Japan emerged in 1853 from two and a half centuries of self-imposed peaceful isolation, but within a few decades the country’s leaders embarked on a policy of aggressive territorial expansion. During the last half of the nineteenth century, the Western imperialist powers of England, France, and Germany established the model for acquisition of colonies in Asia and for the partition of China into spheres of influence. Near the end of the century, about the same time Japan began to capture colonial territory, the United States and Russia also initiated their imperialistic expansion in Asia. Imperialism can be defined as direct or indirect domination of an industrialized country over a colonial territory or another country. Although the theories …show more content…
The British overseas empire provided them with a strong economy, this produced the capital (money) needed to build railroads, factories, and mines. Due to the need for raw materials and new markets, the industrialized nations took control of Africa, India, South East Asia, and others. Imperialism had a negative effect on most of these cultures, and did not completely end until after World War II. Most of the benefits of imperialism accrued to the European nations. Prior to Imperialism, Europe experienced harsh times in the 14th century. Three key events devastated and ravaged much of the continent for the next several hundred years. The first problem was famine. Europe experienced severe climatic changes which lead to floods and crop …show more content…
Soil was becoming increasingly infertile, this contributed to slow food production. The second problem was the black death, which was a bacteria that infected rats. As towns became over crowded and food became scarce, hundreds of millions of rats migrated to the towns.people lived with the rats in filthy conditions, allowing the fleas that became infected while infesting the rats to attacked people and infect them too. Some historical sources claim up to 2/3 of Europe’s population were affected and half died. Lastly, European powers were constantly locked in power struggles such as the 100 years war between England and France. Thousands were killed or crippled over sometimes only a few kilometers of territory. The threat of force by superior weaponry exploited the backwardness of the Japanese military and Perry’s ships became a lasting symbol of western technology. The restoration led to the end of the rule of the Shogunate and ‘restored’ the rule of the Emperor. This led to the establishment of the Empire of Japan, the same Empire that surrendered to the Allies in 1945. The geography of Great Britain was the reason why they had such an industrialized nation because they had lots of raw materials and their geography also helped in many
European Imperialism of China and Japan Imperialism is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. By the 1800’s, the Western powers had advantages in this process. They led the world in technological advances, giving them dominance when conquering other countries. The European Imperialists made attempts to conquer China and Japan.
They also needed land to acquire raw materials for growing markets. One country that had imperialism was India. By the mid-1880s, the British East India Company controlled three fifths of India. The cause of British domination was that the land was very diverse and the people could not unite and that the British either paid local princes or used weapons to get control. Positive effects of imperialistic rule in India were that the British set up a stronger economy and more powerful industries.
With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, Europe was looking to bolster its trade markets abroad. Thinking of it this way: in order to sell more goods, you need more places to sell them. So, with this thinking in mind, the Europeans said to themselves, 'What better place than Africa and Asia?' Along the same lines, colonies on these continents were seen as great places to get cheap, raw materials for Europe's factories. Add to this that Europe needed a place to house and employ their surplus population, and you can see why New Imperialism held the promise of economic growth.
The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and Social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans were aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on. Britain was endowed with geographic and political advantages that allowed the country to become the first to unwittingly stumble onto industrialization. Britain was an island, therefore had developed a unique naval strength which subsequently gave Britain leverage when globalization blossomed from expanding maritime trade. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe, including Belgium, trailed behind. Presently, colonized regions still bear the traits and scars from the subjugators of their past.
Imperialism is defined as a policy to dominant other countries and rule them. Then, these new colonies surrender their markets, industries, and resources to their invaders. “US imperialism, supported by US politicians, was intended to bring profits to US manufacturers (capitalists)…” (lecture4-p13). Although the period of 1890-1910 is usually known as “the age of the US imperialism”, the US imperialism is not limited to that era. Overseas imperialism began during 1890-1910 with the invasion of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which was an attempt to expand the American’s territory to reach natural resources such as minerals, timber, oil, and land. These new territories could also provide corporations with cheap workers and military bases. There have been numerous other examples of the US imperialism. Starting from North America, the US government took over the Pacific Ocean and found its way into Asia. “A State Department list... shows 103 interventions in the affairs of other countries between 1798 and 1895” (Zinn-12), including Argentina, Uruguay, China, Angola, Nicaragua, and Japan to protect American’s interests in those countries. The same motivation was pursued in attacking Vietnam. According to Zinn, the main reason of the US intervention in WWII was to follow its imperial interests. “For those interests, in the thirties, an anti-Soviet
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
Prior to the Meiji Restoration, the Western powers viewed Japan as the backward nation because “in terms of military strength and economic development, Japan was indeed far behind the Western nations” (Hane and Perez 84). The Meiji government feared that Western nations would colonize Japan because they had already done it to other Asian countries by using military forces (Hane and Perez 84). The Meiji government’s fear came out to be true when the Western powers imposed unequal commercial treaties on Japan. Because of these unequal treaties Japan was “deprived of the right to regulate tariffs, and Western residents in the treaty ports were granted the privilege of extraterritoriality” (Hane and Perez 84).
Then in the 1800's , Europe thrust its way into the heart of the Middle
The common factor amongst all three instances of British Imperialism was Britain’s greed for economic opportunity. Greed is often caused by unjustifiable pride, which Britain undeniably had. England was so willing to achieve various advancements to its own economy that it created long lasting and devastating destruction in three other regions of the world. These countries still face lingering effects from British greed.
The first Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. It led to a dramatic increase in factories, therefore a vast amount of manufactured goods. The demand for goods created by the Industrial Revolution helped clear the way for the Age of Imperialism because Great Britain and eventually all of Europe sought after more natural resources and raw materials. Imperialism is the policy in which a stronger country seeks to dominate a less developed country both politically and economically. Although the European imperialism of Africa was exploitive and self seeking, it was justified because it ultimately enhanced the growth and development of the African nations through new laws, government, well ordered finance and freedom form oppression.
Leading up to the First World War, Japan began pursuing modernization and imperialism. Before the wars however, Japan was isolationist for much the same reason China was isolationist. Both China and Japan viewed themselves as superior to other countries but acted differently on this idea. China was focused on defense while Japan began to plan for world conquest. Arguably while China was focused on self-stabilization, Japan was focused on projecting their imperialism towards the rest of Asia. This lead to the invasion of the North Easter Chinses province of Manchuria in September 1931 which was occupied by Japan until the end of the Second World War. The invasion was the first step of Japan’s plan to conquer China and ultimately the world. The Japanese planned to take Manchuria for its resources to build its army then attack each province
During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for its own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused. As the Europeans started to invade Africa and split up the land, they paid no attention to the already existing natural boundaries. Over time, villages with different cultures had set these boundaries.
The concept of imperialism is one that has pervaded nearly every major society or empire throughout human history. It seems to be a natural consequence of societies growing in size, power, and knowledge. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries vast changes occurred in Western Europe (and soon spread elsewhere) that spurred a new round of imperialism the likes of which had not been seen before. The changes were the industrial revolution that was taking place. Countries were rapidly advancing to industrial societies producing much greater quantities of goods at much lower costs. The goods produced ranged everywhere from cotton textiles to military machinery, all of which would play important roles in rounds of imperialistic expansion that would follow. The imperialistic displays by Western European nations also brought about several other industrial revolutions in other regions including the Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Japan. I will take a look at how the industrial revolution encouraged imperialistic expansion, as well as some of the results of that expansion in other regions.
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.
Imperialism is an expression associated with the expansion of the Western European powers, and their invasion and occupation of East Asian countries, mainly throughout the18th and 19th Centuries. Imperialism was administered through brute force and trade that permitted the imperial nations of the west to benefit from East Asian states and manipulate their governments without going to the trouble of implementing political and economic control.