In the modern society we live in today we sometimes take what we have for granted. The use of cars, our political system and how we get from place to place. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century, there were many advancements that were made that make things possible today. Many people emerged from our history to forge new ideas and break down barriers that people were afraid to cross. If it was not for these people who would know where we would be technologically today. The industrial revolution was the start to it all, it created new modes of transportation and new ways on how people thought. Imperialism stemmed from it and traveled all around the world helping some countries and breaking others down.
The industrial revolution took Britain by storm in the Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The industrial revolution was the advancement in manufacturing, production, transportation and farm life. The industrial revolution happened in Britain for many reasons, one being the increasingly wealthy population along with a rapidly growing population. This opened up the demand for jobs working in factories and the demand for new things to be built. One great invention that came out of the industrial revolution was the Steam Engine. What was so great about it was the fact it operated on coal which Britain had an abundance of. The steam engine was a great step towards transportation. The industrial revolution began to run ramped throughout Europe thanks to the railways that were being built all around the country making it easier to get places and transport goods faster.
Due to the industrial revolution, there was something called a mass society that was emerging. People thought the same and there was very little room for self-expression. Everyone’s social structure was changing and reforming, this was the start of the “New Middle Class”. The new middle class had many morals and were heavily devoted to the Christian faith. Along with the middle class, the working class also formed. The working class was about eighty percent of Europe. At the top of the working class were the artists and the more skilled people. At the bottom was the common worker also known as the laborer. They worked in very poor conditions and got paid very little money.
The industrial revolution was very influential, especially in politics. Many women started to rise up and fight for equality since the industrial revolution was a man’s world. Out of this, the term Feminism was born. It was born in the French Revolution and made its way to Europe. Feminists fought for women to have property rights and to be able to get a divorce if need be. A big thing that women fought for was the right to vote, to women if they could vote then they could solve most of their problems.
The industrial revolution also birthed the terms “Liberalism” and “Nationalism”. Liberals believed that people should be as free from restraints as physically possible. They also believed in protecting the Civil Rights of people and not having them taken away or used against them. Nationalists believed in a sense of community or a “Nation”. Nationalism wasn’t very popular until the French Revolution. The Germans wanted national unity under one government but not everyone was for that. The Czechs and the Hungarians wanted the people to be free and be able to govern themselves. Italy after being largely divided into separate kingdoms finally came together as one in the early 1860s, and soon after Germany followed in its footsteps. The Ottoman Empire was feeling the heat from the rising nationalist beliefs. Slowly but surely the Ottoman empire began to gain freedom and start to break away. In 1878 the Ottoman Empire was defeated. America was one of the richest nations in the 1900s. Many reforms were put into place here in America along with many acts. Some of them include the Meat Inspection Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Regulation of Corporate Act. The Socialist movement was another big movement during the industrial revolution. It started in the late decades of the 18th Century. They were radical groups that inspired egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution. Some people wanted a revolt and to overthrow government leaders while others wanted to take a more scholarly approach.
In Chapter two the book talks about a man named Cecil Rhodes who was a very famous imperialist and had many beliefs. One was called European Superiority. One belief that made a big impact was Social Darwinism. This was believing the theory of natural selection and the evolution of human societies. Europe was a major player in the global trade network, they traded for spices, silks, metals and anything out of the orients. In the 19th Century, an expansion began into Asia and Africa. Colonialism in Africa varied in many ways, Western powers viewed industrial resources as important to survive and they would have a great sense of security. Colonialism was different in every region, some colonies had no say in what went on. In Nigeria, the British made the decisions and the authorities would have to go along an enforce them. Many of the African Americans were treated very poorly and did not have a say in what was taking place. Societies that moved aggressively and that could adapt to change were in good standings. Some people were not fans of this rule. People wanted moral justification that would benefit the victim. In India, they belonged to a larger group instead of a smaller one. An example being Islam or Hinduism, they belonged to groups called castes. Each caste identifies through a varna creating highly sophisticated and organized societies. In African imperialism was very different than it was in India and Asia. In Africa, it was survival of the fittest but in India and Asia everything was very organized and strategized.
In China they were experiencing a very long time of peace and prosperity, their borders were secure and they were growing intellectually as a society. Barely a century later China was tormented by the Western Powers. When the Qing decided to stop trading Opium the British declared war on them. In order to defuse the situation at hand China sued for peace and agreed with opening five ports to the British along with ceding the island of Hong Kong to Great Britain. Many countries were operating in treaty ports along the coast of China as well.
Qings failure to deal with economic problems led to the peasant revolt. By the late 1870s, China’s old dynasty was collapsing and needed a new life. Qing rulers listening to what had to be said and launched something called the self-strengthening policy. It meant that western technology would be used and the old ways of Confucian principles would be put to rest. In the following years, Foreign pressure intensified on the dynasty. The U.S put forth the “Open Door Notes” which was a policy stating that there would be equal trading privileges among the countries that did trade with China.
During this time period, Japan was going through the same exact thing. Throughout the years Japan was able to keep their religious beliefs and cultural achievements. Japan’s first order of business was to abolish the past of the old order and start to strengthen the newer executive power. In the next two decades, the new power studied the workings of the western political systems. Prince Ito Hirobumi traveled to many different countries such as Great Britain, Germany, Russia, and the United States, to learn the inner workings and their political system. Japan changed their economy and changed how their schools ran. They introduced new topics such as modern technology. They even sent their smartest students to study abroad and get immersed in a new culture. Japan welcomed the change to their culture and did everything they could to try to know more and do more to improve it.
Japan joined the imperialist club and they were viewed with proprietary pride and admiration by onlookers. Japan was never one for expansion or taking over territories but in 1874 Japan claimed compensation from China for sailors who were killed by the local population in Taiwan. In 1908 Japan took over Korea when Korea refused Japan took action and this resulted in many Korean casualties. The United States was the first country to notice that Japan took over Korea and with that in return got Tokyo’s declaration of respect for U.S authorities in the Philippines.
It seems as though China and Japan were two very different countries. Japan welcomed a change to their lifestyle and government. The leaders traveled around to try and get more immersed in how everything worked. China did the complete opposite, they did not want change and wanted to continue with their old ways. In the end result, Japan was doing much better than China. China resisted the Western Imperialist and this resulted in the Opium war and many rebellions. Whereas Japan went with the movement and rose to very high power in the world. This shows that in a modern era anyone can rise to power if they have the means to do so. It also shows that you cannot resist power because in a modern era the more powerful country always wins.
We understand the industrial revolution as something that started a whole new movement. It opened doors to things we did not think were possible, but the industrial revolution also hurt some countries in the process as well. Some countries accepted change with open arms while others hid from change and with this came war and many casualties. The industrial brought wealth and new social classes but it also gave us poverty and no voice. Europe was power hungry and traveled overseas to gain more territory. China struggled to compete with western nationalists. Japan, however, had vigor and aggression to wanting to be the best. Japan emerged one of the best for its time. How come China rejected western imperialism so much? Who knows what China could have become if it had as much aggression and hunger to succeed as Japan did.
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