TO WHAT EXTENT WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR THE METROPOLE TO ADHERE TO THE IMPERIAL MENTALITY?

By Lewis Horne

CONTENTS

Background: British and French Societies (1870-1914)

Imperialism and politics in the metropoles

Culture in the metropoles: Art & Propaganda

Education and imperialism

Conclusion

Bibliography

BRITISH AND FRENCH SOCIETIES (1870-1914)

Age of New Imperialism- fuelled by industrial revolution and colonialism

Growing nationalism- influenced all colonizers

Class societies

Imperial Spectrum: Minimalists- M. K. Booker, F. Madden, B. Porter

Maximalists- A. Burton, C. Hall, J. M. Mackenzie, J. Richards

France Debate over ‘popular imperialism’ within France

Clash between imperialist advocates and colonialist oppositionists

Britain Jameson: Split between ‘modernism’ and ‘popular culture’

Literature used as a means of spreading imperialism in the late 19th century

IMPERIALISM AND POLITICS IN THE METROPOLES

Politics in Britain W. E. Gladstone (1868-74)- Liberal

Benjamin Disraeli (1874-1880)- Conservative

W. E. Gladstone- (1880-1885)- Liberal

Lord Salisbury (1885, 1886-1892, 1895-1902)- Conservative

Herbert Asquith (1908-1916)- Liberal

Britain acted as the model that most liberals throughout Europe sought to copy

Enoch Powell (Conservative)- ‘The British empire had been a ‘myth’ , a ‘deception’, an ‘invention’, all along’.

Parliamentary Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884

Politics in France Opportunist Republicans: Jules Grevy (1879-1887), Armand Fallieres (1906-1913)

Political debate over African intervention

Clashes between pro- and anti-expansionists

‘Colonial group’- led by Eugene Etienne

CULTURE IN THE METROPOLES- ART

British imperialist art Captured British imagination through: ‘hero-worship and sensational glory, adventure

and the sporting spirit’

Largely dictated by class

Artists 1880’s and 1890’s: (Artists) Lady Elizabeth Butler, Richard Woodville, (War Artists) Melton Prior and Frederic Villiers

Utilized alongside propaganda and the news

Provided a heroic and romanticised vision of Empire

French imperialist artArtists: Gustave Guillaumet, Etienne Dinet, Auguste Renoir, Jean Geiser

Imperial locations as sources of inspiration

Algeria, Bou Saâda

French public opinion was not systematically enthusiastic about new imperial acquisitions

Colonialism still heavily influenced a notable amount of cultural producers

CULTURE IN THE METROPOLES- PROPAGANDA

British Propaganda Promoted using: postcards, textbooks, toys and games, popular music, religious tracts and consumer

goods

Empire sold to British public in terms of John Hobson’s view

Ideological Cluster: renewed militarism, a devotion to royalty, an identification and worship of national heroes, a contemporary cult of personality and racial ideas associated with Social Darwinism

Exhibitions- use of imperial themes

Primrose League

French Propaganda

‘Scramble for Africa’ caused an increase in pro- and anti-imperialist propaganda

Parti colonial

‘colonial exhibitions’ in the metropole

EDUCATION AND IMPERIALISM

Britain Propaganda utilized to encourage imperialism amongst younger generations

Particularly evident in public schools towards the end of the 19th century

Propagandists usually targeted the tertiary sector- universities

Royal Colonial Institute

France Dramatic expansion of literacy between 1871-1900

history teaching in schools justified imperialism

Books about the Orient used as school prizes

Colonial developments and discoveries were integrated into medicine schools and universities

CONCLUSIONS

Britain- Imperialism Important

The imperialist mentality was unquestionably evident in the metropoles

Agree with Mackenzie- ‘governmental imperial support’, ‘imperial cluster’

‘popular imperialism’ constituted a large holding in British culture during the age of new imperialism- yet consciousness of this is debateable

1870’s and 1880’s the empire and society began to need each other

Education was vital for the development of imperialism

France- Imperialism Less important

Berny Sebe- highlights the visibility of the colonial theme in the metropole

James. R. Akerman – The new French empire created after 1870 was not a manifestation of the popular will, as public opinion was deeply sceptical about the benefits of overseas colonies until at least the 1920’s’.

1890’s new popular imperialism in France was merely old popular nationalism in disguise

BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrew, C. M., ‘The French Colonialist Movement during the Third Republic: The Unofficial Mind of Imperialism’, Cambridge University Press, Vol.26, (1976), 143-166.

Christophe, C., A Social History of France n the Nineteenth Century, (Oxford, 1994).

Hall, C., At Home With The Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World, (Cambridge, 2006).

Kennedy, D., Britain and Empire, 1880-1945, (New York, 2002).

Mackenzie, J. M., European empires and the people, (Manchester, 2011).

Mackenzie, J. M, Imperialism and Popular Culture, (Manchester, 1986).

Mackenzie, J. M, Propaganda and Empire, (Manchester, 1984).

Mayhall, L. E., The Military Suffrage Movement: Citizenship and Resistance in Britain, 1860-1930, (Oxford, 2003), p.12.

Mitchener, K. J., and Weidenmier, M., ‘Trade and Empire’, The Economic Journal, Vol.118, No.533, (2008), 1805-1834.

Nord, P., ‘The Welfare Sate in France, 1870-1914, French Historical Studies, Vol.18, No.3, (1994), 821-838.

Page, M. E., Colonialism: an international, social, cultural and political encyclopaedia, (California, 2003).

Parsons, T., The British Imperial Century. 1815-1914: A World History Perspective, (Maryland, 1999), 23-24.

Podmore, W., British Foreign Policy Since 1870, (Illinois, 2008).

Porter, A., ‘Britain, the Cape Colony, and Natal, 1870-1914: Capital, Shipping, and the Imperial Connexion’, The Economic History Review, Vol.34, No.4, (1981), 554-557.

Porter, B., The Absent-Minded Imperialists, (Oxford, 2006).

Rotenberg, R., ‘Metropolitanism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Nineteenth-Century Colonial Metropoles’, American Anthropologist, Vol.103, No.1, (2001), 7-15.

Springhall, J., ‘Up Guards and at Them!’ British Imperialism and Popular Art, 1880-1914’, in J. M., Mackenzie, Imperialism and Popular Culture, (Manchester, 1986).

Trotha, T., ‘Colonialism’, in S. Berger (ed.), A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Europe: 1789-1914, (Oxford, 2006), 433-444.

Vann, M. G., ‘The Third Republic and Colonialism, 1870-1918’, University of Portsmouth, 19th January 2015, www.port.ac.uk.

QUESTIONS?