Transcript Russia and Japan - Mr. Crossen's History Site

Russia and Japan
Breaking the Mold
• By 1914 both Russia and Japan were developing industrial
economies.
• No other non-western economies industrialized before the
1960s
• Why were they exceptional? How did they pull this off?
Reason #1
Both had experienced waves of immigration in the past.
• They knew they could learn from outsiders.
• They knew that foreign influences didn’t have to
destroy traditional identity.
Reason #2
Both central governments had enhanced their powers to
undercut political divisions.
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Thus could sponsor industrial development
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Could force the uncomfortable changes in lifestyle necessary to
industrialization.
Reason #3
Both were able to use strength or isolation to maintain
economic independence.
Some Alikes
1. Both open to new ideas for others (Japan-China; Russia--Byzantium and the West.)
2. Both promoted by strong, central governments.
3. Both independent of Western meddling.
4. Both provoked by “Ermahgerd!" events. (Click)
5. Both expansionist--tradition for Russia; new for
Japan
But Differences
1. Industrial development enhanced class-conflict in Russia, but
it enhanced national pride and social cohesion in Japan.
2. Japan makes real changes to its socio-economic and political
order, Russia drags feet.
3. Japan will continue developing but the Russians take several
steps back
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Russia loses WWI to Germany; Japan takes German colonies
in China.
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Bolshevism isolates Russia, communism, production, and
development have a rocky relationship.
Russia Before Reform
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Isolated from the liberal ideas (fear of the French Revolution), and
suspicious of foreign mores. Isolation and suspicion leads to
heavy-handed suppression to peasant dissent--and it worked.
•
Aristocrats had a paternalistic view of society; ignorant serfs
needed guidance and protection from the top-down.
•
The Holy Alliance with Prussia and Austria to defend the
established order from the madness that had engulfed France.
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Conservative and expansionist: take from Poland and Ottomans.
Tensions
• While the regime promoted the status quo, some intellectuals spoke
in favor of political freedoms, education for the masses, and
advances in science.
• Russian music and poetry adopted romantic styles.
• How do you think the Tsarist government responded to these
innovators?
Response
•
The regime embraced the cultural and artistic developments and used
them to help bolster nationalism.
•
The regime persecuted intellectuals who advocated political reform. After
the Decembrist revolt; Nicholas I convinced that anyone with liberal ideas
was a threat.
Political opponents exiled to Siberia.
Expansion of secret police
Schools and newspapers strictly regulated.
Do not pass GO; Do not collect $200 rubles.
Foreign Policy
• Intervention on behalf of Austria to defend status quo against
Hungarians.
• Continued suppression of Poland despite nationalist uprisings
in 1830 and 1831.
• Pressure on Ottoman claims to the Black Sea--at odds with
Britain and France on this.
• Crimean wake-up call. (Ermagherd, Brertern and Frernce!)
• Pan-Slavism for influence in eastern Europe and the Balkans-access to Mediterranean.
Crimean War
What Russia
wants to do…
Alexander II Embraces (some) Reforms
• After the Crimean War, Russia understood
that it had to change in some ways if it
wanted to compete with the West.
• New reforms are social, political, and
economic--but they are all limited. Like Japan,
Russia wants to modernize AND maintain its
identity.
• Agriculture based on serf labor, few
industries.
Socioeconomic Reforms
1861: Emancipation of the serfs.
Bold because it ended a centuries long practice that had tied peasants to
the soil and their landlords; necessary step to creating a large, urban
labor force.
Limited because it came with no new political rights and "redemption
payments" were a burden that tied many to their villages regardless of
emancipation.
Urban labor force increases, but so does unrest--things still don't seem to
be getting better.
1905: Stolypin Reforms
Bold—new freedoms…for people? Wow!
Limited—most of the new freedoms go bye-bye.
Political Reforms
• Zemstvoes give a voice in local politics.
• Military--promotion based upon merit; more
recruitment.
• The Duma gave a national parliament after
1905.
Industrialization
• Problem with a lack of capital
• Trans-Siberian Railroad
• Witte's report
• By 1900, Russia near top of steel, petroleum,
and textile production, but…
• So what if all the factories are owned by
foreign investors or the Tsar...
• Westerners provide technical know-how, but
you can give a man a fish…
Consequences of Alexander II's Reforms
• Nationalism increases.
• Economy changes (albeit not as rapidly as
others')
• Newly mobile population--serfs not tied to
villages anymore.
Voices for More Reform
• More needs done for the peasants.
• Businessmen/professionals call for liberal
reforms
• Intelligentsia/academics promote radical
changes and ultimately even violence
The Tsar's Response
• Press censored.
• Political meetings banned.
• Secret police increase
• Scapegoat/red herrings: Pograms and such.
Vladimir Lenin
• Brother executed for radical activity.
• Modified Marxism
• Organized revolutionary "cells“
• Used name "Bolshevik" (meaning "majority"),
but they weren't. (what a bunch of Bolshevik!)
New Working Class
• Mostly unskilled and new to urban life
• Formed labor unions (illegal) and used strikes
• Supported by rural peasantry (class
consciousness?)
• Suffered tremendously
• They were the 99.9%
Russo-Japanese War
• Tradition of expansion. Manchuria and Korea
contested only by Japan.
• Focus off domestic issues. Wagging the dog?
• Fighting started when the Japanese launched
a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port
Arthur… Imagine that!
This Isn’t Your Grandfather’s Japanese
Military
Russo-Japanese War Stats
8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905
(1 year, 6 months and 3 weeks)
Location
Manchuria, Yellow Sea, Korean Peninsula
Result
Japanese victory; Treaty of Portsmouth
Belligerents
Russian Empire
Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Czar Nicholas II
Emperor Meiji
Aleksey Kuropatkin
Ōyama Iwao
Stepan Makarov †
Nogi Maresuke
Zinovy Rozhestvensky
Tōgō Heihachirō
Strength
500,000[citation needed]
300,000[citation needed]
Casualties and losses
34,000 – 52,623 killed or died of wounds
9,300 – 18,830 died of disease
47,152 – 47,400 killed
146,032 wounded
11,424 – 11,500 died of wounds
74,369 captured
21,802 – 27,200 died of disease[
50,688 deadweight loss[1][2]
Date
Theater of War
Can You Detect a Theme?
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List of battles
1904 Battle of Port Arthur, 8 February: naval battle Inconclusive
1904 Battle of Chemulpo Bay, 9 February: naval battle Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Yalu River, 30 April to 1 May: Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Nanshan, 25 – 26 May, Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Telissu, 14 – 15 June, Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Motien Pass, 17 July, Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Ta-shih-chiao, 24 July, Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Hsimucheng, 31 July, Japanese victory
1904 Battle of the Yellow Sea, 10 August: naval battle Japanese victory strategically/tactically
inconclusive
1904 Battle off Ulsan, 14 August: naval battle Japanese victory
1904–1905 Siege of Port Arthur, 19 August to 2 January: Japanese victory
1904 Battle of Liaoyang, 25 August to 3 September: Inconclusive
1904 Battle of Shaho, 5 to 17 October: Inconclusive
1905 Battle of Sandepu, 26 to 27 January: Inconclusive
1905 Battle of Mukden, 21 February to 10 March: Japanese victory
1905 Battle of Tsushima, 27 to 28 May naval battle: Japanese victory
Russia's Crises
• Humiliated by Japanese
• Peasants revolt, Father Gapon, brutal
suppression
• Tsar forced to accept liberal reforms:
Russia and Eastern Europe
• Alikes:
Monarchies with new parliaments
Powerful landlords, weak peasants.
Slavism: language, folklore, history, culture
• But differences:
Central government on Russia much stronger;
landlords stronger in Eastern Europe.
Russia more industrialized; less dependent on
West.
Japan Steals the Chapter
• After Perry shocks them into awareness of
isolationist limitations, they enact real
reforms.
• Will enter 20th century as remarkably
changed by Western influence BUT still
unique.
Japanese Political Changes
• Shogunate has too many problems
Central bureaucracy limited by daimyos' regional
power.
Agricultural tax base insufficient for needs
Samurai stipends too expensive
• Abolition of feudal society
Daimyo gone (too conservative for necessary
progress; too much fragmentation)
Samurai gone (too conservative and expensive)
Taxes on more than just agriculture
Japan's New Bureaucracy
• Meiji emperor--commands military
• Civil Service Exam returns (Neo-Confucianism an example of
cultural diffusion)
• Formation of Diet (upper and lower houses--not rice and sushi!)
Only 5% vote
Meiji advisors manage Diet--German model
• Businessmen/industrialists have leadership roles (unlike in Russia)
Japan's New Economy
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State-sponsored industrialization
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Private enterprise--zaibatsu (large corporations)
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Need for natural resources
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Pattern of hard times for workers no different, but guilds and unions are
strictly taboo.
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Prevents the West from meddling in Japanese affairs.
Change and Tradition
• Class tensions rise--new order, bad conditions
for low pay, increased population
• State sponsored schools teach science and
technology, emphasize loyalty to emperor,
resistance to individualism, Shintoism
• Some Western styles embraced, others rejected
Clothing, hygiene, medicine, haircuts, baseball--yes
Christianity, feminism, individualism--no
Strains and Solutions
• Conservatives oppose Western cultural
influences
• Diet v. Emperor
• New society and economy--Meiji reforms and
repression of dissidents
• Solutions facilitated by traditions and Japan's
physical isolation
Ultra-Militarization
• Need for resources
• Takes focus off domestic problems
• Gives ex-Samurai something to do
• Encouraged by military successes
Global Connections
• Russia a player (not a “playa”) in Europe and Asia
• Japan unique among Asian states
• Growing competition between Europeans
• Europe and the U.S. more than a little alarmed
by Japan's emergence as an imperial power: the
"yellow peril" (as opposed to the (white man's
burden)