1. Societies at Crossroads Ottoman Russia China Japan

2. Ottoman Empire Decline
Military Decline
Battlefield losses
Lagged behind industrialized countries weaponry, tactics, strategies
Changed focus of Janissaries

3. Ottoman Empire Decline
Territorial Decline related to military losses
Russian expansion into Caucasus
Austrian expansion into western frontier
Balkan independences (Greece, Serbia)
Egyptian autonomy after Napoleon defeated

4. Ottoman Empire Decline
Economic Difficulties
Cheap, high-quality European goods imported, puts stress on local artisans
Trade imbalance
Ottoman state unable to pay back
loans
Foreign administration of debt
Capitulations
Lacked resources to maintain bureaucracy

5. Ottoman Empire Decline
Reform and Reorganization
Attempts to reform taxation, increase agricultural output, and reduce corruption
Military reorganization, Janissary resistance
Eventually Mahmud II eliminated them
European-style military, education
Transfer of power away from traditional elites
Civil service expansion: roads, telegraph, railroads

6. Ottoman Empire Decline
Reform and Reorganization
Tanzimat reformers
Influenced by Enlightenment ideas
Legal reforms (so Europeans would lift capitualtions)
Opposed by traditional Ottomans
didn’t want to lose power
Wanted to maintain Islamic religious roots
Opposed by Young Turks
Wanted constitutional government
Attempted to establish Turkish hegemony over far-flung empire

7. Russia Empire Under Pressure
Military Defeat: Crimean War
Discovered falling behind industrialized countries
Compelled Tzar to reevaluate social order
Emancipation of Serfs
Serfdom economically inefficient
Abolished in 1861, though remained in places
Transition difficult, few real changes made

8. Russia Empire Under Pressure
Industrialization destabilized social order resulting in repression and revolt
The Witte System: Build railroads, reformed banking
Peasants revolted over low wages & low standard of living
Revolts met with Tsarist
repression that fueled
more revolutionaries
and terrorism

9. Russia Empire Under Pressure
Industrialization destabilized the social order resulting in repression and revolt
Government tried to deflect attention with expansion into east Asia, resulting in Russo-Japanese war.
Russia lost big time
Workers marched on palace to
petition for elections
Resulted in “Bloody Sunday”
massacre, sparking 1905
revolution

10. Chinese Empire Under Siege
Opium War and Unequal Treaties
Britain forced a change in trade balance with opium instead of silver
Opium trade illegal, but East India Company prospered
Chinese government tried to stop it,
resulting in war and Chinese defeat.
Unequal Treaties
Treaty of Nanjing ceded Hong Kong to
Britain, forced open other ports
Other countries also drew up unequal
treaties.

11. Chinese Empire Under Siege
Peasant rebellions break out
Taiping rebellion attempted reforms
civil war
20,000 – 30,000 died
Altered the course of China

12. Chinese Empire Under Siege
Qing rulers attempt changes and reform
Self-Strengthening movement
Attempted to blend Chinese culture with European industrialism
Didn’t change unequal treaties
Hundred Days Reforms
Attempt at constitutional monarchy
Boxer Rebellion
Anti-foreign movement by “Society of Righteous Fists”
Empress Cixi supported
Foreign troops crushed this rebellion
Set stage for Mao Zedong

13. Transformation of Japan
Agriculture failures, famine, economic problems in Tokugawa Japan
Meiji take power from Tokugawa and reform
Returned authority to Emperor from military
Modernized educational, government and economic systems
Transformed Japan into a powerful industrial society