how did conflict between china and england allow the u.s. to gain access into asia and how did asians respond?

Question

also,
what are the causes of the spanish-american war and what were the results of the war?

Answer 1

This question has been unanswered for a long time, so I guess I'll take a crack at it. I think you're talking about the Open Door policy and the Boxer Rebellion. The Spanish-American War is wrapped into that, so I can probably answer all this at once instead of splitting it into two answers.

The story is set in the Age of Imperialism. Americans didn't like imperialists, because America was once a colony itself. Imperialism was spearheaded by the Europeans, especially Britain, but it also included France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Russia, and Japan.

Since the Ming Dynasty, China had isolated itself, but Britain opened it up to trade, and, after the two Opium Wars, there was a system of Unequal Treaties that used Treaty Ports in China administered by the Tsungli Yamen to control trade. Britain was the main beneficiary, but Germany, Portugal, France, and Russia were also involved. They divided China up into "spheres of influence." The U.S., not wanting to be imperialists, sent missionaries to convert the heathen to Christianity.

In 1894-95, the Japanese soundly defeated the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War. This opened China up further, and the U.S. looked on with increasing envy at the markets open to the world, but protected by the spheres of influence, from which America was excluded.

Spain, which at one time nominally controlled about half the world, was tottering. Her colonial possessions had dwindled to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. There was an insurrection in Cuba which was being brutally suppressed by the Spaniards. To sell newspapers, the Hearst and Pulitzer chains started calling for the U.S.A. to help out the poor Cubans. This was called "yellow journalism." Today we'd call them "hawks" or "warmongers."

The battleship USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor. (It was due to coal dust -- an accident -- but that wasn't known until decades later.) The newspapers blamed the explosion on the Spaniards. The U.S. ambassador demanded that Spain free Cuba, or else. Spain was goaded into declaring war on America.

Right off the bat, the U.S. Navy, led by Adm. Dewey, sailed into Manila Bay and sunk the Spanish Fleet. Later, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders stormed up Santiago Hill, and before you know it, the Spanish-American War was over.

Puerto Rico and Guam became American possessions. President McKinley agonized over what to do with the Philippines, because the Americans didn't want to become imperialists. Finally he decided to take them over in order to civilize and Christianize the natives. A Philippines insurrection led by Emilio Aguinaldo was brutally suppressed by Americans led by Gen. Arthur MacArthur, father of future war hero Douglas MacArthur. Future general Dwight Eisenhower also saw service in the Philippines.

The Philippines were promised independence "as soon as they were ready to rule themselves." That day didn't come until 1954.

The Spanish-American War was never about taking Cuba from Spain, so Cuba did not become an American colony. Instead, it became an independent country, but the Congress passed the Platt Amendment to the Monroe Doctrine which basically said America will run the show in Havana, which it did until Fidel Castro came along in 1959.

Meanwhile, in 1898, the U.S. annexed the Hawaiian Islands. With Hawaii, Guam, and Manila in American hands, the U.S. had a trade route across the Pacific toward China.

Still not wanting to become an imperialist but increasingly frustrated by the Treaty Ports system and the Tsungli Yamen, the United States declared an "Open Door" policy toward China whereby every country would have equal access to that market. This meant that American merchants would be on an equal footing with merchants from imperialist countries.

The Chinese reacted to these foreign intruders who were looting their country. Following the murderous Taiping and Nian Rebellions of the previous half-century, Chinese Boxers, with the implicit support of the Empress Dowager and de facto ruler Cixi, rose up to expel the foreign delegations from Peking and the port city of Tientsin. In Embassy Row, the Boxer Rebellion was touch-and-go for a while, but an international force that included U.S. Marines quelled the uprising and saved the foreign women, children, and diplomats in an action that somehow involved civil engineer and future U.S. president Herbert Hoover, who was stationed in China at the time.

And that's the end of the story that answers your question. As you see, events in China and the Spanish-American War were intertwined at the turn of the century.

Answer 2

Dude read the f!#king chapters...These questions are right out the lesson review section of history books..