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Military conscription (view source)
Revision as of 14:05, 21 November 2012
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*''Established: [[1872]]-[[1873]]''
Military conscription was first established in [[Meiji period]] Japan by a set of Conscription Acts in [[1872]]-[[1873]], and later revised in [[1883]]. This established the first citizen army in Japan - the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] - and the first organized in service to the nation-state in the modern sense of the term.
The chief figures involved in pushing for the institution of conscription included [[Omura Masujiro|Ômura Masujirô]] and [[Yamada Kengi]] of [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], and [[Tani Kanjo|Tani Kanjô]] of [[Tosa han|Tosa]]. They saw conscription not only as a means by which to strengthen the country's defenses against outside attack, but also as a means of strengthening it against uprisings against [[Meiji government|the new government]]. A centralized military would also help guard against regional governors gathering power and becoming regional warlords.
[[E.H. Norman]] argues that these men were well aware of elements within the Meiji government, and new-formed military, who still believed strongly in samurai ideals, who believed that commoner/peasant troops could not be as loyal and dutiful nor as skilled in combat as the samurai, people who might lead pro-feudal revolts against the new government in order to restore samurai rule if they were rubbed the wrong way. They were to be proven right, as the 1870s saw numerous [[shizoku rebellions|samurai uprisings]] of this sort, particularly in [[Kyushu]], culminating with the [[Satsuma Rebellion]] in [[1877]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*Norman, E.H. ''Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The Origins of Conscription''. New York: Institute for Pacific Relations, 1945. pp41-42.
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
[[Category:Political Institutions]]
Military conscription was first established in [[Meiji period]] Japan by a set of Conscription Acts in [[1872]]-[[1873]], and later revised in [[1883]]. This established the first citizen army in Japan - the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] - and the first organized in service to the nation-state in the modern sense of the term.
The chief figures involved in pushing for the institution of conscription included [[Omura Masujiro|Ômura Masujirô]] and [[Yamada Kengi]] of [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], and [[Tani Kanjo|Tani Kanjô]] of [[Tosa han|Tosa]]. They saw conscription not only as a means by which to strengthen the country's defenses against outside attack, but also as a means of strengthening it against uprisings against [[Meiji government|the new government]]. A centralized military would also help guard against regional governors gathering power and becoming regional warlords.
[[E.H. Norman]] argues that these men were well aware of elements within the Meiji government, and new-formed military, who still believed strongly in samurai ideals, who believed that commoner/peasant troops could not be as loyal and dutiful nor as skilled in combat as the samurai, people who might lead pro-feudal revolts against the new government in order to restore samurai rule if they were rubbed the wrong way. They were to be proven right, as the 1870s saw numerous [[shizoku rebellions|samurai uprisings]] of this sort, particularly in [[Kyushu]], culminating with the [[Satsuma Rebellion]] in [[1877]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*Norman, E.H. ''Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The Origins of Conscription''. New York: Institute for Pacific Relations, 1945. pp41-42.
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
[[Category:Political Institutions]]