Remember those questions on the bookmark activity?

Here are the answers!

Q. “Where was it hardest for the Europeans to conquer?”

It is hard to pick a specific place that was most difficult, as they all had challenges. Is it more difficult to conquer a place because of their strong military forces (like the Zulus in Africa), or because they have a smart ruler that outsmarts you (like Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia)?

That being said, many historians believe that the southern areas of Africa were the nations that had the most gruesome fighting. The Zulus were particularly fierce, especially for a force with no firearms! But the nation that gave the Europeans the most problems was Ethiopia. As we talked about in class, Italy failed to conquer Ethiopia due to Menelik’s foresight; when the Italians were faced by a well-disciplined, well-armed army, they failed to gain a foothold and Ethiopia remained an independent nation.

Q. “What ended imperialism?”

It can be argued that imperialism never really ended!

But for historical purposes, the Age of Imperialism ended on July 28, 1914, AKA the beginning of World War I. During the war the imperialist nations did not have the resources or manpower spare on imperialism, and after the war treaties were put into play to limit imperialism, which was recognized as a main reason WWI happened in the first place.

As an important note, some nations (India is a good example), actively supported their European ‘allies.’ India sent 1,000,000 troops to the battlefields of WWI. 75,000 of them died in battle.

Q. “How are imperialism and colonialism related?”

Colonialism is the expansion of a nation by moving a portion of their population from their homeland to the new territory, claiming it for their nation. For example, when Great Britain sent colonists to the New World, the areas they settled became a part of Great Britain.

While imperialism included some colonization, it was broader in scope. The nations of Europe learned that maintaining colonies was difficult and often led to revolutions (which were costly to put down, and you sometimes lost!). This led to imperialism; the spreading of national influence through various means.

Check your notes and your book; imperialism used settlement colonies, dependant colonies, protectorates, and spheres of influence to gain power in other nations. Colonialism used primarily settlement colonies.

Q. “How did all of this imperialism not start a major war earlier?”

The balance of power in Europe at this time kept most of the nations in check. What this meant is that all nations wanted as much power as they could get, but understood that if they got too much power that their neighbors would band together and ‘put them in their place.’

Another large factor was Great Britain. During the 1800s (specifically the reign of Queen Victoria), England was AMAZINGLY powerful. They had the unquestioned mastery of the seas, and an army that few could challenge. England walked the line between ‘too much’ and ‘just right’ in terms of power, and the other nations were very careful not to get involved in British affairs, while England was careful not to get too big!

Q. “How did imperialism help maintain the balance of power?”

Once the various areas in Africa and Asia were targeted by European nations, the race was on! Because of this, the balance of power was maintained by three important factors:

• Nations busy grabbing for regions of Africa were not busy trying to conquer their neighbors;

• The various powers of Europe realized that there was a lot of new territory to conquer, and more than enough for everyone to have a bit;

• Due to Great Britain’s dominance over international trade (and their understanding that other European nations would not attack them as long as everyone is making money), most of these nations were making money hand over fist!

Q. “Did the nations controlled by European powers convert their culture to more European views?”

Some assimilation happened in each case of imperialist power, as the people of the nation being controlled realized that there might be more comfort in the idea of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” Other people, like many of those in South Africa, resisted assimilation to the point of open revolt.

In most cases, the culture of the nation being taken over changed, keeping much of their old ways while bringing in the parts of the conquering nation that help them become stronger (and keeps the new landlord off of their back!) India is the best example, as even today they maintain much of their several-thousand-year-old culture intact while adopting a good deal of British efficiency in administration and industry.

Q. “What kept the African nations from banding together to fight the Europeans?”

Two major factors kept this from happening:

• As we talked about in class, many of the people of these African ‘nations’ DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE A NATION! European leaders drew these borders, NOT them! They were used to smaller tribal organization, and most had warred with each other for centuries. By the time they realized they had a common enemy (remember, they had NO fast communications!), their military was already destroyed.

• Most of the European nations were MASTERS at imperialism! By this point, they had several hundred years worth of experience at subjugating people who were technologically inferior to them, so they knew exactly how to keep these nations apart. They knew when to apply reward and when to apply punishment (in many cases, ESPECIALLY the punishment!).

Q. “What raw materials made a nation a target for imperialism?”

Africa: wheat, olives, coffee, bananas, cocoa, livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.), cotton, fish, vanilla, rubber (started out a little important, but became of HUGE importance by WWI!), fruit, rice, timber, sorghum (for molasses), tea, coconuts, petroleum (oil and coal), diamonds, limestone, gold, salt, zinc, iron ore, copper, rubies, graphite, tin ore, clay, and lots and lots of diamonds!

Asia: If you take all of the vast territory that comprises the Asian continent, virtually every natural resource was up for grabs! India and China in particular reflect much of what was found in Africa, also adding many more gemstones, much more tea and varied foodstuff, and (while not a raw material) a rich culture that is an import all its own!

Everywhere: More manpower to help fight future wars! The people from these colonies were VITAL to European efforts in WWI and even WWII!

Q. “Did India ever try to rebel against England?”

As India became ruled by Great Britain due to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (when they threw off the rule of the Dutch East India Company), they were not prepared to have organized, armed rebellion against England. Since English rule was mostly of an administration-based rule rather than a military-based one, the need to revolt was largely not present.

However, India did remove a large portion of British rule. Unlike almost every other revolution of the time, India’s removal from British rule occurred through mostly peaceful means. Ever hear of Gandhi? He was the leader and figurehead of this peaceful means of non-cooperation. At this point, India has a powerful enough economy and military to be considered a major world player, although it still struggles with problems from its ages-old culture clashing with modern sensibilities.

Q. “Why did Europeans not let the people that they took over practice their own culture?”

Let’s keep this one simple: human nature has shown time-after-time that so long as a group of people sees themselves as ‘us’ and another group as ‘them,’ conflict will happen at some point. By forcing assimilation, Europeans made the people that they conquered see less of a division of ‘us’ vs. ‘them,’ and therefore fewer revolutions SHOULD happen.

That is the theory, anyway. In reality, most people force such change because they see their culture as superior in every way, and therefore it should be the only one allowed. Europeans of the time (and people today are very little different) refused to accept that the lifestyle of anyone not living the ‘civilized,’ European culture had any merit.