Chapter 26: Varieties of Imperialism in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, 1750-1914
Chapter 26: Varieties of Imperialism in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, 1750-1914
26-1a Southern Africa
Early Nguni Peoples and the Rise of the Zulu Kingdom
For centuries, Nguni peoples farmed and raised cattle in fertile southeastern African coastlands.
At the start of the nineteenth century, drought led to instability.
Shaka (r. 1818–1828), an ambitious military leader, formed the Zulu kingdom.
Zulu (A people of modern South Africa whom King Shaka united in 1818.) kingdom emerged as a dominant force.
Employed strict military drill and close-combat tactics.
Featured ox-hide shields and lethal stabbing spears.
Became the most powerful and feared fighters in southern Africa.
Zulu expansion:
Raided neighbors, seizing cattle, women, and children.
Breakaway military bands spread this system of warfare and state-building inland to the high plateau, reaching as far north as Lake Victoria.
Increased power and population of new kingdoms led to a rise in displaced and demoralized refugees.
African Responses to Zulu Expansion
Neighboring African groups formed their own states for protection against the Zulu.
Swazi kingdom consolidated north of the Zulu.
Kingdom of Lesotho (luh-SOO-too) grew by attracting refugees to mountain strongholds.
Both Lesotho and Swaziland remain independent states to this day.
European Settlers and Afrikaner Identity
Shaka's rule (little more than a decade) established a mythic identity but also created conflict with European settlers.
Cape Colony:
Initially a Dutch possession.
Came under British rule after 1806 due to its strategic importance as a supply station for ships traveling between Europe and India.
Population included approximately 20,000 descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
These settlers, who occupied farms and ranches in the hinterland, viewed themselves as permanent residents of Africa.
They began referring to themselves as Afrikaners (South Africans descended from Dutch and French settlers of the seventeenth century. Their Great Trek founded new settler colonies in the nineteenth century. Though a minority among South Africans, they held political power after 1910, imposing a system of racial segregation called apartheid after 1949.).
British policies:
Prohibited further expansion of white settler frontiers, as it led to wars with indigenous Africans.
Imposed laws protecting African rights within Cape Colony, including the emancipation of slaves in 1834.
These policies alienated many Afrikaners.
The Great Trek and New Settler Colonies
Between 1836 and 1839, Afrikaners embarked on the "Great Trek."
Left British-ruled Cape Colony for the fertile high veld (plateau) to the north.
This region had been depopulated by two decades of Zulu warfare.
Laid the foundation for three new settler colonies:
Orange Free State (Afrikaner)
Transvaal (Afrikaner) on the high veld.
Natal (British) on the Indian Ocean coast.
Despite firearms aiding victories against the Zulu and other Africans, settlers remained a small minority surrounded by populous and powerful African kingdoms.
Diamond and Gold Discoveries, and British Expansion
Discovery of diamonds at Kimberley in 1868 attracted thousands of European prospectors and Africans seeking work.
Great Britain annexed the diamond area in 1871, which angered the Afrikaners.
British military actions in the interior:
Defeated the Xhosa (KOH-sah) people in 1877 and 1878 (page 4).
Confronted the militarily powerful Zulu in 1879 (page 4).
Zulu War of 1879:
Zulu King Cetshwayo (set-SHWAH-yo) resented encirclement by Afrikaners and British.
Zulu military tradition led to war with the British.
British lost at Isandhlwana (ee-sawn-dull-WAH-nuh).
Zulu were defeated a few months later.
Cetshwayo was exiled, and Zulu lands were given to white ranchers.
Discovery of gold in the Afrikaner republic of Transvaal in 1886 exacerbated British-Afrikaner tensions.
The ensuing gold rush led to the British outnumbering Afrikaners.
Cecil Rhodes and British Imperial Ambitions
Cecil Rhodes (British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa into Central Africa. The colonies of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) were named after him.) (1853-1902) was a key figure in British imperial designs.
Declared ambition to "annex the stars."
Made fortune in Kimberley diamond fields, founded De Beers Consolidated (dominated world diamond trade).
Entered politics, encouraged British South Africa Company to expand north into Central Africa.
Named two new colonies after himself: Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
The Ndebele (en-duh-BELL-ay) and Shona peoples resisted but were defeated by British machine guns.
Africans Recall the Arrival of Europeans (Diversity & Dominance)
Provides African perspectives on European colonial dominance, highlighting diverse experiences.
Baba of Karo, a Nigerian Woman, Remembers Her Childhood:
Malams (scholars) prophesied European arrival with trains and motor-cars, bringing peace, ending wars, oppression, and lawlessness.
Initial fear: villagers ran away when a European arrived in Karo.
King Yusufu of Karo initially resisted signing a treaty, but eventually agreed.
Habe people welcomed Europeans because they paid for work, unlike the Fulani who demanded labor from commoners without compensation.
Europeans abolished slavery: masters calling someone "slave" could be punished by the alkali (judge).
Slaves became "brothers" within their master's family; the term "slave" was no longer used.
Some bought slaves ran away; former masters, like Baba's father and brother, had to work their own farms.
Chiefs could no longer take daughters against their will.
Ilanga, a Congolese Woman, Recounts Her Capture by Agents of the Congo Free State:
A runner reported the arrival of armed men (red caps, blue cloth, guns, long knives) with white men, led by Kibalanga (Michaux).
Chief Niendo summoned elders and ordered people to gather food (ground-nuts, plantains, cassava, goats, fowl) for the arriving warriors and white men.
Villagers were told to sit quietly in their homes.
Niendo met the white chief, offering food as presents to induce them to pass without harm.
Soldiers took food, looked into houses, shouted incomprehensible words; villagers were fearful of the white men and strange warriors.
The white men returned shortly after, camped near the village.
Soldiers stole fowl, goats, and cassava. Villagers did not resist as long as they were not harmed.
The next morning, soldiers rushed into houses, threatened Niendo, and dragged people out, including Ilanga, her husband Oleka, and sister Katinga.
They were tied together by their necks and forced to march, realizing they were to be slaves.
Soldiers beat them with iron sticks from guns.
Women and men were tied separately (ten to each cord).
Forced to carry baskets of food; some baskets contained smoked human flesh (niama na nitu).
Marched quickly; Katinga, with her baby, was not made to carry a basket, but Oleka carried a goat.
Days of marching led to weakness from lack of food and sleeping in damp grass.
On the fifth day, Katinga's baby was taken and thrown into the grass to die; she was made to carry cooking pots.
On the sixth day, Oleka, too weak to walk, sat down. Soldiers beat him, then stabbed him with long knives from their guns, killing him.
Many young men were killed similarly, and many babies left to die. Few escaped due to tight guard.
The South African (Boer) War (1899-1902)
Inflow of English-speaking whites into goldfields and diamond mines.
British attempts to annex the Afrikaner (Boer) republics (Transvaal and Orange Free State).
Afrikaners initially had advantage: highly motivated, modern rifles, knowledge of the land.
In 1901, Great Britain deployed 450,000 troops to crush Afrikaner armies.
Afrikaner defeat in 1902 paradoxically led to victory:
British, wary of costly overseas commitments, allowed European settlers in Africa to manage their own affairs (similar to Canada, Australia, New Zealand).
In 1910, European settlers created the Union of South Africa.
Afrikaners emerged as the dominating element.
### Post-War South Africa and Racial Policies
Union of South Africa had indigenous inhabitants, substantial numbers of Indians, and "Cape Coloureds" (mixed ancestry).
Europeans were numerous enough to demand self-rule and powerful enough to deny the vote and other civil rights to the majority.
In 1913, the South African parliament passed the Natives Land Act:
Assigned Africans to reservations.
Forbade them to own land elsewhere.
These policies initiated a system of segregation and oppression in South Africa.
26-1b West and Equatorial Africa
Islamic Reform Movements in West Africa
Coincident with Shaka's Zulu kingdom, Islamic reform movements created powerful states in West African savannas.
Islam had a long political and urban presence, but most rulers tolerated older religious practices.
In the 1770s, Muslim scholars preached reform of Islamic practices.
Condemned rulers' accommodations with traditional beliefs.
Called for forcible conquest of rural "pagans" through jihad.
Led to new lands where Islamic laws were enforced and the religion spread.
Usuman dan Fodio (OO-soo-mahn dahn FOH-dee-oh) (1745-1817) led the largest reform movement in the Hausa states (northern Nigeria).
Accused Hausa kings of being "undoubtedly unbelievers" due to polytheistic rituals.
Attracted Muslims dissatisfied with their social or religious standing.
Victorious armies united conquered Hausa states and neighboring areas under a caliph in Sokoto.
Sokoto Caliphate (A large Muslim state founded in 1809 in what is now northern Nigeria.) (1809–1906):
Became a center of Islamic learning and reform.
Rapid spread of Quranic schools for boys.
Great library at Sokoto attracted scholars.
Non-Muslims could practice their religions in exchange for a special tax.
Suppressed dances and ceremonies of traditional religions.
Largest state in West Africa since the sixteenth century.
French encroachment on Sokoto Caliphate:
French had a foothold in Senegal for centuries.
Envisioned a railroad from upper Senegal River to upper Niger to open interior to French merchants.
Led to French military conquest of the interior.
After 1890, Sokoto was embattled by neighbors and European powers.
Ended in 1906 with France, Britain, and Germany dividing its territory.
### European Scramble for the Congo Basin
King Leopold II (King of Belgium (r. 1865–1909). He was active in encouraging the exploration of Central Africa and became the ruler of the Congo Free State (to 1908).) of Belgium:
Followed advice from Henry Morton Stanley (British American explorer of Africa, famous for his expeditions in search of Dr. David Livingstone. Stanley helped King Leopold II establish the Congo Free State.) (American journalist and explorer).
Invested personal fortune in occupying the Congo Basin, a vast forested region in equatorial Africa.
Stanley returned to Africa (1879-1884) to establish trading posts along the southern Congo River.
Savorgnan de Brazza (Franco-Italian explorer sent by the French government to claim part of equatorial Africa for France. Founded Brazzaville, capital of the French Congo, in 1880.):
Italian officer serving in the French army.
Obtained a treaty from an African ruler on the northern bank of the Congo, placing the area under French "protection" in 1880.
26-1c The Berlin Conference
Setting Rules for the Partition of Africa
The expansionist activities in the Congo sparked diplomatic efforts.
German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck convened the Berlin Conference (Conference that German chancellor Otto von Bismarck called to set rules for the partition of Africa. It led to the creation of the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium.) on Africa (1884-1885).
Major powers agreed that "effective occupation" would replace former trading relations.
Countries with colonial ambitions had to send troops and participate in the territorial division.
Outcomes:
Leopold II acquired the Congo Free State as a personal domain.
France and Portugal took most of the remaining equatorial Africa.
European powers and King Leopold divided Africa, at least on paper.
Land Policies and Economic Exploitation
Colonial rulers declared unfarmed land "vacant" and granted it to private concession companies.
Exceptions: Kenya, Northern Rhodesia, South Africa, where land and climate suited Europeans; Africans were forced into squatter, sharecropper, or ranch hand roles.
Economic exploitation examples:
Gold Coast (now Ghana): British trading companies bought cocoa from African farmers at low prices, reselling for large profits.
French West Africa: Development lagged due to transportation difficulties, despite potential for cotton and peanuts.
### Abuses in Equatorial Africa
Equatorial Africa (Congo Free State, French Congo, Portuguese Angola and Mozambique) had few inhabitants and little trade.
Authorities awarded large land grants to private concession companies.
Companies received monopolies on natural resources and trade.
Had the right to deploy soldiers and tax inhabitants.
Operated without outside supervision.
Forced Africans at gunpoint to produce cash crops and transport them to rail lines or rivers.
Congo Free State saw the worst abuses:
A rubber boom made it profitable to brutalize Africans collecting latex from wild vines.
British press publicized these horrors after 1906 (page 12).
Public outcry, coinciding with the end of the rubber boom, led the Belgian government to take over Leopold's private empire in 1908.
26-1d Modernization in Egypt and Ethiopia
Egypt's Modernization Efforts
Egypt and Ethiopia maintained independence in northeastern Africa and pursued modernization (The process of reforming political, military, economic, social, and cultural traditions in imitation of the early success of Western societies, often without regard for accommodating local traditions in non-Western societies.).
Muhammad Ali (r. 1805–1849):
Began reforms to create a modern Egypt (see Chapter 24).
European pressure curtailed efforts after 1839.
By end of his reign: Population nearly doubled; trade with Europe expanded by almost 600 percent; new class of educated Egyptians emerged.
Ismail (is-mah-EEL) (r. 1863–1879), Muhammad Ali's grandson:
Focused on westernizing Egypt over military confrontation: "My country is no longer in Africa… it is in Europe."
Increased European advisers and Egypt's debts to French and British banks.
First decade of reign: Revenues increased thirtyfold; exports doubled (especially cotton during American Civil War).
By 1870: New irrigation canals, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of railroads, postal service, modernization projects in Cairo.
Opened the Suez Canal (Ship canal dug across the isthmus of Suez in Egypt, designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps. It opened to shipping in 1869 and shortened the sea voyage between Europe and Asia. Its strategic importance led to the British occupation of Egypt in 1882.) in 1869; it immediately impacted Europe-Asia communications.
Financial Crisis and British Occupation of Egypt
Ismail's ambitions (canal, empire extending into Sudan and Ethiopia) were costly.
Borrowed from European creditors at high interest rates.
Collapse of Egyptian cotton market after American Civil War led to debt crisis.
By 1876: Foreign debt reached £100 million sterling; interest payments consumed one-third of export earnings.
To avoid bankruptcy: Sold Suez Canal shares to Great Britain; accepted four foreign "commissioners of the debt" to oversee finances.
French and British bankers lobbied for stronger measures.
In 1878: Ismail was coerced to appoint a Frenchman as minister of public works and a Briton as minister of finance.
High taxes caused popular discontent and a military uprising under Egyptian army colonel Arabi Pasha, threatening the Suez Canal.
In 1882: British sent an army into Egypt, fearing for their investments.
Stayed for seventy years due to Suez Canal's strategic importance for British maritime supremacy.
Ruled "indirectly": maintained Egyptian government and sovereignty fiction, but retained real power.
British development of Egyptian cotton:
Built the first dam across the Nile at Aswan (completed 1902).
Allowed year-round irrigation, yielding two to three crops annually.
Benefited a small elite of landowners and merchants (many foreign).
Egyptian peasants gained little, burdened by heavy taxes to service foreign debt and pay for British occupation army.
By 1890s: Egyptian politicians and intellectuals demanded British withdrawal.
### Ethiopia's Modernization and Resistance
State building and reform occurred in Christian Ethiopia.
Beginning 1840s: Ethiopian rulers purchased modern European weapons and created loyal armies.
Emperor Téwodros (tay-WOH-druhs) II (r. 1833–1868):
Encouraged local weapon manufacturing.
Held British officials captive to coerce technical aid; backfired with British invasion.
Committed suicide to avoid capture; British withdrew after avenging their honor.
Yohannes (yoh-HAHN-nehs) IV (r. 1872-1889):
Continued imperial rule over most highland regions.
Independent Shoa kingdom, ruled by Menelik II (Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1889–1911). He enlarged Ethiopia to its present dimensions and defeated an Italian invasion at Adowa (1896).) (MEN-uh-lik) from 1865, remained outside his rule.
Menelik II became emperor in 1889.
Ethiopia faced threats from Sudanese Muslims (west) and France and Italy (Red Sea coast).
Ethiopia had purchased European and American weapons for years (rifles, machine guns, artillery).
Italian attempt to establish a protectorate was met by a larger, better-trained Ethiopian army.
In 1896: Italians (20,000 troops) were defeated at Adowa (AH-do-ah).
26-1e Transition from the Slave Trade
Abolition of the Slave Trade
Saint Domingue slave revolt (1790s) ended slavery in the largest West Indies plantation colony (see Chapter 23).
Other American slave revolts were repressed.
Spread of news about revolts and repression led humanitarians and religious reformers to call for abolition.
Support for abolition also came from Americans wishing to preserve slavery (in the U.S.).
In 1807: Great Britain and the United States made importing slaves from Africa illegal for their citizens.
Most other Western countries followed by 1850; few enforced abolition as vigorously as the British.
Britain, once the world's greatest slave traders, became the most aggressive abolitionist.
Sent naval patrols to enforce the ban along the African coast.
Negotiated treaties allowing searches of suspected slave vessels.
Captured 1,635 slave ships, liberated over 160,000 enslaved Africans.
Trade was difficult to stop: Cuba and Brazil continued importing large numbers, driving up prices and incentivizing some African rulers and merchants to evade British patrols.
The transatlantic slave trade ended in 1867, as it shifted to other parts of Africa.
The Rise of "Legitimate" Trade
In exchange for slaves, Africans had purchased cloth, metals, and other goods.
To continue imports, Africans expanded "legitimate” trade (Exports from Africa in the nineteenth century that did not include the newly outlawed slave trade.) (non-slave exports).
Revived old exports or developed new ones as the Atlantic slave trade ceased.
Palm oil emerged as the most successful new export from West Africa.
Used by British manufacturers for soap, candles, and lubricants.
Niger Delta trading states became premier exporters, despite being a major slave source until mid-1830s.
Coastal African traders bought palm oil inland and delivered it to European ships.
Increase in palm-oil exports: From hundreds of tons (early century) to tens of thousands of tons (midcentury).
Altered social structure of coastal trading communities.
Wealthy coastal traders bought slaves to paddle dugout canoes transporting palm oil.
Niger Delta slavery could be as brutal as New World plantations but offered some slaves opportunities for wealth and power.
Male slaves supervising canoe fleets were well compensated; some became wealthy enough to lead "canoe houses" (companies).
Jaja (ca. 1821-1891): Rose from canoe slave to head of a major canoe house; founded the new port of Opobo in 1869 to escape discrimination by free-born Africans; became the greatest palm-oil trader in Niger Delta by 1870s.
### Western Cultural Influences in West Africa
Suppression of slave trade led to spread of Western cultural influences.
Sierra Leone (see-AIR-uh lee-OWN):
British took over the small colony in 1808 as a base for anti-slave-trade naval squadron.
Over 130,000 men, women, and children from "captured" vessels were liberated (recaptives) and settled around Freetown (capital).
Christian missionaries made many converts among these recaptives (Africans rescued by Britain's Royal Navy from the illegal slave trade of the nineteenth century and restored to free status.).
Produced distinguished graduates:
Samuel Adjai Crowther (1808–1891): Freed from a slave ship in 1821, became the first Anglican bishop in West Africa (1864), administering a diocese along the lower Niger River.
James Africanus Horton (1835-1882): Son of liberated slaves in Sierra Leone, became a doctor and author of West Africa studies.
Return of individuals of African birth or descent from America:
In 1821, free Black Americans founded a settlement that became the Republic of Liberia, a place of liberty.
Post-1865 emancipation, other African Americans moved to Liberia.
Emma White (literate Black woman from Kentucky): Moved to Opobo in 1875, employed by King Jaja for commercial correspondence and schooling his children.
Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912): Born in West Indies, emigrated to Liberia in 1851, became a professor of Greek, Latin, and Arabic at Liberia College.
26-1f Secondary Empire in Eastern Africa
Shift in Slave Trade to Eastern Africa
British patrols in West Africa shifted slaving activities to eastern Africa.
Atlantic slave trade merged with an expanding existing trade to the Islamic world.
Two-thirds of 1.2 million slaves exported from eastern Africa in the nineteenth century went to North Africa and the Middle East.
One-third went to plantations in the Americas and European-controlled Indian Ocean islands.
Slavery also became more prominent within eastern Africa.
### Clove Plantations and the Sultanate of Oman
Arab and Swahili (swah-HEE-lee) owners of clove plantations along the coast purchased some 700,000 slaves between 1800 and 1873 for spice harvesting.
Plantations were on Zanzibar Island and neighboring territories of the Sultanate of Oman.
Arabian kingdom on the Persian Gulf that controlled the East African coast since 1698.
Sultan moved his court to Zanzibar in 1840 due to burgeoning clove trade.
Zanzibar was a major center for ivory and slave trading.
British pressure led the sultan to ban slave exports in 1857 and imports in 1873.
26-2 India Under British Rule
Decline of Mughal Empire and Rise of Indian States
Mughal Empire's might declined after Aurangzeb's death in 1707 (see Chapter 20).
1739: Iranian invaders sacked Delhi, taking vast amounts of booty.
Indian states asserted independence due to Mughal weakness.
By midcentury: Maratha (muh-RAH-tuh) Confederation (coalition of states in central India) controlled more land than the Mughals.
Nawabs (NAH-wab) (Muslim princes, nominally Mughal deputies) created powerful states.
### European Trading Companies and Private Armies
British, French, and Dutch trading companies employed "company men" who used bargaining and force.
Established coastal trading posts protected by sepoys (An indigenous soldier in South Asia, especially in the service of the British.) (SEE-poy)—Indian troops.
In a fragmented India, these private armies held significant power.
26-2a East India Company
British Consolidation of Power in Bengal and Bombay
East India Company (EIC) presence in Bengal:
In 1691, persuaded the nawab of Bengal to allow a trading post at Calcutta.
In 1756, a new nawab overran the post and imprisoned EIC men in the "Black Hole of Calcutta," causing many deaths.
Robert Clive led a large EIC force from Madras to overthrow the nawab.
Weak Mughal emperor recognized EIC's right to rule Bengal in 1765.
By 1788, Calcutta grew to 250,000 inhabitants.
Bombay Presidency:
Bombay was the third major British power center.
In 1818, the EIC annexed large territories to form the core of the Bombay Presidency.
EIC controlled an empire more populous than western Europe and fifty times the population of lost American colonies.
British Raj Policies: Westernization vs. Tradition
Goal of the British raj (The rule over much of South Asia between 1765 and 1947 by the East India Company and then by a British government.) (regime): Remake India on a British model.
Administrative and social reform.
Economic development.
Introduction of new technology.
EIC cautious about interfering with Indian social and religious customs to avoid rebellion or losing support of Indian allies (like Mughals before them).
Landholding reforms:
Substituted private property for complex, overlapping Indian landholding patterns.
Benefited large landowners in Bengal; peasantry gained in Mysore.
Private ownership facilitated state tax collection for administration, army, and economic reform.
"Westernization, Anglicization, and modernization" versus bolstering "traditions":
Indian princes ruling nearly half of British India were often granted greater power, splendor, and tenure in the name of tradition.
Hindu and Muslim holy men expanded their "traditional" power over property and people.
Indians used claims of tradition to resist British rule or turn it to their advantage.
British rulers also "invented" traditions, including elaborate parades/displays (half European royal pomp, half Mughal ceremonies).
British and Indian elites:
Worked in partnership or opposition, always at the expense of ordinary people.
Women, subordinate Hindu castes, "untouchables," "tribals," and the poor saw few benefits.
Experienced new oppression from taxes and traditions that exalted superiors' status.
Economic Transformation: Decline of Handicrafts and New Exports
British India's economy was double-edged.
New jobs: Growth of trade and expanded crop production.
Opium in Bengal (mainly for China export, see Chapter 24).
Coffee in Ceylon.
Tea in Assam.
Negative impact: Competition from cheap British machine-made cotton goods.
Drove many Indians out of handicraft textile industry.
Eighteenth century: India was world's greatest exporter of cotton textiles.
Nineteenth century: India increasingly shipped raw cotton to Britain.
### The Sepoy Rebellion (1857-1858)
British rulers managed isolated local rebellions, but worried about loyalty of Indian sepoys.
In 1857, EIC employed 200,000 sepoys alongside 38,000 British troops.
Sepoys had potential for successful rebellion due to modern rifles and discipline.
Grievances of Sepoys:
Most early EIC sepoys were from Bengal.
Resented active recruitment of other ethnic groups (Sikhs from Punjab, Gurkhas from Nepal) after 1848.
High-caste Hindus objected to an 1856 law requiring new recruits for overseas service (Hinduism prohibited ocean travel).
Introduction of the Enfield rifle in 1857: Required soldiers to tear open ammunition cartridges with teeth.
Cartridges greased with animal fat.
Hindus offended if fat from cattle (sacred).
Muslims offended if fat from pigs (unclean).
Procedure was quickly changed, but discontent escalated into rebellion by Hindu sepoys in May 1857.
Muslim sepoys, peasants, and discontented elites joined.
Rebellion suppressed ten months later, but profoundly shook the empire.
Historical interpretations:
Nineteenth-century British historians: "Sepoy Rebellion (The revolt of Indian soldiers in 1857 against certain practices that violated religious customs; also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.)" or "Mutiny."
Modern Indian historians: "Revolution of 1857," seeing it as the start of the independence movement.
26-2b Political Reform and Industrial Impact
Post-1857 Political Transformation
Events of 1857-1858 marked a turning point for modern India.
New centralized government.
Rapid economic growth.
Development of a national consciousness.
British government eliminated last traces of Mughal and Company rule in 1858.
New Secretary of State for India in London oversaw policy.
New Governor-General in Delhi acted as British monarch's viceroy.
November 1858: Queen Victoria guaranteed all Indians:
Equal protection of the law.
Freedom to practice religions and social customs.
Assured Indian princes loyalty would ensure British respect for their control of territories and "their rights, dignity and honour."
British Rule: Elaborate Pageantry and Bureaucracy
Post-1857 British rule continued to blend tradition and reform.
Viceroyalties:
Viceroys lived in enormous palaces with hundreds of servants, displaying luxury to appear legitimate successors to Mughal emperors.
Treated quasi-independent Indian princes with ceremonial courtesy, maintaining their splendor.
Durbars (An elaborate display of political power and wealth in British India in the nineteenth century, ostensibly in imitation of the pageantry of the Mughal Empire.):
Great pageants staged when Queen Victoria was proclaimed "Empress of India" in 1877 and periodically thereafter.
Example: Delhi durbar of 1902-1903 for King Edward VII's coronation.
Viceroy Lord Curzon received a 101-gun salute.
Parade of 34,000 troops before 50 princes and 173,000 visitors.
Indian Civil Service (The elite professional class of officials who administered the government of British India. Originally composed exclusively of well-educated British men, it gradually added qualified Indians.) (ICS):
Powerful and efficient bureaucracy.
Senior administrative and judicial posts held by members (about a thousand by late nineteenth century).
Visited villages, heard lawsuits, passed judgments.
Recruitment by open examinations, theoretically open to all British subjects, but held in England, practically excluding Indians.
1870: Only one Indian in ICS.
By 1887: Fifty-seven Indian appointments, then stalled.
Racism:
Qualified Indians denied upper administration roles due to racist contempt from most British officials.
Lord Kitchener (commander-in-chief of Indian army, 1892) stated European superiority won India, and even educated, brave natives could not be considered equal to British officers.
Economic Development and Infrastructure
After 1857, government invested millions in harbors, cities, irrigation canals, and public works.
Forests felled for tea plantations.
Indian farmers encouraged to grow cotton and jute for export.
Great irrigation systems built to alleviate famines.
Result: India's trade expanded rapidly.
Exports: Agricultural commodities (cotton fiber, opium, tea, silk, sugar).
Imports: Manufactured goods from Britain, including machine-made cotton textiles that hurt Indian hand-loom weavers.
Poverty remained widespread; some women found low-paying jobs on plantations or in cities (prostitution flourished).
### New Technologies and Social Impact
Government promoted new technologies.
Earlier in century: Steamboats on rivers, massive canal building for irrigation.
1840s: Railroad boom created India's first national transportation network.
Followed by telegraph lines.
By 1870: Fifth largest rail network globally (4,775 miles / 7,685 kilometers of track).
Owned by British companies, built with British materials, paid dividends to British investors.
99 percent of employees were Indians, but Europeans held all top positions.
Indians adopted rail travel enthusiastically for business, pilgrimage, and work.
1870: Over 18 million passengers, over half a million messages on 14,000 miles (22,500 kilometers) of telegraph wires.
Public Health Challenges:
Freer movement of pilgrims and poor Indians into cities led to spread of cholera (KAHL-uhr-uh).
Cholera: Transmitted via water contaminated by human feces; deaths rose rapidly in nineteenth century, spread to Europe.
Many Indians saw kala mari ("the black death") as divine punishment for British takeover.
British residents also died in large numbers.
1867: Officials linked cholera to pilgrims bathing/drinking from sacred waters.
New sewerage system and filtered water supply in Calcutta (1869) dramatically reduced cholera deaths there.
Similar measures in Bombay and Madras also effective.
Most Indians lived in small villages where famine and lack of sanitation kept cholera deaths high.
26-2c Indian Nationalism
Rise of Pan-Indian Nationalism
After the 1857 rebellion, some Indians argued for reduced social/ethnic divisions and promoted Pan-Indian nationalism to regain control.
Rammohun Roy (1772–1833):
Western-educated Bengali from a Brahmin family, successful EIC administrator, comparative religion student.
Founded Brahmo Samaj (BRAH-moh suh-MAHJ) (Divine Society) in 1828.
Attracted Indians reconciling Western values with Indian religious traditions.
Advocated reforming Hindu customs (caste system, child marriage).
Urged return to Upanishads' founding principles.
Supported British efforts to ban repugnant practices:
Widow burning (sati [suh-TEE]) outlawed in 1829.
Slavery outlawed in 1843.
Prohibitions against widows remarrying revoked in 1856.
Female infanticide made a crime in 1870.
Post-1857: Many Indian intellectuals turned to Western secular values and nationalism.
Western education played a vital role, aided by European and American missionaries.
Roy helped found Hindu College in Calcutta (1816).
Bethune College in Calcutta (first secular school for Indian women) founded in 1849.
India's three universities established in 1857.
By 1870: Over 24,000 elementary and secondary schools produced graduates articulating a new Pan-Indian nationalism, transcending regional and religious differences.
### Indian National Congress and Early Demands
Many new nationalists came from the Indian middle class, which prospered from trade and manufacturing.
Resented British obstacles to their advancement (rules, prejudices).
Convened first Indian National Congress (A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, it appealed increasingly to the poor, and it organized mass protests demanding self-government and independence.) in 1885.
Sought larger role for Indians in the Civil Service.
Called for reductions in military expenditures (which consumed 40 percent of budget) to alleviate mass poverty.
Early members: Primarily upper-caste, Western-educated Hindus and Parsis.
Challenge: Needed mass support to challenge British rule effectively.
26-3 Southeast Asia and the Pacific
British Expansion in Southeast Asia
All parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific faced intense imperialist pressure in the nineteenth century.
Singapore:
Thomas Stamford Raffles governed Java (1811-1814) when English displaced Dutch during Napoleonic Wars.
After Java returned to Dutch, Raffles established a new free port at Singapore in 1824.
Site of a small Malay fishing village with an excellent harbor.
British merchants, Chinese businessmen, and laborers quickly made Singapore a primary trade and shipping hub between the Indian Ocean and China.
Along with Malacca and other possessions on the strait, Singapore formed the "Straits Settlements," administered by British India until 1867.
Burma:
Emerged as a powerful kingdom by 1750.
In 1785, Burma attempted to annex Siam's territories, but Thai leaders thwarted advances by 1802.
Burma attacked Assam (west), provoking war with British India.
After two years, India annexed Assam in 1826 and occupied two coastal provinces of northern Burma.
Rice and timber trade made the occupation permanent.
Last piece of Burma annexed in 1885.
Thailand remained an independent kingdom.
### French and Dutch Colonialism
Indochina:
Fell under French control piece by piece, fully subdued by 1895.
Malaya (now Malaysia):
Came under British rule in stages during the 1870s and 1880s.
Northern Sumatra (Acheh):
Supplied half the world's black pepper production.
Dutch fought a ferocious war against Achehnese rulers (1873-1913).
Achehnese resistance was partly inspired by Islamic jihad, creating a tradition of resistance extending into the twentieth century.
26-3a Australia
European Discovery and Indigenous Populations
Portuguese mariners sighted Australia in early seventeenth century, but it drew little European interest.
English Captain James Cook explored New Zealand and Australia's eastern coast (1769-1778), increasing visitors and settlers.
Indigenous populations:
Australia: Around 650,000 hunting-and-gathering people, whose Melanesian ancestors settled 40,000 years prior.
New Zealand: Around 250,000 Maori (MOW-ree [ow as in "cow"]), practicing hunting, fishing, and simple agriculture (Polynesian ancestors arrived around 1200).
Vulnerable to unfamiliar diseases due to long isolation.
By 1890s: Only 93,000 Aboriginal Australians and 42,000 Maori survived; British settlers outnumbered and dominated them.
### British Settlement and Gold Rush
First permanent British settlers in Australia: 736 convicts (188 women) exiled in 1788.
Australian penal colonies grew slowly, with slight contact with indigenous "Aborigines."
Gold discovery in 1851:
Attracted a flood of free European settlers (and some Chinese).
Hastened the end of penal colonies.
After gold rush subsided, government subsidies encouraged tens of thousands more British settlers.
By 1860: Australia had 1 million immigrants.
Settler population doubled in the next fifteen years.
Despite the three-month journey from Britain, rapid population growth ensued.
26-3b New Zealand
European Exploitation of Natural Resources and Settlement Pace
British settlers were slower to arrive in New Zealand.
Early temporary residents:
Slaughtered seals for pelts (exported for men's felt hats).
Example: A single ship in 1806 took 60,000 sealskins.
Overhunting by early 1820s nearly eradicated seal population.
Special ships hunted sperm whales for oil (lubrication, soap, lamps), ambergris (AM-ber-grees) (perfume ingredient), and whalebone (baleen for corsets).
Post-1860:
A brief gold rush, faster ships, and subsidized passages attracted more British immigrants.
Colony actively sought women immigrants to balance the high number of single men.
By early 1880s: Settler population reached 500,000 (the most distant British Empire frontier).
### Self-Governance and Indigenous Rights
Britain encouraged self-governance in Australia and New Zealand, following the 1867 Canadian model.
Gradually transferred governing power to inhabitants.
Satisfied settler demands for control.
Muted independence calls.
Made colonial governments responsible for most expenses.
Fate of indigenous peoples mirrored North American patterns:
Aborigines lacked rights of Australian citizens.
Requirement that voters could read and write English excluded Maori from early New Zealand elections.
From 1867 onwards, four seats in the lower legislature house were reserved for Maori.
26-3c Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902
American Imperialism in the Pacific
The United States was a latecomer to colonial acquisition but showed rapid growth.
By 1890s: Fast-growing population and industries producing surplus manufactured goods.
Economic depressions in 1893 and 1896 led merchants and bankers to seek export markets in China.
Naval strategist Alfred T. Mahan (mah-HAHN) argued for outward expansion: "Whether they will or no, Americans must now begin to look outward. The growing production of the country requires it.”
Guam, Hawaii, and the Philippines were seen as strategic naval stations on the route to China.
American interests in the Pacific preceded open imperialism:
1878: Obtained Pago Pago harbor in Samoa (coaling and naval station).
1887: Secured use of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
By 1898: President William McKinley (1897-1901) openly imperialistic; annexed Hawaii as a steppingstone to Asia.
Hawaii's strategic location led to an inflow of U.S. military personnel.
Planters imported laborers from Japan, China, and the Philippines, who soon outnumbered native Hawaiians.
### The Philippines: From Spanish to American Rule
Filipinos chafed under Spanish rule.
Emilio Aguinaldo (Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895–1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901.), leader of a secret society, revolted and proclaimed a republic in 1899.
Revolutionaries had a good chance for independence as Spain was preoccupied with a Cuban revolution.
Spanish-American War (War fought in 1898 to expand American imperial possessions. Treaty of Paris ending the conflict confirmed U.S. control of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.) (April 1898):
U.S. declared war on Spain, quickly defeating Spanish forces in the Philippines and Cuba.
McKinley bought the Philippines from Spain for 20 million.
Rationale: Prevent a weakened Spain from losing islands to other imperial powers (e.g., Japan, which defeated China in Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895 and annexed Taiwan; Germany, which took parts of New Guinea and Samoa).
Filipino resistance to American rule:
Filipinos did not wish to trade one master for another.
Aguinaldo initially cooperated, hoping for full independence.
When independence was rejected, he led another uprising in 1899 and proclaimed national independence.
U.S. government decided global interests outweighed Filipino interests, despite anti-imperialist protests in the U.S.
U.S. army of occupation tortured prisoners, burned villages/crops, forced inhabitants into "reconcentration camps."
Insurrection ended in 1902: 5,000 Americans and 200,000 Filipinos died.
Post-insurrection American rule:
Attempted to soften rule with public works and economic development.
New buildings in Manila; roads, harbors, railroads built.
Philippine economy tied closer to the U.S.
1907: Filipinos allowed to elect representatives to a legislative assembly, but ultimate authority remained with a U.S. presidential appointee.
1916: Philippines became the first U.S. colony promised independence (fulfilled 30 years later).
26-4d American Intervention in the Caribbean and Central America, 1901-1914
Economic Motives and Political Instability
American intervention in Western Hemisphere extended beyond Mexico.
Caribbean and Central American nations were small, poor, with corrupt, unstable, often bankrupt governments, inviting foreign interference.
Governments borrowed money for infrastructure (railroads, harbors, electricity).
Inability to repay loans led lending banks (European or U.S.) to seek home government assistance.
U.S. sent Marines multiple times to prevent European intervention.
Presidential Policies Toward Latin America
Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909), William Taft (1909–1913), and Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) intervened, but with differing policies.
Roosevelt: Encouraged friendly regimes.
Taft: Influenced through loans from American banks ("Dollar Diplomacy").
Wilson: Tried to impose "clean governments" through military means.
Direct Interventions and Protectorates
Cuba:
After "liberating" Cuba from Spain, U.S. forced Cuban government to accept the Platt Amendment in 1901.
Gave U.S. the "right to intervene" to maintain order.
U.S. occupied Cuba militarily: 1906-1909, 1912, 1917-1922.
Cuba became an unofficial American protectorate.
Other interventions:
Dominican Republic: U.S. troops occupied from 1904-1907 and again in 1916.
Nicaragua and Honduras: Occupied in 1912.
Haiti: Occupied in 1915.
Interventions brought sanitation and material progress but no political reforms.
### The Panama Canal
U.S. was especially forceful in Panama (then a province of Colombia).
Issue: Need for a canal to move warships quickly between Atlantic and Pacific after acquiring Hawaii and Philippines.
Colombia refused to cede territory for the canal.
1903: U.S. government supported a Panamanian rebellion against Colombia and quickly recognized Panama's independence.
In exchange: U.S. obtained right to build a canal and occupy a 5-mile (8-kilometer) wide zone on either side.
Work began in 1904.
Panama Canal (Ship canal cut across the isthmus of Panama by United States Army engineers; it opened in 1914. The canal greatly shortened the sea voyage between the east and west coasts of North America. The United States turned the canal over to Panama on January 1, 2000.) opened on August 15, 1914.
26-4c Revolution and Civil War in Mexico
Social and Economic Inequality in Mexico
Early twentieth-century Mexican society was deeply divided.
Wealth concentration:
Less than 1 percent of the population (few wealthy families of Spanish origin) owned 85 percent of Mexico's land, mostly in huge haciendas (estates).
American and British companies controlled most railroads, silver mines, plantations, and productive enterprises.
Social stratification:
Bottom: Indians (many non-Spanish speaking).
Slightly better off: Mestizos (mess-TEE-so) (mixed Indian and European ancestry); mostly peasants working on haciendas or small communal plots.
Post-independence (1821): Wealthy Mexican families and American companies acquired millions of acres of village agricultural land through bribery and force.
Peasants lost fields, access to firewood and pasture, forced to work on haciendas.
Fell into permanent debt by buying necessities on credit from landowners.
Porfirio Díaz's Rule (1876-1910)
General Porfirio Díaz (DEE-as) (1830–1915) ruled Mexico for 34 years under "Liberty, Order, Progress."
"Liberty": Freedom for rich hacienda owners and foreign investors.
"Order": Imposed through rigged elections, bribes to supporters, summary justice for opponents.
"Progress": Importing foreign capital, machinery, technicians to exploit Mexico's resources.
Material progress during Díaz years:
Mexico City became a showplace: paved streets, streetcars, electric lighting, public parks.
Telegraph and railroad lines connected cities nationwide.
Benefited only well-connected businessmen.
Lowered average Mexican's standard of living.
Discrimination and cultural devaluation:
Díaz, a mestizo, discriminated against Mexico's nonwhite majority.
Supporters tried to eradicate "rustic traditions"; French cuisine replaced Mexican dishes, European garments replaced sombreros and ponchos.
Educated middle class saw this as devaluation of Mexican culture and regime's failure to defend national interests against foreign influences.
The Mexican Revolution (1910-1917)
Mexican Revolution (A complicated series of revolts beginning in 1910 aimed at reducing social inequality and establishing constitutional government. A constitution was adopted in 1917.): Social revolution, developed haphazardly with diverse leaders.
Francisco I. Madero (1873–1913):
American-educated son of a wealthy family.
Opposed Díaz, called for opposition to his sixth term.
Sparked 1910 revolution; elected Díaz's successor.
Presidency welcomed by some, opposed by others.
Assassinated in 1913 after two years, engineered by General Victoriano Huerta (former Madero supporter) with help from U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson.
U.S. Intervention:
President Woodrow Wilson disavowed support for Huerta, recalled Ambassador Wilson.
Sent Marines to seize Veracruz for six months as a token of concern over Mexican unrest.
Constitutionalists (Carranza and Obregón):
Mexican middle class and industrial workers angered by inequality and foreign intervention.
Leaders: Venustiano Carranza (landowner) and Alvaro Obregón (oh-bray-GAWN) (schoolteacher).
Organized private armies, overthrew Huerta in 1914.
Revolution spread to countryside.
Emiliano Zapata (Revolutionary and leader of peasants in the Mexican Revolution. He mobilized landless peasants in south-central Mexico in an attempt to seize and divide the lands of the wealthy landowners. Though successful for a time, he was ultimately defeated and assassinated.) (sah-PAH-tah) (1879-1919):
Madero's key "popular" ally (1910-1911) but disagreed on land reform.
Indian farmer, led revolt against haciendas in Morelos (south of Mexico City).
Soldiers (horseback peasants with pistols/rifles) periodically burned haciendas, returned land to Indian villages.
Francisco “Pancho” Villa (A popular leader during the Mexican Revolution. An outlaw in his youth, when the revolution started, he formed a cavalry army in the north of Mexico and fought for the rights of the landless in collaboration with Emiliano Zapata. He was assassinated in 1923.) (1877-1923):
Leader in Chihuahua (northern state where 17 individuals owned 2/5 of land, 95 percent landless).
Former ranch hand, mule driver, bandit.
Starting in 1913, organized an army of 3,000 men (mostly cowboys).
Divided large haciendas into family ranches.
After failed attack on Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. Army sent General John Pershing to hunt Villa (9-month mission).
Mission cut short by American entry into WW1, but highlighted U.S. concern for protecting land/business interests in Mexico.
Conclusion of the Revolution
Zapata and Villa had popular support but could not lead a national revolution (regional, peasant origins).
Constitutionalists (Carranza, Obregón) had fewer soldiers but controlled major cities, used oil sales for modern weapons.
Gradually took over most of Mexico.
1919: Zapata defeated and killed.
1923: Villa assassinated after resuming political activity (given large estate to retire).
Estimated 2 million lives lost in civil war; much of Mexico in ruins.
Constitutionalist Reforms:
Adopted rivals' agrarian reforms (restoring communal lands to Morelos Indians).
Proposed social programs appealing to workers and middle class.
Constitution of 1917 principles:
One-term limit on presidential power.
Economic nationalism (recapturing subsoil rights from foreigners, land reform, labor rights).
Severe constraints on the church.
Powerful Mexican forces and U.S. prevented full implementation.
By 1928: More progress against church than in political or economic reform.
### Post-Revolutionary Power Struggles
Decade of violence drained country without resolving who would rule.
Carranza (president in 1917) opposed Obregón's succession.
Obregón allied with two leaders, marched on Mexico City.
Carranza killed fleeing.
Obregón served one four-year term (following constitution).
Managed election of Plutarco Elías Calles (KAH-yace), Obregón's colleague, to serve one term, with understanding Obregón would return in 1928.
Catholic militant assassinated Obregón before he could take office.
26-4b Economic Imperialism
Latin American Independence without Industrialization
Latin America gained independence from Spain and Portugal in the nineteenth century but did not industrialize.
Most republics suffered from ideological divisions, unstable governments, and violent upheavals.
Became economically dependent on Great Britain or other foreign countries, trading commodities for foreign manufactured goods and investments.
Mexico's social revolution and civil war did not resolve the chasm between wealthy landowners and poor peasants.
Railroad Development and Foreign Control
Latin America possessed vast economic potential (agricultural and mineral products in demand by industrial countries).
Needed infrastructure to open interior for development.
Railroads were seen as the solution.
Foreign merchants, bankers, and Latin American landowners and politicians embraced the technology.
Starting 1870s: Almost every Latin American country acquired railroads.
Typically connected mines or agricultural regions to nearest port, not internal regions.
All equipment, building material sourced from Britain or the United States.
Financing, engineers, and managers also from the West.
Argentina:
Possessed rich soil for wheat, beef, hides.
Developed longest and best rail network south of the United States.
By 1914: 86 percent of railroads owned by British firms; 40 percent of employees British; official language was English, not Spanish.
Similar foreign control in mining, industrial enterprises, and public utilities throughout Latin America.
### Comparison with India and Ireland, and Elite Complicity
Resembled India and Ireland, which also received rail networks for raw materials/agricultural products.
Key difference: Indians and Irish had little say; Latin American political elites encouraged foreign companies with generous concessions.
Viewed as fastest way to modernize countries and enrich property owners.
Poorer citizens were not consulted and did not benefit from the railroad boom.
26-4a American Expansionism and the Spanish-American War, 1898
U.S. Interests in Cuba and the Outbreak of War
U.S. had long-standing interests in Cuba (closest, richest Caribbean island, Spanish colony).
American businesses invested heavily in Cuba's sugar and tobacco industries.
Thousands of Cubans migrated to the U.S.
1895: Cuban nationalist José Martí launched a revolution against Spanish rule.
American newspapers published sensational stories of Spanish atrocities.
Businessmen worried about investments; politicians demanded U.S. government help liberate Cuba.
February 15, 1898: USS Maine accidentally blew up in Havana harbor, killing 266 American sailors.
U.S. government immediately blamed Spain, issued ultimatum for Spanish evacuation of Cuba.
Spain agreed, but American press and Congress pushed for war.
President McKinley did not restrain them.
### The Spanish-American War and its Aftermath
Spanish-American War (War fought in 1898 to expand American imperial possessions. Treaty of Paris ending the conflict confirmed U.S. control of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.) ended quickly.
May 1, 1898: U.S. warships destroyed Spanish fleet at Manila (Philippines).
Two months later: U.S. Navy sank Spanish Atlantic fleet off Santiago, Cuba.
By mid-August: Spain sued for peace.
U.S. Secretary of State John Hay called it "a splendid little war."
Outcomes:
U.S. purchased the Philippines from Spain.
Took over Puerto Rico and Guam as war booty (remain American possessions).
Cuba became an independent republic, but subject to U.S. interference.
26-4 Imperialism in Latin America
### Economic Dominance and U.S. Involvement
U.S. played a lesser role than Britain and other European countries in economic dominance within Central and South America.
Business played a more significant role than military intervention for overall imperialism compared to other regions.
America's imperialist interest in the Philippines mirrored its involvement with Caribbean Spanish possessions closer to home.
26-5 The World Economy and the Global Environment
### Imperialist Justifications and Expansion
Nineteenth-century imperialists differed from Spanish conquistadors, expressing "good intentions" through clichés:
"The conquest of nature."
"The annihilation of time and space."
"The taming of the wilderness."
"Our civilizing mission."
26-5a Expansion of the World Economy
Growing European Demand and Raw Materials
For centuries, Europe had a market for spices, sugar, silk, etc.
Industrial Revolution expanded demand, especially for stimulants (tea, coffee, chocolate).
Trade in industrial raw materials grew even faster:
Agricultural: Cotton, jute (for bags), palm oil (for soap/lubricants).
Minerals: Diamonds, gold, copper.
Wild forest products that later became cultivated: timber (buildings, railroad ties), cinchona bark, rubber (rainwear, tires), gutta-percha (gut-tah-PER-cha) (Southeast Asian tree sap, insulated electric cables).
Economic Botany and Agricultural Science
Applied to promising plant species globally.
European botanists collected/classified exotic plants; founded botanical gardens in tropical colonies (Java, India, Mauritius, Ceylon, Jamaica).
These gardens transferred commercially valuable plant species between tropical regions.
Crops introduced, improved, expanded in Southeast Asia and Indonesia:
Cinchona (sin-CHO-nah) (source of antimalarial drug quinine).
Tobacco, sugar, coffee, tea.
Cacao and coffee growing spread in Brazil and Africa.
Oil-palm plantations established in Nigeria and the Congo Basin.
After 1910, plantation-grown rubber from Southeast Asia entered market (used for waterproof garments, bicycle tires).
Environment & Technology: Imperialism and Tropical Ecology
Challenges of introducing new crops:
Vanilla (native to central Mexico, known in Europe since Cortés).
Orchid grew readily in other tropical regions but produced no beans.
For 300 years, Europe relied on Mexican production.
1837: Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren discovered a specific Mexican bee species pollinated vanilla.
Bees could not survive elsewhere; Morren's hand pollination method was slow and commercially unviable.
1841: Edmond Albius (12-year-old African slave in Réunion) invented quick, efficient hand pollination method.
European scientist tried to claim credit; Albius's master, Ferreol Bellier-Beaumont, defended him.
Réunion became a center for vanilla export; Madagascar later became leading non-Mexican producer.
Albius freed in 1848, worked as kitchen servant, imprisoned for jewelry theft, pardoned after 5 years for his role in vanilla industry.
Contributions of local farmers often unrecognized:
Development of new/transplanted industrial crops involved European botanists/planters and local farmers adapting skills.
Many improvements originated with non-European workers but are unknown.
Global trade transformation in tropical crops would not have happened without their talents.
### Land Transformation and Population Growth
Throughout the tropics, forests or slash-and-burn agriculture lands converted to farms/plantations.
In Java and India, farmers terraced hillsides, drained swamps, dug wells, felled trees for arable land and firewood.
Colonial rule fostered population growth.
Even in non-export crop areas, growing populations stressed land.
Example: Java (size of Pennsylvania) population doubled from 16 million in 1870 to over 30 million in 1914.
26-5b Free Trade
British Imperial Expansion and Free Trade Ideology
By 1870, Britain had added dozens of colonies to its 26 in 1792.
Primary goal of British imperial expansion: trade rather than territory.
New colonies often served as ports in global shipping networks or as production/distribution centers.
Commercial expansion tied to Britain's industrial economy needs.
Reflected a new philosophy of overseas trade: free trade with all parts of the world, replacing closed mercantilist networks.
Seemed wise given independence of many former colonies in the Americas (see Chapter 23).
### Global Commercial Networks and Unequal Relationships
Colonized or not, more lands drawn into British-created commercial networks.
Uncolonized West Africa: Major exporter of vegetable oils and forest products to Britain.
European-free East Africa: Exported ivory (for piano keys, billiard balls).
Exchange: Foodstuffs and industrial raw materials flowed to Europe/U.S. from non-industrial regions.
Industrialized nations supplied manufactured goods at attractive prices.
Mid-nineteenth century: Major part of textile production for overseas markets.
Cotton cloth sales to Africa increased 950 percent (1820s to 1860s).
British trade to India grew 350 percent (1841-1870); India's exports increased 400 percent.
Trade with other regions also expanded rapidly.
Benefits for both sides, but industrial nations were clearly the dominant partners.
26-5c New Labor Migrations
Post-Slavery Labor Recruitment
Between 1834 and 1870: Thousands of Indians, Chinese, and Africans migrated overseas (especially sugar plantations).
Post-1870: Tens of thousands of Asians and Pacific islanders made similar voyages.
Linked to the end of slavery:
After emancipation in British colonies in 1834, many former slaves left plantations.
British colonies recruited new laborers to compete with slave-labor plantations in Cuba, Brazil, French Caribbean.
Indian laborers: Successfully introduced in Mauritius; Indian labor trade moved to British Caribbean in 1838.
African laborers: British government allowed Caribbean planters to recruit Africans rescued from slave ships and liberated in Sierra Leone (1841).
By 1870: Nearly 40,000 Africans, over half a million Indians, and over 18,000 Chinese settled in British colonies.
Post-1848 (abolition of slavery by French/Dutch): Colonies recruited from Asia and Africa.
Cuba: Slavery abolished in 1886, but rising costs led sugar plantations to recruit 138,000 Chinese laborers (1847-1873).
Indentured labor became mainstay in new sugar plantations in places unfamiliar with slavery:
Post-1850: American planters in Hawaii (China, Japan); British planters in Natal, South Africa (India); Queensland, Australia (South Pacific islands).
### Conditions of Indentured Labor
Larger, faster ships made transporting laborers worldwide affordable, though Asian-Caribbean voyages still took ~3 months.
Crowded accommodations, despite regulations, spread cholera and contagious diseases, causing many deaths.
Contracts of indenture (A voluntary agreement binding a person to work for a specified period of years in return for free passage to an overseas destination. Before 1800 most indentured servants were Europeans; after 1800 most indentured laborers were Asians.):
Bound workers for a specified period (typically 5-7 years) in return for free passage.
Small salary, housing, clothing, medical care provided.
Indian indentured laborers received free return passage after a second 5-year contract.
British Caribbean colonies required 40 women recruited for every 100 men to promote family life.
Many Indians stayed in Mauritius, Trinidad, British Guiana, Fiji, constituting a third or more of populations by early twentieth century.
Indentured labor reflected Western commercial and industrial power inequalities, but migrants sought to improve lives; many succeeded.
More of the world's peoples were influenced by Western colonies, ships, and markets.
Chapter 27: The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
27-1 New Technologies and the World Economy
### Expansion and Acceleration of Industrialization
Industrial Revolution marked a massive world transformation.
Nineteenth century: Technologies (textile mills, railroads, steamships, telegraph) spread from Britain.
By 1890: Germany and United States surpassed Great Britain as leading industrial powers.
Second phase of industrialization: New technologies (electricity, steel, chemicals) revolutionized daily life and transformed world economy.
Driven by business investment, engineering, and science.
Mid-nineteenth century: Industrial research and innovation reinforced by engineering schools and research laboratories (first in Germany, then in U.S.).
27-1a Railroads
Global Expansion of Rail Networks
Mid-nineteenth century: Steam engines were prime movers of industry and commerce.
Railroads (Networks of iron (later steel) rails on which steam (later electric or diesel) locomotives pulled long trains at high speeds. The first railroads were built in England in the 1830s. Their success caused a railroad-building boom throughout the world that lasted well into the twentieth century.):
By 1850, early railroads proved successful, prompting construction in all industrializing and aspiring industrial countries.
Next 50 years: Tremendous expansion of world rail networks.
British railroad mileage leveled off around 20,000 miles (over 32,000 kilometers) in 1870s.
France and Germany built larger networks, as did Canada and Russia.
United States: Largest network in 1865, increased mileage eleven times by 1917.
Not confined to industrialized nations; built almost anywhere valuable for business or government (raw materials, agriculture, dense populations like South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Egypt).
Great Britain built the fourth largest rail network in its largest colony, India, for colonial domination and trade.
Western Influence and Japanese Exception
Most railroads in Africa, Asia, and Latin America built by European or American engineers and investors.
Equipment imported from the West.
Japan was the exception.
1855: Japanese instrument maker Tanaka Hisashige built a model steam train.
1870s: Japanese government hired British engineers for first full-scale line (Tokyo to Yokohama).
1880s: British engineers sent home after training Japanese cadre.
Within a few years, Japan manufactured its own railroad equipment.
By 1910: Japan had 7,000 miles (11,200 km) of track.
### Environmental and Economic Impacts
Railroad development transformed urban and rural landscapes.
Old cities doubled in size for stations, sidings, tracks, warehouses, repair shops.
Promoted development of towns/cities along rights-of-way in countryside.
Required construction of bridges, tunnels, embankments, altering natural environments.
Promoted rapid spread of market agriculture: hundreds of thousands of acres of prairie transformed by plow in U.S., Canada, Argentina.
Early wood-burning steam engines caused deforestation; demand for lumber for ties/bridges added to pressure on forests.
Transition to coal-fired engines exploited coal mines in undisturbed agricultural landscapes.
Environmental costs were large, but railways accelerated economic growth.
Connected new lands to urban markets and ports.
Ports connected to distant foreign markets by steamships.
By end of nineteenth century: World's peoples more mobile, economies more intensely linked than ever.
27-1b Steamships and Telegraph Cables
Transformation of Ocean Shipping
Mid-nineteenth century: Radical developments in ocean shipping.
Ship construction: Iron, then steel, replaced wood.
Propulsion: Paddle wheels replaced sails, then propellers replaced paddle wheels (due to more powerful, fuel-efficient engines).
Vessel size: Average freight-carrying vessels grew from 200 tons (1850) to 7,500 tons (1900).
Growth in ship size and number led to global construction of coaling stations and large-ship ports.
Suez Canal (1869): Shortened Europe-Asia distance, triggered massive switch from sail to steam (see Chapter 26).
Modern shipping lines offered fast, punctual, reliable service (passengers, mail, perishable freight) on fixed schedules.
World merchant ship fleet grew from 9 million tons (1850) to 35 million tons (1910), indicating growth in international commerce.
Resulted in falling freight costs and greater commercial integration.
Benefited industrial product exporters (Europe, North America) and agricultural/mining product exporters (Asia, Africa, Latin America).
Growing national and regional economic specialization concentrated industrial power, leading to today's global inequalities.
### Submarine Telegraph Cables and Global Communication
Shipping companies and commercial firms used submarine telegraph cables (Insulated copper cables laid along the bottom of a sea or ocean for telegraphic communication. The first short cable was laid across the English Channel in 1851; the first successful transatlantic cable was laid in 1866.) to respond to/anticipate market changes.
Early development: Depended on government financial support.
French and British governments saw usefulness for controlling distant colonies.
European businesses focused on transatlantic cable for commercial links with Americas.
Initial 1850s efforts failed; improved transatlantic cable successfully laid in 1866.
By turn of century: Cables connected every country and most inhabited islands.
Became indispensable tools for modern shipping and business.
Public and press hailed this as "annihilation of time and space."
27-1c The Steel and Chemical Industries
Revolution in Steel Production
Until nineteenth century: Steel (A form of iron that is both durable and flexible. It was first mass-produced in the 1860s and quickly became the most widely used metal in construction, machinery, and railroad equipment.) made in small quantities by skilled blacksmiths, reserved for specialized items (swords, knives, axes, watch springs).
New inventions made it cheapest, most versatile metal:
1850s: American William Kelly and Englishman Henry Bessemer discovered forced air through molten pig iron converted it to steel without extra fuel.
Other processes: Steel from scrap iron (increasingly important raw material) and phosphoric iron ores (common in western Europe).
Steel became cheap and abundant enough for rails, bridges, ships, and disposable "tin" cans.
Advancements in the Chemical Industry
Chemical industry followed similar innovation pattern.
1856: Englishman William Perkin created first synthetic dye, aniline purple, from coal tar.
Next few years: "mauve decade" in Europe, due to fashionable synthetic color.
Industry mass-produced other organic chemicals (carbon compounds).
Late century: German chemists synthesized red, violet, blue, brown, black dyes.
Cheaper, larger quantities, lower prices than natural dyes.
Delighted consumers but ruined indigo plantations in India and Latin America.
Explosives:
Nitroglycerin: First, very dangerous (exploded if shaken/dropped).
1866: Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel turned nitroglycerin into stable solid, dynamite.
New explosives useful in mining, critical for railroad and canal construction.
Enabled Great Powers' armies/navies to arm with increasingly accurate, powerful rifles/cannon, fueling second wave of imperialism post-1850.
### Science, Technology, and German Dominance
Growing complexity of industrial chemistry made it an early field for daily science-technology interaction.
Germany gained significant advantage:
Most advanced engineering schools and scientific institutes.
Government funded research, encouraged university-industry cooperation.
By end of nineteenth century: World's leading producer of dyes, drugs, synthetic fertilizers, ammonia, and nitrates (for explosives).
27-1d Environmental Problems
Industrialization's Impact on Regional Environments
Industrialization and rapid urbanization profoundly affected regions: English Midlands, German Ruhr, parts of Pennsylvania, Tokyo/Osaka regions in Japan.
New steel mills: Occupied immense space, emitted smoke and particulates, created huge hills of slag and waste.
Coal-burning steam engines and domestic coal consumption: Filled skies of Manchester and other manufacturing centers with dense smog.
German visitor to Manchester: "The cloud of coal vapor may be observed from afar. The houses are blackened by it. The river . . . is so filled with waste dyestuffs that it resembles a dyer's vat."
Urban Sanitation Issues and Disease
Rapidly growing urban populations overwhelmed primitive sanitation systems until late nineteenth century.
London's "Great Stink" (1858):
Drought lowered Thames River water levels.
Caused by vast accumulation of untreated human and industrial waste dumped daily for decades.
Public outcry led to new sewer system, diverting waste downstream.
Pollution-related diseases:
Typhoid and cholera more threatening.
First cholera epidemic in Britain (1832) killed 52,000.
1840s: ~16,000 Londoners infected by typhoid annually.
### Sources of Pollution and Social Disparities
Coal smoke from railroad locomotives and other steam engines: Major air pollutant.
Rapidly developing chemical industries: Also produced coal smoke; dumped tons of toxic effluents into rivers.
Industrialization brought vast new wealth, but without environmental regulations, it caused significant damage to nature and human health.
Poorest populations almost universally suffered most from these environmental predations.
27-1e Electricity
Electricity as a Revolutionary Energy Source
No late nineteenth-century innovation changed lives as radically as electricity (A form of energy used in telegraphy from the 1840s on and for lighting, industrial motors, and railroads beginning in the 1880s.).
More flexible and easier to use than water power or stationary steam engines.
Initially costly: Used only for electroplating metals and telegraphy.
1831: Englishman Michael Faraday showed that copper wire movement through magnetic field induced electric current.
1870s: Inventors devised generators converting mechanical energy to electric current.
### Applications and Infrastructure Development
Numerous new applications emerged.
Arc lamps: Initially lit public squares, theaters, stores (homes still used gas lamps).
1879: Thomas Edison (American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.) (1847–1931) developed incandescent lamp for small rooms.
1882: Edison created world's first electrical distribution network in New York City.
Turn of century: Electric lighting rapidly replaced gas lamps in European and North American cities.
Other uses:
Electric streetcars and subways for urban transport.
Electric motors replaced steam engines and power belts in factories, increasing productivity and improving safety.
Environmental impact:
Early electric energy production, often from coal-fired generators, was a major air polluter.
Demand growth led to hydroelectric plants supplementing coal-fired generation.
Niagara Falls plant (opened 1895): Produced incredible 11,000 horsepower.
Education and global influence:
Japan's Imperial College of Engineering: William Ayrton (Englishman) became first electrical engineering professor globally.
His Japanese students founded many of Japan's major corporations and government research institutes.
27-1f World Trade and Finance
Global Trade Expansion and Industrial Benefits
Improvements in transport/communication + rising world population = tenfold increase in international trade (1850-1913).
Europe imported: Wheat (Canada, U.S., India), wool (Australia), beef (Argentina).
Europe exported: Coal, railroad equipment, textiles, machinery (to Asia, Africa, Americas).
Steamships: More efficient and faster than sailing ships, dramatically reduced freight costs, intensifying long-distance commercial links.
Growth of world trade transformed regions differently:
Western Europe and North America (first to industrialize, prime beneficiaries): More diversified and prosperous economies.
Mass-produced consumer goods for growing middle/working classes: Soap, canned foods, ready-made clothes, household items, small luxuries.
Developing world: Slower consumption revolution, benefits limited to elites and urban middle class.
Privileged sectors often paid for imports by imposing harsh conditions on plantation/mine laborers.
Economic Instability and Imperialist Justifications
Capitalist economies prone to business cycle swings (booms/busts).
1873: Bank collapse in Austria triggered depression spreading to U.S.; 18,000 American businesses failed, mass unemployment.
Mid-1880s: Destabilizing worldwide recessions.
1893: Panic in U.S. affected manufacturing/agriculture; unemployment above 10 percent for a decade.
Contemporaries feared industrial production outpaced market consumption, leading to falling prices and recession.
Assumed solution: Expand markets, gain protected access to raw materials.
Though analysis was flawed, policymakers in U.S./Europe used these assumptions to justify new wave of imperialist adventures (Asia, Africa, Latin America, see Chapter 26).
Many powers implemented high tariffs but couldn't insulate economies from business cycle, as money flowed globally.
### British Financial Hegemony
Main cause of growing global economic interdependence: Great Britain's financial power.
Dominated flow of trade, finance, information.
1900: Two-thirds of world's submarine cables British-owned or passed through Britain.
Over half of world's shipping British-owned.
Britain invested one-fourth of its national wealth overseas (much in India, U.S., Argentina).
British money financed many railroads, harbors, mines, other large projects outside Europe.
Pound sterling was stable (as good as gold); nine-tenths of international transactions used sterling.
Nonindustrial areas tied to world economy as never before.
Produced raw materials vulnerable to synthetic substitutes (dyestuffs) or alternative sources, making them susceptible to price/demand changes.
Sugar, cotton, dye-producing regions experienced upsets, leading to political instability.
Nonetheless, until 1913, value of tropical country exports generally kept pace with population growth.
27-2 Social Changes
### Population Growth and Emigration
Europe's fast-growing population swelled cities to unprecedented sizes.
Millions of Europeans emigrated to the Americas.
Strained relations between industrial employers and workers sparked labor movements and new radical politics.
Women's lives dramatically altered by economic and technological change, both at home and in public.
27-2a Population and Migration
Europe's Population Boom and Overseas Migration
Europe's population grew rapidly (1850-1914): Almost doubled from 265 million to 468 million.
Non-European countries with white populations (U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina) saw even greater increases due to European immigration.
Reasons for mass migrations:
Irish famine (1847-1848).
Persecution of Jews in Russia.
Endemic poverty and population growth in Italy, Spain, Poland, Scandinavia.
Cultural ties between Great Britain and English-speaking countries overseas.
Attraction of opportunities (cheap land, strong economic growth) in Argentina, Australia, Canada, U.S.
Cheap and rapid steamship and railroad transportation facilitated huge population transfer.
Environment & Technology: Railroads and Immigration
Factors determining migration volume:
Ability to migrate (improved transportation).
Permission to migrate (U.S./Canada closed doors to non-Europeans from 1890s; Europeans admitted almost without restriction until WWI).
Asian immigrants:
Recruited to build railroads and work on farms.
By 1880, ~300,000 Chinese entered U.S.
U.S. and Canada closed doors to non-Europeans from the 1890s.
European immigrants:
Until 1890s: Mostly from Ireland, England, Germany (good rail connections to seaports, low fares to North America, Argentina, Australia).
As rail lines extended into eastern/southern Europe, more immigrants from Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia joined.
Until 1870s: Most settled on east coast of North America.
As railroads pushed west: More settled on farms in central/western continent.
Railroads profoundly influenced where people moved.
### Scale of European and Asian Migrations
Between 1850 and 1900: Over 1 million Europeans migrated overseas annually.
1900-1914: Flood rose to over 3 million annually.
Over 50 years (1850-1900): U.S./Canada population rose from 25 million to 98 million.
Proportion of people of European ancestry globally rose from one-fifth to one-third.
Great Britain was largest source; large numbers of Germans, Italians, Spaniards also migrated.
Reasons for dramatic increase:
Drop in mortality: Epidemics and starvation less common.
Increased food supplies: North American plains plowed for wheat (shipped to Europe), food supplies outpaced population growth, prices dropped.
New technologies (canning, refrigeration) made food more abundant year-round, facilitated beef/mutton exports.
Improved diet for Europeans and North Americans in cities.
Asian migrations:
Large numbers migrated as indentured laborers for plantations, mines, railroads (see Chapter 26).
Indians to Africa, Southeast Asia, other British tropical colonies.
Chinese and Indians to East Indies and Caribbean for sugar plantations (post-slavery abolition).
Japanese to Brazil and other Latin American parts.
Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos to Hawaii and California for agriculture/menial trades; met growing hostility from European Americans.
27-2b Urbanization and Urban Environments
Rapid Urban Growth and Transformation
Britain: First nation with majority urban population in 1851. By 1914, 80 percent of population urban; Germany 60 percent, France 45 percent.
Worldwide urban population: 3 percent (1800) to 14 percent (1900).
Cities grew to unprecedented size:
London: 2.7 million (1850) to 6.6 million (1900).
New York: 64,000 (1800) to 3.4 million (1900), over fiftyfold increase.
Covered 3 square miles (8 square kilometers) in 1800; 150 square miles (390 square kilometers) in 1900.
Fast-growing towns fused in English Midlands, German Ruhr, Tokyo Bay.
Character of cities changed:
Railroads brought goods and allowed people to live farther apart.
Initially, only wealthy commuted by train; by century end, electric streetcars/subways allowed working class to live in new suburbs.
Improvements in Urban Living Conditions
Pre-industrial/early industrial cities: Poor crowded in tenements, bad sanitation, contaminated water, dangerous darkness.
Nineteenth-century urban transformation:
New urban technologies, increased government powers/responsibilities (for all but poorest).
Most important: Installation of pipes for clean water and sewage removal.
Gas then electric lighting made cities safer at night.
By turn of twentieth century: Municipal governments provided police/fire protection, sanitation/garbage removal, building/health inspection, public schools, parks.
Epidemics became rare as sanitation improved.
Urban death rates fell below birthrates for first time.
Decline in infant mortality reflected improved hygiene/medical care.
Couples limited children, infanticide/child abandonment less common.
Urban Planning, Social Segregation, and Professions
New neighborhoods built for growing population: Tenements for poor, opulent mansions for rich.
U.S. urban planners: Laid out new cities (e.g., Chicago) on rectangular grids.
Middle-class families moved to suburbs.
Paris: Older neighborhoods (narrow streets, rickety tenements) demolished for broad boulevards, modern apartments.
Gas/electrically lit Paris became model for city planners (New Delhi, Buenos Aires).
Rich in inner cities (monuments, churches, palaces).
Workers in multi-family tenements on outskirts.
Lower population densities and better transportation divided cities into industrial, commercial, residential zones by social class.
Businesses of all kinds arose; professions (engineering, accounting, research, journalism, law) gained importance.
New middle class imitated elites, displaying wealth in fine houses (with servants), elegant entertainment.
### Environmental Challenges and Solutions
Urban environments improved in many ways, but air quality worsened.
Coal (for steam engines, heating): Polluted air, created "pea-soup" fog, coated surfaces with grime.
Thousands of horses (carts, carriages): Covered streets with waste, terrible stench.
Electricity helped alleviate some problems:
Electric motors/lamps did not pollute air.
Coal-burning power plants usually built away from cities.
Electric trains/streetcars replaced horse-drawn trolleys and coal-burning locomotives, leading to cleaner, healthier cities.
Most environmental benefits of electricity realized in twentieth century.
27-2c Middle-Class Women's "Separate Sphere"
The Victorian Age and Gender Roles
English-speaking countries (1850-1901): Victorian Age (The reign of Queen Victoria of Great Britain (r. 1837-1901). The term is also used to describe late-nineteenth-century society, with its rigid moral standards and sharply differentiated roles for men and women and for middle-class and working-class people.).
Refers to Queen Victoria's reign and rules of behavior, ideology of family, and men-women relations.
Contrasted masculine ideals (strength, courage) with feminine virtues (beauty, kindness).
Idealized home as peaceful refuge from competitive capitalism.
Victorian morality applied best to upper- and middle-class European families.
Men and women considered to belong in "separate spheres (Nineteenth-century idea in Western societies that men and women, especially of the middle class, should have clearly differentiated roles in society: women as wives, mothers, and homemakers; men as breadwinners and participants in business and politics.)."
Men: Work or relax in men's clubs (breadwinners, business/politics).
Women: Rearing children, running household, spending family income to enhance social status (wives, mothers, homemakers).
Majority of less privileged women faced financial pressures, worked outside home for wages.
Others did low-wage piecework (laundry, sewing) to supplement income.
Household Labor and Technological Changes
Pre-electric appliances: Middle-class homes required immense work.
Larger families, frequent lavish entertaining.
Required servants: Families with at least one full-time servant considered middle class.
Turn of century: Modern technology began transforming middle-class homes.
Modern plumbing replaced water pumps, outhouses.
Central heating replaced fireplaces, stoves, coal hauling, endless dusting.
Gas/electricity lit houses, cooked food without soot/smoke/ashes.
Early twentieth century: Wealthy families acquired first vacuum cleaners, washing machines.
Impact of technology: Did not reduce women's housework, but raised cleanliness standards, demanding similar labor levels.
Child Rearing and Girls' Education
Most important duty of middle-class women: Raising children.
Victorian mothers nursed their own babies, showering love and attention.
Remained personally involved in children's education/upbringing, even with governesses.
Girls' education differed from boys':
Boys prepared for business/professions.
Girls taught embroidery, drawing, music (skills for social graces, marriage prospects).
Women in the Workforce and Professions
Young middle-class women could work until marriage, but only in "genteel" places (stores, offices), not factories.
1880s: Typewriter and telephone introduced.
Businessmen found educated young women provided better work at lower wages than men.
Operating these machines became stereotyped as women's work.
Most professional careers closed to women; few universities granted women degrees.
U.S.: Higher education for women only at elite eastern colleges, midwestern teachers' colleges.
Europe: Fewer opportunities for women.
Before 1914: Very few women became doctors, lawyers, professional musicians.
Women considered suited for teaching young children/girls (extension of Victorian mother duties), but only until marriage.
Married women expected to become pregnant quickly and stay home with own children.
### Women's Activism and Suffrage
Home life alone did not satisfy all middle-class women.
Some became volunteer nurses or social workers (little/no pay).
Others organized as unpaid volunteers to fight prostitution, alcohol, child labor.
Turn of century: Some women challenged male political/legal domination.
Suffragists (led by Emmeline Pankhurst in Britain, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in U.S.) demanded the right to vote.
By 1914: U.S. women gained vote in twelve states.
British women gained vote in 1918.
27-2d Working-Class Women
Toil and Responsibilities of Working-Class Women
Industrial cities:
Separation of work and home affected women more than men.
Women formed majority of workers in textile industries and domestic service.
Still expected to keep homes and raise children, leading to lives of toil and pain.
Child labor: Girls as young as 10 expected to contribute or earn wages.
Tenant farmers (Japan, Ireland, New England) sent young daughters to textile mills due to rising taxes/rents.
Domestic service:
Common job, often 16+ hours daily, 6.5 days/week, little more than room/board.
Usually lived in unheated attics or basements.
Physically demanding without appliances: hauling coal/water, hand washing laundry.
Factory work preferred by some young women:
Avoided humiliation and snobbery of domestic service.
Still exploited, but different conditions.
Gendered Labor and Wage Disparities
Most men and women employed in industry.
Men: Construction, iron/steel, heavy machinery, railroads.
Women: Textiles, clothing trades (extensions of traditional household work).
Protective legislation:
Appalled by abuses, most industrial countries passed laws limiting hours or forbidding women in dangerous jobs (mining, foundry).
Intended to protect, but reinforced gender divisions, keeping women in low-paid, subordinate positions.
Even where working alongside men, women earned 1/3 to 2/3 of men's wages for similar work.
### Married Women's Home and Economic Contributions
Except for the well-to-do, married women with children expected to stay home, even if husband's income was insufficient.
Expected to contribute to family income.
Took in boarders (even a bed in kitchen corner).
Did piecework at home: sewing dresses, making hats/gloves, weaving baskets.
Hardest, worst-paid: Washing other people's clothes.
Many poor women worked 10-12 hours daily at home, enlisted small children, perpetuating child labor long outlawed in factories.
Without electric lighting/indoor plumbing, ordinary household duties were heavy burdens.
27-3 Socialism and Labor Movements
### Emergence of Mass Movements
Industrialization's experience combined with late eighteenth-century revolutionary ideas.
Produced two kinds of mass movements demanding economic and political reforms:
Socialism (A political ideology that originated in Europe in the 1830s. Socialists advocated government protection of workers from exploitation by property owners and government ownership of industries. This ideology led to the founding of socialist or labor parties throughout Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century.):
Ideology by radical thinkers who believed inequality/injustice stemmed from industrialization.
Advocated strong government regulations, even direct industry control, to protect workers.
Led to socialist/labor parties in Europe (second half of nineteenth century).
Labor unions (An organization of workers in a particular industry or trade, created to defend the interests of members through strikes or negotiations with employers.):
Organizations formed by industrial workers to defend interests in negotiations.
Many grew from pre-industrial craft organizations (guilds).
Focused on higher wages, better working conditions, not economic transformation.
Socialism and labor movements were never identical; mostly allies, occasionally competed for worker support.
27-3a Revolutionary Alternatives
Revolutionary Transformation vs. Reform
Growing wealth/power of industrial elites and harsh worker conditions led to:
Labor unions.
First government social welfare policies.
Demands for voting rights.
Dream of revolutionary transformation for some.
Revolution seekers divided among many parties/factions, rarely agreeing.
Karl Marx and "Scientific Socialism"
Karl Marx (German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) and Das Kapital (Vols. I–III, 1867–1894).) (1818-1883):
Formidable theorist of revolution, major contestant for power.
Shared Enlightenment's enthusiasm for reason/logic.
Identified his ideal as "scientific socialism"; adherents called themselves communists/Marxists.
Belief: Relentless competition of industrial capitalism would lead to society divided between wealthy few and exploited, impoverished workers.
Predicted: This division would inevitably lead to revolutions ending capitalism, creating a dictatorship of the proletariat (industrial workers).
Outcome: Equitable distribution of material benefits and scientific progress from Industrial Revolution.
Abolished private property: Government/industry resources would end poverty/injustice.
### Mikhail Bakunin and Anarchism
Many seeking revolutionary change rejected Marx's preconditions (mature capitalism, modern proletariat).
Believed existing injustice/inequality justified immediate revolutionary violence.
Rejected Marx's belief that a dictatorship of the proletariat could avoid recreating oppression.
Russian intellectual Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876):
Argued peasants, displaced/unemployed artisans, and other exploited groups had revolutionary potential.
Many unindustrialized regions of Europe already ripe for revolution.
Dismissed Marx's faith in worker's government as naive; for him, government (like capital) was inherently oppressive.
Exercised powerful influence over anarchism (chief revolutionary alternative to communism).
Anarchists believed revolution through "direct action by individuals and small groups" (e.g., "propaganda of the deed").
Led to series of assassinations and bombings in Europe/Americas.
Opera bombing (1893) and Corpus Christi celebration bombing (1896) in Spain.
Haymarket bombing (1896) in Chicago.
Assassinations: President Carnot of France (1894), Prime Minister Cánovas del Castillo of Spain (1897), Empress Elizabeth of Austria (1898), King Umberto of Italy (1900), President William McKinley of U.S. (1901).
Conflict between Marx and Bakunin culminated in 1872: Bakunin and adherents expelled from International Workingman's Association.
Bakunin's followers remained potent source of political violence and working-class mobilization in Italy, Spain, Argentina into twentieth century.
27-3b Labor Unions and Movements
Growth of Labor Unions and Their Goals
Early nineteenth century: European workers formed "friendly societies" for mutual assistance (illness, unemployment, disability).
Unions gained influence after laws forbidding strikes abolished (Britain in 1850s, rest of Europe soon after).
Goals: Better wages, improved working conditions, insurance (illness, accidents, disability, old age).
Organizations spread across Europe, Americas, eventually Asia and Africa.
Slow growth: Required permanent staff, significant money to sustain members during strikes.
End of century: British labor unions had 2 million members; German and American unions 1 million each.
Once organized, unions became political forces in democratic countries, advocating for workers.
Political Action and Democratic Socialism
New political parties sought to integrate workers into existing political system.
Democratic reform and economic justice campaigns intertwined against entrenched privilege.
Nineteenth century: Gradual extension of voting rights in Europe, North and South America.
Universal male suffrage: U.S. (1870), France/Germany (1871), Britain (1885), rest of Europe soon after.
Many socialist politicians aimed to win parliamentary seats with newly enfranchised workers.
"Democratic socialists": Expected concessions from government, eventually forming governments, rejecting violent revolution (communists, anarchist (Revolutionaries who wanted to abolish all private property and governments, usually by violence, and replace them with free associations of groups.)s).
### Working-Class Women and Their Struggle
Working-class women: Burdened with job and family, little time for politics.
Not welcome in male-dominated trade unions or radical political parties.
Few radicals (German socialist Rosa Luxemburg, American anarchist Emma Goldman) gained fame but had small followings.
Reconciliation of male and female worker demands was difficult.
1889: German socialist Clara Zetkin: "Just as the male worker is subjected by the capitalist, so is the woman [subjected] by the man, and she will always remain in subjugation until she is economically independent. Work is the indispensable condition for economic independence."
Six years later: Zetkin recognized women's liberation required change in working class position as a whole.
27-4 Nationalism and the Rise of Italy, Germany, and Japan
### Transformation of Nationalism
Most influential idea of nineteenth century: nationalism (A political ideology that stresses people's membership in a nation—a community defined by a common culture and history as well as by territory. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, nationalism was a force for unity in western Europe. In the late nineteenth century it hastened the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. In the twentieth century it provided the ideological foundation for scores of independent countries emerging from colonialism.).
Pre-American/French Revolutions: Individuals were subjects of a sovereign.
Eighteenth-century revolutionaries: Redefined individuals as citizens of nations (identified with territory, state, people's culture).
27-4a Language and National Identity in Europe Before 1871
Language as a Unifying Element
Shared language crucial for national identity.
Promoted shared experience and historical memory.
Means of persuasion for political leaders to inspire collective action.
Skillful use of shared language was key political tool for new activists (lawyers, teachers, students, journalists).
Language and citizenship rarely coincided perfectly.
French nation and French speakers had a closer fit, but some French-speakers lived outside France, and minorities in France spoke other languages.
Italian- and German-speaking peoples dispersed among many small states.
Austrian Empire included German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, and other language speakers.
Divisions beyond language: Religion or institutional identity often separated common language speakers (e.g., Irish Catholics vs. English Protestants).
Nationalists insisting on redrawing state boundaries based on linguistic, religious, or cultural identities:
Threatened multiethnic, religiously diverse states (e.g., Austro-Hungarian Empire) with dissolution or chronic political instability.
Led to forging of new large states (Italy, Germany) from small ones in 1871.
In central/eastern Europe, led to breakup of large multiethnic states into smaller, homogeneous ones.
### Liberalism, Nationalism, and Conservative Adaptation
Until 1860s: Nationalism linked with liberalism (A political ideology that emphasizes the civil rights of citizens, representative government, and the protection of private property. This ideology, derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes of Europe and North America.).
Revolutionary middle-class ideology from Enlightenment, early French Revolution objectives.
Asserted people's sovereignty, demanded constitutional government, national parliament, freedom of expression (see Chapter 23).
Liberals often supported free trade and market competition.
Giuseppe Mazzini (jew-SEP-pay mots-EE-nee) (1805–1872):
Most famous early nineteenth-century nationalist; leader of failed 1848 Italian revolution.
Sought to unify Italian peninsula, cooperated with revolutionaries to bring nationhood/liberty to oppressed peoples.
Conservative response to liberalism/nationalism:
Governments of Russia, Prussia, Austria censored ideas and jailed dissidents, but couldn't suppress revolutionary trends.
Revolutions of 1848 convinced conservatives that mass politics, if managed by elite, could strengthen governments.
New generation of conservative leaders preserved status quo through:
Public education infused with nationalist ideology.
Universal military service.
Colonial conquests.
These built national unity while muting class conflict.
27-4b The Unification of Italy, 1860-1870
Pre-Unification Landscape and Key Figures
Mid-nineteenth century: Popular sentiment grew for national unification in Italy.
Opposition: Pope Pius IX (ruled Papal States, abhorred modernity) and Austria (controlled Lombardy and Venetia).
Three key figures:
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour: Prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia.
Giuseppe Mazzini: Intellectual and activist.
Giuseppe Garibaldi: Man of action.
Cavour's Diplomatic and Military Strategy
Cavour (1810-1861) saw geopolitical rivalry between France and Austria as opportunity.
Secretly allied with France (Napoleon III).
Instigated war with Austria in 1858.
War sparked uprisings in northern/central Italy favoring joining Piedmont-Sardinia (moderate constitutional monarchy under King Victor Emmanuel).
Mazzini's Ideals and Garibaldi's Action
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1871):
Leading intellectual among Italian patriots, devoted life to promoting unification.
Forced into exile multiple times; urged republicanism and unification.
Founder of Young Italy (dedicated to "Independence and Liberty").
Vision of united, modern Italy clashed with Cavour's utilitarian embrace of Piedmont monarchy.
Mazzini's concept of revolution:
Begins with "negation" (of existing order) and "affirmation" (of new order).
State is "rotten" when its machinery fails citizens, institutions are powerless, and new thought lacks expression.
Revolution must increase, not diminish, national patrimony; reorganizes on new basis, harmonizes elements, provides unity of direction.
Absence of central purpose without a social principle leads to usurpation of rights, class conflict (landlord vs. peasant, manufacturer vs. workman).
Unrestricted liberty in a class-divided society is a "cruel irony"; leads to strong dominating weak.
True revolution requires a "work of faith," belief in principles, rejection of individualism, sacrifice for common progress.
Advocated state provision of "means of existence or the chance to work for it" to conquer privilege and pauperism.
"Society is an association of laborers" would end castes, aristocracies, civil wars, crises, creating a "People."
Garibaldi (jew-SEP-pay gary-BAHL-dee) (1807-1882):
Movement's charismatic source of combustion.
In 1860: Fiery revolutionary, landed in Sicily, then southern Italy.
Overthrew Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, planned to found a democratic republic.
### Completion of Unification and Malleability of Nationalism
Royalist Cavour leveraged unsettled situation to sideline Garibaldi.
Transformed Piedmont-Sardinia into new, unified Kingdom of Italy.
Unification completed with Venetia (1866) and Papal States (1870).
Italian unification demonstrated nationalism's malleability:
Compromised radical commitment to republicanism/democracy.
Achieved national unification under conservative leadership of King Victor Emmanuel.
Conservative supporters saw unification as means to strong centralized government committed to conservative ideals.
27-4c The Unification of Germany, 1866-1871
Pre-Unification German States and Divisions
Unification of German-speaking people into single state in 1871 had momentous global consequences.
Until 1860s: German-speaking Central Europe consisted of Prussia, western Austrian Empire, and smaller states.
Nationalist aspirations:
Some wanted all Germans under Austrian throne.
Others wanted to exclude Austrian Empire (many non-Germanic peoples), unify other German-speaking areas under Prussia.
Religious divisions: Austria and southwestern Germany (Catholic); Prussia and northeast (Lutheran).
Prussian Advantages and Bismarck's Strategy
Prussian State advantages:
Newly developed industries of the Rhineland.
First European army to use railroads, telegraphs, breechloading rifles, steel artillery, other modern industry products.
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (Chancellor (prime minister) of Prussia from 1862 until 1871, when he became chancellor of Germany. A conservative nationalist, he led Prussia to victory against Austria (1866) and France (1870) and was responsible for the creation of the German Empire in 1871.) (UTT-oh von BIS-mark) (1815-1898) dominated Prussian government under King Wilhelm I (r. 1861–1888).
Authoritarian aristocrat, determined to use Prussian industry and German nationalism for state dominance.
Declared no further territorial ambitions post-1871 unification; focused on European peace.
Forged loose coalition with Austria-Hungary (defeated by Prussia in 1866) and Russia (other conservative monarchical powers) to isolate France; maintained coalition for 20 years.
Wars of German Unification:
1866: Prussia attacked and quickly defeated Austria; took no Austrian territory.
Formed North German Confederation with smaller states, nucleus of future Germany.
1870: Bismarck attacked France (under Napoleon III); Prussian armies (with other German states' troops) used superior firepower/tactics for quick victory.
"Blood and iron" foundation of new German Empire.
### Aftermath and Franco-German Enmity
German spoils of victory:
Large indemnity.
Control over Alsace and Lorraine (French provinces bordering Germany).
French paid indemnity readily but resented loss of provinces.
Germans: Region was German due to German-speaking majority.
French: Region was French because inhabitants considered themselves French.
These conflicting nationalist definitions fueled Franco-German enmity for decades.
French defeat and internal conflict:
Overthrew Napoleon III (defeated, captured).
Imperial government replaced by French Third Republic.
Paris: Injured national pride + class resentment led to revolutionary Commune.
Committed to resisting Germans and the new national government (which surrendered).
War transformed into brutal contest between new French Republic (elite, middle class, provinces) and Paris Commune (urban workers, revolutionary socialists).
By time national government prevailed: Both sides committed atrocities; nearly 10,000 Parisians killed.
27-4d The West Challenges Japan
Tokugawa Shogunate and Early Foreign Contacts
Japan: Emperor had religious function but no political power; governed by Tokugawa Shogunate (secular gov under shogun) from 1600 (see Chapter 21).
Local lords (daimyos) controlled lands with minimal shogunate interference.
1603: Shogunate established capital in Edo (modern Tokyo).
Early seventeenth century: Shogunate expanded commercial/cultural contacts.
Asian neighbors, limited trade with Dutch, English, Spanish.
Catholic missionaries created small Japanese convert community.
1615: Japan sent official mission across Pacific to New Spain (Japanese-built ship modeled on Iberian design); head of mission met Pope and secular rulers.
Expanding contacts revealed shogunate's military/economic weaknesses.
Decision made to curtail foreign contacts despite some benefits.
Sakoku Policy and Internal Responses
Post-1612: Shogunate incrementally suppressed Christianity and foreign trade.
Purged converted Christians from government.
1620s: Executions of Catholic missionaries and Japanese converts led to rebellion by Christian samurai (1630s).
Shogunate expelled foreigners, limited trade to two small ports, prohibited foreign entry and Japanese travel abroad.
Dutch allowed small commercial outpost at Nagasaki (Japan's narrow window to world until Perry).
Many Japanese ignored these laws (penalty was death).
Flagrant violators: Powerful southern lords running pirate/black-market operations, benefiting from decentralized shogunate.
Internal realization of weakness:
1792: Russian and British ships off Japanese coast revealed Japan too weak, decentralized to resist invasion.
Regional lords developed reformed armies, arsenals, shipyards.
Small number of Japanese intellectuals experimented with "Dutch learning" (European culture).
Commodore Perry's Arrival and Treaty of Kanagawa
1853: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, with powerful fleet, demanded Japan open ports to trade.
Precipitated political crisis.
Shogun's advisers advocated capitulation to avoid China's humiliation in Opium and Arrow Wars.
1854: Perry returned; shogun's representatives signed Treaty of Kanagawa (KAH-nah-GAH-wah).
Modeled on unequal treaties between China and Western powers.
Provincial governors: Angry and disappointed.
Called for destruction of Tokugawa regime and end to foreigner prohibition.
### Provincial Resistance and Alliance Formation
Hostility to shogunate policies centered in Satsuma (SAT-soo-mah) and Choshu (CHOE-shoo) (southern Japan).
Large, wealthy, ambitious domains.
Autonomy due to distance from Edo; strong economies, growing populations.
Well-placed to topple archaic order, but needed alliance.
1864: British and French ships shelled southwestern coasts, protesting treatment of foreigners.
Enraged provincial samurai, who rejected Treaty of Kanagawa and resented shogunate's inability to protect country.
1867: Choshu leaders allied with Satsuma to lead rebellion against shogunate.
27-4e The Meiji Restoration and the Modernization of Japan, 1868–1894
Overthrow of the Shogunate and Meiji Leadership
Civil war was intense but brief.
1868: Provincial rebels overthrew Tokugawa Shogunate, declared 14-year-old Emperor Mutsuhito (moo-tsoo-HEE-toe) (r. 1868-1912) "restored."
New regime called "Meiji (MAY-gee) Restoration (The political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.)" (Meiji means "enlightened rule").
Meiji oligarchs: Extremely talented and far-sighted young rulers.
Determined to protect Japan from Western imperialism.
Encouraged transformation into "a rich country with a strong army" with world-class industries.
Imposed from above, but marked profound change in Asia (like French Revolution in Europe).
Embracing Global Knowledge and Institutional Reform
Oligarchs understood need to change institutions/society to fend off Westerners.
Charter Oath (1868): Emperor included "Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world and thus shall be strengthened the foundation of the imperial polity."
Motto of new Japan: Embraced foreign ideas, institutions, techniques to strengthen nation without ceding control to foreign agents.
Japan had highest literacy rate in Asia.
Oligarchs shrewdly exploited this for new educational systems, conscript army, new communications.
Government established heavy industry, benefiting from decades of provincial industrial development/financing (early 1800s).
Conscript army and revamped educational system aimed to create literate, competent, loyal, obedient citizenry.
Copied Western models:
Government structure from imperial Germany.
Navy modeled on British.
Army modeled on Prussian.
Introduced Western-style postal/telegraph services, railroads, harbor improvements, banking, clocks, calendars.
Sent hundreds of students to Britain, Germany, U.S. to learn Western strength secrets.
Promoted translation of key scientific and technological research into Japanese.
Deep engagement with Europe/U.S. led to popularity of Western clothing/hairstyles, entertainments (garden parties, formal dances).
### Industrialization and Economic Development
Government focused on Western technology.
Opened vocational, technical, agricultural schools.
Founded four imperial universities.
Recruited foreign experts in medicine, science, engineering.
Promoted modern manufacturing machinery imports (textiles, railroad equipment).
Government direct investment led to rapid growth.
Japan quickly became exporter of cloth and inexpensive consumer goods.
Government-dominated industries ruthlessly exploited workers (like early European/American capitalism).
Financial pressure led government to sell enterprises to private investors (1881$).
Mainly large zaibatsu (zye-BOT-soo) (conglomerates).
Continued to encourage domestic technological innovation.
Example: Carpenter Toyoda Sakichi founded Toyoda Loom Works (now Toyota Motor Company) in 1906; patented world's most advanced automatic loom 10 years later.
27-4f Nationalism and Social Darwinism
European Political Climate After Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871):
Changed European political climate.
France returned to republicanism, became more liberal.
Germany, Austria-Hungary (renamed in 1867), Russia remained conservative.
Mobilized nationalism to maintain status quo.
Kingdom of Italy completed peninsula's unification.
Nationalism, Public Opinion, and Social Control
Nationalism and parliamentary elections made politicians appeal to public opinion.
Aided by press expansion (cheap daily newspapers publishing sensational articles on overseas conquests, foreign threats).
Governments recognized advantages of educated population in state competition.
Opened public schools in towns, admitted women into public-service jobs.
Politicians and journalists appealed to poor's emotions:
Diverted anger from employers to foreigners.
Shifted votes from socialist to nationalist parties.
Dominant majorities used nationalism to impose language, religion, customs on minorities.
Russian Empire attempted to "Russify" diverse ethnic populations.
Spanish government made Spanish compulsory in Basque/Catalan schools, newspapers, courts.
New immigrants to U.S. pressured to learn English, express patriotic sentiments.
### Western Culture and Social Darwinism
Late nineteenth-century Western culture exalted powerful over weak, men over women, rich over poor, Europeans over other races, humans over nature.
Some attempted to use science to justify gender, ethnicity, class inequalities.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
English biologist, influential scientist whose ideas were appropriated/misinterpreted.
On the Origin of the Species (1859): Challenged religious assumptions.
Argued Earth older than believed.
Proposed life forms evolved in struggle for survival or became extinct over hundreds of thousands of years.
Discoveries led to revolution in life sciences.
Social Darwinists:
Philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) and others superficially applied Darwin's "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest" to human societies.
Developed elaborate pseudo-scientific theories of racial/ethnic differences, claiming biological rather than historical origins.
Saw social/racial differences as natural processes.
Opposed state intervention to alleviate inequities.
Ideas (not based on research) provided scientific-sounding justification for privileged power and imperialism.
27-5 The Great Powers of Europe, 1871-1900
### Escalating International Tensions
Mid-century onwards: Politicians and journalists stirred popular indignation against neighbors using minor foreign incidents.
Military officers: Impressed by modern weapon power, believed weapons were invincible.
Result: Rivalries over colonial territories, ideological differences, minor border incidents, trade disagreements contributed to growing international tensions and ultimately, war.
27-5a Germany at the Center of Europe
Germany's Dominance and Bismarck's Diplomacy
Late nineteenth century: International relations revolved around Germany.
Located in heart of Europe.
Possessed most powerful army on European continent.
Bismarck:
After unifying Germany in 1871, declared no further territorial ambitions in Europe.
Focused on maintaining peace in Europe.
Forged a loose coalition with Austria-Hungary (defeated by Prussia in 1866) and Russia (the other two conservative monarchical powers) to isolate France.
Managed to keep the coalition together for 20 years despite competing ambitions in the Balkans.
Strengthening German Unity and Social Legislation
Bismarck adept at strengthening German unity internally.
Extended vote to all adult men to weaken middle-class liberals; allowed Socialists (backed by working class) to win Reichstag seats.
Imposed high tariffs on manufactured goods and wheat; gained support of Rhineland industrialists and eastern landowners (traditional rivals).
Government supported public and technical education to stimulate industrialization.
Introduced groundbreaking social legislation:
Medical, unemployment, and disability insurance.
Old-age pensions (pre-dating other industrial countries).
Results: German people developed strong national unity and pride in industrial/military power, fueling aggressive assertion of German power internationally.
### Wilhelm II's Belligerent Policies
1888: Wilhelm I succeeded by grandson Wilhelm II (r. 1888–1918).
Insecure, arrogant; made belligerent speeches to gain respect.
Within two years: Dismissed Chancellor Bismarck, surrounded himself with yes men.
Talked about "global policy," demanded colonial empire (imitating French/British).
Believed Germany, with mightiest army and largest industrial economy in Europe, deserved "a place in the sun."
This ambition led to Great Power rivalries and growing militarization, propelling the world towards World War I.
27-5b The Liberal Powers: France and Great Britain
France's Challenges After German Ascendancy
France, once dominant, struggled to reconcile with German ascendancy after Franco-Prussian War defeat.
Prosperous agriculture, large colonial empire, but serious weaknesses:
Trailed Britain and Germany in modern heavy industry development.
Population scarcely growing (39 million in 1911 vs. Germany's 64 million).
Could field army only two-thirds size of Germany's (critical in an era where power proportional to army size).
Deep political divisions:
Persisted since French Revolution (see Chapter 23).
Supporters of monarchy or Napoleon III's authoritarianism insisted on Catholic domination.
Growing number held republican and anticlerical views.
Class divisions from Paris Commune undermined unified national commitment.
Despite fragile political life and frequent crises, a long tradition of popular political participation and strong nationhood (reinforced by public education) gave French people deeper cohesion.
### Great Britain's Imperial Burden and Economic Decline
Long experience with parliamentary elections and competing parties.
Smooth alternation between Liberal and Conservative Parties.
Income gap between rich and poor narrowed gradually through labor agitation and political reforms.
Growing problems:
Irish resentment of English rule: Nationalism strengthened English, Scots, and Welsh allegiance to British state.
Irish (Catholic, predominantly poor) excluded from meaningful government participation.
Saw British as foreign occupying force; some Irish leaders sought foreign rivals' support for independence.
British economy: By late nineteenth century, fallen behind U.S. and Germany in steel, chemicals, electricity, textiles.
Germany rapidly catching up even in shipbuilding and shipping (British specialty).
Imperial burden: Enormous, fast-growing empire was source of wealth for investors and envy of others.
Constant drain on British finances; required costly warships and standing armies globally.
Many colonies failed to generate self-sustaining wealth or profit.
Long-term viability of empire questioned by any deep contraction in British economic performance.
"Splendid isolation" policy (most of nineteenth century).
Focus on India led to exaggeration of Russian threat to Ottoman Empire and Central Asia approaches to India.
Periodic "Russian scares" and rivalry with France for overseas colonies diverted attention from rising threat of unified, economically dynamic Germany.
27-5c The Conservative Powers: Russia and Austria-Hungary
Weakening Effects of Nationalism
Nationalism weakened, rather than strengthened, Russia and Austria-Hungary.
Populations far more divided (socially, ethnically) than German, French, or British peoples.
Vulnerability evident in Austrian Empire's territorial losses during Italian and German unifications.
Austro-Hungarian Empire's Instability
Nationalism most divisive in south-central Europe due to many language groups in close proximity.
1867: Austrian Empire renamed Austro-Hungarian Empire to appease Hungarian critics.
Attempts to promote Slavic-speaking minorities' cultures failed to gain political allegiance.
Still considered itself a great power, tried to dominate the Balkans.
This strategy irritated Russia, which saw itself as protector of Slavic peoples.
Imperial Russia's Ethnic Diversity and Resistance
Ethnic diversity contributed to imperial Russia's instability.
Polish people rebelled against Russian rule in 1830 and 1863-1864.
Tsarist empire included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, the Caucasus; Muslim Central Asia (conquered 1865-1881).
Largest Jewish population in Europe: Harsh anti-Semitic laws and periodic pogroms (massacres) led many Jews to flee to America.
State attempts to impose Russian language were divisive, not unifying.
Alexander II's Reforms and Subsequent Stagnation
1861: Moderate conservative Tsar Alexander II (r. 1855-1881) emancipated peasants from serfdom.
Motives: Strengthen monarchy-people bonds, promote industrialization by enlarging labor pool.
Half-hearted measure: Turned serfs into farm workers with few skills and little capital.
Majority of Russians had little education, few legal rights, no say in government.
Post-Alexander's assassination (1881): Successors Alexander III (r. 1881-1894) and Nicholas II (r. 1894-1917) reluctantly permitted limited social change.
Russian commercial middle class small, limited influence.
Industrialization: Largely state-sponsored projects (railroads, iron foundries, armament factories).
Led to social unrest among urban workers.
Wealthy landowning aristocrats dominated court/administration, blocked most reforms.
### Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and 1905 Revolution
Weaknesses in Russia's society/government exposed in war with rapidly industrializing Japan (1904-1905).
Fighting in Manchuria (northern China), far from European Russia.
Both armies suffered large losses.
Russian army defeated: Received supplies via inefficient Trans-Siberian Railway; Japanese were better-trained/equipped.
Russian navy destroyed at Tsushima Strait (1905) after long voyage around Eurasia/Africa.
Validated Meiji commitment to military modernization, established Japan as regional power.
Shock of defeat caused 1905 Revolution:
Forced Tsar Nicholas II to grant a constitution and permit an elected Duma (parliament).
As soon as army/police rebuilt, he reverted to traditional despotism.
Small groups of radical intellectuals, angered by elite wealth vs. common poverty, began plotting violent overthrow of tsarist autocracy.
27-6 China, Japan, and the Western Powers
### Divergent Paths of China and Japan
China had deep commercial and cultural connections with the West since 16th century (Portuguese, Spanish, see Chapter 16).
Growing British power in India, Dutch in Indonesia, French in Southeast Asia exposed Chinese political and economic vulnerabilities.
Japan initially followed similar path with tentative maritime contacts (Spanish, Dutch, British).
Drastically limited contact after 1612.
Archipelago's distance from Europe's Asian colonies/Europe itself provided some protection from disruptive foreign influences.
After 1850: Both China and Japan felt Western power unprecedentedly.
Western colonial powers on China's border demanded economic access, used military force.
China resisted, suffered military defeat, grave political/economic consequences.
Japan aimed to avoid Chinese experience by embracing Western industrialization and building a strong, modern military.
27-6a China in Turmoil
Taiping Rebellion and Western Predation
China devastated by Taiping (tie-PING) Rebellion (1850-1864) (see Chapter 24).
French and British exploited China's weakness.
Demanded treaty ports where they could trade outside local laws.
China militarily unable to resist; allowed British to control customs enforcement; permitted free opium import until 1917.
### "Self-Strengthening" and Empress Dowager Cixi's Resistance
Chinese "self-strengthening movement":
Tried in vain to achieve significant reforms by reducing government expenditure and eliminating corruption.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Empress of China and mother of Emperor Guangxi. She put her son under house arrest, supported antiforeign movements, and resisted reforms of the Chinese government and armed forces.) (TSUH-shee) (r. 1862–1908):
Unlike Meiji reformers (who embraced foreign technology to defend against imperialism), Cixi sought to reduce foreign influences.
Opposed railways and other foreign technologies that could bring foreign culture into the interior.
Modest modernization efforts:
Government invested modestly by sending few students overseas to learn new technologies.
Set up a few model factories.
Handicapped by weak financial resources and absence of modern banking.
Outcome: Without modern military or economy, officials could not resist Westerners outright.
Secretly encouraged crowds to attack/destroy Western technology and Westernized Chinese.
This slowed foreign intrusion but denied China modern tools for defense against mounting foreign pressure.
27-6b Japan Confronts China
The New Imperialism and Japan's Rise
Late nineteenth century: High point of European power, "New Imperialism" frenzy to colonize/dominate remaining autonomous regions.
Two non-European nations rose as Great Powers:
United States: Inhabited mostly by people of European origin; rise predicted by Tocqueville; propelled by Civil War to industrialization.
Japan: Distant and exotic in 1850; Commodore Perry's intrusion forced elite to accept need for strong central government, industrialization, modernization to avoid China's humiliation.
By 1867: Japan committed to industrialization, acquired eight steam warships.
Technology Transfer and Military Expansion
Japan's modernization relied on technology transfers from developed economies.
Missions to Europe/U.S. arranged for modern industrial technologies (metallurgy, textiles, railroad rolling stock).
Rapid railroad network expansion (proxy for modernization): Mileage increased from 18 miles (1872) to 7,000 miles (1910).
Japan's growing military strength led leaders to dream of conquests.
Yamagata Aritomo (One of the leaders of the Meiji Restoration.): Meiji oligarch leader, believed Japan needed "sphere of influence" (Korea, Manchuria, part of China) to be independent.
Feared European powers would divide these territories, blocking Japan's destiny.
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and Treaty Ports
As Japan grew stronger, China weakened.
1894: Japan and China went to war over Korea.
Sino-Japanese War: Lasted less than six months, Japan clearly victorious.
China forced to:
Evacuate Korea.
Cede control of Taiwan and Liaodong (li-AH-oh-dong) Peninsula.
Pay heavy indemnity.
Western powers' (France, Germany, Britain, Russia, U.S.) reaction:
Upset at a newcomer joining imperialists, compelled Japan to give up Liaodong in name of "territorial integrity" of China.
In exchange for "protection," made China grant them additional territorial and trade concessions (including access to 90 treaty ports).
Result: Anti-Japanese riots and boycotts broke out in China, starting a 30-year struggle.
### Boxer Uprising (1900) and Russo-Japanese War (1905)
1900: Chinese officials (around Empress Dowager Cixi) encouraged anti-foreign Boxer Uprising.
International force (European powers, Japan, U.S.) captured Beijing, forced China to pay huge indemnity.
China's obvious weakness emboldened Japan and Russia, who openly competed for mineral-rich Manchuria.
Russo-Japanese War (1905):
Japan's participation in Boxer Uprising suppression demonstrated military power.
1905: Japan surprised world by defeating Russia.
Treaty of Portsmouth: Japan established protectorate over Korea.
Japanese regional influence continued to increase despite Western attempts to restrict it.
Gained control of southern Manchuria (industries, railroads).
Annexed Korea in 1910, joining ranks of colonial powers.
Chapter 28: The Crisis of the Imperial Order, 1900-1929
28-1 Origins of the Crisis in Europe and the Middle East
Apparent Stability at Turn of Century
Twentieth century opening: World seemed firmly under Great Powers' control (see Chapter 27).
First decade of 1900s: Relative peace and economic growth globally.
New technologies (airplanes, automobiles, radio, cinema) caused excitement.
Great Powers consolidated colonial conquests, alliances evenly matched.
Primary international war: Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) ended quickly with decisive Japanese victory.
### Erosion of Stability
Two major changes undermined apparent stability:
Europe: Tensions mounted as Germany, with growing industrial/military might, challenged Britain at sea and France in Morocco.
Ottoman Empire: Lost territory to nationalistic movements in the Balkans.
Resulting power vacuum gradually drew European powers into a web of hostilities.
28-1a The Ottoman Empire and the Balkans
Decline of the Ottoman Empire
From fifteenth to nineteenth centuries: Ottoman Empire a powerful state, though with internal disarray (see Chapter 24).
Late nineteenth century: Fell behind Europe economically, technologically, militarily.
European statesmen called it the "sick man of Europe."
Territorial losses:
Macedonia (1902-1903).
Bosnia (1908).
Crete (1909).
Albania (1910).
Libya (Ottomans' last African foothold) conquered by Italy in 1912.
Two Balkan Wars (1912 and 1913):
Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece chased Ottomans out of Europe (except for small enclave around Constantinople).
### Turkification and Militarization
Turkish reaction to losses: Asserted selves against rebellious minorities and meddling foreigners.
Many army officers (most Europeanized segment of Turkish society) blamed Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) for empire's decline.
"Young Turks" plotted to force sultan to reinstate suspended 1876 constitution.
Alienated other anti-Ottoman groups by advocating centralized rule and Turkification of ethnic minorities.
1909: Parliament, dominated by Young Turks, overthrew Abdul Hamid.
New regime reinvigorated Tanzimat reform movement (begun early nineteenth century).
Looked with suspicion on Greek and Armenian minorities.
Galvanized by Balkan War defeats, Turks hired German general to modernize armed forces.
Dangerous mixture of modern armies and nationalism not limited to Ottoman Empire.
28-1b Nationalism, Alliances, and Military Strategy
Causes of Escalation to Global War
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand triggered chain of events beyond military/political leaders' control.
Long-standing causes:
Nationalism: Identified citizens with ethnic group, urged them to kill perceived enemies.
Alliances and military planning: Great powers devised to protect themselves from rivals.
Germany's yearning to dominate Europe.
Unifying and Dividing Force of Nationalism
Nationalism united citizens of France, Britain, Italy, Germany behind governments; gave cohesion and strength.
Enabled millions to march into battle, sustained civilians through hardship.
Could also divide: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman Empires (large, fragile) contained numerous ethnic/religious minorities.
Governments (having repressed minorities for centuries) could not count on full support.
Independent Serbia threatened Austria-Hungary by stirring Slavic populations' hopes/resentments.
Most people viewed war as crusade for liberty or revenge for past injustices.
Memories of Napoleonic Wars' misery/carnage faded after 1815, weakening revulsion against war.
Crimean War (1853–1856) and Franco-Prussian War (1871) had few casualties, limited long-term consequences.
Imperialist wars in Africa/Asia: Europeans almost always victorious at small cost in money/manpower.
Alliance System and Inflexible Military Planning
Alliance system turned Balkan incident into great power conflict.
Germany: Center of Europe, most heavily industrialized, best-trained/equipped army.
Challenged British naval supremacy by building "dreadnoughts" (heavily armed battleships).
Triple Alliance (1882): Joined Austria-Hungary and Italy.
France allied with Russia.
Entente (on-TONT) ("understanding") (1904): Britain and France; joined by Russia in 1907.
Europe divided into two blocs of roughly equal power.
Alliance system cursed by inflexible military planning.
1914 Western/Central Europe: Highly developed railroad networks, few motor vehicles.
Armies: Millions of soldiers, reservists.
Mobilization: Thousands of trains on precise schedules, couldn't be canceled/postponed without chaos.
French/German planners: Elaborate railroad timetables for army mobilization in days.
Russia: Large country, limited rail system, needed weeks to mobilize.
Britain: Tiny volunteer army, no mobilization plans; German planners believed British would stay out of continental war.
German war plan: Defeat France in days, transport army to Russian border by train before Russia fully mobilized, avoiding two-front war.
### Escalation to War
July 28, 1914: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Triggered Russian, French, German mobilization plans.
July 29: Russian government ordered general mobilization.
August 1: France ordered general mobilization; minutes later, Germany did likewise.
Due to rigid railroad timetables, war was automatic.
German plan: Wheel through neutral Belgium, invade France from north.
Expected French capitulation before British involvement.
August 3: German troops entered Belgium.
Britain demanded withdrawal; Germany refused.
Britain declared war on Germany.
28-2 The "Great War" and the Russian Revolutions, 1914-1918
### Initial Public Reception to War
Across Europe, people greeted war outbreak with parades and flags, expecting quick victory.
German troops shouted: "To Paris!"
French spectators encouraged troops: "Send me the Kaiser's moustache!"
German sociologist Max Weber: "This war, with all its ghastliness, is nevertheless grand and wonderful. It is worth experiencing."
Few imagined defeat; no one foresaw universal loss.
28-2a Stalemate, 1914-1917
The Western Front and Trench Warfare
War (known as "Great War" until 1940s) took unexpected form.
Generals' plans awry: Traditional fast-moving army/bold general advantage nullified.
French generals hurled brightly uniformed troops against German border, suffered crushing defeat.
Larger German armies defeated French and British in early battles.
Early September: Germans held Belgium and northern France, nearing Paris.
German victory seemed certain, but troops exhausted; generals wavered.
Battle of the Marne (September 5-12, 1914): French General Joseph Joffre moved last reserves into gap between German armies; Germans pushed back several miles.
Next month: Both sides spread out, forming unbroken line over 300 miles (500 kilometers) from North Sea to Switzerland.
Western Front (A line of trenches and fortifications in World War I that stretched without a break from Switzerland to the North Sea. Scene of most of the fighting between Germany, on the one hand, and France and Britain, on the other.):
Opposing troops prepared defenses.
Potent weapons: Machine guns (impenetrable defense against infantry, useless offensively due to weight/setup time).
Soldiers dug holes, connected them into trenches, then communication trenches to the rear.
Battlefields scarred by lines of deep trenches, with sandbag protection and plank floors.
Extraordinary: Entire Western Front trenches connected, no gaps for advance.
For four years: Generals repeatedly ordered attacks.
Thousands of young men climbed out, raced across open fields, mowed down by machine-gun fire.
Attacking forces: Saturated entrenched enemy lines with artillery barrages to destroy machine guns.
Tactic failed: Alerted defenders, allowed reinforcements and new machine guns.
1916: Bloodiest, most futile battles.
Verdun: Germans attacked French forts, lost 281,000 men; French casualties 315,000.
Somme River: British attacked Germans, suffered 420,000 casualties (60,000 on first day alone); Germans lost 450,000, French 200,000.
Warfare unprecedented: Mass slaughter in mud, steel, flesh moonscape.
Stalemate due to trenches and machine guns; Western Front moved only a few miles either way in four years.
Naval Warfare and Submarine Campaigns
War at sea equally inconclusive.
British actions: Cut German overseas telegraph cables; blockaded Germany/Austria-Hungary coasts; captured/sank enemy ships at sea.
German High Seas Fleet: Built at huge cost, mostly coal-fueled, seldom left port.
Battle of Jutland (May 1916): Off Denmark, main confrontation.
Two fleets lost roughly equal numbers of ships.
Germans escaped back to harbors.
Early 1915: Germany announced submarine blockade of Britain (retaliation for British naval blockade).
German submarines attacked all vessels.
Victim: British ocean liner Lusitania (1,198 dead, 139 Americans).
U.S. protested; Germany ceased submarine campaign to keep America neutral.
Aviation and Early Tanks
Airplanes used for reconnaissance, spectacular but inconsequential dogfights.
Poison gas introduced on Western Front in 1915, killed/wounded attackers and intended victims, adding to horror.
Primitive tanks aided, but did not cause, German army collapse in final weeks.
Limited effectiveness in WWI, but previewed future warfare.
### Environment & Technology: New War, New Tools
WWI was a new type of warfare, compared to earlier lopsided conflicts (American Civil War, Franco-Prussian War, Crimean War, colonial wars).
Weapons:
Rifles upgraded to machine guns.
Artillery heavier; tanks provided mobility.
Trenches replaced fort walls (vulnerable to cannon).
Naval: Ironclad warships became mammoth dreadnoughts.
Air:
Balloons for battlefield views; primitive warplanes; Zeppelins with bombs.
Chemical Warfare:
Germany's chemists (world's best) weaponized poison and disabling gases.
Ignored Hague Declarations (1899 against "asphyxiating gases," 1907 against "poisoned weapons").
1915: Germany used greenish chlorine gas.
1917: Added mustard gas.
France: Nobel Prize winner responded with phosgene (colorless, harder to detect).
Britain: Launched gas attacks in 1918.
U.S.: Began lewisite production, not deployed.
Flamethrowers: German development; range 20 yards, limited fuel, limited usefulness. British also experimented.
Obstacles: Heavy industry provided miles of concertina wire (barbed wire rolls) for no-man's-land.
Germany's Dannert wire: high-grade, tempered steel, hard to cut, no poles needed.
Communication:
Field telephones: Immensely improved battlefield communication (unreeling wire dangerous).
Radio: Primitive, but developed rapidly (especially naval use).
Field sets depended on fragile vacuum tubes; visible aerials targets.
Diet: British "iron ration" (1 lb. corned beef/Maconochie stew; 12 oz. biscuit; 5/8 oz. tea; 2 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz. salt; 3 oz. cheese; 1 oz. meat extract).
German equivalent (250g biscuit; 200g preserved meat/170g bacon; 150g preserved vegetables; 25g coffee; 25g salt).
Camouflage:
Artist Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola (French camouflage corps leader): Applied cubist principles to break up battlefield outlines.
Disguised observation posts as trees.
British artist Norman Wilkinson: "Dazzle camouflage" (garish geometric patterns on ships) to confuse submarine commanders about ship speed/direction.
28-2b The Home Front and the War Economy
Civilian Sacrifices and Government Controls
Trench-bound armies demanded more weapons, ammunition, food.
Civilians worked harder, ate less, paid higher taxes.
Strict rationing: Textiles, coal, meat, fats, imported tea/sugar.
Governments imposed stringent controls over all economic aspects.
Transformation of Civilian Life and Women's Roles
War economy transformed civilian life.
France and Britain: Food rations allocated by need, improving poor's nutrition.
Unemployment vanished.
Thousands of Africans, Indians, Chinese recruited for heavy labor in Europe.
Women filled jobs vacated by men at war.
Streetcar drivers, mail carriers, police officers.
Work in burgeoning government bureaucracies.
Doctors, nurses, mechanics, ambulance drivers in auxiliary military services (British post-1917).
Gave thousands a sense of war effort participation, personal/financial independence.
German Civilian Hardships
German civilians paid an especially high price due to British naval blockade.
Severed overseas trade.
Wheat flour replaced by rye, then potatoes/turnips, then acorns/chestnuts, then sawdust.
1916 potato crop failure led to "turnip winter": people survived on 1,000 calories/day (half normal for active adult).
Women, children, elderly especially hard hit.
Soldiers at front scavenged food from enemy lines.
Impact on African Colonies
Hardships also for Europe's African colonies.
War's start: British and French overran German Togo (West African coast).
1915: Larger German colonies (Southwest Africa, German Cameroon) conquered.
German East Africa: Germans undefeated until end of war.
Europeans requisitioned foodstuffs, imposed heavy taxes, forced Africans to grow export crops (sold at low prices).
Increased demands on Africans + fewer European officials = uprisings lasting several years.
Over 1 million Africans served in armies; perhaps 3 million drafted as porters.
France, facing French-men shortage, drafted Africans into army; many fought alongside Europeans.
### U.S. Economic Boom
United States grew rich during the war.
Remained technically neutral for 2.5 years, but supplied France and Britain robustly.
1917 entry into war: War production businesses made spectacular profits.
Civilians exhorted to buy war bonds, grow "victory gardens."
Employment opportunities for African Americans led to migration from rural South to Northern cities.
28-2c The Ottoman Empire at War
Ottoman Alliance and Armenian Genocide
August 2, 1914: Turks signed secret alliance with Germany.
November: Joined fighting, hoping for land gains at Russia's expense.
Caucasus campaign: Turks expelled Armenians (suspected pro-Russian) from eastern Anatolia.
Hunger and exposure killed hundreds of thousands during forced march to Syria across mountains in winter.
Regular and irregular Ottoman military forces killed many others, reaching genocidal levels.
### Gallipoli, Arab Revolt, and British Promises
Turks closed the Dardanelles (strait between Mediterranean and Black Seas).
British tried to open Dardanelles (seeing little hope on Western Front) by landing troops on Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.
Turkish troops repelled invaders.
British promised Hussein ibn Ali (emir of Mecca) a kingdom if he led an Arab revolt against Turks.
1916: Hussein rose up, proclaimed king of Hejaz (heh-JAHZ) (western Arabia).
His son Faisal (Arab prince, leader of the Arab Revolt in World War I. The British made him king of Iraq in 1921, and he reigned under British protection until 1933.) (FIE-sahl) led an Arab army supporting British advance from Egypt into Palestine and Syria.
Arab Revolt of 1916 contributed to Ottoman defeat, though not affecting European front.
British also made promises to Jews.
Jewish minorities in eastern/central Europe developed thriving culture despite persecution.
Early twentieth century: Zionism (nationalist movement led by Theodore Herzl (Austrian journalist and founder of the Zionist movement urging the creation of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.)) arose, seeking return to ancestral homeland in Palestine.
Palestine had Arab population; Jewish homeland concept appealed to Europeans as humane solution to European anti-Semitism.
1917: Chaim Weizmann (hi-um VITES-mun) (British Zionist leader) persuaded British politicians that a Jewish homeland in Palestine (carved from Ottoman Empire, under British protection) would strengthen Allied cause.
November 1917 (as British advanced on Jerusalem): Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur Balfour wrote Balfour Declaration (Statement issued by Britain's foreign secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917 favoring the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.).
Stated "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
Promised to "facilitate the achievement of that object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
British did not foresee this statement would lead to conflicts between Arabs in Palestine and Jewish settlers.
28-2d Double Revolution in Russia
Russian Military and Economic Collapse in WWI
War start: Russia had largest army, but incompetent generals, lacking supplies, poorly trained/equipped soldiers.
August 1914: Two Russian armies invaded eastern Germany but were repelled.
1916: After defeats, Russian army ran out of ammunition; soldiers ordered into battle unarmed, told to pick up rifles of fallen comrades.
Railroads broke down (lack of fuel/parts); crops rotted.
Civilians faced shortages, widespread hunger in cities.
Winter 1916-1917: Factory workers and housewives lined up for food before dawn.
Tsar Nicholas II's court remained extravagant and corrupt.
The February Revolution (1917)
Early March 1917 (February by old Russian calendar): Food ran out in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).
Women staged mass demonstrations.
Soldiers mutinied, joined striking workers to form soviets (councils) to take over factories/barracks.
Days later: Tsar abdicated; parliamentary leaders (led by Alexander Kerensky) formed Provisional Government.
This began the "February Revolution."
Revolutionary Factions and Lenin's Return
Revolutionaries (formerly hunted by tsarist police) came out of hiding.
Social Revolutionaries: Most numerous, advocated land redistribution to peasants.
Mensheviks: Advocated electoral politics and reform (like European socialists); large following among intellectuals/factory workers.
Bolsheviks (Radical Marxist political party founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1903. Under Lenin's leadership, the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917 during the Russian Revolution.): Small, tightly disciplined group of radicals, followed Vladimir Lenin (Leader of the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party. He lived in exile in Switzerland until 1917, then returned to Russia to lead the Bolsheviks to victory during the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed.) (1870–1924).
Lenin:
Son of government official, became revolutionary after older brother executed for plotting to kill tsar.
Years in exile (Siberia, Switzerland): Organized followers.
Goal: Create a party to lead revolution; stated: "The will of a class is sometimes fulfilled by a dictator. . . . Soviet socialist democracy is not in the least incompatible with individual rule and dictatorship.”
Early April 1917: German government (hoping to destabilize Russia) allowed Lenin to travel from Switzerland to Russia in sealed railway car.
Arrived in Petrograd, announced program: Immediate peace, all power to soviets, land transfers to peasants, factories to workers.
Immensely popular with war-exhausted soldiers and workers.
Provisional Government's Collapse and October Revolution
Next few months: Tug-of-war between Provisional Government and revolutionary factions in Petrograd.
Kerensky ordered another offensive against Germans; hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers deserted.
Germans advanced; government lost support.
Bolsheviks gained support among Petrograd workers, soldiers, sailors.
November 6, 1917 (October 24 Russian calendar): Bolsheviks rose up, took over city, calling it "October Revolution."
Surprised rival revolutionary groups who (following Marxist theory) believed socialist revolution required years of bourgeois rule.
Lenin, prioritizing power over Marxist doctrine, overthrew Provisional Government and arrested Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, rivals.
### Bolshevik Rule and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Seizing Petrograd was first step; rest of Russia in chaos.
Bolsheviks nationalized private land, ordered peasants to hand over crops without compensation.
Peasants (having seized landlord estates) resisted.
Cities: Bolsheviks took over factories, drafted workers into compulsory labor brigades.
Lenin created Cheka (secret police) with power to arrest and execute opponents.
Sued for peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918):
Russia lost territories with one-third of its population and wealth.
Poland, Finland, Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) became independent republics.
Russian colonies in Central Asia and Caucasus temporarily broke away.
28-2e The End of the War in Western Europe, 1917-1918
U.S. Neutrality and Entry into WWI
President Woodrow Wilson (President of the United States (1913–1921) and the leading figure at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. He was unable to persuade the U.S. Congress to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the League of Nations.) (1913–1921) desired U.S. neutrality; tried to persuade belligerents to compromise for nearly three years.
Late 1916: German leaders decided to starve British into submission via unrestricted submarine warfare.
Knew it would likely bring U.S. into war, but gambled Britain/France would collapse before U.S. troops arrived.
Submarine campaign resumed February 1, 1917; German gamble failed.
British organized merchant ships into convoys protected by destroyers.
April 6: President Wilson asked U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany.
### Wilson's Fourteen Points and German Collapse
January 1918: President Wilson presented his Fourteen Points (A peace program presented to the U.S. Congress by President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918. It called for the evacuation of German-occupied lands, the drawing of borders and the settling of territorial disputes by the self-determination of the affected populations, and the founding of an association of nations to preserve the peace and guarantee their territorial integrity. It was rejected by Germany, but it made Wilson the moral leader of the Allies in the last year of World War I.) peace plan.
Called for German evacuation of occupied lands.
Settling territorial disputes by local population self-determination.
Formation of an association of nations to guarantee state independence/territorial integrity.
General Erich von Ludendorff launched series of surprise attacks, pushing to within 40 miles (64 kilometers) of Paris, but failed to win.
Monthly arrival of 250,000 American troops to the front.
August: Allies counterattacked; Germans began an unstoppable retreat.
Late October: Ludendorff resigned; German fleet sailors mutinied.
Two weeks later: New German government signed an armistice.
November 11, 11:00 A.M.: Guns on Western Front silenced.
28-3 Peace and Dislocation in Europe, 1919-1929
### Post-War Turmoil and Resentments
Great War left Europe in turmoil.
Peace Treaty stipulations created new political tensions and resentments.
National economies in flux until mid-1920s.
Brief period of peace and prosperity, then disaster (Great Depression, WWII).
28-3a The Impact of the War
Human Cost of World War I
Estimated 9-10 million soldiers died.
Germans: ~2 million.
Russians: ~1.7 million.
Frenchmen: ~1.7 million.
Austria-Hungary: 1.5 million.
British Empire: 1 million.
Ottoman Empire: 0.5 million.
Italy: 460,000.
United States: 115,000.
Perhaps twice that number wounded, gassed, or shell-shocked; many permanently handicapped.
Refugees and Mass Displacements
War and revolution forced almost 2 million Russians, 750,000 Germans, 400,000 Hungarians to flee homes.
Postwar conflicts led to expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Greeks from Anatolia and Muslims from Greece.
France welcomed 1.5 million refugees to bolster declining population.
U.S.: ~800,000 immigrants arrived before 1921 and 1924 immigration laws closed door to eastern/southern Europeans.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand adopted similar restrictions.
Latin American republics welcomed European refugees, but poverty deterred potential immigrants.
The Great Influenza Epidemic
Unexpected by-product of war: Great influenza epidemic of 1918-1919.
Started among soldiers heading for Western Front.
Virulent strain infected almost everyone on Earth.
Killed one person in every 40.
U.S.: Half a million perished (5x more than died in war).
Worldwide: Some 20 million died.
### Environmental Devastation
War caused severe environmental damage.
Western Front (France and Belgium): Most completely devastated region.
Fighting ravaged forests, demolished towns.
Earth gouged by trenches, pitted with craters, littered with ammunition, broken weapons, concrete chunks, soldiers' bones.
After war: Took a decade to clear debris, rebuild towns, create military cemeteries with miles of crosses.
28-3b The Peace Treaties
The Paris Peace Conference and Its Dominators
Early 1919: Delegates of victorious powers met in Paris.
Defeated powers and Russia were not invited.
Dominated by three men:
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
French Premier Georges Clemenceau (zhorzh cluh-mon-SO).
Ignored Italians (joined Allies in 1915), paid even less attention to smaller European nations.
Rejected Japanese proposal for racial equality.
Ignored Pan-African Congress (organized by W. E. B. Du Bois) for African peoples' concerns.
Ignored 10,000 would-be attendees not representing sovereign states (e.g., Arab leader Faisal, Zionist Chaim Weizmann, Armenian delegations).
Foreign Secretary Balfour: "three all-powerful, all-ignorant men, sitting there and carving up continents."
Wilsonian Idealism vs. European Nationalism
Wilson, high-minded idealist:
Wanted to apply self-determination to Europe (creating nations reflecting ethnic/linguistic divisions).
Proposed League of Nations (International organization founded in 1919 to promote world peace and cooperation but greatly weakened by the refusal of the United States to join. It proved ineffectual in stopping aggression by Italy, Japan, and Germany in the 1930s, and it was superseded by the United Nations in 1945.): World organization to safeguard peace, foster international cooperation.
Clashed with hardheaded, self-serving nationalism of Europeans.
Lloyd George: Germany pay heavy indemnity.
Clemenceau: Germany return Alsace and Lorraine (lost in Franco-Prussian War).
Result: Series of compromises, satisfying no one.
European powers formed League of Nations, but U.S. Congress refused to join.
France recovered Alsace and Lorraine but relied on vague British/American protection against future German army rebuild.
Britain gained new African/Middle Eastern territories but weakened by human losses, trade disruption.
### Treaty of Versailles and European Reconfiguration
June 28, 1919: German delegates signed Treaty of Versailles (The treaty imposed on Germany by France, Great Britain, the United States, and other Allied Powers after World War I. It demanded that Germany dismantle its military and give up some lands to Poland. It was resented by many Germans.) reluctantly.
Germany forbidden air force, permitted token army/navy.
Gave up large eastern territory to newly reconstituted Poland.
Allies made Germany promise reparations (figure/period not set).
"Guilt clause": Germans accepted "responsibility for causing all the loss and damage" (rankled for years).
Treaty left Germany humiliated but largely intact.
Considered one of history's great failures: Neither punishment nor reconciliation.
Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed.
New countries from lands lost by Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary:
Poland (resurrected after over a century).
Czechoslovakia (from northern third of Austria-Hungary).
Yugoslavia (Serbia + former south Slav provinces of Austria-Hungary).
New boundaries aligned with major linguistic groups but contained disaffected minorities.
Small nations safe only as long as Germany and Russia remained defeated/prostrate.
28-3c Russian Civil War and the New Economic Policy
Russian Civil War (1918-1921)
December 1918: Civil war broke out in Russia.
Communists (Bolsheviks after March 1918) held central Russia.
Surrounding provinces rose against them.
Counter-revolutionary armies (led by former tsarist officers) received weapons/supplies from Allies.
Three years: Both sides burned farms, confiscated crops.
Caused famine claiming 3 million victims (more than died in 7 years of WWI).
By 1921: Communists defeated most enemies.
Finland, Baltic states, Poland remained independent.
Red Army reconquered other parts of tsar's empire.
1922: Ukraine merged with Russia to create Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union.
1920-1921: Red Army reconquered Caucasus, replaced indigenous leaders with Russians.
1922: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan joined USSR.
Bolsheviks retained control over lands/peoples of the tsar's empire.
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Years of warfare, revolution, mismanagement ruined Russian economy.
Factories, railroads shut down (lack of fuel, raw materials, parts).
Farmland devastated, livestock killed, causing urban hunger.
Lenin announced New Economic Policy (Policy proclaimed by Vladimir Lenin in 1923 to encourage the revival of the Soviet economy by allowing small private enterprises. Joseph Stalin ended the NEP in 1928 and replaced it with a series of Five-Year Plans.) (NEP) in 1923.
Allowed peasants to own land, sell crops.
Private merchants to trade.
Private workshops to produce/sell goods on free market.
Only biggest businesses (banks, railroads, factories) remained government-owned.
Relaxation of controls: Immediate effect.
Production climbed, food/goods became available.
NEP did not alter Communist Party's ultimate goals.
Lenin called it "two steps back to advance one step forward" (breathing space).
Intended to create modern industrial economy without private property.
Meant investing in heavy industry, electrification; moving farmers to cities for new industries.
Meant feeding urban workers without spending scarce resources to purchase food from peasants.
This policy turned peasants (majority of Soviet people) into bitter enemies of Communists.
### Stalin's Rise to Power
Lenin died January 1924; associates vied for power.
Leading contenders: Leon Trotsky (Red Army commander) and Joseph Stalin (general secretary of Communist Party).
Trotsky: Supported by "Old Bolsheviks," saw revolution as spark for world revolution.
Stalin: Only leading Communist never lived abroad, insisted socialism could survive "in one country."
Stalin filled party bureaucracy with loyalists.
1926-1927: Trotsky expelled for "deviation from party line."
January 1929: Trotsky forced to flee country.
Stalin became absolute master of party, prepared to industrialize Soviet Union at breakneck speed.
28-3d An Ephemeral Peace
Post-War Disillusionment and German Crisis
Enormous wartime sacrifices led to unrealistic expectations and subsequent disillusionment.
Conservatives in Britain/France yearned for pre-war stability (social hierarchy, prosperous trade, European dominance).
Hopes raised by lofty war rhetoric, dashed by outcome.
Germany: Felt cheated out of perceived victory.
Italy: Disappointed sacrifices not rewarded with large territorial gains.
Arabs/Indians: Longed for independence.
Chinese: Sought social justice, less foreign intrusion.
Japanese: Hoped to expand influence in China.
Russia: Communists eager to consolidate power, export revolution.
1923: Germany suspended reparations payments.
French occupation of the Ruhr (retaliation).
German government printed money recklessly, causing hyperinflation (wheelbarrow of money for loaf of bread).
Germany on brink of civil war; radical nationalists attempted overthrow.
German government issued new currency, promised reparations; French withdrew from Ruhr.
### Brief Period of Prosperity and Underlying Tensions
Beginning 1924: World enjoyed calm and prosperity for a few years.
Western European nations less confrontational after German crisis.
Germany joined League of Nations.
Reparations issue seemingly resolved: Germany borrowed from New York banks to pay France/Britain, who repaid wartime loans to U.S.
This triangular credit flow stimulated rapid European economic recovery.
France rebuilt war-torn northern zone; Germany recovered from hyperinflation.
U.S. experienced five-year boom.
Governments grew cautious/businesslike; Communists (after Lenin) seemed to abandon spreading revolution abroad.
Underlying tensions: Neither Germany nor Soviet Union accepted borders with new small nations between them.
1922: Secret pact: German army conducted maneuvers in Russia (violating Versailles) in exchange for German help building Russian industry/military.
League of Nations: Adept at technical issues (health, labor, postal/telegraph communications).
But without U.S. participation, sanctions against rule-violating states had little weight.
28-4 China and Japan: Contrasting Destinies
### Divergent Paths and Collision Course
China and Japan faced Western pressures but followed opposite modern histories.
China: Clung to traditional social structure and economy longer than Japan, then collapsed into chaos and revolution.
Japan: Experienced reform from above (see Chapter 27), acquired industry and powerful military.
Used military to exploit China's weakness.
Different reactions to Western pressure set these two nations on a collision course.
28-4a Social and Economic Change
China's Poverty and Social Stratification
China's population: ~400 million in 1900, growing fast.
Peasant plots: Averaged 1-4 acres (less than 2 hectares) in 1900, half size of two generations earlier.
Farming methods unchanged for centuries.
Landlords and tax collectors took over half the harvest.
Most Chinese worked incessantly, survived on grain/vegetables, lived in fear of floods, bandits, tax collectors.
Chinese society above peasantry: Divided into many groups.
Landowners lived off tenant rents.
Officials (chosen through examination) enriched themselves from taxes and government monopolies (salt, iron).
Shanghai: Financial/commercial center, noted for wealthy foreigners, opium addicts, prostitutes, gangsters.
Foreign contact's impact:
Foreign trade small part of economy, but huge impact on politics.
Young men in treaty ports saw no advancement in old examination system; some learned foreign ideas in mission schools or abroad.
Contrast between urban squalor and luxury of foreign enclaves sharpened educated Chinese resentment.
Japan's Resources, Population, and Economic Growth
Japan: Few natural resources, very little arable land for rising population.
Geographical challenges: Typhoons hit southern regions, earthquakes (lies on Pacific Ring of Fire).
Kanto earthquake (1923): Destroyed Yokohama, half of Tokyo, killed ~200,000.
Population: 60 million in 1925, increasing by 1 million annually.
Crash industrialization program (Meiji oligarchs, 1868): Accelerated during Great War.
Economy grew 4x faster than western Europe's, 8x faster than China's.
### Social Tensions and Economic Vulnerability in Japan
Economic growth aggravated social tensions.
Narikin ("new rich"): Adopted Western ways/lifestyles, clashing with earlier austerity.
Mobos (modern boys) and Mogas (modern girls) in cities shocked traditionalists with foreign ways (dancing, short skirts, tight pants, American behavior).
Students flirting with radical ideas called "Marx boys."
Main beneficiaries: Zaibatsu (zie-BOT-soo) (conglomerates).
Four (Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Yasuda, Mitsui) controlled most industry/commerce.
Farmers: Half the population, remained poor.
Some sold daughters to textile mills or domestic service.
Labor unions: Weak, repressed by police.
Japanese prosperity depended on foreign trade.
Exported silk, light manufactures.
Imported almost all fuel, raw materials, machine tools, some food.
More vulnerable than China to swings in world economy.
28-4b Revolution and War, 1900-1918
Boxer Uprising and Seeds of Revolution
1900: China's Empress Dowager Cixi (TSUH-shee) (seized power 2 years prior) encouraged secret society, Righteous Fists (Boxers), to expel foreigners.
Boxers threatened foreign legation in Beijing.
International force (Western powers, Japan) captured city, forced China to pay huge indemnity.
Chinese students were shocked, convinced China needed revolution to ditch Qing dynasty and modernize.
Fall of Qing and Rise of the Republic
Cixi died in 1908.
Revolutionary Alliance led by Sun Yat-sen (Chinese nationalist revolutionary, founder and leader of the Guomindang until his death. He attempted to create a liberal democratic political movement in China but was thwarted by military leaders.) (soon yot-SEN) (1866-1925) prepared to take over.
Sun lived in Japan, England, U.S., plotting Qing overthrow.
Ideas: Mix of nationalism, socialism, Confucian philosophy.
Patriotism, ambition, tenacious spirit attracted large following.
Military thwarted Sun's plans:
After 1895 defeat by Japan, government equipped army with modern rifles/machine guns.
Local armies beholden to warlords, not central government (threatening situation).
October 1911: Regional army mutinied.
Yuan Shikai (Chinese general and first president of the Chinese Republic (1912–1916). He stood in the way of the democratic movement led by Sun Yat-sen.) (you-AHN she-KIE), most powerful regional general, refused to defend Qing.
December 1911: Revolutionary assembly in Nanjing elected Sun Yat-sen president, but he had no military.
Sun resigned after weeks to avoid clash with army; new national assembly elected Yuan president of new Chinese republic.
Yuan, able military leader, lacked political program.
When Sun reorganized followers into Guomindang (Nationalist political party founded on democratic principles by Sun Yat-sen in 1912. After 1925, the party was headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who turned it into an increasingly authoritarian movement.) (gwo-min-dong) (National People's Party), Yuan quashed Western-style government attempts, harassed Sun's followers.
Victory in first round for a new China went to the military.
### Japan's Expansion During WWI and Conflict with China
Japanese joined Allied side in WWI, seeing opportunity while Europeans occupied.
Quickly conquered German colonies in northern Pacific and on China's coast.
Turned attention to rest of China.
1915: Japan presented China with Twenty-One Demands, making China a virtual protectorate.
Britain/U.S. persuaded Japan to soften demands but couldn't prevent it from keeping German coastal enclaves and extracting railroad/mining concessions.
Anti-Japanese riots and boycotts erupted throughout China.
Began bitter 30-year struggle between the two countries.
28-4c Chinese Warlords and the Guomindang, 1919–1929
May Fourth Movement and Nationalist Resurgence
Paris Peace Conference: Great powers accepted Japan's seizure of German enclaves in China.
Many Chinese perceived this as a cruel insult.
May 4, 1919: Students demonstrated in Beijing's Forbidden City; government ban failed to stop spread of May Fourth Movement.
New generation emerged to challenge old officials, regional generals, foreigners.
Sun Yat-sen attempted comeback in Guangzhou (Canton) in early 1920s.
Impressed by Lenin's revolutionary tactics, though not a Communist.
Let Soviet adviser reorganize Guomindang along Leninist lines.
Welcomed members of newly created Chinese Communist Party into Guomindang.
Chiang Kai-shek's Rise and Anti-Communist Purge
Sun died in 1925; leadership passed to Jiang Jieshi, known in the West as Chiang Kai-shek (Chinese military and political leader. Succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang in 1925; headed the Chinese government from 1928 to 1949; fought against the Chinese Communists and Japanese invaders. After 1949 he headed the Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan.) (chang kie-shek) (1887-1975).
Officer and director of military academy; trained loyal officers.
1927: Determined to defeat regional warlords.
Briefly allied with Communists as his army moved north from Canton.
After taking Shanghai, crushed labor unions and decimated Communists (whom he considered a threat).
Defeated or co-opted most other warlords, established a dictatorship.
### Corrupt Rule and Persistent Poverty
Chiang's government issued ambitious plans for railroads, agriculture/industry development, top-down modernization.
Followers were incompetent administrators and ruthless modernizers.
Government attracted thousands of opportunists aiming to "become officials and get rich" by taxing/plundering businesses.
Countryside: Tax collectors and landowners squeezed peasants harder, even during natural disasters.
Little money reached government coffers, most went to military.
Result: For 20 years after Qing fall, China remained mired in poverty, subject to corrupt officials and nature's whims.
28-5 The New Middle East
### Arab Expectations and Imperial Plans
Post-WWI: Arabs (having revolted against Ottoman Empire) expected a say in peace negotiations.
Victorious French and British planned to treat Middle East as territory open to colonial rule.
Result: Legacy of instability persisting to this day.
28-5a The Mandate System
Mandate System Creation
Paris Peace Conference: France, Britain, Italy, Japan proposed dividing former German colonies and Ottoman territories among themselves.
Ambitions clashed with President Wilson's ideal of national self-determination.
Compromise: mandate system (Allocation of former German colonies and Ottoman possessions to the victorious powers after World War I, to be administered under League of Nations supervision.).
Colonial rulers administered territories.
Accountable to League of Nations for "material and moral well-being and social progress of the inhabitants."
Types of Mandates and Territorial Allocations
Class C Mandates: Smallest populations, treated as colonies.
South Africa replaced Germany in Southwest Africa (now Namibia).
Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Japan took over German Pacific islands.
Class B Mandates: Larger than Class C, economically underdeveloped.
Ruled for inhabitants' benefit under League supervision.
Most German African colonies: Tanganyika, Cameroon, Togo.
Class A Mandates: Arabic-speaking territories of old Ottoman Empire.
League of Nations: "reached a state of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory, until such time as they are able to stand alone."
Arabs interpreted as independence promise; Britain/France sent troops "for the benefit of its inhabitants."
Palestine (now Israel, Jordan, Occupied West Bank) and Iraq (formerly Mesopotamia) became British mandates.
France claimed Syria and Lebanon.
### Diversity & Dominance: The Middle East After World War I
Discussed diverse opinions on postwar settlement (GB, US, Arabs).
Balfour Declaration of 1917: British Foreign Office letter to Lord Rothschild (Zionist supporter).
"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
Promise to facilitate this, "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (January 8, 1918):
Aim: Make world safe for peace-loving nations.
Point XII: Turkish portions of Ottoman Empire assured secure sovereignty; other nationalities under Turkish rule assured security of life and "absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development."
Memorandum of the General Syrian Congress, July 2, 1919 (representatives from 3 zones, Muslims, Christians, Jews):
Demanded absolutely complete political independence for Syria.
Protested Article 22 of League of Nations Covenant (placing them among nations needing mandatory power), arguing Arabs were not less gifted or developed than Bulgarians, Serbians, Greeks, Romanians at their independence start.
Relied on Wilson's declarations against conquest/colonization; sought technical/economic assistance from U.S. (not exceeding 20 years), believing U.S. had no political ambition.
If U.S. couldn't assist, would seek from Great Britain under similar conditions (complete independence/unity, duration limit).
Did not acknowledge French government rights in Syria, refused French assistance under any circumstance.
Opposed Zionist pretensions to create Jewish commonwealth in southern Syria (Palestine), and Zionist migration.
Considered Zionists a "grave peril" from national, economic, political viewpoints; Jewish compatriots would enjoy common rights/responsibilities.
28-5b The Rise of Modern Turkey
Collapse of Ottoman Empire and Turkish War of Independence
End of WWI: Ottoman Empire on brink of collapse.
France, Britain, Italy, Greece saw opportunity for territorial expansion.
1919: French, British, Italian, Greek forces occupied Constantinople and parts of Anatolia.
Treaty of Sèvres (1920): Allies forced sultan to give up most lands.
Mustafa Kemal:
1919: Formed nationalist government in central Anatolia with army officers' backing.
1922: After fierce war against invading Greeks, reconquered Anatolia and region around Constantinople.
Victorious Turks forced hundreds of thousands of Greeks from ancestral homes in Anatolia.
Greek government expelled all Muslims from Greece in response.
Turkish Republic proclaimed in 1923.
### Kemal Atatürk's Radical Reforms
Mustafa Kemal, war hero and savior, imposed profound changes.
Outspoken modernizer, eager to bring Turkey closer to Europe.
Abolished sultanate, declared Turkey a secular republic, introduced European laws.
Radical break with Islamic tradition:
Suppressed Muslim courts, schools, religious orders.
Replaced Arabic alphabet with Latin alphabet.
Westernized traditional Turkish family:
Women gained civil equality (right to vote, be elected to national assembly).
Forbade polygamy, instituted civil marriage and divorce.
Discouraged women from veiling faces.
Replaced fez (ninteenth-century reform symbol) with European brimmed hat for men.
Ordered everyone to take a family name; Kemal chose Atatürk (The founder of modern Turkey. He distinguished himself in the defense of Gallipoli in World War I and expelled a Greek expeditionary army from Anatolia in 1921–1922. He replaced the Ottoman Empire with the Turkish Republic in 1923. As president, he pushed through a radical westernization and reform of Turkish society.) ("father of the Turks") for himself.
Reforms spread quickly in cities; old ways persisted in rural areas with strong Islamic traditions.
28-5c Arab Lands and the Question of Palestine
Arab Opposition to the Mandate System
Mandate system's thinly disguised colonialism sparked protests and rebellions among Arabs.
Arabs viewed European presence as foreign occupation, not liberation (similar to Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco under French colonialism).
Post-WWI Middle Eastern Societal Changes
Society underwent dramatic changes after WWI (violence, famine).
Population rebounded by 50 percent between 1914 and 1939.
Large cities (Constantinople, Baghdad, Cairo) doubled in population.
Urban and mercantile middle class (encouraged by Turkey's transformation) adopted Western ideas, customs, housing, clothing styles.
Education:
Some families sent sons to European secular/mission schools, then Western colleges (Istanbul, Cairo, Beirut) or abroad.
Few women became schoolteachers or nurses (following American missionary examples).
Secular educational opportunities varied: strong French influence in Lebanon; Iran's first university in 1933; Saudi Arabia resisted Western influences.
French and British Control over Arab Territories
Maghrib (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco): French army's private domain.
French built modern neighborhoods alongside native quarters, inhabited mainly by Europeans.
France occupied Algeria since 1830, encouraged European immigration.
Settlers owned best lands, monopolized government jobs/businesses.
Arabs and Berbers remained poor, suffered intense discrimination.
British control methods: Mixture of bribery and intimidation.
Made Faisal (leader of Arab Revolt) king of Iraq.
Used aerial bombing of rebellious nomads to enforce control.
1931 Agreement with King Faisal's government: Official independence for Iraq in exchange for two British air bases, military alliance, assured petroleum flow.
French actions: Sent thousands of troops to Syria and Lebanon to crush nationalist uprisings.
Egypt: British substituted phony independence for colonialism.
Declared Egypt independent in 1922.
Reserved right to station troops along Suez Canal (link with India).
Wafd (Delegation [to the Paris peace conference]) Party (nationalists) angered by British attempt to remove Egyptian troops from Sudan (considered Egyptian colony).
Britain kept Egypt in limbo (neither independent nor colony) through alliance with King Fuad and conservative Egyptian politicians (who feared secular and religious radicalism).
### Jewish Immigration to Palestine and Growing Tensions
Before WWI: Jewish minority lived in Palestine and other Arab countries.
Small numbers of Jews immigrated after expulsion from Spain in 1492, trickle continued into nineteenth century.
1920: Palestine became British mandate.
Many more Jews immigrated from Europe, encouraged by Balfour Declaration of 1917.
Socialist Zionists established kibbutzim (communal farms).
Revisionist Zionists (non-socialist) preferred cities.
Land purchases by Jewish agencies angered indigenous Arabs.
Especially tenant farmers evicted to make room for settlers.
1920-1921: Riots erupted between Jews and Arabs.
British attempt to limit immigration (due to higher than anticipated Jewish arrivals) alienated Jews, but didn't mollify Arabs.
1930s: Country torn by strikes and guerrilla warfare, uncontrollable by British.
Britain earned hatred of both sides.
Chapter 29: The Collapse of the Old Order, 1929–1949
29-1 The Stalin Revolution
### Soviet Recovery and Stalin's Transformation
1920s: Soviet Union recovered from the 1917 Revolutions and civil war (see Chapter 28).
After Stalin gained total mastery in 1929, he led economic and social transformation.
Turned USSR into great industrial and military power.
Intensified admiration for and fear of communism globally.
29-1a Five-Year Plans
Joseph Stalin's Rise and Industrialization Goals
Joseph Stalin (Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communist Party after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush all opposition.) (1879-1953):
Son of poor shoemaker from Georgia, studied for priesthood.
Radical revolutionary ("man of steel"), minor role in 1917 Revolutions.
Skillful administrator, rose through party bureaucracy, filled upper ranks with loyalists.
Became absolute dictator, transformed Soviet society.
Stalin's ambition: Turn USSR into industrial nation.
Industrialization purpose: Increase Communist Party power domestically, USSR power internationally; not consumer goods or individual enrichment.
Determined to prevent repetition of 1917 defeat by Germany.
Goal: Quintuple electricity output, double heavy industry (iron, steel, coal, machinery) in five years.
The First Five-Year Plan and its Scope
First of a series of Five-Year Plans (Plans that Joseph Stalin introduced to industrialize the Soviet Union rapidly, beginning in 1928. They set goals for the output of steel, electricity, machinery, and most other products and were enforced by the police powers of the state. They succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major industrial power before World War II.): Began October 1928.
Communist Party and government created entire industries and cities from scratch.
Trained millions of peasants for new factories, mines, offices.
Stalin's Russia resembled a nation at war in every way except actual fighting.
### Environmental Impacts of Rapid Industrialization
Rapid industrialization hastened environmental changes.
Hydroelectric dams: Turned rivers into strings of reservoirs.
Roads, canals, railroad tracks: Cut the landscape.
Forests and grassland: Converted into farmland.
Environmental transformation resembled that in U.S. and Canada a few decades earlier.
29-1b Collectivization of Agriculture
Rationale and Implementation of Collectivization
Soviet Union predominantly agrarian; needed to fund industrialization, provide labor, feed new industrial workers by squeezing peasantry.
Stalin proceeded with collectivization of agriculture (most radical social experiment to date).
Consolidated small private farms into vast collectives.
Farmers worked together in commonly owned fields.
Each collective supplied fixed amount of food to government, distributed remainder to members.
Collectives became "outdoor factories" using mass production, machinery for food.
Purpose: Bring peasants under government control to prevent withholding food supplies (as in 1918-1921 Russian Civil War).
Resistance and Famine
Government launched massive propaganda campaign, sent party members to enlist farmer support.
Initial success, but kulaks (COO-lock) ("fists") (better-off peasants) resisted giving up property.
Soldiers forced them into collectives; kulaks burned crops, smashed equipment, slaughtered livestock.
Within months: Half of Soviet horses/cattle, two-thirds of sheep/goats slaughtered.
Stalin retaliated: "liquidation of kulaks as a class"; incited poor peasants to attack wealthier neighbors.
Over 8 million kulaks arrested.
Many executed; rest sent to slave labor camps (gulags), where most starved.
Remaining peasants (least successful before) proved least competent after.
Many sent to factories; rest forbidden to leave farms.
Half draft animals gone, couldn't plant/harvest enough for swelling urban demands.
Government agents took whatever they found, leaving little for farmers.
Bad harvests in 1933-1934: Famine swept countryside, killing ~5 million people (~1 in 20 farmers).
### Second Five-Year Plan and War Economy Shift
Stalin's second Five-Year Plan (1933-1937) initially for consumer goods.
1933: Nazis took over Germany (see below); Stalin shifted plan to heavy industries for armaments.
1927-1937: Soviet output of metals/machines increased fourteen-fold.
Consumer goods became scarce, food rationed.
After a decade of Stalinism: Soviet people were more poorly clothed, fed, housed than pre-war.
29-1c Terror and Opportunities
Climate of Fear and Purges
1930s: Brought terror and opportunities to Soviet people.
Forced pace of industrialization, collectivization, uprooting of millions required duress.
NKVD (Stalin's secret police) created climate of suspicion and fear to prevent resistance.
1930: Stalin arrested hundreds of engineers/technicians on trumped-up charges (counterrevolutionary ideas, sabotage).
Three years later: Expelled 1 million Communist Party members (one-third) on similar charges.
Then turned on most trusted associates.
December 1934: Sergei Kirov (Leningrad party boss) assassinated (perhaps on Stalin's orders).
Stalin publicly mourned, blamed others for crime.
Ordered spectacular purge trials: Accused most of Lenin's associates of treason.
1937: Executed eight top generals and many lower officers, dangerously weakening Red Army.
Under torture/psychological pressure, almost all accused confessed.
Terror spread downward: Government demands impossible to meet, making everyone guilty of some regulation break.
People from all walks arrested: mere suspicion, false accusation, expressing doubt, working too hard/not enough, related to arrested person, no reason.
Millions sentenced without trials.
Height of terror: ~8 million sent to gulags (GOO-log) (labor camps); perhaps 1 million died annually from exposure/malnutrition.
To victims, terror seemed capricious/random; yet it turned resentful people into docile, hard-working subjects.
Opportunities for the Loyal and the Young
Despite fear and hardships, many Soviet citizens supported Stalin's regime.
So many people gone, new industries/cities built: Opportunities for those who remained, especially poor/young.
Women entered previously closed careers/jobs: Steelworkers, physicians, office managers.
Retained household/childrearing duties, little help from men.
Diversity & Dominance: Women, Family Values, and the Russian Revolution:
Alexandra Kollontai (outspoken Bolshevik on women's rights): Advocated women's liberation, communal kitchens/laundries replacing housework, divorce on demand.
Under socialism: Love, sex, marriage equal, reciprocal, free of economic obligations.
Childbearing encouraged, but children raised communally; "our children, those of the communist state, the common possession of all workers."
1921 lecture: Soviet power creates situation where women don't cling to hated men due to lack of options; single women don't fear for child's life.
Abortion: Russia needed labor, not overproduction. But abolition of penalties (1920) because abortion exists anyway, secret help cripples women.
Legal abortion (in clinical conditions) less harmful, women return to work quicker.
Soviet power aimed to make abortion unnecessary by broad motherhood protection, social education, and women understanding childbirth as social obligation.
Sees working woman as a "labour unit," key to solving maternity question.
Joseph Stalin (15 years later) reversed abortion policy:
Published draft law prohibiting abortion, providing material assistance to mothers.
Provoked lively reaction, seen as strengthening Soviet family.
"Free love" and "disorderly sex life" are "bourgeois through and through," contrary to socialist principles/Soviet citizen ethics.
Elite and best Soviet youth are excellent family men, love children.
Man not taking marriage seriously, abandoning children = bad worker/society member.
Family state much improved since Soviet regime: greater stability, humanity, goodness.
Millions of women economically independent, not at mercy of men.
Example: Collective farmer woman often earns more than husband (unlike pre-revolutionary peasant slave).
Marriage motives changed, cleansed of barbaric elements; girls marry for love.
USSR has conditions for working women to fulfill citizen/mother duties, responsible for children's birth/upbringing.
People moving to cities, working enthusiastically, asking no questions could rise in Communist Party, military, government, professions (with privileges/rewards).
### Soviet Industrial Power
Stalin's brutal methods industrialized Soviet Union historically fast.
By late 1930s: USSR was world's third largest industrial power (after U.S., Germany).
Foreign observers: Seemed booming with construction, labor shortages.
Even anti-Communists admitted government planning worked.
Millions of Soviet citizens proud of new strength, many foreigners compared USSR to unemployed West: Stalin's achievement seemed worth any price.
29-2 The Depression
### The Stock Market Crash of 1929
October 24, 1929 ("Black Thursday"): New York stock market crashed.
Within days, stocks lost half their value.
Fall continued for three years, ruining millions of investors.
People rushed to withdraw bank accounts, causing thousands of banks to collapse.
29-2a Economic Crisis
Deepest Depression in History
Stock market crash led to deepest depression in history.
Consumers reduced purchases, businesses cut production, laying off thousands.
Female employees first laid off (men had to support families, women worked for "pin money").
Jobless men deserted families.
Small farmers went bankrupt, lost land.
Mid-1932: American economy shrunk by half; unemployment reached unprecedented 25 percent.
Many observers believed free-enterprise capitalism was doomed.
### Protectionism and Declining World Trade
1930: U.S. government imposed Smoot-Hawley tariff (highest in American history) to protect industries.
Retaliation: Other countries raised tariffs in "beggar thy neighbor" protectionism wave.
Result: Crippled export industries, shrinking world trade.
1929-1932: Global industrial production declined by 36 percent; world trade dropped by 62 percent.
29-2b Depression in Industrial Nations
Global Spread and Varied Impacts
By 1931: Depression spread to Europe.
Governments canceled reparations and war loans, but too late to save world economy.
France and Britain: Weathered depression by making colonial empires purchase their products over others'.
Export-reliant nations (for food and fuel imports) suffered more.
Germany: Unemployment reached 6 million by 1932 (twice Britain's).
Half the population lived in poverty; those with jobs faced salary cuts, falling living standards.
Japan: Burden fell hardest on farmers and fishermen.
### Political Repercussions and Rise of Radicalism
Massive economic upheaval had political repercussions.
Nationalists everywhere called for autarchy (economic independence).
United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president in 1932 on "New Deal" platform (government programs to stimulate economy).
American, British, French governments intervened in economies, but remained democratic.
Germany and Japan: Economic grievances worsened political resentments.
Radical leaders gained power, turned nations into military machines.
Aim: Acquire empires (by war if necessary) large enough for self-sufficient economies, provide employment in arms factories.
29-2c Depression in Nonindustrial Regions
Uneven Impact on Nonindustrial Countries
Depression spread to Asia, Africa, Latin America, but unevenly.
India: Erected import duties wall in 1930 to protect infant industries; living standards stagnated but did not drop.
China: Little affected by trade; problems more political than economic.
Export-Dependent Economies Devastated
Countries reliant on exports hard hit.
Malaya, Indochina, Dutch East Indies: Produced most natural rubber; when U.S./Europe auto production halved, so did rubber imports, devastating economies.
Egypt: Dependent on cotton exports, also affected; political strife led to autocratic, unpopular government.
Latin America: Unemployment and homelessness increased markedly.
Industrialization in Argentina and Brazil set back a decade or more.
Disenchanted with liberal politics, military officers seized power in several countries (see Chapter 30).
Imitated European dictatorships: Imposed authoritarian control over economies, hoping to stimulate local industries and curb imports.
### Southern Africa's Boom
Only southern Africa (besides USSR) boomed during 1930s.
Gold became relatively more valuable as other prices dropped.
Copper deposits in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) cheaper to mine than Chilean copper.
Mining boom was a mixed blessing for Africans:
Provided jobs and cash wages to men.
Women stayed in villages, farming, herding, raising children without husbands' help.
29-3 The Rise of Fascism
Reaction to Russian Revolution and Economic Crisis
Russian Revolution and Stalinist aftermath frightened property owners in Europe/North America.
Western Europe/North America: Middle- and upper-income voters gravitated to conservative politics.
Southern/Central Europe: Many blamed ethnic minorities (especially Jews) for troubles stemming from war debt.
Yearning for mythical past (family farms, small shops); growing rejection of representative government.
Sought more dramatic solutions.
### Radical Politicians and Fascist Methods
Radical politicians used wartime propaganda techniques to appeal to confused citizenry.
Promises: Restore full employment, stop communism, achieve WWI territorial aspirations.
Defended private property from communism, but borrowed communist political model:
Single party.
Secret police ruling by terror and intimidation.
29-3a Mussolini's Italy
Post-WWI Discontent and Rise of Fascism in Italy
Italy was the first country to seek radical answers.
WWI unpopular, left thousands of veterans without pride or jobs in postwar economy.
Unemployed veterans and violent youths formed fasci di combattimento (fighting units) to demand action, intimidate politicians.
When workers threatened strikes, factory/property owners hired fascisti gangs to defend them.
Benito Mussolini (Fascist dictator of Italy (1922–1943). He led Italy to conquer Ethiopia (1935), joined Germany in the Axis pact (1936), and allied Italy with Germany in World War II. He was overthrown in 1943 when the Allies invaded Italy.) (1883–1945):
Supported Italy's entry into the war.
Spellbinding orator, became leader of Fascist Party (Italian political party created by Benito Mussolini during World War I. It emphasized aggressive nationalism and was Mussolini's instrument for the creation of a dictatorship in Italy from 1922 to 1943.).
Glorified warfare, Italian nation.
By 1921: Party had 300,000 members; many used violence to repress strikes, intimidate voters, seize municipal governments.
1922: Mussolini threatened "March on Rome" if not appointed prime minister; timid parliamentarians yielded.
### Mussolini's Dictatorship and Propaganda Techniques
Mussolini installed Fascist Party members in all government jobs.
Crushed all opposition parties, jailed critics.
Party controlled press, public education, youth activities.
Employers gained control over workers.
Lowered living standards but reduced unemployment, provided social security and public services.
Not ruthless radicals or competent administrators.
True strength: Bombastic speeches, spectacular parades, signs proclaiming "Il Duce (eel DOO-chay) [the Leader] is always right!"
Mussolini's genius: Applied modern mass communications/advertisement techniques to political life.
Movie footage and radio news bulletins galvanized masses unprecedentedly in peacetime.
His techniques of whipping up public enthusiasm appealed to other radicals.
By 1930s: Fascist movements appeared in most European countries, Latin America, China, Japan.
Fascism appealed to people frightened by rapid change, placing hope in charismatic leaders.
Adolf Hitler was the most sinister of Mussolini's imitators.
29-3b Hitler's Germany
German Discontent and Hitler's Ideology
Germany lost WWI after nearly winning.
Hyperinflation (1923) wiped out middle-class savings.
Less than 10 years later: Depression caused more unemployment and misery.
Millions blamed Socialists, Communists, Jews, foreigners.
Adolf Hitler (Born in Austria, Hitler became a radical German nationalist during World War I. He led the National Socialist German Workers' Party—the Nazis—in the 1920s and became dictator of Germany in 1933. He led Europe into World War II.) (1889–1945):
Joined German army in 1914, wounded at front.
Cherished clear authority and camaraderie of battle.
Post-war: Used oratorical gifts to lead political splinter group, National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) (German political party led by Adolf Hitler, emphasizing nationalism, racism, and war. When Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazis became the only legal party and an instrument of Hitler's absolute rule. The party's formal name was National Socialist German Workers' Party.).
Wrote Mein Kampf (mine compf) (My Struggle) while in jail.
Published 1925, attracted little notice; ideas seemed insane.
Ideas beyond nationalism: Germany annex all German-speaking areas (even neighboring countries).
Distinguished races: "master race" (Aryans: Germans, Scandinavians, Britons), "degenerate Alpine" (French, Italians), "inferior" (Russian/Eastern European Slavs, fit only for slavery).
Intense hatred for Jews, blamed for all German disasters (esp. 1918 defeat).
Glorified violence, looked forward to future war where "master race" subjugated others.
Hitler's Goals and Rise to Power
Hitler's first goal: Reverse humiliation, repeal military restrictions of Treaty of Versailles.
Next: Annex all German-speaking territories to a greater Germany.
Then: Gain Lebensraum (LAY-bens-rowm) (room to live) at expense of Poland and USSR.
Finally: Eliminate all Jews from Europe.
1924-1930: Nazi followers tiny minority; ideas too extreme for most Germans.
Depression hit: Nazis gained support from unemployed (promised jobs) and property owners (frightened by communists).
March 1933: Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
Quickly assumed dictatorial powers.
Nazis in charge of all government agencies, educational institutions, professional organizations.
Banned other political parties, jailed leaders in concentration camps.
Deprived Jews of citizenship/civil rights, prohibited marriage to "Aryans," ousted from professions, confiscated property.
August 1934: Hitler proclaimed himself Führer (FEW-rer) ("leader"), called Germany the "Third Reich" (after Holy Roman Empire, 1871-1918 German Empire).
### Economic Recovery and Justification of Loss of Liberty
Nazis' economic and social policies spectacularly effective.
Government undertook massive public works projects.
Businesses got weapon manufacturing contracts.
Women in workforce urged to yield jobs to men.
By 1936: Business booming, unemployment lowest since 1920s, living standards rising.
Most Germans believed economic well-being outweighed loss of liberty.
29-3c The Road to War, 1933-1939
Hitler's Aggressive Policies and International Reactions
Hitler's goal: Conquest, not prosperity or popularity.
Once in office: Began armed forces buildup.
Tested other powers' reactions with surprise moves, followed by peace protestations.
1933: Hitler withdrew Germany from League of Nations.
Two years later: Announced conscription, army buildup, air force creation (violating Versailles treaty).
Neither Britain nor France willing to risk war by confronting Germany.
1935: Emboldened by democracies' weakness, Italy invaded Ethiopia (last independent African state, League member).
League and democracies protested but refused to close Suez Canal to Italian ships or impose oil embargo.
Next year: Hitler sent troops into Rhineland (bordering France/Belgium); other powers only protested.
Escalation of Demands and Appeasement
1938: Hitler decided rearmament far enough advanced to escalate demands.
March: Germany invaded Austria; most Austrians (German-speakers) accepted annexation.
Then targeted Czechoslovakia: German-speaking minority along border.
Demanded autonomy, then annexation to Germany.
Threatened war throughout summer.
Munich Conference (September 1938): Leaders of France, Britain, Italy gave Hitler everything he wanted without consulting Czechoslovakia.
Hitler learned aggression paid off.
Appeasement: Weakness of democracies had three causes.
Deep-seated fear of war (from WWI): Politicians couldn't ignore constituents' yearning for peace; believed war threat would disappear if wished fervently.
Fear of communism among conservatives: Feared Stalin more than Hitler (Hitler claimed to respect Christianity/private property).
Novelty of fascist tactics: Britain's PM Neville Chamberlain assumed political leaders (non-Bolsheviks) were honorable, agreements valid as business contracts; believed Hitler's promises to only incorporate German-speakers and "no further territorial demands."
### Alliances and the Outbreak of WWII
After Munich, too late to stop Hitler short of war.
Germany and Italy signed Axis alliance.
March 1939: Germany invaded remaining Czechoslovakia.
Belatedly, France and Britain realized Hitler couldn't be trusted, sought Soviet help.
Stalin distrusted "capitalists" as much as they distrusted him.
Hitler offered to divide Poland with Soviet Union; Stalin accepted.
Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 23, 1939): Freed Hitler from two-front war fear, gave Stalin time to build armies.
One week later, September 1: German forces swept into Poland; war began.
29-4 East Asia, 1931-1945
### Japan's Economic Problems and Expansionist Ambitions
Depression hit: Silk and rice demand collapsed, ruining thousands of Japanese farmers; some sold daughters into prostitution, many young men joined military.
Ultranationalists resented dependence on foreign trade and "unnecessary party politics" (sullied divine imperial will).
Believed colonial empire would free Japan from global subservience.
Europeans/Americans already took most potential Asian colonies.
Japanese nationalists saw conquest of China (vast population/resources) as solution to problems.
29-4a The Manchurian Incident of 1931
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
In China, Guomindang (gwo-min-dong) (see Chapter 28) gained strength, preparing to challenge Japanese presence in Manchuria (rich in coal and iron ore).
Junior officers in Japanese army, frustrated by superiors' caution, took action.
September 1931: Blew up part of railroad track as pretext for invading entire province.
Invasion promoted as achieving "independence" of Manchuria under name Manchukuo (man-CHEW-coo-oh), but remained under Japanese control.
Many civilian officials and military leaders in Tokyo had not approved, but joined overwhelmingly positive public/press/leftist critic reaction.
International Condemnation and Japanese Withdrawal
U.S. government condemned Japanese conquest.
League of Nations refused to recognize Manchukuo, urged Japanese troop removal from China.
Persuaded Western powers would not fight, Japan resigned from the League.
### Japanese Rearmament and Authoritarianism
Next few years: Japanese built railways and heavy industries in Manchuria and northeastern China, sped up rearmament.
Production diverted to military, especially warships.
Government grew more authoritarian, jailing thousands of dissidents.
Ultranationalists (many junior officers) mutinied or assassinated political figures.
Mutineers received mild punishments; moderate civilian politicians replaced by generals/admirals sympathetic to ultranationalist views.
29-4b The Long March
Guomindang's Challenge and Communist Retreat
Until Japanese seizure of Manchuria: Chinese government seemed poised for national recovery.
Main challenge to Chiang Kai-shek (chang kie-shek)'s government came from Communists.
Chinese Communist Party founded 1921 by intellectuals, lived in Guomindang's shadow for years.
Efforts to recruit industrial workers failed in 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek arrested and executed Communists/labor leaders.
Few Communists who escaped arrests fled to remote mountains of Jiangxi (jang-she), southeastern China.
Mao Zedong's Leadership and Peasant Focus
Mao Zedong (Leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1927–1976). He led the Communists on the Long March (1934–1935) and rebuilt the Communist Party and Red Army during the Japanese occupation of China (1937–1945). After World War II, he led the Communists to victory over the Guomindang. He ordered the Cultural Revolution in 1966.) (ma-oh zay-dong) (1893–1976):
Farmer's son, left home to study philosophy.
Man of action, called for violent effort: "To be able to leap on horseback and to shoot at the same time; to go from battle to battle; to shake the mountains by one's cries, and the colors of the sky by one's roars of anger."
Early 1920s: Discovered Marx, joined Communist Party, became leader.
In Jiangxi: Studied peasant conditions (Communists previously uninterested).
Planned land redistribution from wealthier to poorer peasants to gain adherents for struggle against Guomindang.
Goal: Complete social revolution from bottom up.
Reliance on peasantry was radical departure from Marxist-Leninist ideology (stressed peasant backwardness, pinned hopes on industrial workers).
Mao cloaked pragmatic tactics in communist rhetoric to allay Stalin's suspicions.
Women's Equality and Guerrilla Warfare
Mao advocated women's equality.
Before 1927: Communists organized women in Shanghai textile mills (most exploited workers).
In Jiangxi mountain stronghold: Organized women farmers, allowed divorce, banned arranged marriages and foot-binding.
Party still run by men focused on warfare.
Guomindang army pursued Communists into mountains, building forts.
Mao responded with guerrilla warfare:
Harassed army at weak points with hit-and-run tactics.
Relied on terrain and peasant support.
Mao insisted soldiers help peasants, pay fair price for food/supplies, treat women with respect (unlike government troops).
### The Long March (1934-1935)
Despite good relations with Jiangxi peasants, Communists gradually encircled by government forces.
1934: Mao and followers decided to break out of southern mountains, trek to Shaanxi (SHAWN-she) (remote northwestern province).
Long March (The 6,000-mile flight of Chinese Communists from southeastern to northwestern China. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, were pursued by the Chinese army under orders from Chiang Kai-shek. The 4,000 survivors of the march formed the nucleus of a revived Communist movement that defeated the Guomindang after World War II.): 6,000 miles (nearly 9,700 kilometers) in one year.
Over desolate mountains, through swamps and deserts.
Pursued by army, bombed by Chiang's aircraft.
Of 100,000 Communists leaving Jiangxi in October 1934, only 4,000 reached Shaanxi a year later.
Chiang's government thought it was finally rid of Communists.
29-4c The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945
Japanese Aggression and Invasion of China
Japan: Politicians, senior officers, business leaders disagreed on economic problem solutions.
Some proposed quick China conquest; others, war with Soviet Union.
Junior officers took matters into own hands.
July 7, 1937: Japanese troops attacked Chinese forces near Beijing.
Junior officers quickly gained commanders' support, then (reluctantly) government's.
Within weeks: Japanese seized Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, other coastal cities.
Japanese navy blockaded entire Chinese coast.
U.S. and League of Nations denounced Japanese aggression.
Western powers too preoccupied with Europe and own economic problems to risk military confrontation in Asia.
Japanese sank U.S. gunboat, shelled British ship on Yangzi River; U.S./British expressed indignation but took no action.
Chinese Resistance and Atrocities
Chinese armies, poorly led and armed, fought bravely but lost every battle.
Japanese planes bombed cities; soldiers broke dikes, burned villages, killing thousands of civilians.
Within a year: Japan controlled coastal provinces of northern China and lower Yangzi/Yellow River Valleys (China's richest, most populated regions).
Attack on China did not bring victory; Chinese resisted (army or Communist guerrilla forces).
As Japan bogged down: Life harsher, more repressive for Japanese people (taxes rose, food/fuel scarce, more men drafted).
Warfare incredibly violent:
Winter 1937-1938: Japanese troops took Nanjing, raped 20,000 women, killed ~200,000 prisoners/civilians, looted/burned city.
Chiang ordered Yellow River dikes blasted open to slow Japanese: Flood destroyed 4,000 villages, killed 890,000 people, made millions homeless.
Two years later: Communists ordered offensive; Japanese retaliated with "kill all, burn all, loot all" campaign, destroying hundreds of villages.
### Guomindang and Communist Strategies
Chinese government (led by Chiang Kai-shek): Escaped to Sichuan mountains in central country.
Built huge army, not to fight Japan but for future confrontation with Communists.
Drafted over 3 million men but had only 1 million rifles, could not feed/clothe all soldiers.
Guomindang raised farmers' taxes even during famine, when farmers ate tree bark.
Taxes insufficient; to avoid taxing wealthy supporters, government printed money, causing inflation, hoarding, corruption.
Communists (Mao's capital Yan'an in Shaanxi):
Built army, formed government.
Listened to peasant grievances (especially poor), distributed land from wealthy landowners.
Imposed rigid discipline on officials/soldiers, tolerated no dissent from intellectuals.
Few weapons, but gained support and intelligence from farmers in Japanese-occupied territory.
Turned military reversals into propaganda victories, presenting themselves as only group serious about fighting Japanese.
29-5 The Second World War
### Scale and Nature of WWII
Many feared WWII would repeat WWI; instead, it was bigger in every way.
Fought globally: Norway to New Guinea, Hawaii to Egypt, every ocean.
Killed far more people than WWI.
Involved all civilians and productive forces.
Showed how effectively industry, science, nationalism could be channeled into mass destruction.
29-5a The War of Movement
Offensive Advantage and New Tactics
WWII: Motorized weapons restored advantage to the offensive.
Opposing forces moved fast; victories depended on commanders' aggressive spirit and military intelligence as much as troops/firepower.
Wehrmacht (VAIR-mokt) (German army) set standard.
Possessed tanks, trucks, fighter planes.
Perfected combined use in Blitzkrieg (BLITS-creeg) (lightning war):
Fighter planes scattered enemy troops, disrupted communications.
Tanks punctured enemy defenses.
Infantry encircled and captured enemy troops.
At sea: Japan and U.S. developed aircraft carriers to launch planes against distant targets.
### Scope of Operations and Civilian Targeting
Armies ranged over vast theaters; countries conquered in days/weeks.
Belligerents mobilized economies of entire continents, squeezing for resources.
Tried to defeat enemy armed forces and damage supporting economies (blockades, submarine attacks, bombing raids).
Both sides considered civilians legitimate targets.
29-5b War in Europe and North Africa
German Conquest of Western Europe
Less than a month: Wehrmacht conquered Poland.
Britain and France declared war but took no military action.
Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and Baltic republics.
Poles fought bravely but infantry/cavalry no match for German/Russian tanks.
Winter 1939-1940: "Phony war" between Germany and Western democracies.
March 1940: Hitler offensives began.
Conquered Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium in <2 months.
May: Attacked France; French army (equal in soldiers, tanks, aircraft to Wehrmacht) had low morale, quickly collapsed.
By end of June: Hitler controlled Europe between Russia and Spain.
Battle of Britain and Eastern Front Invasion
Germany still faced Britain.
British had no large army, but controlled English Channel, Royal Navy, Air Force, and new PM Winston Churchill.
Germans needed control of Channel airspace to invade Britain.
Launched massive air attack: Battle of Britain (June-September).
Attack failed: Royal Air Force used radar and code-breaking to detect German planes.
Invasion of the Soviet Union and Stalingrad
Frustrated in west, Hitler turned east (risking two-front war).
Stalin cooperated, supplied Germany with grain, oil, raw materials.
Hitler always wanted Lebensraum in east, enslave Slavic peoples; feared Stalin building strong army.
June 1941: Hitler launched largest attack in history (3 million soldiers, thousands of planes/tanks).
Within 5 months: Wehrmacht conquered Baltic states, Ukraine, half of European Russia; captured 1 million POWs; reached Moscow/Leningrad gates.
USSR seemed near collapse.
Weather turned cold, machines froze; invasion halted (like Napoleon, Hitler ignored Russian environment).
Next spring: Wehrmacht renewed offensive.
Surrounded Leningrad (siege killed 1 million).
Left Moscow, turned to Caucasus oil wells.
August: Germans attacked Stalingrad (City in Russia, site of a Red Army victory over the German army in 1942–1943. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. Today Volgograd.) (now Volgograd), key to Volga River and oil supply.
Months of street-by-street, house-by-house fighting.
Winter: Red Army counterattacked, encircled city.
February 1943: Remnants of German army in Stalingrad surrendered.
Hitler lost 200,000 men, last chance to defeat Soviet Union and win war.
### North African Campaigns
War spread to Africa after France fell (1940).
Mussolini's imperial ambitions:
Italian forces overran British Somaliland, invaded Egypt.
Victories ephemeral: British counterattack crumbled Italian resistance.
1941: British conquered Italian East Africa, invaded Libya.
Italian rout in North Africa brought Germans to rescue.
1942: German army (Rommel, "Desert Fox") and British Commonwealth forces seesawed across Libya and Egypt.
El Alamein (Town in Egypt, site of the victory by Britain's Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery over German forces led by General Erwin Rommel (the “Desert Fox”) in 1942–1943.) (northern Egypt): British prevailed (more weapons/supplies, better intelligence).
May 1943: Germans finally expelled from Africa.
29-5c War in Asia and the Pacific
Japan's Expansionist Opportunity and U.S. Response
Fall of France, British/USSR involvement against Germany provided Japan opportunity.
European colonies in Southeast Asia (oil, rubber, strategic materials) ripe for taking.
July 1941: French government (under German control) allowed Japanese occupation of Indochina.
U.S. stopped shipments of steel, scrap iron, oil, other critical products to Japan.
Japan's alternatives: Give up conquests (U.S. insisted), face economic ruin, or widen war.
Japan chose war.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (commander, Japanese fleet) warned Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoye: "If I am told to fight regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year. . . . I hope that you will endeavor to avoid a Japanese-American war.”
War cabinet ignored advice, planned surprise attack on U.S. Navy, then Southeast Asia invasion.
Knew they couldn't defeat U.S., but calculated shock of attack would make isolationist Americans accept Japanese conquest (like Hitler's in Europe).
Pearl Harbor and Japanese Victories
December 7, 1941: Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor (Naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. The sinking of much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet brought the United States into World War II.) (U.S. naval base in Hawaii).
Sank/damaged scores of warships; missed aircraft carriers (at sea).
Early 1942: Japanese conquered all of Southeast Asia and Dutch East Indies.
Confiscated food/raw materials, demanded heavy labor.
Japan's East Asian empire dream seemed within reach; victories surpassed Hitler's.
U.S. Counter-Offensive and Turning Point
U.S. quickly prepared for war.
April 1942: American planes bombed Tokyo.
May 1942: U.S. Navy defeated Japanese fleet in Coral Sea, ending Japanese plans to conquer Australia.
A month later: Battle of Midway (U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II.).
Japan lost four of six largest aircraft carriers.
Without carriers, Japan faced long, hopeless war.
### Island Hopping and Pacific Losses
Driving Japanese army from scores of bases/island fortresses in South Pacific posed enormous problem for U.S.
U.S. simultaneously deployed ships/armies to Europe.
Island battles (Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa) lacked strategic significance of Stalingrad/D-Day.
But American and Japanese life losses taxed endurance of both countries.
29-5d The End of War
Eastern Front Shift and Western Invasions
After Battle of Stalingrad: Advantage on Eastern Front shifted to Soviet Union.
By 1943: Red Army received growing supplies from Russian factories and United States.
Slowly, then vigorously, pushed Wehrmacht back towards Germany.
Western powers staged two European invasions:
July 1943: Captured Sicily, invaded Italy.
Italy signed armistice, but German troops held off Allied advance for two years.
June 6, 1944 (D-day): 156,000 British, American, Canadian troops landed on Normandy coast (largest shipborne assault ever).
Within a week: Allies had more troops in France than Germany.
By September: Germany faced Allied army of over 2 million men, half a million vehicles.
German Resistance and Surrender
Red Army on eastern border of Germany, ready for final push.
Hitler transferred part of Wehrmacht westward.
Germany held out for almost a year against overwhelming odds.
Due to fighting qualities of soldiers and terror inspired by Nazi regime (commanded obedience until end).
May 7, 1945: A week after Hitler committed suicide, German military leaders surrendered.
Pacific War and Atomic Bombs
Japan fought longer (U.S. focused war effort on Germany).
Pacific islands captured by amphibious landings became airbases for bombing Japan's home islands.
June 1944: U.S. bombers began attacks; American submarines devastated Japanese merchant shipping (cut off from oil/raw materials).
After May 1945: Japanese fighters grounded (lack of fuel); U.S. planes destroyed Japanese shipping, industries, cities at will.
Japanese still held strong positions in Asia, despite homeland being pounded.
Japanese occupation was harsh and brutal (despite "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" name).
By 1945: Asians eager for Japanese to leave, but not to welcome back Europeans; looked forward to independence (see Chapters 30 and 32).
August 6, 1945: U.S. dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima (City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.).
Killed ~80,000 immediately; ~120,000 more died from burns/radiation.
Three days later: Another atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki.
August 14: Emperor Hirohito ordered surrender.
Two weeks later: Japanese leaders signed surrender terms.
War officially over.
### Debate on Atomic Bomb Necessity
American leaders believed conquest of Japanese homeland would take >1 year and cost hundreds of thousands of American lives.
Some believed Japanese determined to fight to bitter end.
Others thought Japanese would surrender if they could retain emperor.
Winston Churchill: "It would be a mistake to suppose that the fate of Japan was settled by the atomic bomb. Her defeat was certain before the first bomb fell."
29-5e Collapse of the Guomindang and Communist Victory
Guomindang's Weakness and U.S. Aid
Formal Japanese surrender (September 1945) surprised Guomindang.
U.S. gave millions in aid and weapons to Guomindang, while urging "national unity" and "coalition government" with Communists.
Chiang Kai-shek used all means to prepare for civil war.
Late 1945: Chiang had U.S. support, control of China's cities, army of 2.7 million (more than twice Communist forces).
Guomindang behavior eroded popular support.
Acted like occupation force in formerly Japanese-held territory.
Taxed "liberated" people more heavily than Japanese had.
Confiscated supplies, enriched selves at population's expense.
Chiang's government printed money rapidly, rendering it worthless.
Rural brutality alienated peasants.
### Communist Strength and Victory
Communists obtained Japanese equipment seized by Soviets (last weeks of war) and American weapons from deserting Guomindang soldiers.
In Manchuria (strongest area): Pushed through radical land reform, distributing properties of wealthy landowners to poorest peasants.
In battles against government forces: Higher morale and popular support outweighed Guomindang's heavy equipment.
Guomindang soldiers deserted by thousands.
By 1949: Guomindang armies collapsing everywhere, defeated more by own greed/ineptness than by Communists.
Communists advanced; high-ranking Guomindang members fled to Taiwan, protected by U.S. Navy.
October 1, 1949: Mao Zedong announced founding of People's Republic of China.
29-6 The Character of Warfare
Enormous Death Toll and Refugee Crisis
War death toll: Close to 60 million (6-8 times more than WWI).
Over half were civilian victims of massacres, famines, bombs.
Soviet Union: 20-25 million deaths (most of any country).
China: 15 million deaths.
Poland: ~6 million deaths (half Jewish).
Jewish people: Another 3 million outside Poland.
Germans: Over 4 million deaths.
Japanese: Over 2 million deaths.
Great Britain: 400,000 deaths.
United States: 300,000 deaths.
Refugees flooded many parts of world.
~90 million Chinese fled Japanese advance.
Europe: Millions fled Nazis/Red Army or herded by government orders; many never returned home.
### Civilian Targeting and New Technologies
Belligerents identified not just soldiers, but entire peoples as enemies.
Some labeled own ethnic minorities as "enemies."
Devastation due to new technologies carrying destruction deep into enemy territory, beyond traditional battlefields.
New warfare technologies + changes in morality = lethal combination.
29-6a The Science and Technology of War
Mobilization and New Scientific Advancements
Fighting spread globally: Manpower/economy mobilization and armed forces mobility became crucial.
New aspects of war gained importance.
Chemistry: Synthetic rubber from coal/oil.
Physics: Perfected radar (warned of approaching enemy aircraft/submarines).
Cryptanalysis: Broke enemy codes, penetrated secret military communications.
Pharmacology: Developed antibiotics (saved lives of wounded soldiers who would have died of infections previously).
New inventions in media technology.
Environment & Technology: Intelligence and Technology in World War II
WWII ushered in atomic age; marked early steps to Information Age.
Radio/telephone existed, but secrecy of messages became life-and-death.
Axis in Europe used hard-wired phone calls (hard to intercept); other combatants relied on radio.
Thousands of specialists (linguists, engineers, mathematicians) devised/broke code/cipher systems.
Successes greatly aided military operations.
Laid groundwork for postwar computers and electronic communications (e.g., GPS).
Ciphers:
Used for centuries: Systematically turned plain text into random letters/numbers, mixed by second process.
Transmitted by radio (high speed, varying frequencies) because enemy couldn't decrypt.
WWII: Machines did sophisticated encipherment.
Bletchley Park (Britain): Cryptographers figured out Nazi cipher machines, built own versions.
Used mathematical models, automated processors to find patterns in thousands of intercepts.
Mathematician Alan Turing provided key thinking, laid mathematical basis for postwar computer industry.
Codes:
Widespread in telegraphy for a century: Substitute one word for another word/group.
Cost of telegrams: Word count; e.g., "millstone" for "sell 1,000 shares of General Mills."
Wartime: Code words multiplied to conceal place names, weapon names, personal names.
Suspected codes: Messages used to dupe enemy into defending wrong place.
Wartime language: English war uses of abbreviations (CINCPAC) and acronyms (WAC) set postwar patterns.
Code words for operations carefully chosen (Churchill: "Overlord" for D-Day, noting not boastful, using antiquity heroes, constellations).
"GI" ("government issue") from everyday usage.
"HF/DF" (high-frequency direction finding) became "huffduff."
Significance: Submarine radio messages detected by listening points; huffduff triangulation determined vessel location.
Example: U-158 broadcast, 3 listening posts located it, U.S. plane sank it.
Radar and sonar: Provided vital new intelligence sources.
Aerial photography: Surveyed bombing raid effectiveness, located enemy fortifications.
### Aircraft Development and Nuclear Weapons
Aircraft development especially striking:
German, British, Japanese manufacturers developed fast, maneuverable fighter planes.
U.S. industry noted for heavy bombers (huge formations, drop tons of bombs on cities).
Germany responded with radical designs: first jet fighters, low-flying unmanned buzz bombs, V-2 missiles (no warning/defense).
Military planners expected scientists to furnish secret weapons.
October 1939: President Roosevelt received letter from physicist Albert Einstein (Jewish refugee from Nazism).
Warned of nuclear power dangers: "There is no doubt that subatomic energy is available all around us, and that one day man will release and control its almost infinite power. We cannot prevent him from doing so and can only hope that he will not use it exclusively in blowing up his next-door neighbor."
Roosevelt put vast U.S. government resources at disposal of physicists/engineers.
By 1945: Two atomic bombs built, each powerful enough to annihilate a city.
29-6b Bombing Raids
Strategic Bombing of German Cities
Hard to pinpoint individual buildings, especially at night.
British air chief marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris: "operations should now be focused on the morale of the enemy civilian population and in particular the industrial workers."
May 1942: 1,000 British planes dropped incendiary bombs on Cologne, setting old city ablaze.
July 24 - August 2, 1943: 3,330 British and American planes fire-bombed Hamburg.
Killed 50,000 people (mostly women and children).
Later raids destroyed Berlin, Dresden, other German cities.
Total: Bombing raids against Germany killed 600,000 people (over half women/children), injured 800,000.
Failed to break German morale: Armament production increased until late 1944; population obedient, hard-working.
Exception: Bombing of oil depots and synthetic fuel plants almost halted German war effort by early 1945.
### Devastation of Japanese Cities
Japanese cities also targets of American bombing raids.
April 1942: 16 planes from aircraft carrier bombed Tokyo.
American forces captured islands closer to Japan: Raids intensified.
Effect more devastating than German cities fire-bombing (Japanese cities mostly wood).
March 1945: Bombs set Tokyo ablaze, killed 80,000, left 1 million homeless.
29-6c The Holocaust
Nazis' Deliberate Extermination of Civilians
WWII: More civilians than soldiers deliberately killed for first time.
Nazis: Champions in killing defenseless civilians.
Murders not accidental by-products of military goal, but calculated policy to exterminate entire races.
First targets: Jews.
Hitler came to power: Deprived German Jews of citizenship/legal rights.
Eastern Europe under Nazi rule: Jews herded into urban ghettos, many died of starvation/disease.
Early 1942: Nazis decided to implement Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish problem."
Applied modern industrial methods to human slaughter.
Thousands of ordinary Germans supported/aided genocide.
Trains of cattle cars arrived daily at extermination camps (eastern Europe).
Disgorged thousands of captives and corpses of those who died en route.
Strongest survivors forced to work, fed almost nothing until death.
Women, children, elderly, sick shoved into gas chambers, asphyxiated.
Auschwitz (Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the largest center of mass murder during the Holocaust. Close to a million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and others were killed there.): Biggest camp, giant industrial complex, designed to kill up to 12,000 people daily.
Holocaust (Nazis' program during World War II to kill people they considered undesirable. Some 6 million Jews perished during the Holocaust, along with millions of Poles, Gypsies, Communists, Socialists, and others.) ("burning"): Claimed ~6 million Jewish lives.
### Other Nazi Victims and Brutality
Beyond Jews: Nazis killed 3 million Polish Catholics (especially professionals, army officers, educated) to reduce Poles to slavery.
Exterminated homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, disabled, mentally ill (for "racial purity").
Retaliation: If German killed in occupied country, Nazis burned village and all inhabitants.
Invasion of Russia: Wehrmacht ordered to execute all captured communists, government employees, officers.
Worked millions of POWs to death or let them starve.
29-6d The Home Front in Europe and Asia
War's Invasion of Civilian Life
WWI had clear distinction between "front" and "home front"; WWII did not.
Rapid military movements and air power carried war into homes.
Civilians in China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe experienced terrifying war.
Armies swept through land, confiscating food, fuel, valuables.
Bombers and heavy artillery pounded cities into rubble; survivors cowered in cellars.
Air-raid sirens awakened people all night, even if city not targeted.
German-occupied countries: Police arrested civilians, deported many to concentration camps or slave labor in armaments factories.
Millions fled homes in terror, losing families and friends.
### Mobilization of Economies and Labor
War demanded enormous, sustained civilian effort, more so in some countries.
Soviet Union:
1941: Dismantled over 1,500 factories, rebuilt them in Ural Mountains and Siberia.
Soon produced more tanks and artillery than Axis.
Red Army mobilized 22 million men.
Soviet women took over half of all industrial and three-quarters of all agricultural jobs.
Other Allied countries: Women also played major roles, replacing men in fields, factories, offices.
Nazis:
Believed German women should stay home, bear children.
Imported 7 million "guest workers" (euphemism for captured foreigners).
Shipping: Half of ships afloat in 1939 sunk, but Allied losses offset by American shipyards.
No Axis, little Japanese shipping survived to 1945.
Production imbalance: Aircraft, trucks, tanks, materiel showed similar imbalance.
Axis efforts to increase production couldn't compete with Soviet and American industry outpouring.
29-6e The Home Front in the United States
Economic Boom and Positive Perceptions
U.S. safe behind oceans: No bombs, enemy soldiers, almost no civilian casualties; fewer military casualties than other countries.
Economy went into prolonged boom after 1940.
By 1944: U.S. produced twice as much as all Axis powers combined.
Huge military orders: Jobs plentiful, bread lines disappeared, nutrition/health improved.
Rationing limited civilian purchases: Most Americans saved paychecks, laying basis for postwar consumer boom.
Many Americans later saw it as the "good war."
### Loosening Traditional Ideas and Social Changes
WWII weakened hold of traditional ideas:
Employers recruited women and racial minorities for jobs previously reserved for white men.
6 million women entered labor force; 2.5 million in manufacturing "men's work."
Augusta Clawson (Shipyard Diary of a Woman Welder, 1944): "what exhausts the woman welder is not the work, not the heat, nor the demands upon physical strength. It is the apprehension that arises from inadequate skill and consequent lack of confidence; and this can be overcome by the right kind of training. . . . And so, in spite of the discomforts of climbing, heavy equipment, and heat, I enjoyed the work today because I could do it.”
Men opposed women taking jobs from families; as labor shortage worsened, employers/politicians grudgingly admitted government should aid working mothers' childcare.
Women's entry into labor force was significant war consequence.
Loosened racial bonds:
1.2 million African Americans migrated north/west for war industries.
Mexican immigrants took agriculture/war industry jobs in southwest.
No new housing for migrants to industrial cities: Many suffered overcrowding, discrimination.
112,000$$ Japanese Americans on West Coast arrested, herded into remote internment camps until war over (ostensibly for spying/sabotage, actually due to race).
29-6f War and the Environment
### Accelerated Environmental Stress
Depression slowed construction/industry, reducing environmental stress.
War reversed trend, sharply accelerating pressure on environment.
Fighting itself: Scarred landscape (spent ammunition, damaged equipment).
Retreating armies flooded large areas of China and Netherlands.
Bombing of cities left ruins visible for a generation.
Economic development for war: Main cause of environmental transformation.
Half-million aircraft required thousands of air bases (many in Pacific, China, Africa—regions rarely seeing planes).
Barracks, shipyards, docks, warehouses, military construction sprouted on every continent.
War industries boomed, increasing raw material demand.
Mining companies opened new mines/towns in Africa for strategic minerals.
Latin American countries (deprived of manufactured imports) built own steel mills, factories, shipyards.
India, China, Europe: Timber felling accelerated far beyond tree reproduction, replacing forests with denuded land.
Positive environmental impacts (few instances):
Submarine warfare made fishing/whaling dangerous, allowing fish and whale populations a few years to increase.