Grace of God Essay

The traditional social order is marked by the three estates it comprised off. The ruler who is supposed to be ‘by the Grace of God’ was absolute in his power. The first estate comprised of the clergy who were responsible for community well being by conducting prayers and sacred ceremonies. The next estate is the nobility who are in charge of protecting the country from foreign invasions. They also played an important role in government and in administration. The third estate consisted of the majority of population. They generated wealth that fed the entire society. Real estate and regional commerce were their main activity. This order underwent change at the wake many significant events. The French revolution gave power to the bourgeois, the third order. The French viewed democracy as a building block of creating a new social order where there is no self proclaimed monarchy hovering over. The spirit of French revolution spread across Europe. And slowly the rising started everywhere. The colonized countries started gaining grounds in their home lands. The Sepoy Mutiny in India is an example of the social order undergoing a change. The natives organized an uprising against the British. It may not have deterred the British in their pursuit to expand but it did mark an important turn of events. Similarly the West had its influence on Japan and China. The monarchy and the aristocracy slowly started to adopt the ways of the West. Starting from their dressing to their way of life, a significant transformation was taking place. The Crimean War,1853-1856 Describe the causes, course, and consequences of the Crimean War and evaluate the effect of the war on Russia’s government. One of the main causes of the Crimean War is the misperceptions in Russia, Britain and France. Britain and France were disturbed that Russia was the strongest state in Europe and its assumed Russian expansion plans towards Turkey. On the other hand Russia was cautious of revolutionary France. Russia was also expecting the fall of Turkey. Moreover in the holy place of Palestine the Catholics were favored by France and the orthodox Christians were favored by Russia. The Catholic and Orthodox monks disputed possession of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. During the early 1850s, the two sides made demands which the Sultan of Turkey could not possibly satisfy simultaneously. To solve this issue the Tsar of Russia, Nicholas I sent his diplomat for talks which failed. The demands made by the Tsar were rejected. Austria contrary to what Russia believed sided Britain. Further in an attempt to revert war a four point proposal was presented to the Tsar. When the Tsar refused to comply with the four points, the Crimean War commenced. The reality of the war is that France and Russia injured each other’s options without knowing they did so. France overestimated Russia’s hostility and Russia underestimated British and French interest in Turkey. As a result, Russia seeking to secure Black Sea region lost its control until 1871. Russian power in the area declined to be restored only after fourteen years. During peace negotiations in 1986, it was decided that no warship would occupy the Black sea coast. This became a specific disadvantage to Russia as it diminished the naval threat it posed to the Turks. Compare and contrast China’s and Japan’s response to western influence for the period of 1850 to 1865. In the 1800s China and Japan experienced both major internal strains and Western imperialist pressure which was backed by military might which the natives couldnot match. China’s leading position in the world reversed in a mere 100 year period (c. a. 1840-1940) from leading civilization to subjected and torn country. The Japanese witnessed China’s experience with the military power of Western nations. At the arrival of an American delegation in Japan in 1853, Japan was also forced to open its ports to the Americans. But unlike China, Japan was able to adapt rapidly to match the power of the West and soon established itself as a competitor with the Western powers for colonial rights in Asia. In 1894-5, Japan challenged and defeated China in a war over influence in Korea. This upset the traditional international order in East Asia, where China was the supreme power and Japan was a subordinate power. Western nations utilized China for their opium trade. They took silver bullions from China as commodity exchange. China’s attempt to ban the sale of opium in the port city of Canton leads to the Opium War of 1839. The Chinese were defeated by the British arms. This lead to China opening up its ports for foreign trade. By 1800 China was in a vulnerable position in the hands of the West. From the 1860s onward, the Chinese attempted to reform efforts to meet the military and political challenge of the West. China adopted Western learning and technology while preserving Chinese values and Chinese learning. Reformers and conservatives struggled to find the right formula to make China strong enough to protect itself against foreign pressure. The Japanese taking the cue from China launched a major modernization effort in 1868 to match the West and then came to be a major competitor for rights. Japan’s defeat of Russia, a Western power, in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 surprised China. This way the West influenced two the countries in its most significant way.