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1. Impact of Meiji Restoration (Government and Politics (Education (Govt…
1. Impact of Meiji Restoration
Impact of nationalism and militarism on fp
Country isolated until mid 19th century
Power vested in emperor by really exercise don’t by daimyo (aristocracy) and samurai (feudal warrior)
Process of modernisation
Why?
Arrival of US warships under Commondore Perry in Japanese waters (1853) - wanted to avoid exploitation by US (also Russia, UK and Dutch)
Meji Restoration (1868-1912) - abolition of office of shogun (supreme military commander) and return to emperor (still run by elites however)
How
‘oitsuke, oikose’ - ‘catch up, overtake’
Japanese officials and students sent to study tech and economy in Europe
Naval Academy set up - 1869
Tokyo Uni founded in 1877
1871 - first national bank
By 1900 = 500 miles of rack laid - this dvpt = v-important to gov (1/3 GDP spent on railways in early/mid 1870s)
Initially state funded, then by zaibatsu (large business conglomerates
Industrialisation funded by govt and driven by textiles industries , especially silk
Exports - rose from 6% of GNP in 1880s to 20% in 1912. By 1914 90% of Japan’s exported goods were manufactured goods
Reasons for expansion to 1914
Shortage of raw materials - did not want to rely on China or pay high imports
Demographic pressure - rapidly increasing population
Desire to share in scramble for China - already being colonised by Britain, France, US and Germany. Japan forced Chinese to grant trading bases
Alliance and conflict
1894-1895, Sino-Japanese War
Sought Manchuria and Korea, tempting given Chinese weakness at the time
1894 - King of Korea asks for help from China to crush a rebellion. China obliged, but Japan followed suit
Japan secures brilliant victory overt China. Resulting Treaty Shimonoseki (April1895) = Japanese control of Taiwan, Liaodong Peninsula in Southern Manchuria and China to give up Korean interests
The Tripartite Intervention
Following the Sino-Japanese War, Russia, French and German diplomatic intervention enflames Japanese nationalism following Shimonoseki. Japan is forced to give up Liaodong peninsula and in 1896 Yamagata-Lobanov Protocol accepted that Russia and Japan would jointly exercise control over Korea
Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902
Sino-Japanese War enhanced respect from western powers. Extraterritoriality ended
Alliance obligated each country to help if it found itself at war with more than one country and to remain neutral if the other went to war with one country
Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905
Russia had been blocked in the Balkans by the Congress of Berlin, so turned attentions to Far East, encouraged by Chinese weakness
China allowed Russia to build a railway across Manchuria and have Tsar Nicholas II 25 yr lease on Liaodong peninsula including Port Arthur
Tsar looked to Korea too, but Japan regarded Korea as its sphere of influence
1901 - Japanese nationalists set up Amur River Society to promote imperialist expansion
Japan attacked Port Arthur in Manchuria (August 1904). Port Arthur surrenders to Japanese
March 1905 - Japanese forces take Mukden, Manchuria’s capital
May 1905 - Russia’s Baltic fleet is destroyed in the Tsushima straits
September 1905 - Russia agrees peace terms with Japan in Treaty of Portsmouth. Russia forced to withdraw from Manchuria and hand over lease to Liaodong peninsula to Japan
Following the war, Japan expands influence over Korea, annexing it in 1910
Government and Politics
1871 - Ending of the feudal authority of daimyo and replacement with system of prefectures to carry out administration
Education
Govt control of education = books dictated in schools
Confucian and Shinto values and nationalism taught - emphasis on obedience
1890 - Imperial Rescript on Education - emphasised obedience and had to be memoried by all students
State religion - Shinto - emphasised obedience and Emperor’s divine authority
Reinforced by Peace Preservation Law 1887 - allowed for expulsion from Tokyo of individuals deemed subversive
1873 - Army and Naval Authority ended, organised along Prussian lines and universal male conscription introduced
Growth of liberalism
Educated Japanese want an end to oligarchy and replacement with some democracy
Political parties established - 1881 Jiyuto (Liberal Party) and 1882 Rikken Kaishinto (Constitutional Reform Party)
1889 Constitution, drafted by dominant politician Ito Hirobumi
Established two chamber Diet - with a House of Peers and an elected House of Representatives
Voting rights given to 2% male population (based on high tax payments )
Cabinet ministers responsible to Emperor
Armed forces responsible to Emperor
A step forward for democracy but a small one - effective party government not possible