Ch.19 Module 3 Questions

1. What accounts for the massive peasant rebellions of 19th century China?

They had  a huge population rise with agriculture unable to keep up with the program. Also, unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation. The bureaucracy did not grow to keep up with the population so it could not handle important problems effectively. During this time China’s population was growing rapidly and the bureaucratic state did not enlarge itself to keep pace with it. The state was so bad that it could not do many functions like tax collection, flood control, social welfare and public security. Strayer stated all these facts in his textbook on page 836. Also some more things that happened is that the central state lost power to provincial officials and local gentry and while this was happening peasants were being treated harshly which led them wanting to rebel. But, with all the things that were happening with this declining dynasty it gave rise to the growing numbers of bandit gangs in the countryside and even dangerous rebellions from peasants. With these rebellions peasants wanted leaders to lead them and they found them. These leaders the peasants brought upon them were rejecting the religions Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism and were mostly focusing on Christianity. These leaders wanted changes and justice made.

2. How did Western pressures stimulate change in China during the 19th century?

Opium was illegally imported and soon there were millions of addicts in China which led to it being banned, seized, and expelled from China. This made the British very mad and then began the first Opium War. Strayer talks more about this on page 839 because he states that “because opium importation was illegal, it had to be smuggled into China and thus flouting Chinese law.” But, later things started to escalate because a massive overflow of silver to pay for the opium reversed the imbalance which caused serious economic problems. What was huge during this time was the emperor of China decided to suppress the debate at court in the year 1836 on whether to legalize the drug or crack down on its usage. But, while doing this the British did not react so well to the news that they were actually offended by their acts and sent a large naval expedition to China to try to end the restrictive conditions in which they had with that country. Their goal was also to teach China a lesson about the virtues of free trade and the proper way to conduct relations among different countries. These acts all eventually led to the Opium War and Britain had a great advantage with their military. 

5. What lay behind the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century?

The Ottoman Empire was no longer able to deal with the West and many feared that it would not be able to protect them from falling under Christian powers. Many invasions and attacks left the once strong Empire weaker and weaker. The empire also had a hard time keeping up with its population. “The central Ottoman empire state had weakened particularly in its ability to raise revenue, as provincial authorities and local warlords gained greater power” as stated in Strayer page 846. This is telling us how or what was starting the decline of the empire. What also had to do with the decline were the Ottoman military forces, who lost their military edge, becoming a highly conservative force within the empire and the technical gap was growing which made them seem weak to other enemies. The cheap European manufactured goods also played a part in the decline and it led to urban riots protesting on foreign imports. Strayer also stated the Ottoman Empire granted Westerners various exemptions from Ottoman law and taxation. These agreements facilitated European penetration of the Ottoman economy and became widely hated from all over. What made bigger declines was the Ottoman empire started to rely on foreign loans to finance its efforts.