HIST1094 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Meiji Oligarchy, Otto Von Bismarck, Meiji Restoration
Document Summary
Meiji restoration: 1868: after period of upheaval following the end of the japanese isolation, a group of samurai, bureaucrats, and intellectuals surrounding the meiji emperor take state power in japan. This group is called the meiji oligarchs: the meiji oligarchs had the following goals: Avoidance of instability which could lead ot class conflict: wanted advancement but feared upheaval/revolt like europe at the time, the meiji oligarchs followed a few basic principles: Seek out a wide variety of foreign models. Unswerving support for japanese nationalism and the emperor ad a symbol: the oligarchy quashed a movement, led by chiba takusarubo, to institute a liberal constitution with broad voting rights. Instead, implemented a constitution borrowing controls on democracy from the german constitution (1890) Japa(cid:374)"s e(cid:272)o(cid:374)o(cid:373)y (cid:271)oo(cid:373)ed (cid:271)ut politi(cid:272)al disse(cid:374)t (cid:271)e(cid:272)a(cid:373)e i(cid:374)(cid:272)reasi(cid:374)gly da(cid:374)gerous. Conscription, justice, and education all taken from local rulers and laced in the hands of imperial bureaucracy: there is substantial resistance and few trained bureaucrats.
