chapter 33wp.lps.org/tlarson/files/2013/11/chapter-33.pdfthe “great game”: russian vs. british...

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Chapter 33

The Building of Global Empires


Imperialism in Asia, ca. 1914


The idea of Imperialism

n  Term dates from mid-19th century

n  In popular discourse by 1880s

n  Military imperialism q  Later, economic and

cultural varieties q  US imperialism


Motivation for Imperialism

n  Military n  Political n  Economic

q  European capitalism n  Religious n  Demographic

q  criminal populations q  Dissident populations


Manifest Destiny

n  Discovery of natural resources n  Exploitation of cheap labor n  Expansion of markets

q  limited


The “White Man’s Burden”

n  Rudyard Kipling (1864-1936) q  Raised in India, native Hindi speaker q  Boarding school in England, then return to India (1882)

n  French: mission civilisatrice


Geopolitical considerations

n  Strategic footholds q  Waterways q  Supply stations q  Imperial rivalries


Domestic Political Considerations

n  Crises of industrialism n  Pressure from nascent Socialism n  Imperial policies distract proletariat from domestic

politics q  Cecil Rhodes: imperialism alternative to civil war


Technology and Imperialism

n  Transportation q  Steamships q  Railroads

n  Infrastructure q  Suez Canal (1859-1869) q  Panama Canal (1904-1914)


Weaponry

n  muzzle-loading muskets n  Mid-century: breech-loading rifles

q  Reduce reloading time n  1880s: Maxim gun, 11 rounds per second


The Military Advantage

n  Battle of Omdurman (near Khartom on Nile), 1898 q  Five hours of fighting

n  British: six gunboats, twenty machine guns, 368 killed n  Sudanese: 11,000 killed


Communications

n  Correspondence q  1830 Britain-India: 2 years q  After Suez Canal, 2 weeks

n  Telegraph q  1870s, development of submarine cables q  Britain-India: 5 hours


The Jewel of the British Crown: India

n  East India Company n  Monopoly on India trade n  Original permission from Mughal emperors n  Mughal empire declines after death of Aurangzeb,

1707


Home of a Wealthy Family in Calcutta


British Conquest

n  Protection of economic interests through political conquest

n  British and Indian troops (sepoys)


British Colonial Soldiers


Sepoy Revolt, 1857

n  Enfield rifles n  Cartridges in wax paper greased with animal fat

q  Problem for Hindus: beef q  Problem for Muslims: pork

n  Sepoys capture garrison q  60 soldiers, 180 civilian males massacred (after surrender)

n  Two weeks later, 375 women and children murdered n  British retake fort, hang rebels


Britain establishes direct rule

n  Pre-empts East India Company n  Established civil service staffed by English n  Low-level Indian civil servants


British Rule in India

n  Organization of agriculture q  Crops: tea, coffee, opium

n  Stamp of British culture on Indian environment n  Veneer on poor Muslim-Hindu relations


Imperialism in Central Asia

n  British, French, Russians complete for central Asia q  France drops out after Napoleon q  Russia active after 1860s in Tashkent, Bokhara,

Samarkand, and approached India

n  The “Great Game”: Russian vs. British intrigue in Afghanistan q  Preparation for imperialist war q  Russian Revolution of 1917 forestalled war


Imperialism in Southeast Asia

n  Spanish: Philippines n  Dutch: Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) n  British establish presence from 1820s

q  Conflict with kings of Burma (Myanmar) 1820s, established colonial authority by 1880s

q  Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore for trade in Strait of Melaka n  Base of British colonization in Malaysia, 1870s-1880s

n  French: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, 1859-1893 q  Encouraged conversion to Christianity


Imperialism in Africa, ca. 1914


The Scramble for Africa (1875-1900)

n  French, Portugese, Belgians, and English competing for “the dark continent”

n  Britain establishes strong presence in Egypt, Rhodesia q  Suez Canal q  Rhodesian gold. diamonds


Rewriting African History

n  Ancient Africa n  Implications for justification of imperialist rule n  European exploration of rivers (Nile, Niger,

Congo, Zambesi) q  Information on interior of Africa q  King Leopold II of Belgium starts Congo Free State,

commercial ventures q  Takes control of colony in 1908, renamed Belgian

Congo


South African (Boer) War 1899-1902

n  Dutch East India establishes Cape Town (1652) q  Farmers (Boers) follow to settle territory, later called Afrikaners q  Competition and conflict with indigenous Khoikhoi and Xhosa

peoples n  British takeover in 1806, slavery a major issue of conflict

q  Afrikaners migrate eastward: the Great Trek, overpower Ndebele and Zulu resistance with superior firepower

q  Establish independent Republics n  British tolerate this until gold is discovered n  White-white conflict, black soldiers and laborers n  Afrikaners concede in 1902, 1910 integrated into Union

of South Africa


Village around a Kraal


The Berlin West Africa Conference (1884-1885) n  Fourteen European states, United States

q  No African states present q  Rules of colonization: any European state can take

“unoccupied” territory after informing other European powers

n  European firepower dominates Africa q  Exceptions: Ethiopia fights off Italy (1896); Liberia a

dependency of the US


Systems of Colonial Rule

n  Concessionary companies q  Private companies get large tracts of land to exploit natural

resources q  Companies get freedom to tax, recruit labor: horrible abuses q  Profit margin minimal

n  Direct Rule: France q  “civilizing mission” q  Chronic shortage of European personnel; language and cultural

barriers q  French West Africa: 3600 Europeans rule 9 million


Indirect Rule

n  Frederick D. Lugard (Britain, 1858-1945) q  The Dual Magnate in British Tropical Africa (1922)

n  Use of indigenous institutions n  Difficulty in establishing tribal categories,

imposed arbitrary boundaries


Imperialism in Oceania, ca. 1914


European Imperialism in Australia and New Zealand n  English use Australia as a penal colony from 1788 n  Voluntary migrants follow; gold discovered 1851 n  Smallpox, measles devastate natives n  Territory called “terra nullus”: land of no one n  New Zealand: natives forced to sign Treaty of

Waitangi (1840), placing New Zealand under British “protection”


Australian Aborigine


European and Native Population in Australia and New Zealand

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1800 1900

NativeEuropean


European Imperialism in the Pacific Islands n  Commercial outposts

q  Whalers seeking port q  Merchants seeking sandalwood, sea slugs for sale in

China q  Missionaries seeking souls

n  British, French, German, American powers carve up Pacific islands q  Tonga remains independent, but relies on Britain


US Imperialism

n  President James Monroe warns Europeans not to engage in imperialism in western hemisphere (1823) q  The Monroe Doctrine: all Americas a U.S. Protectorate

n  1867 purchased Alaska from Russia n  1875 established protectorate over Hawai’i

q  Locals overthrow queen in 1893, persuade US to acquire islands in 1898


Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898-1899) n  US declares war in Spain after battleship Maine

sunk in Havana harbor, 1898 q  Takes possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam,

Philippines q  US intervenes in other Caribbean, Central American

lands, occupies Dominican Repubilc, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti

n  Filipinos revolt against Spanish rule, later against US rule


The Panama Canal

n  President Theodore Roosevelt (in office 1901-1909) supports insurrection against Colombia (1903)

n  Rebels win, establish state of Panama n  U.S. gains territory to build canal, Panama Canal

Zone n  Roosevelt Corollary of Monroe Doctrine

q  U.S. right to intervene in domestic affairs of other nations if U.S. investments threatened


Early Japanese Expansion

n  Resentment over Unequal Treaties of 1860s n  1870s colonized northern region: Hokkaido, Kurile

islands, southern Okinawa and Ryukyu islands as well n  1876 Japanese purchase warships from Britian, dominate

Korea n  Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) over Korea results in

Japanese victory n  Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) also ends in Japanese

victory


Economic Legacies of Imperialism

n  Colonized states encouraged to exploit natural resources rather than build manufacturing centers

n  Encouraged dependency on imperial power for manufactured goods made from native raw product q  Indian cotton

n  Introduction of new crops q  Tea in Ceylon


Imperialism and migration during the nineteenth and early twentieth century


Labor Migrations

n  Europeans move to temperate lands q  Work as free cultivators, industrial laborers q  32 million to the US 1800-1914

n  Africans, Asians, and Pacific islanders move to tropical/subtropical lands q  Indentured laborers, manual laborers q  2.5 million between 1820 and 1914


Colonial Conflict

n  Thousands of insurrections against colonial rule q  Tanganyika Maji Maji Rebellion against Germans

(1905-1906) q  Rebels sprinkle selves with magic water (maji maji) as

protection against modern weapons; 75000 killed n  “Scientific” Racism developed

q  Count Joseph Arthurd de Gobineau (1816-1882) q  Combines with theories of Charles Darwin

(1809-1882) to form pernicious doctrine of Social Darwinism


Nationalism and Anticolonial Movements

n  Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1883), Bengali called “father of modern India”

n  Reformers call for self-government, adoption of selected British practices (e.g. ban on sati) q  Influence of Enlightenment thought, often obtained in

European universities n  Indian National Congress formed 1885

q  1906 joins with All-India Muslim League

chapter 33wp.lps.org/tlarson/files/2013/11/chapter-33.pdfthe “great game”: russian vs. british...

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