The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [72]
Japan tried to use the Western model of a parliament by creating a Japanese Diet in 1889; however, the experiment failed as in 1926 militarists factions gained control of the government. The militarist set the nation on the path of conquest starting with the annexation of Manchuria in 1931, quickly followed by a war with China, and the takeover of French Indochina in 1941. Japan entered World War II on the Axis side in December of 1941 with the attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor; thereby starting a war with China, the United States, Britain, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, and other US Allies. Japan suffered a complete defeat in August 1945 after the US dropped two atomic bombs on the island nation; one on the city of Hiroshima and the other on the city of Nagasaki (see World War II). Japan experienced occupation by US forces until September of 1951. Thereafter, Japan grew into the second most powerful economy in the world by 1980. This remarkable economic recovery, assisted massively by the Americans, displayed the resilience of the Japanese culture. In 2010, Japan continues to excel at trade and manufacturing, and she is poised to lead the way into the twenty-first century.
Through it all, Japan remained thoroughly Japanese. In spite of accepting the infusion of Western technology, and science it did not allow these influences to change Japanese culture. This is not an easy task, as normally accepting Western technological advancements leads to an idea that Western culture must be superior. The Japanese did not think this way, and rejected Western cultural ideology while accepting its technology.
Korea
Korea is the third area of the East that completes a kind of triumvirate of nations around which the fate of Asia has swung. Korea is a small peninsula jutting out of the Asian mainland near Japan. Korea managed to establish a separate identity from China and Japan, and maintained that separate identity through centuries of pressure, warfare, and conquest. About AD 313 Korea had Three Kingdoms that were indigenous to the peninsula. These independent states lasted until about AD 668. By 670, the clan of Silla managed to unite Korea with Chinese support. The Silla clan endured defeat by the Koryo in 935, allowing the Koryo to rule the Korean peninsula until 1392. The Mongols supported the Koryo (no wonder they won). In 1388 the Koryo sent an army to invade China and overthrow the Ming dynasty; however, that army turned on the Koryo and defeated them thereby establishing the Chosen Kingdom that ruled until 1910; although, from 1627 until about 1910 it was subservient to the Manchu of China. During the period of the Chosen Koreans built an observatory in Seoul, and they invented moveable metal type for printing.
Overall, Korea was always a land in the middle. Japan or China normally dominated the peninsula; nonetheless, the Korean people maintained their identity as a separate populace. Today, Korea remains separated between north and south because of the Second World War and the Korean War. (See the Korean War)
India
After years of battering at India’s frontiers, Turkish Muslim invaders finally captured the northern city of Delhi in 1206 and established the Delhi Sultanate (1206 to 1520).[79] Under Muhammad Tughlug the Sultanate managed to bring most of India under its rule by 1335. This conquest put the Muslim faith in charge of India; however, it did not manage to overcome either Hinduism or Buddhism. In 1398 Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, destroyed the city of Delhi and set the stage for the destruction of the Delhi Sultanate in 1526 by Babur, another Muslim.
Before 1500 India’s merchants helped establish