Japan shaking off the lethargy of centuries has taken her rank among the Civilized modern Powers Theodore [Music] Roosevelt steel and soldiers centralization and Conquest as Japan the solitary islands in the Pacific underwent a renovation of their military economy political structure and role in international Affairs a formation of respect and esteem towards Eastern cultures merged the expansive development of industrialization from Western to non-western countries enabled Japan to become an international Contender of imperialism by rapidly westernizing and defeating the largest contiguous Empire on Earth the European Russia and placing the Japanese islands in the Far East at the mutually respected table of modern world Empires during the 19th century European IND industrialization expanded in the cities of England Great Britain and other colonial empires had the advantage of pre-established financial institutions of banking that facilitated loans it also had high rates of urbanization caused by such matters as the enclosure acts prevalent Industries included agriculture textiles and steel production with such thriving economies it became possible for European powers to afford commercial Ventures overseas this increasing need for resources and trading areas started what would eventually be known as the age of Imperialism meanwhile the Japanese nation was experiencing a fundamental change in its characteristic identity once in isolationist nation of feudalism under the Tokugawa Shogun it Japan emerged as an imperialist power driven by policy alterations of the young Emperor miji formerly Japan had formed a non-compliance strategy toward international trade and Western influence contained by their borders the emperor lost his Supremacy to the feudalistic chain of power known as the Tokugawa Shogun with multiple Lords or a diamond each controlling a large parcel of land it was common for many minor Civil Wars to occur between the military of each feudal Lord additionally Agriculture and other forms of domestic trade served as the sole source of Economics outside of the limited Chinese trade and very few Dutch ships a year to the port Nagasaki however in 1854 with the unannounced arrival of commodore Matthew Perry in the US Navy the shanet was forced to absolve the procedures of trade restriction in the Treaty of Kagawa the lands of Asia had become The Stomping ground of Western Powers by the time Japan was forcibly open to the outside world China Indochina India and manua had already been carved into territorial spheres of influence by Germany France Britain and Russia China had become a largely dismembered country leashed to several different Empires through strategic advantages to military action and a dependency of such socioeconomic acts of domination as the foreign regulation of the opium trade with a mutilated political landscape and a people looked down upon by many westerners China would become one of the key motiv ational points for the rapid reform of the Japanese government in 1868 the chain of Japanese Emperors reclaimed the power from the tooa Shogun the great general of Japan through the actions of political and militant Elites to restore the emperor to power in the boen war the Tokugawa regime lost its foothold upon the nation this restoration of Imperial power while bringing about a return to the former political system brought deep seeded changes to the country's political scene the young Emperor mutsuhito seized military power from the Shogun and claimed as his own the name of Magi or enlightened ruler with his motto enrich the nation strengthen the military high-ranking officials of the new government were commissioned to travel to and report on the modern bureaucracies technology and ideas of Western European nations the charter oath of 1868 one of the first documents created by the Magi oligarchy stated the goals for a new Society by this oath we set up as our aim the establishment of the national wheel on a broad basis in the framing of a constitution and laws one deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion two all classes high and low shall unite in vigorously carrying out the administration of Affairs of state three the common people no less than the civil and military officials shall each be allowed to pursue his own calling so that there may be no discontent four evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of nature five knowledge shall be sought through throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of Imperial rule the administration continued a path of rapid and far-reaching conversion towards industrialism and faux Western culturing the population freed from the binds of feudal surum was then able to obtain public education the new system of schooling modeled upon the United States yielded a generation of well-educated citizens vers in the tactics of domestic and international capitalism as well as advances in agriculture additionally without class restrictions the people of Mai Japan gained the AB ility to climb the ladder of Social and economic Mobility travel and methods of communication were upgraded to extensive Railway systems and Telegraph lines the military underwent a complete reconstruction and modernization with the aid of Prussian military advisers with mandatory male enlistment and immediate adoption of the most Innovative weapons available including such weapons as The Gatlin gun Howitzer cannon and the implementation of a Navy of modern warships this quickly made the highly esteemed Samurai of old Japan become Obsolete and given no more Credence than any common foot Soldier leading to the Satsuma rebellion of 1877 a counter westernization movement quickly put down by the aggressive progressivism of the new Army with a New Foundation of government the emperor set forth a reformed constitution in 1889 this constitution would create the foundation of a centralized Imperial rule giving absolute power to the emperor while still allowing the flexibility for an elected Parliament or Diet to express the voice of the population however with the expanding goals for a sustainable nation of industry and progress it was not long before the limited resources of the Japanese Islands would create a need for an outside source of supplies this call for new land came into action by August of 1894 with the Japanese conquest of Korea and the Sino Japanese war opposed by the Ching Dynasty the new Japanese Navy and army fought for control over the Korean Peninsula to gather a front for resource collection and to create a buffer from any Continental enemies seen as the dagger pointed at the heart of Japan the acquisition of Korea was a primary goal of National Security in 1895 the Treaty of shimono ski gave sovereignty to a new Korean Nation a Japanese protectorate liberating the peninsula from its old Chinese connections China in addition to a monetary penalty also seeded to the Magi Emperor the Formosa islands in the South Pacific with the small country's victory over the much larger China Japan had formed an Eminence in the collective mind of other non-western nations the administration continued with this aggressive momentum on February 8th 1904 when Japan would mount a surprise attack on the world's largest uous Empire Russia from the end of the Sino Japanese war Japan had an objective to gain control of areas further Inland of their original conquests the Imperial motives of further expansion led to the Battle of Port Arthur on February 8th 1904 a preemptive strike under the cover of night by the Japanese Navy against the Russian Fleet Station at Port Arthur Manchuria being Russia's industrial sphere of influence in China became a location of desire for Japan to expand their newly born industrial Empire with resources Railways and developed warm water ports both Russia and Japan saw this region as being indispensable Japan using the new Fleet of armored warships and modern weapons wanton a decisive victory in many battles until the final critical Triumph of the Imperial Navy of Japan in the Battle of suit SEMA on May 28th 1905 Russia's Baltic fleet was virtually destroyed losing 27 ships and more than 10,000 men to casualty or capture the Russians in a suit for peace in the Imperial government of Japan were brought together by Theodore Roosevelt on September 5th 1905 to signed the Treaty of Portsmouth in this treaty the bul of manuia was returned to the Chinese Nation while the Leo dong Peninsula containing Port Arthur as well as a joint control of the Russian Island San was given to the Japanese empire the Russian people of St Petersburg disillusioned by the failure of their armed forces and other domestic issues rebelled against AR Nicholas II and what would be known as the 1905 Revolution Japan had created its role on the world stage during the battles of the Russo Japanese war military atach and observ from various Western Nations took notice of the small nation's tremendous victories Japan an Asian nation which only recently emerged from centuries of isolation had conclusively defeated a European giant sparked by the unexpected victory of a small island chain others such as The Young Turks of Persia in 1906 sunat of China in 1911 and mandes Gandhi of India in 1919 staged a range of rebellions revolutions and reforms inspired by the Magi Restoration in 1868 the start of the ma period of world history the islands of Japan were sustained by only 26 steam ships and a total of 18 Mi of Railway by the end of the Reformation Japan had increased its National count of steampowered water vessels to 1,514 and extended its Railways to 7,100 Mi aided by military and social reforms Japan rapidly and effectively created a modern Imperial Nation equal to or in the case of the Russo Japanese war greater than other Western Empires from a revolutionary action to rest the Imperial Rule and administration focused on the domestic and international Reformation of Industry created a worldwide reaction to the vast potential of non-western peoples by the end of the Magi period in 1912 Japan the once isolated feudal country in the Pacific had become an Empire capable of action and influence on the grand scale of world politics [Music]