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Haitian Slave Revolt
The Haitian Revolution was created to attempt to overthrow the French regime. Haiti people had been tired of the poor treatment and revolted. It is one of, if not the only, Slave Revolt in history to be successful. Haiti officially freed themselves of the French rulers. -
Independence Movement
This independence movement against the Spanish empire. Led by Miguel Hidalgo, the uprising that led was hasty and not very well organized. The result of this was that the Spanish and Mexican empires snuffed out the rebellion before it could further, and executed Hidalgo. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was issued by the western hemisphere, telling Europe and the Eastern hemisphere to not interfere with their operations. Europe was obligated to oblige, and resulted in taking more attention to closer countries. This had an effect on imperialism, making it so that the west, mainly the United States would not interfere with Old World affairs. -
Opium War
The opium war was caused by the substance opium, which Britain had been trading with the Chinese people. The drug was highly addictive, and China's government quickly put a ban on it and prevented Britain from trading with them. This sparked a conflict with Britain and France against China. -
Treaty of Nanjing
This treaty ended the opium war. This was unfair to China, who had to pay for the damage Britain's trade ha caused. Britain also inherited Hong Kong Island from this treaty. -
French Revolution
This revolution was caused by major unrest of the French people. The King of the time was forced to abdicate and address the statistics of his country such as unemployment and suffrage. As a result, Napoleon III came to power over France -
Tai Ping Rebellion
This rebellion included the Qing dynasty against the Taiping. It broke into civil war over the course of 14 years. It was one of the bloodiest wars in history, taking 20 million lives. The result left the Qing at a loss. -
Sepoy Rebellion
The Sepoy/Indian rebellion was fought against the British for not respecting their customs and values. The Sepoys had been unknowingly consuming lard that coated the casing they had to put in their mouths. The sepoys were furious at this disrespect and rallied against the British. -
British Raj
This refers to the rule of Britain over India. From 1858 to 1947, The British had control over the Indian territory. The independence of India as well as Pakistan took place in 1947 when they gained freedom from Britain. -
Rise of Japan
The rise of Japan was heavily based on industrialization of the country. Their economy flourished as a result of this, and the country began to modernize. Japan was now seen as a formidable threat instead of a weak island. -
End of the Shogunate System
The last shogunate, the 15th Tokugawa shogun, officially resigned in 1868 putting an end to the system. Peasants were unhappy with conditions which led to this. This directly led to the Meiji restoration which replaced the shogunate system. -
Meiji Restoration
This restoration of Japan put an end to the Edo period in which shogun's ruled. It was a huge change to the country, bringing forth westernization and economic change. Samurai led the restoration and watched China carefully. -
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference formally divided Africa to several countries and political leaders. It was particularly disrespectful to Africa as they had no say as to who inherited land or how it was split. However, the conference did prevent wars over the country. -
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress has played a major part in India's past. This Congress led India to independence from Britain. Their success inspired other revolutions to free themselves from Britain's grasp. -
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State was an absolute monarchy led by King Leopold II. He obtained the territory in the Berlin Conference. He was very focused on extracting resources from Congo's land, mainly rubber and ivory. Leopold was not a great ruler unfortunately and was known for committing many atrocities on the land. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy applied to any country that was trading with China. It created equal rights and and support from the Chinese government for any country that desired to trade with China. This policy received much praise and lasted for forty years. -
Spheres of Influence
Spheres of Influence referred to a region in which an outside power had control over the territory without directly governing it in some instances. Often, this limited the rights and freedoms of the people living in the states. In the imperial age, Japan had quite the influence, controlling Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of China. -
Boxer Rebellion
This rebellion took place in northern China and rebelled against foreign parties. Many Chinese people did not like the fact that foreigners were coming to their country and spreading their beliefs. Especially Christianity, China did not like foreign influence from European people. -
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese war was fought over land in East Asia. Russia was under the impression that they were very strong and they could easily beat Japan, but they were mistaken. Japan had acquired many techniques and modern weapons and actually conquered Korea and the land they were fighting Russia for. Japan was a weak state no more. -
Fall of the Manchus
The Manchu Empire fell for a number of reasons. Corrupt and incompetent leaders took over after the death of Guangxu and never recovered. In addition, they were in a trade deficiency with China which did not help their economic situation. The opium war along with many rebellions pushed the Manchu's over the edge.