The colonial system in the XIX-beginning of the XX century. Formation and development of the colonial system in the countries of Asia and Africa Formation and development of the colonial system
Prerequisites for new European colonialism, periodization of the process of formation colonial system, characteristics of the stages. Great geographical discoveries and the beginning of colonial conquests in Afro-Asian countries. 16th century - century of Spain and Portugal in the colonial expansion. The main directions and methods of the colonial activity of European countries. The Rise of Trade Colonialism: Trade "from Asia to Asia". Christian missions in the East. Formation and activities of European East India companies in the East in the XVII-XVIII centuries. East India Companies in "trade from Asia to Asia". The principle of "trading with a sword in hand." The problem of the early capitalist stage in the history of colonialism. The development of the capitalist world-system and the Asian world-economy. Mercantilism and colonial expansion. Slave trade. Reasons for the transformation of the nature of European colonialism by the beginning of the 19th century. (socio-economic, military-political, ideological). The formation of industrial capitalism in Europe (XIX century) and its influence on the development of the colonial system. Decolonization of the New World and the changing geography of colonialism. Free trade: its influence on the nature of colonial expansion, features of the interaction between metropolises and colonies. colonial empires. Forcibly opening East Asian countries and imposing unequal relations on Asian countries. The transformative impact of European capitalism on traditional Afro-Asian societies. Formation of Orientalism. The nature and forms of the anti-colonial struggle. "Imperialist" division of the world in the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries: background, content, contradictions between colonial powers, results. The struggle of the imperialist powers for colonies as an integral part of the prerequisites of the First World War.
Topic 3. The problem of modernization of Afro-Asian countries in modern times
The problem of transformation of Afro-Asian societies in modern times in foreign and domestic historiography. The paradigm "European challenge - Asian response". Theories of "traditional society" and "modernization". "Early modernism" - endogenous sources of modernization in non-European countries. The problem of synthesis of "traditional" and "modern" in the studies of Russian historians. Factors that caused the beginning of the process of modernization in the countries of the East. The phenomenon of "protective modernization": content, specifics, results. Colonial upgrade option. Economic and social components of the modernization process in the Afro-Asian countries and their specificity: the birth of capitalism, the development of science and technology, the formation of new social strata. Changes in socio-political thought: enlightenment, reformism, nationalism. National liberation movement as part of the modernization process. The era of "awakening of Asia": Asian revolutions in the early twentieth century. The specificity of the Japanese version of the modernization of the Meiji era.
Section II. History of individual countries
Topic 1. China
Civilizational features of Chinese society. Factors shaping the traditional culture of the Han people: natural environment, autarkic agriculture, family and clan ties. Holism of Chinese consciousness. Three teachings ("san jiao"). Confucianism and its role in the design of Chinese society. Individual - society - state. Personality in Traditional China. Imperial Doctrine. The state, the role of the bureaucracy, the peculiarity of its formation. Shenshi Institute as the most important stabilizing mechanism of the imperial system. The social prestige of learning. The problem of correlation between elite and mass consciousness. Syncretism of folk beliefs. The ideas of egalitarianism in the mass peasant consciousness. The ethnocentric model of ecumene in the ideas of the Han people. Chinese vassal-tributary system.
China in the late 16th - early 17th centuries Manchu conquest. New trends in economic, socio-political and cultural development. Concepts of "growth without development" and "early Chinese modernism" in historical literature. crisis in the first half of the 17th century. and the factors that caused it. Insurgency in China. Li Zicheng. Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Consolidation of the Manchurian tribes at the beginning of the 17th century, the creation of a state, relations with China. Manchu conquest of China. Defeat of the rebel movement. The role of the Chinese elite in the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. Wu Sangui. Fight against the Southern Ming. Zheng Chenggong. "Three tributary princes" (sanfan) and their action against the Qing. Consequences of the Manchu conquest of China.
China during the reign of the Qing Dynasty (mid-17th - mid-19th centuries). The course towards the "pacification" of the country and the "era of prosperity" of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong eras. Land and tax measures. The position of cities, the development of crafts and trade. State system of Qing China, official ideology. Class stratification of Chinese society. Manchus and the outside world. The Conquest Policy of the Qing Empire: China's New Frontiers. Closed door policy. Growing crisis phenomena in the empire at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries: economic, demographic, social, political factors. Rebel movement.
The Opium Wars and the Discovery of China. The nature of foreign trade during the period of isolation. Attempts at the peaceful "discovery" of China: English missions. The British East India Company and the opium smuggling trade. The struggle of groups in the Qing Empire in connection with the opium trade. Lin Zexu's activity. The first "opium" war: reason, course, results. Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and additions to it. The second "opium" war of England and France against China. Tianjin (1858) and Beijing (1860) treaties. The final establishment of the Russian-Chinese border during the second "opium" war.
Taiping uprising. Prerequisites for the activation of the opposition movement in the late 18th - early 19th centuries, religious sects and secret societies. The personality of Hong Xiuquan, his teachings. The Taiping Rebellion: periodization, characteristics of the stages. State of Taiping tianguo, its military-political and administrative-economic activities. "The Land System of the Heavenly Empire". Internecine strife among the Taiping leadership and the weakening of Taiping tianguo Hong Zhengang's New Work to Help Governance. Defeat of the Taipings. Assessments of the Taiping uprising in Russian and Chinese historiography.
"Movement for the Assimilation of Barbarian Affairs". Reasons for the birth of the movement, the activities of Wei Yuan and Feng Guifen. Decree of Emperor Xianfeng (1861) and the beginning of the "self-empowerment" policy. Self-Strengthening Reforms: Their Direction and Content. The role of regional leaders. Li Hongzhang. The rise of regionalism. Features of the birth of Chinese capitalism. Changes in the ruling Manchu family: the nomination of Empress Dowager Cixi. The end of the policy of "self-reinforcing", its results.
China and the powers in the 80-90s. 19th century Strengthening the economic and military-political expansion of foreign powers. Franco-Chinese war. Burmese problem. Ili crisis. The Sino-Japanese War and the division of the country into spheres of influence. Fight for concessions. Foreign sector in the economy.
The birth of Chinese nationalism. Socio-economic, ideological shifts in the traditional structure of China. The role of the country's southeastern regions in shaping the prerequisites for the emergence of nationalism. The impact of an external factor. The reformist direction of Chinese nationalism. Kang Yuwei: personality and ideas. "100 Days" of Emperor Guangxu's Reforms. Palace coup on September 21, 1898 and its consequences. revolutionary direction of Chinese nationalism. Sun Yat-sen: goals, methods of struggle for their realization.
The crisis of the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Yihetuan uprising: causes, ideology, course. Power intervention. "Final Protocol" 1901 "New Policy" (1901-1911): the content of the reforms and their results. Growing social tension. The activities of the liberal opposition in exile. Tongmenghui and Sun Yat-sen's Three Folk Principles. Revolts in the southern provinces.
Xinhai Revolution. Uchan uprising. "New Army". Northern and southern political centers. Proclamation of China as a republic. National Assembly and Provisional Constitution. Formation of political parties. The Kuomintang and the Parliamentary Elections of 1912. The "Second Revolution" in the Southern Provinces. Establishment of Yuan Shikai's dictatorship. Dujunat Institute. The results of the revolution and its assessment in historiography.
China during the First World War. China and the Warring Powers at the Beginning of the War. Occupation of Shandong by Japan and "21 Demands" to China. anti-Japanese movement. Monarchist aspirations of Yuan Shikai and their collapse. The victory of militaristic tendencies in the political life of China. Military factions of the North and South, their struggle for power. China's entry into the war. The results of the First World War for China.
Theme 2. Japan
Civilization specifics of Japanese society. The impact of natural rheographic factors on the formation of personality and society. "rice field culture". Features of the landscape, cultural and economic complexes and the intensity of information processes. "ie" as a model of relations in society. "oya-ko": hierarchy, paternalism, group consciousness, ethics of relations. The role of Shinto in shaping the "picture of the world" of the Japanese: nature-centrism, the cult of ancestors, mythology, the doctrine of supreme power, aesthetic principles. External factor in the formation of the Japanese socio-cultural system. Perception of the achievements of mainland (Chinese) culture. Methods of perception of "foreign": development of an adaptation mechanism. Buddhism and Confucianism: originality of perception and place in Japanese culture.
Japan in the period of the Tokugawa shogunate (XVII-XVIII centuries): domestic and foreign policy. Completion of the unification of the country and the formation of a new political system under the shoguns Ieyasu, Hidetada and Iemitsu. State structure: bakuhan system, forms of control of the shogun over the daimyo. The shogun is the emperor. The ideological system of the shogunate. Class division of Japanese society: si-no-ko-sho. Tokugawa foreign policy. "Closing Japan": causes, consequences. Persecution of Christians. Relations with the Dutch.
Socio-economic development of Japan in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Rural and agricultural development. home industry. The growth of commodity-money relations. Urban development during the Tokugawa period. Types of Japanese cities. Role of Edo, Osaka and Kyoto. Japanese merchants and merchant associations. Commercial and business houses, their role in economic life, the establishment of "special relations" with the bakufu. Chonindo. The problem of the endogenous formation of the capitalist order in Japan in historical literature. The growth of crisis phenomena in the XVIII century. Reforms of the Kyoho and Kansei years.
Crisis of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Socio-economic situation in Japan at the beginning of the XIX century. Manifestations of the economic crisis. Decomposition of the class structure. social protest movement. The reforms of the Tempo years. Administrative reforms in the principalities. The rise of the anti-shogun movement. Spiritual Opposition to the Shogunate: The Role of the Mito School, Schools of National Science and Rangaku. The growth of the political influence of the southwestern principalities. Japan's relations with foreign powers in the first half of the 19th century. "Discovery" of Japan and its consequences. Bakumatsu period. Civil War and the Meiji Restoration.
Modernization of the Meiji era. Internal and external prerequisites for transformations. Reforms: administrative, class, military, agrarian (characteristics, assessment). Features of the industrial development of Japan in the 70-90s. 19th century Political transformations: "jiyu minken undo"; formation of the first political parties; constitution of 1889, electoral law and parliament, nature of political power. The formation of the imperial system: the Kokutai doctrine, the state religion of Shinto and the ideology of tennoism. Reforms in the sphere of education, culture, life. The peculiarity of the modernization of the Meiji era: the role of the state and bureaucracy, the slogan "wakon-yosai". Discussion in the historical literature about the nature of transformations in Japan.
Foreign policy of Japan in the late XIX - early XX century. Formation of the objectives of Japanese foreign policy. The first territorial acquisitions and policy towards Korea. Japan's struggle to abolish unequal treaties. The war with China and its impact on society, participation in the suppression of the Yihetuan uprising, the Russo-Japanese war. The economic policy of Japan at the beginning of the twentieth century. Japan during the First World War: the strengthening of political and economic influence in the East Asian region. Japanese pan-Asianism.
Theme 3. India
Indian civilization: main features. Hinduism as a civilizational core, its organizational-regulatory and communicative-integrating role. Dialectism, cyclicity and holism of Hindu thinking. Doctrine of Karma. Brahminist ideology of social order. Castes and caste groups as the main agents of socialization. Channels of social mobility. Features of the personal genotype of the Hindu: homo hierarchicus. The absence of a pan-Indian statehood and the tradition of political amorphism as a result of the discrepancy between religious, cultural and political centers. Muslim conquests and the rise of statist tendencies. The nature of the Indian community, the reasons for its stability. The ability of Indian civilization to adapt foreign cultural experience and the limits of this adaptation. The interaction of the Brahmin religious and cultural tradition with the Muslim socio-cultural type in the era of the Great Moguls.
The collapse of the power of the Great Moguls (mid-17th - mid-18th centuries). From Akbar's "peace for all" to Aurangzeb's Muslim centralization: confrontation between centripetal and centrifugal tendencies. The crisis of the jagira system, the evolution of the zamindari institution. Anti-Mughal movements: Jat uprisings, Maratha and Sikh liberation struggles. Increased separatism of provincial governors. External factor in the weakening of the empire: the invasion of Nadir Shah, the aggressive campaigns of Ahmed Shah Durrani.
The conquest of India by England (mid-18th - mid-19th centuries). Establishment of a European trade monopoly on sea routes to India. The role of the East Indian companies in trade with the countries of the East and the creation of strongholds on the Indian coast. Anglo-French struggle for India and its results. The conquest of India by the English East India Company: the main stages. Sepoy army and tactics of "subsidiary agreements". Resistance of the peoples of India. Reasons for defeat.
English colonial regime (mid-18th - mid-19th centuries). English possessions in India under the control of the East India Company. The evolution of colonial government in the second half of the 18th century: the act of government of India 1773, the law of W. Peet, Jr. 1784. Changes in the status of the East India Company: Acts of Parliament of 1813, 1833 and 1853. Land tax reforms, the policy of the colonial authorities towards the Indian community. Activities of the British in the field of justice and education.
Indian popular uprising 1857-1859 The consequences of the completion of the industrial revolution in the metropolis for India. Exacerbation of contradictions between Indian traditional society and the policy of the East India Company. The ideological preparation of the uprising: the role of Indian Muslims. The course of the uprising, the main centers, participants. The role of the sepoy units of the Bengal army. Defeat of the uprising. Debate in the literature about the nature of the uprising.
The system of colonial administration and economic exploitation of India in the second half of the 19th century. Changes in the colonial apparatus: the transition of India under the control of the parliament and government of Great Britain. Administrative reforms, reorganization of the colonial army, strengthening of ties with vassal princes, agrarian measures. Changes in economic policy: the export of capital to India, the scope of its application.
The transformation of Indian society in the second half of the XIX century. The specifics of the genesis of national capitalism. The role of Indian commercial and usurious castes in the formation of the Indian capitalist structure. The emergence of new social strata, the special role of intellectuals. Enlightenment. Socio-political and religious-philosophical thought: the main ideas of the representatives of the Muslim community (Abdul Latif, Karamat Ali, Sayyid Ahmad Khan). The East-West problem, relations with England and the ideas of Hindu reformism in the views of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. Early Indian nationalism: main currents, their characteristics. Formation of the Indian National Congress.
India at the beginning of the 20th century Growing dissatisfaction with the policies of the colonial authorities. Viceroy Curzon and partition of Bengal. liberation movement 1905-1908: Swadeshi and Swaraj Campaigns, position of the INC. The gap between moderate nationalists and supporters of B.G. Tilaka. The Formation of Religious-Political Parties: The Birth of Indian "Communalism". Suppression of the anti-English movement. Morley–Minto Law (1909). India during the First World War: political and economic situation. The course of the metropolis to strengthen its position. The revival of the activities of moderate nationalists: the Home Rule movement, the Lucknow congresses of the INC and the Muslim League. Actions of Radical Nationalists: Ghadr Organization, Provisional Indian Government in Kabul.
Topic 4. Ottoman Empire
Muslim civilizational supersystem. Assessment of the role of Islam in the formation of the basic values of Muslim civilization: a historiographical aspect. Religious and Rational in the History of Social Thought of Muslim Intellectuals: Ideas of the Mu'tazillites and Representatives of the "Golden Age" of Arab Philosophy. The assertion of a religious-orthodox, conservative-protective trend. The universal character of Islam in the organization of society. The ideal of the ummah as a fusion of the sociopolitical and religious community, its divergence from local forms of ethnic and social stratification. The image of the ruler as a stronghold of the ideal of Islam, the purity of the Ummah and the guarantor of the existence of the community. Autonomy of political elites, their typology. The role and place of the Muslim clergy. Socio-psychological type of personality in the Muslim East. The significance of the principle of al-Qadar in the development of a stereotype of behavior, its impact on the mass consciousness. Channels of social mobility. Koran, Sharia and business activity of a Muslim. Economic concepts of Islam. The impact of religion on culture. feature of Muslim statehood. Relationships with non-Muslims. The combination of the imperial system with the status autonomy of subordinate religious communities. Adaptive possibilities of Islam, its ability to integrate alien elements.
Ottoman Empire in the 17th - the first half of the 18th centuries. Reasons for the decline Ottoman Empire in historiography. Structural crisis of the empire: main features. The crisis of the military system and its consequences. The evolution of agrarian relations. State of craft and trade. Transformation in the composition of the Ottoman ruling elite: the growing role of the ayans. Crisis of the military organization. Decomposition of the Janissary army. The beginning of the military defeats of the Ottomans. Change in the nature of relations between the Porte and the European powers. Franco-Turkish Treaty of 1740
Deepening the crisis of the empire in the second half of the XVIII century. The crisis of the imperial order. Changes in the relationship between the center and the periphery: the growth of centrifugal tendencies. Approval of independent and semi-independent rulers in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon. The emergence of the first state of the Saudis in Arabia. The situation in the Balkans: socio-economic shifts, the formation of the idea of liberation and national revival among the Christian peoples conquered by the Turks. "Eastern question": background, essence, participants and their interests, geographical area.
The era of reforms. Reforms of Selim III as an example of "protective modernization". Nizam-i-jedit system, its evaluation. Reasons for the defeat of the initial stage of the modernization of the empire. Mahmud II's transformations: successes and failures. Exacerbation of the "Eastern Question" during the struggle of the Greeks for independence. Turkish-Egyptian conflicts: causes, course, results. Tanzimat. Gulkhanei hatt-i-sheriff of 1839 and the reforms of the first stage of the tanzimat. Ottomanism. The role of M. Reshid Pasha. The Crimean War and its impact on the alignment of forces in the "Eastern question". Hatt-i-Humayun 1856, 50s-60s transformations 19th century Significance of the reforms of the Tanzimat period.
The birth of the constitutional movement. Background: the growth of contacts with the West, socio-economic shifts, the role of intellectuals in shaping a new look at the imperial order and the world, the development of educational ideas. I. Shinasi and N. Kemal. "New Ottomans": the nature of society, the main stages of activity, the idea of transformation political system, ottomanism concept.
Midhat Pasha and the Constitution of 1876 Aggravation of the situation in the Balkans: the “Bosnian crisis”. Financial insolvency Ports. Midhat Pasha and his role in the political events of the mid-1870s. "The Year of the Three Sultans". Constitution of 1876: circumstances of its proclamation, main provisions, assessment. The failure of the international conference in Istanbul and the aggravation of the "Eastern question". Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878 Treaty of San Stefano and Treaty of Berlin.
Ottoman Empire in the late XIX - early XX centuries. The state of the economy: the dominance of traditional ways, the specifics of the emergence of centers of capitalism. The role of non-Turkish ethnic groups in entrepreneurship. Activities of foreign capital: areas of application. The problem of the Ottoman debt and the establishment of financial control over the Porte. The struggle of the powers for railway concessions. Personality of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II. Zulum mode: main features. Incitement of national hatred. Ideas of pan-Islamism in the policy of the Sultan. Foreign policy of Abdul-Hamid II. Evolution of the "Eastern Question".
Young Turk movement and revolution of 1908-1909. The Formation of Opposition to the Zulum Regime: the Unity and Progress Organization. Ittihadist Congresses of 1902 and 1907, their decisions. Speech by the “army of the movement” and the restoration of the constitution of 1876. Ittihadist program, parliamentary elections. An attempt at a counter-revolutionary coup and the deposition of Abdul-Hamid II. Assessment of the events of 1908-1909: a discussion in the literature.
Ottoman Empire under the rule of the Young Turks. Domestic policy of the Young Turks. The struggle for power between the Young Turkish political parties. The coming to power of the triumvirate. The foreign policy of the Young Turks: rapprochement with Germany, the Balkan Wars, the loss of Libya. The crisis of the doctrine of Ottomanism, the birth of the idea of Turkism (Ziya Gekalp). Exacerbation of contradictions between the great powers on the "Eastern question". Circumstances of the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the First World War. The course of hostilities. The situation in the Arab provinces: the strengthening of anti-Turkish sentiment. "The Great Arab Revolution" of 1916. Secret negotiations between England and France on the division of the Arab countries. London's course towards cooperation with the World Zionist Organization: the Balfour Declaration on the Establishment of a Jewish "National Home" in Palestine. Economic and socio-political situation in the country at the end of the war. Surrender of Turkey: Armistice of Mudros.
Topic 5. Egypt, Sudan
Egypt under the rule of Muhammad Ali. The situation in Egypt at the end of the 18th century: the strengthening of the positions of the Mamluks. Expedition of Bonaparte (1798-1801) and its results. The rise to power of Muhammad Ali. Fight against the Mamluks. Transformations of Muhammad Ali in the field of agrarian relations, trade, industry. Military, administrative reforms. Changes in the sphere of culture and education. Introduction of a system of comprehensive state control. Transformation results. Foreign policy of Muhammad Ali: relations with the Sultan, the conquest of Eastern Sudan and punitive expeditions to Arabia. Position during the Greek uprising. Turkish-Egyptian conflicts and the surrender of 1841
Egypt after Muhammad Ali: new stage modernization (50-70s of the XIX century). Struggle in the ruling elite after the death of Muhammad Ali. Abbas-Khilmi: a course towards the revival of antiquity and the old Ottoman order. The Politics of Said and Ismail: Liberal Reforms 1854-1879. Arabization of the army and state apparatus. Egypt as an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire.
The construction of the Suez Canal and the financial enslavement of Egypt. Anglo-French rivalry in Egypt. French project for the construction of a maritime shipping canal. The role of F. de Lesseps. Construction of the Suez Canal. The international significance of the canal, the consequences of its construction for Egypt. Financial bankruptcy, the establishment of Anglo-French control over Egyptian finances. Formation of the "European cabinet".
liberation movement in Egypt. The activities of the "European cabinet" and the growth of discontent in the country. Activation of currents of socio-political and religious thought. Enlightenment movement. The birth of nationalist organizations. The mood in the Egyptian army, the position of the "fellah officers". The personality of A. Orabi. Army performances in 1879 and 1881: changes in the alignment of political forces. "Revolution" September 9, 1881 Watanists come to power. position of the European powers. The Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882. Evaluation of Orabi Pasha's Revolt in Historical Literature.
Egypt under British rule. occupation regime in Egypt. Lord Cromer's policy: resolving the issue of the Egyptian debt, the regime of the Suez Canal, the course towards the development of cotton growing. Colonial capitalism: main features. Formation of political parties and organizations of the modern type. "Hadeve Fronde". M. Camille. Socio-political upsurge 1906-1912 The beginning of the war between England and Turkey and the establishment of a protectorate over Egypt. Importance of Egypt for England during the First World War.
Eastern Sudan. general characteristics Keywords: ethno-social composition of the population, religion, economy, policy of the Turkish administration. Strengthening the tax exploitation of the population of Sudan in the 1870s. Growing discontent in the country, the role of the religious factor. Personality of Muhammad Ahmed. The uprising of the Mahdists (1881-1898): periodization, characteristics of the stages. Formation of an independent Mahdist state. English intervention, Battle of Omdurman. Establishment of an Anglo-Egyptian condominium.
Topic 6. Countries of the Arab West (Maghrib)
Maghreb countries: common and special. Dei rule in Algiers. French Intervention: Causes, Cause, Course of Conquest, Pockets of Resistance. Characteristics of the French colonial regime in Algeria. The beginning of the transformation of Algerian society. Features of anti-colonial protest at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries: traditionalists and "Musulfrans". Hussein Tunisia. Attempts of Europeanization (30-50s of the 19th century). Power interests in Tunisia. Establishment of a French protectorate. Morocco: ethno-political and socio-economic situation. The struggle of European powers for the division of Morocco. Invasion of France, protectorate treaty. Two "Moroccan crises". Libya: the reign of the Karamanli dynasty, the second conquest of Tripolitania by the Turks, the Senussiyya order and its relations with the Turkish authorities. Italy's aggression in Libya, the role of the Senusites in organizing resistance to the colonialists. The results of the colonial division of the countries of North Africa.
Topic 7. Iran
Iran in the 18th century The role of ancient statehood, the institution of hereditary monarchy, imperial traditions and Shiism in the formation of the socio-cultural exclusivity of the Iranians. Peculiarities of Shiite dogmatics: the doctrine of the Imamat. The cult of martyrs. Shiite shrines. Geographical factor in the history of Iran. Influence of nomadic invasions on statehood, economy, culture and ethnic processes. Decline of the Safavid Empire. The conquest of Iran by the Afghans, the consequences. The nomination of Nadir Khan, his struggle for the liberation and unification of the country. State of Nadir Shah Afshar. The era of civil strife: the Zends and the Qajars. Rise to power of the Qajar dynasty.
Political and socio-economic development of Iran (the first half of the 19th century). The first Qajar shahs, their characteristics. The organization of the central government, the system of administrative control of the country. Clergy: its financial situation, role in worship, education and the political and legal system of the state. Ethnic composition of the population, the role of the nomadic factor. State of agriculture, forms of land ownership. The nature of the relationship: peasant - landowner. City, craft, trade.
The foreign policy of the Qajars. Activation of the policy of European powers in Iran at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Russian-Iranian wars and their results. Herat conflict: causes, course, results. Positions of foreign powers in Iran by the middle of the 19th century.
Babid movement. Internal and external prerequisites. Periodization. Personality of the Baba. The main provisions of his doctrine of a just society. The social composition of the Babis. Gathering in Bedasht: disengagement among the supporters of the Báb. Radical direction: representatives, ideas, methods. Suppression of the Babid movement, consequences. Motion evaluation: a discussion in the literature.
Attempt of reforms "from above" in Iran. The coming to power of Mirza Tagi Khan: the situation in the country. Tagi Khan's reforms: administrative-political and military transformations. Economic policy. Cultural and educational reforms. Attitude to the policy of Tagi Khan of Russia and England. Activation of opponents of reforms: resignation of Mirza Tagi Khan. Reasons for the failure of Iran's modernization.
Iran in the second half of the 19th century The transformation of Iran into a semi-colony. England and Russia: forms and methods of penetration into Iran. Anglo-Russian agreement on the division of Iran (1907): background, content, consequences. The nature of economic and social processes in Iran in the last third of the XIX - early XX century. Features of the genesis of the capitalist structure, the role of the external factor. The initial process of formation of Iranian nationalism. The first nationalists and their ideas. Mass movement for the elimination of the English tobacco monopoly.
Iran at the beginning of the 20th century Constitutional Movement 1905-1911 in Iran: prerequisites, participants in the movement and their goals, the role of the Shiite clergy, characteristics of the stages, results of the movement, its assessment in historiography. Iran during the First World War: Iran and the Warring Powers; struggle within the country regarding position in the war. "National Defense Committee" in Qom and "National Government" in Kermanshah. Anglo-Russian agreement on Iran (1915). Strengthening the national liberation movement. Revolution of 1917 in Russia and Iran.
The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received huge advantages in comparison with the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, following the era of great geographical discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, already in the 17th-18th centuries. the colonialist expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to resist this expansion and turned into easy prey for their stronger opponents.
At the first stage of the colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America. In the middle of the XVIII century. Spain and Portugal began to lag behind in economic development and as maritime powers were relegated to the background. Leadership in the colonial conquests passed to England. Beginning in 1757, the trading English East India Company for almost a hundred years captured almost the entire Hindustan. Since 1706, the active colonization of North America by the British began. In parallel, the development of Australia was going on, on the territory of which the British sent criminals convicted to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies, as well as in the New World (Canada).
African continent in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Europeans settled only on the coast and was used mainly as a source of slaves. In the 19th century Europeans moved far into the interior of the continent and by the middle of the 19th century. Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which offered staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves, immigrants from the United States.
IN South-East Asia The French captured most of the territory of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was also taken away from it.
By the middle of the XIX century. The Ottoman Empire was subjected to strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of the Ottoman Empire during this period, became a zone of active penetration of Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic but also political independence. At the end of the XIX century. its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the 19th century practically all the countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, the colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor, as well as markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of the most cruel, predatory nature. At the cost of ruthless exploitation and robbery, the wealth of the western metropolises was created, a relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.
Initially, European countries did not bring their own political culture and socio-economic relations to the colonies. Faced with the ancient civilizations of the East, which had long developed their own traditions of culture and statehood, the conquerors sought, first of all, their economic subjugation. In territories where statehood did not exist at all, or was at a fairly low level (for example, in North America or Australia), they were forced to create certain state structures, to some extent borrowed from the experience of the metropolitan countries, but with greater national specifics. In North America, for example, power was concentrated in the hands of governors who were appointed by the British government. The governors had advisers, as a rule, from among the colonists, who defended the interests of the local population. Self-government bodies played an important role: an assembly of representatives of the colonies and legislative bodies - legislatures.
In India, the British did not particularly interfere in political life and sought to influence local rulers through economic means of influence (enslaved loans), as well as providing military assistance in internecine struggle.
The economic policy in the various European colonies was largely similar. Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, England initially transferred feudal structures to their colonial possessions. At the same time, plantation farming was widely used. Of course, these were not "slave" plantations of the classical type, as, say, in ancient Rome. They represented a large capitalist economy working for the market, but with the use of crude forms of non-economic coercion and dependence.
Many of the effects of colonization were negative. There was a robbery of national wealth, merciless exploitation of the local population and poor colonists. Trading companies brought stale goods of mass demand to the occupied territories and sold them at high prices. On the contrary, valuable raw materials, gold and silver, were exported from the colonial countries. Under the onslaught of goods from the metropolises, the traditional oriental craft withered, traditional forms of life and value systems were destroyed.
At the same time, Eastern civilizations were increasingly drawn into the new system of world relations and fell under the influence of Western civilization. Gradually there was an assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions, the creation of a capitalist economic infrastructure. Under the influence of these processes, the traditional eastern civilizations are being reformed.
A vivid example of the change in traditional structures under the influence of colonial policy is provided by the history of India. After the liquidation of the East India Trading Company in 1858, India became part of the British Empire. In 1861, a law was passed on the creation of legislative advisory bodies - the Indian Councils, and in 1880 a law on local self-government. Thus, the beginning of a new phenomenon for Indian civilization was laid - the elected bodies of representation. Although it should be noted that only about 1% of the population of India had the right to take part in these elections.
The British made significant financial investments in the Indian economy. The colonial administration, resorting to loans from English bankers, built railways, irrigation facilities, and enterprises. In addition, private capital also grew in India, which played a large role in the development of the cotton and jute industries, in the production of tea, coffee and sugar. The owners of the enterprises were not only the British, but also the Indians. 1/3 of the share capital was in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.
From the 40s. 19th century The British authorities began to actively work on the formation of a national "Indian" intelligentsia in terms of blood and skin color, tastes, morals and mindset. Such an intelligentsia was formed in the colleges and universities of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and other cities.
In the 19th century the process of modernization also took place in the countries of the East, which did not directly fall into colonial dependence. In the 40s. 19th century reforms began in the Ottoman Empire. The administrative system and the court were transformed, secular schools were created. Non-Muslim communities (Jewish, Greek, Armenian) were officially recognized, and their members received admission to public service. In 1876, a bicameral parliament was created, which somewhat limited the power of the Sultan, the constitution proclaimed the basic rights and freedoms of citizens. However, the democratization of the eastern despotism turned out to be very fragile, and in 1878, after the defeat of Turkey in the war with Russia, a rollback to its original positions occurs. After the coup d'état, despotism again reigned in the empire, the parliament was dissolved, and the democratic rights of citizens were significantly curtailed.
In addition to Turkey, in the Islamic civilization, only two states began to master the European standards of life: Egypt and Iran. The rest of the huge Islamic world until the middle of the XX century. remained subject to the traditional way of life.
China has also made certain efforts to modernize the country. In the 60s. 19th century here, the policy of self-reinforcement gained wide popularity. In China, industrial enterprises, shipyards, arsenals for the rearmament of the army began to be actively created. But this process has not received sufficient impetus. Further attempts to develop in this direction resumed with great interruptions in the 20th century.
Farthest from the countries of the East in the second half of the XIX century. Japan advanced. The peculiarity of Japanese modernization is that in this country the reforms were carried out quite quickly and most consistently. Using the experience of advanced European countries, the Japanese modernized industry, introduced a new system of legal relations, changed the political structure, the education system, expanded civil rights and freedoms.
After the coup d'état of 1868, a series of radical reforms were carried out in Japan, known as the Meiji Restoration. As a result of these reforms, feudalism was ended in Japan. The government abolished feudal allotments and hereditary privileges, princes-daimyo, turning them into officials. who headed the provinces and prefectures. Titles were preserved, but class distinctions were abolished. This means that, with the exception of the highest dignitaries, in terms of class, princes and samurai were equated with other classes.
Land for ransom became the property of the peasants, and this opened the way for the development of capitalism. The prosperous peasantry, exempted from the tax - rent in favor of the princes, got the opportunity to work for the market. Small landowners became impoverished, sold their plots and either turned into farm laborers or went to work in the city.
The state undertook the construction of industrial facilities: shipyards, metallurgical plants, etc. It actively encouraged merchant capital, giving it social and legal guarantees. In 1889, a constitution was adopted in Japan, according to which a constitutional monarchy was established with great rights for the emperor.
As a result of all these reforms, Japan has changed dramatically in a short time. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Japanese capitalism turned out to be quite competitive in relation to the capitalism of the largest Western countries, and the Japanese state turned into a powerful power.
History [Crib] Fortunatov Vladimir Valentinovich
26. Formation of the colonial system and the world capitalist economy
After the first overseas expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 began conquest and colonization Western hemisphere by Europeans. The main territories of South and Central America and Mexico at the end of the 15th - the first half of the 16th century. joined the first colonial empires Spain and Portugal. Under the auspices of Pope Alexander IV, it was signed in 1494 Tardesillas Agreement, the first agreement in world history on the division of the world. Portugal "got" a huge territory from Brazil to Southeast Asia, Spain - America and the basin Pacific Ocean. The ancient Indian civilizations of America were destroyed. A significant part of the local Indian population was subjected to merciless extermination. In Latin America, over three centuries of colonization, as a result of a complex ethnogenesis several racial and ethnic groups emerged: Creoles(European colonists and their descendants), mestizos(from marriages of Caucasians with Indians), mulattoes(from marriages of representatives of the Caucasian race with black slaves). Latin American society, forming as a mixed society, has become a kind of ethnocultural symbiosis.
In America and the West Indies, the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and especially the English colonialists deployed plantation economy. Africa became a bloody hunting ground for black slaves, who were taken by the millions across the Atlantic to work in the cotton fields. American Indians were not capable of hard physical labor.
During the era of colonialism, primitive accumulation of capital" size and character slave trade changed drastically. The Portuguese were the first to bring slaves to the Lisbon market in 1442, but before the discovery of the New World, the slave trade was still limited. The Spanish nobles and the church were engaged in the slave trade. In the 17th century The main participants in the Atlantic slave trade were the British, French, as well as the Dutch, Danes and Hanseatic merchants of German cities. The golden age of the European slave trade was the 18th century.
Slaves were exported mainly from the interior of West Africa, the Congo Basin, Angola, Mozambique. Millions died of starvation and inhuman treatment during long journeys on slave ships, in transit points and prisons, under the blows of overseers. The Europeans themselves usually did not engage in the capture of future slaves. Their slave traders bought from local African rulers in exchange for weapons, alcoholic beverages and various rubbish. For America, the slave trade was the most important source of the plantation economy, which exported sugar cane, coffee, tobacco and other goods to Europe.
The European and Arab slave trade caused irreparable damage to Africa. The demographic balance was disturbed, as the most able-bodied part of the male and female population was exported. The withdrawal of labor power affected the normal historical and socio-economic development of the continent. According to scientists, about 100 million people were taken out of Africa.
From the 16th century formation begins world market. International economic relations include all populated continents except Australia.
Portugal was the first to benefit most from participation in international trade. But Portugal lacked its own forces to supply Europe. The Netherlands got involved. Soon Antwerp with more favorable geographic location became the main point of sale of Indian goods. One successful voyage of a merchant ship was enough enrichment.
Many new products for everyday consumption began to enter Europe: potatoes, corn, tomatoes, rice, sugar, coffee, cocoa, etc. The diet became more varied and healthy. The process has begun introductions plants, that is, the introduction of (cultivars of) plants into places where they did not grow before, or the introduction of wild plants into cultivation. There are two forms of introduction: naturalization and acclimatization. The introduction of plants raised the level of European agricultural culture. Specialization began to develop and the productivity of agriculture began to grow.
Within a few decades after the discovery and development of sea routes to India and America by Europeans, there was a real revolution in the economic life of the Old and New Worlds.
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The Renaissance, which originated in the second half of the XIV century. and fully came into its own from the middle of the 15th century, was the greatest progressive upheaval that broke the framework of the old orbis terrarum, laid the foundations for later world trade, for the transition of handicraft to manufacture, an unprecedented rise in productive forces; and laid the foundation for the development of modern European nations on the basis of bourgeois societies.
By the end of the XV century. Europe, ahead of the East both in the sphere of material and spiritual culture, becomes the bearer of progressive tendencies world history. The great geographical discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries contributed to a significant expansion of European politics.
Already from the middle of the XV century. Portuguese navigators began moving south along the western coast of Africa, and in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded its southern tip. In 1498 Vasco da Gama's ships entered the Indian port of Calicut. As a result of the successful struggle against the Arabs and Egyptians, the Portuguese soon became the undisputed masters of the western Indian Ocean. Then they come into contact with China and in 1557 found the first European colony on Chinese territory in Macau. In 1500 they discovered and from 1530 actively colonized Brazil. Thus, a small country, thanks to its military and naval superiority, created a huge colonial empire.
At the same time, Spain is taking vigorous action to find new routes to wealthy India. During this process, Columbus discovers America (1492). The colonization of new lands began with the West Indies, where the first Spanish plantations and gold mines appeared. It was soon discovered that the local Indians turned out to be a physically weak labor force, they could not withstand the difficult conditions, they died or hit the run. Because of this, from 1518, the supply of hardy Negro slaves from Africa to the West Indies begins.
In 1519 - 1521, using the help of the Indian tribes, the detachment of Cortes conquered the rich Aztec empire. In 1532 - 1533. another conquistador - Pissarro took possession of the rich empire of the Incas. Here, on Peruvian soil, the richest mines were found, Peruvian silver poured into Europe.
The Spanish colonial empire became the basis of Spain's political hegemony in Europe in the 16th century.
The great geographical discoveries gradually led to the movement of trade routes and to a change in the balance of power in Europe. The Mediterranean Sea lost its importance as the center of maritime trade, giving way to the Atlantic Ocean, which favored the growth of the world trade authority of Antwerp and the Netherlands as a whole. In the second half of the 16th century, the strengthened Dutch bourgeoisie was able to successfully fight for the country's independence from Spanish domination.
In the XVI century. Spain's colonial expansion also went to the northern shores of Africa, but here it did not achieve much success.
So, Antwerp becomes, as it were, the geographical center of a new emerging world market. Its crafts and manufactories worked mainly for the foreign market, while the manufactories of England and France sold their goods mainly on the domestic market. In 1531, a stock exchange was opened in Antwerp, which became the rate-setting institution of the emerging global financial market. However, the role of the world center of credit and financial operations was later transferred to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Amsterdam Bank. In addition, Amsterdam has become a world center for the redistribution of goods, pricing and exchange rate formation.
In 1609, the long struggle of the Netherlands against Spanish rule ended, and the recognized Republic of the United Provinces appeared on the European political arena. Since that time, the Amsterdam Bank began to play a decisive role in the credit and financial system of the world market. The stock exchange worked intensively, bills of exchange became the main form of credit and payment, industrial development and the growth of productive forces were successfully going on. Trade in weapons and military equipment has become a highly profitable industry. Based on developed navy, the strong Amsterdam market, the low credit interest of the Amsterdam bank, the Dutch merchants everywhere suppressed the aspirations of competitors.
In 1602, the Dutch merchants created the monopoly East India Company for trade and colonial development. In 1621, the West India Company was created, which served as a front for military piracy and smuggling operations in the ocean, as well as the slave trade. The robbery of colonies, the predatory destruction of natural resources and productive forces, the enslavement and actual destruction of entire peoples began.
England also took an increasing part in this process. English merchants were actively looking for new, more and more distant markets for their goods, opening up ways to unknown lands. There are "regulated" and "share" companies. The first, representing merchant corporations of a national scale, received from the royal court special patents for monopoly trade in any area. Participants in such companies did not pool their capital, each trading at their own risk. Individualism bred competition, encouraged the development of initiative and business acumen, so necessary in the daring entrepreneurship of that adventurous era. "Regulated" companies traded mainly in the nearest European markets - in France and Holland.
The search for new markets was taken up by "share" companies. The latter included the Russian Company, which arose in 1554 as a result of R. Chancellor's visit to the Moscow state. In 1588, the Guinean Company was founded, which monopolized the slave trade, which soon became one of the most important sources of enrichment for the nation. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth signed a charter on the creation of the East India Company, marking the beginning of the "legalized" penetration of the British into India.
The struggle for markets led to a clash of English and Spanish interests. For a long time this struggle went on in the vast expanses of the Atlantic. In England, special merchant companies arose to equip pirate expeditions. In the last quarter of the XVI century. they, in fact, waged an undeclared war against the Spaniards, plundering the Spanish colonies and ships that were sailing with a precious cargo from the New World. The British authorities were very condescending towards the predatory activities of pirates, which were beneficial to the state.
In 1578, one of these pirates, Francis Drake, having passed through the Strait of Magellan, robbed the Spanish settlements in Chile and Peru, crossed the Pacific Ocean and, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, returned to England, having completed the second circumnavigation of the world after Magellan (1520). The queen welcomed the lucky adventurer by granting him the title of nobleman. Under Elizabeth, the English navy was significantly upgraded. Instead of bulky ships with a high freeboard, low elongated ships were built, fast and maneuverable. Along with changes in the tactics of naval combat, this allowed England in 1588 to win an important victory over the Spanish Invincible Armada.
In 1589 - 1590. new British expeditions are being equipped to the West Indies and the Pacific Ocean with the aim of driving the Holland out of the "Spice Islands" and the Portuguese out of Indian waters. Piracy becomes one of the methods of creating the foundations of the British colonial empire. The Anglo-Spanish war continued until 1604. It obviously dragged on, became very burdensome, and its end was greeted in England with relief.
The Anglo-Spanish naval war led to the disruption of England's regular trade with Europe, to the closure of part of the English markets on the continent. The losses associated with this began to exceed the profits from piracy and robbery of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. From the beginning of the 17th century the organization of the English colonies proper, the state-sanctioned seizure of colonial sources of raw materials and markets, acquires special significance.
France also actively participated in the struggle to seize the colonies. Moreover, the French sought to establish their colonies in the very center of the American possessions of Portugal and Spain. But in 1560 the Portuguese destroyed the French settlement that had existed since 1555 near Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in 1565 the Spaniards defeated the newly founded French Protestant colony in Florida, and in 1583 the combined Spanish-Portuguese forces were liquidated the French colony in Paramba (Brazil). It was obvious that at that time France did not have enough strength to confront powerful rivals. In addition, she had to solve complex political problems in Europe. Bartholomew's Night (1572) again plunged France into the abyss of religious wars.
So, we can rightfully say that the Renaissance was not only the most important progressive upheaval, but also the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the era of the primitive accumulation of capital, which prepared the conditions for the first bourgeois revolutions in Europe. The first of them, the Netherlands, leads to the emergence of the bourgeois Republic of the United Provinces, which, in itself, was the most important outcome of the 16th century. 1609 became the year of birth of the first state of the victorious bourgeoisie. The Dutch revolution was of exceptionally great international significance.
Already in the first decade of the XVII century. Holland has achieved an economic growth that surprised all European countries. Soon the Netherlands became a great maritime and colonial power, with a number of ships that outnumbered the ships of all other countries in Europe. Amsterdam became the center of the international payment system, the largest banker of the new world market.
Equally impressive and significant was the entry of Holland into the arena of world politics. The United Provinces, which possessed a powerful fleet, were strong enough to set a course for the decisive displacement of the old masters and the creation of their own colonial empire in the places of their former possessions. This was already the beginning of real wars for the redistribution of colonies, the beginning of the era of trade wars of European nations, the beginning of the birth of a new world colonial system, the arena of which was the entire globe.