The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan was a very important country during the late 1850’s. Japan is an archipelago which means that it is made up of many different little islands. They were independent and isolated from most of the world. Mathew Perry was an American and a commodore who traveled in many ships. He threatened to destroy Japan. Mathew "bullied" the Japanese into singing a treaty by impressing them with the technologies that the Americans enjoyed. He used America’s technology because it was more advanced and better than Japans. They sent many ships in order for Japan to end the nation’s self-imposed isolation and open it to trade.The Japanese were very impressed by the technology of the American steam ships. Japan had great pride in their cultural heritage. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was signed between the United States and Japan that opened two ports to the United States and acted as a catalyst towards Japanese. They would establish their own treaties with the Japanese.

The Meiji Era had a great effect on Japanese economy. A new emperor came in charge called Meiji. His plan was to reclaim he's divine right to rule and restructure the society. The Meiji Restoration was to turn Japan into a modern country. Japan had been in isolation for so many years that their army and technology were very weak. Perry purposely dropped 26 miles off the coast of Tokyo, to impress the Japanese. The Japanese were impressed, on how far the ships were able to travel in such a short time.

When the Meiji period ended, with the death of the emperor in 1912, The Japanese economy became better during the years because of there trading with the United States. They developed more contact with the outside world to get more involved in trade. They were able to modernize because they established a parliament, developed transport and communication systems; they had better and more advanced technology and a more powerful army and navy. Thanks to the Meiji restoration Japan became a more modernized country.

Karl Marx and communism

Karl Marx's ideas were so influencing that they were soon called communism. Communism is the idea of everybody being equal. Social classes were now all the same and everybody was paid the same amount of money. The government controlled its people. Even thought Marks ideas were so strong and many people believed and supported it many communist countries didn’t use his ideas. Mark believed that workers would take over landowners and there government. He believed that factory workers could start a revolution and take over the factory owners since they had a higher amount of population.

The community was made up of two types of social classes which were the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The proletariats were the workers. They basically worked the entire day to whoever paid them the most amount of money. The bourgeoisie were the business and factory owners. He didn’t like the way that the proletariat class was being treated. The idea of communism was for everything to be equal. Society would only produce what it needed and there would be no private ownership. Everything would be owned by the government or state not by the people.

Many people loved the idea of communism, because this way, they would finally get the rights they always wanted. Marx hated the Industrial Revolution, he wanted Communism to be world wide, because this way everyone else would be able to enjoy what he thought was the best way of life. Marx wanted the best for his people. He viewed the “poor people” as good people because they worked really hard. He viewed the rich people as the “bad people” because they abused the power over the factory workers, and used Capitalism in their favor to make more money. Karl Mark was one of the most influential people in the 19th history.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a German who disagreed with the industrial Revolution and his ideas impacted the lives of many other people. He wanted workers to have the power in factories instead of landowners. Marx's ideas were so important and influential that they were named communism. He believed that workers had the power so they would control the government. During the Industrial Revolution social classes were very important. He felt that the Industrial Revolution allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. The two different social classes were the bourgeoisie who were the landowners and the proletariat who were the workers .He believed that since there were more workers than land owners the workers would all stick together and make a revolution.

Karl Mark disagreed with the Industrial Revolution. He thought that wealth should be spread equally, to help others advance. With his idea of communism, people would live fair more equal lives. Karl noticed how hard children had to work and weren’t able to go to school. Although he died in 1883, his ideas were still able to form the basis of the Bolshevik Revolution.