NEW IMPERIALISM 1800s-1914. MOTIVES 1. 1. POLITICAL Gain Power Compete to expand territory Use and show-off military force Gain prestige.

NEW IMPERIALISMNEW IMPERIALISM

1800s-19141800s-1914

MOTIVESMOTIVES

1.POLITICAL Gain Power Compete to expand territory Use and show-off military

force Gain prestige by winning

colonies

NATIONALISMNATIONALISM 19TH Century Movement Pride in one’s country Unification Movements

NATIONALISMNATIONALISM GERMAN UNIFICATION

Led by Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Prussia

NATIONALISMNATIONALISM3 Major Wars

Denmark War Austro-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War Loss of Alsace + Lorraine

Completed - 1871

NATIONALISMNATIONALISMITALIAN UNIFICATIONLed by Count Cavour, Giuseppe Garibaldi, King Victor Emmanuel II

NATIONALISMNATIONALISMWar, diplomacy, plebisciteCompleted - 1870

********The Result******

An upset to the European “balance

of power” established by the Congress of Vienna

in 1815

THIS IS A CAUSE OF WORLD WAR I

MOTIVESMOTIVES2. ECONOMIC Fueled by the Industrial

Revolutiono Compete to expand and

control foreign tradeo Create new markets for

productso Cheap labor

MOTIVESMOTIVES

2. ECONOMIC Resources for

Industrialization

o Raw materials

o Natural resources

MOTIVESMOTIVES2. ECONOMIC New Technologies made it

possible Quinine Steam Engine Telegraph Bessemer process – steel Maxim gun

MOTIVESMOTIVES

3. EXPLORATORY• Desire to explore the “unknown” or uncharted territory

• Conduct scientific research• Determine causes and treatment of diseases

• Go on an adventure• Investigate “unknown” cultures

European Explorers in Africa

19c Europeans Map the Interior of Africa

Dr. David Livingstone

Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Dr. David Livingstone

Stanley finds Livingstone, November 1871

“Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

MOTIVESMOTIVES4. IDEOLOGICAL

Based on cultural values.Belief that the white race was “superior” and other cultures were “primitive.

It was the job of the Europeans to “civilize” peoples in other parts of the world.

MOTIVESMOTIVES4. IDEOLOGICAL

Great nations should have empires!

Only the strongest nations will survive.

DARWINISMDARWINISM•Charles Darwin

•On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859)

•Naturally Selected

•The “selected” passed on their variations

Misconstrued into SOCIAL DARWINISM

Late 19th Century Belief Herbert Spencer

“Survival of the Fittest”-1864Progress comes from “the struggle for survival”

As the “fit”—the strong—advanced while the weak decline

Explains the need for stronger countries to

dominate weaker ones(Justification for European

imperialism)

Also extreme nationalism

“THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN” Rudyard Kipling

Urging “civilized” nations to extend their control over those who are not “civilized”

Used in children’s books and advertisements of the time period.

Humanitarianism

““THE WHTIE MAN’S BURDEN”THE WHTIE MAN’S BURDEN”Take up the White Man’s

burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go, bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives’ need;

To wait, in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught sullen peoples,

Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden—

In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain,

To seek another's profit

And work another's gain.

MOTIVESMOTIVES5. RELIGIOUS Desire to spread Christianity

Superior to all other religions (Soc. Dar)

Protect European missionaries in other lands Want to acquire territory in order

to Christianize people Educate peoples of other cultures End the slave trade in Africa

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA

African Trade [15c-17c]

Pre-19c European Trade with Africa

Africa1890

The Congo Free State or

The Belgian Congo

King Leopold II:(r. 1865 – 1909)

Harvesting Rubber

International African Association

Private holding company—1876

Hired Henry Morton Stanley to establish a colony in the Congo

Henry Stanley is in charge of his African men: "If you drop that, I will shoot!".

ATROCITIES

Punishing “Lazy” Workers

5-8 Million Victims! (50% of Pop.)It is blood-curdling to see them (the

soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. -- Belgian Official

Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo

Leopold’s Conscience??

Berlin Conference 1884-1885 Established a set of agreed-upon rules

regarding the competition among the great powers for colonies in Africa

Berlin Conference 1884-1885 The area along the

Congo River was to remain under the control of Leopold II.

No nation could stake a claim on the continent without notifying other nations.

Territory could not be claimed unless it was occupied.

European Colonization/Decolonization Patterns

Berlin Conference of 1884-85

Leopold Defends Himself in Paris, 1903

King Leopold (to King Leopold (to Loubert)Loubert) How about How about that!  John Bull that!  John Bull claims that I claims that I tortured, robbed an tortured, robbed an murdered more murdered more than he did. . .than he did. . .

LoubertLoubert : No, your : No, your Majesty, that'sMajesty, that's impossible.impossible.