Unit 5: Revolutions

Source: Tsar Alexander III, imperial decree concerning the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 1891.

"Having commanded the construction of a continuous line of railway across Siberia, with the purpose of connecting the rich Siberian territories with the network of internal railways, We designate this task as a matter of supreme national importance. This railway will serve to strengthen the unity of our empire, secure our Far Eastern frontiers, and promote the expansion of our domestic commerce and manufacturing. The state must direct and support this undertaking to ensure its completion, for the development of our national industry cannot rely solely on private enterprise, which lacks the necessary resources for a project of such magnitude."

Which of the following best explains the primary motivation behind the state-sponsored project described in the passage?

Source: Meiji Emperor, *Imperial Rescript on Education*, Japan, 1890.

"Know ye, Our subjects:
Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting, and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue; Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein lies the source of Our education... Always respect the Constitution and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth."

Which of the following historical processes best explains the Japanese government's motivations for issuing the document above?

Source: Okubo Toshimichi, Meiji government minister, draft proposal on the promotion of national wealth, Japan, 1874

"If we look at the countries of the world, those that are strong and wealthy have successfully encouraged manufacturing and trade... In our country, we have not yet developed these industries to a sufficient degree. Therefore, the government must take the initiative to establish factories, import machinery, and hire foreign experts. Once these industries have been shown to be profitable and stable, the government should sell or transfer them to private merchants, who will then run them."

Which of the following best explains a major difference between the process of industrialization described in the passage and the process of industrialization in Great Britain?

"The arrival of the steamship *Paraguay* in France, carrying a cargo of Argentine beef preserved for over seventy days through the use of an ammonia-compression refrigeration machine, represents a triumph of modern science. No longer must European populations rely solely on local herds or salted imports; the agricultural wealth of the Southern Hemisphere is now within reach of the European consumer."

— *Journal de l'Agriculture*, Paris, 1878

Which of the following best describes the technological innovation that most directly enabled the preservation of the cargo described in the passage?

Source: Zhang Zhidong, Qing dynasty government official and reformer, *Exhortation to Study*, 1898

"If we wish to make China strong, we must preserve our Chinese ethical foundation while adopting Western practical methods. We should establish modern schools to train our youth, construct railways to connect our provinces, open coal and iron mines to fuel our growth, and build factories to manufacture modern weapons. If we do not adopt these Western industrial techniques, we will remain militarily weak and economically dependent on foreign powers. However, if we abandon our traditional Confucian values in favor of Western political ideas, our society will fall into chaos and lose its unique identity."

Which of the following best describes the primary goal of the reforms advocated in the passage?

The following is an excerpt from an annual report of the directors of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, a British financial institution, published in 1874:

'The directors are pleased to report that the expansion of our branches in Yokohama and Shanghai has successfully allowed the Bank to finance the growing trade in silk and tea directly with London and New York. By utilizing the new submarine telegraphic lines now extending to East Asia, our local managers can adjust interest rates and credit allocations in response to daily market fluctuations in Europe, thereby reducing the risks of long-distance exchange and securing steady profits for our shareholders.'

The activities described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments in the nineteenth century?

Source: Adapted from a report by a British consular official in the Ottoman Empire, 1848.

"The cheapness of British cotton goods has had a catastrophic effect on the domestic weavers of Damascus and Aleppo. Where once thousands of handlooms were active, producing fine textiles for the regional market, now only a fraction remain. The local craft guilds cannot compete with the products of steam-powered British factories. In response, the Sublime Porte [the Ottoman government] has attempted to establish modern textile mills and iron foundries near Constantinople, importing European machinery and hiring foreign directors. However, these state-run enterprises face severe obstacles, including a lack of domestic technical expertise and the high cost of importing coal."

The developments described in the passage most directly reflect which of the following global economic processes in the nineteenth century?

The following passage is an excerpt from the travel journals of a Japanese official visiting Great Britain in 1872:

"The black smoke rising from the chimneys in Manchester forms a dense cloud in the sky... If one asks the source of Britain’s immense wealth, the answer is always found in coal, iron, and the steam-powered machines that multiply the productivity of human labor. In the past, we believed that national strength depended solely on agriculture and the virtue of the ruler. However, having witnessed these Western workshops, we see that the true foundation of their power lies in the industrial arts and trade. If Japan is to maintain its independence and match the power of the West, we must establish our own factories, develop our mineral resources, and learn to construct these engines of wealth ourselves."

Which of the following developments in late-nineteenth-century Japan represents the most direct implementation of the views expressed in the passage?

"The establishment of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, financed primarily by British and French capitalists, marks a significant departure from previous financial practices. By taking over the management of the state's paper currency, acting as the collector of national revenues, and extending credit for major public works, the bank has become the primary mechanism through which European capital is funneled into Ottoman railway construction and mining enterprises."

— British consular report on the economic conditions of the Ottoman Empire, 1874

The establishment and activities of the bank described in the passage best illustrate which of the following developments in the nineteenth century?

"The opening of the railway line into the interior of the province of Buenos Aires has completely transformed the pastoral economy of the Argentine Republic. Where once stood trackless pampas, we now see lines of steel carrying wool, wheat, and chilled beef directly to the ports for shipment to the markets of Europe. This vast enterprise, financed by British joint-stock companies and constructed with British steel and coal, demonstrates how capital from London has linked our agricultural wealth to the global industrial system."

— Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, report on trade and immigration, 1892

Based on the passage, the activities of the British joint-stock companies in Argentina most directly reflect which of the following economic developments of the late nineteenth century?

Estimated Population of Selected English Cities, 1700–1801

The demographic changes shown in the table were most directly made possible by which of the following developments in eighteenth-century Great Britain?

"Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer."

—Thomas Paine, *Common Sense*, 1776

Which of the following Enlightenment ideas is most clearly reflected in the passage above?

"Our sales agents in Brazil, India, and China report a growing demand for domestic machinery. By offering these machines on installment plans, we have enabled households of modest means to participate in the market economy. The coordination of our manufacturing plants in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Glasgow, Scotland, ensures a steady supply of interchangeable parts to our global assembly points, proving that manufacturing and marketing must be managed on a global scale."
—Annual Report of the Singer Manufacturing Company, 1893

The operations described in the passage best illustrate which of the following global economic developments in the late nineteenth century?

Source: Tanaka Shozo, Japanese politician, petition to the Emperor of Japan, 1901.

"For years, the poison from the Ashio copper mine has flowed into the rivers, ruining the fertile fields of several provinces and destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers. The government, in its haste to industrialize and strengthen the military, has turned a blind eye to this devastation, protecting the profits of private mining corporations at the expense of its own subjects. If the laws are not reformed to restrain the greed of capitalists and protect the health and property of the common people, the nation itself will perish from within."

Based on the passage and your knowledge of world history, which of the following best describes how the author’s proposed solution to the problems of industrialization differed from the goals of revolutionary Marxists during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

"To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature...

A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another...

But... the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit a condition, which, however free, is full of fears and continual dangers: and it is not without reason, that he seeks out, and is willing to join in society with others... for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates, which I call by the general name, property."
—John Locke, *Second Treatise of Government*, 1689

Based on the passage and your knowledge of world history, which of the following best describes the primary political consequence of the spread of the ideas expressed in the excerpt?

Source: Adapted from a petition submitted by Indian shipbuilders and merchants in Calcutta to the British East India Company, 1814.

"For many years, our shipyards in Bengal have constructed vessels of local teakwood that are cheaper and more durable than those built of oak in Great Britain. However, recent regulations passed by the British Parliament restrict the use of Indian-built ships in trade between Great Britain and India, while British-built vessels are given preferential tariffs. Consequently, our shipyards are falling silent, our skilled carpenters are facing poverty, and the capital that once supported local commerce is being diverted. We pray that you restore the equal terms under which our trade once flourished."

The petition is best understood in the context of which of the following global economic developments in the nineteenth century?

"Our acquisition of extensive tea estates in Ceylon has allowed us to control every stage of production, from the planting of the leaf to its packaging and final sale in our British shops. By bypassing the traditional brokers and auction houses of Mincing Lane, we can offer tea at a price that brings this former luxury within reach of the working classes. Through the application of modern machinery to crush and dry the leaf on-site, and the utilization of steamship lines to transport the cargo directly, our enterprise demonstrates how the integration of agriculture, transport, and retail under a single firm maximizes efficiency."

—Business prospectus for Lipton’s Tea, Ceylon, c. 1890

The business model described in the passage best illustrates which of the following developments in the global economy during the late nineteenth century?

"Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it will be inoperative with respect to its influence on general practice. And how can woman be expected to co-operate unless she know why she ought to be virtuous? unless freedom strengthen her reason till she comprehend her duty, and see in what manner it is connected with her real good?"
— Mary Wollstonecraft, *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman*, 1792

Which of the following best explains how Wollstonecraft’s argument in the passage reflects a core principle of the Enlightenment?

Source: The National Petition of the Chartists, presented to the British House of Commons, 1839.

"We are bowed down under a load of taxes... Our traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy; our workmen are starving; capital brings no profit, and labour no remuneration... We tell your Honourable House that the capital of the master and the labor of the workman are alike unproductive because of the unjust laws which favor the few at the expense of the many... We demand that the House of Commons be elected by universal male suffrage, so that the laws may be made by all for the benefit of all."

Based on the passage, the Chartist movement's demands are best understood as representing which of the following reactions to industrialization?

Source: Sergei Witte, Russian Minister of Finance, secret memorandum to Tsar Nicholas II, 1899

"Russia, compared to the Western nations, is economically backward. Our industry is weak, and we rely heavily on foreign imports for manufactured goods. If we do not take decisive steps to develop our own domestic industries through state-directed railway construction, protective tariffs, and the promotion of foreign investment, our empire will fall under the economic domination of more advanced Western powers. Russia will effectively become an economic colony of the West, losing its political independence and great power status."

Based on the passage, the policies advocated by Sergei Witte are best understood as a reaction to which of the following global developments?