Chapter 19 Empires in Collision Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia 1800-1914

I learned that the Opium War is a memories of a that remains as a central element of China's education for the young, is a warning against the admiration of the West, and is a provided rejoinder to any Western criticism of China. An aggressive and industrializing West while having formal independence was how countries like China were dealing with the change. Other countries that were going through the same thing were Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Persia (currently Iran), Ethiopia, and Siam (currently Thailand). Latin America would also join these countries. Within these countries the governments would able to avoid the incorporation into European colonial empires, having the ability to resist the european aggression and were able to reform or transform their own societies. There were four dimension of the European moment in world history that these countries had to learn to deal with. The first is that had to face the military power and political ambitions of rival European states who wanted control. Second, the countries became involved with the networks of trade, investment, and sometimes migration that began form and industrializing and capitalist Europe that generates a new world economy. The third is that many aspects of traditional European culture influenced their own for some people would learn the French, English, or German language; some people changed religion by converting to Christianity; or began to study European literature and philosophy. The final thing is the engagement wit cult of modernity which was scientific rationalism; and its idea of nationalism, socialism, feminism, and individualism. When the countries encountered these epics, they would either resist, some would accommodate, and almost always adapt what came from the West. All of these countries were participants in the global drama of the nineteenth-century world history, and were not just passive victims or beneficiaries. Within this chapter the focus is primarily on China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan. All of these countries including Latin America, provide a range of experiences, responses, and outcomes and opportunities for comparison. As we see from a photo in the book there would be modernization in Japan as well. Just like in Europe, in Japan railroads became popular as well and became a popular symbol of the modernization in the country. This modernization would help propel the country forward and lead to more advancements within the civilization of the people. Then we see from the map on pg. 955 that Japan modernized after the Meiji restoration, it would launch a empire-building program for further expansion in the 1930s and during world war II. This has come to show that Japan being one of many countries would move forward like many other countries were doing around the world.