The Impact of 19th Century Imperialism on the Middle East

and Asia: Ottoman Empire, Russia, China, and Japan

AP World History

Presentation Outline

1)Ottoman Empire2)Russia3)Qing Dynasty4)Meiji Japan

1) Ottoman Empire

• Loss of intellectualism = loss of innovation = fall behind the Europeans in technology

The Ottomans signed

capitulations with the

European countries =

loss of revenue

Capitulations• Foreign subjects now protected by their individual

country’s laws• They were no longer legally accountable in the

Ottoman Empire.• Possible for foreign governments to levy duties (taxes)

on goods sold in Turkish ports• Foreign powers were also able to set up banks, post

offices, and commercial houses on Turkish soil that were exempt from Turkish taxes and were able to compete with local firms.

Ottoman territorial losses

Tanzimat Period (1839-76)

• Reforms around a new concept of justice

• Equality before the law• Ottomanism = patriotism, but not yet nationalism

• Constitution and a Parliament formed

• The reforms failed; Sultan Abdulahemid put an end to the reforms while putting down rebellions

Departure of Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1922.

Young Turks

• Constitutional, parliamentary government established

• Growing sense of nationalism

• Ottomans entered WWI on the side of Germany = lost

Treaty of Versailles

• Empire partitioned• Kemal Ataturk (and

others) fought for Independence = new Republic of Turkey and an end to the Ottoman Empire (1923).

2) Russia

Features of Russia in mid 1800s

• Autocracy- absolute obedience to the tsar• Orthodoxy- submission to the orthodox church • Serfdom- most of Russia’s peasants were forced into

slave labor• Imperialism- expansion into central Asia and across

the Pacific; rivalry with Britain and the Ottomans

Decembrist Revolt 1825• In 1825, a group of liberal-

minded military officers staged a rebellion against Czar Nicholas I

• The revolt was brutally crushed and the czar instituted even harsher and more restrictive conservative measures by introducing censorship, and forcing military cadets to swear absolute loyalty to the czar

Rebel officers awaiting their death sentence

The Crimean war 1853-56

• The Crimean war part of the “Eastern question”.• “The Eastern question” was the question: How are the

European powers going to respond to the crumbling of the Turkish empire in Europe?

• Russia wanted to gain free access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea.

• This included influence in the states along the Black Sea Coast west of Russia.

Crimean war

The war started 1854

• In 1853 Russia moved army to Moldavia and Wallachia.• Turkey attacked Russia but lost its fleet at Sinope and to avoid the

danger of russian domination:• France and Britain attacked Sebastopol in the Crimea. Piedmont took also

part. • Austria stayed neutral but threatened Russia

• Russia gave up in 1856. Russian influence in the Balkan and the straits was reduced.

Effect of Crimean war

• Internationally• Austria isolated from Russia and the West• Russia prevented from gaining influence in the Balkans

• Opening up for Italian unification• France becomes dominant power• Prussia gains prestige among German states

• Russia becomes isolated and the unification of Germany becomes more likely.• In Russia

• Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861• Judicial reform• Military and educational reform• Creation of an elected assembly

“The Great Game”• The British and Russians would

continue to compete for influence in central Asia throughout the 19th century

• British interests in India were very close to Russian interests in central Asia

• The two Great Powers competed for territory in neighbouring Afghanistan

• Espionage and alliances were the rules of this Great Game rather than armed conflict

Emir of Afghanistan between the Russian Bear and British Lion

1905 Revolution

• Unrest among the middle class, nobles, and peasants leads to massive protests across Russia

• Nobles and middle class want a liberal constitution and a constitutional monarchy

• Peasants want land reforms• Czar Nicholas II crushes the Revolution but promises a new

constitution to satisfy nobles and the middle class• The czar’s reforms were limited and he still ruled as an autocrat

Bloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905

The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

Why did the 1905 Revolution Fail?

3) Qing Dynasty (China) 1850-1911

China in the 1840s

• China failed to advance technologically• Peasants were upset with the decline in living standard• Little of the gold and silver which flowed into China went to improve

infrastructure (roads, railways, etc.)

Taiping Rebellion - 1840s

Chinese “brother of Jesus” recruits one million rebels and nearly takes out government before dying

mixed elements of Christianity and traditional Chinese religion, along with ideas of his own.

He believed in communal property, and the equality of men and women

20-30 million dead

Taiping and Communism

Although pre-Communism the Taiping Republlion foreshadowed it in several ways

Land was evenly distributed. Outlawed all of the following:

Slavery, Sale of women, foot-binding, prostitution, arranged marriages and polygamy.

The Taipings were also against use of opium, alcohol, and tobacco.

Over time, Taiping leaders began to violate most of these rules (especially alcohol and women) and their movement began to lose its loyal followers

Qing govt with help from western powers ended the Taiping movement to take over China

European Imperialism Great Britain traded silk and tea for opium

from India devastating since China addicted to opium land that had previously been used for food

began to be used to produce opium. large amount of Chinese silver left the

country in payment for the opium. When the Qing government bans the opium

trade in 1839, the British invade

Opium Wars 1773 Britain brought Indian opium to

China

1838 – Manchu Chinese ban it and size opium from British

1839-1860 Opium Wars humiliate China

Britain claims Hong Kong

Treaty of Nanjing (1st of unequal treaties)

1844 – Chinese forced to allow Christian missionaries in again

Britain wins HUGE trading rights

The Treaty System

large amount of indemnity (compensation to foreigners)

dozens of treaty ports opened to foreign trade gunboats Missionaries Warehouses Foreign influence in port cities

territorial losses tariffs

is cooll

Self-strengthening Movement 1860s• After defeats in the Opium Wars the Qing government finally decides

to modernize the army and introduce Western military technology• Social and economic reforms, however, do not follow and the Qing

dynasty continues to decay

In 1900 – Spheres of Influence

China was controlled by Europeans economically

Lots of trade between Europe and China

Balance of trade favored Europe China lost silver as they paid out to

Europe Created discord and frustration in

Manchu Qing govt

The scramble for answers

radicalization of domestic politics the “Hundred Days of Reform” in

1898 ambitious reform program

examination system bureaucracy modernization

suppressed by conservatives in Qing court

reformist leaders fled to Japan

The Boxer Uprising in 1900 Peasants in cities of Northern China Name actually translates to “Society of

Harmonious Fists” support from high officials of Qing court destruction of anything foreign siege of the foreign quarter in Beijing

8-nation forces invaded Beijing

Harsh settlement station troops in Beijing huge payments to European powers demanded

to pay for the European cost of stopping the Boxers

Russian troops in Manchuria until 1905

1911 Fall of the Qing

• Sun Yat-sen and other Chinese nationalist leaders led a series of revolts throughout China demanding an end to Qing rule

• The last emperor, Pu Yi, abdicated in early 1912

• A Chinese republic was established• China would not be fully unified until the

late 1920s under the Nationalist Party military leadership of Chiang Kai Shek

Left: Chiang Kai ShekRight: Sun Yat-sen

Left: Pu Yi- The Last Emperor

4) Meiji Japan

End of Japanese Isolation• U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry (1794-1858)

• 1853 – gunboat diplomacy• 1854 – trade treaty with the United States• Great Britain, Holland (Netherlands), and Russia soon

gained similar trading rights

• Townsend Harris (1804-1878)• United States Consul General to Japan• 1858 – commercial treaty between U.S. and Japan• European powers soon gained similar rights in Japan

Meiji Restoration 1868

• Shogun forced to relinquish power• Power officially in hands of Emperor Mutsuhito

• His reign was called the “Meiji”

• Japan westernized• Quickly went to work crafting a constitution

Governmental Reforms

• Diet – Japan’s bicameral legislature• First convened – 1889 • Only men who owned property could vote

• Meiji (Imperial) Constitution• Adopted – 1890 • Followed until the end of World War II

Economic Reforms

• Abolition of feudalism• Currency (yen) adopted, 1872• Encouragement of foreign trade• Expansion and encouragement of state-directed

industrialization• Growth of factories

• First large factories manufactured textiles• First textile factory workers were girls and women

• Land reform• Zaibatsu (large conglomerates) built and expanded

(Toyota, Mitsubishi, etc.)

Military Reforms

Before the Meiji era: Armies were run by local daimyo and thus not subservient to a central governmentMeiji era: Modern army and navy established which were loyal to the Japanese governmentUsed Prussia (Germany) as primary modelFirm belief that if Japan was to be taken seriously by Western powers, and was to avoid China’s fate, Japan would have to compete militarilyConscription (1873) – all men had to serve for three years after turning twenty-one

Social Changes

• Adoption of Western architecture, fashions, music, and literary styles (magazines and novels)

• Diversity of intellectual and political thought

• Growing independence and empowerment of women

• Movement of peasants from countryside to factories

Imperialization of Japan

• Why?• Lack of fertile land for

agriculture• Markets for finished

products• Need for the raw

materials of industry• Population growth• Response to Western

imperialism

Meiji Japan at War• First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

Gained: Formosa (Taiwan) Liaotung Peninsula (Manchuria) – soon forced to relinquish it Sphere of influence in Korea

• Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)• Destruction of Russian fleet• Finally respected as a world power• Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt won Noble Peace Prize Japan was granted the southern part of Sakhalin Island and a large sphere of

influence in Manchuria

• Annexation of Korea (1910)• World War I

• Joined Allies• Received Germany’s mandates over Asian islands and its leases in the

Shantung Peninsula