For more than two hundred years between 1603 and 1868 AD, the authority of the Kingdom of Japan (Tokugawa Shogunate), although it led to the unification of the country and the creation of nationwide peace, did not under any circumstances allow its citizens to travel abroad or foreigners to visit them. Trade was permitted only to a limited extent with the Netherlands and China. Were it not for this, Van Gogh would not have become that great painter, because at that time in the Netherlands, color (paint) came only from Japan, which was a fascinating thing.
In short; Japan was a closed and backward kingdom until that time, meaning the year 1853 AD, when the US Navy attacked the coast of Edo (now Tokyo) with an advanced military formation, causing shock and astonishment for the rulers and the entire country. Following this, under the reign of Mutsuhito between 1868 and 1912 AD, the era of enlightenment began, bringing about a significant transformation in politics, economy, and law. Foreign experts in science, engineering, and education guided the country in building and establishing the telegraph and railway networks, and after a few decades, they turned Japan into such an industrial and powerful nation that it was able to stand against America in World War II—even though America, their enemy, was the very reason and source of their awakening and consciousness.
Therefore; the enemy alone is not the cause of the destruction and backwardness of some nations, as much as those nations themselves have structural problems within their mindset, culture, and nature.