Prompt

1. Prompt Compare and contrast two of the following imperial systems during the period 1450-1750. Focus primarily on the measure of state power. • Romanov Russia • Tokugawa Japan • France • Ottoman Empire

2. Prompt Compare and contrasttwo of the following imperial systems during the period 1450-1750. Focus primarily on the measure of state power. • Romanov Russia • Tokugawa Japan • France • Ottoman Empire

3. Thesis Paragraph From 1450-1750 absolutist control affected Japan and Russia. Although both Tokugawa Japan and Romanov Russia leaders held power over the culture in their nations and shared common political policies, Japan and Russia disagreed in the way they viewed and reacted to Western influence.

4. 1st Body Paragraph Both Tokugawa Japan and Romanov Russia’s leaders were involved in the culture of the country. Shogunate Japan, as well as Romanov Russia, had power over the religion of the area. Russia’s tsar, in order to hold more power over Russia, had Orthodox Christianity under the state’s control, while Tokugawa Japan showed its influence over religion by persecuting and evictingChristians due to the fear that it would promote western ideals that Japan did not want to affect their culture. Both Japan and Russia’s leaders aided in the artistic realm of their country’s culture. Peter the Great, in hopes of westernizing Russia, brought artisans back from Europe and ballet from France which enriched the Russian culture significantly. Due to Japan’s seclusion started by the absolutist shoguns, Japan was able to enrich its own culture by starting kabuki theatre and Haiku poetry. Both of these techniques used by the leaders in Russia and Japan enabled a larger educated class to grow as a result.

5. 2nd Body Paragraph Tokugawa Japan and Romanov Russia had similar political policies. The Tokugawa shoguns limited the power of the daimyos by requiring them to alternate their living patterns from their home to the capital. Similarly, Alexis abolished the noble assemblies in Russia. The Russian and Tokugawa Japan leaders did this because they did not want their power to be threatened and they wanted to keep a close eye on the nobles. Japan and Russia’s leaders also moved their capital, which exhibited the power of their political positions, even though their reasons for doing so were different. The shogun in Japan moved the capital to Edo to surround himself with his supporters while Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg to be closer to the West.

6. 3rd Body Paragraph Japan and Russia differed in their views on Western influence. Peter the Great, unlike the Tokugawa shoguns believed that Russia needed to become westernized in order to achieve greatness. Peter put several policies into effect in order to do this, such as having his people wear European garments and demanding men shave their beards. On the other hand, Japan’s shogun started the isolation policy, which limited the extent of Western influence to practically nothing due to the shogunate’s dislike of the West. While Russia secured a port on the Baltic Sea in order to trade with the West, Japan closed down all of its ports except for one to foreign merchants. Japan only permitted the Dutch to enter because they were willing to submit to the shogun’s requests. Western influence was not welcomed into Japan due to its threat upon Japan’s culture and political status. Peter the Great saw that implementing advancements from the West would help Russia rebuild after being so far behind the West while under Mongol rule. Japanese dislike for the West was similar to the Ottoman Empire at this time because they thought of the Europeans as barbaric and not educated enough to provide advancements, which ended up hurting the Ottomans in the long-run.

7. Conclusion Even though both Russia and Japan were ruled by an absolute leader, Russia benefited more economically due to the fact that they voluntarily opened up to the West while Japan took longer to break free from well-established traditions.

8. Things Not To Do • Don’t use I, refer to the reader, or ask questions at any time in the essay • Don’t just put the direct comparison or analysis words in the paragraphs to “get credit”—the information you write has to all make sense! • Do not use vague statements for evidence; it must be facts --Economically the trade with Europe continued to grow. (how?) --The czars became more powerful and expanded Russia (how?) --The nobles were pressured to adapt to western customs (which ones?)

9. Prompt • Compare and contrast Russia’s interaction with the West with the interaction of one of the following with the West: • Ottoman Empire • China • Tokugawa Japan • Mughal India

10. Acceptable Thesis Paragraph The interactions between the West and the Russian and Ottoman Empires helped shape the world during that time period. Although the Russian and Ottomans both avoided the religions of Western Europe, they differed in the fact that the Russians looked up to the West and took many innovations from them while the Ottomans thought themselves superior and that Russia peacefully coexisted with the West in contrast to the Ottoman’s land wars.

11. 1st Body Paragraph The Russian and Ottoman empires both steered clear of Western Catholicism and Protestantism. While Western Europe was being swept up in the Protestant Reformation, the Russians and those who lived in the Balkans were unaffected. Due to the schism, the Russians held on to their Eastern Orthodox beliefs and did not allow Catholicism nor Protestantism to spread via trade routes of the Westernization brought on by Peter the Great. They also rejected the missionaries from these prospective religions. Similarly, the Ottomans also resisted the spread of Catholicism and Protestantism from the West into their own empire. Being predominately Muslim, the Ottomans shut out missionaries from any other religion.

12. Prompt Compare and contrast gender relations in two of the following areas and explain women’s rights and responsibilities. • India • China • Greece • Rome

13. Thesis Paragraph In the classical era, the patriarchal societies of India and Greece held women inferior. Although Greece and Indian women had the same gender roles in public status, their responsibilities and rights differed.

14. 1st Body Paragraph In both Greece and India, men enjoyed high pubic status while women were not given much status at all. During this time both empires sought to educate the men. However, women, seen as inferior, were left out of the education process. Both empire’s religions, Hinduism in India, and polytheism in Greece, created more inequality by lowering women in each class system. This was due to the fact that the religions’ stories usually depicted women in a bad light. In addition, a man’s higher status allowed him to work for the government in both Greece and India while the women could not achieve this status. The women’s inferiority in both governments illustrates their similar public status.

15. Second Paragraph Greek and Indian women had significantly different responsibilities in their societies. Greek women were given enough responsibilities to run a household or even a business, unlike the Indian women who were given little or no responsibility, even in their own home. This is exemplified by the fact that Greek women had a say in their home, after their husband. On the other hand, Indian women were to worship their husbands as gods and differ to them. Also, Greek women could influence their husband’s vote in public issues decided in a democratic way, unlike India, where a wife was not even allowed to share her opinion unless told. Another example of the difference in responsibilities is the fact that Indian women were seen as property, almost like slaves. In contrast, Greek women were not “owned” by their husbands, in fact, their were considerably freer than in India.

16. Third Paragraph The rights of women in Greece allowed for more autonomy than the rights of women in India. In Greece, if a woman’s husband passed away, she was allowed to remarry. However, an Indian women was forced to burn herself. As time progressed, women’s rights improved in Greece, unlike in India, whose treatment of women regressed over time. This was because of the influence Hinduism and the caste system had in Indian society. The lack of rights in India was similar to the rights that most of the women in other societies, such as Han China, had at this time.