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.