The Meiji Restoration
A Milestone Documents E-text
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The Meiji Restoration

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Abstract

In 1905 the world was taken by surprise by Japan’s stunning, if hard-won victory over the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War. Only fifty years earlier, Japan had been an isolated society ruled by a warlord whose government more closely resembled the centralized feudal systems of early-modern Europe than it did the industrial republics of the nineteenth century. In a dramatically short period of time, Japan had reformed, industrialized, acquired overseas colonies, and ultimately proved itself credible in a war against a major Western power.

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