The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Mathew Perry was an American and a commodore who traveled in many ships. He threatened to destroy Japan. Mathew Perry bullied the Japanese by forcing them into singing a treaty.This treaty impressed the Japanese with the technologies that the Americans used in their everyday life. He used America’s technology because it was advanced and better than those of the Japanese. They sent many ships in order for Japan to open it to trade and for them to "get on the map".The Japanese were very impressed by the technology of the American steam ships. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was signed between the Americans and Japanese; that opened two ports to the United States to trade with the Japanese. Japan is an archipelago which means that it is made up of many different little islands.

Japan had been in isolated from the rest of the world for so many years that their army and technology was very weak and if they got attacked for their land they would lose it. The Meiji Era had a great effect on Japanese economy. A new emperor came in charge called Meiji. He wanted to bring back the divine right to rule instead of an actual government. The Meiji Restoration was to turn Japan into a modern country. The Meiji period ended, with the death of their emperor in 1912, by this year the Japanese economy became better because of there trading with the United States. They were able to have more contact with the outside world; "putting them on the map," which got them modernized because it seemed as if they were living in a completely different generation. They were able to modernize because they established a government, and different methods of transportation as well as methods of communication.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx's ideas influenced so many people that they started calling it communism. Communism is when everyone is created equal in every aspect; including someones paycheck. The government at this point controlled all its people. He wanted a revolution to begin so the workers would have better rights. He believed that since there were more workers that they could gain control of the landowners and the government. In Marx's communism idea he had to different social classes the proletariat's (workers) and the bourgeoisie (landowners).

Karl Marx wanted communism to take over the world because he wanted everyone to enjoy this form of life, in complete equality. He thought that the good people were the "poor" because they worked hard to achieve everything they had. The bad people in his view were the "rich" because they pretty much abused the factory workers for their own wealth. He hated the fact of how badly the proletariat class was treated which were the workers. His idea of communism was for society to produce only what they needed. He wanted no one to have private ownership on their property, which meant that everything they had was the government's not theirs.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a German philosopher as well as many other things; who completely disagreed with the Industrial Revolution. His many ideas against the Industrial Revolution influenced and impacted many people in Europe, and all around the world. He believed that workers should have the power and rights in factories instead of the factory owners. He also thought that the people had enough power to take over the government. Since his ideas influenced so many people began to call it communism. To some communism was a solution to all their problems.

Many people in this time including Karl Marx thought that the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. In this time now there were several different social classes. These classes were called the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The proletariat's were the workers, and the bourgeoisie were the landowners; who owned most of the factories. Since there were more workers than there are landowners, that "the workers of the world should unite!" Many followed through with his ideas even though he died in 1883, it influenced the following generations to unite.