When was the Meiji Restoration?

1. Historical origins

In the mid-19th century, Japan was still in a feudal society with a small peasant economy. The emperor had no authority, and power was in the hands of the third feudal military regime, the Tokugawa Shogunate. . The Tokugawa shogunate implemented a "closed-door" policy in Japan, closing Japan's door to the world. Among foreigners, only Chinese and Dutch merchants could engage in commercial activities at Nagasaki, the only open port, and citizens did not have freedom of religion. Social productivity is low and people live in poverty, but the rulers of the shogunate are still increasing exploitation and oppression. With the successive invasions of European and American invaders, Japan fell into a deeper national crisis.

Conflicts at home and abroad are increasingly intensifying. Japan, which is facing numerous crises, urgently needs a revolution to get rid of this predicament. Unable to bear the rule of the shogunate and the oppression of foreign invaders, the Japanese people demanded to "enrich the country and strengthen the army." They took up arms and launched a vigorous campaign to "bring down the curtain".

2. The process of the Meiji Restoration

In 1871, the Meiji government sent a large-scale mission headed by the right minister Iwakura Tomomi to visit Europe and the United States to inspect the capitalist country system. Under the slogan of enriching the country and strengthening its military, colonizing industry, and civilizing the country, the government actively introduced Western science and technology, carried out large-scale primitive accumulation by means of high land taxes, and established a number of state-owned enterprises focusing on military industry, mining, railways, and shipping. enterprise. At the same time, modern equipment such as silk reeling and textiles are introduced, demonstration factories are established, and advanced technologies are promoted; foreign experts are recruited, students are sent abroad, and high-level scientific and technological talents are cultivated. Because the excessive fiscal burden once caused a fiscal crisis, in the early 1980s the government sold a number of state-owned enterprises and mines at low prices to capitalists who had colluded with the government and thus had privileges (the so-called political and businessmen), and used generous protective policies to encourage Chinese, landlords, and Merchants and upper-class nobles invested and operated banks, railways and other enterprises. Since the mid-1980s, the upsurge of industrial revolution has begun, centered on the textile industry.

During the Meiji Restoration in Japan in the 19th century, the four powerful feudal vassals of Sachodohi and Dohi joined forces. After defeating the shogunate forces at the Battle of Fushimi and Toba, the last shogun Tokugawa Yoshiki was forced to return the power to Emperor Meiji, and Japan officially entered a capitalist society.

The Meiji Restoration deprived the feudal samurai class of their privileges. The middle and upper-level samurai were transformed into a new parasitic class because their land was redeemed by the government, while the lower-level samurai had no choice but to go bankrupt. In 1877, the Southwest gentry rebelled under the leadership of Saigo Takamori - the Southwest War was the aftermath of the Boshin War. The Meiji Restoration destroyed the old feudal order and created a new era, which had a profound impact on both Japanese history and world history. The protagonists of the restoration were not the four powerful feudal lords, but the middle and lower-level samurai and civilians. The Meiji Restoration was a political revolution in Japanese history and an important turning point in Japanese history. It overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate, returned great power to the emperor, implemented major reforms in politics, economy, and society, and promoted Japan's modernization and Westernization. The main leaders of the Meiji Restoration were some young samurai. They used the slogan "rich country and strong army" as their slogan, and attempted to build a country that could keep pace with the West.

The Meiji government first adopted the measures of "returning feudal lordships" and "abolition of feudal lords and establishing counties", which ended Japan's long-standing feudal separatist situation and laid the foundation for the establishment of a centralized state and the development of a capitalist economy. Since then, the Meiji government implemented three major policies: enriching the country and strengthening the army, colonizing industry and promoting civilization. To enrich a country and strengthen its military means reforming the military and police system, establishing an arms industry, implementing a conscription system, and establishing a new military and police system, which is the foundation of a country; to develop industry and develop industry means introducing advanced Western technology, equipment and management methods, and vigorously supporting capitalism development; civilization and enlightenment means learning from Western civilization, developing modern education, improving national knowledge levels, and cultivating modern talents.

3. Historical influence

The Meiji Restoration enabled Japan to rise rapidly. By learning from the West, "leaving Asia and joining Europe", it reformed its backward feudal system and embarked on the path of developing capitalism. , using its increasingly powerful national power, gradually abolished the unequal treaties signed with Western powers, regained national sovereignty, got rid of the crisis of becoming a colony, and became the only country in Asia that could maintain national independence. Then with the rapid improvement of economic strength, the military Its strength also strengthened rapidly. In 1895 and 1904-1905, it defeated two powerful powers in the past - the Qing Empire (1644-1911) and Tsarist Russia (1721-1917) in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War respectively. ), thus joining the ranks of the world’s capitalist powers. However, the Meiji Restoration was incomplete and retained a large number of feudal remnants of the old Japanese era in various aspects, such as the excessive power of the emperor and serious land annexation. These feudal remnants interacted with a series of social problems that would be difficult for Japan to solve in the future. This led Japan to embark on the path of aggression and expansion.