From the Industrial Revolution to World War I
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A. Industrial Revolution
transformed the West
B. Advances in science
and technology,
industry,
transportation, and
communication
provided western
nations with many
advantages.
Western nations set out
to dominate the world!
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A. Imperialism vs. “New Imperialism”
 1. Imperialism defined as “the domination by one
country of the political, economic, or cultural life
of another country or region.”
▪ a. Exploration and colonization of the Americas
beginning in 1492
▪ b. Between 1500 – 1800, Europe had little influence on
the lives of the people in China, India, or Africa
 a. empowered by military
strength and economic
confidence
 b. Beginning in the 1870s,
Europeans brought much of the
world under its influence and
control
 1. Economic Interests Spur
Expansion
 a. Desire for raw materials
▪Rubber
▪Petroleum
▪Palm Oil
 b. Search for new markets
 a. Steam-powered merchant ships
and naval vessels needed bases
around the world to take on coal
and supplies.
 b. Nationalism: ruling a global
empire increased prestige.
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a. Genuine Concern
b. Moral duty/
obligation to spread
the blessings of
Western civilization.
 1.) medicine
 2.)law
 3.)Christian religion
(Great Commission)
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a. applied Darwin’s ideas
about natural selection
and survival of the fittest
to human societies.
b. Argued that
Europeans were
superior and their
imperial domination of
weaker races was simply
nature’s way of
improving the human
species
A. Weakness of NonWestern States
 B. Western
advantages/
technologies

 1. Maxim Machine guns
 2. Steam-driven
warships
American inventor Hiram Maxim
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In 1881 the American inventor, Hiram Maxim, visited the Paris Electrical
Exhibition. While he was at the exhibition he met a man who told him: "If you
wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these
Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility."
Maxim moved to London and over the next few years worked on producing an
effective machine-gun. In 1885 he demonstrated the world's first automatic
portable machine-gun to the British Army. Maxim used the energy of each
bullet's recoil force to eject the spent cartridge and insert the next bullet. The
Maxim Machine-Gun would therefore fire until the entire belt of bullets was used
up. Trials showed that the machine-gun could fire 500 rounds per minute and
therefore had the firepower of about 100 rifles.
The Maxim Machine-Gun was adopted by the British Army in 1889. The following
year the Austrian, German, Italian, Swiss and Russian armies also purchased
Maxim's gun. The gun was first used by Britain`s colonial forces in the Matabele
war in 1893-94. In one engagement, fifty soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele
warriors with just four Maxim guns
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A. Direct rule
 1. Sending officials and soldiers to administer
their colonies.
 2.Practiced by France.
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B. Indirect rule
 1. Using sultans, chiefs, or other local rulers to
govern colonists and encourage their children to
become educated in the mother country
 2. Used by Britain
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1. Local (Native) rulers left in place but were
expected to follow / obey the advice of
European advisers.
2. Cost less to run than a colony
3.Usually did not require a large commitment
of military forces.
1. Area in which an
outside power claimed
an exclusive
investment or trading
privileges.
 2. Prime Example:
China
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