Untitled Flashcards Set

The Building of Global

Empires

The Idea of Imperialism

► Term dates from mid-19th

century

► In popular discourse by

1880s

► Refers to the domination of

European powers (later U.S.

and Japan) over other

countries throughout the

world.

► Military imperialism

▪ Later, economic and

cultural varieties

Modern Colonialism

► Refers to the sending of colonists to settle new

lands.

► Also, to the political, social, economic, and

cultural structures that enabled imperial powers

to dominate subject lands

▪ Some lands European settlers populated. Ex.

Australia, North America

▪ In others, were able to control their domestic

and foreign policies and introduce European

business practices, culture, and schooling

systems.

Motivation for Imperialism

► Military

► Political

► Economic

▪ Natural resources, exploitation of cheap labor,

expansion of markets.

► Religious

► Demographic – relieve population

pressure

▪ Criminal populations

▪ Dissident populations

Geopolitical considerations

► Strategic footholds

▪ Waterways

▪ Supply stations – for both commercial

and naval ships.

▪ Imperial rivalries – could foster

patriotism by focusing public attention

on foreign imperialist ventures.

► Crises of industrialism

► Pressure from nascent Socialism

► Imperial policies distract proletariat

from domestic politics

▪Cecil Rhodes: imperialism

alternative to civil war

The “White Man’s Burden”

► Rudyard Kipling (1864-1936)

▪ Raised in India, native Hindi

speaker

▪ “White man’s burden” – the

duty of European and

Euro-American peoples to bring

order and enlightenment to

distant lands.

► French: mission civilisatrice

(civilizing mission)

► Used as a justification for

expansion.

Technology and Imperialism

► Transportation

▪ Steamships – could now build large, ironclad ships

with powerful guns.

► Also, not subject to winds

▪ Railroads

► Infrastructure

▪ Suez Canal (1859-1869)

▪ Panama Canal (1904-1914)

► Allowed navies to move quicker and facilitated

trade.

Military Technologies

► Muzzle-loading muskets

▪ Takes about 1 minute to reload and was not

accurate.

► Mid-century: breech-loading rifles

▪ Reduce reloading time and more accurate.

► 1880s: Maxim gun, 11 rounds per second

▪ Battle of Omdurman (near Khartoum on Nile), 1898

▪ Five hours of fighting

▪ British: six gunboats, twenty machine guns, 368

killed

▪ Sudanese: 11,000 killed

Communications

► Correspondence

▪ 1830s Britain-India: 2 years

▪ 1850s, after the introduction of steamships, takes

four months.

▪ After Suez Canal, 2 weeks

► Telegraph

▪ 1870s, development of submarine cables

▪ Britain-India: 5 hours

▪ Communication networks allowed imperial powers

to rapidly mobilize and merchants could respond

quickly to developments of economic and

commercial significance.

The Jewel of the British Crown: India

► East India Company

► Monopoly on India trade

▪ Pepper, cotton, Chinese silk and porcelain,

fine spices, tea, and coffee

► Original permission from Mughal emperors –

built fortified posts on the coastlines.

▪ Mughal empire declines after death of

Aurangzeb, 1707

▪ Protection of economic interests through political

conquest

▪ British and Indian troops (sepoys)

Sepoy Revolt, 1857

► Enfield rifles

► Cartridges in wax paper greased with

animal fat

▪ Problem for Hindus: beef

▪ Problem for Muslims: pork

► Sepoys capture garrison

▪ 60 soldiers, 180 civilian males

massacred (after surrender)

► Two weeks later, 375 women and children

murdered

► British retake fort, hang rebels

Britain establishes direct rule

► Pre-empts East India Company

► Established civil service staffed by English

with low-level Indian civil servants

► Organization of agriculture

▪ Crops: tea, coffee, opium

► Built infrastructure – railroads, telegraph,

canals etc.

► Established English-style schools

► Suppressed Indian customs like sati, which

they deemed uncivilized.

Imperialism in Central Asia

► British, French, Russians complete for

central Asia

▪ France drops out after Napoleon

▪ Russia active after 1860s in Tashkent,

Bokhara, Samarkand, and approached India

► The “Great Game”: Russian vs. British

intrigue in Afghanistan

▪ Preparation for imperialist war

▪ Russian Revolution of 1917 forestalled war

Imperialism in Asia, ca. 1914

Imperialism in Southeast Asia

► Spanish: Philippines

► Dutch: Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)

► British establish presence from 1820s

▪ Conflict with kings of Burma (Myanmar) 1820s,

established colonial authority by 1880s

▪ Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore for

trade in Strait of Melaka

► Base of British colonization in Malaysia,

1870s-1880s

► French: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, 1859-1893

▪ Encouraged conversion to Christianity

The Scramble for Africa (1875-1900)

► French – northern Algeria

► Portugal – Angola and

Mozambique

► Britain establishes strong

presence in Egypt,

Rhodesia

► British and Dutch in South

Africa

► Later on, Belgium takes

control of Congo in 1908.

South African (Boer) War 1899-1902

► Dutch East India establishes Cape Town (1652)

▪ Farmers (Boers) follow to settle territory, later called

Afrikaners

▪ Competition and conflict with indigenous Khoikhoi and

Xhosa peoples

► British takeover in 1806, slavery a major issue of conflict

▪ Afrikaners migrate eastward: the Great Trek, overpower

Ndebele and Zulu resistance with superior firepower

▪ Establish independent Republics

► British tolerate this until gold is discovered

► White-white conflict, black soldiers and laborers are brought

into the war.

► Afrikaners concede in 1902, 1910 integrated into Union of

South Africa

The Berlin West Africa Conference

(1884-1885)

► Fourteen European states, United States

▪No African states present

▪Rules of colonization: any European

state can take “unoccupied” territory

after informing other European powers

► European firepower dominates Africa

▪Exceptions: Ethiopia fights off Italy

(1896); Liberia a dependency of the US

Systems of Colonial Rule

► Concessionary companies – earliest

approach at ruling Africa.

▪Private companies get large tracts of

land to exploit natural resources

▪Companies get freedom to tax, recruit

labor: horrible abuses

▪Huge outcry European public – forces

government to rethink this type of rule.

Direct and Indirect Rule

► Direct Rule: France

▪ “civilizing mission”

▪ Chronic shortage of European personnel;

language and cultural barriers

▪ French West Africa: 3600 Europeans rule 9

million

► Indirect Rule: Britain

► Use of indigenous institutions

► Difficulty in establishing tribal categories, imposed

arbitrary boundaries

European Imperialism in Australia

and New Zealand

► English use Australia as a penal colony from

1788

► Voluntary migrants follow; gold discovered 1851

► Smallpox, measles devastate natives

► Territory called “terra nullus”: land of no one

► New Zealand: natives forced to sign Treaty of

Waitangi (1840), placing New Zealand under

British “protection”

European Imperialism in the Pacific

Islands

► Commercial outposts

▪Whalers seeking port

▪Merchants seeking sandalwood, sea

slugs for sale in China

▪Missionaries seeking souls

► British, French, German, American powers

carve up Pacific islands

▪Tonga remains independent, but relies

on Britain

US Imperialism

► President James Monroe warns Europeans

not to engage in imperialism in western

hemisphere (1823)

▪ The Monroe Doctrine: all Americas a

U.S. Protectorate

► 1867 purchased Alaska from Russia

► 1875 established protectorate over Hawai’i

▪ Locals overthrow queen in 1893,

persuade US to acquire islands in 1898

Spanish-Cuban-American War

(1898-1899)

► US declares war in Spain after battleship Maine

sunk in Havana harbor, 1898

▪ Takes possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam,

Philippines

▪ US intervenes in other Caribbean, Central

American lands, occupies Dominican Republic,

Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti

► Filipinos revolt against Spanish rule, later against

US rule

The Panama Canal

► President Theodore Roosevelt

(in office 1901-1909) supports

insurrection against Colombia

(1903)

▪ Rebels win, establish state of

Panama

▪ U.S. gains territory to build

canal, Panama Canal Zone

► Roosevelt Corollary of Monroe

Doctrine

▪ U.S. right to intervene in

domestic affairs of other

nations if U.S. investments

threatened

Early Japanese Expansion

► Resentment over Unequal Treaties of 1860s

forced upon them by the U.S. and European

powers.

▪ 1876 Japanese purchase warships from Britain,

dominate Korea

▪ Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) over Korea results

in Japanese victory

▪ Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) also ends in

Japanese victory

Economic Legacies of Imperialism

► Colonized states encouraged to exploit

natural resources rather than build

manufacturing centers

► Encouraged dependency on imperial

power for manufactured goods made from

native raw product

▪Indian cotton

► Introduction of new crops

▪Tea in Ceylon

▪Rubber trees in Malaya and Sumatra

Imperialism and migration

Labor Migrations

► Europeans move to temperate lands

▪Work as free cultivators, industrial

laborers

▪32 million to the US 1800-1914

► Africans, Asians, and Pacific islanders

move to tropical/subtropical lands

▪Indentured laborers, manual laborers

▪2.5 million between 1820 and 1914

Colonial Conflict

► Thousands of insurrections

against colonial rule

▪ Tanganyika Maji Maji

Rebellion against Germans

(1905-1906)

▪ Rebels sprinkle selves with

magic water (maji maji) as

protection against modern

weapons; 75000 killed

Scientific Racism

► Social and cultural differences were the foundation

of an academic pursuit known as scientific racism.

▪ Count Joseph Arthurd de Gobineau (1816-1882)

▪ Combines with theories of Charles Darwin

(1809-1882) to form pernicious doctrine of

Social Darwinism

▪ These thoughts were later used to justify the

domination of European imperialists by saying it

was the inevitable result of natural scientific

principles.

Scientific Racism

Nationalism and Anticolonial

Movements

► Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), Bengali called

“father of modern India”

► Reformers call for self-government, adoption

of selected British practices (e.g. ban on sati)

▪ Influence of Enlightenment thought, often

obtained in European universities

► Indian National Congress formed 1885

▪ 1906 joins with All-India Muslim League

Industrial Revolution

Overview: The Industrial

Revolution

• Energy:

– Coal and steam replace wind, water, human and

animal labor

• Organization:

– Factories over cottage industries; formation of large

businesses such as corporations

• Rural agriculture declines, urban

manufacturing increases

• Transportation: trains, automobiles

replace animals, watercraft

Overview: Creation of New Classes

• The Industrial Middle

Class

• Urban Proletariat

• Shift in political power

• Inspiration for new

political systems, esp.

Marxism

Overview: Unexpected Costs of

the Industrial Revolution

• Genesis of an environmental catastrophe

– Intellectual origins of human domination

over natural resources

– Unforeseen toxins, occupational hazards

• Social ills

– Landless proletariat

– Migrating work forces

•What are the problems associated with

these two consequences?

Genesis of the Industrial Revolution

• Great Britain, 1780s

• Followed agricultural

revolution

– Food surplus

– Disposable income

– Population increase

• Market

• Labor supply and

specialization

British Advantages

• Strong banking tradition

• Natural resources

– Coal, iron ore

• Ease of transportation

– Size of country

– River and canal system (near coal deposits)

• Imperial colonies provided export markets

and sources of raw materials

– Esp. machine textiles

Cotton-producing Technology

• Flying shuttle sped up

weaving output and

stimulated demand for

thread

– Eventually, steam-powered

“mule” becomes device of

choice for spinning cotton

• Power loom (1787)

demand for yarn

– These permitted production

of textiles in great volume

and variety at low cost

– Accounted for 40% of

British exports by 1830;

Britain’s leading industry at

the time

New Sources of Power

• Steam Engine: most

crucial breakthrough of

early industrial era was

development of

general-purpose steam

engine

– James Watt (1736-1819)

– Coal fired

– Applied to rotary engine,

multiple applications

Iron Industry

• Henry Cort devises method of refining

iron ore (1780s)

– First major advance since middle ages

• 1852 produces more high-quality iron

than rest of world combined.

– Production skyrockets while prices to

consumers fall

– In 1856, Bessemer builds blast furnace that

produces cheap steel and steel replaces iron

in tools, machines and structures requiring

high strength.

Transportation

• 1815: steam-powered

locomotive

• By mid-19th century,

steamships become most

effective means of sea

transport.

– Railroads and steamships

dramatically lowered

transportation costs and

contributed to the creation

of networks linking remote

interior regions and distant

shores.

The Factory System

• Early modern Europe adopts “putting-out”

system

• Individuals work at home, employers

avoid wage restrictions of medieval guilds

• Rising demand and prices cause factories

to replace both guilds and putting-out

system

– Machines too large, expensive for home use

– Large buildings could house specialized

laborers

– Urbanization guarantees supply of cheap

unskilled labor

Effects of factory system

• Massive increases in manufacturing output

• BUT:

– Creation of owner class and mere wage earning

workers with only labor to sell

– Broad artisan skills obsolete

– Industrial work often repetitious and boring

– Long work hours, and work routines no longer set

by natural timetables and events but rather

clocks, machines, bells, work rules

– Strict supervision of workers

– High risk of accidents

– Luddite rebellion (destruction of machines by

masked vandals);

• 14 hung and movement died out

Spread of Industrialization

• Britain tried to protect its monopoly on

industrialization.

– Forbid export of machinery, techniques,

skilled workers

• Entrepreneurs found ways around this.

– Would smuggle and sometime kidnap

inventors.

– Reverse engineering.

• By mid-19th century, industrialization had

spread to France, Germany, Belgium

and U.S.

Industrial Europe ca. 1850

Industrialization in the United

States

• Labor and investment capital from

Europe to exploit natural resources in

U.S.

• Began with textiles in New England in

1820s, then other industries emerged

– Canals, steamship lines and rail networks

built to compensate for vast size of

American continent

Mass Production

• Eli Whitney (U.S.,

1765-1825)

– Cotton gin,

interchangeable parts

• Henry Ford, 1913,

develops assembly

line approach

– Complete automobile

chassis every 93

minutes

– Previously: 728

minutes

Big Business

• Large factories require start-up capital; machines and

factories are expensive

• Corporations formed to share risk, achieve efficiency

and maximize profits

• Britain and France lay foundations for modern

corporation, 1850-1860s

– Private business owned by hundreds, thousands or even

millions of stockholders

– Investors get dividends if profitable, lose only investments

in case of bankruptcy

Monopolies, Trusts, and

Cartels

• Big businesses in the 19th century seek to reduce or

eliminate competition.

– Large corporations form blocs called trusts or cartels to

control the supply of a product, drive out competition,

keep prices high

• John D. Rockefeller controls almost all oil drilling,

processing, refining, marketing in U.S. (vertical)

• German IG Farben controls 90% of chemical

production (horizontal)

• Governments often slow to control monopolies

The Fruits of Industrialization

• Material benefits:

– Inexpensive manufactured products

contributed to rising standards of living:

• Cheap textiles reduced the cost of clothing, allowing

almost everyone to afford several changes of clothes

• Better agricultural tools

• Steam-powered locomotives allowed fast deliveries,

causing a decline in food prices

– Population growth – caused by reduced

mortality rates

Population Growth (millions)

Effects of Industrialization

• Mass migration from countryside to cities

– 1800: only 20% of Britons live in towns with

population over 10,000

– 1900: 75% of Britons live in urban environments

• New social classes

– Middle and working class.

• Less specialization

– Workers lose competitive edge

• New ideas on government

– Socialism and Communism

The Urban Environment

• Growth of cities also results in growth of urban

problems

– Pollution

– Disease

• Wealthy classes move out to suburbs

• Industrial slum areas develop in city centers

• Open gutters as sewage systems

– Danger of Cholera

• By late 19th century, governments address

urban issues: improved water supplies and

sewage, building codes, parks and recreational

facilities

Transcontinental Migrations

• 19th-early 20th centuries, rapid

population growth drives

Europeans to Americas

– 50 million cross Atlantic

– Britons to avoid urban slums,

Irish to avoid potato famines of

1840s, Jews to abandon

Tsarist persecution in late 19th

century

– United States favored

destination, labor from abroad

helps U.S. rapidly industrialize

in late 19th century

New Social Classes

• Economic factors result in decline of slavery.

– Industrialists preferred paid laborers who spent their

money on factory goods.

• Capitalist wealth brings new status to

non-aristocratic families.

– New urban classes of middle class professionals

– Blue-collar factory and mine workers were new working

class

• Family dynamics change as production

moves outside the home.

– Favors increased stature and responsibility for men,

limits women’s opportunities to work outside the home,

increases demand for domestic servants

– New leisure time diversions (sports)

Child Labor

• Industrial work took

children away from home

as it had taken their

parents.

– Sensational reports of abuses

of child laborers in British mills

– Parliament begins by the

1840s to pass laws regulating

child labor, eventually

removed children from the

industrial workforce and

required education for

children.

The Socialist Challenge

• Opposed competition of market system

and vast differences in wealth

– Marx and Engels: Communist manifesto

•History is struggle between classes

– capitalism will destroy itself

– temporary dictatorship of proletariat

– abolition of private property

– state would disappear

– fair and just society would result

Social Reform and Trade

Unions

• Socialism had major impact on 19th century

reformers

– Persuaded government to address problems of

early industrialization and provide some security

for working classes

– Reduced property requirements for male suffrage

– Addressed issues of medical insurance,

unemployment compensation, retirement benefits

• Trade unions form for collective bargaining

– Strikes to address workers’ concerns

– Government and employer resistance to unions

Global ramifications

• Global division of labor

– Rural societies that produce raw materials

– Urban societies that produce manufactured goods

• Uneven economic development

• Developing export dependencies of Latin

America, sub-Saharan Africa, south and

south-east Asia

– Low wages, small domestic markets

– Flood of manufactured goods from developed

countries devastates traditional industries and

damages local economies

Industrialization in Russia and Japan

• Slower starts on industrial process, with

government taking the lead in sponsoring

industrialization

– Russia constructs huge railway network across

Siberia under finance minister Count Sergei

Witte

• Japanese government takes initiative by

hiring thousands of foreign experts and

supported railroads, mines, foundries,

banking system, and more

– Reforms iron industry

– Opens universities, specializing in science and

technology

International Division of Labor

• Outside Europe, North America and Japan,

nations and regions have trouble industrializing;

limited success in India

• Still, industrialization had global consequences:

– Industrial societies still need raw materials from

other nations.

– Some nations use raw material export to propel

economic development and industrialization.

– Some, however, are trapped exporting raw

materials and agricultural products while

importing finished manufactured products.

Russia and Japan

Industrialization Outside of the West

Background on Russia

Russia was freed from Mongol Control under

Ivan III (The Great)

● Organized a strong army

● Helped get free of Mongol payments

● Shortly afterwards, Russia starts to

expand

● Centralized rule

● Took title of tsar (caesar)

● Seen as head of the Eastern Orthodox

Church

Ivan IV (The Terrible)

Continued trend of Russian expansion and

consolidation of power.

● Put a lot of emphasis on tsarist autocracy.

● Killed or exiled Russian nobles (boyars)

that he suspected of conspiracies to take

away his power.

● Recruited peasants to settle new lands

○ Escape from serfdom

○ They were called Cossacks

○ Helped Russia expand

● Russia is becoming a multicultural empire

Time of Troubles

Ivan IV dies without an heir

● Power vacuum

● Assembly of boyars pick the Romanov

family to rule

○ Ruled Russia until the Revolution of 1917.

● Russian serfdom was tightened

● Drove out foreign invaders that attacked

during Time of Troubles

Michael Romanov

Westernization

Peter the Great wants Russia to be more like the

West.

● Wants to modernize the economy and

military

● Still wants absolute power though

● Moved capital further west

● From this point on, Russia is major factor

in European diplomacy.

● Makes Russia more culturally like the

West.

○ Overall, the reforms do not change life for

a majority of Russians, however.

Catherine the Great

After Peter dies, there are a series of weak

rulers.

● Catherine, a German princess, takes the

throne after her husband dies.

● Put down a peasant uprising (Pugachev

rebellion)

● Encouraged education, arts, and literature

○ For the upper classes

● Gave nobles more power over their serfs

● Huge expansion of territory

Russia Going Into the Industrial Era

Estate agricultural system

● Nobles use this to sustain their power and status

○ This stifles social mobility and urbanization

○ No real middle class

○ Most European trade was handled by Westerners - small merchant class

○ Most of the population are poor, uneducated serfs

○ Russia’s economy is a lot like Latin America’s

● A small group of Western-oriented aristocrats criticizing Russia’s

backwardness.

○ Seeds of a radical intelligentsia that is going to grow over time

Russian Empire in the Early 1800s

Russia Under Pressure

■ Like the Ottomans, the Russian Empire experienced

military defeats and was technologically less advanced

than the western European powers

❑ Social and economic reform: emancipation of serfs, which

paves way for government-sponsored industrialization

❑ But no political reform, so resentment grows against

autocratic czars, resulting in opposition movements through

19th century and revolution in early 20th century

The Crimean War (1853-56)

■ Russian expansion into

Caucasus in larger attempt to

establish control over weakening

Ottoman empire

■ Threatens to upset balance of

power in Europe, so western

Europeans become involved

■ Russia driven back from Crimea

in humiliating defeat by Britain,

France

■ Demonstration of Russian

weakness in the face of western

technology, strategy

Reform:Emancipation of the Serfs

■ Serfdom was economically

inefficient and a source of rural

instability and peasant revolt

■ Tsar Alexander II emancipates

serfs in 1861, without alleviating

poverty, land hunger

❑ Forced to pay for lands they had

farmed for generations, so

freedom caused some to be in

debt the rest of their lives

Other Reforms

■ Limited attempts to reform administration,

small-scale representative government

❑ Network of elected district assemblies called

zemstvos; still subordinate to czarist authority

and landowning nobility

■ Legal reform – independent judges,

appellate courts, trial by jury

Industrialization in Russia

■ Emancipation of the serfs was partly to create mobile labor force for

industry

■ Czars encouraged industrialization to strengthen empire

❑ Count Sergei Witte, minister of finance 1892-1903, sought to stimulate

economic development

❑ Massive railroad construction (Trans-Siberian railroad), tariffs, foreign

loans

■ But massive industrial discontent

❑ Peasants uprooted from rural lifestyle to work for low wages, long hours;

urban slums develop; strikes

Repression

■ Intelligentsia class spreads radical ideas for social

change

❑ Socialists, anarchists

❑ Terror tactics, assassinations

❑ Attempt to connect with the country peasantry in 1870s

❑ Activists denounced, imprisoned and sent into Siberian

exile by czarist authorities

■ Tsarist authorities turn to censorship, secret police

Unrest

■ Nationalist sentiment seething in Baltics, Poland,

Ukraine, Georgia, central Asia

❑ Schools and political groups speaking in native tongues

used to foment unrest and hostility towards Russia

❑ Czars respond with program of Russification (repress

native languages, education only for those loyal to czar)

❑ Jews singled out for suspicion and repression

(pogroms), causing waves of Jewish migration to

western Europe and U.S.

Radicalization

■ 1881 radical People’s Will movement assassinated Tsar

Alexander II

❑ Attack ended era of reform and caused tsars to become more

repressive

■ Nicholas II (r. 1894-1917) enters into war with Japan

(1904-1905) to deflect attention from domestic issues

❑ Russian navy destroyed; humiliating defeat exposes government

weaknesses

■ Social discontent boils over in Revolution of 1905 (Bloody Sunday

massacre)

❑ Strikes force government to make concessions; Duma established

Transformation of Japan

■ Japanese society in turmoil in early 19th century

❑ Poor agricultural output, famines, high taxes

❑ Daimyo, samurai classes decline, peasants starve

❑ Leads to peasant protest and rebellion in late 18th and early 19th centuries

■ Tokugawa government attempts reforms, 1841-1843

❑ Cancelled daimyo, samurai debts

❑ Abolished merchant guilds

❑ Compelled city peasants to return to cultivating rice

❑ Reforms ineffective, provoked opposition

Changing Society

As Neo-Confucianism expanded at the expense of Buddhism, Japan is becoming

more secular.

● How might this help a modernization/industrialization movement?

Also, the Tokugawa Shogunate set up schools to teach commoners how to read

and write, and the fundamentals of Confucianism.

● How might this help a modernization/industrialization movement?

The feudal system is too costly - government payments to samurai.

Old v. New

Tensions in Japanese society.

● Some are focusing on Japanese traditions

○ Praising the original Shinto faith

○ Study of Japanese history and traditions

● Others are looking to modernize

○ There is a group called “Dutch Studies”

■ People studying Dutch works

■ Replace Chinese influence with that of the West

Japanese Economy

Japanese economy was changing

● Agriculture was still the main focus

○ Merchant activity was on the rise

○ So was manufacturing

● By the 1850s, economic growth had slowed

○ Lack of technology

○ Protests in the countryside

○ Leads to a willingness to change

Foreign Pressure

■ Europeans, Americans

attempting to establish relations

❑ U.S. in particular looks for Pacific

ports for whalers, merchants

❑ Japan only allowed a small Dutch

presence in Nagasaki

❑ 1853 Matthew Perry sails

gunship up to Edo (Tokyo), forces

Japanese to open port

■ Britain, Netherlands and Russia

soon win similar rights

❑ Sparks conservative Japanese

reaction against Shogun, rally

around Emperor in Kyoto

Meiji Restoration (1868)

■ Brief civil war between

imperial and Tokugawa

forces

❑ 1868 Emperor Mutusuhito

(Meiji, 1852-1912) takes

power

■ New government set goals of

prosperity and strength: “rich

country, strong army”

■ Resolved to learn western

technology to strengthen

Japan and get the unequal

treaties revised

Meiji Reforms

■ Travelers Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) and Ito Hirobumi

(1841-1909) travel to U.S., Europe to study government and

education systems

❑ Argue for adoption of western legal proceedings, technology

■ To centralize power, Meiji government removes privileges for

daimyo, samurai

❑ Conscript army replaces samurai mercenaries

❑ Samurai rebellion crushed by national army

■ Tax reform: payment in cash, not kind

Centralization]

Feudal system abolished

■ Daimyo replaced with a system of nationally

appointed prefects - copied from France

❑ Power now centralized

❑ Power of the state expanded

Constitutional Government

■ 1889 constitution promulgated under pressure

for a constitution and representative govt.

❑ Established a constitutional monarchy with a

legislature (diet)

❑ Conservative: less than 5% of male population

allowed to vote in 1890 election; emperor retains

vast powers

Economic Reform

■ Reforms to promote rapid industrialization

(transportation, communications, education,

elimination of guild restrictions and internal tariffs)

❑ Dramatic improvement in literacy rates

❑ Government holdings sold to private investors with ties

to govt; zaibatsu, financial cliques develop

■ By early 20th century, Japan joins ranks of major

industrial powers; transition extremely difficult on

peasants

Similarities and Differences Between Russia and

Japan

Both nations industrialization and modernization

movements started with the government.

■ However, Japan had incorporated business

leaders into its governing structure, while

Russia had the boyars (nobles whose power

was still based on land)

■ Also, religious leaders did not stand in the way

of reform.

Industrial Revolution

The government takes the lead

■ Controls banks - provides capital for

industry

■ Built infrastructure

■ Technology in agriculture to increase yields

■ Eliminated guilds and internal road tariffs

■ Land reform

Impacts of Industrialization on Foreign Policy

Model after the West - why does the West engage in

Imperialism?

■ Helps give jobs to displaced samurai

■ Japan is an island with few resources

❑ A way to get the raw materials they need

■ Sino-Japanese War

❑ For influence over Korea

■ Russo-Japanese War

❑ Over land in China

Chapter 29

Revolutions and National

States in the Atlantic

WorldPopular Sovereignty

■ Ancient and medieval notions of kingship:

■ “mandate of heaven,” “divine right of kings”

■ Enlightenment rulers seek to make kings

responsible to subject populations

■ Revolutionaries argued for popular

sovereignty:

■ notion that legitimate political authority resides in the

people who make up a society, not kings.John Locke

■ John Locke

(1632-1704): Second

Treatise of Civil

Government (1690)

❑ Rulers derive power

from consent of ruled

❑ Individuals retain

personal rights to life,

liberty, property; and

rulers who violate

personal rights can be

overthrownIndividual Freedoms

■ Voltaire (pen name of François-Marie

Arouet, 1694-1778)

❑ Resented persecution of political

minorities and government

censorship

❑ Écrasez l’infame, “erase the infamy:”

criticism of Roman Catholic Church

■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

❑ Argues for equality of all individuals,

regardless of class, before the law

❑ The Social Contract (1762), argues

that society is collectively the

sovereignRevolution in America

■ Little indication of

forthcoming revolution in

mid-18th century

❑ 13 colonies regarded

themselves as British

subjects

❑ Long cultural and

personal connections

with England

❑ Mutually profitable

military and economic

relationshipFrench and Indian War, 1754-1763

■ Expensive, extensive

■ Overlapped with Seven Years’ War

(1756-1763)

❑ Conflict in Europe, India

❑ British victory ensured global

dominance, North American

prosperityIncreased Taxation in 1760s

■ Bills come due from the Seven Years’ War

■ British Parliament passes legislation to place the tax

burden on the colonies

❑ Sugar Act (1764)

❑ Stamp Act (1765)

❑ Quartering Act (1765) (Housing British Troops)

❑ Tea Act (1773)

■ Colonists argued that they should be able to govern

their own affairsThe Declaration of Independence

■ British products boycotted,

officials attacked

❑ Boston Tea Party (1773),

tea dumped into Boston

harbor in protest against

Tea Act

❑ “No taxation without

representation”

❑ Continental Congress

formed (1774),

coordinates colonists’

resistance to British

policiesThe Declaration of Independence

■ 1775: Battle of Lexington

begins war of American

Independence

❑ July 4, 1776, Continental

Congress adopts

Declaration of

Independence

■ Influence of Locke:

retention of individual

rights, sovereignty based

Revolutionary War

■ Colonies:

❑ Logistic advantage

❑ Popular support

❑ Support of British

rivals

❑ George

Washington

(1732-1799)

provides

imaginative military

leadership

■ Britain:

❑ Strong central

government

❑ Navy, army

❑ Loyalist

populationBuilding an Independent State

■ British forces surrounded at

Yorktown, Virginia

❑ Surrender in October 1781

■ Military conflict ceases, treaty at

Peace of Paris, 1783

❑ Recognition of American

independence

■ 1787 Constitution of the United

States drafted; reflects

Enlightenment principles

❑ Political and legal equality for

men of property, individual

liberties (later broadened to

other groups)The French Revolution

■ Serious fiscal problems in

France

❑ War debts, 1780s

■ 50% of tax revenues

to war debts

■ 25% of tax revenues to

military

■ Leads to revolution more

radical than the American

❑ Repudiation of many

aspects of the ancien

régimeThe Estates General

■ Three Estates

❑ 1

st Estate: Roman

Catholic Clergy

■ 100,000

❑ 2

nd Estate: Nobles

■ 400,000

❑ 3

rd Estate:

Everyone else

■ 24,000,000 serfs, free

peasants, urban

residents

■ One vote per estate 1789

■ Protest of nobility forces

King Louis to call Estates

General for new taxes,

May 1789 ❑ 3

rd Estate demands

greater social change

■ June 17: 3rd Estate

secedes ❑ Renamed “National

Assembly”

❑ Tennis Court Oath: New

“National Assembly” swears

not to disband until they

provide France with a new

constitution

■ July, mob attacks Bastille,

bloody battle won by mob

16Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

■ August 1789

■ American influence

■ Equality of men

❑ Women not included: Olympe de Gouges (Marie

Gouze) unsucessfully attempts to redress this in

1791

■ Sovereignty resides in the people

■ Individual rights of life, liberty and

propertyRadicalization of Revolution

■ National Assembly abolishes old social

order

❑ Seizes church lands, redefines clergy as

civilians

❑ New constitution retains king, but subject to

legislative authority

❑ Legislators (Convention) elected by universal

male suffrage

❑ Levée en masse: conscription for war

■ Guillotine invented to execute domestic

enemies

❑ 1793: King Louis and Queen Marie AntoinetteMaximilien Robespierre (1758-1794)

■ “Leader of Jacobin party,

dominated Convention, 1793-1794

❑ Churches closed, priests forced to

marry

■ Promoted “Cult of Reason” as

secular alternative to Christianity

❑ Calendar reorganized: 10-day

weeks, proclaimed Year 1

❑ Granted increased rights to women

(divorce, inherit property)

❑ Executed 40,000; imprisoned

300,000The Directory (1795-1799)

■ Revolutionary enemies of the Jacobins

❑ Jacobins instability undermined confidence in the regime

■ 1794: Convention arrested Robespierre and his

allies, and they were convicted of tyranny and

sent to guillotine

■ Men of property take power and rule France

under a new institution known as the Directory

❑ Unable to solve economic and military problems of

revolutionary FranceNapoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

■ From minor Corsican

noble family

❑ Army officer under King

Louis XIV, general at 24

❑ Brilliant military strategist

❑ Defended Directory

against an uprising in

1795

❑ Joins Directory 1799,

then overthrew it

❑ Imposed new

constitution, named self

“Consul for life” in 1802Napoleonic France

■ Brought stability to war-torn France

■ Concludes agreement with Pope: Concordat

❑ France retains church lands, but pay salaries to

clergy

❑ Freedom of religion, also for Protestants, Jews

■ 1804 promulgates Napoleonic Code

❑ Patriarchal authority, equality among men,

merit-based

❑ Became model for many civil codes

■ Tight control on newspapers, use of secret police

■ Eventually declared himself EmperorNapoleon’s Empire

■ Conquered Iberian, Italian Peninsulas,

Netherlands

■ Forced Austria and Prussia to enter into alliance

with France after humiliating defeats

■ Disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812

❑ Burned Moscow, but defeated by Russian weather

■ “General Winter”

■ British, Austrian, Prussian and Russian armies

force Napoleon to abdicate, 1814

❑ Exiled to Island of Elba, escaped to take power again for

100 days

❑ Defeated by British at Waterloo, exiled to St. Helena,

dies 1821The Revolution in Haiti

■ Only successful slave revolt

■ Island of Hispaniola

❑ Spanish colony Santo

Domingo in east (now

Dominican Republic)

❑ French colony of

Saint-Domingue in west

(now Haiti)

■ Rich Caribbean colony

❑ Sugar, coffee, cotton

❑ Almost 1/3 of France’s

foreign tradeSociety in Saint-Domingue

■ 1790:

❑ 40,000 white French settlers

■ Dominated social structure

❑ 30,000 gens de couleur (free people of color, i.e.

mixed-race, freed slaves)

■ Holders of small plots

❑ 500,000 black slaves of African descent

■ High mortality rate, many flee to mountains

■ “Maroons,” escaped slavesThe Revolt

■ Inspired by American and French revolutions

❑ 500 gens de couleur sent by French to fight

British in American War of Independence

■ 1789 white settlers demand self-rule, but with no

equality for gens de couleur

■ 1791 civil war breaks out

❑ Slaves revolt under Vodou priest named Boukman,

begin killing white settlers, burning their homes and

destroying their plantations

❑ French, British, Spanish forces attempt to interveneFrançois-Dominique Toussaint

(1744-1803)

■ Renames self Louverture (“the

opening”), 1791

❑ Descendant of slaves, freed in 1776

❑ Helped his owners escape, then

joined rebel forces

■ By 1793, had built army of 20,000,

eventually dominated

Saint-Domingue

❑ Played French, British and Spanish

forces against one another

❑ 1801 promulgated constitution of

equality

❑ 1802 arrested by Napoleon’s forces,

died in jail

■ French troops driven out, 1804

Haiti declares independenceLatin American Society

■ Revolutionary ideals spread from Haiti to Spanish

and Portuguese colonies in the Americas

■ Governed by 30,000 peninsulares, colonial officials

from Iberian peninsula

■ 3.5 million criollos (creoles), born in the Americas of

Spanish or Portuguese descent

❑ Privileged class, but grievances with peninsulares

❑ 1810-1825 led tax revolts and popular uprisings to

establish creole-dominated republics through the

Americas, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico

■ 10 million others less privileged

❑ African slaves, mixed-race populationsMexican Independence

■ Napoleon’s invasion of Spain and Portugal (1807) weakens

royal authority in colonies

■ Priest Miguel de Hidalgo (1753-1811) leads revolt

❑ Hidalgo captured and executed by conservative creoles, but

rebellion continues

■ Creole general Augustin de Iturbide (1783-1824) declares

independence in 1821

❑ Installs self as Emperor, deposed in 1823, republic

established

■ Southern regions form federation, then divide into Guatemala,

El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa RicaSimón Bolívar (1783-1830)

■ Led independence movement in South America

■ Native of Caracas (Venezuela), influenced by

Enlightenment, George Washington

■ Rebels against Spanish rule 1811, forced into exile twice

■ Defeated Spanish army in Colombia, then campaigned

in Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, coordinating with other

creole leaders

❑ José de San Martín (Argentina, 1778-1842)

❑ Bernardo O’Higgins (Chile, 1778-1842)

■ Spanish rule destroyed in South America by 1825Gran Colombia

■ Bolívar hoped to form

U.S.-style federation

■ Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador

form Gran Colombia

❑ Attempts to bring in Peru and

Bolívia

■ Strong political differences,

Gran Colombia disintegrates

■ Bolívar goes into self-imposed

exile, dies of tuberculosis

shortly after breakup of Gran

ColombiaBrazilian Independence

■ Napoleon’s invasion sends Portuguese royal

court to exile in Rio de Janeiro

❑ 1821 King returns, son Pedro left behind as regent

■ Pedro negotiates with creoles and agreed to

their demands for independence

❑ When Portuguese Cortes (parliament) tried to curtail

his power, Pedro declared Brazil independent and

accepted appointment as Emperor Pedro I (r.

1822-1844)Results of the RevolutionSocial structure in Latin America remains

largely intact and rigidly stratified

❑ Peninsulares return to Europe

❑ Creole elites dominate

❑ Military strongmen allied with creole elites (caudillos)

granted military authority

❑ Slavery continued, wealth and authority of church stayed

intact, lower orders repressedEmergence of Ideologies

■ Ideology:

❑ coherent vision of human nature, human society, and the

larger world that proposes some particular form of political

and social organization as ideal.

■ Modern ideologies of conservatism and liberalism

crystallized following American and French

revolutions.

❑ Conservativism:

■ favored slow evolution rather than rapid revolutionary change.

(Edmund Burke, England, 1729-1797)

❑ Liberalism:

■ viewed conservatives as defenders of illegitimate status quo;

thought social change should be managed in best interests of

society, not stifled; championed freedom, equality, republican

forms of government (John Stuart Mill, England, 1806-1873)The End of the Slave Trade

■ Campaign to end slavery begins in 18th century

❑ Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797): freed slave

who criticized slavery

■ Gains momentum after American, French and

Haitian revolutions

■ William Wilberforce (England, 1759-1833),

philanthropist and member of Parliament,

succeeds in having Parliament outlaw slave

trade, 1807

❑ Other states follow suit, but illegal trade continues

until 1867End of the Institution of Slavery

■ Ending slavery itself more difficult than ending

the slave trade because owners had property

rights in slaves; planters and merchant elites

resisted

❑ Haiti: slavery ends with revolution

❑ Mexico: slavery abolished 1829, partially to stop U.S.

development of slave-based cotton industry in Mexico

❑ 1833 Britain abolishes slavery, offers compensation to

former owners

❑ Other states follow, but offer freedom without social or

economic equality

■ Property requirements, literacy tests, intimidation

block votingEnlightenment Ideals and Women

■ Enlightenment thinkers remained conservative

regarding women’s rights

❑ Rousseau argues women should receive education to

prepare for lives as wives and mothers

❑ Yet Enlightenment thinking was useful in the argument

for women’s rights

■ Mary Astell (England, 1666-1731) argued that if

absolute sovereignty is not appropriate for a

state, then it shouldn’t be appropriate for a family

■ Mary Wollstonecraft (England, 1759-1797)

❑ A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)Women and Revolution

■ Women active in all phases of French

revolution

❑ Women storm Versailles in 1789, demands

for food

❑ Republican Revolutionary Women patrol

streets of Paris with firearms

■ Yet hold few official positions of authority

■ Revolution grants equality in education,

property, legalized divorce; rights later lost

under NapoleonElsewhere…In other lands, such as the U.S. and Latin America,

women didn’t gain as much as they did in

revolutionary France;

❑ Revolutions brought legal and political rights only for adult

white men

■ Women were not allowed to vote, major task of 19th

century reformers

❑ Elizabeth Cady Stanton (U.S., 1815-1902): Seneca Falls

conference demands equal rights for women

■ Limited success achieved by women’s rights

movement:

❑ Expanded education, but limited entry into professions and

suffrage not gained Consolidation of National States in Europe

■ Napoleonic wars cause a surge in

nationalism.

❑ Through the 19th Century, European leaders

worked to fashion states based on national

identities.

❑ National identities in Europe became so strong

that people responded enthusiastically to

ideologies of nationalism

■ Promised glory and prosperity to those who worked in the

interests of their national communities.Nations and Nationalism

■ “Nation” a type of community, especially

prominent in 19th century

❑ Distinct from clan, religious, regional

identities

❑ Usually based on shared language,

customs, values, historical experience

■ Sometimes common religion

❑ Idea of nation has immediate relationship

with political boundariesTypes of Nationalism ■ Cultural nationalism ❑ Johann Gottfried von

Herder (1744-1803)

praises the Volk (“people”)

❑ Literature, folklore, music

as expressions of

Volksgeist: “spirit of the

people”

■ Political nationalism ❑ Movement for political

independence of nation

from other authorities

❑ Unification of national lands ❑ Giuseppe Mazzini

(1805-1872), “Young Italy”Nationalism and Anti-Semitism

■ Nationalist ideologies distrustful of indigenous

minorities

❑ Pogroms, violent attacks on Jewish communities in

Russian Empire beginning 1881

❑ Anti-Semitism rallying cry of many European

nationalists

■ French military Captain Alfred Dreyfus framed for selling

military secrets to Germany

■ Eventually exonerated, but great debate on loyalty of Jews

in European societiesZionism

■ Theodor Herzl (Austria,

1860-1904) journalist at

Dreyfus trial

■ Observed intense mob

anti-Semitism.

■ Worked to create refuge for

Jews by re-establishing

Jewish state in Palestine

❑ Zion synonymous with

Jerusalem

■ 1897 convened first World

Zionist CongressThe Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)

■ Meeting after defeat of Napoleon by

“great powers” who had engineered his

defeat (Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia)

❑ Prince Klemens von Metternich (Austria,

1773-1859) supervises dismantling of

Napoleon’s empire and returns

sovereignty to Europe’s royal families

❑ Established balance of power to keep

one state from dominating

❑ Worked to suppress development of

nationalism among multi-national

empires like the Austrian

❑ Worked for almost 100 years, until World

War INational Rebellions

■ Greeks in Balkan peninsula seek

independence from Ottoman Turks, 1821

❑ With European help, Greece achieves independence

in 1830

■ Rebellions all over Europe, especially in

1848

❑ Brought down the French monarchy

❑ Rebels take Vienna, Metternich resigns and flees

❑ But rebellions put down by 1849

■ Advocates of national independence and

popular sovereignty remain active, however.Unifications of Italy and Germany

■ Most striking

demonstrations of the

power national sentiments

could unleash

■ Italy and Germany were

disunited groups of regional

kingdoms, city-states,

ecclesiastical states.

❑ Germany: over three hundred

semiautonomous jurisdictions

■ Nationalist sentiment

develops idea of unificationUnification

■ Congress of Vienna divided Italy between

Austria and Spain

❑ Count Camillo di Cavour (1810-1861) and

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) unify Italy under

King Vittore Emmanuele II

■ Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) advances

Realpolitik (“the politics of reality”), uses wars

with neighbors to unify Germany

❑ Second Reich proclaimed in 1871 (Holy Roman

Empire the first), King Wilhelm I named Emperor

Civilizations in Crisis:

Qing China and Ottoman EmpireTraditional Powers in Trouble

Common Problems:

● Military weakness - vulnerable to foriegn threats

○ Going to engage in wars that show they are weaker than European powers

● Population pressures

● Agricultural decline => Famine

● Fall in government revenues

● Corruption - bad leadershipOttoman Empire

Ottoman crises was brought on by a series of

weak rulers.

● Opened the way for power struggles

between government officials, religious

elite and the Janissary corps.

○ This weakened control over the

population and regional leaders.

○ Regional leaders begin cheating the

central government out of tax revenue.Economic Issues

Cheap manufactured goods from Europe cause Ottoman artisans to lose money.

● Urban rioting

● Imbalance of Trade

● Trade routes through Ottoman territory not as important as sea routes.

● Export-dependent Ottoman economy increasingly relies on foreign loans

○ By 1882 Ottomans unable to pay even interest on loans, forced to accept

foreign administration of debts

○ Capitulations: agreements that exempted Europeans from Ottoman law

■ Extraterritoriality gives tax-free status to foreign banks, businessesThe Ottoman Empire in Decline

■ Ottoman empire reaches peak of military expansion in

late 17th century

❑ By 19th century, can no longer ward off European economic

integration or territorial dismemberment

❑ Defeated by Austrians, Russians, largely due to European

advances in technology and strategy

❑ Elite Janissary corps involved in palace intrigue

❑ Semi-independent local warlords use mercenaries, slave armies

to support Sultan in return for imperial favor and autonomy

❑ Massive corruption, misuse of tax revenuesTerritorial Losses

■ Russia takes territories in

Caucasus, central Asia

■ Nationalist uprisings drive

Ottomans out of Balkans

■ Napoleon’s unsuccessful

attack on Egypt spurs local

revolt against Ottomans under

Muhammad Ali (r. 1805-1848)

■ British support Ottomans only

to avoid possible Russian

expansionEarly reforms

■ Attempts to reform taxation, increase agricultural output, and

reduce corruption

❑ Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807) remodeled army on European lines –

this threatened the Janissaries

❑ Janissaries revolt, kill new troops, imprison Sultan

■ Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839) attempts same, has

Janissaries massacred

❑ Also reforms schools, taxation, builds telegraph, postal service

❑ Empire shrunk under Mahmud II’s rule but was more manageable

and powerfulTanzimat Reforms (1839 - 1876)

■ Pace of reform accelerated after

continuing military defeats and

uprisings among subject peoples

❑ Drew from Enlightenment thought

❑ Drafted new law codes intended

to be acceptable to Europeans to

get capitulations lifted

❑ Undermined power of traditional

religious elite

❑ Fierce opposition from religious

conservatives, bureaucracy

■ Also opposition from radical

Young Ottomans, who wanted

constitutional governmentYoung Turks Era

■ 1876 radical dissident elements stage a coup, install Abdül

Hamid II as Sultan (r. 1876-1909)

❑ Constitution, representative government adopted, but

suspended within the year; many liberals exiled, executed

❑ Abdul Hamid’s autocratic rule generated liberal opposition

groups

■ Principal opposition organization: Ottoman Society for Union

and Progress: The Young Turk Party

❑ Founded by Ottomans in exile in Paris

❑ Called for rapid, secular reforms

❑ Forced Abdül Hamid II to restore parliament, then dethroned

him in favor of Mehmed V Rashid (r. 1909-1918)

Young Turk Rule

■ Attempted to establish Turkish

hegemony over far-flung

empire

❑ Turkish made official language,

despite large numbers of Arabic

and Slavic language speakers

■ Yet could not contain forces of

decline;

❑ empire continued to lose wars

and subject peoples continued to

seek autonomy or independenceEgypt

French forces routed the Mamluk regime,

which ruled Egypt as a vassal of the Ottoman

sultans.

● The British eventually forced Napoleon

to withdraw.

● In the chaos that ensued, a young

military officer, Muhammad Ali,

becomes rule of Egypt.

● Engages in a westernization program.

● Works well for the military,

○ Results in other parts of Egyptian society

were mixed.Egypt under the Khedives

These were descendants of Muhammad Ali who ruled Egypt from 1867 - 1952.

● Focus on producing cotton.

○ Made land owners rich, but the poor were adversely affected.

○ Also, what did we learn about single-export economies from Latin America?

● Government revenues were squandered and soon Egypt becomes

indebted to European countries.Suez Canal

Makes Egypt one of the most important

strategic places on Earth.

● Why?

● Europe is even more interested in the

region. Especially Britain and France.

● Britain used a rebellion as a reason to

send in troops.

○ Egypt was not formally colonized.

○ However, British officials controlled

Egypt’s finances and foreign affairs.Mahdist Revolt in the Sudan

Egypt began conquering lands in the Sudan in

the 1820s.

● Egyptian rule was greatly resented

○ Mad that the Egyptians got rid of the

slave trade - Muslim areas in northern

Sudan made a lot of money by attacking

and capturing non-Muslims to sell into

slavery.

● Also, dislike further encroachment of

the British.Muhammad Ahmad

Claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad.

● Followers believe he is the Mahdi - a

promised deliverer in the Sufi belief

system.

● Called for jihad against the British and

the Egyptians, who he labeled heretics.

● Wants to bring back the original beliefs

of Islam.

● Defeats the Egyptians in a series of

battles before his death of TyphusDefeat by the British

For almost a decade, the Mahdist armies

under Mahdi’s successor, Khalifa Abdallahi did

well in battle against their neighbors.

● British sent an expeditionary force

under General Kitchener to put an end

to the threat.

● European weapons were the difference.

● Battle of Omdurman - British

slaughtered the opposing forces with

machine guns and artillery.

Qing Dynasty Under Seige

■ Chinese Empire and Qing

Dynasty have severe problems.

■ Suffered military defeats at the

hands of European powers and

were forced to accept treaties

that

❑ Undermined Chinese sovereignty

❑ Divided China into spheres of

influence

❑ Kept the Qing from dealing with

domestic disorder

■ Also faced internal upheaval

(Taiping rebellion)Internal Problems

The civil service examination system was in trouble.

● Becomes riddled with cheating and favoritism.

○ Sons of officials were ensured a place in the bureaucracy.

○ The rich would pay scholars to take the test for them.

○ Examiners were bribed to allow people to cheat.

○ People that knew little of the classical Confucian education began working in government.

● Why is this a problem?

● Also, corruption lead to a lack of funds for public works and military

training. Chinese Restrictions on British Trade

■ Since 1759, European commercial presence limited to

port of Guangzhou

❑ Foreign merchants forced to deal solely with licensed

Chinese firms called cohongs

❑ Had to pay in silver bullion because Chinese not interested in

European products

❑ British East India Company heavily involved in opium trade as

an alternative to bullion exchange

■ Opium grown in India, sold in China for silver, silver used

to buy other Chinese productsOpium Trade

■ Illegal, but poor enforcement (corrupt officials sometimes benefited from opium trade themselves)

❑ Increasing trade and social ills

evident by late 1830s

❑ Chinese move to enforce ban

❑ British agents engage in

military retaliation: the Opium War (1839-1842)

■ British naval forces easily

defeats Chinese (used Grand

Canal to project power into

Chinese interior)Unequal Treaties

■ China forced into a series of disadvantageous treaties

❑ Hong Kong ceded to British in Treaty of Nanjing (1842), ports

opened to British traders

❑ Opened five key Chinese ports to trade and residence

❑ Extraterritorial status to British subjects (i.e., exempted British

subjects from Chinese laws)

❑ Later, other countries conclude similar treaties with China

❑ Treaties also legalize opium trade, permit Christian

missionaries, and ban Chinese tariffs on foreign goodsTaiping Rebellion (1850-64)

■ Large-scale rebellions in later nineteenth century

reflect poverty, discontent of Chinese peasantry

❑ Population rises 50% between 1800-1900, but land

under cultivation remains static

■ Also land ownership concentrated with the wealthy, government

officials were corrupt, drug addiction rose

❑ Nian Rebellion (1851-1868), Muslim Rebellion

(1855-1873), Tungan Rebellion (1862-1878)

❑ Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan, schoolteacher,

called for destruction of Qing dynastyTaiping Platform

❑ Abolition of private property

❑ Creation of communal wealth to be shared according to needs

❑ Prohibition of footbinding, concubinage

❑ Free public education, simplification of written Chinese, mass

literacy

❑ Democratization and industrialization

❑ Gender equality (though army was divided into divisions by

gender)

❑ Prohibition of sexual relations among followers including

married couples, yet leaders maintained haremsTaiping Defeat

■ Nanjing captured by Hong and followers in 1858, made

into capital

❑ Attack on Beijing with force of 1 million, but turned back

❑ Imperial army unable to contain Taipings, so regional armies

created with Chinese instead of Manchu soldiers and outfitted

with European weaponry and advisors, commanded by

scholar-gentry

❑ Hong commits suicide in 1864, Nanjing recaptured and

100,000 Taipings massacred

❑ Rebellion was over by end of 1864, but had claimed 20-30

million lives and severely reduced agricultural outputSelf-Strengthening Movement (1860 - 1895)

■ Part of the Qing rulers’ response to foreign pressure and

internal turmoil.

❑ Slogan “Chinese learning at the base, Western learning for use”

❑ Blend of Chinese cultural traditions and Confucian values with

European industrial technology

■ Leaders built shipyards, railroads, foundries, weaponry,

academies

❑ Change to Chinese economy and society merely superficial

❑ Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) diverted funds for her own

aesthetic purposesSpheres of Influence

■ Self-strengthening movement didn’t prevent

continuing foreign intrusion in Chinese affairs

■ Qing dynasty loses influence in south-east Asia,

losing tributary states to Europeans and Japanese

❑ Vietnam: France, 1886

❑ Burma: Great Britain, 1885

❑ Korea, Taiwan, Liaodong Peninsula: Japan, 1895

■ China divided into spheres of influence, 1895Hundred Days Reforms (1894)

■ Kang Youwei (1858-1927) and Liang Qichao (1873-1929)

❑ Interpreted Confucianism to allow for radical changes to system

❑ Pro-industrialization

■ Emperor Guangxu attempts to implement reforms

(constitutional monarchy, civil liberties, eliminate corruption,

overhaul education, etc.)

❑ Empress Dowager Cixi nullifies reforms, imprisons emperor,

executes six leading reformersThe Boxer Rebellion

■ Cixi supports Society of Righteous and

Harmonious Fists (“Boxers”), anti-foreign militia

units

❑ 1899 fight to rid China of “foreign devils”

❑ Misled to believe European weapons would not harm

them, 140,000 Boxers besiege European embassies in

1900

❑ Crushed by coalition of British, French, Russian, U.S.,

German and Japanese forces

❑ China forced to accept stationing of foreign troopsDeath of the Dowager Empress

■ Boxer Rebellion another disaster for Qing dynasty, stokes revolutionary uprisings

❑ Emperor dies a mysterious, sudden death

❑ Cixi dies one day later, November 1908

❑ 2-year old Puyi placed on the throne

❑ Revolution in 1911

❑ Puyi abdicated, 1912