The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan is an archipelago - what is that?

- An archipelago is a large chain of islands. The most well known archipelagos are Japan, New Zealand, the Phillipines and Indonesia.

How did Matthew Perry "bully" the Japanese into signing a trade treaty?

- Matthew Perry had cannons out and sails down when he lowered the anchor onto the shores 26 miles away from Tokyo. He did this to intimidate the Japanese. He pulled into a docking port so people would see the advancements made in the West. The Japanese knew very well that they stood no chance against the Europeans who had powerful weapons. Seeing the huge ship with large cannons was intimidating enough for the Japanese.

What did Perry have that impressed the Japanese?

- Matthew Perry had large ships which ran on coal. They had a steam engine inside of them and could operate without sails. The Japanese were fascinated and had never seen anything larger than a sailboat. Perry also brought along with him a small locomotive, or toy train. Japan had never seen such technology.

How did the Japanese economy change during the Meiji Era?

- Japan saw the West and decided that they needed to change their ways. They observed European countries and the way they were run. Japan industrialized and adapted the ways of the West to their own Constitution and the way their very own country was run.

How did they modernize and industrialize?

- Japan sent many people to the West to study the way countries were run. For example, Japanese men studied the German Constitution. Japan later adapted it and made their own constitution. Japan also introduced a "national educational system."

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx hated industrialization. He believed that it was a bad thing and that it encouraged the separation of social classes. Because of this, inequality was more abundant and a two "social classes" emerged (as Karl Marx put it).

There were two new social classes because of Industrialization; the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes. The proletariat are the poor factory workers who would always break their backs for the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie were the rich factory owners who hired workers to make money for them. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer," Karl Marx stated.

Karl Marx predicted that large companies would buy out the smaller companies. He believed that everything would become a power struggle for money due to Capitalism. He saw Capitalism to be very evil and that it would someday destroy the world. He wrote in his book, "The Communist Manifesto" in hopes of getting people to follow Communism, a system in which he believed would benefit the world.

Communism was a very brilliant idea. Communism meant that people would receive the same amount of money, goods, supplies, and even power in the government. There would be no ownership of things, just sharing. Because everyone shares, there would be no need for a government over time. Unfortunately, things did not work out this peacefully.

Marx's ideas were fantastic but nobody really followed it the way it was originally intended to be. Corrupt officials took power and capitalism proved to be a better system for countries. It is very evident in our modern world today.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a man who not only held an important place in government in the 1800s, but he was a man that still holds major influence in the world today. He was just like your average child. He studied hard (but drank very often) as he grew into adulthood. He then married and moved to Paris in 1843. In Paris, he met face to face with industrialization and booming commerce. He saw how poorly the middle class (workers) were treated.

Karl Marx hated the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Capitalism is the thought that businesses are owned and operated for profit. He saw that workers worked long hours and were treated unfairly only to receive poor pay and salary. Marx was extremely encouraged to make change.

Karl Marx is commonly called the "Father of Communism." Marx believed that if goods could be equally distributed among people, things could be be successful. Under Communism, no one person was above another. As the title suggests, everyone was common. Karl Marx's ideas quickly spread and many European nations soon followed Communism.