Causes And Effects Of Japan's Meiji Restoration Of 1868

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Japan’s Meiji Restoration of 1868 changed Japan, and the world, forever. Effects of this event include the immense growth of the Japanese and expansion of the railroads during the period of 1840 to 1920. These were all possible thanks to the nation’s modernized military and industrialization systems as Japan adapted from Western nations as it aimed to become a world power. These phenomenons were not only effects of the Restoration, but also the causes of later issues, even beyond the time period of 1840 to 1920. By analyzing the documents provided, the effects that Japan’s Meiji Restoration had on the Japan and the rest of the world are made clearly evident.

After Japan’s Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan changed forever. Japan’s empire grew immensely thanks to the nation’s modernized military. Railroads also expanded exponentially in the country as Japan adapted industrialization patterns of the West to become a world power. Document 7 (Japanese Cabinet Statistics Bureau, 1962 and Japan Statistical Association, 1987) details Japanese railway expansion from 1872 to 1912. In 1872, four years after the Restoration, Japan only had twenty-nine kilometers of railway lines. From this, is can be assumed that Japan had close to 0 kilometers of railway lines at the time of the Meiji Restoration. However, by 1912, Japan had 11,384 kilometers of railway lines. This immense growth after only forty years was an effect of the Meiji Restoration itself which established Japan as an imperial