Transcript Chapter 16: Europe`s World Supremacy, 1871

Chapter 16: Europe’s World Supremacy, 1871-1914
Section:16.78
Imperialism: Its Nature and Causes
Imperialism
• “The colonialism of the
late nineteenth century”
• Def: Government of one
people by another
–Other definitions?
• Economic, political,
military, or cultural
hegemony of one nation
over another
Imperialism: Its Nature and Causes
• Europeans always had tendency to expand
(Crusades, exploration)
– Especially the British
• Colonialism died down with the growth of free
trade
• Britain was the greatest of the colonial empires
of Europe (Sun never sets…)
• Spain lapsed after 1588
– Why?
• France was ruined through the Napoleonic
Wars
– Why?
• Russia was in a state of disarray
– Since Catherine
• Many Europeans were indifferent about
overseas empires
– Was no overt doctrine of expansion
• Suddenly in 1870 things changed
• By 1900 the West partitioned most of the world
among themselves
The New vs. Old Imperialism
• Old imperialism was a matter of
purchasing desired goods from local
suppliers
• No territorial ambitions (except
America)
• Maritime and mercantile with traders
in India, Java, Canton simply
purchased wares from local (usually
coastal) merchant in a cash and
carry basis
• Protection of trade stations
• America had no native state whom
the Euros respected and acquiring
territory there with capital and a
booming sugar trade to protect
New Imperialism
• Europeans were no longer content with
what local merchants provided and wanted
goods that local craftsmen couldn’t
produce
– Why?
• They moved in:
• Invested capital, developed infrastructure
– set up mines, plantations, docks, warehouses,
factories, refineries, RR, banks
– homes, hotels, clubs, resorts, roads
• Europeanization not acculturation
– Locals became wage employees
• Lent money to the local leaders to keep the
governments cooperative
Political and Territorial Domination
• To protect investments Europe moved to territorial
domination
• After developing a huge financial stake in gov in new
territories they wanted secure these investments
• Some became colonies
– directly governed by white Euros
• Protectorates
• Native chief of sultan, rajah, prince maintained
territory and guaranteed to suppress upheaval
• He was usually instructed what to do by a European
“resident” or commissioner
• Some countries were divided into spheres of influence
– No single Euro could gain total power they divided
the country into areas where they would have
control
• Ex. China or Africa
European v. Non European Nations
• Modern nation states loomed as enormous power
complexes
• enormous gulf in power between Europe and non
European states opened up by 1875
• Queen Elizabeth had respected the Great Mogul of
India, Napoleon pretended to respect the shah of
Persia
• With the Industrial Revolution (iron and steel ships,
naval guns, guns) small number of Euros could
dominate
• Democratic institutions united peoples in the service
of their gov
• Financial institutions allowed gov to tax, borrow, and
spend without limit
• Traditional governments
– Were in Decay
– Minimum of support form governed
• India’s Mogul empire was collapsing before the
British got there
• Turkey, Persia, China were easily taken
• Japan (revolutionized rapidly)
Europeans Impose Their Will
• Conflicts between traditional and modern
forces
• difference was so great that a mere show of
force was usually enough for Euros to impose
their will
• only 75 thousand white troops held India for the
British in India
• Afghan wars, Burmese wars, Zulu wars passed
unnoticed in Europe
• Spanish – American war was fought over
colonial territory
• Boer War (South Africa)
• Modern warships bombed coastal cities to force
submission
Incentives and motives
• (Why are the Europeans so aggressive?)
• Europeans needed the world’s resources to
maintain their standard of living
• Missionaries were dispatched to remote
locations
– Quick news by cable of deaths of missionary led
to a clamor for military and political action
• Scientific expeditions to learn of the world
– Fueled by Darwin
• Travel by the wealthy
– Tiger or elephant hunting or sight seeing
was in fashion
• Seemed logical to them that they should
have same security, gov. no matter where
they were
• Needed way stations which led to control
of the locals
Raw materials
• Euros needed material goods that
only the tropics could provide
• Even lower classes drank tea or
coffee each day
• Cotton from Africa
• Rubber and petroleum
• Jute only grew in India and was
used to make burlap, twine,
carpets
• Coconut could be eaten,
manufactured into bags, brushes,
cables, rope, sails, doormats,
coconut oil (used to make
candles, soap, margarine)
New Markets
• Declining prices demanded
greater markets to maintain
profits
• Tariffs caused industrialized
countries to develop a colonial
market for itself
• Large self sufficient
“sheltered” trade unit
– Sometimes called
neomercantilism
• Guaranteeing prosperity for
the home country
Profit motive
• Money invested in developing
countries brought a higher rate of
return
• Cheap labor
• Greater risk of losses
• Lack of investment opportunity in
the inner zone
• Outlet for accumulated capital
• Demands went up for civilized
control to protect investments
• some see this as the reason US
gov was being pressured to go into
Cuba in the 60s (billions of $ in
capital lost), Kuwait
Socialist critics
• Lenin
• Ascribed imperialism primarily to the
accumulation of surplus capital and
condemned it on socialist grounds
• J.A. Hobson
• An English socialist who wrote
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
World Capitalism (1916)
• If more of the wealth was given to
the workers their would not be
capital for export
• It the workers had more purchasing
power there would be less need for
external markets (Ford and the
Model T)
Counter arguments
• (capitalism was not the lone cause
of imperialism)
• Need of imports to feed the large
population
– to sustain industry
– to maintain the high standard of living
for all
– prompted the investment of capital
• Non-Europeans often asked for the
capital investment
• Russia and Italy had little capital to
invest yet were imperialistic
Capitalism is King
• For the British the capitalistic
incentive was primary
• Twenty-five percent of British
wealth was invested in the
empire
• Had $20 bil invested outside
GB in 1914
• Ten percent of French wealth
was invested in the French
imperial holdings
• Egypt, Suez, South Africa, and
Asia
• Small fraction of German
wealth was exported
• Ottoman Empire
Foreign Economic Interests in Russia
• France was heavily
invested in Russia
• Tsar’s power was kept
afloat by foreign loans
– $2 billion by 1914
• Gov urged French banks
to buy Russian bonds
– I.e. Imperial incentive was
to prop up friendly
governments (military
alliances)
• ex. US give 10 mil to
Israel every day
Joseph Chamberlain
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Father of Neville
Was a Birmingham manufacturer
Believed that the community should take better care of
its members
British community included the empire
Municipal socialism
As mayor of Birmingham he started public ownership of
utilities
Promoted a self-sustaining and self-protecting empire
Source of raw materials and food
Markets for exports
Steady level of profits, wages, and employment
Directed independence movements in Canada, Australia,
and New Zealand toward imperial federation
Alliance for military defense and economic well-being
Protective tariffs that favored key components of the
Empire
Bind the empire together with economic bonds
Tariff union (zollverine)
Goes against free trade policies
Chamberlain died before his plan is realized
British Commonwealth of Nations follows a similar plan
after WWI
Working classes and imperialism
• Workers in western Europe did
benefit from imperialism
• Wages went up
• Prices stayed low
• Even Marx recognized that the
purchasing power of the workers
was increasing
– Led to opportunistic or un-revolutionary
behavior
• Eroded the position of Marxism
• Blocked the formation of an
international proletariat
Population argument for imperialism
• European countries should
have colonies for excess
population
• Lamented that the German &
Italian fatherland lost its
people to the US
• The concept does not hold up
to scrutiny
• Population continued to
migrate to the Americas even
with the existence of colonial
choices for migration
Diplomacy and imperialism
• Competition between imperial nations
caused diplomatic challenges
• Competing over imperial turf
• Needed to cooperate to maintain a
balance of power
• Having colonies served as a symbol of
status
• Much of the world was divided up just to
create claims to territories
• Britain and France had colonies then
everyone else had to have colonies
• Underlying threat was that if a nation
did not have colonies it might
become one
Imperialism as Crusade
• Imperialism was an outthrust of modern Western civilization
• Advocates claimed that it would bring civilization to the
world
• Faith in modern civilization became a substitute religion
• Imperialism was its crusade
• British: Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden, 1899
• French: mission civilisatrice
• Germans: diffusing Kultur
• Americans: blessings of Anglo-Saxon protection
• Social Darwinism taught of one race being more fit than
another
• Civilized whites must keep a guardianship over the rest of
the races
• Idealism and humanitarianism mixed with greed
• Schools and hospitals were built as well as railroads and
mines
• Missionaries
• Expressed with a gross condescension
• Kipling and “White Mans Burden”