AP World History Chapter 31 Societies at Crossroads

THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE

In the nineteenth century Tokugawa Japan, Qing China, the Ottoman empire, and Russia faced profound challenges that fundamentally transformed all four powerful states. In some cases the threats, both internal and external, caused the societies to undergo transformations that left the states better equipped to face the twentiety century. In other cases the states were essentially shattered and quickly fell prey to more modern and industrialized rivals. The slow pace of technological advancement in Russia, Japan, China, and the Ottoman Empire left them in a difficult position when competing with western Europe and the United States. The four societies also faced other common problems: population pressures, falling agricultural productivity, famine, declining revenue, and corrupt bureaucracies. In the end Japan, and to a lesser extent Russia, simply did a more effective job of reforming than did China or the Ottomans.

OVERVIEW

The Ottoman Empire in Decline

As the nineteenth century dawned the Ottoman Empire was shrinking. The loss of Greece, Serbia, and especially Egypt damaged Ottoman prestige and economic might. Unequal trading agreements with the western Europeans, known as capitulations, made the economic situation even more dire. Attempts at reform were blocked by governmental corruption and the power of the Janissaries. Mahmud II was only able to bring about western European-inspired military and educational reforms by first slaughtering a large number of Janissaries. The years from 1839 to 1876, known as the Tanzimat or ―reorganization‖ era, brought about legal reform based on the French model. Nevertheless, the Tanzimat reformers faced opposition from devout Muslims, corrupt bureaucrats, and the Young Ottomans. Sultan Abdül Hamid II (1876–1909) suspended the constitution and ruled despotically but also built railroads and continued to modernize the army and educational system. The Young Turks dethroned Abdül Hamid II and pushed forward a program calling for universal suffrage, equality before the law, freedom of religion, free public education, secularization of the state, and the emancipation of women. Unfortunately, the Young Turks’ insistence on Turkish as the official language of the empire caused dissension in the heterogeneous Ottoman Empire.

The Russian Empire under Pressure

The humiliating loss in the Crimean War (1853-1856) to a poorly led but technologically advanced Franco-British force displayed the weakness of Russia. Reform in Russia, as in the other societies discussed in this chapter, was essential. At the heart of Russia’s attempt at social reform was Alexander II’s emancipation of the serfs in 1861. The newly freed serfs, however, discovered a world with few political or economic opportunities. Governmental innovation, with the creation of the zemstvos or district assemblies, and judicial reform did bring some improvements. By the end of the century Minister of Finance Sergei Witte was pushing for massive industrial expansion and the construction of the trans-Siberian railway. In the end, however, the rapid pace of industrialization created an angry, suffering proletariat that was susceptible to revolutionary ideas. Opposition leaders, ranging from university students and members of the intelligentsia to anarchists and peasant revolutionaries, grew tired of the slow pace of change. Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by a faction of the Land and Freedom Party. His successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II, relied more on oppression. The year 1905, with the humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution after the Bloody Sunday massacre, shook Russian confidence even more.

The Chinese Empire under Siege

The causes and consequences of the Opium War (1839–1842) were profound for nineteenth- century China. Beyond merely a dispute with the British over opium, the conflict centered around questions of sovereignty and modernity. The Treaty of Nanjing gave the British control over Hong Kong and certain beneficial trading concessions; more importantly, the humiliating defeat revealed the weakness of China. Even as the western Europeans applied external pressure, China was collapsing internally. Hong Xiuquan’s devastating Taiping Rebellion fed off the chaos of popular discontent and governmental incompetence. By its end in 1864, the Taiping Rebellion had left around thirty million Chinese dead. Attempts at reform—such as the Self-Strengthening Movement’s desire to combine Chinese cultural traditions with European technology—met with imperial opposition. Like the Ottoman Empire, the Qing Empire lost control over valuable lands (e.g. Burma, Vietnam, Korea) to more powerful competitors. Emperor Guangxu, inspired by the proposals of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, embarked on the Hundred Days reforms of 1898. The empress dowager Cixi imprisoned the emperor and squelched the reforms. The Boxer Rebellion came to nothing.

The Transformation of Japan

The story in Japan, although similar in origins, would have a very different ending. Calls for reform, such as those of Mizuno Takakuni in the early 1840s, became more pressing after the American show of force by Commodore Perry in 1853. Beginning in 1868, reformers such as Fukuzawa Yukichi and Ito Hirobumi brought about the Meiji Restoration, which was designed to copy aspects of western European and American achievements so that Japan would not meet the same fate as China. Industrialization was a key to the success of this reform. The Meiji leaders abolished the old feudal order, revamped the tax system, and remodeled the economy. The Japanese army and navy were modernized and restructured, and Japan embarked on a western-style imperialistic expansion. Victories in the Sino- Japanese (1895-1896) and Russo-Japanese Wars (1904-1905) signaled Japan’s rise to the status of a world power.

AP World History Name: ______Chapter 31 Study Questions- Part I

IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE What is the contribution of each of the following individuals to world history? Identification should include answers to the questions who, what, where, when, how, and why is this person important? 1. Muhammad Ali

2. Mahmud II

3. Abdul Hamid I

IDENTIFICATION: TERMSICONCEPTS State in your own words what each of the following terms means and why it is significant to a study of world history. (Terms with an asterisk are defined in the glossary) 1. Janissaries

2. The "capitulations"*

3. Tanzimat*

4. Young Turks*

STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What factors led to the territorial decline of the Ottoman empire over the course of the nineteenth century? What territories were lost?

2. Compare the reforms of the Tanzimat era with the program of the Young Turks.

AP World History Name: ______Chapter 31 Study Questions- Part II

1. Alexander II

2. Sergei Witte

1. Crimean War

2. Zemstvos*

3. Soviets*

4. Duma*

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What significant political and legal reforms did the Russian government implement in the late nineteenth century?

2. What was Count Wine's program for the industrialization of Russia? What were the results?

3. What were the sources of social discontent and agitation in Russia in the late nineteenth century? How did the government respond?

4. What events led to the Russian revolution of 1905? What was the outcome of this revolution?

AP World History Name: ______Chapter 31 Study Questions- Part III

IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE

1. Lin Zexu

2. Hong Xiuquan

3. Empress Dowager Cixi

IDENTIFICATION: TERMSICONCEPTS

1. Cohong system*

2. Opium War

3. Unequal treaties

4. Taiping rebellion*

5. Self-Strengthening Movement*

6. Spheres of influence

7. Boxer rebellion

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Why was the opium trade so important to the British? What factors led to the Opium War and how was this war resolved?

2. What was the impact of the Treaty of Nanjing on the Chinese empire? What nations benefited from this treaty?

3. What were the causes of the Taiping revolution? What was the outcome?

4. Overall, what weaknesses led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty?

AP World History Name: ______Chapter 31 Study Questions- Part IV

IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE

1. Commodore Matthew Perry

2. Emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji)

3. Ito Hirobumi

IDENTIFICATION: TERMSICONCEPTS

1. Tokugawa shogunate*

2. Meiji restoration*

3. Daimyo*

4. Bakufu

5. Neo-Confucianism*

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What factors led to the collapse of the Tokugawa government and the restoiation of the emperor Meiji in 1868?

2. How did Japanese reformers achieve rapid industrialization of Japan? What were the results of this effort? What were the costs?