Rising Empires Flashcards
Russia Prior to Reform
Political Structure
The Tsar was the absolute monarch. They had a feudalist system where serfs were peasants and tied to the land. This led to the peasants feeling like they didn’t have rights.
Russia prior to Reform
Economy
They were behind in industrialization. The heartland theory was the idea that they needed to have as much land in Eurasia as possible to be the most successful. They wanted access to ports for transportation and trade. They had an agrarian economy based on serfdom and couldn’t support expansions.
Russia Prior to Reform
Legal System
Nobles were the ones who owned most of the land and paid no taxes. Nobles controlled laws locally and feared change would weaken authority so they didn’t industrialize.
Tsarist Reforms after 1856
Serfdom
There was an abolishment of serfdom by Alexander II in 1861 because it was an obstacle to economic development. They needed workers and consumers. They were also a source of rebellions and protests. The gov. Forces some to move into cities and factories and treated the same as before, leading to rebellion and protests.
Tsarist Reforms after 1856
Land reform
Serfs received land that used to belong to the nobles, however, they have to pay high taxes, making animosity grow between the royalty. Because they couldn’t pay, the lands went right back to the nobles, sharecropping and serfdom. There was little increase in agricultural production. Like what happened in US when slavery was abolished and peasants had no way to gain economic support.
Tsarist Reforms after 1856
Local political reform
The Tsar created local political councils focused on education, health, and social welfare called the Zemstvos. They set local policies like giving voices to middle class in politics, roads, education, ect. All classes were allowed into this assembly, but mostly land-owning nobles. There was an expansion of military, recruitment, and education. Had active training. Literacy rates rise.
Tsarist Reforms after 1856
Judicial Reform
Courts were based on Western European models at a local level. They had independent judges, appeals in courts, trial by jury, elected justices that dealt with minor offenses like local courts. They start to see attorneys and legal experts emerge and leads to less corruption. Had Appellate courts where you could appeal your punishemnt.
Japan’s struggles during Tokugawa Era
At the start of the period, they had a feudal system and a puppet emperor. Isolationism except for a port at Nagasaki. They had poor crop yields because of monocropping, high taxation, migration to cities making prices of rice and commodities rise which causes starvation, and samurai/daimyo grow poor due to merchant class. This increased peasant protests and rebellion.
Meiji Restoration Political Reforms (1868-1912)
Emperor Meiji, an enlightened ruler, took over power and reversed many years of work. The Diet, a parliamentary structure was made but doesn’t really have any power. They had a constitution made. Had two houses of House of Nobles (Daimyos), and elected lower house. Only 5% of the pop. could participate. They westernize and modernize army. Gets rid of samurai lifestyle. Send engineers to observe western industrialization. Government builds infrastructure like telephones, ships, bays, and telegraph lines. Had more public education for women and men and pushed math, science, and technology.
Pan-Slavism and the Crimean War (1853-1856)
Russia needed more ports so they could travel all year round, so they spread to the east. Manchuria, mongols, qing and ottomans are easy targets for them since they’re weakened. Pan-slavism was the advocacy of all Slavs or Slavic people. To weaken the ottomans further, they tried to establish a protectorate over them in 1829 after defeating them in battle. There were conflicts between russia, Britain, France, kingdom of Sardinia, and ottomans. Russia was unable to mobilize and were no match for European cannons and guns. Realized they must industrialize since agrarian/serfdom based economy can’t support their expansion.
Japanese Nationalism
After 1853 when the Commodore Perry of the Us navy and other Europeans following their journey demanded Japanese trade without tariffs, they were humiliated, causing them to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration where they started to industrialize/westernize, many peasants rebelled because they wanted old and traditional Japanese lifestyle.
Russian State Sponsored Industrialization
Role of Crimean War in the start of Industrialization
Russia was no match for European cannons and guns during the Crimean war (1853-1856), and the agrarian economy based on serfdom couldn’t support their ability to expand their territory.
Russian State Sponsored Industrialization
Trans-Siberian Railroad
Longest railroad in the world. Spans from moscow to the pacific port. Helped spread information faster, and people.
Russian State Sponsored Industrialization
Tariffs
They had high protective tariffs so nobody wanted foreign goods. Keeps the economy and Russian money inside of russia. Helps build more economy now that they are out of the serfdom economy.
Russian State Sponsored Industrialization
Foreign investment
Half of businesses in Russia were international. It was only for more money to come into russia, but didn’t want them there. French and Belgium were a key role in the development of steel and coal. British funds petroleum in caucuses.
