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Okay, so at this point I believe that fileread is still broken for new reports (unless of course, I'm just a moron and can't figure out why I can't submit reports like I used to) So now comes the part where I add useless filler. I could do it the smart way and copy/paste witty quotes from websites, or do it via commented out meaningless lines such as <--and you'll never guess what the dog had in it's mouth.--> (I think this is how dialtone bypassed it...) BUT I will instead do it the stupid way and type in the text that I'm reading for my GE class. Enjoy some history on Japan:

Overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu (1853-1868)

From the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, the natural isolation of the islands of Japan was augmented by its policy of seclusion, making Japan into a little world of its own. The 206-odd domains were the states of this world, the bakufu in Edo was its hegemon, and the imperial court in Kyoto provided a sacerdotal or religious sanction for the bakufu-domain system. Then at mid-century the American ships of Commodore Perry came and forced Japan to sign a Treaty of Friendship, opening it to foreign intercourse. Fourteen years later the entire bakufu-domain system collapsed, and a new group of unusually talented leaders seized power. Seclusion, like the case of a watch, had been necessary to preserve the Tokugawa political mechanism. With the case removed, the jolt of the foreign intrusion caused the inner workings to fly apart.

It was surprising how little changed during the first four years after Perry. The bakufu attended to its affairs and the domains to theirs. The daimyo continued to spend every other year living in Edo. Political action consisted mainly of daimyo cliques trying to influence bakufu policy. The break came in 1858 when the bakufu, ignoring the imperial court's disapproval, was persuaded to sign a commercial treaty with the United States. In reaction, some daimyo, who wanted a voice in national policy making, criticized the treaty as contravening with the hallowed policy of seclusion. Younger samurai, frustrated by their exclusion from power, started a movement to "honor the emperor." The bakufu, in turn, responded with a purge: Dissident daimyo were forced into retirement, while samurai critics were executed or imprisoned. The purge was effective until 1860, when the head of the bakufu council was himself assassinated by extremist samurai. His successors lacked the nerve to continue his tough policies, thus opening the way for a new kind of politics between 1861 and 1868.

In 1861 two domains, Choshu and Satsuma, emerged to mediate, to heal the breach that had opened between the bakufu and the court. The first to come forth was the domain of Choshu: Its officials traveled between Kyoto and Edo, proposing a policy that favored the bakufu but made concessions to the court. Next Satsuma sallied forth with a policy that made further concessions, and ousted Choshu as "the friend of the court." In response, the moderate reformist government of Choshu adopted the pro-emperor policy of its extremist faction and, in turn, ousted Satsuma. Beaten in the diplomatic game, Satsuma seized the court in 1863 in a military coup, and the Choshu radicals returned disgruntled to their domain.

Several points may be noted about the 1861-1863 diplomatic phase of domain action: (1) Even after 250 years of bakufu rule, several domains were still viable, autonomous units that could act when the opportunity occurred. (2) The two domains that acted first and most of the others that followed were large domains with many samurai -- Choshu had 10,000 samurai families and substantial financial resources. (3) Both Satsuma and Choshu had fought against the Tokugawa in 1600 and remembered an earlier independence. (4) By the 1861-1863 period, politics were no longer in the hands of daimyo and their high-ranking advisers. In both Satsuma and Choshu, the new politics had opened decision-making to middle-ranking samurai officials in a way that would have been impossible before 1853.

The 1863 Satsuma coup at the Kyoto court initiated a military phase of politics in which war would determine every turning point. Events were complicated, for besides the court and the bakufu, there were more than 260 domains -- somewhat like a circus with too many rings and sideshows. But most domains were too small to carry weight in national politics. Hereditary daimyo, for example, were influential mainly as bakufu officials. Of the larger domains, some were insolvent and others too closely associated with the bakufu to act independently. As long as Satusma and Choshu remained enemies, politics stalemated and the bakufu continued as hegemon. But when the two domains became allies in 1866, the bakufu was overthrown in less than two years.

One movement contributing to this process was for a "union of court and camp"; daimyo, who earlier had criticized the bakufu, campaigned for a new counciliar rule in which they would participate together with the emperor. The movement came to nothing, but it led daimyo to withdraw suport that might otherwise have gone to the bakufu. A second feature of these years was a strong antiforeignism. Extremists assassinated foreigners as well as bakufu officials; one of their slogans was "expel the barbarians." Early on, Choshu and Satsuma fired on foreign ships. But when Western gunboats bombarded those domains in retaliation, they immediately dropped their xenophobic slogan and set about buying rifles and gunboats.

A third aspect of the military phase of politics from 1863 to 1868 was the formation of new rifle units, commanded mostly by lower samurai. These units transformed political power in Japan. For example, Choshu troops armed with Spencers and Minies -- mostly surplus left over from the U.S. Civil War -- defeated a traditionally armed but numerically superior bakufu army in mid-1866 with numbing force.

A fourth development was a cultural shift in the way Japanese saw themselves. During the Tokugawa era the Japanese saw themselves as civilized Confucians and most of the rest of the world as barbarians. But in the face of Western gunboats, theis view seemed rather hollow. In 1866 Fukuzawa Yukichi, a student of Western studeies and a bakufu translator, introduced a Western theory of stages of history: The West, with its technology, science, and humane laws, was seen as "civilized and enlightened;" China, Japan, and countries like Turkey were seen as half civilized; and other areas were seen as barbarian. This theory stood the traditional view almost on its head. Fukuzawa argued, furthermore, that technology was not detachable but grew out of the Western legal, political, economic, and educational systems. James Watt (1736-1819) had invented the steam engine, Fukuzawa suggested, because inventions were protected by patents and inventors were rewarded with profits and honors. He argued that Western systems required political freedoms and a citizenry with a spirit of independence. Fukuzawa's writings became immensely influential after the Restoration, eventually sparking the "Civilization and Enlightenment Movement" of the 1870s.

Craig et al. The Heritage of World Civilizations, Volume Two: Since 1500. Fifth Edition, pp 897-898. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2000.


So... If you missed it earlier, this blob of history was NOT the battlereport. Click here to view the report in a new window.