Japanese Imperialism Dbq Essay

The 1800s were a time of change in the world. Industry and imperialism became the main focus of many nations, no nation more than Great Britain. Britain already being a world power, lead the charge of industry throughout the world, using their far superior technology at the time to imperialize and colonize almost any nation that would benefit them. Britain was the workshop of the world and required an abundance of raw materials to fuel their industry. After losing a majority of its land in the west to American independence, Britain turned its attention to the east. Britain expanded to Africa and India both full of resources, and both full of people with different cultures, customs, and religions. When the British colonized these new lands, they changed things. Britain advanced the land and the territories greatly in terms of technology and society, it came at the expense of the native peoples.

spanned around the globe. Britain’s colonial empire, in the making since the early 1700’s, still

Although Japan changed in many ways from 1853 to 1941, there were also many factors that remained the same throughout the history of Japan. One such continuity was the maintained existence of a figurehead ruler controlled by other political authorities. The feudalistic emperor of Japan was the supposed “highest, most powerful authority” in the land, but was actually controlled by the military leaders- the shogun. Similarly, the militaristic emperor of Japan decades later continued to remain a figurehead ruler controlled by military and government officials. In addition, Japan continued to remain reliant on exports in order to maintain its economy. As a result of Japan’s small geographical size, the island nation had few natural resources and was forced to rely on exports to survive economically. The nation also grew increasingly reliant on other nations to provide materials and supplies that it could not provide for itself. This complete reliance on other nations was seen illustrated when the Japanese military was provoked to attacking another superpower- the United States, in response to the 1940 United States embargo

Just Before entering World War II, Japan had a lot of different issues to try and solve. It had started to depend more for materials like oil for new machines being made to make the creation level of merchandise faster, which makes for a more productive economy. They required oil from outside sources in light of the fact that their property did not have all these things enormously, since the nation was an island its regular assets were made up of rice and fish. Even with these troubles, Japan started to manufacture an effective realm with a strong mechanical establishment and a decent armed force and naval force. The military got to be included in the legislature, and this started to cause them harm. The general public started to see indications of control originating from a rough place this put the individuals in a controlled state, their fundamental rights were gradually being taken away. In the mid 1930 's, the Japanese Army had numerous little, detached fights with their neighboring people groups. The Japanese individuals spread their control to make their country bigger. In 1937, the contentions started again with the Chinese in the territory close. These contentions prompted a full-scale war known as the second Sino-Japanese War. This was viewed as a bleeding war, it proceeded until the last annihilation of Japan in 1945. This demonstrates the inward shortcoming of the Japanese individuals, with high

The ideology that a larger country’s influence should be spread to a smaller nation was adopted quickly by Europe and the United States. Held together by nationalism, countries were introduced to the different cultures of the west. However, Japan’s adaptation of a different culture originates from their beginning, when they took in new technology from Southeast China and Korea, such as iron and rice farming. When western forces come in for trade, the Western and European Imperialism will push Japan for its industrialisation and militarisation, eventually leading them to become an imperial force, beginning with the introduction of guns from Europe, and leading to the Meiji restoration, the temporary positive effect of European Imperialism allowed

Japan started a rapid increase of imperialism starting in the mid 19th century as their colonies started to spread throughout East Asia. Like western imperialism, the Japanese government turned expansion into a goal for security, national pride, resources, and manufactured goods. Along with the many similarities with the West, Japanese also became the first non-Western imperial power and became very successful in imperial expansion, but unfortunately became obsessed with conquering, which ultimately led them to their downfall. Imperialism significantly changed Japan, and affected the country in ways that helped it expand and at the same time left permanent damage that will stick with them. In 1868, Emperor Meiji became the head of Japan and at that time, Japan was a weak country militarily and had little technological development as it was

The nineteenth century was a turbulent time of western imperialism and a major Asian power shift. European powers and the United States had a destabilizing effect on the region and the choices Japan and China made in response their imposing expansion was a major contributor to the trajectory of their respective futures. Social factors, such as the differences in national and religious unity, also played a role in the how the two nations emerged from the Age of Imperialism.

Japan was an isolationist before 1852 with very little contact to countries in the western areas. Although later Japan would open its Shamoda ports to trade with the Dutch. Part of this was because the United States threatened Japan to open the ports for trade. The US also made Japan sighn unequal treaties to make Japan do things. The Japanese were influenced by the US and did the same thing to Korea. Although the Japanese only had contact to the outside for some years they had grown a lot. The Japanese were scared, they were scared that the US would grow in power and threat Japan more. In 1894 Chinese troops were sent to Korea to try to stop riots. Although the Chinese were helping Korea the Japanese were never notified. This created the

The Japanese economy had changed immensely as it became a place of free trade and importations from being a place where there was little to no foreign interactions a century ago. The japanese had implemented this closed door policy due to the unruliness of the Europeans in the 17th century and felt complacent in their situation. Although the Japanese government implemented a closed-door policy from 1639 to 1854, their rapid economic development after this period was due to their similar geographical conditions to England. Their location allowed them to reap the benefits of being imperialized because they were able to westernize and set up the foundation of a good economy. They had been able to live peacefully while absorbing technology and culture from the Eurasian countries, this help them develop their ‘foreign acceptance’ as they were used to taking technology from other countries.

This academic journal by Martha Chaiklin, analyzes the efforts taken by various countries that eventually lead to the ending of Japanese isolationism. She first invalidates the notion that Commodore Perry with his gunboats were solely responsible for the opening of Japan. In contrast, the Dutch and liberal policies were greatly attributed if not solely responsible for the opening of Japan. Even the American led event that is attributed to the opening of Japan was in fact not a unique policy “ The United States was not the first to attempt to open Japan since all Westerners except the Dutch had been expelled in 1639. Both the British and the Russians had made several attempts in the preceding two centuries that had all ended in failure” (Chaiklin

During the Edo period, for nearly 200 years, Japan has been under isolationism. They limited their contact between outsiders; Japan had existed in a state of cultural isolation for such a long time. But how has Japan become one of the world’s most powerful countries, who has one of the strongest economies in the world? In 1853, the Japanese had been prompted by Commodore Matthew Perry, to open their doors to the rest of the world. After, the Japanese signed trading treaties with many Western countries.

Imperialism is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas.” By comparing and contrasting imperialism in Europe and imperialism in Japan post the Industrial Revolution, we can observe how the two interpret the definition of imperialism and how imperialism contributed to the development of Japan and European nations by influencing them socially, economically, and

There is no doubt that Japan was once an empire and an imperialist as well as a colonialist power. James Huffman’s definition of colonialism and imperialism gives a concise account: while imperialism refers to tangible or intangible dominance and colonialism caters more to concrete extra-territories, they are not exclusive to each other. Although not until the acquisition of Taiwan in 1895 was Japan as a formal imperialist/colonial power established, its exertion of power in Hokkaido and Okinawa could be traced as preceding

By 1905 Japan had become a military power capable of carving out an empire for itself. Japan did this by the Meiji Restoration, the Sino- Japanese War and the Anglo-Japanese alliance + Russo- Japanese War.

had become a threat to the United States to the point that it had to