Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume IV
- Part I The industrialization of warfare, 1850–1914
- 1 A hinge in time
- 2 War, technology, and industrial change, 1850–1914
- 3 War and imperial expansion
- 4 The non-western world responds to imperialism, 1850–1914
- 5 War, society, and culture, 1850–1914
- 6 War-making and restraint by law
- 7 The arms race
- Part II The Era of Total War, 1914–1945
- Part III Post-total warfare, 1945–2005
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
4 - The non-western world responds to imperialism, 1850–1914
from Part I - The industrialization of warfare, 1850–1914
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume IV
- Part I The industrialization of warfare, 1850–1914
- 1 A hinge in time
- 2 War, technology, and industrial change, 1850–1914
- 3 War and imperial expansion
- 4 The non-western world responds to imperialism, 1850–1914
- 5 War, society, and culture, 1850–1914
- 6 War-making and restraint by law
- 7 The arms race
- Part II The Era of Total War, 1914–1945
- Part III Post-total warfare, 1945–2005
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Nineteenth-century imperialism presented challenges and opportunities to the non-western world. To most states it was a threat, to several a role model. Embracing the “western way of war” required massive investments, plus dramatic political, educational, and social changes. Most attempts to do so were at best partially successful, many a waste of resources.
A few states, like Ethiopia in the 1880s and 1890s, created new military systems that allowed powerful resistance to western imperialism. Elsewhere reformed armies enhanced the coercive powers of the state, reducing opposition to further change. Bandit leaders in the Balkans and Manchuria found their lairs less secure, Taiping rebels were mowed down by Ch’ing (Qing) soldiers who were armed with Enfield rifles, while in Morocco a few Krupp guns guaranteed that the sultan’s annual mahalla would collect tribute quickly.
China’s tzu ch’iang yun-tung (ziqiang yundong), or Self-Strengthening Movement, is a good example of this proposition. A reaction to the the twin disasters of the First OpiumWar (1839–42) and the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), this movement was the first sustained effort to improve the Ch’ingmilitary. Self-strengthening represented more than the purchase of British rifles or hiring a few military advisors; it called for China to improve revenue collection, construct arsenals and shipyards, and to train more efficient soldiers and sailors.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of War , pp. 94 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012