Starting from the first steps of the colonial system and for most of the 20th century, the development of mankind largely proceeded under the dominance of a group of countries united under the common name "West" (Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia (USSR), Italy, Spain, USA, Canada etc.), i.e. the world was Eurocentric, or more broadly, Euro-American-centric. Other peoples, regions and countries were taken into account insofar as they were connected with the history of the West.
The era of exploration and subjugation of Asia, Africa and America by European peoples began with the Great geographical discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries. The final act of this epic was the creation by the end of the XIX century. great colonial empires, covering vast expanses and numerous peoples and countries in all parts of the globe. It should be noted that colonialism and imperialism were not the exclusive monopoly of Europe or the Western world of modern and contemporary times. The history of conquest is as old as the history of civilizations. Empire as a form of political organization of countries and peoples existed almost from the very beginning of human history. Suffice it to recall, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, the Roman and Byzantine empires, the Holy Roman Empire, the empires of Qing Shi Huang and Genghis Khan, etc.
In the modern sense, the term "empire" (as well as the term "imperialism" derived from it) is associated with the Latin word "emperor" and is usually associated with ideas of dictatorial power and coercive methods of government. In modern times, it first came into use in France in the 30s of the 19th century. and was used against supporters of the Napoleonic Empire. In the following decades, with the intensification of the colonial expansion of Britain and other countries, this term gained popularity as an equivalent of the term "colonialism". At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. imperialism began to be regarded as a special stage in the development of capitalism, characterized by the intensification of the exploitation of the lower classes within the country by the intensification of the struggle for the redivision of the world in the international arena.
Imperialism is also characterized by special relations of domination and dependence. Different nations are not equal in their origin, influence, resources, and opportunities. Some of them are large, others are small, some have a developed industry, while others are far behind in the process of modernization. International inequality has always been a reality, which led to the suppression and subjugation of weak peoples and countries by strong and powerful empires and world powers.
As historical experience shows, any strong civilization invariably showed a tendency to spatial expansion. Therefore, it inevitably acquired an imperial character. In the last five centuries, the initiative in expansion belonged to the Europeans, and then to the West as a whole. Chronologically, the beginning of the formation of the Eurocentric capitalist civilization coincided with the beginning of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The emerging young dynamic civilization, as it were, immediately declared its claims to the entire globe. During the four centuries following the discoveries of X. Columbus and Vasco da Gama, the rest of the world was either mastered and settled, or the rest of the world was conquered.
19th century industrial revolution gave a new impetus to the overseas expansion of European powers. Territorial seizures began to be seen as a means of increasing wealth, prestige, military power and gaining additional trump cards in the diplomatic game. A fierce competition for spheres and regions of the most profitable investment of capital, as well as markets for goods, unfolded between the leading industrial powers. End of the 19th century was marked by the intensification of the struggle of the leading European countries for the conquest of still unoccupied territories and countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
By the beginning of the XX century. the wave of creation of huge colonial empires ended, the largest of which was the British Empire, spread over vast expanses from Hong Kong in the East to Canada in the West. The whole world turned out to be divided, there were almost no "no man's" territories left on the planet. The great era of European expansion is over. In the course of many wars for the division and redistribution of territories, European peoples have extended their dominance over almost the entire globe.
Until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. non-European peoples mastered European scientific, technical, economic, intellectual and other achievements passively; Now the stage of their active development, as it were from within, has begun. The priority in this regard undoubtedly belongs to Japan, which, as a result of the Meiji reforms in 1868, embarked on the path of capitalist development. The reforms marked the beginning of a noticeable economic growth of the country, which, in turn, gave it the opportunity to switch to the path of external expansion. The attack by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941 on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor demonstrated with one's own eyes the real beginning of the end of the Eurocentric world and became the starting point of a new era in world history. But until the second half of the XX century. the world remained Eurocentric: Western countries continued to dictate their will and determine the rules of the political game in the international arena. The overwhelming majority of other countries and peoples were assigned only a passive role as objects of the policy of the great powers.
Formation of the world economy World economic relations take their origin in world trade, which is calculated for thousands of years. In pre-industrial eras, the paradigm (from Gr. paradeigma - sample) of economic development can be characterized as "sustained consumption". At that time, simple reproduction was typical, and subsistence farming was dominant. From the point of view of the socio-economic form, this corresponded to the primitive, slave-owning and feudal modes of production. Enrichment of the ruling classes was carried out by non-economic coercion of slaves and peasants.
World trade and world economic relations acquired their new quality on the basis of the Great geographical discoveries of the late XV-XVI centuries. and the dissolution of feudalism in Europe. The great geographical discoveries were not accidental. They were the result of the development of technology and science, economics, cities, commodity-money relations. The creation of a new type of sailing ships - caravels allowed the expedition of X. Columbus to cross the Atlantic Ocean (1492). A compass began to be used, in combination with an astrolabe, helping to navigate the high seas. Improved cartography.
The “lust for gold” became a huge stimulus. It was determined not only by the desire of kings and other nobles to replenish their treasury, not only by the adventurers' passion for enrichment, but also by the need for a growing trade turnover. The pursuit of money, their fetishization began. Trade interests were important. The capture of Constantinople by the Seljuk Turks interrupted the Levantine trade. All this stimulated the geographical expeditions of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and later the French, Dutch, and British.
Russia played an outstanding role in the exploration and development of the northern coast of Asia and America, the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The consequences of geographical discoveries were extremely important. A significant share of colonial booty went into the hands of kings and court nobility and received feudal use. Large land ownership, serfdom, and even plantation slavery were imposed in the colonies. But still, the capitalist consequences were predominant - the process of primitive accumulation of capital.
Throughout the 16th century the territory known to Europeans increased by 6 times. The territorial base of trade has reached gigantic proportions. It has become global, oceanic. The scope of the international division of labor has expanded. Huge masses of new goods were involved in the trade turnover. European capital became more full-blooded and viable. Penetrating into industry, he forced the development of manufacturing capitalism. There was a movement of trade routes to the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
The Mediterranean Sea began to lose its importance, the cities of its coast fell into decay. But Lisbon, Seville, Cadiz (Spain), Antwerp, Amsterdam, London towered. Economic centers during this period move to the west. The influx of cheap gold and silver caused in the XVI century. "revolution of prices" - they increased by 2-5 times. This accelerated the enrichment of merchants and manufacturers, who sold goods at ever-increasing prices and paid wages in ever cheaper money. Wealthy peasants, who speculated in raw materials and food, were also getting richer. As for the workers and the rural poor, they suffered from high prices. The incomes of the nobility were depleted, as cash dues were depreciated.
One of the most important consequences of geographical discoveries was colonialism. The acceleration of the economic development of Western Europe took place at the cost of unequal exchange, robbery and enslavement of the peoples of America, Africa, and Asia. All of the above allows us to conclude that it was the Great geographical discoveries that laid the foundation for the formation of the world economy.
From the standpoint of socio-economic forms of society, this stage is characterized by the process of decomposition of feudal relations, the feudal mode of production in general, the genesis of capitalism - the initial accumulation of capital, which, on the basis of geographical discoveries, exploitation of the subsoil and enslaved peoples, also received a new quality. In this regard, the initial stage of the formation of the world economy is usually associated with the final victory over the feudal mode of production, the process of primitive accumulation of capital and the formation of free competition. There has been a fundamental change in the paradigm of economic development. The central figure in the movement of the economy becomes an "economic man" with strong motives and benefits, enterprising, ready to take risks for the sake of profit. The pace of economic growth increased sharply. Great Britain is becoming the most developed, advanced country in the world.
Great geographical discoveries contributed to its economic rise. Before that, England occupied a rather modest place. The process of the formation of capitalism here took place more intensively and with greater distinctness than in other countries. Therefore, England is considered a "classical" country of capitalism.
The main commodity sector of the country was agriculture. Wool was exported for processing in Flanders and Florence. Own industrial production was also developed on the basis of guild craft. The great geographical discoveries expanded the world market, increased demand and prices. Thanks to lower production costs, manufactory quickly supplanted small-scale handicraft production.
Further development required more raw materials and free labor. Sheep breeding was profitable for the feudal lords, but ran into limited pastures. Landlords seized communal pastures, drove peasants from the land, which in history was called fencing. In this case, cruel measures were used, entire areas were devastated. Driven from the land, the peasants lost their livelihood, turned into beggars and vagabonds.
Agrarian revolution in the 16th century created conditions for the rapid growth of the wool industry, providing it with raw materials and labor. The "bloody" legislation formed a new capitalist labor discipline. Workers received meager wages with long working hours (from 5 o'clock in the morning to 6-8 o'clock in the evening). The development of industrial production and the growth of the non-agricultural population contributed to the formation of an internal market, the size of which was limited by low solvent demand. This oriented production to the foreign market.
The characteristic policy at that time was mercantilism. However, the growing bourgeoisie experienced oppression from the ruling elite of the nobility, which caused them to fight against the feudal system. Bourgeois revolution 1642-1649 put an end to feudalism in England, ended the Middle Ages and opened a period of new history - capitalism. In the economy, this contributed to the industrial revolution and the formation of a new stage in the world economy. Thus, the first stage in the formation of the world economy can be conditionally limited to the end of the 15th - the end of the 18th centuries. The industrial revolution of the late 18th century marked a new stage in the development of the world economy. The central place in the economy is beginning to be occupied by industrial capital, which has also changed the paradigm of economic development, the model of which is becoming an industrialized economy.
Stages of development of the world economy In its formation and development, the world economy has come a long and difficult path.
By the middle of the 20th century, the world economy was split into two parts: the world capitalist and the world socialist.
Since the 1960s, developing countries have been included in the MX system. By the mid-70s, the so-called "new industrial countries" of Southeast Asia (the first wave - 4 "small dragons" - South Korea, Taiwan, "Hong Kong, Singapore") and Latin American countries: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico. After the collapse of the USSR and the revolutionary transformations in the countries of Eastern Europe, the world economy begins to acquire the features of a single, integral entity. The emerging global world economy, not being homogeneous, includes the national economies of industrialized countries, developing countries and countries with an economic system of a transitional type. Preserving many contradictions and diverse trends, MX at the turn of the 21st century is incomparably more holistic, integrated, dynamic than in the middle of the 20th century.
The world economy at the turn of the 21st century is global in scope; it is based entirely on the principles of a market economy, the objective laws of the international division of labor, the internationalization of production and capital. By the end of the 1990s, a number of stable trends emerged in the world economy. These include: - stable rates of economic growth.
The average growth rate of all countries in the world rose from less than 1% in the early 1990s to 3% per annum at the end of the decade; - increasing the external economic factor in economic development. Significantly increased the scale and qualitatively changed the nature of traditional international trade in tangible goods, as well as services. “Electronic commerce” has appeared, i.e. trade in the Internet system; - globalization of financial markets and increased interdependence of national economies; - growth in the share of the service sector in the national economy and international exchange; - development of regional integration processes. The achieved degree of unity of trade, production and the credit and financial sphere of the industrially developed countries is a sign of the formation of the world economic complex (IEC).
Russia and Europe in the 18th century. Changes in the international position of the empire.
The outcome of the palace struggle of the end of the 17th century, having cleared the power Peter, predetermined the nature of the further development of transformations. Peter sharply advanced the German technical direction to the detriment of the Polish scholastic one and concentrated his vigorous activity on the continuation of military, financial and administrative reforms. The starting points for the reform had already been given by the experiments of the seventeenth century.
The development of the reform was devoid of systematic planning and proceeded in shocks, under the direct influence of current military events and growing financial difficulties. Only in the second half of the reign, by the 20s of the XVIII century, a more systematic plan of reform was outlined, inspired by Western theories of enlightened absolutism and mercantilism and based on models of foreign, mainly Swedish, institutions.
The development of this transformative plan was the collective work of a number of people who submitted transformative projects to Peter on monotonous questions. Understanding these projects, Peter gave the implementation of the planned transformations a coercive, terrorist character. Along with the properties of Peter's personal character, the feverishly excited pace of the work of transformation was determined by the course of external events.
The war filled the entire reign of Peter. The end of the 90s of the XVII century was occupied by the Azov campaigns. They were a continuation of Russia's participation in the European coalition against Turkey, which was formed under Peter's predecessors. With the capture of Azov and the construction of the Voronezh fleet, the prestige of Russia, shaken by the failures of Prince Golitsyn, was raised both in the eyes of the allies and in the eyes of Turkey. Moldavia and Wallachia turned to Peter with an offer of citizenship and the transfer of hostilities against Turkey to the banks of the Danube. But at that time, the members of the coalition were already in a hurry to make peace with Turkey: Western Europe was preparing for another grandiose struggle - for the Spanish inheritance.
The collapse of the coalition forced Russia to conclude a truce with Turkey for 30 years (July 3, 1700). Azov went to Russia, the annual tribute of Russia to the Crimean Khan was destroyed. Two months after the conclusion of this truce, a war began with Sweden, against which, back in 1699, Peter concluded an alliance with Poland. The Polish king Augustus and the Livonian nobleman Patkul, who was busy making a lot of efforts to conclude a Polish-Russian alliance, dreamed that when dividing future conquests, Peter would be satisfied with Ingermanland and Karelia.
The defeat of the Russians near Narva further increased the claims and hopes of Augustus. He demanded from Peter the concession to Poland of Little Russia; but the union was renewed without fulfilling this condition. Charles XII after the Narva victory, in the words of Peter, "stuck in Poland", and the Russians at that time ravaged Livonia, captured Derpt and Narva and established themselves on the Neva by taking Noteburg and Nienschanz and founding Petersburg (1703). Having reached the sea, Peter began to think about peace with Sweden and requested mediation from Austria, England, Holland and France. The powers that fought against Louis XIV did not sympathize with the strengthening of Russia and coldly met Peter's request. Negotiations with Sweden began with the mediation of France, but were interrupted due to the demand of Charles XII to return all Russian conquests to Sweden.
Russia occupied Courland; Karl, having forced Poland to peace and replaced Augustus on the Polish throne with Stanislav Leshchinsky, was preparing for a campaign deep into Russia. Peter was afraid of the Swedes' campaign against Moscow, but Charles, counting on the Little Russian Cossacks and the Crimean Khan, moved to Ukraine. The Battle of Poltava (1709) turned the whole course of both military and diplomatic actions. Charles fled to Turkey; With its success, Russia attracted the keen attention of all Europe, combined with fear. Fear was hostile. France and Poland raised Turkey against Russia. Peter went to the break, encouraged by the hope of the Balkan Slavs, who did not stop during this reign of Peter to appeal to the protection of Russia. The rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia entered into formal alliances with Peter against the Turks, under the condition of declaring the independence of their states. The betrayal of the Wallachian ruler Brankovan exposed the Russian army to terrible danger from the Turks and forced the Prut campaign to end with a difficult peace for Russia with Turkey: Azov again passed to Turkey, the newly built Russian cities near the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov were devastated, Charles XII was guaranteed a free return to Swedish possessions.
1711 - 1715 were busy with military operations in Pomerania and Finland. The deepening of Russian troops into Germany further increased the anxiety of Europe hostile to Russia. The end of the War of the Spanish Succession made it possible for the European powers to closely monitor the political growth of Russia. England, Austria, France behaved towards Russia partly with cold stiffness, partly with open hostility. Poland, where Augustus reigned again after the Battle of Poltava, Denmark and Prussia were allied with Peter, but the first two powers were afraid of Russia and intrigued against her successes.
Despite all this, Peter, after successes in Finland, drew up a plan for the landing of a combined Russian-Danish fleet in southern Sweden. The plan was not carried out due to discord among the allies. Peter then began to seek rapprochement with France. After his trip to Paris, an alliance was concluded between Russia, France and Prussia, with the obligation to open negotiations with Sweden through the mediation of France.
Simultaneously with this agreement, however, at the suggestion of the Swedish diplomat Hertz, a congress of Russian and Swedish representatives in the Åland Islands was decided, without the participation of French representatives. The Åland Congress, during which Charles XII was replaced on the throne by Ulrik Eleanor, did not lead to anything. Peter resumed the war. Despite the demonstrative cruising of the English fleet in the Baltic Sea, the Russian army landed several times in Sweden and devastated the environs of Stockholm. This led to the conclusion of peace in Nystadt, in 1721 Finland, except for Vyborg, was returned to Sweden, but Russia received Livonia, Estland, Ingermanland, with the payment of 2 million rubles to Sweden. Russia's two-century longing for the Baltic coast was satisfied. Not later than a year later, Peter set off on a new campaign, to Persia.
The idea of Caspian acquisitions occupied Peter from the beginning of his reign and became even more intensified after the Prut campaign. The strengthening of Russia in the Caspian Sea was supposed to be a reward for the failure in the Black Sea. The internal disorder of the Persian monarchy, revealed by Volynsky's embassy to Persia (1716), further strengthened Peter in terms of the Persian campaign. Russian troops quickly occupied the western shore of the Caspian Sea.
The Persian war caused in Europe a new outburst of hostile mistrust towards Russia and almost led to a new break with Turkey, to which Persia turned for help and which was zealously incited against Russia by Austrian and British diplomats. Peter's conquests raised the international position of Russia to an unprecedented height and increased the state territory by more than 10,000 square miles, but terribly increased the size of the army. In the first decade of the 18th century, war brought about an increase in the army from 40,000 to 100,000 men and required the creation of a navy.
Military spending increased, compared with the budget of 1680, by 40 million, and spending on military needs accounted for 65% of the total state spending. The growth of troops and military spending led to a new reorganization of the military and financial system, which in turn caused a number of social and administrative changes. The archery infantry and the local noble cavalry of the old time were replaced by a regular army.
In the first half of the reign, new direct taxes were introduced, new objects of taxation were found, defacement of coins was widely used by re-minting silver money, state quitrent items were re-turned, owner's fishing, domestic baths, mills, inns were again taxed, a number of state monopolies were established. None of this prevented a financial crisis. In 1710, a half-million deficit was expected.
The house-to-house census carried out in 1710 showed a huge decline in the population throughout Russia. The decentralization of financial management, carried out with the establishment of the provinces, did not contribute to the increase and streamlining of revenues; new "request" and "extraordinary" fees came with ever greater arrears. The government again faced the task that had already been solved at the end of the 17th century - the reform of the taxation procedure and the consolidation of the direct tax. This was done in the 20s of the 18th century.
Podvornoe taxation was replaced by poll tax, for the sake of better achieving universality and uniformity of taxation. Indirect taxes temporarily occupy a secondary place in the revenue budget. Military and financial reforms helped to change the structure of Russian society. Changes in the order of service completed the estate-corporate organization of the nobility; the reform of taxation was accompanied by the further approval of the serf bondage of the peasantry.
After the special duty of the service class, military service, was turned into an all-class duty, the nobility received its special role in the performance of this duty: after serving ordinary service in the guard, the nobles became officers in the army, constituting in it a noble officer corporation. Another special-class duty of the nobility was compulsory education according to the program approved by the government. The civil service still remained for the nobility indefinite and obligatory: civil service in the offices was put on a par with military service in the regiments, and the distribution of members of each noble family between both branches of service was subject to the proportion established by law.
With the abolition of the local militias, the land ceased to serve as the material basis for the allocation of service burdens, but all noble lands, both former estates and former estates, began to be regarded as a fund officially assigned to the nobility for the material support of service noble families.
Therefore, the decree of 1714 legitimized the inalienability and indivisibility of noble lands. Creating a service class corporation from the nobility, Peter opened free access to outside elements in his environment. The table of ranks finally replaced the old beginning of the breed in the service routine with the beginning of personal length of service, legitimizing the receipt of nobility by rank, which greatly contributed to the democratization of the social system.
The decrees on revision and the poll tax completed the transformation of the lower social strata into a homogeneous, enslaved mass. These decrees changed the legal basis for attachment, legitimizing the attachment of a peasant with a note to the landowner in the revision tale, and extended serfdom to new social ranks - to the children of the parish clergy who did not have certain occupations, people walking and serfs, who, along with the peasants, were recorded in the revision tales for the owners and are subject to a capitation salary. All this legally united serf mass was given over to the landowners-nobles, who were responsible to the treasury for the tax service of their peasants and the police order within their estates. The administrative reform of Peter stood in the same close connection with the military and financial transformations.
In the first half of the reign, under the pressure of military alarms and in view of the need to ensure the maintenance of a new regular army, the system of military administrative districts outlined already in the 17th century was completed. The empire was divided into eight such districts, called provinces. The constant movement of troops, on the occasion of hostilities, did not make it possible to carry out the territorialization of the army in these districts; nevertheless, financially, each part of the army was assigned to one of the provinces, and the main function of the provincial administration was the transfer of provincial dues directly to the maintenance of the regiments. The indefinitely broad power of the governors had to be somewhat moderated by the introduction of a collegiate and elective principle into the mechanism of the provincial administration.
In fact, however, the elections of the Landrats soon gave way to an appointment. In 1719-20, the administrative system underwent a new revision, under the influence of Swedish models and in the spirit of bureaucratic centralization. The collegiate principle was transferred from the region to the center, and the elective principle was eliminated. The collegiums, established according to the Swedish model, distributed the administration of the empire among themselves according to the nature of their affairs. For a short time the Senate became, as it were, the common presence of the collegiate presidents, who were appointed from among the senators; but this order was soon abolished, as contrary to the controlling role of the Senate in relation to the colleges. The colleges received new, low-ranking presidents, while the old noble presidents remained in the Senate, which gave the Senate personnel an aristocratic tinge and turned the colleges into subordinate bodies of the Senate.
Collegia remained in an exceptional position Military, Admiralty and Foreign: they retained the former presidents and did not fall under the subordination of the Senate, which clearly expressed the primary importance of issues of external struggle in the circle of immediate state tasks. With the establishment of the central collegiums, the Landrat collegiums in the provinces disappeared.
The elective principle was retained in the districts, where Zemstvo commissars, elected from local nobles, were vested with very diverse powers, from collecting taxes to the moral police, inclusive. In practice, however, the commissars soon turned into subordinate agents of the military authorities, mainly in the collection of the poll tax. Having established the administration on the basis of centralization and bureaucratic guardianship, having paralyzed the weak germs of public control, Peter subordinated the administrative mechanism to double crown control: secret over finances - to the fiscals and overtly over the courts - to the prosecutor's office; the top leadership of both was concentrated in the hands of the prosecutor general. Public autonomy in the field of urban management has become somewhat wider.
Developing the reform of the 1680s, Peter transferred the financial collections, management and trial of the commercial and industrial population of cities to burmisters elected from among this population, who were subordinate to the burmister chamber or town hall, also composed of elected persons. However, in this area, with the transformation of town halls into magistrates, a bureaucratic element was introduced in the 20s of the 18th century. Service in the magistrates was made, as it were, the privilege of the highest, "primary" stratum of the city merchants.
This was the main trend of Peter's economic policy - the encouragement of large-scale urban industry, bequeathed to him by the transformative program of the 17th century. Rapprochement with the West gradually developed this tendency into a conscious mercantilist system, expressed in three directions: 1) in encouraging the mining industry in order to increase the metal reserves in the country, 2) in regulating foreign trade on the basis of a balance of trade, and 3) in encouraging the native factory industry.
Until 1719, Peter continues, like his predecessors, to call foreign technicians and craftsmen from Austria, Venice, Holland, Sweden, Germany to Russia, and also send Russians abroad to learn skills. In 1719, with the establishment of the Manufactory College, these activities were systematized. All the measures of Peter, however, could not accelerate the growth of the factory industry, which was not yet based on the natural successes of the national economy.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Russia was still a country of agricultural and small-scale domestic industry. Peter's reform forever put an end to the external forms of the old Muscovite statehood, but at the same time brought to the highest development the very principles that underlay the previous state system. The reorganization of the military and tax organization proceeded from the old principle of absorbing all national resources by the needs of the fiscal, the needs of state military defense.
The estate reforms changed the former order of distribution of state duties between social classes, but still left the entire population from top to bottom enslaved to service and tax.
Administrative reforms changed the scheme of government institutions, but even more sharply carried out the elimination of public unions from participation in the current administration, which was completely transferred to the bureaucracy. Economic and educational measures were aimed at bringing to life two truly new forces that had not previously played a prominent role in state building - industrial capital and scientific knowledge. But the experiments of the first category anticipated the forthcoming results of economic development in the future, and therefore did not fully achieve the goal, and the experiments with the implantation of knowledge proceeded from the old, narrowly applied view of book learning, with the transfer of only interest from questions of spiritual salvation to questions of technical progress.
Completing the previous process of state structure, Peter's reform nonetheless prepared a new era for the progressive development of Russian life. The rapprochement with the West, undertaken for the sake of borrowing a purely technical nature, did not stop within these initial limits and gradually captured all new spheres of life. Already in the first half of the 18th century, the influence of political and philosophical Western European literature was quite widespread in the upper strata of society. The ideas of natural law, the contractual origin of the state, popular sovereignty were perceived by Russian leaders and appropriately applied to the native movements that emerged among the Russian nobility. These movements themselves were, in turn, an indirect consequence of the Petrine reforms.
33. Formation of the colonial system and modernization of the civilizations of the East in the XIX century.
The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received huge advantages in comparison with the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, following the era of the Great geographical discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, already in the 12th-13th centuries, the colonialist expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to resist this expansion and turned into easy prey for their stronger opponents.
At the first stage of the colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America. In the middle of the XVIII century, Spain and Portugal began to lag behind in economic development and, as maritime powers, were relegated to the background. Leadership in the colonial conquests passed to England. Since 1757, the trading station
The Indian English company for almost a hundred years captured almost the whole of Hindustan. Since 1706, the active colonization of North America by the British began. In parallel, the development of Australia was going on, on the territory of which the British sent criminals convicted to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies, as well as in the New World (Canada).
African continent in the 17th-18th centuries. Europeans settled only on the coast and was used mainly as a source of slaves. In the 19th century, Europeans moved far inland, and by the middle of the 19th century, Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which offered staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves, immigrants from the United States.
In Southeast Asia, the French captured most of the territory of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was also taken away from it.
By the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was subjected to strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of the Ottoman Empire during this period, became a zone of active penetration of Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic but also political independence. At the end of the 19th century, its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the 19th century, practically all the countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, the colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor, as well as markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of the most cruel, predatory nature. At the cost of ruthless exploitation and robbery, the wealth of the western metropolises was created, a relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.
Initially, European countries did not bring their own political culture and socio-economic relations to the colonies. Faced with the ancient civilizations of the East, which had long developed their own traditions of culture and statehood, the conquerors sought, first of all, their economic subjugation. In territories where statehood did not exist at all, or was at a fairly low level (for example, in North America or Australia), they were forced to create certain state structures, to some extent borrowed from the experience of metropolitan countries, but with greater national specifics. In North America, for example, power was concentrated in the hands of governors who were appointed by the British government. The governors had advisers, as a rule, from among the colonists, who defended the interests of the local population. Self-government bodies played an important role: an assembly of representatives of the colonies and legislative bodies - legislatures.
In India, the British did not particularly interfere in political life and sought to influence local rulers through economic means of influence (enslaved loans), as well as providing military assistance in internecine struggle.
Economic policy in various European colonies! was largely similar. Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, England initially transferred feudal structures to their colonial possessions. At the same time, plantation farming was widely used. Of course, these were not classical slave plantations, as, say, in ancient Rome. They represented a large capitalist economy working for the market, but with the use of crude forms of non-economic coercion and dependence.
Many of the effects of colonization were negative. There was a robbery of national wealth, merciless exploitation of the local population and poor colonists. Trading companies brought stale goods of mass demand to the occupied territories and sold them at high prices. On the contrary, valuable raw materials, gold and silver, were exported from the colonial countries. Under the onslaught of goods from the metropolises, the traditional oriental craft withered, traditional forms of life and value systems were destroyed.
At the same time, Eastern civilizations were increasingly drawn into the new system of world relations and fell under the influence of Western civilization. Gradually there was an assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions, the creation of capitalist; some economic infrastructure. Under the influence of these processes, the traditional eastern civilizations are being reformed.
A vivid example of the change in traditional structures under the influence of colonial policy is provided by the history of India. After the liquidation of the East India Trading Company in 1858, India became part of the British Empire. In 1861, a law was passed creating legislative advisory bodies, the Indian Councils, and in 1880, a law on local government. Thus, the beginning of a new phenomenon for Indian civilization was laid - the elected bodies of representation. Although it should be noted that only about 1% of the population of India had the right to take part in these elections.
The British made significant financial investments in the Indian economy. The colonial administration, resorting to loans from English bankers, built railways, irrigation facilities, and enterprises. In addition, private capital also grew in India, which played a large role in the development of the cotton and jute industries, in the production of tea, coffee and sugar. The owners of the enterprises were not only the British, but also the Indians. 1/3 of the share capital was in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.
From the 40s of the 19th century, the British authorities began to actively work on the formation of a national "Indian" intelligentsia in terms of blood and skin color, tastes, morals and mindset. Such an intelligentsia was formed in the colleges and universities of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and other cities.
In the 19th century, the process of modernization also took place in the countries of the East, which did not directly fall into colonial dependence. In the 40s of the XIX century, reforms began in the Ottoman Empire. The administrative system and the court were transformed, secular schools were created. Non-Muslim communities (Jewish, Greek, Armenian) were officially recognized, and their members received admission to public service. In 1876, a bicameral parliament was created, which somewhat limited the power of the Sultan, the constitution proclaimed the basic rights and freedoms of citizens. However, the democratization of the eastern despotism turned out to be very fragile, and in 1878, after the defeat of Turkey in the war with Russia, a rollback to its original positions occurs. After the coup d'état, despotism again reigned in the empire, the parliament was dissolved, and the democratic rights of citizens were significantly curtailed.
In addition to Turkey, in the Islamic civilization, only two states began to master the European standards of life: Egypt and Iran. The rest of the vast Islamic world remained subject to the traditional way of life until the middle of the 20th century.
China has also made certain efforts to modernize the country. In the 60s of the 19th century, the policy of self-reinforcement gained wide popularity here. In China, industrial enterprises, shipyards, and arsenals for the rearmament of the army began to be actively created. But this process has not received sufficient impetus. Further attempts to develop in this direction with great
reboyas resumed in the 20th century.
Japan advanced further than all of the countries of the East in the second half of the 19th century. The peculiarity of Japanese modernization is that in this country the reforms were carried out quite quickly and most consistently. Using the experience of advanced European countries, the Japanese modernized industry, introduced a new system of legal relations, changed the political structure, the education system, expanded civil rights and freedoms.
After the 1868 coup d'état in Japan, a series of radical reforms were carried out, known as the Meiji Restoration. As a result of these reforms, feudalism was ended in Japan. The government abolished feudal allotments and hereditary privileges, princes-daimyo, turning them into officials who headed the provinces and prefectures. Titles were preserved, but class distinctions were abolished. This means that, with the exception of the highest dignitaries, in terms of class, princes and samurai were equated with other classes.
Land for ransom became the property of the peasants and this opened the way for the development of capitalism. The prosperous peasantry, exempted from the tax - rent in favor of the princes, got the opportunity to work for the market. Small landowners became impoverished, sold their plots and either turned into farm laborers or went to work in the city.
The state undertook the construction of industrial facilities: shipyards, metallurgical plants, etc. It actively encouraged merchant capital, giving it social and legal guarantees. In 1889, a constitution was adopted in Japan, according to which a constitutional monarchy was established with great rights for the emperor.
As a result of all these reforms, Japan has changed dramatically in a short time. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, Japanese capitalism turned out to be quite competitive in relation to the capitalism of the largest Western countries, and the Japanese state turned into a powerful state.
Colonialism is the enslavement of a weak state, usually by a more stable state. Colonialism is of great importance in the history of Europe. Colonialism as a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the beginning of which was influenced by the voyages of Vasco da Gamma and Christopher Columbus. Colonialism was not the result of an invention of developing capitalism. Even in previous centuries, there were large colonial empires (Iranian, Egyptian, Roman, etc.). The main difference between the ancient and medieval colonies consisted in a high level of organization, in a clear coherence, in the technological basis of European colonization.
At that time, Europe was economically unstable than Asia and Africa. Europe was attracted by the resources of these countries, as the demand for gold grew. Significant means of exchange were required. The colonial expansion of these countries met these needs.
Great geographical discoveries of the middle of the XV - the middle of the XVII century. were associated with the process of primitive accumulation of capital in Europe. The development of new trade routes and countries, the plunder of newly discovered lands contributed to the development of this process, marked the beginning of the creation of the colonial system of capitalism, the formation of the world market. The history of colonialism is closely connected with two European countries: Spain and Portugal. It is worth noting that in this period, the pioneers of colonialism, Spain and Portugal, remained feudal states. They paved the way for European colonial expansion, but over time they had rivals in the person of the Netherlands and England. It was the Netherlands and England that took over the baton of the main role in European colonial expansion. That period of time was marked by the beginning of the development of early forms of capitalist colonialism. At the beginning of the XVII century. Holland became the main colonial power. In 1602, the establishment of the Dutch East India Company.
In the same year, the chambers of six Dutch cities - Amsterdam, Delft, Middleburg, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Enkhuizen - invested their capital in the East India Company. It was the first monopoly company that received in its country the right to trade and sail in virtually the entire Afro-Asian region. Further, according to the model, the East India companies of Denmark, Sweden, Kurilland, etc. arose. The colonialism of England began to develop along with Holland. As in Holland, the East Indies, West Indies, Levantine colonies were created in England. The British created pirate expeditions with the aim of attacking the Spanish ships. At that time, the British began to create their first colonies on the territory of modern North America (Newfoundland, Virginia, British Honduras, Bermuda). From the second half of the 17th century, England paid great attention to the colonization of the East. The East India Company of England gained a foothold first by creating separate factories in the Moluccas, Sulawessi, Java, Sumatra, India, and Xi'an. Very soon, the competition between Holland and England for Southeast Asia led to war. The initial advantage was on the side of Holland. In 1619, in the Gulf of Thailand, the British were defeated by the Dutch fleet, and in 1620 England was completely ousted from the Moluccas. The situation began to change from the second half of the 17th century, with the start of trade wars. England managed to take away from Holland its treasure in Asia - Indonesia. In the 3 Anglo-Dutch wars, the naval power of Holland was broken by her worst enemy - England. And the fourth war between England and Holland determined the primacy of England. Despite this, the Netherlands still defended its colonies, but irrevocably lost leadership to the British, and to the new stars of colonial policy - the French.
Indonesia remained the main Dutch colony in Asia. 1664 in the history of colonialism was associated with the founding of the French East India Company. In the same period, France had its points in India - Chandranagora and Pondicherry. By the middle of the XVIII century. France established itself in South India. But the seven-year war inflicted damage on France from England, and for one thing undermined the colonial power of her ally - Spain. France is losing Canada, some of the West Indies, and crushing losses in India. 1763 - conclusion of the Peace of Paris, according to which France renounced its territories in India. This had a positive effect on England, as England had ways to establish itself in Hindustan. The French time of colonial conquests also had many advantages. For example, under Napoleon III, France reached its power in Algeria, they also managed to penetrate into Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon. These countries became possessions of both France and England. In alliance with England, France took part in the war against China, also participated in the penetration into Japan, they also enslaved South Vietnam. Since 1857, the expansion of France's possessions in Africa begins. An unsuccessful attempt was made to capture Korea in 1866, and in 1867 a French protectorate was established over Cambodia. The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War weakened the influence of France, and as a result, she had to cede a controlling stake in the Suez Canal to England. This weakened the position of France in Egypt, but despite this, in 1879 France resumed the expansion of its colonies in Africa and in the countries of Indochina. Be that as it may, France secured a number of African territories. A little earlier, having defeated China in the war of 1884-1885, France took power over Tonkin and established its protectorate over Vietnam.
In the 18th century, as before in the 17th century, the history of the peoples of the East was inextricably linked with the colonial policy of the European powers. During this period, the foundations of the colonial system, which met the interests of the big commercial bourgeoisie, were laid. If in the 17th century the first steps of the colonial policy of the East India companies were associated with the Netherlands, then in the XVIII century. the Dutch company was no longer able to maintain its monopoly position and lost its position to England. Having overtaken Holland in its development, England dealt her serious blows in a number of trade wars. Anglo-Dutch War 1780-1784 led to the loss by the Netherlands of a number of colonial territories and the granting of British ships the right to pass through Indonesian waters. By this time, England had achieved significant success in India, expanding its ties with the Middle East and China. At the time of their transformation into colonies and semi-colonies of industrial powers, most of the peoples of the countries of Asia and Africa lived under the conditions of a feudal or tribal system. The results of their conquest by industrial countries were extremely ambiguous. Especially destructive was colonialism, which used the methods of the pre-capitalist era in the exploitation of the colonies. They included the robbery of the colonies, the export of gold, silver, cultural monuments to the mother countries, the creation of a slave trade system, which especially affected the population of Equatorial Africa in the 16th-19th centuries.
More serious prerequisites for modernization existed in the countries of Latin America. Colonial dependence on Spain and Portugal was eliminated there at the beginning of the 19th century. After the war of independence (1816), Argentina was liberated, in 1821 - Mexico, in 1824 - Peru, Brazil also gained independence in 1822, although until 1889 it remained a monarchy under the rule of a son, and then grandson of the King of Portugal.
In 1823, the United States adopted the Monroe Doctrine, which proclaimed the inadmissibility of interference by European powers in the affairs of American states. Thanks to this, the danger of a second colonial conquest of Latin America disappeared. The United States, which had a vast and not yet fully developed territory, limited itself to the annexation of part of the territory of Mexico and the establishment of control over the Panama Canal zone, which previously belonged to Colombia.
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Colonizer |
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Philippines, . Luzon, Palawan, Mindoro, sowing. part of Mindanao and the Visayas. In South America, Spain occupied the entire territory except Brazil. In the West Indies - Cuba and the eastern part of San Domingo. In Central America - Honduras. In North America, the territories of Mexico, Florida, and West Louisiana |
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Portugal |
El Ksar Es Segir, Anfu, Arsila and Tangier, Agadir and Safi. In South America - Brazil. Diu, Daman, Goa, Mamao |
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Holland |
Trade and strongholds of the eastern coast of Hindustan and South Africa. In Siam, Ceylon and Malacca, Jakarta. |
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In North America: Newfoundland, Virg., British Honduras, Bermuda. Bengal, in South India - Mysore, Punjab. Penang and Mal archipelago. |
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In North America, Canada and the Antilles. In African territories from Senegal in the west to Darfur in the east and from the Congo to the Mediterranean Sea, Somalia on the Red Sea coast. |
In conclusion, I would like to note that the era of colonial Europe is a special period. New achievements in navigation, curiosity, as well as the desire to get rich and convert new peoples to Christianity, pushed Europeans to long-distance sea voyages. They became possible thanks to the support of the Portuguese and Spanish kings.
Question number 16.
Formation of the colonial system and the world capitalist economy.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the boundaries of European civilization were constantly expanding: it is, of course, not about geographical expansion, but about the spread of ideas, value systems, socio-economic structures, etc. which the Europeans laid the foundations of the future colonial system. Traditional societies, as a rule, could not oppose this expansion and became easy prey for stronger opponents.
At the initial stage of colonization, Europeans usually did not interfere in the socio-political life of the conquered societies. For the conquerors it was important, first of all, the economic subordination of the colonies. That is why many elements of, for example, the ancient Indian civilization have survived to this day.
The colonial expansion of European countries led to their constant clashes in the struggle for the most profitable and rich lands. Naturally, in this rivalry, victory usually went to the most advanced, modernized countries. And since in this sense absolute leadership by the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. was for England, she also became the main colonial power, displacing in this competition, first Holland, and then France. Spain and Portugal still retained their gigantic possessions in Latin America, but the weakness of these mother countries made inevitable the imminent destruction of their colonial empires.
Almost the entire African continent remained a huge undeveloped space, where Europeans occupied only narrow coastal strips. These were a kind of springboard, for a long time used to capture and export Negro slaves to America, as well as the extraction of minerals and other raw materials.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The expansion of Russia (and, accordingly, its authority in international politics) also increased sharply. But unlike the powers of the West, Russia did not occupy distant overseas lands, but annexed territories located near the core of the state. The most ambitious was the advance to the east, to the Pacific Ocean, then, already in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the borders of the empire expanded in the south (Caucasus, Crimea, Central Asia). Russian settlements appeared even in Alaska and in the region of the current US state of California, but in the 19th century. they were abandoned. In the west, the Russian Empire included Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, a significant part of ethnic Poland.
The forms of exploitation in the colonies varied. In Latin America, the Spaniards and the Portuguese made extensive use of slave labor. The slave plantation became the main form of economic activity. However, on the islands of the West Indies (and in a number of other regions), slavery was also resurrected by "advanced" England, Holland and France. And, for example, in Indonesia, the Dutch used the serf system of coercion, forcing local peasants to grow coffee, spices, and cane sugar - an extremely valuable product on European markets. In an effort to extract marginal profits from the colonies, trading companies brutally exploited European colonists as well (for example, in South Africa, to a lesser extent in Canada). And only in the North American colonies of England, as already mentioned, development immediately followed the capitalist path, and after gaining independence, a new civilizational center began to take shape here, successfully competing with the European one.
The formation of the United States was the first serious blow to the colonial system. An even more powerful blow was dealt to it already at the beginning of the 19th century. former Latin American colonies. But the huge African continent was mastered by the colonialists only to a small extent, so it was too early to talk about the crisis of the colonial system here. Rather, on the contrary: at the end of the 19th century, when all of Africa was captured and divided, this system was waiting for a kind of flowering.
Stages of formation and development of the world economy.
In its formation and development, the world economy has come a long and difficult path. Some researchers attribute its origin to the time of the Roman Empire. Others keep track of the functioning of the world economy since the great geographical discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries, which led to the accelerated development of international trade in jewelry, spices, precious metals, and slaves. But the world economy of this period was limited, remaining the sphere of application only of merchant capital.
The modern world economy arose after the industrial revolution, in the course of the development of capitalism into monopoly capitalism.
The main stages of the development of the world economy
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Number |
Duration |
Characteristic |
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XV-XVII centuries AD |
The birth of the world capitalist market: |
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XVIII-XIX centuries AD |
Formation of the world capitalist market, the emergence and development of the global division of labor: |
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The end of the 19th - the first half of the 20th century AD. |
Formation of a system of global division of labor and, on this basis, the world economy: |
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From the 50s. 20th century until now |
The functioning of the system of the global division of labor, the strengthening of the interdependence of the economies of all countries: |
The international division of labor and its international cooperation laid the foundation for the emergence of the world market, which developed on the basis of domestic markets, gradually transcending national boundaries.
domestic market- a form of economic communication in which everything intended for sale comes true by the manufacturer within the country.
national market- the domestic market, part of which is focused on foreign buyers.
international market- part of the national markets, which is directly connected with foreign markets.
World market- the sphere of stable commodity-money relations between countries based on MRI and other factors of production.
The main characteristic features of the world market:
- is a category of commodity production that has gone beyond the national framework in search of marketing its products;
- manifests itself in the interstate movement of goods that are under the influence of internal and external demand and supply;
- optimizes the use of production factors, directing the manufacturer to industries and regions where they can be applied most efficiently;
- eliminates from international exchange goods and manufacturers that do not provide international quality standards at competitive prices.
The emergence of the world economy.
By the end of the XIX century. the development of the world market for goods has led to the intensification of international economic relations and their exit from the framework of international trade in goods. The growth of financial capital and the development of productive forces led to the emergence of a world economy, which is a higher stage in the development of a market economy than the world market and includes, in addition to traditional international trade, the international movement of factors of production and international enterprises arising on this basis.
Regulation of the world economy takes place with the help of measures of both national and interstate economic policy. The economies of individual countries are becoming more open and oriented towards IER.
world economy is a set of national economies of the countries of the world, interconnected by mobile factors of production.
Characteristic features of the modern world economy:
- development of the international movement of factors of production (capital, labor, technology);
- the growth of international forms of production at enterprises located in different countries (multinational companies, joint ventures ...);
- the economic policy of states, which provides support for the international movement of goods and factors of production on a bilateral and multilateral basis;
- the emergence of an open economy within many states and interstate associations.
The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received huge advantages in comparison with the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, following the era of the Great geographical discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, already in the 12th-13th centuries, the colonialist expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to resist this expansion and turned into easy prey for their stronger opponents.
At the first stage of the colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America. In the middle of the XVIII century, Spain and Portugal began to lag behind in economic development and, as maritime powers, were relegated to the background. Leadership in the colonial conquests passed to England. Since 1757, the trading station
The Indian English company for almost a hundred years captured almost the whole of Hindustan. Since 1706, the active colonization of North America by the British began. In parallel, the development of Australia was going on, on the territory of which the British sent criminals convicted to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies, as well as in the New World (Canada).
African continent in the 17th-18th centuries. Europeans settled only on the coast and was used mainly as a source of slaves. In the 19th century, Europeans moved far inland, and by the middle of the 19th century, Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which offered staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves, immigrants from the United States.
In Southeast Asia, the French captured most of the territory of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was also taken away from it.
By the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was subjected to strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of the Ottoman Empire during this period, became a zone of active penetration of Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic but also political independence. At the end of the 19th century, its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the 19th century, practically all the countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, the colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor, as well as markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of the most cruel, predatory nature. At the cost of ruthless exploitation and robbery, the wealth of the western metropolises was created, a relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.
Initially, European countries did not bring their own political culture and socio-economic relations to the colonies. Faced with the ancient civilizations of the East, which had long developed their own traditions of culture and statehood, the conquerors sought, first of all, their economic subjugation. In territories where statehood did not exist at all, or was at a fairly low level (for example, in North America or Australia), they were forced to create certain state structures, to some extent borrowed from the experience of metropolitan countries, but with greater national specifics. In North America, for example, power was concentrated in the hands of governors who were appointed by the British government. The governors had advisers, as a rule, from among the colonists, who defended the interests of the local population. Self-government bodies played an important role: an assembly of representatives of the colonies and legislative bodies - legislatures.
In India, the British did not particularly interfere in political life and sought to influence local rulers through economic means of influence (enslaved loans), as well as providing military assistance in internecine struggle.
Economic policy in various European colonies! was largely similar. Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, England initially transferred feudal structures to their colonial possessions. At the same time, plantation farming was widely used. Of course, these were not classical slave plantations, as, say, in ancient Rome. They represented a large capitalist economy working for the market, but with the use of crude forms of non-economic coercion and dependence.
Many of the effects of colonization were negative. There was a robbery of national wealth, merciless exploitation of the local population and poor colonists. Trading companies brought stale goods of mass demand to the occupied territories and sold them at high prices. On the contrary, valuable raw materials, gold and silver, were exported from the colonial countries. Under the onslaught of goods from the metropolises, the traditional oriental craft withered, traditional forms of life and value systems were destroyed.
At the same time, Eastern civilizations were increasingly drawn into the new system of world relations and fell under the influence of Western civilization. Gradually there was an assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions, the creation of capitalist; some economic infrastructure. Under the influence of these processes, the traditional eastern civilizations are being reformed.
A vivid example of the change in traditional structures under the influence of colonial policy is provided by the history of India. After the liquidation of the East India Trading Company in 1858, India became part of the British Empire. In 1861, a law was passed creating legislative advisory bodies, the Indian Councils, and in 1880, a law on local government. Thus, the beginning of a new phenomenon for Indian civilization was laid - the elected bodies of representation. Although it should be noted that only about 1% of the population of India had the right to take part in these elections.
The British made significant financial investments in the Indian economy. The colonial administration, resorting to loans from English bankers, built railways, irrigation facilities, and enterprises. In addition, private capital also grew in India, which played a large role in the development of the cotton and jute industries, in the production of tea, coffee and sugar. The owners of the enterprises were not only the British, but also the Indians. 1/3 of the share capital was in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.
From the 40s of the 19th century, the British authorities began to actively work on the formation of a national "Indian" intelligentsia in terms of blood and skin color, tastes, morals and mindset. Such an intelligentsia was formed in the colleges and universities of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and other cities.
In the 19th century, the process of modernization also took place in the countries of the East, which did not directly fall into colonial dependence. In the 40s of the XIX century, reforms began in the Ottoman Empire. The administrative system and the court were transformed, secular schools were created. Non-Muslim communities (Jewish, Greek, Armenian) were officially recognized, and their members received admission to public service. In 1876, a bicameral parliament was created, which somewhat limited the power of the Sultan, the constitution proclaimed the basic rights and freedoms of citizens. However, the democratization of the eastern despotism turned out to be very fragile, and in 1878, after the defeat of Turkey in the war with Russia, a rollback to its original positions occurs. After the coup d'état, despotism again reigned in the empire, the parliament was dissolved, and the democratic rights of citizens were significantly curtailed.
In addition to Turkey, in the Islamic civilization, only two states began to master the European standards of life: Egypt and Iran. The rest of the vast Islamic world remained subject to the traditional way of life until the middle of the 20th century.
China has also made certain efforts to modernize the country. In the 60s of the 19th century, the policy of self-reinforcement gained wide popularity here. In China, industrial enterprises, shipyards, and arsenals for the rearmament of the army began to be actively created. But this process has not received sufficient impetus. Further attempts to develop in this direction with great
reboyas resumed in the 20th century.
Japan advanced further than all of the countries of the East in the second half of the 19th century. The peculiarity of Japanese modernization is that in this country the reforms were carried out quite quickly and most consistently. Using the experience of advanced European countries, the Japanese modernized industry, introduced a new system of legal relations, changed the political structure, the education system, expanded civil rights and freedoms.
After the 1868 coup d'état in Japan, a series of radical reforms were carried out, known as the Meiji Restoration. As a result of these reforms, feudalism was ended in Japan. The government abolished feudal allotments and hereditary privileges, princes-daimyo, turning them into officials who headed the provinces and prefectures. Titles were preserved, but class distinctions were abolished. This means that, with the exception of the highest dignitaries, in terms of class, princes and samurai were equated with other classes.
Land for ransom became the property of the peasants and this opened the way for the development of capitalism. The prosperous peasantry, exempted from the tax - rent in favor of the princes, got the opportunity to work for the market. Small landowners became impoverished, sold their plots and either turned into farm laborers or went to work in the city.
The state undertook the construction of industrial facilities: shipyards, metallurgical plants, etc. It actively encouraged merchant capital, giving it social and legal guarantees. In 1889, a constitution was adopted in Japan, according to which a constitutional monarchy was established with great rights for the emperor.
As a result of all these reforms, Japan has changed dramatically in a short time. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, Japanese capitalism turned out to be quite competitive in relation to the capitalism of the largest Western countries, and the Japanese state turned into a powerful state.
