chapter 19

1. In China there was, "was growing pressure on the land, smaller farms for China’s huge peas- ant population, and, in all too many cases, unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation." The population of China between 185 and 1853 grew so rapidly that agriculture could not keep up. The centralized Bureaucratic state lost influence at the local level because of failure to enlarge itself and keep pace with the growing population and issues that arose because of it. This caused peasants to frequently rebel and oppose the Qing dynasty. 

2. British and American merchants found a very profitable market for opiums because of how addictive it was. Therefor China's opium imports exploded. However, it was illegal to import opium into China. Bribes were at work, and many officials were corrupted. This caused many problems and changes. Many people of China became addicted. It forced China to continue the import of the Opioids. "A massive outflow of silver to pay for the opium reversed China's centuries long ability to attract much of the world's silver supply, and this imbalance caused serious economic problems. China ended up losing control of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan. China was also -opened to Christian missionaries and the western powers were permitted to potrol some of the interior waterways of China.

9. Centuries of peace contributed to a remarkable burst of economic growth, commercialization, and urban development. Entrepreneurial peas- ants, using fertilizers and other agricultural innovations, grew more rice than ever before and engaged in a variety of rural manufacturing enterprises as well. By 1750, Japan had become perhaps the world’s most urbanized country. There were high rates of literacy due to the education, and merchants went through a rise in their social status. Peasants began moving to the cities to begin new types of trades, about 10% of the population lived in sizable towns or cities. However, these changes also undermined the efforts to freeze the Japanese society in the interests of stability. Merchants had money and still a low status while samurai enjoyed a high status but were seen as inferior to merchants. Both had a lot of resentment. Beside social change, corruption was widespread. "There was a growing feeling that the shogunate was losing control."

Chapter 18

2. Industrialization contributed to changing the way Europeans viewed others. "They were heathen, we were Christian." Early on they had a religious sense of superiority and eventually felt superior in all aspects. They held Chinese and Indian civilization to a high degree and freely mixed with Asian and African elites. They eventually replaced their sense of religious superiority with a secular arrogance. They began viewing those of other races as "Big children" putting emphasis on their "primitive" qualities. They began to use science to describe animal like qualities in other races. The Europeans felt they were superior based off of this "science" and were influenced by Darwin's evolutionary ideas on the evolution of human beings. They began to classify and rank human beings like they did with plants or animals.

7. Although it was a very trying time, violence was not out of the norm. It benefited many people to simply cooperate with British rule. By doing so they secured jobs, status and security in European-led armed forces. When you have a family to care for and protect these are all good enough reasons to obey British law and turn the other cheek if needed. I don't blame those who did. However, there are always two sides to everything. Some obeyed British rule, sending their kids to get a European education and securing safety for their families. While others were not so easily persuaded. Some religions and groups of people had no tolerance for British rule, one example was the Indian rebellion of 1857-1858. It was triggered by the introduction of cartridge smeared with animal fat from pigs. Indians regarded pigs as unclean. This rebellion sparked the uprising and anger of others, increasing the racial divide.

13. Economic life in European empires offered a different combination of opportunities and hardships to women than it did to men. Typically in African communities women were active farmers. Aiding in the planting, weeding and harvesting of crop. While men cleared land, built houses and took care of livestock. Because of the European rule, men began to control crops and the profitable aspects of cash-crop agriculture, ultimately this greatly increased the workload of women. As men began to look for employment in the cities or mines the wives were left to care for the domestic economy themselves taking over male tasks such as caring for livestock, and breaking ground for agriculture. However, due to the absence of husbands during this time women often became the head of their household and sought to become closer to their immediate family rather than their spouses absent family.

Chapter 17/ 3 questions

1. This economic transformation came to be because of a substantial increase in human numbers from about 375 million people in 1400 to about 1 billion in the early nineteenth century. Due to this large growth in population there was an emerging energy crisis, as wood and charcoal, the major industrial fuels, became scarcer, leading to the rise of their prices. In short, “global energy demands began to push against the existing local and regional ecological limits.” The Industrial Revolution marks a human response to that dilemma as nonrenewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas replaced the endlessly renewable energy sources of wind, water, wood, and the muscle power of people and animals. It was also a time for breakthrough in the agricultural department. Guano or seabird excrement became popular, and was used to make fertilizers, enriching the soils and allowing highly productive farming. 

 4. Britain was the most highly commercialized of Europe’s larger countries. They were much more concerned with observation, experiment, precise measurements, mechanical devices, and practical commercial applications. The Industrial Revolution destroyed old and created new ways in the social aspect of Britain. “In its initial stages it destroyed their old ways of living and left them free to discover or make for themselves new ones, if they could and knew how. But it rarely told them how to set about it.” Although there were many new opportunities presented it also created a lot of trauma and insecurity. Eventually the revolution led to a higher standard of living and more public participation. It was a bumpy road, but ultimately it was beneficial. 

7. By the end of the 19th century the industrial revolution was well under way in the United States and Russia. The United States large size, availability of natural resources, expanding market and political stability led the US to become the world’s leading industrial power by 1914. “The United States also pioneered techniques of mass production, using interchangeable parts, the assembly line, and “scientific management” to produce for a mass market.” Socialism in the US came to be viewed as “un-American” because the US valued individualism so much, this was a distinctive response to industrialization. Russia was very opposite, a monarchy exercised great control over individuals. “To many thoughtful Russians, serfdom seemed incompatible with modern civilization and held back the country’s overall development, as did its economic and industrial backwardness.” In the 1860’s Russia began a program of industrial development but it was a lot more heavily directed by the state. By 1900 Russia ranked number four in the world in steel production, focusing heavily on railroads and heavy industry. Russia was the only place where industrialization was linked with violent social revolution, the greatest distinctive feature of Russia’s development.