Ap World History Dbq Research Paper

Words: 628
Pages: 3

In the nineteenth century, imperialism was a method used by higher power countries to expand their land, population, and resources. While some of those who were faced with colonization were successful in evading colonial rule, most were unsuccessful. India had put up a fight against Great Britain in the Sepoy Rebellion but ultimately lost. China battled Britain against the importation of opium into China but lost that as well. Countries like India and China were unsuccessful in resisting colonial rule because they lacked modernization and westernization.
When the Mughal empire collapsed in India in the mid-1700’s, Britain’s interests in the region turned from commercial to political. The British were able to subjugate India by taking advantage
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Firstly, China entered a period of decline. Secondly, the Industrial Revolution gave the West superior military powers and a need for expanded markets. Because of these new developments, China was seen as a target for imperialism. In the Opium War, the Chinese were easily defeated because of their outdated weapons and fighting strategies. If China had modernized its army and weapons, they might have been able to call on Britain to stop the Opium trade with no repercussions. By the mid-1800’s, Chinese reformers felt the need to adopt Western ways. But this idea divided the educated Chinese since most of them saw no reason for more industries because China’s wealth came from land. Scholar-officials vetoed any idea to adopt some Western ways. Because of China’s refusal to westernize, they were falling far behind other countries. Japan began to westernize in 1868, and it then joined the western imperialists in the race for a global empire. This pressure on China to catch up led to the Sino-Japanese War, which China lost terribly. Japan ended up with Taiwan in its possession. Had the Chinese excepted Western culture and ways, they wouldn’t have had the need to catch up to the western imperialists. Because China did not westernize or modernize when it began to decline, it became an imperialist target and lost a lot of money and