1800 to 1900 empires in collision
Europe, Middle East, East Asia
China, Ottoman Empire, Japan under Western industrial pressure
Military gap, steam power, modern weapons, unequal treaties, internal crises
Informal empire first
trade pressure, treaty ports, foreign privileges
Formal colonization less common here, but sovereignty still weakened
Reform, resistance, rebellion all happen at the same time
China
Population growth, peasant unrest, corruption, weak Qing state
Taiping Uprising devastates society
Opium trade, Opium Wars, unequal treaties, treaty ports
Self-strengthening reforms start but stay limited
Defeat by Japan, Boxer Uprising, Qing collapse by 1911 to 1912
Ottoman Empire
Major Islamic empire under growing European pressure
“The Sick Man of Europe” label shows decline in power
Defensive reforms and modernization attempts
Internal resistance and external pressure limit results
Japan
Tokugawa strain before Western arrival
Commodore Perry forces opening
Meiji Restoration drives rapid state reform and modernization
Japan defeats China and Russia, becomes new imperial power