Imperialism: Types and European Motives

Types of Imperialism

• Colony: Territory directly dominated by the parent country through direct rule.
• Protectorate: Territory with policies and government guided by another country.
• Sphere of Influence: Area in a country where a foreign power has exclusive rights to trade.

European Motives for Imperialism

• To gain raw materials and new markets due to the Industrial Revolution and Capitalism.
• Europe needed raw materials to fuel its industrialized economies for making manufactured goods.
  • This included resources from Africa like Tin, Gold, and Ivory.
  • Also included resources from Asia like Spices.
• Nationalism and Rivalries:
  • Competition among Western European countries for political power and status.
  • Colonies were seen as evidence of political power and status.
  • National competition resulted in events such as the Scramble for Africa.
  • Europeans carved up the "magnificent African cake" in the Scramble for Africa.
  • The Congress of Berlin (1884) initiated a colonization process to prevent war among European nations.
• Ideological motivations:
  • To spread Christianity as a form of propaganda.
  • Missionaries were sent to educate indigenous people and convert them to Christianity.
  • There was competition with Islam in Africa for converts.
  • “Civilizing” mission aimed to help the less fortunate people of the world.
    • Example: David Livingstone, a doctor and missionary.
  • Livingstone expected those he "helped" would eventually convert to Christianity.
• To spread Western Civilization:
  • Social Darwinism, as exemplified by Kipling's “The White Man's Burden."
  • The belief that European culture was “better."
  • Darwin's theories on evolution incorrectly used to justify differences in human beings, suggesting some (white) were superior.
  • White Europeans were considered the most “fittest/evolved” people in the world.
  • Kipling's “White Man's Burden” expressed the responsibility of white men to “uplift” less privileged black men.
• New Opportunities attracted people to gain fame and fortune.
  • Example: Cecil Rhodes, adventurer and soldier.

Responses to Western Imperialism

• Reluctant Westernization:
  • Decline of the Ottoman Empire:
    • Commercial dealings became more dependent on Europeans.
    • Military technology lagged behind the West's, seen in Greek Independence.
    • Areas of the Empire became targets of Western/Russian expansion.
    • Ottoman Empire gradually receded, driven from the Balkan Peninsula by the late 1870s.
    • Ottoman military became increasingly dependent on European military officers, mainly from Germany.
    • Great Britain and France supported the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War against Russia to prevent its collapse.
    • Europeans called the Ottomans "The Sick Man of Europe."
  • Egypt:
    • Under Muhammed Ali, Egypt began to adopt Western military organization, technology, and tactics.
    • Most of Egyptian society and economy remained largely untouched by Westernization.
      • Industrialization of Egypt was opposed by Western powers.
    • Growing indebtedness and dependence on Europeans.
    • The construction of the Suez Canal made Egypt extremely important to Europe.
    • Due to internal revolts, the Egyptian government turned to Great Britain for support.
    • As a result, Egypt became a protectorate.

Resistance Movements

• Qing Dynasty-China:
  • Conflict with Britain during the Opium Wars (1839-1842).
    • Opium is a narcotic made from poppy flowers and is smoked.
    • The British East India Company smuggled opium into China.
    • China lost more with each war against Britain in the series of three Opium wars.
  • Unequal Treaties, such as the Treaty of Nanking of 1842.
    • Britain gained Hong Kong.
    • China paid $21 million in indemnity payments (equal to $650 million USD in 2018).
    • Britain gained more ports in China and increased its "sphere of influence."
  • Conflicts caused China to get further divided.
  • The U.S. insisted on an "Open Door Policy."
  • Major revolts resulted.
    • The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864):
      • Peasant revolt led by a Christianized prophet named Hong Xiuquan.
      • Main objective was to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and install a more Westernized society.
      • Called for social reform, land redistribution, and women's rights.
      • A direct threat to the Qing Dynasty and Confucianism.
      • Provincial gentry successfully stopped the rebellion.
        • Better organized military forces.
        • Aided by Western military advisors.
    • Self-strengthening movement established to counter the challenge from European imperial powers.
      • Encouraged investments in railways.
      • Modernization of armed forces.
    • Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901):
      • Peasant revolt led by a secret society that practiced martial arts.
        • Called the Fists of Righteous Harmony.
      • Boxers wanted to eliminate all foreign influence.
        • Starting in 1899, they attacked foreigners, mainly Christian missionaries.
      • The “Boxers” were secretly supported by members of the Chinese imperial family.
        • Wanted to reduce Western influence in China and increase their own power.
      • Boxers laid siege to foreigners stuck in Beijing (in the “Foreign Quarter").
      • Western and Japanese armed forces fought their way to Beijing and put down the Boxer Rebellion.
      • The Qing had to pay indemnities to victims and their governments.
      • The Qing Emperor lost credibility with the provincial governors who looked to gain more autonomy.
  • India:
    • Hindu princes saw an opportunity to counter the power of their Mughal rulers by siding with the British and French trading companies.
    • Both the British and the French employed Indian soldiers to protect their territorial gains
    • Called the sepoys.
    • Britain and France, and their allies, went to war over commercial control over India.
    • Mughal emperors were unable to stop the carving up of their territory.
    • Britain ultimately defeated France and began to expand its imperial control over India.
    • Sepoy Rebellion (1857):
      • Sepoys employed by the British East India Company rebelled against British rule in India.
      • A rumor spread that rifle cartridges were greased with cow and pig fat.
      • While the rumors were an immediate cause, many Indians saw this as an effort to bring about Indian independence from Britain.
      • The British government sent more troops to India.
      • The rebellion was brutally suppressed.
      • The British government took direct control over India, and the British East India Company was disbanded.

Westernization

• Japan:
  • Since the 1600s, Japan had been largely closed to foreigners with only limited trade.
  • It remained ruled by the Tokugawa family and its allies.
  • In 1853, a squadron of 4 U.S. ships under Mathew Perry forced Japan to end its isolation.
  • Perry "opened Japan” by getting the Shogun to agree to end Japan's policy of isolation.
  • Japan began a period within the U.S.’s “sphere of influence."
  • Samurai and bureaucrats started campaigns to reform and modernize Japan to combat western influence.
  • Meiji Restoration:
    • Reformers wanted to replace the authority of the Shogun with the authority of the Emperor (The Meiji).
    • Japan began to rapidly industrialize using borrowed technology from the West.
    • Key social and political institutions were reformed but not abolished.
      • The social order was still rigid, but businessmen were included in the governing structure.
      • The government remained authoritarian, but a legislative body, the Diet, could pass laws.
      • The bureaucracy of the Shogunate was maintained but based on a civil service exam.
      • While the Japanese imitated Western political structures, the Japanese were required to pledge allegiance to the Emperor.
        • Individualism and innovation were frowned upon.
        • Education was ensured social order.
        • Women were considered of lower status than their female counterparts in the West.
        • They Adopted western-style clothing.
  • Japanese Industrialization:
    • Japanese industrialization was carried out with the full support of the government.
      • Banks were created to provide investment money.
      • Internal trade restrictions were lifted, creating a free national market.
      • Land reform was established to increase food production.
    • As Japan began imitating the industrial economies of the West, it also copied Western ideas on imperialism.
    • Japan was resource-poor and needed imports like coal from Western countries/colonies.
    • In 1890, Japan began to invade and conquer parts of neighbors.
• Russia:
  • Russia began to Westernize under Peter the Great and continued its “westernization” under Catherine the Great.
  • By the early 1800s, Russia was integrated into the political issues and conflicts of Western Europe.
  • The conservative Russian nobility feared Western liberal movements, taking actions to prevent revolutions.
    • The Russian elite ensured peasants would be kept ignorant and tied to the land.
    • Russia tried to insulate/protect itself from social and political reform movements occurring in the rest of Europe.
    • Actions included brutal suppression of any uprising, expansion of the Czar's secret police force, and encouraging people to spy on and report their neighbors.
  • As a result, Russia:
    • Remained a largely agricultural nation with little industry.
    • Fell far behind its Western rivals in economic development and overseas exploration and trade.
    • Was one of the last bastions of serfdom in Europe.
  • Western artistic styles were still copied while Russian culture was exported to Western Europe.
  • The Crimean War exposed the weakness of the Russian military against Western adversaries.
    • Led to reforms in the Russian military.
    • Improvement of military technology.
    • Started a program to industrialize Russia.
  • The Emancipation of Russian Serfs:
    • In 1861, Tsar Alexander II ordered the serfs to be freed from their feudal obligations to the Russian nobility.
      • Serfs could, in principle, provide labor to urban factories.
      • Serfs could in theory own land.
      • There were problems:
        • Nobles retained the best land.
        • Serfs could not leave the land until they had paid a “redemption fee" for the land they were given.
        • The serfs were not given political rights at the national level.
        • Traditional agricultural persisted.