Industrialization And Imperial Growth Dbq Analysis

Imperialism is the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. It occurred in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century. Nationalism had produced strong, centrally governed nation-states. The Industrial Revolution had made economies stronger as well, with growing need for raw resources that continental European countries didn’t have. During this time, European industrialized nations became more aggressive into expanding into other lands. Despite the massive gains in land and resources, because of the economic and humanitarian costs, in the eyes of the conquerors, imperialism wasn’t justified.

During the 1800s, the island nations of Great Britain and Japan depended on their location to move them forward. Although they share many geographical similarities, they began handling their government policies very differently. While Japan's isolationist policies kept it locked in the past, imperialist Britain charged forward into a bright and powerful future. It would take the weakening of one Japanese government to bring about the rise of another, a government that would be far more modern and progressive than the last. Overall, when handled to their advantage, the geography of these island nations seemed to positively influence them.

Among the industrialization and imperialistic growth of Japan and Great Britain, we are guided to effects on these two nations. Great Britain and Japan are both island nations with limited resources. As a result, each nation grew with its particular geographic location and limitations.

Much of Western Europe quickly industrialized after Great Britain. If they did not, they were immediately outclassed by the British in trade and military strength. Industrialization made good use of the natural resources in a state. Some nations industrialized a while after Great Britain and were falling behind. Two of these states were Russia and Japan. These countries experienced change in governments, economic power, and social structure as a result of industrialization. Yet, these states went through their industrializations in very different ways than each other.

While differing ecomically and politically in their responses to western penetration, Japan and China had similarities in the way of geography. China only allowed Europeans to trade with it in a limited number of ports and cities, which limited the amount of goods Europeans were allowed to transfer overseas. Japan isolated itself as a whole from trade for an entire decade, and when it did open it was cautious towards westerners. Additionally, both were bordered by the ocean at least to a certain extent – Japan was surrounded entirely, being an island, by water, and a large percentage of China’s borders was water. It is because of this that the third similarity arose – both did trade by ocean. China with Britain, simply because it was the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient form of travel between the two, and Japan because there was obviously no choice considering Japan is an island. These geographical similarities arose purely from the coincidence that both were bordered by the ocean, which created the necessity for boats and by the time the opportunity for trade

To start off, England had all the natural resources needed to industrialize. England had a natural supply of wool, cotton, coal, iron, lead, and tin (doc 1). These are all resources that are needed and helpful when industrializing. Wool and cotton are especially good for the textile industry, whereas iron was great for making tools and machinery. Along with these resources, England’s location enabled trading due to it’s many waterways. You can not be more than 70 miles from the sea in England (doc 4). Even the animals in the country were an advantage. For example, the sheep in England gave off the best wool (doc 4). Having natural resources helped England industrialize because it saved the country from having to trade, and/or travel to other countries in order to get what they needed. So many of the natural resources needed to industrialize were found in England. England had everything from coal to power

China depleted the consumption of their resources, while Great Britain benefitted off the amount of coal they were able to mine and utilize, and the reduced fees and accessible trade they were able to secure from their colonies. Pomeranz also argues that although economic factors had similar principles, environmental strains were similar, and “the most advanced parts of China in many ways resembled parts of the European mainland” (Pomeranz 2002, 420) . China still experienced inactivity while Great Britain experienced remarkable progress. According to Pomeranz, this had to do with the “constraints of finite land” (Pomeranz 2002, 444) and Great Britain’s capability to manage this more effectively. According to Pomeranz’s view, this divergence was provoked by the Industrial Revolution, and set China on a route to labor concentrated routines, while Great Britain spearheaded towards the cultivation of technological innovation.

The question about why did British have a head start of the Industrial Revolution is addressed by a very different view, by the author. The author views this by analyzing the two most advanced cultures; China and England. The reader sees that colonial resources and overcoming the biological old regime played in the favor of England. The Britons used their colonial resources against the Asians; which is from India, China, and even Japan, inclining the global economic standard, power balance towards the Britons.

However the biggest advantage Britain had that spurred their modern thinking into industrial factories was its geography. England had fast flowing rivers that were effective to power water mills for machinery, and provided transportation routes for industrial goods. The weak point about rivers was that in winter they froze, stopping the water powered machinery and blocking routes (Little, n.d.). This leads to the true geographical advantage of Britain, one that wasn’t stop by the effects of seasons: high deposits of coal and iron ore. Coal was able to power the newly invented steam engine, which was a breakthrough leading to large scale industries (Little, n.d.).

Industrialization in the late 19th century was commencing across the globe. Japan's industrialization was a fast one, completing what took Europe a century, in a single decade. With a highly advanced military and government stability, Japan to control of territory in modern day Korea. Russia was one of the countries that began to industrialize after losing to Japan in a war. The embarrassment Russia held for losing to what they considered an inferior country, sparked the government to industrialize, to avoid further humiliation. Impeding industrialization in both areas, took a toll on the lower class, and forced ex-farmers to become factory workers. This caused urbanization, as people were required to live near factories, located in cities. Although Japan and Russia differed in their sources of income for the process

British cotton textile industry grew into the worlds most productive; its railway network became the nation’s principal means of inland transportation and communication; and a new fleet of steam-powered ships enabled Britain to project its new productivity and power around the globe.

Great Britain and Japan have had troubles as well as helpful things that have happened because of their geography seeing as they're both mostly islands. With both of these countries being mostly islands, they also had better ports and a greater trading ability, but had less land and materials to utilize even though people say that great Britain was in the best spot it could've been for trade (Doc 4). Japan was surrounded by mountains on most sides of the country but was also very open to sea and commercial trade yet it didn't have the needed raw materials so they had to take from neighboring countries starting there imperialism and helping to develope there military/economy(Doc 7) .So to cope with this great Britain decided to increase there trade with other countries as well as Japan, mostly to import and export cotton and make more money to be able to buy new raw materials for industrialization(Doc 2).Because  Britain had a lot of farm land as well as many ports they also decided to sell a lot of opium to China  but eventually had to start smuggling it into China because it was illegal (Doc 5) .Both of these countries also had to widely expand to gain new land, raw materials, gain a better military/navy, and better more efficient ports .

Industrialization changed the lives of the people of this nation. By the late nineteenth century, with advances in technology, communication, and transportation, a new type of industrialization was formed, a global one.

Ever heard America’s favorite known word? Imperialism. Known for empires, wars, the resources, and more. But of course, the fact that imperialism is a policy, by which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker areas. Knowing the fact that by doing imperialism, it all leads to taking land of someone to claim yours like military led to many things happening, but reasons for that is because of all the resources one can get from one place.

A country's geography controls what it imports and export from other countries. In Tim Marshall’s book Prisoners of Geography, Marshall shows the importance of physical geography as it pertains to a country’s interactions with its neighbors. I agree with Marshall’s claims and believe that Marshall is absolutely correct that it is true that a country’s geography does influence the way it interacts with others. By the use of 10 countries and maps, Marshall shows how and why some countries act the way they do to their neighbors and how the way geography shapes the choices of world leaders. Japan is one of the ten countries Marshall talks about in his book and is also a county that refutes Marshall’s claim .