Russia+Japan+and+West



1. What was the Decemberist uprising? What were its causes and effects? The decembrist upspring: was a revold of western-oriented army officers in 1825. The cause was that the west was becoming to much of aninfluence on Russia. This led to Russia's political opression making Russia avoid the wave of rebellions throughout Europe. 2. What were the weaknesses of the Russian economy? For starters the economic position wasn't up to pace withe the diplomatic aspirations. Russias began to fall behind the west in technology and trade. Even Austria and Prussia had some introduction of industrialism. The landlords of Russia tried to increase in the western markets but all they did was increase their exports by tightening labor obligations for their serfs not their techniques. Russia basically remained an agricultural society with serf labor. 3. What caused the Crimean War? what were its major efects? The cause was that Britain and France basically set out to prevent any nation from becoming a super power, and so it led to the war and it was fought in the black sea. Each side lost 250,000 troops. This also opened Russia's mind about industrializing. After seeing the wests technology and advancements they desided to start a reform to put Russia back in the military arena. 4. Why were serfs emancipated? how did their emancipation differ from the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.? What changes did it create? They were emancipated because they noticed that in order to have independence from the west they no longer needed serfs. The freed serfs were able to keep land as for the slaves were allowed only their freedom. It helped creat a large labor force but agriculture remained the same due to the ways they worked. 5 What were the Zemstvoes? How successful were they? The Zemstvoes: was a local political council that regulated roads, schools, and other regional policies. They took responsibility for the local community. 6. What was the significance of the Trans-Siberian railroad? It was the crowning achievement of the drive to reach an industrial nation. The rail road went from the European Russia to Pacific side. It increased iron and coal production and grain was now transported to the west which allowed them to have forgein currency. New Factories arose in St. Petersburg and Moscow. 7. What economic reforms were enaced by Sergei Witte? The bank system was reformed which influenced investors to build great factories with advanced technology.By 1900's about half of Russia's industry was owned by forgein nations like britain, germany, and french. 8. What were the signs that Russia was headed to revolution? (think about - intelligentsia, anarchists, Marxists, Bolsheviks.) Intelligentsia- a russian term for articulate intellectuals as a class. This was a sign because it showed that the people wanted more from their education and they wanted to advance their learning. They wanted political freedom and a deep social reform. Anarchists- people who sought to abolish all formal government People were beging to want freedom and change from tsar rule. They wanted to for groups to over throw the government. however by failing they did unit the first modern world terrorist group. With fear of things getting out of control Alexander II pulled back from the reform, later was killed by a terrorist bomb in 1881. Bolsheviks- was a group of marxists they each had their own minds on politics and all wanted to give a piece of their minds.
 * Russia**




 * Japan**

1. Explain major developments in Japan in the early 1800's
 * the shogunate continued to combine the central bureaucracy with semifeudal alliences between the regional daimyos and samurai.
 * taxes based on agriculture, despite their growing commercial economy
 * gov. payed stipends to the samurai in return for loyalty
 * tried to build a budget reform
 * neo-confucianism continued
 * they created schools under confucian teachings and by 1859 40% of the men and 15% of the women were literate.
 * a national studies group was formed
 * dutch studies was kept alive as well
 * commerce extanded with big monopoly companies -soy sauce and silk*

2. What effect did the actions of Commodore Perry have on Japan? (include details on Samurai discontent) After Perry pressured the Japanese into allowing Americans to trade with them, they were forced to give in an "open up" (pg.626) The Daimyos forced the Shogun to appeal to the emperor and so did the Samurai. Although the "Daimyos defended the status qou", the samurai were much more divided. The samurai saw an oportunaty for over throwing the Shogunate because they failed to resist forgein pressures. In the 1860s a political crisis broke out and it was led by Samurai attacks on forgeiners. They murdered a British official and bombarded western naval base. A civil war erupted in 1866 as they armed them selves with American weaponry. After they defeated the Shogunate the Japanese were broken free from their traditional relience on their own superiority.

3. List the actions taken by the Meiji State. 1. He decided to end Feudalism, which replaced the Daimyos in 1871 with a system of nationally appointed perfects. (a system adapted from french practices) With this idea in practice he and his advisors set out to expand power of state and effect economic and social changes. 2. He sent samurai officials in the USA and europe to gain knowledge on technology, economic and political practices. They were so impressed that they pulled back their anitforgein position. Great improvements to the gov. finance were followed. 3. They abolished the Samurai class and stipends were removed. Also taxes on agriculture were converted so they could be payed with money. The samurai were compensated with gov. bonds and many became poor.

4. Explain how Japan Industrialized - (Private and government roles) Japan began to become industrial after seeing the developments made by the west and the US. After the crisis of 1860s, they began to reform or create new systems to ensure their growning economy. An important idea to keep in mind is that it was still a resource poor nation. They depended on the west imports such as coal for industrial purposes. they were newly dependent on the world economic conditions and often at a disadvantage.

5. List ways that Industrialization changed Japan
 * new army
 * new gov. banks
 * state built railroads spread across country
 * islands were connectedby rapid steamers
 * new agricultural methods to feed growing cities
 * new economic structure depended on the destruction of many older restrictions.
 * guilds and internal roads tariffs were abolished to create a national market

6. What division within Japanese society were created by modernization? The society was disrupted by massive population growth, which caused class tensions.They introduced a universal school system that gave everyone primary school. The school focused on science, importance of technical subjects, and political loyalty. They copied western fashions in the goal of becoming modern and cut their hair that way to. They adapted the west's calender and metric system. With the western fad going on some converted to christianity but they still managed to keep their values alive with the others. The birth rate droped and divorce rate exploded. They were suprized with the western women and they wanted to protect their women from that.