APWH Extra Credit: DBQ Student Samples

Below you will find a sample student response to the DBQ above. Read it, then whether or not they earned each point on the rubric.

If you award them the point, you must justify it by copying and pasting the sentences from the response for which you awarded them the point.

If you DO NOT award the point, you must write one sentence explaining what the student needs to improve in order to earn the point.

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Economic motives was the main extent for japanese imperialism during 1900-1945 however, nationalsim played a major role also.

During this time of 1900-1945 many colonies were established by europeans. Russia was growing into becoming a powerhouse and the world was run by trade. But Japan (according to document 2) "is limited in territory, poor in national resources, and has had a meager domestic market for manufactured goods. Also at this time Germany also struggled and felt the need to overthrow the order that was put agaisnt their colonies. Many Japanese felt sympathy towards the germans because of what they had to do. Which was at this time period was to show off their militaries and invlove themselves in a world war and even starting a world war in order to dominate the world because they felt superior. But Japan's economy was in trouble because Russia was taxing "12 times the amount" for non russian ships during trade. Which was terrible for japanese buinessess and from their point of view in document one their " buinessess may have to endure terrible hardships and possibly get cut out of the Manchurain trade altogether." Then Japan tried to take over and dominate the most fertile region of Manchuria to increase there production in trade and help there econmy. There invasion was seen as an invasion from the point of view to other places around the world like the US reproters from New York saying "Japan violated so many treaties and agreements that it is absurd to belive that there is any sincerity in Japans motive to abide with or to live up to any kind of international treaties or agreements" At this time Japan is starting to be considered an enemy for the rest of the world. But to further push Japanese agenda the "personal opinions" of the public for the Japanse people was that If they got they got control of the Manichura-Mongolia region they would be able to confront British and American power in the south. "And russia will find it extremly difficult to advance to the east." (Which was in document four) but that would be benificial from Japans point of view. To greater prove the despriation of the Japanese in document 5 we learn that Japan is in competition with China for the raw abundant materials. At the time humanity hasnt mined so much of the earths materials and we still had an abundance. But for the Japanese to steel industry to become self suffiecent it needs "300,000,000 tons of ore which lied in Shaanxi." But Japan was also facing coal shortages.

Economic motives were the leading cause of japanese imperilasm, however Nationalism played a major role in Japan imperialsim. According to document 6 many Japanese saw China as a "Backwards society based on traditional pattern of landholding and lacking modern industries." And felt they were unfit of there position in the world according to the people of Japan. They felt the need to spread their greatness attacking other established colonies for their own gain, and recolonizing the people just like in doccument 7 on what the did to the people on singapore. In conclusion economic motives were the major reason for japanese imperilasm but also nationalism was a major motive.

Below you will find a sample student response to the DBQ above. Read it, then whether or not they earned each point on the rubric.

If you award them the point, you must justify it by copying and pasting the sentences from the response for which you awarded them the point.

If you DO NOT award the point, you must write one sentence explaining what the student needs to improve in order to earn the point.

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Throughout the 19th century, numerous nations throughout Europe participated in activities such as the Scramble for Africa, dividing the continent up in order to fulfill their various economic desires. This demonstrated the West dominating the rest of the world, with Eastern states failing to establish their own imperialistic empires. However, in the 20th century, Japan, which had recently gone through the Meiji Restoration and was rapidly industrializing, began to enter imperialism, annexing Korea and the Chinese region of Manchuria. This established Japan as one of the most powerful states of the East. Despite the presence of social motives, economic motives played the largest role in Japanese imperialism in the first half of the 20th century because of the necessity of raw materials, the possible territorial gain and subsequent opening of new trade markets, and the opposition to Western economic policies.

The industrialization of Japan led to the need for raw materials, which economically incentivized the nation to pursue imperialism. The Meiji Restoration was a movement which attempted to catch Japan up to the rest of the world by establishing fast, strict, and largely government based reforms to Japan, making it more open to the rest of the world for trade, since it was previously isolationist. Japan, however, is a small nation and did not have all of the necessary means of production to maintain this growth. In a 1937 article from the New York Times, it is claimed that Japan was in a strong need for raw materials from China as a result of various shortages, such as coal, within their own nation (Doc. 5). This demonstrates how as a result of their rapidly growing industries, Japan was creating new supplies at a rate which their resoiurces were unable to keep up with. As a way to maintain the wealth they were producing, it was therefore necessary for them to go to the closest place with resources, China, and fiercely establish economic imperialistic notions there. However, as this article was written by an American in a time period where the Japanese were strongly opposed, there is most likely a strong sense of exaggeration within it. Nevertheless, it still demonstrates the way that Japan was perceived by outside nations and how apparent its motives were in regards to gaining materials. The shortage of raw materials for Japan was exacerbated by itself, which placed it in a cycle of continously going back to China for resources and losing them in the process. In a speech from a Japanese professor, it is claimed that Japan strongly requires more imports of raw materials in order to further build their own empire, which is dangerous due to its growing dependence on outside markets (Doc. 6). Japan was a historically isolationist country with not a large amount of influence outside, which is how many people liked it. This demonstrates how the Japanese point of view on imperialism largely differed based on whether there were traditional values still in place or not. For the professor delivering the speech, it appears to be opposing the economic dependence of Japan on others and trying to revert back to its isolationist ways. However, Japan was in fact growing at a rapid rate and nothing could stop it from doing so, so its dependence on outside nations to get its raw materials as a way to support its economy became inevitable. The process of growing Japan's industries and gaining raw materials was therefore a crucial economic motive to the imperialism.

The region of Manchuria opened up many new possibilities for territorial and trading gains for Japan, making it essential to the nation's imperialism within that region. Japan had previously taken Korea over under many false pretenses and wanted to continue to expand its empire, and Manchuria was the perfect location for it to do so. However, it was additonally desired by other nations, namely Russia. Japan therefore feared, according to a 1903 business journal, that the possible competition of Russia would take away a very good trading market for Japan and make it more economically weak (Doc. 1). This journal article was likely published as a way to establish fear and more urgency for imperialism to occur within Japan. Since the majority of the readers of the business journal would be involved in the economic processes of the nation, they would likely take initiative upon seeing the article and push for the total annexation of Manchuria for economic profits. This demonstrates how it was needed for economic gain and therefore fell to imperialism. According to a Manifesto that opposed the annexation of Manchuria by Japan, Japan repeatedly broke treaties in order to gain more territory and became increasingly obvious within its intentions to do the same for Manchuria (Doc. 3). This urgency and blatant disregard for the law demonstrates the importance of territorial gain for Japan, since it economically benefits them to such a great extent. Since they are willing to break international laws in order to get what they want, it is clear that they see a large amount of gain with their imperialistic motives for the economic state of Japan. The general opposition to the Japanese doing so is seen within this Manifesto, written by Korean Americans. These people with Korean heritage have likely seen the horrors of Japanese imperialism and do not want it to befall another place, leading to them urging against it.

The economic policies of the West served as threats to the development of Japan as an Eastern power, solidifying its motivation to further pursue that imperialism. As imperialism in Japan was starting to rise, its decline had begun in the West. Japan was ousted from the rise of imperialism and was unable to gain the colonies they wanted to establish. In an essay against these Western notions it is said that England and America are large hypocrites and that their proposal to stop the establishment of more colonies would cause severe economic damage to Japan (Doc. 2). The bias within this essay is apparent, as it is written from a Japanese perspective and therefore has a lot of grudges against the West. However, their points surrounding how the West was able to quickly establish itself as an economic and imperialistic power and leave the others behind is very apparent. This demonstrates how Japan was angry at the West for withholding economic tools, which further motivated it to use force as a way to gain them itself. Furthermore, they feared that they would be destroyed economically if the United States and other Western countries continued to grow, which led to them mobilizing themselves economically. In an essay, it is claimed that Japan has to simultaneously battle Russian, American, and British forces in order to gain its own imperialistic colonies and use force as a way to get the land needed to economically stabilize itself (Doc. 4). This essay was likely written with the purpose of reaching government officials and urge them to fight against possible Western influence within the Eastern hemisphere. They knew that if the Western powers gained dominance in the East as well, they would be left with close to nothing and would have to deal with severe economic consequences. As a result of this, the fight against economic decline continued through more imperialistic pursuits. Beyond the economic implications of opposition to the West, Japan additionally increased its own nationalism under the notion that it was the best Eastern country and that every other country in Asia should fall under it. As an example, Korea was taken over under this belief system, and many others followed. In an image, a large amount of Singaporean children are being educated on Japanese writing (Doc. 7). This image was published in a large Japanese newspaper as a way of displaying their own propaganda and their idea that they were superior to every other nation in the East to the general Japanese population. By teaching their own language to the rest of Asia, they were able to establish their power in ways other than economic, but it also furthered their economic state, since they had more overall influence.

There were overall many different economic motivations for the imperialism that Japan pursued, including its fear of falling behind its Western counterparts which made it forcibly establish itself more and increased its nationalism, its growing industrialization which required raw materials from other nations to develop, and the need for new economic markets and territory to exploit economically, which caused Japan's pursuit of Manchuria. The large scope of economic motivations supporting Japanese imperialism demonstrate how it was the leading cause for this imperialism to occur.

Below you will find a sample student response to the DBQ above. Read it, then whether or not they earned each point on the rubric.

If you award them the point, you must justify it by copying and pasting the sentences from the response for which you awarded them the point.

If you DO NOT award the point, you must write one sentence explaining what the student needs to improve in order to earn the point.

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During the period 1900-1945, economic motives that were the leading cause of Japanese imperialism because they had an immense struggle with lack of resources, rivalries, and access to trading routes. The Japanese were put into a very complex situation by some countries like England or Russia because they had economic issues. Most of the times, they had no other option than to be an imperialist country because of the situations they were put into.

During this time period, Japan was known to not be doing it's best financially. As everyone started to industrialize, Japan was focused on other things like its leader. The consequences of getting distracted led them to be the underdog amongst all the other countries. Compared to Russia, Japan barely had trading connections and their resources was very limited. Their foreign goods were exported by very few ports and they traded with as least as many countries as possible. Being put under their circumstances, Japan was practically forced into becoming an imperialist country. To add on, Japan had very little land and their market was struggling by the day. After the early 1900's, Japan started to pick up the pace and started to industialize at a high speed. Soon enough, Japan invaded China and short after, declared war on the U.S. The Japanese were also desperate to take control of as much land as possible and conquer all their allies in order to gain stronger possession over their resources.

To start off, one of the economic motives that led to Japanese imperialism was the need for goods and the limitations on trading routes. Since Japan was struggling econimically, they depended on trade since their allies were already industrialized. In passage 1, Russia insisted on taxing Japan 12 times more the amount of port tax that Russians due in order to pass through Port Arthur which allowed foreign goods to enter through Manchuria. The journal states, "If Russia occupies other parts of Manchuria and extends this method of levying taxes there, Japanese business may have to endure terrible hardships, possibly cutting us out of the Manchurian trade altogether." Since the Russians decided to tax the Japanese, it can put them in a harsh situation in which could cut off any thing being imported or exported by the Japanese which limits any trade through that route. In passage 2, England claims that it wants to "deny access to its colonies" which means the Japanese would have no access to any goods or resources in all of England. Fuminaro Konoe says, "Japan is limited in territory, poor in natrual resources, and has a meager domestic market for manufactured products. If England closed off its colonies, how would we be able to assure our nation's secure survival?" The Japanese sided with Germany becoming based on militarism since they were both betrayed by the British's decision. In passage 5, Japan started to plan to conquer China (especially North China) in order to get a better hold and control over its materials. The article states, "Japan requires the products of this area for its own uses, but even if she did not, she would have had to strike here in order to prevent China's industrialization and the unifcation which she fears would result from it." Japan was aiming at the Shaanxi province because thrives in the coal and steel industry which is a major shortage in Japan.

Next, one of the reasons in which why Japan became imperialist is because it faced rivalry between the industrialized countries. Since Japan was not industrialized yet, it felt the need to become better than Rusia and England. In passage 6, Japan wanted to have full control over North China in order to get access to all the resources. Toichi Nawa states, " It is highly dountful that Japan has the necessary capital and sources to cope with such a monumental task. The lure of empire building in Asia is therefore a grave danger for our country's economic advance." If Japan were to lose the war over China, it would have to face the consquence of being prevented to getting any access to China's resources which comes with many consequences because it flourishes in the silk and rice industry. In passage 4, Japan realizes the U.S and Russia are completely industrialized especially when it comes to military technology. The Japanese army officer states, "As american economic power advances, the United States will become the campion of the Western peoples. Our country must resist the enroachments of Russia to the north as it simutaneously contronts British and American power to the south." Japan later then plans to use Manchuria as a strategy which will give them an advantage in becoming better than the United Srares and Russia. The essay says, "If the Manchuria-Mongolia region is brought under our influence, then our control over Korea will be stabalized." In passage 7, the photograph shows a Japanese instructor teaching a language class. Japan during the year 1943, has evolved completely. Even though it is not the most industrialized, it has become superior to other countries. By teaching the language, they were spreading their knowledge and trying to make rapid advancements within their people. On the contrary, Japans restrictions caused it to be greedy with what it wanted. Although, the other countries abused their rule and their power over Japan, it started to transform Japan into the same way. Many people thought the Japanese would turn on them instantly. For example, in document 3, it states, "One major railroad in Manchira was already built with Japanese capital, and another one is almost halfway completed. It is only a matter of time before the most fertile region of Manchuria would be entirely under the Japanese domination."