Unit 7: The Effects of Colonialism on Asia
European imperialism has touched every corner of the globe. In Asia, colonialism devastated India and destabilized China's Qing Dynasty. American imperialism galvanized Japan and sparked rapid industrialization that led to Japan's own form of imperialism against Korea and China during World War II. The French colonized Indochina (today's Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). Siam (today's Thailand) was able to withstand European imperialism by serving as a cosmopolitan go-between for English-controlled India and French-controlled southeast Asia. European and American imperialism ended centuries-long dynasties in India, China, and Japan and led to revolutions that changed the political foundations of these countries.
In 1854, Great Britain dismantled India's 300-year old Mughal Dynasty, its last ruling dynasty, and reorganized India into a colonial entity to exploit its natural resources. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance, led India's rebellion against Britain's colonial rule to gain independence in 1947.
Indochina served as a colony for France in Southeast Asia beginning in 1887. Ho Chi Minh's Vietnamese rebel forces fought alongside the Allied powers to resist Japan's Imperial Army during World War II. But Vietnam and the rest of Indochina returned to French imperial rule at the end of the war. Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969) led a 30-year war for independence that split Vietnam into two countries and reunited it as a communist nation in 1975 when it expelled the United States from its borders.
Europe never fully colonized China (although Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841 to 1997). China experienced two revolutions during the 20th century that reshaped its social and political institutions. In 1911, nationalist forces overthrew the Qing Dynasty to establish a republican government. But their democratic experiment did not last long. The country soon fell into anarchy, and the Chinese Communist Party began a long fight with the nationalists for political control starting in 1921.
After an eight-year armistice to respond to the Japanese invasion (the second Sino-Japanese war from 1937–1945), Mao Zedong (1893–1976) rose to eventually defeat the nationalist forces to form a communist government in China in 1949. The People's Republic of China imposed radical large-scale land reform and dramatic industrial development, which contributed to China's extraordinary economic growth but caused widespread suffering and the death of millions of Chinese citizens.
Like China, Japan resisted European colonial efforts. Japan experienced an unexpected civil war due, in part, to coercion from American and European forces. Fearing a similar fate to what had occurred in mainland China, Japan industrialized rapidly, upended a 300-year government, and began colonizing mainland Asia. These actions of Japanese aggression included genocide, enslavement, and forcing Chinese women into prostitution.
In this unit, we investigate the impact of European and American imperialism in Asia and how it led to a series of revolutions across the continent and island nations that altered Asia politically, economically, and socially. We also evaluate the international consequences of these revolutions for global history.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 17 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- describe the history of India and the British imperialism in India;
- describe the unique and revolutionary nature of the Indian independence movement;
- explain the role of Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of nonviolent resistance;
- describe the role European imperialism and the Opium Wars played in the downfall of the Qing and revolution in China;
- compare the history of imperialism in Thailand and other countries in southeast Asia;
- contrast the effects of the independence movements in Vietnam and Cambodia;
- explain key events in Japan's recent history, including American intervention, the Meiji Restoration, and Japanese imperialism;
- describe the major events of the Communist Revolution in China from 1944–1952;
- examine the ideology and influence of Mao Zedong on the formation of modern China; and
- describe the events and effects of Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution in China.
7.1: A Brief History of India and European Imperialism
The cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley, in today's northern India and Pakistan, have rivaled Mesopotamia as the oldest civilizations in the world. The Aryans, from present-day Iran, introduced Hinduism to India around 1500 B.C. This religion features many gods, is based on the concept of reincarnation, and embraces a caste system that features one of the world's strictest social hierarchies. The social position you are born into cannot change until you are born again in the next life. If you perform good dharma (duties or the right way of living) toward others, you collect positive karma and can advance your social position with each life until you reach the Brahmin or priestly caste. Then you will reunite with the god Brahma.
The Hindu Caste system is divided into five major castes: Achhoots/Dalits (untouchables), Shudras, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas, and Brahmins. Each caste has specific economic opportunities, rights, and privileges. Higher castes enjoy greater freedom, rights, and opportunity. Brahmins, the highest caste, can be priests or choose almost any profession. They are the only truly educated class who can read Sanskrit and reach Moksha, which allows them to reunite with Brahma. Kshatriyas, the rulers and warriors, are also educated, but they cannot attain Moksha. They are beholden to the Brahmin. Vaishyas comprise the merchant caste, while Shudras form the peasant caste, which are denied many basic rights and education. Anyone who is not Hindu is an Achhoot or Dalit and considered untouchable.
The Hindu caste system ruled India for nearly two millennia, during which India experienced the rise of several powerful and technologically-advanced empires. Islam and Islamic dynasties swept into India during the 8th century and stood up against the Mongolian invasion. During the 1500s, the Mughal Dynasty, which descended from the Mongolian Empire, ruled India. This dynasty was noted for its efficient administration, religious tolerance, and architectural masterpieces, such as the Taj Mahal, built from 1632 to 1653. In 1498, Vasco de Gama (1465–1524), the Portuguese explorer, made the first European incursions into India.
Watch this video, which explains how and why the caste system developed in India.
Read this article that compares the Hindu caste system with other social systems throughout history. How did the caste system play into the British colonial system with similar views on class and social hierarchy? Some argue that a similar system exists in the United States.
In 1608, British traders began operating in India under the auspices of the British East India Company. As British settlers set up factories in different cities (starting in Surat), their influence slowly spread throughout the country. The British began to eclipse the other European powers as they capitalized on trade in silk, indigo, tea, and opium (a drug like heroin derived from the poppy plant). When the Indian Rebellion of 1857 failed to oust the East India Company, the company, which had acted as a sovereign power on behalf of the British government, was dissolved, and the British Crown took direct control of India.
Read this article. What were the causes and effects of the Indian Rebellion of 1857?
The British installed a series of puppet princes and capitalized off the social structure of the Hindu caste system. They introduced segregated communities where English settlers lived in lavish walled cities, which welcomed Indian servants and laborers who were not allowed to interact with the British on an equal footing. While built to serve British interests, the settlers did oversee the creation of extensive railway infrastructure and administrative bureaucracy that survived the colonial period. They also passed a series of laws to help the status of women. For example, the Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act of 1856 allowed Hindu widows to remarry, which had been outlawed. The Age of Consent Act of 1891 also raised the age of sexual consent for girls to marry from age 10 to 12.
However, as we discussed in Unit 5, British colonization reorganized India's agricultural system to serve the needs of Great Britain rather than India. Under the mercantile system, the government forced Indians to buy their finished goods from Great Britain, which destroyed the local textile, metalwork, glass, and paper industries. This led to widespread poverty and famine.
In 1930 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi* (1869–1948), an Indian nationalist and member of the Indian National Congress, told the Indians they should no longer be subject to the British mercantile system that harvested Indian natural resources and resold its manufactured goods (including salt) back to the Indians at an inflated price. He famously scooped a handful of mud and boiled it to extract the salt. He showed the Indians they could produce their own salt and other goods. They did not need to follow British practices anymore.
During the Great Salt March, Gandhi led thousands of protesters to the Dharmasena Salt Work. The British soldiers beat the Indians with steel rods and arrested Gandhi and more than 60,000 of his followers. But the Indian revolutionaries did not fight back, and the incident made international news. They had planted the seeds of revolution.
Unlike revolutions in Russia and France, the Indian Revolution was pacifist in nature, based on civil protest and disobedience rather than violence. As you watch this documentary, consider Gandhi's larger impact on future movements, such as the civil rights movement Martin Luther King, Jr. led in the United States during the 1960s.
* Note that Gandhi's followers called him Mahatma, which means "the great-souled one" in Sanskrit.
Let's analyze some primary documents written by M.K. Gandhi. Choose two documents and answer these questions.
- What is the occasion of the document?
- What is its purpose?
- What important points does Gandhi make?
- How are his ideas revolutionary?
Next, make a Venn diagram to compare the differences and similarities of the two documents you have chosen and summarize how his philosophy helped India gain independence.
In 1947, Britain's decision to grant independence to India at the end of World War II ushered in a wave of decolonization worldwide. Unfortunately, Gandhi's intent to preserve the revolution's spirit of unity after independence did not last. A Hindu extremist, dissatisfied with Gandhi's policies of tolerance toward Muslims, assassinated him in 1948. India and Pakistan split into two separate religious nations – with India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims in the northwest. The tension between these two states persists to this day.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), who served as India's first and longest-serving prime minister from 1947–1964, rebuilt India's government and economy after independence. The new government outlawed the Hindu caste system and initiated programs to create equal education and workplace opportunities for those from lower castes. However, the scars of colonialism run deep, and many still consider India a developing nation. Half a billion people still live without electricity or running water. However, India has a vibrant tech center, a highly-educated workforce, and a growing industrialized base. Many economists predict India will outstep China as one of the world's largest economies by 2026.
Read this article on the effects of European imperialism on India.
7.2: The Qing Dynasty, Opium Wars, and the Republic of China
Unlike India, China was never a European colony, although it was affected by imperialism. The British traded opium, a popular drug in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, as it gained colonial hegemony in India. By 1880, opium was the British East India Company's second most traded commodity, and Britain wanted to expand its market. However, the Qing Dynasty, China's last imperial dynasty from 1644 to 1911, took steps to limit the disastrous effects opium had on its users.
Like India, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, with more than 4,000 years of sustained history. A cultural and technological powerhouse, China had ten dynastical periods and more than 500 emperors. It was the birthplace of Confucianism, Buddhism, ideographic writing systems, architecture, art, and fashion. The Qing Dynasty superseded the Ming Dynasty, which had become famous for its commercial production, market economy, and exploration. Some believe the Ming may have sailed to the Americas before Christopher Columbus in 1942. However, the Ming closed China off to outside trade and diplomacy when the Portuguese and other Europeans moved into other parts of Asia.
Read this article. Pay attention to the timeline of Chinese history and the philosophical foundation of Confucianism in China.The British made economic inroads into China as they searched for new markets to trade opium. But instability followed the spread of opium addiction. In 1839, the Qing government confiscated 20,000 chests, with more than one million tons of opium, from a British warehouse in today's city of Guangzhou. The tensions boiled over when the British refused to hand over a sailor the Qing government accused of murdering a Chinese citizen.
Watch this video which describes the political events that followed.Read this article on the British interest in and Chinese resistance to the opium market.
The First Opium War (1839–1842) was a small-scale conflict fought in today's city of Hong Kong. The fighting concluded with the Treaty of Nanking and featured terms that heavily favored the British victors. The Qing was forced to pay restitution, cede Hong Kong to the British Empire, and grant British traders access to more ports, including Shanghai. In a subsequent treaty, the Qing issued Great Britain most-favored-nation status.
Watch this lecture on the history of China and the Opium Wars. How did the weaknesses of the Qing lead to their overall destruction?In 1856, France supported Great Britain during the Second Opium War (also called the Anglo-French War), which lasted until 1860. By this time, the beleaguered Qing Dynasty had already been weakened by the Taiping Rebellion, a religious conflict from 1850 to 1855 that ended the lives of more than 20 million civilians.
During the Second Opium War, the British took the cities of Guangzhou and Tianjin with the help of the French. The war concluded with the Treaty of Tianjin, another lopsided agreement that legalized opium and allowed the English and French to set up residences in Beijing, travel freely throughout China, and create several Christian missions. When the Qing objected, the Anglo-French forces invaded Beijing and burned down the emperor's summer palace. The Qing backed down and ratified the treaty. As a concession, the Qing government also relinquished the Kaulun Peninsula near Hong Kong and Stonecutter Island.
Watch this video. How did the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion weaken the Qing to make China susceptible to revolution?As opium addiction spread like wildfire throughout China, European, American, and Japanese interests vied for dominance throughout the region. The Opium Wars, the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), and the spread of Christianity became a rallying cry for the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists. This organization led the Boxer Rebellion in 1899.
The Boxer rebels tried to expel foreign influence from Beijing by attacking the Chinese Christians and foreign residents who lived in northern China. They also destroyed railroad depots and foreign businesses. Foreign powers, including the United States, allied with the Qing to squash the rebellion. In 1901 the foreign powers forced the Qing to pay reparations to reimburse them for their losses during the conflict, but they later agreed to earmark the money they received to educate Chinese students at overseas institutions and to found Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Read this article on the Boxer Rebellion. What were the causes, key events, and outcomes of this protest? Why did it ultimately fail?Read this article and analyze the map, photographs, and images. What do they tell you about the Boxer Rebellion and how it contributed to the weakening of the Qing?
In 1911, several factors sparked the Xinhai or Republican Revolution, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty to create the Republic of China. These included grain shortages, widespread poverty, dissatisfaction among members of the merchant class, widespread government corruption, the rise of various ethnic groups, objections to Chinese subjugation to Western and Japanese powers, opposition to the prevalence of Christian missions, and the influence of successful revolutionary movements in other countries.
In January 1912, Sun Yat-Sen (1866–1925), the revolutionary leader of the Kuomintang (sometimes spelled Guomindang), became provisional president, but he agreed to let Yuan Shikai (1859–1916) replace him as part of a political compromise a month later. In February 1912, Yuan was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the child Puyi (1906–1967) abdicated as the last Chinese emperor.
Watch this lecture which describes these events.The Republican Revolution built on China's tradition of promoting efficient administration and organization. Sun Yat-Sen's political philosophy centered on three modern ideals that he called the Three Principles of the People (san min zhuyi) – nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood. Nationalism called for overthrowing the Manchus and ending foreign hegemony in China. Secondly, Sun Yat-Sen supported creating a popularly-elected republican government. His third objective, people's livelihood, referred to a socialist desire to help common people by regulating the ownership of land and the means of production.
Read the introduction and the "Longer Selection" of this 1918 text. How does Sun Yat-sen define various stages of a revolution?This revolution ultimately failed due to political infighting among Sun Yat-Sen's nationalist supporters. Other factors included organized protests from peasants in the countryside and growing opposition from urban industrial workers, who would later become the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Japan's invasion of Nanking in 1937, which killed as many as 300,000 Chinese civilians and surrendered troops, inflicted yet another blow to the new republic. In 1949 after the end of World War II, the leaders of the Republic of China escaped to the island of Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China created a communist system that has led China ever since.
Read this article that describes the failures of the Republic of China.
7.3: Thailand and Indochina
Siam (Thailand) entered the written record during the Ayutthayan period (1351–1767), when a group of tribes united to create a powerful kingdom that could withstand European imperialism. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya, known to Europeans as Siam, absorbed Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism from India and established an absolute monarchy with a god-King who had absolute authority. The King created a caste system similar to the Indian model, but each person received a collection of merits that determined their worth and social standing.
The King had absolute authority while the aristocracy (chao) served him. The King was the sun, and his noblemen orbited around him like the planets. Slavery defined the kingdom's primary source of labor – every man was conscripted to serve the state for six months out of the year. Women existed at the bottom of society as uneducated property whose primary role was to bear and rear children. An ancient adage stated that men were human while women were buffalo.
Due to its geography, Siam often served as a go-between for international trade routes. Ayutthaya, Siam's capital, was a prosperous trading hub that established diplomatic ties with Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, China, and France. Christian missions were allowed to spread their religion freely until the King severed all diplomatic ties with Europe when he believed Christianity was beginning to threaten the country's Buddhist and Hindu traditions. For 150 years, the government, like the Ming in China, folded inward until forces from neighboring Burma destroyed the city and ended the 417-year old kingdom in 1767. Taksin (1734–1782), a capable military leader of Chinese descent, led the resistance against Burmese rule, defeated the occupying army, and re-established the Siamese state. By the end of December, he had moved the capital to Thonburi (today's Bangkok) and was crowned King Taksin (1767).
During the 1800s, the Siamese government realized it needed to modernize to withstand European takeover. The government established a standing army and commissioned detailed maps to establish the Siamese borders. The leaders used these maps to negotiate with the British and French diplomats, who decided it was in their best interest to respect Siam's boundaries to maintain a neutral zone between their respective colonies in Burma and Malay. In 1932, the absolute monarchy ended in a military coup. Siam was renamed Thailand in 1939.
During World War II, Thailand allowed Japan to pass through its borders, which meant the country would escape the devastation Japan would wreak on its other Asian neighbors. Consequently, Thailand allied as an Axis power with Germany and Japan, and Siam declared war on France when it fell to Germany in 1940.
After World War II, members of a military coup assassinated King Ananda Mahidol (1925–1946) and seized control of the government. However, the new leaders established an amicable alliance with the United States and NATO forces during the Cold War. The country reinstated its monarchy in 1958, and the political suppression of dissidents continued as it imprisoned individuals it deemed a communist threat. The United States provided extensive economic aid to Thailand during the Vietnam War.
In 1973, a revolution erupted against Thanom Kittikachorn (1911–2004), the acting prime minister who had established a military dictatorship. By this time, economic aid and alliances with Europe and the United States had embedded democratic ideals in the Thai youth. Many had received their education abroad. They rose in resistance, and Kittikachorn retreated into exile at the behest of the monarch. Many Thai citizens were happy to see Kittikachorn go and welcomed the resumption of royal leadership. In 1974, the king commissioned a new constitution and created a brief parliamentary democracy. But another coup in 1976 instituted autocratic control once again.Watch this documentary on the history of Thailand. What sacrifices did the government make to preserve its independence? Do you think the video producers created this video to justify U.S. actions in Vietnam?
Since the 1970s, several governments have sprung up in Thailand, only to be deposed in coups and other upheavals. Watch this lecture about this instability in modern Thailand and why popular uprisings have occurred so frequently since World War II.
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were not able to resist colonialism and maintain their independence as Thailand had. France made its swift inroads into Vietnam, beginning with establishing several missions and mercantile outposts in 1883. By 1900, France controlled the colony called Indochina (today's Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). Initially, the French government allowed the monarchies of the three kingdoms to continue – to help with administration and tax collection. Each kingdom had separate languages, cultures, and histories, and the French government conferred different rights to the people who lived in each area. For example, while they restricted free speech and outlawed an independent press in the north, they encouraged these freedoms in the south.
The French authorities issued consumption quotas that required residents to purchase a set amount of goods, such as salt, rice, alcohol, and opium. These requirements crippled local economies and made the colonists dependent on the French in more ways than one. The taxes – assessed on goods individuals were forced to purchase – accounted for nearly 44% of France's revenue. Meanwhile, French-owned businesses, such as the Michelin tire company, became rich based on the rubber and other natural resources they could extract for little or no cost.
Although colonialism was oppressive, cities like Saigon became major industrial centers. Vietnam's written language transitioned from Chinese to Vietnamese script derived from the Latin alphabet. Literacy rates improved, and French democratic ideals spread throughout parts of Indochina.
Watch this lecture that describes how some parts of Indochina received limited benefits from colonialism, such as state-sponsored libraries and efforts to expand literacy.Vietnam has a long history of opposition to colonial rule, beginning with its struggles against Chinese imperial ambitions as early as 111 B.C. Most Vietnamese never accepted its position as a French colony. Resistance began in the 1860s and continued to gain strength throughout the 20th century. Educated in Europe, Ho Chi Minh became a revolutionary leader who founded the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1945. He was especially drawn to Marxist ideals that encouraged members of the proletariat, or working classes, to shake off the economic oppression imposed by the bourgeoisie and members of the ruling classes.
Read this article which describes how French and Japanese imperialism influenced Vietnam's history and culture. How did colonialism affect the people of Vietnam?Resistance to French colonialism spread, but Japan replaced French colonial power after it invaded in 1940. During this time, revolutionary forces allied with the Allied Powers against Japan. During the war, Ho Chi Minh sent a letter of entreaty to the United States, requesting aid from the U.S., which had positioned itself against colonial rule.
Read the letter written by Ho Chi Minh to President Truman. As you read, consider his argument for aid against colonial rule and why he thinks the U.S. will help.After World War II, the United States provided military and financial assistance to help France retake Indochina. This led Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese revolutionaries to declare Vietnam's independence in September 1945.
Read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam. How does it borrow from the U.S. Declaration of Independence and France's Declaration of the Rights of Man? Make a list of the grievances it outlines and summarize how this document is a formal declaration of revolution.The joint forces of France and the United States actively opposed Vietnamese independence. In 1954, the Vietnamese defeated and ousted the French from Vietnam during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In 1955 the U.S. military advised the capitalist democratic government it helped create in South Vietnam to oppose communist North Vietnam led Ho Chi Minh. By 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) sent U.S. military forces to defeat the Viet Cong in North Vietnam.
Many Americans feared the fall of Vietnam to communist forces would create a domino effect throughout the region that would create a new Soviet sphere of influence in Asia. But the Vietnamese had few if any historical ties with the Soviet Union and were fighting for their independence. The United States eventually committed more than 2.7 million U.S. soldiers, suffered more than 50,000 casualties, and spent nearly $1 trillion to fight the Vietnam War. In 1975, the United States left South Vietnam, which allowed Ho Chi Minh to unite North and South Vietnam under a communist government. Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
United States involvement in Indochina has extended beyond Vietnam. For example, the United States dropped more than 270 million cluster bombs throughout the region that were designed to spread debris in many directions when detonated. Many of these bombs buried themselves in the ground without detonating. These bombs frequently kill and injure the civilian farmers and children who accidentally detonate them.
Watch this video on the human toll and catastrophic effects of the Vietnam War on Laos. Note that this video includes many disturbing images.The Vietnam War was probably most costly to the country of Cambodia, which experienced the ascension of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also called the Khmer Rouge. This communist dictatorship seized power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and perpetuated a campaign of mass genocide. Marxist activists, educated in France, formed the CPK in 1951. They took advantage of the political instability that followed a military coup in 1970 that ousted the traditional Cambodian monarchy. The CPK received financial backing from North Vietnam and took control of Cambodia after a five-year civil war.
In 1976 the infamous Pol Pot (1925–1998) assumed power as the prime minister of Democratic Kampuchea, later the general secretary of the CPK. He led mass executions of perceived government opponents, coupled with malnutrition and poor medical care, which historians estimate killed between 1.5 and 2 million people, approximately a quarter of Cambodia's population. The three years of genocide featured mass grave sites known as Cambodia's killing fields. In December 1978, the newly-unified Vietnam invaded Cambodia after several years of border clashes. They deposed Pol Pot and installed a rival Marxist–Leninist government in 1979.
Watch this documentary which explains why Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were able to gain such power. How did this period of violence and genocide impact the history of Cambodia and Southeast Asia?
Note that this video includes many disturbing images of the victims of Pol Pot's killing fields.Historians estimate between two and three million people lost their lives during the Vietnam War. Tragically, the American military used the chemical agent napalm to create fires to burn or clear extensive tracts of land so they could see their enemy. Destroying 1.7 million acres of jungle decimated villages and their inhabitants and led to a massive rat infestation that caused the bubonic plague to spread throughout the human population.
The devastation of the war, coupled with oppressive policies, have made development in Cambodia and Vietnam difficult. The monarchy of Cambodia was restored in 1991, and the country now operates as a constitutional monarchy. Political scientists describe Cambodia as a "competitive authoritarian regime" since it features characteristics of democracy and authoritarianism.
Watch this video which explores how decolonization and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union influenced national independence movements in Korea and Vietnam. Why do you think the United States refused to support these efforts (a policy the United States also adopted in the Philippines – see Unit 4)?
7.4: The Meiji Restoration and Japanese Imperialism
Japan has the world's oldest continuous monarchy, which has existed since the 7th century. According to Japanese mythology, the Japanese Emperor is the direct divine descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Japanese Shintoism believes innumerable gods (kami) exist alongside humans. Like Amaterasu, the anthropomorphic kami taught humans all of their knowledge. The Emperor is one of many gods in the Japanese pantheon and is honored by shrines in public places and individual homes. However, he has not led the Japanese government for most of its history. During the Heian Period (795–1185), powerful military lords (daimyo), served by knights (samurai), created a government based on the fiefdoms they controlled. In 1192 Minamoto Yorimoto (1147–1199) was the first Shogun in Japan. The Shogun became the political leader of Japan, while the Emperor maintained a symbolic role in Japanese politics.
Three daimyos rose to the rank of Shogun during the Warring States Period (1467–1615) and became known as the ""Great Unifiers"" of Japan. Each had different ideas about Japan's future. The first, Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), served as Shogun from 1568–1582. He valued the guns and other goods the Portuguese and Dutch explorers brought to Japan and allowed them to establish Christian missions. Nobunaga envisioned an open-door policy with strong diplomatic ties to Europe. When Nobunaga was assassinated in a coup in 1582, his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), became Shogun and continued most of Nobunaga's policies. Hideyoshi sent diplomatic envoys to Europe and the Americas.
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the daimyo for the fiefdom that includes today's Tokyo, soon challenged Hideyoshi's leadership. After Hideyoshi's death in 1598, Ieyasu seized power after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was appointed Shogun in 1603 and united Japan under a strict government that today's historians liken to a military dictatorship.Watch this documentary that explains how Ieyasu consolidated control of Japan as Shogun. How did samurai culture, which has its roots in the Warring States period, create the Tokugawa Shogunate, also known as the Edo Shogunate, the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868?
The Tokugawa Shogunate, also known as the Edo Period, lasted until 1867. Edo (later renamed Tokyo) became the capital city and the seat of power for the Tokugawa Shoguns. Similar to China and Thailand, Japan cut off all trade with the rest of the world. They only traded with the Dutch through the Chinese and only through the city of Nagasaki. Travel outside of Japan was outlawed and punishable by death. Movement within Japan was also strictly controlled. Travel checkpoints were established throughout the country, and people had to have government permission and passports to travel through cities and checkpoints. Christianity was outlawed, and Christians were forced to renounce their religion or face execution, often in the form of crucifixion.
Read this paper on the Shimabara Revolt. Why do you think the Tokugawa government had such strict laws that restricted contact with the outside world?The samurai, who had served various daimyo, were transformed into Japan's ruling class during their power struggles. The samurai no longer rode into battle since the Edo period featured 264 years of sustained peace. Instead, they began to cultivate their status and develop Japanese culture. They developed iconic cultural traditions during this period, such as elaborate tea ceremonies, Geisha, and Kabuki. They also cultivated a code of conduct befitting a Samurai.
Read this article on Japanese artistic and intellectual development. Pay attention to how the Tokugawa Shogunate developed, its societal structure, and the creation of distinctly Japanese culture.In 1854, after the conclusion of the Mexican American War, the United States began to assert itself as a world power. The Americans aggressively sought to create a commercial empire based on trade to compete with European imperialism. They had already established trade relations with the Qing in 1784, and they were interested in working with Japan.
Under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry (1794–1858), the United States forcibly entered Edo Bay and demanded Japan open trade relations, a move that greatly destabilized the Shogun government. The 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa gave American ships traveling to mainland Asia access to Japanese coal ports and protected American whaling ships.
The 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, also known as the Harris Treaty, gave the United States access to four Japanese port cities, allowed the Americans to create a U.S. consulate, instituted religious freedoms, and protected Americans from prosecution in Japanese courts. Like so many trade treaties signed in Asia, these agreements favored U.S. interests at Japanese expense. European powers quickly set up similar arrangements while the Japanese leaders disagreed fervently about whether they should trade with the United States and Europe. These issues divided Japan in the same way sectarianism and slavery had divided the United States.
The Bakumatsu period refers to the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, or Edo Period. Historians mark its beginnings with Perry's 1853 visit to Japan, ending with the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This period of political infighting featured one political faction which believed the treaties with the United States and Europe indicated the Shogunate had weakened and should be removed. This group, led by several powerful daimyos in western Japan, sought to restore the Emperor as the sovereign political leader of Japan. The opposing group remained loyal to the Shogun. These factions fought in the Boshin War, known as the Japanese civil war or revolution, from 1868 to 1869.
Japan traditionally divides its history by the reign of its emperors. During the Boshin War, Emperor Kōmei died in 1867 and was replaced by Emperor Matuhitom, known formally as Meiji Tennō. Thus, the Meiji period began. Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shōgun, realized the futility of his situation and abdicated his political power to the Emperor. While the conflict pitted fellow citizens against one another, it was also a revolution.
Read this article and analyze the images provided. Think about the competing perspectives of the United States and Japan. Next, we will explore how the forced opening of Japan and the Meiji Restoration fundamentally changed Japan.The reorganization of Japan after the abdication of the Shogun was aptly named the Meiji Restoration. The Shogunate was replaced by a system modeled after Germany with the premise of public assembly. The Emperor did not have direct control, and powerful leaders rose to make most major decisions. For example, the government abolished the traditional feudal system that placed samurai as lords. This reorganization of the social class system left many samurai without homes, money, and possessions. The Haitō edict, passed in 1876, outlawed the wearing of swords for anyone except for the military and police.
This reorganization and abolishment of the samurai class led to the rise of the merchant class. Rapid industrialization contributed directly to Japanese imperial interests in Asia. Many Japanese feared their country would succumb to the United States and Europe, as many of their neighbors in southeast Asia had, or crumble into civil war as in China. The best way to protect Japan was to make it as powerful as these other countries.
Read this article on the government reorganization in Japan and its impact on Japanese society. How did it galvanize Japanese people who feared an American or European takeover?Japan began to embark on its own imperialistic endeavors in Asia. First, Japan took over the southern part of the Korean Peninsula during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). In 1905, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and gained control of Manchuria. Defeating a European nation empowered Japan to renegotiate its trade treaties with the United States and Europe as equals. Japan took over southern Manchuria, legitimized its control of Korea, and absorbed the southern half of Sakhalin Island. By 1910, Japan had colonized the entire Korean Peninsula.
During World War I, Japan joined the Allied Powers and sent ships to fight Germany. In 1914, while the European powers were embroiled in conflicts at home, Japan became an industrial power. In 1931, the Mukden Incident ceded Manchuria to Japan. In 1937, Japan invaded China during the second Sino-Japanese War. By 1940 it had consolidated its control of Vietnam. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor to draw the United States into World War II. By 1942, Japan controlled the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines.
Several of these events remain controversial. Many Japanese historians believe Japan was responding to U.S. and European hostility during this period. Meanwhile, Chinese, European, and American historians accused the Japanese Imperial Army of massacring 50,000 to 300,000 civilizations and raping 20,000 women during the Nanking Massacre, also called the Rape of Nanking. Many Japanese historians deny this massacre occurred or believe the number of casualties has been exaggerated.
Read this article to examine arguments for and against the validity of the Nanking Massacre.Similar controversies surround the Japanese enslavement of women known as comfort women in Korea before and during World War II. Historians estimate the Japanese forced between 50,000 and 200,000 women into prostitution during this time. While the Japanese government has acknowledged the Japanese Imperial Army used Asian prostitutes, they argue the women were willing participants. In 1965 the Japanese agreed to pay reparations for these atrocities to the South Korean government.
Watch this lecture that discusses Japan's actions in Asia during World War II. How does this compare to how the Europeans treated the people who lived in their colonies?In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, on the cities of Hiroshima (killing 70,000 to 150,000) and Nagasaki (killing 60,000 to 80,000), Japan to end the fighting of World War II.
Historians estimate Japanese imperialism in Asia cost more than nine million civilian deaths. Japan has had close ties with the United States ever since it ended its occupation to help Japan rebuild its cities in 1952. Today, Japan is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. While the scars of World War II have faded, the Meiji Restoration period and subsequent Japanese imperialism are a subject of continued tension with countries in Asia.
Watch this video that explores the effects of Japanese imperialism in Asia.
7.5: The Revolutionary Period: Republic of China vs the People's Republic
After it ousted Japan at the end of World War II, China experienced a revolution that has lasted to this day. The Chinese Revolution of 1949 pitted Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) against the communist leader Mao Zedong.
After Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became the nationalist leader of the Kuomintang and served as the leader of the Republic of China in mainland China from 1928 to 1949. While Chiang Kai-shek had trained in Bolshevik Russia, he was a conservative Christian and received support from China's wealthy landowners, new industrialists, and the business elite. Chiang Kai-shek looked to foreign investment and supported modernization in the coastal cities, but the interior of China saw continual infighting among the warlords. Between 1931 and 1938, the Japanese invaded and occupied Manchuria and significant areas of northern China.
In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a violent purge of the communist party in Shanghai. The attacks continued in the 1930s, as Mao Zedong, the communist leader, tried to rebuild in the countryside with renewed support from the peasants and lower working class. In 1934, a successful series of military assaults ultimately forced what was left of Mao's Red Army to escape from the southern provinces in a remarkable 6,000 mile Long March to regroup in the caves of Yan'an in northern China.Read this article about Chiang Kai-Shek. Pay attention to his rise to power, his actions during World War II, and why he was ultimately forced to escape mainland China for Taiwan.
From 1934 to 1950, the Communist party was left in relative isolation in the caves of Yan'an as Mao rebuilt the People's Army and strengthened his support with the peasants interested in land reform, increased literacy, and a more equitable society. Mao also established his nationalist credentials by leading the fight against Japanese occupation. By 1950, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang were forced to flee mainland China for Taiwan.
Once in power, Mao Zedong realized many of his communist revolutionary ideals. These included nationalizing the economy to force rapid industrial growth, redistributing land ownership in the countryside to the peasants, establishing literacy programs, and banishing all foreign economic and cultural influence. Mao abolished the traditional subjugation of women, forced marriage, and made religious practice illegal. However, Mao instituted several destructive and violent initiatives during the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, to eliminate all political and cultural hierarchies to create a more egalitarian society.
Tensions between Taiwan and mainland China continue to this day. Relations between the Soviet Union and China broke down during the 1950s – the two countries have been on the brink of war many times since.
Read this article about Mao Zedong. Pay attention to his rise in power and how he was able to form the Communist Party in China. Consider how China interacted with Tibet and Korea as it transitioned to a communist state.The Chinese communists transformed Chinese society, established a centralized state power, unified the disintegrated territories, created a national market, and built the basis for China's modern economic development. Mao also directed China's intense, massive modernization and industrialization effort that transformed China's economy from one based on agricultural production into one of the world's largest economies.
Watch this lecture for a detailed overview of the communist revolution. Pay attention to the timeline of key events.The communist revolutions in Russia, China, Vietnam, Korea, and Latin America created an intense fear of communism in the United States, Europe, and other capitalist countries. The Cold War only exacerbated this trepidation. Watch these three videos on Mao and the Chinese communist revolution. Do you think Mao succeeded or failed in meeting his objectives? What was the effect on Chinese society?
Note that the third video in this series includes some disturbing images of the famine that occurred during China's Great Leap Forward.
Mao wrote that revolution is a violent process. While the French revolutionaries had used wide-scale violence to destroy their political rivals during the Reign of Terror (an estimated 30,000 people died), the Russian and Chinese communists seemed willing to accept massive death tolls as a harsh consequence of revolutionary change. Researchers estimate that Stalin's forced collectivization effort led to the death of nearly 10 million people in the Soviet countryside during the Soviet Famine of 1932–33. To eradicate "enemies of the working class", Stalin imprisoned more than a million people in the Gulag prison system and executed at least 700,000 individuals during the Great Purge between 1934 and 1939.
Read these quotes from Mao Zedong. What was his philosophy toward revolution and reorganization? How did his ideas about death and violence contribute to what occurred in China?The extraordinary number of deaths during the Chinese revolution is difficult to comprehend. The Soviet Union had a similar experience when Stalin forced the population to modernize Russia's agricultural and industrialization practices. Historians estimate that Mao's Great Leap Forward (1958–1962), mandatory collectivization, forced labor, and the famine that ensued caused the deaths of between 18 and 30 million people in China.
Read this article on the Great Leap Forward. Pay attention to the toll it had on the people of China and how these experiences have shaped today's China.Conversely, the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was Mao's attempt to purge China of anything deemed corruptive to the revolutionary cause. The government and local citizens suppressed anything considered western, American, or European, and anything that promoted capitalism or democracy. Homes were invaded, dissidents were imprisoned in reeducation camps, and prisoners were executed for their crimes against the state. This damaged China's economy and led to the persecution of tens of millions of people. Historians estimate up to 20 million people were killed.
Read this text on the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. Make a timeline of these events. How does the Cultural Revolution compare with the Great Leap Forward?Watch this video. How was Mao able to ascend to power and triumph over the Republic of China? How do you think these events shaped China into the nation it is today?
Until 1971, the international community had not officially recognized the People's Republic of China – the Republic of China (based in Taiwan), which had become an oppressive dynastic dictatorship, held China's seat in the United Nations. When Chiang Kai Shek died in 1975, his son, Chiang Ching-Kuo (1910–1988), served as the country's premier and president until 1988. Freedom of speech was limited, and political dissidents were imprisoned. In 1986, the government eased its martial law restrictions, authorized freedom of the press, and allowed political parties to form. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed to oppose the Chiang government. By the 1990s, Taiwan had transformed into a democracy.
In 1971, the communist People's Republic of China took the place of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the United Nations. In 1972, Richard Nixon (1913–1994), the American president, visited China and established a policy of detente that eased tensions with the People's Republic and allowed American companies to set up factories within its borders. In 1979, the United States switched its official recognition of China from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the communist People's Republic of China. Today, the People's Republic of China is a mixed-market economy that operates within a communist system.
However, the People's Republic of China continues to impose strict controls on freedom of speech and the press. Within this politically oppressive climate, the government promotes a restricted market economy and people can become private entrepreneurs. In 1999, China regained Hong Kong from Great Britain but promised to maintain the city's status as a democracy. However, since 2020, new security laws have severely restricted democratic rights, freedom of speech, and the press. The international community also criticizes China for its repression of the Uyghur People, a Muslim Turkic ethnic minority that lives in the Xinjiang Province. Human rights abuses have included forced labor, re-education, and political detention camps, forced sterilization of women, and genocide.
Watch this video that describes life in the People's Republic of China. Do you believe China intends to achieve world dominance, as the narrator states?
Unit 7 Assessment
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