Author: Alex Pollitt

This week we discussed, read, and learned about East Asia in the 20th century. Since the Qing was now falling in China, Japan began to take over and soon was in complete control.  After being relatively isolated for the past couple centuries, they began to dominate with new ideals of westernization and nationalism. The opium wars added insult to injury as opium was forced into China. The Qing’s fall from power ultimately led to China’s initial downfall, as well as lots of embarrassment among members of the Chinese c0mmunity. This showed the weakness of imperial government which led to uprisings such as the boxer rebellion. People were not happy, and the overthrow of imperial government was a long time coming.

In contrast, Japan also made large changes around this time. Before taking over China, they adopted a western-style, industrial lifestyle that saw importance in things such as equal education. However, they still kept their identity, unlike China. Women though were now taught a variety of skills, but were mainly taught to carry on traditions. They were still nowhere near equal to men. Japan was also able to militarize very quickly and being attacks on Korea and eventually China. However, this left long-term resentment, but there was fortunately not fighting in the aftermath of these attacks. The nations rarely used violence in years following.

In conclusion, Japan was much more successful in their efforts than China. They kept their identity but at the same time were able to become a powerful force and industrialize. The Chinese were simply left embarrassed by their weak government.

During Week 4 we have talked about various topics including: The industrialization of the Rhineland in Germany, Bombay and Jaffa’s growth, and we read about the race war of the Philippine/American War.  The talks and readings allowed us to gain insight into why these areas grew in industry and population, and how their roles in society helped shape the world we see today. For example, the coal and iron ore found in the Rhineland were perfect for such growth. I found these topics all pretty interesting, and while many lectures showed the shining improvements made on industry and expansion, there was still a lot of underlying instability in Europe at the time.

However, one topic in particular stuck out to me. The lecture on Bombay left me fascinated with the British’s investment in India. They poured an immense amount of money into the cotton market simply because their main supplier of cotton (the American South) was besieged and mainly incapacitated by the Civil War. Granted, these investors were already inwoven within the Bombay community, but the amount of loans given to farmers and investments made for harvesting and production tools is still on a very grand scale. While cotton was the main thing the British needed from this investment, they ended up changing a lot more in the process. The rapid growth of cotton mills in India changed up the scenery Bombay completely. It went from being a relatively unimportant city to having over 100 mills and a completely new system of labor. There was also urbanization and railroads that followed soon after. Simply put, it became a shiny, new metropolis in no time. This allowed Bombay to enter the global market of trade, and access new materials and trade routes via the Suez canal in 1869. While the British were selfishly in it for themselves, the region ultimately ended up being a center of trade because of this.

 

There are many ways and means by which nations can modernize and adapt to rapidly changing times. However, While countries attempted and proposed different means of modernization throughout the discussed time period, many nations looked to reshape not just technology and innovation, but identities and values as well. However, one can essentially lump these conquests into two basic ideas of modernization. The first deals with exploited states had to adapt and grow if they wanted to remain in the mix and have a stable structure on which to run. The second deals with westernization. These two theories overall shape the process of modernization in 1900.

In The Export Boom of Modernity, the discussion of Latin American modernization is somewhat unique compared to the rest of the world. They had to struggle out of the poverty and end of slavery that had come with the previous centuries. Their important exports such as sugar, rubber, copper, etc. were all needed in the North during the time. Much like the Brazil in-class lecture, port cities began a period of urbanization and rapid growth with Latin America as whole.

However, for some countries this growth had been in the works for some time now. Mexico was a prime example. President Porfirio Díaz’s 34 year reign from the 1800’s into the 1900’s showed expansion, promise, and much more. Infrastructure and public projects were at an all-time high. Similarly, Argentina was also one of the most prosperous countries at the beginning of the 1900’s. Their sleek, modern city of Buenos Aires along with its massive population growth shot Argentina up the list. Through photography, the concept of modernity intensified greatly. There is much power in high quality images. The revolution of type photographs was essential to the identities of different places.

Through all this, the modernization of the 1900’s became a quickly growing trend and helped eventually globalize and form the world we see today.

 

 

I thought that within the reading Bright and Geyer raised many interesting ideas about globalization. They very thoroughly covered the accomplishments of globalization as they discussed the replacement of old narratives and the now disconnect of world history from European history. The “rise of the west”was no more and the new history rewrites the prehistory of our present day history. This divergence from Europe and the displacement of empires transitioning to nations caused rivalries and conflict. Nations had to adapt and survive through agriculture and primary production.

Also, one of the topics that specifically stuck out to me was the idea of our world transitioning from being explored and connected to now becoming more and more interconnected by the day. Over the course of modern history, the world has been changing rapidly. Old methods of communication and transportation have made way for newer, faster, and better means that help the world work smarter, faster, and more precisely. Innovation has skyrocketed our knowledge of technology, and the human race is now globally on a much closer level than ever before.

However, this closeness isn’t geographical or cultural, but instead through the vast, interconnected network of technology which we are building and expanding on by the day. These technologies really helped this idea of enmeshment and people having to engage in our entangled world.