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Queen Victoria and the Victorian Era

• Accession to the Throne: Queen Victoria inherited the British throne from her uncle, William $IV$, in $1837$ at the age of eighteen. She was notable for her small stature, standing at $4\,\text{foot}\ 11\,\text{inches}$.

• Independence and Marriage:     - Members of the Royal Court, including her mother, the Duchess of Kent, attempted to influence her, but Victoria maintained an independent mind in her royal affairs.     - In $1840$, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Germany. Their marriage produced nine children over seventeen years.     - Albert had a significant influence on her, having a strong interest in industry and political reform; Victoria relied heavily on his political judgment.

• Public Image and Restoration:     - Victoria worked to restore public faith in the monarchy after the unpopular reigns of her Hanoverian uncles.     - She utilized the newly invented steam train to tour Britain, became a patron of numerous charities and institutions, and marketed the Royal Family as an "ordinary and loving family unit."

• Widowhood and Return to Public Life:     - Prince Albert died in $1861$ at age $42$. Victoria was paralyzed by grief and withdrew from public life for ten years, earning the nickname the "Widow of Windsor."     - She returned to public life in the $1870s$, becoming reinvigorated by her role in the British Empire.

• Empress of India: In $1876$, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli convinced her to adopt the title "Empress of India." Though she never visited India, she was fascinated by the region and was taught Urdu and Hindi by her favorite Indian companion, Abdul Karim.

• Legacy and Symbolism: By the end of the $19th$ century, she became the living embodiment of "Britannia." Places worldwide (cities, provinces, waterfalls) are named after her. The term "Victorian" describes the era's character: moral uprightness, belief in progress, and confidence in the Empire. At her death (aged $81$), she was Britain's oldest and longest-reigning monarch, having survived at least six assassination attempts.

The Victorian Empire and Public Perception

• Technological Drivers of Imperialism:     - Transport: Travel to colonies became significantly faster from the $1840s$ due to the steamship.     - Communication: By $1880$, almost $100,000\,\text{miles}$ of telegraph cable lay beneath the ocean, allowing near-instant communication.     - Media: Newspapers provided up-to-date reports on military campaigns in far-flung locations like Afghanistan, Burma, and the Sudan.

• Imperial Heroes:     - Gordon of Khartoum: A celebrated British Army officer and household name.     - Florence Nightingale: An army nurse who improved conditions for soldiers during the Crimea; she became one of the most celebrated figures in Victorian Britain.     - David Livingstone: A Christian missionary and explorer of southern Africa in the $1850s$ and $1860s$.

• Ideology and Race: Late $19th$ century British thought was characterized by a belief in racial superiority. A distorted version of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution was used to argue that British Anglo-Saxons were superior in intelligence and morality. Native populations like Maoris, Bengalis, or Zulus were often likened to children or labeled "savages."

• The Great Exhibition ($1851$):     - Organized by Prince Albert in Hyde Park to celebrate industry and manufacturing.     - Housed in the "Crystal Palace," a building made of a cast-iron frame and $294,000$ panes of glass, standing $108\,\text{feet}$ tall.     - Featured $100,000$ exhibits, including a folding piano, the world's largest diamond, and prototypes for the bicycle and typewriter.     - Attracted $6,000,000$ visitors, facilitated by new railway lines. Queen Victoria opened it on $1\,\text{May}\ 1851$.

• Diamond Jubilee ($1897$): A massive procession in London showcased representatives from the Empire, including Canadian Hussars, Cypriot policemen, and Indian Maharajas.

Ireland and Home Rule

• Two-Tier Society: Following the $12th$-century Norman invasion, a ruling class of Protestant landowners (British descendants) held wealth and power over an $80\%$ Catholic population.

• Act of Union ($1800$): Passed after the United Irishmen uprising ($1798$), this Act merged Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, effective January $1801$. Ireland lost its Parliament in Dublin and was ruled from London.

• Absentee Landlords and Poverty: Landlords moved to Britain, neglecting Irish tenants. While Britain grew wealthy, Ireland remained poor; $60\%$ of the population lived in "sod houses" made of earth.

• The Great Potato Famine ($1845-1852$):     - The potato was the staple diet; by $1845$, consumption was $7,000,000\,\text{tonnes}$ per year.     - Blight: In $1845$, a blight destroyed one-third of the harvest; in $1846$ and $1847$, three-quarters were destroyed.     - Mortality: Approximately $1,000,000$ people died; $3,000,000$ emigrated (mostly to the USA) over the next $25$ years. The population dropped from $8.5\,\text{million}$ in $1845$ to $4.5\,\text{million}$ by $1901$.     - British Response: Government purchased American maize ($1846$) and passed the Soup Kitchen Act ($1847$) to feed $3,000,000$, but measures were considered "too little and too late."

• Political Unrest and Home Rule:     - Resistance: The Irish Republican Brotherhood ($1858$) used violent tactics, including a London bomb in $1867$ that killed $12$. Tenant farmers boycotted rent or attacked landlords.     - Home Rule: Proposed reversal of the Act of Union to allow an Irish Parliament in Dublin. Liberal PM William Gladstone supported this in $1885$, causing a party split.     - Failure: The second Home Rule Bill ($1893$) passed the Commons but was defeated in the Lords (where many owned Irish land).

The Scramble for Africa

• Timeline: Between $1880$ and $100$, European powers seized control of $90\%$ of African territory. Participants included Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain.

• Egypt and the Suez Canal:     - Opened in $1869$, linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.     - In $1875$, Britain bought Egypt's $44\%$ share for $\pounds 4\,\text{million}$.     - In $1882$, Britain invaded Alexandria to protect investments, establishing informal rule via a "puppet government" under Tewfik Pasha and a British Consul-General.

• The Sudan and Battle of Omdurman ($1898$):     - General (Lord) Kitchener led a force to retake Khartoum from Mahdist revolutionaries.     - Forces: $8,000$ British and $12,000$ Egyptian soldiers faced $52,000$ Mahdists.     - Casualties: Technological superiority (including the Maxim gun, invented $1883$) led to the death of $10,000$ Mahdists and $13,000$ injuries, vs. only $429$ British-Egyptian casualties.

• Private Enterprise Expansion: The United African Company led to Nigeria ($1900$); William McKinnon’s Imperial British East Africa Company spread control to Uganda and Kenya by $1895$.

• Southern Africa and Cape Colony:     - Britain gained Cape Colony from the Dutch in $1814$. Descendants of Dutch settlers (Boers) trekked inland to form the Transvaal and Orange Free State.     - Mining: Diamonds were discovered in $1866$ (by Erasmus Jacobs) and gold in $1886$.     - Cecil Rhodes: PM of Cape Colony ($1890$), founder of De Beers and the British South Africa Company. He pioneered expansion into "Rhodesia" (Zimbabwe/Zambia) and dreamed of a "Cape to Cairo" railway.

Ruling the Empire

• Global Reach: By the end of the $19th$ century, "the sun never set" on an Empire including Cyprus, Gibraltar, the Falklands, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Aden.

• Pax Britannica ($1815-1914$): A period of relative global peace under British dominance that spurred trade.

• Economic Impact: Between $1757$ and $1947$, British GDP per capita rose $347\%$, while India's rose only $14\%$.

• Infrastructure vs. Famine:     - Britain built $24,000\,\text{miles}$ of railway and $50,000\,\text{miles}$ of roads in India.     - Repeated famines occurred: Bengal ($1769$) killed $10\,\text{million}$; Great Famine ($1876-78$) killed $5\,\text{million}$. Causes were attributed to policies favoring cash crops (tea, opium, cotton) over food.

• Opium Wars: Fought in $1839$ and $1856$ to force China to accept British opium imports.

• Governance Models:     - Settlement Colonies (Dominions): Canada, Australia, NZ, Cape Colony. White settlers were granted "responsible government" with elected parliaments.     - Dependent Colonies (The Raj): Ruled by a small class of British officials (only $1,000$ in the civil service for $281\,\text{million}$ people in the Raj). Worked through cooperation with native rulers (Maharajas, Sheiks, Sultans).

• Boer War ($1899-1902$):     - Lord Kitchener utilized scorched earth tactics (burning crops, killing cattle) and barbed-wire fences.     - Concentration Camps: Displaced families were housed in camps where $25,000$ Boers and $14,000$ Africans died from disease and malnutrition. Activist Emily Hobhouse exposed these conditions, damaging Britain's reputation.

The American Revolution

• Demographics: By the late $18th$ century, the $13$ colonies had $2.4\,\text{million}$ people. Northern colonies were commercial; Southern colonies were plantation-based, utilizing enslaved labor.

• Taxation and Conflict:     - Stamp Act ($1765$): Required stamped paper for legal documents; led to violent protests in Boston and was repealed in $1766$.     - Slogan: "No taxation without representation" (colonists lacked members in the British Parliament).     - Boston Massacre ($1770$): British troops killed five citizens.     - Boston Tea Party ($1773$): Tipped $342$ boxes ($18\,\text{million}$ cups) of tea into the harbor to protest the Tea Act monopoly.

• Escalation ($1774$): George $III$ stripped Massachusetts of self-governance. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia.

• Independence:     - George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.     - The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was approved on $4\,\text{July}\ 1776$.

The French Revolution

• The Ancien R gime:     - King Louis XVI: Absolute monarch ruling from Versailles.     - Social Orders: Nobility ($350,000$ people, owned $1/4$ of land) and Clergy ($130,000$, owned $1/10$ of land) held power and paid no tax.     - Peasantry: $75\%$ of the population; paid up to half their income in taxes/dues.

• Outbreak ($1789$):     - The Estates-General met in May; the Third Estate broke away to form the National Assembly in June.     - Storming of the Bastille: $14\,\text{July}\ 1789$; a Parisian mob seized muskets and ammunition.     - Reforms: Feudalism abolished ($5\,\text{August}$); Declaration of the Rights of Man ($26\,\text{August}$).

• The Terror ($1793-1794$):     - Polarisation occurred after the "Flight to Varennes" (June $1791$). War declared on Austria/Prussia (June $1792$).     - Louis $XVI$ was executed on $21\,\text{January}\ 1793$; Marie Antoinette was executed in October.     - Jacobins: Led by Maximilien Robespierre. The guillotine was used to execute $17,000$ suspected counter-revolutionaries (plus $23,000$ unauthorized killings).     - Robespierre was guillotined in July $1794$.

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Rise to Power: Born in Corsica ($1769$). Captured Toulon ($1793$); led the "Army of Italy" ($1796$). Staged a coup in November $1799$ to become First Consul.

• Internal Reforms: The Napoleonic Code (legal system), the Concordat of $1801$ (restored Catholicism), and education/tax reform.

• Imperial Expansion: Crowned himself Emperor in $1804$.     - Battle of Austerlitz ($1805$): Decisive victory over Austro-Russian forces ($67,000$ French vs. $86,000$ Allies).     - Battle of Trafalgar ($1805$): Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French-Spanish navy near Spain. Nelson died on the HMS Victory, but the victory prevented a French invasion of Britain.

• The Fall of Napoleon:     - Following a failed invasion of Russia ($1812$) and abdication in $1814$ (Elba), he returned for the "Hundred Days."     - Battle of Waterloo ($1815$): Defeated by the Duke of Wellington and Prussian General Bl cher.     - Final Exile: Sent to the volcanic island of St Helena, guarded by $3,000$ troops, until his death at age $51$ in $1821$.

Global Imperialism: French North Africa and Belgian Congo

• French Algeria ($1830$):     - Pretext: Barbary ruler Hussein Dey struck French consul Pierre Deval with a fly whisk in $1827$ over debts.     - Intervention: France invaded with $600$ ships and $34,000$ troops.     - Divide and Rule: French incited tensions between Arabs and Berbers. Created "zouaves" (Berber auxiliaries).

• Belgian Congo ($1865-1909$):     - King Leopold II: Created the Congo Free State as his personal property (not a Belgian state colony).     - Berlin Conference ($1884-5$): Recognize Leopold's authority over an area $76$ times the size of Belgium.     - Force Publique: Enforced extraction of rubber/ivory through extreme violence.     - Atrocities: Use of "chicottes" (hippo-hide whips), kidnapping hostages, and requiring soldiers to collect severed right hands of victims. Population loss estimated at $10\,\text{million}$.     - Exposure: George Washington Williams, William Sheppard, and Edmund Morel (shipping official) exposed the horrors in the $1890s-1900s$.

Questions & Discussion

• How did technology change the public awareness of Empire? Travel (steamships) and communication (telegraph cables) allowed for near-instant news and celebrity status for figures like Florence Nightingale and Gordon of Khartoum.

• What was the impact of the Act of Union on Ireland? It eliminated the Dublin Parliament, led to absentee landlordism, and contributed to the poor coordination during the Potato Famine.

• Why did the Boer War damage Britain's reputation? The use of concentration camps and scorched-earth tactics, exposed by Emily Hobhouse, horrified the public and international community.

• What role did the Maxim gun play in African colonization? It allowed small European forces to defeat much larger native armies, such as in the Battle of Omdurman, where $52,000$ Mahdists were overwhelmed by advanced weaponry.

• What caused the American Revolution's "no taxation without representation"? The British government's attempt to pay for the Seven Years' War by taxing colonies (Stamp Act, Tea Act) without giving them seats in the British Parliament.