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Sarah Paine — How Imperial Japan defeated Tsarist Russia & Qing China

Overview

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Sarah Paine — How Imperial Japan defeated Tsarist Russia & Qing China

Dwarkesh Podcast

Jul 25
Dwarkesh Podcast

Dwarkesh Podcast

Jul 25
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

After my last lecture series with Sarah Paine ended, I still had so many questions. I knew we’d only scratched the surface of Sarah’s scholarship, so I immediately invited her back for another series: she graciously agreed, and we’ll be releasing the resul...

Highlights

This podcast episode delves into the historical transformation of Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on how a relatively small nation managed to rise as a dominant power in East Asia. The discussion centers on Japan's strategic modernization during the Meiji era and how it allowed the country to defeat larger and seemingly more powerful nations like China and Russia. Key military conflicts, such as the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, are examined to uncover the geopolitical and institutional factors that enabled Japan’s ascent.
12:20
Japan's Meiji reforms led to juridical equality with Western powers by 1890.
17:49
Japan gained Taiwan and the Pescadores after defeating China
35:35
The Japanese captured the 203-meter hill, enabling them to sink Russian battleships in Port Arthur.
57:30
Russia sent 100,000 troops to Manchuria during the Boxer Rebellion and refused to withdraw.
1:05:46
Japan's literate population and Meiji reforms enabled effective war mobilization.
1:32:28
The Meiji reforms influenced Deng Xiaoping's policies and those of the Four Little Tigers.
1:45:51
It's better to make people fear you than love you, but never make them hate you.
1:49:34
The State Department's role in preventing catastrophes like Indo-Pakistani nuclear war

Chapters

Japan’s Meiji reforms
00:00
Trans-Siberian railway & Japan’s 3-year window for empire
14:44
The most important battle in the Russo-Japanese war
29:58
China’s implosion: imperialism, civil wars, and opium
48:38
Was Russia on track to dominate Asia?
59:31
Pearl Harbor (1941) vs surprise attack of Port Arthur (1904)
1:14:20
Why big countries still lose wars
1:34:03
Grand strategy for small countries
1:46:56

Transcript

Sarah Paine: So I'm going to talk to you today about one of the two great generations in modern Japanese history, and they are the Meiji generation, named after the Meiji emperor. Here. And that generation transformed Japan into the only, the first and the...