Similarities Between Britain And Japan

Britain and Japan are two nations that are thousands of miles away from each other, so they are not often seen as similar, but in reality they have many similarities. Both Britain and Japan are islands secluded from their continent, but their location was key to their success with industrialization and imperialism. Britain was known as the origin place for the Industrialization and Japan shocked the world with its rise to power. Both learned how to use their geography to their advantage. Critical geography lead to efficient and effective Industrialization, that later help with Imperialism. Britain, a small island nation in the western part of Europe, is filled with thousands of canals and rivers, that assisted them with trade and travel.
Britain used their power to take over other nations. The industrialization led to imperialism, because with the drain of Britain’s natural resources from the industrialization, they needed to find a solution. The industrial revolution brought many great things to Great Britain, but it also came with a great cost. With new machinery and the giant migration to the cities, there was a huge amount of unemployed citizens. With great unemployment came great poverty in the nation of Britain. Cecil Rhodes feared that this might lead to civil war. The civil war that Rhodes spoke of, was the one caused by the greed of the nation. Many businessmen prospered through the Industrialization, but as they prospered many struggled to gain profit. Because of this unbalance, it created a conflict between the wealthy and the poor. Rhodes had a solution to this problem, imperialism. He said that this would allow for more farm land and and more cotton, which comes more wealth for Britain. However, Rhodes had a very biased opinion in this situation, but he saw first hand the problems that the Industrial Revolution had created. (Doc 3) Being a small island had its advantages and disadvantages, but Britain found ways to get past the
They both had to learn how to use their geography to their advantage. Then from there they ended up with the same problem lack of resources, but they both gained more natural resources, like land, by establishing imperialism. The impact of geography is not often thought about, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It has been proved through Britain and Japan, that location can be both a win and a loss. Both nations had many problems with their resources, but were able to survive it by taking over other nations/territories, which created problems for someone else. However, it was all for survival, but was it really survival if only one nation got to