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.