A Whole New World
The new international status quo that emerged after the first World War was very different than what came before, and Japan was poised to become a major new power in this new world.
The new international status quo that emerged after the first World War was very different than what came before, and Japan was poised to become a major new power in this new world.
The eastern front of the first world war was much busier than its western counterpart and the stakes for one nation were much higher. When the war finally ended with the Entente triumphant, Japan was poised to enjoy the advantages of supporting the winning side.
The assassination of an Austrian Archduke sparks a chain reaction which would ignite a global conflict on a scale never seen before.
In early 1912, the Qing Dynasty officially transferred its right to rule to the Republic of China, who named Yuan Shikai as their president in exchange for ending the civil war. Shikai, however, would soon prove just as power-hungry and authoritarian as the imperial system he sought to replace.
The first decade of the 1900s witnessed a final attempt by the Qing Dynasty to reform its outmoded systems of governance and forge a new Chinese nation state. Those attempts eventually failed in the wake of a massive revolution against the last dynasty of China, which succeeded in 1912.
Mounting tensions over the future of Korea turned violent after the end of the Donghak Rebellion, resulting in a war between Japan and China.
In light of its repeated defeats and humiliations at the hands of imperial powers, the Qing Dynasty attempted to modernize its military, economy, and society through a series of reforms known as the “Self-Strengthening Movement.”
By the mid-1800s, the Joseon Kingdom had become an isolated polity which was famously hostile to unwelcome visitors. Nevertheless, imperial powers vied to force the nation to open to international trade, offer paths toward modernization, and jealously eyed the strategic and economic value of Korea’s many ports.
As the Qing Dynasty continued to decline in the wake of mass rebellions and longstanding insurgencies, a conflict with the British East India Trade Company would evolve into the disastrous Opium Wars.
The reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong represented a time of increasing expansion, stabilizing, and solidifying for China in the 1700s. However, some of the tendencies of the Qing Dynasty would ultimately sow the seeds for its own destruction.
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