Chapter 82 Asia 1836-1861
Chapter 82 Asia 1836-1861
"Under my rule Nippon will become a strong and prosperous nation, free of the decay and corruption of the vile Chinese. The banner of the Rising Sun shall fly over the Pacific for all to see."- Emperor Meiji 1878
"After the dreadful embarrassment of Oregon and Crimea, it is time for Great Britain to set course for a new path. The wealth of the Ganghes lies before us, and it shall be the center of our new empire."- Queen Victoria 1860
"All of the chaos and discontent that is found within Asia is thanks to Western Imperialism. On our own we lived in peace and focused on faith and family. Then the West came, with war, drugs, and gold."- Afghani King Hamid Khan Shah 1979
In the modern world the Earth is divided into three primary political spheres; The Americas, Africa, and Eurasia (Though some political scientists like to claim that it is four with Eurasia and East Asia). For Millennia the two continents of Europe and Asia were intertwined in numerous forms that saw the butterflies of an event that took place in the British Isles, having an adverse impact as far as China. For centuries these two continents, along with the coast of Northern Africa, were all that was known to exist among humanity. Then in 1492 an Italian explorer would make the discovery of a lifetime and cross the Atlantic to lay claim to the Americas. From the 16th to 19th century, Europe began to grow and modernize as feudalism gave way to Empires and the stagnation of the Medieval Era gave way to the Renaissance and the early Industrial Era. Meanwhile Asia began a long period of stagnation where for various reasons of culture or religion, all scientific and social progress was nearly halted and the once great Asian Empires began to decay with inward isolation. After the Age of Revolutions which saw the virtual independence of nearly all of the Americas, the European powers were left barren of their once glorious colonies with the exception of a few trade outposts and islands spread across the world. With the Second Industrial Revolution bringing about a greater need for resources and the birth of Nationalism popularizing the strength of the nation and growth of Empires, Europe needed to claim new land in order to fill the needs of their people. While reconquest of the Americas was always possible, it would have been a long and bloody struggle that could have easily seen defeat as in the case of the Oregon War. Instead the people of Europe turned east and began to focus back on what was known as the Old World. Driven by nationalism, economics, and a religious fervor unseen since the height of the wars of the religion, the West began to take the first steps to conquer Asia and lay claim to the continent as their own. What would soon come would be a clash of civilizations, one which the West would come to win, only to be driven out over a century later.
Central Asia: After the fall of the Mongolian Khanates, Central Asia remained a desolate region inhabited solely by warlords and simple farmers and herders trying to get by. While the region was once the location of the Silk Road which was at its height the largest and most prosperous trade route in human history, the influx of Spanish Gold from the Americas and the rise of the Colombian Exchange had dealt a death blow to the Silk Road, any and all trade between the West and East having now been done by boat. For many centuries the region remained stagnant with the only noticeable actions being taken by the Qing Empire with their conquest of Mongolia. This would all change in the 18th century with the rise of Peter the Great and the beginning of the Russian Empire's modernization. Wanting to create the largest empire on Earth under the rule of the Romanov dynasty, the Russian Tsar began to send multiple expeditions against Turkestan in order to establish a foothold into the region and bring glory to Russia. While Central Asia still belonged to the Khanates, they were beginning to be pushed back every year with the Russians gaining a greater hold. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the closing of Russian Expansion into Asia with advances into the Ottomans being met by resistance from the Western European powers, Tsar Paul began to shift Imperial policy to the total conquest of Central Asian Steppes and begin a campaign of colonization to Russianize the region. The main reason for this besides Russian Nationalism and the desire to spread Russian Orthodoxy, was mainly so that Russia could find a warm-water port on the Indian Ocean, spreading its trade to the lands of South Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia; which would then transform Russia into a truly global empire. From 1836 onward Russian troops began to arrive in the region by the thousands and started their campaign of conquest. With a high numerical superiority and far superior firearms to the ancient muskets and usage of swords by the hordes, the Russian menace was an unstoppable machine and many began to truly fear that Russia would reach the Persian Gulf before the end of the century. However, these acts did not go unnoticed as it incurred the wrath of Queen Victoria who did not want the Russians to usurp British control in Asia, especially wit the ongoing process of nationalizing the East India Company and Britain beginning their own colonization into the area. Thus began the great game where the two mighty Empires would compete for territory and influence in Central Asia, Russia on their march to the Indian Ocean, while Britain would stop them at any cost. The start of a rivalry which would see it come to bloodshed for the second time in the Great War.
Russian Turkestan as of 1900
Persia&Afghanistan: Among the power plays of the Great Game and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, two nations would rise above the rest and come to survive with their territory and most of their sovereignty intact by the end of the 19th century, Persia and Afghanistan. While it would be false to say that the two Middle Eastern Kingdoms were completely independent, as agents of the West could be found as courtiers in both Tehran and Kabul, both managed to at least prevent from being annexed outright or established as a protectorate by the higher powers. Mainly through a combination of luck, geopolitics, and the tenacity of its people. The first main conflict for the two would be the Anglo-Afghan War from 1839-1843 when Great Britain tried to conquer Afghanistan through the East India Company in order to expand their Indian domains. As part of the Great Game this played directly into Britain's strategy of blocking Russian expansion with Afghanistan as a buffer state. Upon invasion the British were able to capture Kabul and install a puppet Shah, Shujah Duranni, however they had taken over 5,000 casualties and continued to suffer 8,000 more in the next four years with the British regulars and Indian troops falling prey to the Afghan tribesmen. Finding themselves in an unwinnable situation similar to the American Revolution, the British humiliatingly withdrew from Afghanistan and allowed the previous Shah, Dost Mohammad Khan, to resume his place as the rightful ruler of Afghanistan. After the war Afghanistan became firmly anti-British and anti-Indian which would later affect its politics after the Great War. The next conflict would be a series of border skirmishes which took place in Mesopotamia between both Persia and the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War in an attempt by the Qajar dynasty to regain the prestige that Persia had under the Safavids. Unfortunately for them after the end of Crimean War the British had sent troops to the region and promptly drove Persian troops to their own borders, sending a message that Ottoman territory would be nominally protected by Britain. The sour defeat of Persia in their attempts to gain Mesopotamia would later drive Shah Nasser al-Din to scrape his plans for invading the Afghan city of Herat. For Persia the situation was grave after the Crimean War as they were surrounded by enemies on all sides with the Russians to the North, Ottomans to the West, and India to the East. For Afghanistan it was the same with Russia to the North and India to the South. The two nations only had each other as cordial neighbors in a sea of enemies. Seeing the need for an ally in the Great Game of the West, Nasser al-Din invited Dost Mohammad to Tehran in 1857 in order to discuss both nations respective situations and the possibilities for an alliance. The resulting talks in the Tehran Conference was very successful and both nations signed a defensive agreement known as the "Tehran Pact" where one would help defend the other in an event of an invasion by the West, signlaing to Europe that they would not be easily conquered.
British troops taking Kabul
During this time while Britain had been gaining an ally in the Ottomans and further establishing their hold on India, they had been unintentionally helping Russia in the Great Game with their actions to both Afghanistan and Persia. While both nations had suffered at the hands of the Russia in the past, Persia in particular with five past wars against Russia in the last century, they had suffered recent attacks by the British. Meanwhile Russia shifted tension away towards Eastern Europe and the Ottomans while placing less pressure on both Persia and Afghanistan as time went by. The phrase "The Enemy of the Enemy is my Friend" could not have been truer for all three nations as they all faced Britain in battle while Russia had been recently victorious in a war against the Ottomans who were Persia's sworn rival. In the coming years both Persia and Afghanistan while having done far better than their contemporary counterparts in Asia, slowly became inducted into the Russian sphere of influence. They were nowhere near being puppets or protectorates, but they were nominal Russian allies against the British. Afghanistan and Russia had the closest relationship which was just short of an alliance as the Afghan Royal Army was trained and armed by Russian Cossacks while Russian goods and food were shipped to Kabul in increasing numbers on a yearly basis. The greatest sign of this relationship was when Afghan King Wazir Akbar Khan, traveled to St. Petersburg upon Tsar Nicholas' invitation in 1865 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Crimean War. Meanwhile Persia's work with Russia was done more subtly through the allowing of Russian investment, arming of the armed forces, and free usage of Russian ships in Persian ports (though Russia did not gain a leased port). However while the Qajar dynasty was Pro-Russian, the people had an extreme hatred and xenophobia towards Russians for their past bloodshed and the feelings that the Shah was allowing Russia to take over the country under his nose by the populace. Spurring feelings of rebellion and reform which was lead to the Qajar dynasty's first steps in modernization prior to the Great War.
King Dost Mohammad Khan (Left) Tehran, Persia in the 19th Century (Right)
China: In the middle ages China had once been the most advanced civilization of the world and had a power unmatched like no other. After the end of the Treasure Fleet expeditions to the Middle East and Africa in the 15th century, China under the Ming and later Qing dynasties began a policy of self-inclusion and isolation from world affairs. While China on the outside could be seen as a Great Power with the largest nation in terms of population and territory, they were on the inside a decaying society that refused to move from traditional Confucian values and did not bother to follow Western technology or ideals. For the West were seen as "Barbarians" and were nowhere near civilized as the Chinese. This blissful period came crashing down near the end of the 18th century as the European Imperial powers began knocking on China's door, hungry for the treasures which lie within. At first the Chinese put up resistance and tried their best to protect their Empire from foreign invasion. Over time China would fall to foreign aggression, though it would not be by guns or gold, but rather by Opium. The infamous drug which would come to dominate the Eurasian trade in the next century and a half, was one that had been growing in centuries in the Indian countryside and used for both pleasure and medicine. While the British and French were both introduced to the drug in their respective colonial efforts, it did not become popular in Europe except for a small portion of the nobility and rich, most Europeans preferring the usage of tobacco. However it was when Britain started selling it to China that they found their wondrous cash crop as the Chinese became addicted to it like moths to a flame. With each passing year the Opium trade increased with the sale of numerous tons of the drug while millions of Chinese from children to the elderly, peasant to noble, became hooked on the drug. The Opium Trade was so serious that an estimated tens of millions of Chinese were hooked on the drug and nearly the entire Imperial administration was involved in the trade in one form or another. Concerned for the welfare of his people, the Daoguang Emperor banned the usage of the drug within China and severely restricted all foriegn trade. This angered the British who went to war over the drug from 1839-1842. Thanks to superior tactics and technology, the First Opium War was won by the British and the resulting Treaty of Nanking gave them Hong Kong and forced the Chinese into reparations and the opening up of four more ports as treaty ports, beginning the "Century of Humiliation" for the Chinese. Later the Second Opium War would take place from 1856-1860 where Great Britain attempted to finish the legalization of Opium and force the Chinese to bow down to their influence. After four years of bloody struggles, the British were successful in 1860 with the Qing capitulating and allowing for the introduction of Christianity, opening up of foreign trade to all of the West, and total legalization of Opium. The Treaty of Tienstin would allow Britain to have an unequal control of Southern China as its sphere of influence, allowing for near total British economic domination in the area and a high advantage over both France and Russia in Chinese affairs. At the same time China was suffering the ongoing Taiping Rebellion where Chinese Christians launched an attempt of revolt to overthrow the Qing and establish their ideology as supreme within China. It was the start of a dark era for the nation which would continue for many decades until the establishment of the Second Republic of China.
Second Opium War
Japan: Out of all the nations outside of Europe and the Americas, Japan would be the sole country who would rise above the rest and manage to stand equal to the Great Powers of the World. Japan's rapid rise into Imperialism lead to the Meiji Restoration and subsequent expansion with the birth of the Empire and its mission of conquest into East Asia. Such hunger would later lead to the Pacific War which would be the climax of the Land of Rising Sun's power. However before the events of the post-Great War which lead to the rise of Nazi Japan and its rise and fall, we must first look towards the events which sparked the rise of the sleeping giant in the first place. For centuries Japan was a feudal island under the rule of the Shogunate where life was determined by fealty to the Daimyos and subservience to the Emperor and Shinto faith. After multiple failures of invasions in China and Korea, Japan began an enclosed island after its introduction to Christianity and subsequent persecution of Catholicism and Western ideals under the Tokugawa Shogunate. By 1856 Japan had only opened its borders to the Netherlands which was limited to a trade consul in the city of Nagasaki. Much like China in its decline and fall, Japan remained frozen in time in a stagnate feudal state, though it was able to not experience the massive disunity and corruption of the Qing dynasty. Unfortunately for Japan they would not be left alone as Europe grew to prize Japan and wished to open up its borders for trade. The first nation to act upon so was Great Britain with sir Michael Seymour being sent on the Seymour expedition with eleven frigates under the command of the HMS York. The appearance of the gunships were necessary as a use of gunboat diplomacy by Seymour as the Japanese were resistant to all other negotiations earlier with Europe not being able to launch a full scale military strike, until now. Appearing at the port of Nagasaki on August 15th 1855, Seymour made his entrance with a total of thirty-three shots by his ships in the water and a demand to meet the Shogun or else his Royal Marines would storm the port and claim it for the Queen. The sudden arrival of a British flotilla shocked and scared much of the Shogunate government, forcing the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi to begin negotiations which lead to the signing of a treaty that gave Britain full access of free trade with Japan. The Seymour Expedition lead to the end of the Edo period and the opening up of Japan to foreign technology and ideas. In the next five years more countries would come to Japan with the United States, France, Russia, Texas, and Spain all gaining trade agreements of lesser value, opening up their share of the market to Japan. For the Japanese people it was the start of a feared decline into dismay which China was in the middle of in. However Emperor Meiji saw it differently as he saw the end of the Edo Era as a chance to modernize his nation on par with the West, and end the reign of the Shogun once and for all.
Sir Micheal Seymour, the man who would open up Japan.
A/N: Sorry for the delay folks but Lone Star Republic is back on track. The following update covers Asian events in the last 25 years and for the most part is roughly the same with some subtle changes which will lead to huge butterflies. First off to address some glaring abscences, I didn't include either the Ottoman Empire or India as I talked about the Ottomans in length in my Crimean updates and India was roughly near the same with the Sepoy Mutiny still happening but getting crushed with the same results. I didn't go into an extensive analysis of the Taiping Rebellion because I wanted to have it be different and I will focus on the full conflict in an update after both the Mexican War and Civil War end. Besides that the biggest changes are a hot Great Game, no Anglo-Persian War, and Seymour beating Perry to Japan. Next update will focus on the beginning of America's push into the South. Thanks for reading and long live the Republic!
"Under my rule Nippon will become a strong and prosperous nation, free of the decay and corruption of the vile Chinese. The banner of the Rising Sun shall fly over the Pacific for all to see."- Emperor Meiji 1878
"After the dreadful embarrassment of Oregon and Crimea, it is time for Great Britain to set course for a new path. The wealth of the Ganghes lies before us, and it shall be the center of our new empire."- Queen Victoria 1860
"All of the chaos and discontent that is found within Asia is thanks to Western Imperialism. On our own we lived in peace and focused on faith and family. Then the West came, with war, drugs, and gold."- Afghani King Hamid Khan Shah 1979
In the modern world the Earth is divided into three primary political spheres; The Americas, Africa, and Eurasia (Though some political scientists like to claim that it is four with Eurasia and East Asia). For Millennia the two continents of Europe and Asia were intertwined in numerous forms that saw the butterflies of an event that took place in the British Isles, having an adverse impact as far as China. For centuries these two continents, along with the coast of Northern Africa, were all that was known to exist among humanity. Then in 1492 an Italian explorer would make the discovery of a lifetime and cross the Atlantic to lay claim to the Americas. From the 16th to 19th century, Europe began to grow and modernize as feudalism gave way to Empires and the stagnation of the Medieval Era gave way to the Renaissance and the early Industrial Era. Meanwhile Asia began a long period of stagnation where for various reasons of culture or religion, all scientific and social progress was nearly halted and the once great Asian Empires began to decay with inward isolation. After the Age of Revolutions which saw the virtual independence of nearly all of the Americas, the European powers were left barren of their once glorious colonies with the exception of a few trade outposts and islands spread across the world. With the Second Industrial Revolution bringing about a greater need for resources and the birth of Nationalism popularizing the strength of the nation and growth of Empires, Europe needed to claim new land in order to fill the needs of their people. While reconquest of the Americas was always possible, it would have been a long and bloody struggle that could have easily seen defeat as in the case of the Oregon War. Instead the people of Europe turned east and began to focus back on what was known as the Old World. Driven by nationalism, economics, and a religious fervor unseen since the height of the wars of the religion, the West began to take the first steps to conquer Asia and lay claim to the continent as their own. What would soon come would be a clash of civilizations, one which the West would come to win, only to be driven out over a century later.
Central Asia: After the fall of the Mongolian Khanates, Central Asia remained a desolate region inhabited solely by warlords and simple farmers and herders trying to get by. While the region was once the location of the Silk Road which was at its height the largest and most prosperous trade route in human history, the influx of Spanish Gold from the Americas and the rise of the Colombian Exchange had dealt a death blow to the Silk Road, any and all trade between the West and East having now been done by boat. For many centuries the region remained stagnant with the only noticeable actions being taken by the Qing Empire with their conquest of Mongolia. This would all change in the 18th century with the rise of Peter the Great and the beginning of the Russian Empire's modernization. Wanting to create the largest empire on Earth under the rule of the Romanov dynasty, the Russian Tsar began to send multiple expeditions against Turkestan in order to establish a foothold into the region and bring glory to Russia. While Central Asia still belonged to the Khanates, they were beginning to be pushed back every year with the Russians gaining a greater hold. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the closing of Russian Expansion into Asia with advances into the Ottomans being met by resistance from the Western European powers, Tsar Paul began to shift Imperial policy to the total conquest of Central Asian Steppes and begin a campaign of colonization to Russianize the region. The main reason for this besides Russian Nationalism and the desire to spread Russian Orthodoxy, was mainly so that Russia could find a warm-water port on the Indian Ocean, spreading its trade to the lands of South Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia; which would then transform Russia into a truly global empire. From 1836 onward Russian troops began to arrive in the region by the thousands and started their campaign of conquest. With a high numerical superiority and far superior firearms to the ancient muskets and usage of swords by the hordes, the Russian menace was an unstoppable machine and many began to truly fear that Russia would reach the Persian Gulf before the end of the century. However, these acts did not go unnoticed as it incurred the wrath of Queen Victoria who did not want the Russians to usurp British control in Asia, especially wit the ongoing process of nationalizing the East India Company and Britain beginning their own colonization into the area. Thus began the great game where the two mighty Empires would compete for territory and influence in Central Asia, Russia on their march to the Indian Ocean, while Britain would stop them at any cost. The start of a rivalry which would see it come to bloodshed for the second time in the Great War.
Russian Turkestan as of 1900
Persia&Afghanistan: Among the power plays of the Great Game and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, two nations would rise above the rest and come to survive with their territory and most of their sovereignty intact by the end of the 19th century, Persia and Afghanistan. While it would be false to say that the two Middle Eastern Kingdoms were completely independent, as agents of the West could be found as courtiers in both Tehran and Kabul, both managed to at least prevent from being annexed outright or established as a protectorate by the higher powers. Mainly through a combination of luck, geopolitics, and the tenacity of its people. The first main conflict for the two would be the Anglo-Afghan War from 1839-1843 when Great Britain tried to conquer Afghanistan through the East India Company in order to expand their Indian domains. As part of the Great Game this played directly into Britain's strategy of blocking Russian expansion with Afghanistan as a buffer state. Upon invasion the British were able to capture Kabul and install a puppet Shah, Shujah Duranni, however they had taken over 5,000 casualties and continued to suffer 8,000 more in the next four years with the British regulars and Indian troops falling prey to the Afghan tribesmen. Finding themselves in an unwinnable situation similar to the American Revolution, the British humiliatingly withdrew from Afghanistan and allowed the previous Shah, Dost Mohammad Khan, to resume his place as the rightful ruler of Afghanistan. After the war Afghanistan became firmly anti-British and anti-Indian which would later affect its politics after the Great War. The next conflict would be a series of border skirmishes which took place in Mesopotamia between both Persia and the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War in an attempt by the Qajar dynasty to regain the prestige that Persia had under the Safavids. Unfortunately for them after the end of Crimean War the British had sent troops to the region and promptly drove Persian troops to their own borders, sending a message that Ottoman territory would be nominally protected by Britain. The sour defeat of Persia in their attempts to gain Mesopotamia would later drive Shah Nasser al-Din to scrape his plans for invading the Afghan city of Herat. For Persia the situation was grave after the Crimean War as they were surrounded by enemies on all sides with the Russians to the North, Ottomans to the West, and India to the East. For Afghanistan it was the same with Russia to the North and India to the South. The two nations only had each other as cordial neighbors in a sea of enemies. Seeing the need for an ally in the Great Game of the West, Nasser al-Din invited Dost Mohammad to Tehran in 1857 in order to discuss both nations respective situations and the possibilities for an alliance. The resulting talks in the Tehran Conference was very successful and both nations signed a defensive agreement known as the "Tehran Pact" where one would help defend the other in an event of an invasion by the West, signlaing to Europe that they would not be easily conquered.
British troops taking Kabul
During this time while Britain had been gaining an ally in the Ottomans and further establishing their hold on India, they had been unintentionally helping Russia in the Great Game with their actions to both Afghanistan and Persia. While both nations had suffered at the hands of the Russia in the past, Persia in particular with five past wars against Russia in the last century, they had suffered recent attacks by the British. Meanwhile Russia shifted tension away towards Eastern Europe and the Ottomans while placing less pressure on both Persia and Afghanistan as time went by. The phrase "The Enemy of the Enemy is my Friend" could not have been truer for all three nations as they all faced Britain in battle while Russia had been recently victorious in a war against the Ottomans who were Persia's sworn rival. In the coming years both Persia and Afghanistan while having done far better than their contemporary counterparts in Asia, slowly became inducted into the Russian sphere of influence. They were nowhere near being puppets or protectorates, but they were nominal Russian allies against the British. Afghanistan and Russia had the closest relationship which was just short of an alliance as the Afghan Royal Army was trained and armed by Russian Cossacks while Russian goods and food were shipped to Kabul in increasing numbers on a yearly basis. The greatest sign of this relationship was when Afghan King Wazir Akbar Khan, traveled to St. Petersburg upon Tsar Nicholas' invitation in 1865 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Crimean War. Meanwhile Persia's work with Russia was done more subtly through the allowing of Russian investment, arming of the armed forces, and free usage of Russian ships in Persian ports (though Russia did not gain a leased port). However while the Qajar dynasty was Pro-Russian, the people had an extreme hatred and xenophobia towards Russians for their past bloodshed and the feelings that the Shah was allowing Russia to take over the country under his nose by the populace. Spurring feelings of rebellion and reform which was lead to the Qajar dynasty's first steps in modernization prior to the Great War.
King Dost Mohammad Khan (Left) Tehran, Persia in the 19th Century (Right)
China: In the middle ages China had once been the most advanced civilization of the world and had a power unmatched like no other. After the end of the Treasure Fleet expeditions to the Middle East and Africa in the 15th century, China under the Ming and later Qing dynasties began a policy of self-inclusion and isolation from world affairs. While China on the outside could be seen as a Great Power with the largest nation in terms of population and territory, they were on the inside a decaying society that refused to move from traditional Confucian values and did not bother to follow Western technology or ideals. For the West were seen as "Barbarians" and were nowhere near civilized as the Chinese. This blissful period came crashing down near the end of the 18th century as the European Imperial powers began knocking on China's door, hungry for the treasures which lie within. At first the Chinese put up resistance and tried their best to protect their Empire from foreign invasion. Over time China would fall to foreign aggression, though it would not be by guns or gold, but rather by Opium. The infamous drug which would come to dominate the Eurasian trade in the next century and a half, was one that had been growing in centuries in the Indian countryside and used for both pleasure and medicine. While the British and French were both introduced to the drug in their respective colonial efforts, it did not become popular in Europe except for a small portion of the nobility and rich, most Europeans preferring the usage of tobacco. However it was when Britain started selling it to China that they found their wondrous cash crop as the Chinese became addicted to it like moths to a flame. With each passing year the Opium trade increased with the sale of numerous tons of the drug while millions of Chinese from children to the elderly, peasant to noble, became hooked on the drug. The Opium Trade was so serious that an estimated tens of millions of Chinese were hooked on the drug and nearly the entire Imperial administration was involved in the trade in one form or another. Concerned for the welfare of his people, the Daoguang Emperor banned the usage of the drug within China and severely restricted all foriegn trade. This angered the British who went to war over the drug from 1839-1842. Thanks to superior tactics and technology, the First Opium War was won by the British and the resulting Treaty of Nanking gave them Hong Kong and forced the Chinese into reparations and the opening up of four more ports as treaty ports, beginning the "Century of Humiliation" for the Chinese. Later the Second Opium War would take place from 1856-1860 where Great Britain attempted to finish the legalization of Opium and force the Chinese to bow down to their influence. After four years of bloody struggles, the British were successful in 1860 with the Qing capitulating and allowing for the introduction of Christianity, opening up of foreign trade to all of the West, and total legalization of Opium. The Treaty of Tienstin would allow Britain to have an unequal control of Southern China as its sphere of influence, allowing for near total British economic domination in the area and a high advantage over both France and Russia in Chinese affairs. At the same time China was suffering the ongoing Taiping Rebellion where Chinese Christians launched an attempt of revolt to overthrow the Qing and establish their ideology as supreme within China. It was the start of a dark era for the nation which would continue for many decades until the establishment of the Second Republic of China.
Second Opium War
Japan: Out of all the nations outside of Europe and the Americas, Japan would be the sole country who would rise above the rest and manage to stand equal to the Great Powers of the World. Japan's rapid rise into Imperialism lead to the Meiji Restoration and subsequent expansion with the birth of the Empire and its mission of conquest into East Asia. Such hunger would later lead to the Pacific War which would be the climax of the Land of Rising Sun's power. However before the events of the post-Great War which lead to the rise of Nazi Japan and its rise and fall, we must first look towards the events which sparked the rise of the sleeping giant in the first place. For centuries Japan was a feudal island under the rule of the Shogunate where life was determined by fealty to the Daimyos and subservience to the Emperor and Shinto faith. After multiple failures of invasions in China and Korea, Japan began an enclosed island after its introduction to Christianity and subsequent persecution of Catholicism and Western ideals under the Tokugawa Shogunate. By 1856 Japan had only opened its borders to the Netherlands which was limited to a trade consul in the city of Nagasaki. Much like China in its decline and fall, Japan remained frozen in time in a stagnate feudal state, though it was able to not experience the massive disunity and corruption of the Qing dynasty. Unfortunately for Japan they would not be left alone as Europe grew to prize Japan and wished to open up its borders for trade. The first nation to act upon so was Great Britain with sir Michael Seymour being sent on the Seymour expedition with eleven frigates under the command of the HMS York. The appearance of the gunships were necessary as a use of gunboat diplomacy by Seymour as the Japanese were resistant to all other negotiations earlier with Europe not being able to launch a full scale military strike, until now. Appearing at the port of Nagasaki on August 15th 1855, Seymour made his entrance with a total of thirty-three shots by his ships in the water and a demand to meet the Shogun or else his Royal Marines would storm the port and claim it for the Queen. The sudden arrival of a British flotilla shocked and scared much of the Shogunate government, forcing the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi to begin negotiations which lead to the signing of a treaty that gave Britain full access of free trade with Japan. The Seymour Expedition lead to the end of the Edo period and the opening up of Japan to foreign technology and ideas. In the next five years more countries would come to Japan with the United States, France, Russia, Texas, and Spain all gaining trade agreements of lesser value, opening up their share of the market to Japan. For the Japanese people it was the start of a feared decline into dismay which China was in the middle of in. However Emperor Meiji saw it differently as he saw the end of the Edo Era as a chance to modernize his nation on par with the West, and end the reign of the Shogun once and for all.
Sir Micheal Seymour, the man who would open up Japan.
A/N: Sorry for the delay folks but Lone Star Republic is back on track. The following update covers Asian events in the last 25 years and for the most part is roughly the same with some subtle changes which will lead to huge butterflies. First off to address some glaring abscences, I didn't include either the Ottoman Empire or India as I talked about the Ottomans in length in my Crimean updates and India was roughly near the same with the Sepoy Mutiny still happening but getting crushed with the same results. I didn't go into an extensive analysis of the Taiping Rebellion because I wanted to have it be different and I will focus on the full conflict in an update after both the Mexican War and Civil War end. Besides that the biggest changes are a hot Great Game, no Anglo-Persian War, and Seymour beating Perry to Japan. Next update will focus on the beginning of America's push into the South. Thanks for reading and long live the Republic!
