Chapter 26: Varieties of Imperialism in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, 1750-1914

Flashcards covering key terms, figures, events, and concepts from Chapters 26 to 29, focusing on imperialism, industrialization, social changes, political movements, and the World Wars.

What measures did European empires take to maintain control over their colonies?

Empires utilized various methods including direct military force (e.g., British in India with Sepoys and crushing the Sepoy Rebellion), administrative structures (e.g., British raj, Indian Civil Service), economic exploitation (e.g., King Leopold II's Congo Free State, Cecil Rhodes's mineral exploitation, the Suez Canal), and political manipulation (e.g., Berlin Conference division of Africa).

Why was it difficult for empires to sustain control over their colonies?

Control was challenged by strong indigenous resistance movements (e.g., Zulu kingdom wars, Menelik II defeating Italians, Sepoy Rebellion, Emilio Aguinaldo's Filipino independence movement) and the high economic and human costs of maintaining large empires.

What were some significant harms inflicted by European imperialism on colonized regions?

Imperialism led to massive wealth extraction, economic deprivation for local populations, loss of lives through violent subjugation, destruction of indigenous cultures, and severe loss of political autonomy. Examples include the exploitation in the Congo Free State and the economic restructuring in India.

Berlin Conference (1884-1885)

A conference called by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to set rules for the partition of Africa, leading to the division of Africa among European powers based on 'effective occupation' without African representation.

British raj

The rule over much of South Asia between 1765 and 1947 by the East India Company and then by a British government, aiming to remake India on a British model.

Sepoy Rebellion (1857)

The revolt of Indian soldiers (sepoys) against British East India Company practices that violated religious customs, a significant challenge to British control.

King Leopold II and the Congo Free State

King of Belgium who oversaw brutal exploitation of the Congo for rubber and other resources, leading to mass atrocities and severe loss of life among the Congolese population.

Menelik II

Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1889–1911) who successfully enlarged Ethiopia and famously defeated an Italian invasion at Adowa in 1896, maintaining Ethiopian independence.

Indentured labor (post-1800)

A voluntary agreement binding a person to work for a specified period of years in return for free passage to an overseas destination; after 1800, most indentured laborers were Asians, often replacing slave labor.

How did industrialization and population growth impact social groups and gender roles?

It led to the emergence of defined social classes (proletariat, middle class), rapid urbanization, and distinct gender roles, especially during the Victorian Age, where 'separate spheres' relegated women to domesticity and men to public life.

What role did nationalism play in 19th and early 20th-century societies, and was it always positive?

Nationalism fostered unity and state-building (e.g., Italian unification by Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, German unification by Otto von Bismarck). However, it also led to chauvinism, xenophobia, and justifying social/racial inequalities (e.g., Social Darwinism) and conflicts (e.g., Young Turks' Turkification leading to ethnic tensions).

Major ideologies emerging from industrial societies

• Liberalism: Emphasized civil rights, representative government, and private property, popular among the middle classes.

• Socialism: Advocated government protection of workers, government ownership of industries, and equitable distribution of wealth (e.g., Karl Marx, Proletariat concept).

• Anarchism: Revolutionaries like Mikhail Bakunin who wanted to abolish all private property and governments, often by violence.

Separate spheres

A 19th-century idea in Western societies that men and women, especially of the middle class, should have clearly differentiated roles: women as wives, mothers, and homemakers; men as breadwinners and participants in business and politics.

Karl Marx and the Proletariat

German philosopher and founder of Marxist socialism, who theorized that the industrial working class (proletariat) would lead a revolution to distribute material benefits and scientific progress widely.

Meiji Restoration

The political program following the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, which centralized Japan and set it on a path of rapid industrialization and imperialism, a significant example of non-Western modernization.

How did World War I differently impact various global regions?

• Europe: Devastation, Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms, new national boundaries, political instability.

• Russia: Bolshevik Revolution led to withdrawal from war (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and civil war.

• Middle East: Collapse of Ottoman Empire, Mandate system (British/French control), rise of Arab nationalism (Hussein ibn Ali), Zionist movement gains momentum (Balfour Declaration), Turkish independence movement (Atatürk).

• China: May Fourth Movement arose from indignation over Japan's gains at Versailles.

• Japan: Expanded influence in East Asia by seizing German enclaves in China.

What were the most significant costs and consequences of World War I?

Unprecedented loss of human life (millions dead), economic devastation, rise of new dictatorial ideologies, political instability across empires, and a shift in global power dynamics.

Did World War I create any opportunities for some nations or regions?

Yes, it led to the collapse of old empires (Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian), creating opportunities for new nation-building (e.g., Turkey under Atatürk) and expanded influence for some victorious powers (e.g., Japan in East Asia, the rise of the United States as a global power).

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied Powers after World War I, demanding military disarmament, territorial concessions, and heavy reparations, contributing to German resentment.

League of Nations

An international organization founded in 1919 based on Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, intended to promote world peace and cooperation, but weakened by the U.S. refusal to join.

Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin

Radical Marxist political party led by Lenin, which seized power in Russia in November 1917, leading to Russia's exit from World War I and the establishment of the Soviet Union.

Mandate system

The allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the victorious powers after World War I, to be administered under League of Nations supervision, effectively a disguised form of colonialism.

Balfour Declaration (1917)

A statement issued by Britain's foreign secretary Arthur Balfour favoring the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, creating long-term conflict in the Middle East.

What were the distinctive characteristics of Stalinism in the Soviet Union?

Characterized by rapid, forced industrialization through Five-Year Plans, collectivization of agriculture (persecuting Kulaks), one-party totalitarian rule, extensive use of political terror, purges, and labor camps (Gulags) to eliminate opposition and dissent.

How did Stalinism affect women and social values?

Initially promoted women's equality in the workplace, aiming for full participation in the workforce. However, traditional family values were later reinforced, and women often bore the dual burden of work and home. State control permeated all aspects of social life, dictating values.

What was fascism, and what conditions allowed it to spread widely?

Fascism (e.g., Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy, Adolf Hitler's Nazis in Germany) was an aggressive nationalistic political ideology that glorified the state over the individual, militarism, and rejected liberal democracy and communism. It spread due to post-WWI economic instability, national humiliation, fear of communism, and charismatic leaders promising order and national revival.

Which regions of the world did the Great Depression most adversely affect?

Industrialized nations heavily dependent on international trade and finance were severely impacted (e.g., the United States, Germany, which relied on American loans). Primary product exporters (e.g., Latin America, parts of Africa/Asia that exported raw materials) also suffered greatly due to falling global demand and prices. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff exacerbated global trade declines.

What was distinctive about how World War II was fought, and what were its legacies?

WWII saw revolutionary tactical innovations (e.g., German Blitzkrieg), unprecedented scale of global conflict, total war mobilizing entire societies, and new military technologies (e.g., aircraft carriers in the Pacific like Battle of Midway, atomic bombs like Hiroshima). Its legacies include the Holocaust, the nuclear age, the Cold War, the rise of two superpowers (US and USSR), accelerated decolonization, and the formation of the United Nations.

Adolf Hitler and Nazism

Hitler led the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis), becoming dictator of Germany in 1933. Nazism was an extremist ideology based on racial purity (Mein Kampf's concept of Lebensraum), extreme nationalism, antisemitism, and aggressive expansionism.

Appeasement and the Munich Conference (1938)

Appeasement was a policy of making concessions to aggressive totalitarian powers (e.g., Britain and France to Hitler) in hopes of avoiding war. The Munich Conference epitomized this, giving Hitler the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, which ultimately failed to prevent WWII.

Holocaust and Auschwitz

The Holocaust was the Nazis' systematic genocide during WWII, killing approximately 6 million Jews, along with millions of other deemed 'undesirable.' Auschwitz was the largest and deadliest Nazi extermination camp in Poland, designed for mass murder.