Key Terms
A nation extending its control over foreign lands
What is Imperialism?
The emperor symbolically resortes to power during Japan's modernization
Who is Emperor Meiji?
This 1884–1885 meeting of European powers set the rules for dividing Africa, showing how imperialism intensified in Europe during the late 19th century.
What is the Berlin Conference?
This law introduced universal education in Meiji Japan, modeled on Western systems
What is the Gakusei (Education Order)?
One major reason Japan modernized so quickly was to avoid this fate faced by China
What is colonization or foreign domination?
Japan's process of rapidly modernizing after 1868
What is the Meiji Restoration?
This naval commander’s expedition ended over 200 years of Japanese seclusion
Who is Commodore Matthew Perry?
This 1894–1895 war marked Japan’s emergence as an imperial power
What is the First Sino-Japanese War?
This Japanese policy eliminated samurai stipends and centralized tax collection
What is the Land Tax Reform of 1873?
One key difference between German and Japanese unification/modernization processes
What is Germany unified through warfare; Japan restructured internally?
European belief that they had a duty to civilize non-Europeans
What is the White Man's Burden?
The Prussian leader who used “Blood and Iron” to unify Germany
Who is Otto von Bismarck?
This war (1904–1905) was the first time an Asian power defeated a European power in modern warfare
What is the Russo-Japanese War?
This German constitution, crafted under Bismarck, established a federal empire dominated by Prussia
What is the Constitution of the German Empire (1871)?
This event inspired nationalist and constitutional reforms across Europe in 1848
What are the Revolutions of 1848?
A policy of non-involvement in foreign economic and political relations, reversed by Japan in the 1850s
What is isolationism?
Influential Japanese statesman and author of the Meiji Constitution
Who is Ito Hirobumi?
These wars (1853–1856) showed Europe's imperial competition and modern weaponry
What are the Crimean Wars?
This political document gave Japan a constitution modeled partly after Germany’s but preserved imperial sovereignty
What is the Meiji Constitution (1889)?
The Meiji oligarchs balanced modern Western practices with this traditional principle to preserve unity
What is loyalty to the emperor?
What is Social Darwinism?
The conservative British Prime Minister known for expanding the empire and strengthening imperial identity
Who is Benjamin Disraeli?
This treaty opened Japan to Western trade and marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s foreign policy
What is the Treaty of Kanagawa?
Japan’s government-led industrialization strategy included the selling of modern industries to private owners—this is called what?
What is the Zaibatsu system?
While both Europe and Japan industrialized, only Europe experienced this major social movement by workers
What is the rise of socialism/labor unions?