Imperialism
Chapter 26
McKay 873-879,
Palmer 16.78,
16.81, 16.82
Imperialism
• “The colonialism of the late
nineteenth century”
• “New Imperialism” defined:
– Economic, political, military,
domination of one nation over a
territory, people, &/or nation
– Europeans made permanent
settlements in Asia and Africa
– Heyday = 1880-1914
• “Old Imperialism”
– Age of Exploration (1492-1860)
• Usually set up trading posts
but did not exert political,
cultural control of native
peoples
– Exceptions= Spanish
Empire, 13 Colonies
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Reasons for Imperialism
Economic
– New Markets
• Industrial Rev. created huge supply of
surplus goods
• Rise of US, Germany led to intense
competition for markets
– Raw Material
• Industrial Revolution caused high demand
for rubber, oil
– Cheap Labor
– Maintain high standard of living
Nationalism & International Prestige
– Every virile people has established colonial
power (Heinrich von Treitschke, a German
nationalist)
– Means of distracting population from
social/economic issues at home
National Security
– Alfred Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon
History, 1660-1783 (1890)
– American Naval Officers
– Said that in order to maintain power, nations
needed navies, and navies need coaling stations
around the world
Cecil Rhodes Colossus: Cartoon
illustrates the Cape-Cairo railway
project. Founded the De Beers
Mining Company & owned the
British South Africa Company. He
liked to "paint the map British red,"
and declared: "all of these stars ...
these vast worlds that remain out
of reach. If I could, I would annex
other planets."
Reasons for Imperialism
• Technical and Military Superiority
– Maxim gun (machine gun)
– Medicine
• Quinine for malaria
– Steam ship & telegraph
• Quick concentration of soldiers
• Social Darwinism
– Herbert Spencer justified domination of
superior races over weaker “inferior”
races
• Missionary/Civilizing
– Religious revival among bourgeoisie
– Motivated to bring civilization &
morality to the world
– Rudyard Kipling (Jungle Book)
– White Man’s Burden
• Poem which calls upon the civilized
world to accept its responsibility as
a power and enlighten the savage
world
The White Man's Burden (1899)
Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden-Send forth the best ye breed-Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild-Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden-In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Types of Imperial Territory
• Colonies
– India
– directly governed by white Euros
after 1857
• Protectorates
– Egypt
• rajah, prince maintained
territory and guaranteed to
suppress upheaval
• instructed what to do by a
European “resident” or
commissioner
• IE. Puppet regime
• Spheres of Influence
– China
– Maintained its political
independence
– Economically divided territory
where a Power would have
exclusive trading rights
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Marxist Critique of Imperialism
Vladimir Lenin
– Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
– Claimed that imperialism was the natural final stage
of capitalism
– Developed industrial nations attempt to delay the
inevitable proletariat revolution by exploiting less
developed nations for their resources and labor
– Predicted that communist revolution would begin in
less developed (agrarian-based) nations and spread
to the urban proletariat in developed nations
J.A. Hobson
– English socialist
– argued that imperialism is unnecessary and immoral
– result of the misdistribution of wealth
– If more of the wealth was given to the workers their
would not be capital for export
– It the workers had more purchasing power there
would be less need for external markets (Ford and
the Model T)
Classic Liberals disliked Imperialism
– Gladstone- “ The lust and love of territory have been
among the greatest curses of mankind.”
– Led to conflict and disrupted free trade
– Libs loved ‘freedom’, economic and personal
New Imperialism Impact on the Dark Continent
New Imperialism Impact on the Dark Continent
France
conquers
Algeria
Berlin
Conference
begins
Great Trek" of
Boers begins
Belgian
Congo
Free State
(1885)
Suez Canal
(1869)
1830
Ethiopians
repel Italian
conquest, at
the Battle of
Adwa (1896)
1871
1884
1899
1914
The Long Depression
(1873-96
“Dr.
Livingstone I
presume?”
Egypt
becomes
protectorate
state (1882)
Fashoda
Crisis
Boer War
Begins
Pre Imperialism Africa
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The Dark Continent
Europeans knew little of sub Saharan
called it Dark Continent
Sahara is almost as large as the who N. America
Centuries Euros only knew the coast (Gold, Ivory,
Slave), Nile, Niger, Congo Rivers
People black but very diverse physically, culturally
(over thousand languages)
Craftsmanship in arts, bronze sculpture, gold,
weaving
North was Islam, other areas were traditional
religions
Lived mainly in villages, agricultural or cattle
raising
Timbuktu was one great city
Ancient kingdoms were weakened by intertribal
wars, slave trade
Like Ottomans Africa came under European
assault when in was in weakened state
Before 1750 were no whites settlements in sub
Sahara
1910 1.1 mil whites lived with 5 mil blacks
Dr. Livingstone
• David Livingstone
– Explored central Africa in 1840s and
1850s
– Mapped and charted unexplored
territory
• Explored & mapped Zambezi River
• 1st white to look at Victoria Falls
– Performed medical, missionary, &
humanitarian work for London
Missionary Society
– no economic, political aims
• Disappeared in 1865
• Found by Henry Stanley 11/10/1871
– New York Herald (Yellow Journalism)
went looking for him
– Found him and uttered: Dr.
Livingstone I presume?
• Sensationalistic articles created great
interest in Africa throughout the world
Opening of Africa
• Stanley saw vast economic possibilities in
Africa and got the King of Belgium (King
Leopold II) to back him
• Belgian Congo
– International Congo Association
founded in 1878 (a private enterprise of
Leopold II)
• Stanley settled treaties with 500 chiefs
– for trinkets, yards of cloth
• Other Europeans started to become
interested (felt that they may miss out)
• The Scramble
– Stanley’s exploits set off a mad rush to
claim African territory among major
European powers
– German Karl Peters concluded treaties in
East Africa
– French Brazza claimed the Congo River
– Portuguese hoped to join Angola and
Mozambique
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Berlin Conference of 1885
Bismarck had little interest in African colonies
– ‘like a nobleman wearing a fur coat who can’t
afford underwear’
– Recognized it as potential for conflict
• Wanted to keep on good side GB & other
nations he had humbled & maintain Bal of
Power
• “my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is
Russia and here is France with Germany in the
middle; that is my map of Africa.”
Berlin Conference (1885-6)
– Bismarck hosted conference (as honest broker) to
set up ground rules for The Scramble (rush for
African colonies)
– Powers must physically occupy territory to claim it
– Gave façade of humanitarian goals
– Prohibited sale of alcohol and firearms
– End slave trade
Congo Free State (1885) created
– Recognized territory as personal property of
Leopold
– Said that Congo should not be a colony but gave
administration to Leo
– Congo River was internationalized, no tariff on
imports, slave trade eliminated
Congo Free State
• Slavery was eliminated but Leo’s desire to make
Congo profitable let to horrible abuses
• Europe and America demanded rubber & Congo
was few places that could supply
• Congolese were forced to meet quotas of sap
from rubber trees or face possible death
– Enforcers had to return with 1 hand for every
bullet they used
– “each time a corporal goes out to get rubber,
cartridges are given to him. He must bring
back all not used; and for every not used, he
must bring back a right hand…in six months,
they had used 6, 000 cartridges…
• Rubber trees were destroyed with no provision
to replace them
• Leo amassed personal fortune but still needed $
– borrowed from his own gov in 1889 and 95
• Press revealed Draconian methods and Belgian
gov took over in 1908 (year Leo died)
• Congo Free State became colony (Belgian
Congo)1908
• Worst atrocities were eliminated
Egypt
• Technically autonomous within Ottoman Empire
• Suez Canal
– Built by Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps
(French Engineer)
– Construction (1855-1869)
– Connected Red Sea with Mediterranean
– Financed as a joint stock company
– increasingly important to Britain
• Khedive Ismail
– Borrowed heavily to built an Opera House in
Cairo
– Lavish lifestyle led Egypt to financial straights
– Sold canal shares to Disraeli (PM)
– 1879 repudiated Egypt’s foreign debt
– GB and France forced the abdication of Ismail
• Egyptian nationals protested against British influence
• Arab riots caused British and other foreigners to flee
• British bombed Alexandria, sent in troops and put
new Kalif Tewfik under protection
• Egypt became a protectorate of G.B
The Fashoda Crisis
• France
– Still bitter about loses of Franco-Prussian War
– Bismarck encouraged them to be imperialists
• Suez Canal vitally important to Brits
– Over 3 thousand ships passed thru in 1882
– Linked GB with India
• Sudanese Mahdi (Guided One)
– Led holy war against British
– Charles “Chinese” Gordon killed in battle just
before reinforcements arrived (1885)
• General Kitchener with Winston Churchill under his
command started southward up the Nile and
defeated local Muslims in 1898 at Omdurman
– kept going south until he reached Fashoda
• Fashoda Crisis
– showdown between Britain and France
– French finally backed down (nervous about
Germany & dealing with Dreyfus Affair) and
recalled General Marchand
• But led to increased tensions between GB & France
Cape to Cairo
• Cecil Rhodes
– Quintessential British imperialist
– Dreamed of building a RR through Africa
• Cape to Cairo
– Cape Town S. Africa to Cairo
Egypt
– 1890, prime minister of Cape Colony,
– ran into independent Transvaal and
Orange Free State (Boers or Afrikaners)
• Afrikaners
– descendants of Dutch of 1600s had
made a “great trek” to escape British
rule (started 1830)
• Diamonds were then discovered in
Transvaal
• Transvaal refused to pass legislation
needed for mining
The South African War
• 1895 Rhodes sent armed irregulars to
start a revolution but were stopped
• Kruger Telegram
– William II, German emperor,
congratulated president Paul
Kruger of Transvaal, for defeating
the bully British
– Greatly inflamed tensions between
Germany and GB
• 1899 British went to war
• S. African (Boer) War lasted until 1902
• 300 thousand Brits found elusive
enemy
• They resorted to ravaging the
country, concentrations camps where
20 thousand died
• Once fighting stopped British, 2
states were united as Union of S.
Africa and given semi independent
status
• War left British very unpopular in
Europe
I express to you my sincere
congratulations that you and your
people, without appealing to the help
of friendly powers, have succeeded,
by your own energetic action against
the armed bands which invaded your
country as disturbers of the peace, in
restoring peace and in maintaining
the independence of the country
against attack from without.[1]
Imperialism in India and China
Palmer 16.82 & McKay Ch 26 pgs 877-882
Roots of British Imperialism in India
• Queen Elizabeth I
– granted English East India
Company (later the British East
India Company), a monopoly of
trade from the Cape of Good Hope
eastward to the Strait of Magellan
in 1600.
– In 1639 it acquired Madras on the
east coast of India
– Became principal European trading
center
• Through bribes, diplomacy, and
manipulation of weak native rulers,
the company became the dominant
political force
• English and French trading
companies fought one another for
supremacy
Roots of British Imperialism in India
• Seven Years' War (17561763) marked the end of the
French stake in the
subcontinent
• Until 1858, however, most
of India was still officially the
dominion of the Mughal
emperor
• Anger seething under the
governor-generalship of
James Dalhousie (18471856), upset cultural
sensibilities by banning
Hindu practices such as Sati
Seapoy Rebellion
• Was a dangerous rebellion in 1857
• Led by seapoys (native Indian
mercenaries employed by the British)
• Sepoys made up 5/6th of British army
there (Brits were busy with Crimean War
and action in China)
• Many Indian natives saw the British as
dangerous
• Banned widow burning, called sati
(suttee)
– Hindu widow threw herself on the
funeral pyre of her deceased husband
• Suppressed the Thugs
– Small band of holy assassins
• Threatened to ban caste
– British officer shot his mouth off about
this
• Displacement of land owners
The Attack of Mutineers, July 30, 1857
"One of their leaders waving his
sword, shouted 'Come on my braves!"
Indian Mutiny Continued
• Muslim population was
also agitated
• Wahhabi
fundamentalism, popular
reform movement that
sought to purify and
defend religious
practices of Islam
• Propaganda circulated to
Muslim sepoys that
cartridges were greased
with fat of a pig or to
Hindus a cow
• This put them over the
top and they rebelled
• Rebellion was brutally
put down
Execution by British cannon of Indian soldiers who
participated in the Indian rebellion of 1857
British Rule in India
• British re-examine their policies
• British East India Company and the
Mogul empire were replaced with
direct rule from Britain
• Allowed the local political structure to
exist
• Rajahs and maharajahs (Indian Upper
Class) would rule with the British
crown
• Queen Victoria was proclaimed
empress of India in 1877
• India’s supply of raw materials
supported Britain’s position as the
world’s workshop
• But they did very little trading with the
impoverished 315 mil
• Suppressed native industries
– “India can never again be a great
manufacturing country…”
John Tenniel, Disraeli and Queen Victoria
Exchanging Gifts (Punch Magazine, 1876)
(Queen Victoria granted Disraeli the title
Lord Beaconsfield
British Rule in India
• British favored education in
English (1835)
• Historian T.B. Macaulay said
Indian languages were vehicles
to barbarous and unenlightened
ideas
• Class of westernized Indians
grew to speak perfect English
and were educated in England
• Demanded more of a role in the
affairs of their country
• 1885 Hindu Indian National
Congress
• 1906 All-India Muslim League
• Nationalism spread as British
were targeted with criticism
• Targets were capitalists
• Nationalism took on a socialist
tone
• Tone of independence was
established before WWI
Imperialism in Asia: China and the West
16.83
China before Western Penetration
• The biggest bone of imperialism
• China was a point of conflict between
western, imperial nations
• Qing (aka Manchu) dynasty (16441912) loosely ruled over all that was
Chinese
• China considered the west to be
barbaric and remained isolationistic
– China was the Middle Kingdom and
everyone else were losers
• Qing dynasty was failing and unable
to preserve order
• White Lotus Society revolted in 1800
but was suppressed
• Heavenly Reason Society tried to
seize Peking (Beijing) in 1813
Taiping Rebellion of 1850
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20 million perished (population of GB)
Leader claimed to be brother of Jesus
Otherwise due to Chinese causes
Rebels attacked the Manchus (from
Manchuria 2 centuries before) as corrupt
foreigners
– They didn’t like poverty, extortion, rackrenting, and absentee landlords
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Taiping and Manchu leadership broke down
Chaos and banditry erupted
Warlords appeared
Manchu put down the Taiping rebels with
European help (after 14 years)
– IE. British General Gordon- Chinese Gordon
who was later killed in Africa
• Europeans began to extort concessions
from the Manchu and maintain the Qing
dynasty at the same time
• Effect was to sustain instability within
China and increase European access
Major-General Charles George
Gordon (1833-1885)
The Opening of China to the West
• Opium Wars 1839 – 1857
• Trade with China was difficult
• China desired few European
goods
• British East India Company
solved problem by getting
Chinese Tea by trading it for
Indian grown opium
• China resisted and in 1857
France and Britain (17 thousand)
burned the Emperor’s summer
palace
• Stole vases, tapestries, enamels,
jades
The Treaty System
• Treaties of Nanking (1842) and Tientsin
(1857)
• Complex interlocking agreements
• Treaty system led to:
– Hong Kong ceded to Britain
– Opened cities to Europeans as ports of entry
– “Treaty ports” including Shanghai and
Canton (Guangzhou) gave European “rights”
• Europeans were immune to Chinese law and
subject only to their own laws
• American and European gunboats policed
Yangtze River
• Settlements were established
• War indemnities were charged to the
Chinese!
• No import duty over 5 percent (nearly free
trade)
• Money from duties went to Europeans to
pay the indemnities
• Some money went to the Qing government
Annexations and Concessions
• Russians moved
down the Amur River
, established their
Maritime province and
founded Vladivostok
in 1860
• Japanese recognized
the independence of
Korea
• British annexed
Burma
• French annexed the
Indo-Chinese
peninsula (Vietnam,
Cambodia)
Japanese Imperialism
• Japan show imperialistic
tendencies
• Revealed their imperialist
tendencies in 1894 when they used
modern weapons, training,
organization to defeat the Chinese
• Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895)
• Annexes Formosa and Liaotung
peninsula (which reached into
Manchuria)
• Recognizes Korea’s independence
– Had designs on Manchuria which
Russia was also interested in (Trans
Siberian RR)
• Japan relented under pressure
from Russia, Germany, France and
gave peninsula back to China
Japanese Imperialism
• China borrowed heavily to
westernize (revenge
against the Japanese)
• Loans open China further
to western influence
• Partition of China seemed
inevitable
• Germany obtained a 99
year lease on Kiaochow
Bay and exclusive right in
Shantung
• More territories are ceded
• Russians obtained Port
Arthur (on Liatong
Peninsula) and the right to
build railroads in
Open Door
• U.S. demanded all nations have open
trade rights with China
• China should remain territorially intact
• Powers will have spheres of influence
• The condition of China is humiliating
to Chinese
• Imagine if foreign warships patrolled
Mississippi and foreigners were not
subject to our law, NY had settlements
were banking concentrated, foreigners
determined the tariff, the Camp David
was torched, Long Island and
California annexed, New England
being eyed by Canada and others
(Manchuria)
• Imperialism is leading to agitation
Boxers Uprising
• (western name) 1899 (the
Order of Literary Patriotic
Harmonious Fists) broke into
insurrection
• Pulled up railway tracks,
killed Chinese Christians, and
killed 300 foreigners
• Revolutionary movement in
China aimed at expulsion of
Manchus and foreigners grew
under Sun Yat-sen
• Joined Euro, Jap, US forces
put down boxers
• Charged an indemnity of 330
mil to Chinese (US got 24)