of Commodore Perry have on Japan? (include details on Samurai discontent)
Commodore Matthew Perry effected Japan when a formal treaty in 1856 allowed two ports to be opened to commerce (American ports) in Japan. Westerneners living in Japan would be governed by their own respresentatives instead of Japanese law. Samurai opponents of the bureaucracy appealed to the emperor who began to emerge from his confinement as a religious figure. The samurai were dived, some saw the oppurtunity for change, like unseating the sogunate. Civil war also broke out in 1866 as the samurai armed themselves with American weaponry, causing Japan's artiocracy to come to terms with Western armanents.
---Commodore Perry used threats of bombardment to insist that Americans be allowed to trade. Japan was forced to open up.
3. List the actions taken by the Meiji State
In the Meiji state, key samurai leaders put down the troops of the shogunate. They put changes in Japan's political structure; they wanted to abolish feudalism. The government sent officials to western Europe and the US to study their ways to bring back to Japan. The Meiji ministers introduced a social revolution; abolished samurai class, tax on agriculture was converted to a wider tax, samurai were compensated by government bonders, introduced army based on national conscription, created a conservative nobility, reorganized the bureaucrracy, insulated from political pressures, and opened talent on examination service. The political structure came to involve centralized imperial rule by Miji advisors as well as respresetative instituions mimicked by the West.
---
4. Explain how Japan Industrialized - (Private and government roles)
The new army was improved by official training and upgrading armanents to Western standards. New government banks funded growing trade and provided capital for industry. Railroads were established and islands were connected by rapid streamers. The economic structure involved guilds and road tariffs to be abolished in order for a national market to exist. Land reform created indivual ownershpi for farmers which led to good production and new eqipment. Government dominated manufacturing in transportation networks, operation of mines, shipyards, and metallurgical plants. Private enerprise played a small role in the economy as well. Industrial combines known as zaibatsu was formed as a result of capital and merchant and industrial operations.
5. List ways that Industrialization changed Japan
The new changes enouraged a more aggressive foreign policy. Japanese society had a mjor population increase. Better nutrition was needed therefore a decrease in death rates occured. The education focus stresses importance of technical subjects as well as loyalty to the nation. Japanese copied Western fashions as a part of their effort to become modern with haircuts, hygiene spread with toothbrushes, the Western calender and the metric system. However, few converted to Christianity; Japan preserved their values and morals, but practiced the West's techniques.
6. What division within Japanese society were created by modernization?
Some Japanese resented the passion other Japanese displayed for Western fashions. Tension entered political life when the Japanese parliament clashed with the emperor's ministers over rights to determine policy. They had to dissolve the Diet and make new elections. Political assassinations reflected grievances and action impulses in the samurai tradition. Also, many Japanese scholars copied Western philosophies and literary styles. Other intellectuals expressed a deep pessisim about the loss of identity while changing their world. They were confused over Japan not being tradional, but not Western either. Japanese nationalism built on traditions of superiority, cohesion, and deference to rulers. Nationalism was why Japan avoided revolutionary pressure in 1900.