Japan

Timeline (1467-1910)

Unification - Imperialism
Sengoku
- Warring States Period(1467)

Japan has a Decentralized/Feudal government.

The emperor is but a figurehead for central government.

DIsorder/Strife across Japan

European Trade(1543)

Merchants brought clocks, eyeglasses, tobacco.

Introduced daimyo/samurai to muskets/cannons changing the future of warfare in

Japan.

Introduced Christian missionaries to Japan.

Oda Nobunaga (1568)

Rule through force. Captured/Defeated all shogunate who opposed.

First effective use of firearms in Japan.

Unable to unify all of Japan.

Paved the path for the Tokugawa.

Christian Missionaries(1549)
Scorn traditional japanese beliefs.

Fear of religious uprising leads to Tokugawa

Ieyasu banning Christianity.

Ongoing issue that leads to a peasant rebellion.

Put down by the shogun.

Christianity persecuted and buddhism instilled as forced national faith.

Leads to Isolation.
Tokugawa Shogunate
(1600)

Tokugawa Ieyasu gains control over other damaio through respect and alternate
attendance policy leading to a united Japan. Rule of law becomes greater than
the sword. Nationalistic leader empowers central government.
Closed Country Policy - Isolation
(1639-next 200yrs!)

All trade ports closed except Nagasaki (Dutch/Chinese trade ONLY)

Borders in and out of Japan closed to prevent development of foreign ideas.

Will continue to develop as a separate/self-sufficient country.

Treaty of Kanagawa
(1854)

US Commodore Matthew Perry aggressively pushes japan to

sign away extraterritorial rights for foreign trade. Many foreign,
western powers follow suit. Similarity between Japan and
China.
Emperor Mutsuhito
- Meiji Reform
Modernization(1867)

End of Tokugawa shogunate. Japan Industrializes from

european influence (unlike India/China). Becoming the first
asian nation to become a world power.
Imperial Japan
(1890)
Strongest Military power in Asia.

Nationalist Pride grows into imperialistic views in japan.

Japan wins Sino-Japanese war with China.(Manchuria)

Japan wins Russo-Japanese War.(Korea/Manchuria)

yellow peril - racist western fear of united asia.

Korean Protectorate
(1910)

The epitome of japanese imperialism. The Japanese

annexation of Korea practically erased Korean culture.
Placed all land and business ownership in the hands of the
occupying Japanese. Annexation leads to korean resentment
towards the japanese and, a strong nationalist movement.