Chpt. 27, Russian and Japanese Industrialization

Question 1

Holy Alliance

Answer 1

an alliance among Russia, Prussia, and Austria in defense of religion and the established order, it was formed at the Congress of Vienna by most conservative monarchies of Europe

Question 2

Decembrist uprising

Answer 2

a political revolt in Russia in 1825 that was led by middle-level army officers who advocated reforms, but which was put down by Tsar Nicholas 1

Question 3

Crimean War

Answer 3

fought between 1854 and 1856, this war began as a Russian attempt to attack the Ottoman Empire; in this war Russia was opposed by France and Britain together, the war resulted in Russian defeat in the face of Western industrial technology, and it led to Russian reforms under Tsar Alexander 2

Question 4

emancipation of the serfs

Answer 4

Tsar Alexander 2 ended rigorous serfdom in Russia in 1861, although serfs obtained no political rights, and were required to stay in villages until they could repay the aristocracy for the land

Question 5

zemstvoes

Answer 5

local political councils created as part of the reforms of Tsar Alexander 2 that gave some Russians, particularly middle-class professionals, experience in government; the councils were strictly local, and had no impact on national policy

Question 6

trans-Siberian railroad

Answer 6

constructed in the 1870s to connect European Russia with the Pacific, this railroad was completed by the end of the 1880s, and brought Russia into a more active Asian role

Question 7

Sergei Witte

Answer 7

the Russian minister of finance from 1892 to 1903, he was an economic modernizer responsible for high tariffs, he improved the banking system, and he encouraged Western investors to build factories in Russia

Question 8

intelligentsia

Answer 8

a Russian term referencing articulate intellectuals as a class, it was a 19th century group that was bent on radical change in Russian political and social systems; they often wished to maintain a Russian culture distinct from that of the West

Question 9

anarchists

Answer 9

political groups seeking the abolition of all formal government; they formed in many parts of Europe and the Americas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were particularly prevalent in Russia, where they opposed the tsarist autocracy and became a terrorist movement responsible for the assassination of Alexander 2 in 1881

Question 10

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

Answer 10

better known as Lenin, he was the most active Russian Marxist leader who insisted on the importance of disciplined revolutionary cells, and was the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917

Question 11

Bolsheviks

Answer 11

literally, “the majority party”; they were the most radical branch of the Russian Marxist movement, were led by V. I. Lenin and were dedicated to his concept of a socialist revolution; they were actually a minority in the Russian Marxist political scheme until its triumph in the 1917 revolution

Question 12

Russo-Japanese War

Answer 12

a war between Japan and Russia over territory in Manchuria in which Japan defeated the Russians, largely because of its naval power; Japan annexed Korea in 1910 as a result of its military dominance

Question 13

duma

Answer 13

a national parliament created in Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1905; the duma was progressively stripped of power during the reign of Tsar Nicholas 2, and failed to forestall further revolution

Question 14

Stolypin reforms

Answer 14

reforms introduced by the Russian interior minister Pyotr Stolypin that were intended to placate the peasantry in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1905; it included a reduction in redemption payments and an attempt to create a market-oriented peasantry

Question 15

kulaks

Answer 15

agricultural entrepreneurs who utilized the Stolypin and later NEP reforms to increase agricultural production and buy additional land

Question 16

terakoya

Answer 16

commoner schools founded during the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan to teach reading, writing, and the rudiments of Confucianism; they resulted in a high literacy rate, approaching 40 percent of all Japanese males

Question 17

Dutch Studies

Answer 17

a group of Japanese scholars interested in the implication of Western science and technology beginning in the 17th century; they urged freer exchange with the West and based their studies on the few Dutch texts available in Japan

Question 18

Matthew Perry

Answer 18

an American commodore who visited Edo Bay with an American fleet in 1853 and insisted on opening ports to American trade on threat of naval bombardment; he won rights for American trade with Japan in 1854, in which the Japanese had little choice but to accept due to the superior American navy

Question 19

Diet

Answer 19

the Japanese parliament established as part of the new constitution of 1889, it was part of the Meiji reforms, and could pass laws and approve budgets, but was only able to advise the government, not control it

Question 20

zaibatsu

Answer 20

large family controlled monopolies created in Japan in the 1890s as part of the process of industrialization

Question 21

Sino-Japanese War

Answer 21

a war fought between Japan and Qing China between 1894 and 1895 that resulted in Japanese victory; nevertheless, Japanese imperial aims were frustrated due to Western insistence that Japan withdraw from the Liaodong peninsula

Question 22

yellow peril

Answer 22

the Western term for the perceived threat of Japanese imperialism around 1900, it was met by increased Western imperialism in the region