Chapter Sixteen: Asia in the Nineteenth Century

The Ottoman Empire in Decline

Abd al-Hamid II: was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1876-1909). He had been installed by reform-minded bureaucrats to establish a representative government, but soon became a despotic ruler although he retained Tanzimat principles.

Mahmud II was the survivor of the Janissary massacre of Selim III’s family. He was a reform-minded sultan of Ottoman Empire, who built a European style army and had it trained in European weapons and tactics. He opened engineering schools. He built new roads; telegraph lines and inaugurated a postal service. He also created a system of secondary education, which trained boys in scientific, technical and military studies. When the Janissaries rebelled, he massacred them.  

Muhammad Ali was an ambitious Egyptian general in the Ottoman army. He became ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848 and was only nominally subordinate to Ottoman sultan. Under his rule, Egypt became the most powerful land in Muslim world. His attempts to modernize Egypt earned him the title, “Father of Modern Egypt.”

The Eastern Question: From the 1820s on, European powers no long saw the Ottoman Empire as a threat. And so, since the Europeans did not trust each other and they wanted to maintain a balance of power, the Europeans wanted to support a viable Ottoman State. Stopping Muhammad Ali from taking Istanbul was perhaps best illustrates the complexities of the Eastern Question.

Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) tried to remodel his army along the lines of European forces. The Janissaries felt threatened and rose up in revolt, killing the new troops and jailing the sultan. When Selim’s son tried to revive this military force, the Janissaries rioted and killed all the male members of the Sultan’s family except one.

Capitulations were agreements, which exempted European visitors from Ottoman law and provided European powers with extraterritoriality (the right to exercise jurisdiction over their own citizens according to their own laws.) This system worked well when the Ottomans were one of the most feared nations on the earth, but by the 19th century, these same Capitulations allowed Europeans to economically penetrate Ottoman markets because the Turks could not tax them.

Janissaries: were – at one time - recruited from Christian youths. They became the elite military corps of the expanding Ottoman Empire. By 1700, however, they had stagnated, turning a blind eye on both training and technology. This loss of military effectiveness meant that the central government was less and less able to rule its outlying provinces effectively.

Tanzimat or "Reorganization" was a reform movement of Ottoman state between 1839 and 1867. The Tanzimat program was inspired by Enlightenment thought and constitutional foundations of western European state. Using French law as a guide, Tanzimat reformers they passed a series of laws to nullify the Capitulations and restore Turkish sovereignty. They also issued decrees guaranteeing public trials, rights of privacy and equality before the law for all citizens, Muslim or not. Marriage and divorce still remained under Islamic law, but state courts now began to take away much of the power of the Ulama.

The Young Turks were an Ottoman political party whose formal name was Ottoman Society for Union and Progress. It was founded in 1889 by exiled Ottoman subjects in Paris. Its platform included pro-democracy activities, which inspired an army coup that forced Sultan Abd al-Hamid to restore parliament and the constitution; dethroned the sultan in 1909 and ruled Ottoman through a puppet sultan (Mehmed V Rashid) until 1918.

Persia

Nader Khan restored the Safavid prince, Tahmasp, in 1736 put himself on the Persian throne. He then expelled Afghan, Turkish and Russian troops from Iranian soil and managed to create an empire that stretched from the border of the Ottoman Empire to New Delhi and from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia. He was assassinated in 1747 and his empire broke up.

Karim Khan founded the Zand dynasty after the assassination of Nader Khan in 1747, He was a compassionate and able ruler who governed wisely till is death in 1779. His successors, however, were incompetent and the last one was murdered in 1794.

Agha Muhammed Khan was the Qajar leader who, in 1795, defeated the incompetent Zand successors of  Karim Khan and established a new Qajar dynasty, which ruled Persia until 1925.

The Russian Empire under pressure

Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine the Great and a child of the Enlightenment. In the first half of his reign his was a reformer and open to liberal ideas. He eased censorship, promoted education and even talked about freeing the serfs. But after the Napoleonic wars, Alexander drew back from reform and allowed Russia to fall seriously behind in industrialization, military procurement and technological innovation. In 1825, he mysteriously died in the Crimea.

Alexander II (reigned 1855-81): was the great reforming tsar, known for his emancipation of serfs and other political and legal reforms. He was assassinated by terrorists.

Alexander III was the son of Alexander II. He was enraged by the assassination of his father and turned his back on political and social reform. He felt that only severe repression could restore order. He nevertheless undertook a strong industrialization program.

Father George Gapon was the Russian priest who led the Bloody Sunday march.

Feodor Kuzmich was a wandering holy man in Siberia who was thought by some to be the Tsar Alexander I.

Florence Nightingale was a nurse who served in the Crimean War and is remembered for insisting on better sanitation in medical care and that hospitals “first do no harm.”. She founded the world’s first nursing hospital.

Nicholas I (1825-1855) succeeded his brother Alexander. Nicholas lacked his brother's spiritual and intellectual breadth and saw his role simply as an autocrat ruling by whatever means necessary. Nicholas can be remembered by his three pillars of Absolutism: Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationalism.

Nicholas II was the weak willed son and successor of Alexander III. He was well intentioned, but like his father championed repression to keep order. His blundering into the Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday led to the Revolution of 1905 and the establishment of the first Duma. He foolishly allowed an ill prepared Russia to help ignite the First World War and was murdered with his entire family by Bolsheviks in 1918

Peter Stolypin was prime minister over a second Duma and later procured a third Duma which was dominated by the nobility and landowners. Stolypin continued government repression. Secret police arrested thousands, as pogroms and government repression continued. He was assassinated in 1911.
Count Sergei Witte was the Russian finance minister from 1892 to 1903. He designed and implemented policies that stimulated economic development (especially the Trans Siberian Railway) and played a crucial role in industrialization of Russia.

The Decembrist Revolt of 1825 was a revolt in which army officers tried to put Nicholas I’s more liberal brother Constantine on the throne. It caused Nicholas to be more autocratic and un-enlightened than ever and - tragically - kept Russia agricultural and did not industrialize.

Bloody Sunday occurred in January, 1905 when soldiers fired on a crowd of peaceful demonstrators and killed one hundred and thirty men women and children.

The Crimean War was fought between Russia and coalition powers of Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire during 1853 and 1856 over controlling the Ottoman Empire; Russian armies suffered military reverses, which revealed Russian military and technological weakness.

The Duma was the Parliament of Russia, created by Romanov dynasty during the 1905 revolution. Nicholas II made sure that the Duma did not have power to create or bring down governments.

The Fundamental Laws was Nicholas II’s 1906 betrayal of the 1905 October Manifesto, in which was stated that the Tsar's ministers could not be appointed by and were not responsible to the Duma. Moreover, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wishes.

The Intelligentsia were intellectuals and university students who sought political and social reform

Pogroms were anti Jewish riots often sponsored by Tsarist officials. The result was that in the latter half of the nineteenth century, thousand of Jews migrated to Europe and North America.

The Revolution of 1905 was a direct result of the Bloody Sunday massacre which caused an unprecedented wave of anger to sweep Russia that culminated in labor unrest, peasant revolts, student demonstrations and mutinies in the army and navy. In short Russia came to a standstill. Moreover, both peasants and factory workers began to organize in the cells or groups called Soviets. The Revolution forced the Tsar to grant reforms and the establishment of the first Duma.

The Russo-Japanese War was a result of Nicholas II’s attempt to deflect attention from domestic unrest, by foolishly trying to expand Russia’s holdings in Korea and Manchuria. Tiny Japan launched a surprise attack and destroyed the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in 1904 and then went on to defeat another Russian fleet the following year (at the Battle of Tsushima) while Japanese army troops threw the Russians out of Korea and inflicted a humiliating defeat on Russia who had to sue for peace in 1905 (brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt). The embarrassment of the Russo-Japanese War caused widespread disturbances in Russia.

Russification was the Tsarist policy which sought to eliminate non-Russian languages in order to crack down on dissent. It was particularly brutal in Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic States.

The Great Game was a “diplomatic war” of intrigue and espionage played between Russia and Great Britain in Central Asia.

The October Manifesto was the 1905 promise of Nicholas II to grant freedom of person, conscience, speech and assembly – and reluctantly to permit the establishment of a Duma or Russian Parliament.

The Battle of Tsushima was the naval battle in 1905 where the Japanese obliterated the Russian navy.

Zemstvos were elected assemblies (controlled by the government) which were in theory advisory to the Tsarist government.

The Qing Empire under Siege

Dowager Cixi (1835-1908): was the conservative ruler of the Qing dynasty who rose from imperial concubine to actual ruler as she led China for about half century.

Qianlong: Qing emperor (1736-95), whose reign marked the height of the Qing dynasty; a sophisticated and learned man, and a brilliant ruler being remembered for his light taxation. In 1759 the he restricted the Europeans to the port of Guangzhou where the Europeans could only deal with specially licensed Chinese firms known as Cohongs.

Guangxu was the emperor who embraced and pushed for these One Hundred Days of reforms to create a constitutional monarchy, guarantee civil liberties, root out corruption, remodel the educational system, encourage foreign influence in China, modernize military forces and stimulate economic growth. But the “Old Buddha,” Cixi, imprisoned him, and eventually had him murdered.

Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were leading figures of the Hundred Days of Reform that aimed at changing China into an institutional monarchy. They both fled to Japan when the reform was ruthlessly crushed by Dowager Cixi in 1898.

Lin Zexu was a court official of the Qing dynasty. He was commissioned in 1839 by the emperor to rid China of opium. He confiscated and destroyed some 20 thousand chests of opium of foreign merchants, but his uncompromising policy ignited the Opium War between China and Britain.

Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taiping rebellion against the Qing dynasty during mid-19th century. He claimed to have had a vision in which God told him he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ and to found a new dynasty, the Taiping, or Great Peace. Hong capitalized on peasant anger with the government and in 1850, his movement began to spread. The Qing government, helped by Western powers, put down the rebellion by 1864.

The Boxer Rebellion was a Chinese anti-foreign uprising during 1899-1900, aimed at ridding China of "foreign devils.” Its excesses - encouraged by Dowager Cixi – caused the Europeans, American and Japanese to put down the rebellion. Cixi’s government was completely discredited.   

The British East India Company (EIC) sought an alternative by trading for something the Chinese did want – and that was opium. Using Turkish and Persian expertise, the British grew opium in India and shipped it to China, where it was exchanged for silver. This silver was then used to buy Chinese goods at Guangzhou. This “new” opium trade was not only immoral and illegal, but also immensely profitable.

Cohongs were Chinese commercial firms at the port of Guangzhou; specially assigned by Chinese government to handle all of China's foreign trade; restrictive terms and regulations became source of bitter complaints from European merchants before the Opium War.

Hundred Days of Reforms  were a broad range of reforms initiated by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, with support of the reforming emperor Guangxu in 1898; aimed at transforming China into a constitutional monarchy; ruthlessly repressed by the powerful Empress Dowager Cixi.

The Opium War was fought between China and Britain during 1839-42 over issues of opium trade. The British navy quickly cleared the seas of Chinese ships and captured Chinese coastal towns. The Chinese showed no signs of surrender, so British steam powered gunboats sailed up the Yangtze River and by the time they had reached the Grand Canal, the Chinese sued for peace.  Just like the Crimean War was for Russia, the Opium War showed that China was match for European technology and military might.  

The Self-Strengthening Movement was a modernization effort of Chinese government, which flourished during the 1860s and 1870s. It sought to blend Chinese cultural traditions with European industrial technology. In the end, the Self-Strengthening Movement failed because it was based on a contradiction, which was that European Industrialization and European education undermined Chinese commitment to Confucian values.

The Taiping Rebellion was a peasant rebellion of China, led by Hong Xiuquan against the Qing dynasty during 1850-64; occupied the southern half of China and adopted a series of radical reform programs; defeated by regional armies of the Qing aided by European advisors and weapons.

The Treaty of Nanjing was forced on China by Britain in 1842. This first of the Unequal Treaties legalized the opium trade, ceded Hong Kong to Great Britain, opened trade ports and established extraterritoriality for British citizens and most-favored nation trade status for British merchants. More humiliatingly, the Treaty of Nanjing released Korea, Vietnam, and Burma (Myanmar) from Chinese authority and permitted the establishment of Christian missions throughout China.

Unequal Treaties were the treaties imposed upon China by European nations, which allowed China to be carved up into European Zones of Influence.

The Transformation of Japan

Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909) was the leading figure of Meiji reforms. He drew inspiration from the German constitution when drafting a governing document for Japan.

Mutsuhito (1852-1912) was the Emperor of Meiji Japan, known by his royal name Meiji; also leader of Meiji reforms. The emperor Meiji would rule Japan in its most dramatic fifty years ever till his death in1912. It is important to understand that the Meiji reformers ruled in the name of the emperor but that the emperor still had much power and supported and embodied the Meiji reforms. 

Matthew C. Perry was the American Commodore of a U.S. navy squadron, who led his fleet into Tokyo Bay in 1953 and forced the shogun to open Japan for diplomatic and commercial relations. These agreements were really Unequal Treaties.

Mizuno Tadakuni was the shogun’s chief advisor who had the government cancel the debts of the Samurai and Daimyo while forcing farmers who had moved to the cities to return to the countryside and grow rice and dismantled many merchant guilds. His reforms came too late to save the Tokugawa Bakufu.

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a prominent scholar, educator and writer of Meiji Japan. He began to study English soon after Perry’s arrival in Japan, and in 1860 he was a member of the first Japanese mission to the United States. Later he traveled in Europe and among his observations he urged that Japan adopt a legal system with equality before the law.

The Meiji Reformers centralized political power, abolished the Feudal order, established a western style bureaucracy and replaced the old feudal domains with prefectures and districts under the central government. They also abolished the samurai class and raised a conscript army. The reformers also revamped the tax system and converted the grain tax into a fixed money tax in 1873. They also based taxes on what land could support, so that growers had maximize their growing in order to pay their taxes. Finally, they gave Japan a Constitution which established a constitutional government with a legislature, known as a Diet. The prime minister and the cabinet were responsible to the emperor rather than to the Diet. Thus the Diet and the government were advisory to the emperor and the Meiji reformers.

The Meiji Restoration was a political movement in Japan in which discontented samurai overthrew Tokugawa Bakufu and restored the emperor's power in 1868. even though the Meiji reforms ruled with and for the emperor.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904 – 1905 was sparked by competing Russian and Japanese interests in Manchuria. Japan decisively defeated Russia on land and at sea.  Japan annexed the Liaodong Peninsula in China, the southern half of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands - and humiliated Russia also agreed to recognize Japan’s sphere of influence in Southern Manchuria. The Russo-Japanese War marked the first time in modern world that a non-Western nation had defeated a European nation in a major military conflict. It was also an early warning signal that Japan was not only a major industrial power, but also one that had militaristic and nationalistic ambitions that would lead to world conflict.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 – 1895 was sparked by competing Japanese and Chinese interests in Korea. The war resulted in a massive Chinese defeat and Japan’s occupation of Korea. In 1908, Japan would outright annex Korea.

Zaibatsu were Japanese financial cliques, or huge private business corporations formed since 1880s that enjoyed enormous economic power.