Industrialization: Government’s Role from 1750 to 1900 CE
Driving Question: How did the economic strategies of different states and empires shape their development and impact the world?
While the Industrial Revolution started in the late eighteenth century, not all societies industrialized at once. All around the world, different factors, such as access to resources and colonialism, helped some societies to industrialize faster and more efficiently than others. In this lesson, you will compare two societies that began the process of industrialization in the late nineteenth century.
Learning Objective
- Assess the scale of the Industrial Revolution and its impact on various regions of the world.
- Explain the causes and effects of the economic strategies of different states and empires.
Vocab Terms:
- debt
- deindustrialization
- export
- Industrial Revolution
- manufacturing
- reform
- tariff
Think industrialization was all booming factories and happy workers? Think again.
Did you know: Baseball’s extraordinary popularity in Japan led some schools to ban it, and the government to pass restrictions in the 1930s to deal with student obsession with the sport. Teachers and officials worried that baseball was hurting academics, with students skipping class, staying in school extra years to play, and treating baseball as their most important subject. Let your students know that one of the impacts of the Meiji Restoration included teenagers choosing baseball over schoolwork.
If you want to move behind the “Japan modernized successfully” story, you can share this: The Meiji state industrialized fast, but often through top-down reform, heavy taxation, military expansion, and the sacrifice of older social orders.
How did Japan develop into a major world power over the course of 25 years? The answer partially lies with American warships… and baseball.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What started the Meiji Restoration?
- What was the goal of the Meiji Restoration, and what were some ways Japan’s leaders wanted to accomplish this goal?
- How did baseball become part of the Meiji Restoration?
- What role did Ichiko school play in the story of baseball’s rise in Japan?
- Why was the Russo-Japanese War important? How was it connected to baseball?
After you watch
Respond to this question: Why do you think Japan was so quick to adopt elements of Western culture compared to other countries, like Egypt or China?
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Why was the arrival of American warships such a shock to the Japanese?
- What domestic problems did Matthew Perry’s arrival worsen?
- How was the political system after the restoration different from the previous political system?
- What steps did the reformers take to modernize Japan?
- What measures did Japan take to modernize even though they lacked raw materials such as coal?
After you read
Respond to the following questions:
- Describe the extent to which this article explains the causes and effects of economic strategies of different states and empires.
- The Meiji Restoration made possible a huge economic transformation in Japan and East Asia. It made Japan an economic power on par with many European nations. What effect did this change have on Japanese society?
- Think back to earlier in this unit, when we examined all kinds of political revolutions. The Meiji Restoration revolutionized Japan, but was it a political revolution? Compare and contrast the Meiji Restoration and a political revolution you learned about earlier in this unit.
Egypt had cotton and the beginnings of an industrialized economy. So why did their industrialization fail?
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Who was Muhammad Ali, and how did he try to industrialize Egypt?
- How did the economic changes described in the article affect the lives and labor practices of Egyptian peasants?
- What were the three main reasons industrialization failed in Egypt?
- How did Egypt’s economic decline reshape ideas about industrialization and modernization? What were some of the solutions Egyptian scholars and leaders proposed for modernizing Egypt more effectively?
- What role did foreign powers play in the aftermath of Egypt’s industrial collapse? How did these global forces impact Egyptian society?
After you read
Respond to the following questions:
- Describe the extent to which this article explains the causes and effects of economic strategies of different states and empires. How do economic strategies in Egypt compare to those of Japan?
- How did industrialization transform society and labor practices in nineteenth-century Egypt?
- According to the author of this article, “Egypt’s industrialization and actual independence had both been ended by 1882.” How would you compare Egypt’s experience to that of Japan?
The Iwasaki Yatarō graphic biography is a nice way to show that industrialization created winners and losers. He was among the new business elites, such as the future founders of zaibatsu firms (Mitsubishi, for example). These were large, family-controlled industrial organizations that dominated Japan’s economy until 1945.
Have you ever heard of a rags to riches story? Someone works their way from a lower economic rung to a higher economic position. In the example of Iwasaki Yatarō, an ordinary samurai went on to become the head of one of the largest corporations on Earth.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Skim the full comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who is the focus of the comic? What big questions do you have?
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- What were Iwasaki Yatarō‘s origins?
- Why did many in Japan want to industrialize in the late nineteenth century?
- What did Iwasaki Yatarō himself do, and how was he regarded by people in Nagasaki?
- What do you think is the meaning of the quote from Isawaki’s biographer?
- How does the artist represent changes in both Japan and Isawaki using art in this biography?
After you read
Respond to the following question:
- How does this biography of Iwasaki Yatarō support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about industrialization in Japan? Or the impact of industrialization on people and societies more generally?
Give your students helpful feedback while also improving their comparison skills with the Comparison Feedback Form.
Need to cover the important skill of historical comparison but feeling a little pressed for time? Try out the cybersandwich option—complete with some handy Google Slides—covered in this community conversation.
Although industrialization affected many countries at approximately the same time, the way it affected those countries varied. You will examine Egypt and Japan to analyze the different ways industrialization affected nations.
