Imperialism DBQ
Maddison
From 1750-1914 many people had different point of views both positive and
negative regarding the ideal of imperialism and its effects. Persons who had favorable
opinions of imperialism were mostly imperialist nations themselves. They had this
opinion because of their ethnocentric and racial superiority attitudes. Others who had a
negative view on imperialism were the people who were subjected to it. They did not like
imperialism because foreign people dominated their land and treated them unfairly.
Opinions that favor imperialism are shown in documents 1, 2, 3, part of 4, 6, and 7.
In document 1, William Bentinck who was the head of the British East India Company
expressed his concern for banning the practice of sati in India. He felt that it was a barbaric
practice and immoral, but at the same time he didn’t want to ban it and alienate all of the
Indians against the British. He stated that it was more important to maintain the safety of the
British Empire in India than abolish the practice of sati because all of the benefits that Britain
received from having a colony in India. This shows that his imperialist attitude was far more
important than his concern for the people of India. Thomas Babington Macaulay said that
the Indian language is very poor and unintelligent, and that it should removed and replaced
with the language of English or Sanskrit (Document 2.) He felt that the British had ethnic
superiority over the Indians and that his language was the right one. This is a great example
of social Darwinism. The reason he felt that his country was superior is because of the
ethnocentric attitudes of the British. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany said that in order to be
successful there must be some type of foreign trade, specifically overseas via boats.
(Document 3) He wanted to create new markets and was very pro naval. He thought that
this would help advance imperialism for Germany. An additional document that might be
useful pertaining to this essay would be writings of a common citizen of Germany and their
opinions on oversea trade and imperialism, because only the opinions of the elite class
are expressed and not of the common people. In 1871 Dadabhai Naoroji wrote about the
benefits of British rule in India. He acknowledged the fact that the British provided peace
and order for Indian citizens, freedom of speech and press, security of life and property,
improved government, equal justice, infrastructure, and an increased economy. These were
all signs of a successful imperialist nation. (Document 4) Another document that might be
helpful would be a chart on the impact of infrastructure on the Indian economy because it
would show the benefits of British imperialism. In document 6, French premier Jules Ferry
believed that export markets were vital for French industry. Trade with Germany and the
U.S. was cut off, and they needed another source of profit by selling new products to beat
out competition. He thought that the French were a superior race and he had an
ethnocentric social Darwinist attitude as well. Jules wanted France to be powerful and
spread their influence all around the world by imperialism. The United States Congress
expresses a positive view on imperialism on the topic of annexing the Hawaiian Islands to
Unites State in document 7. They said that they would not take away the laws of Hawaiians
but instead put special laws in place for them. All the money from the Hawaiians would go to
them except for government activities because those will go to the U.S. government. This
was a vast majority of the money and they blatantly lied to the Hawaiians. Their main goal
was to imperialize and reek in benefits from them.
Opposing opinions that reject imperialism are presented in part of document 4,
and documents 5 and 8. Dadabhai Naoroji also proved some negative points about
British Rule in document 4. He said that the British promised to help the Indians but
instead breached their pledges and did not give the Indians fair representation in
legislation. They did not treat the Indians fairly nor did they treat them as British subjects.
This made the Indians feel as though they were inferior to the British. One man who was
opposed of British rule in India was Mohandas K. Gandhi who used nonviolent protests
to gain Indian independence. Document 5 tells of Moshweshewe who was the Chief of
the Basuto people’s opinion on the Dutch Boers living in his territory. He thought that the
Boers were friends of the Africans but instead they only wanted the farm land for
themselves and began driving out the Africans. This shows how unfair this was to the
Basuto people, who trusted the Boers but in the end were betrayed. A letter to the
House of Representatives of the United States by Queen Liliuokalani is a good example
of an anti-imperialistic attitude. She states in this letter that she is protesting against the
annexation of Hawaii because they are taking over one million acres of land from Hawaii
without compensation. She is protesting this because she feels that the land is rightfully
hers and the citizen’s of Hawaii not the United States, and that it is unfair to them.
The New Age of Imperialism sparked many different viewpoints; positive from the
imperialists themselves due to ethnocentricity, and negative from those who were
subjected to imperialism because of unfair domination.