Topic 09: Early modernization and imperial decline in East Asia (1860–1912)
This Topic follows on from Topic 7 and provides an interesting comparison between China and Japan and their efforts to deal with Western threats and incursions. While Japan was successful in modernising becoming strong enough to challenge the Western powers, China's attempts at modernisation were largely a failure. Specifically this topic covers: Following the disasters for China of the Opium War, the unequal...