6.04 Imperialism

Algeria

Algeria had been a colony of France for nearly a hundred years when the Algerian War for Independence began. France was reluctant to let it go. A bitter struggle ensued, and France retreated in 1962. In the years after independence, ethnic tensions between Arabs and Berbers once suppressed boiled to the surface. The country also struggled to keep a stable economy. In 1990, armed conflict broke out between the Algerian government and Muslim rebel groups. The specter of colonialism has plagued modern Algeria for years. Ethnic conflicts, political conflicts, corruption, and religious conflicts continue to stand in the way of stabilization in Algeria.

Colonial Exploits of Different Countries.

British rule and influence have been truly global, extending into every corner of the world. Maintaining an empire is no mean feat. It takes cunning, money, and force. It also often takes the cooperation of the colonized. In India, for example, powerful and/or educated natives were assimilated into the British Raj. Some were trained to be administrators in their regions and implemented British law. Others worked in British businesses or served in the police force or British military and generally were the local arm of British control. India was considered the Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire. Maintaining a colony could be seriously dangerous business. The British realized this when they faced the Sepoy Mutiny(1857-58). This rebellion occurred among native Indian troops in the British armed forces. Though it was fed by longstanding discontent among the Sepoys, its immediate cause was a rumor that the cartridges used in the troops' Enfield rifles were greased with tallow from cows (sacred to Hindus) and pigs (unclean for Muslims). The history of the rebellion is long and bloody. It involved outright battles and drawn out, murderous sieges in many places in India. As the rebellion progressed, non-Sepoy Indians joined it. Thousands of people, including British colonizers and Indian Sepoys and civilians, were killed. When it finally ended in 1858, British retaliation against the rebels was swift and horrific. Many thousands more were executed during these reprisals. The French conquered Algeria in 1830. When it finally achieved independence in 1962, Algeria was one of the longest held French colonies. During its colonization, Algeria became a large settler colony. The European settlers, called pieds-nois (black feet), were compelled to leave when the French abandoned Algeria. The Dutch had held outposts in Indonesia since the 16th century. However, it was only in the mid-19th century that the Dutch began to use war to secure their possession of many of the outer islands. The Dutch controlled the people of the area and established plantations that grew coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco, and rubber. The Belgian Congo, called the Congo Free State but actually privately controlled by the King of Belgium, became an area of unspeakable colonial horrors. The desire to extract rubber and ivory from the colony resulted in forced labor and slaughter for the natives. The Korean Peninsula had been heavily influenced by China for centuries. In the late 19th century, Japan supplanted China. It used this influence to ultimately colonize Korea in 1905. The Japanese managed the colony through the military. At one point, the Japanese tried to incorporate the Korean nation into the state of Japan, even going so far as attempting to replace the Korean language with Japanese. The United States itched for its own piece of the imperialist pie, especially in Asia. The United States was uniquely situated to exploit Asia: its west coast bordered the Pacific, and it might be able to create and control the Holy Grail of global trade─a canal across the isthmus of Central America that would link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Europeans would pay huge sums to use the U.S.-controlled canal to avoid sailing around the southern tip of Africa to get to Asia. India was not the only place where Great Britain was forced to defend its empire by force of arms. The Boer War pitted the British colonizers against the Dutch colonizers (known as Afrikaner) in South Africa. The Boer War (1880-1902) left the Boers defeated and the British in control of their South African colony. As this image shows, the British were capable of using inhuman tactics even against Western children if it worked to accomplish their imperial goals. Other colonial powers were forced to fight to get or keep colonies. The Crimean War (1853-56) was fought between Russia and an alliance of France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire. Russia coveted newly "available" territories dislodging themselves from the weakening Ottoman Empire. Britain and France wanted them too, and the Ottomans hoped to keep them. Russia was defeated.

Who Wants an Empire?

But while individuals rarely if ever succeed in fulfilling their dreams of power and control, countries have sometimes dreamt these dreams for them. During the not too distant past, it became possible for some nations to fulfill their ambition to control other countries or other parts of the world. Imperialism involves taking over and controlling other parts of the world and its people, for the benefit of the conquering nation. Imagine if imperialistic nations would have shifted its focus from greedy domination to service or support for the underdeveloped/weaker nation.

How Was China Colonized?

European powers "shopping" for colonies to exploit looked mainly for those that were politically and militarily weak and that had abundant natural resources. China fit the bill on all counts. It had vast, untapped natural resources and its government was too weak to control its enormous territory. China was, in other words, easy pickings for imperialists. Enterprising imperial nations had been plundering China as early as the 16th century, desiring the silk, tea, and porcelain that China possessed. By the Age of Imperialism, China was too weak to repel the onslaught of European powers competing for her resources. Britain, France, Russia, and later Japan and other nations, vied with each other for control of China's wealth. China had been so weakened by centuries of exploitation that European interlopers wrote their own rules and forced the Chinese to capitulate to their imperial demands. Today, China is on a mission to become the superpower of the world. Could it be that former imperialistic nations may find themselves on the wrong side of the biblical principle from Galatians 6:7-you reap what you sow? Each European power in China controlled one or more of its ports, which they used to ship to Europe the resources they had plundered inland. At first, China refused to import any goods from European powers, so payment went to China in the form of gold and silver. As these metals became scarce, Britain decided to force China to accept opium as payment. (Britain could get opium cheaply from its colony in India.) China flatly refused. The First Opium War (1838-42) was won by Britain, and China had to accept opium in payment for its resources. The treaty that ended the first war was so harsh that China rebelled again, fighting the British and the French in the Second Opium War (1856-58). Again China was defeated and forced to accept payment in opium. Opium flooded into China. (It must be noted that the stereotype of the Chinese opium den did not arise until after the Opium Wars. Before then, opium use was not widespread in China; after the wars, opium addiction became epidemic.) By 1900, the voice of a group of militant nationalists had spread through parts of China. This secret society, whose name is translated as the "Society of the Fist of Righteous Harmony," was fiercely anti-foreign. Anything and everything that even hinted at western influence was hated and violently rejected by them. They vented their anger mainly at Christian missionaries and even at Chinese converts to Christianity. European powers demanded that the Chinese government eradicate this group of troublemakers. Yet secretly, the government supported the group that westerners called "Boxers" (derived from the way the group's name sounded to western ears). In August 1900, the Boxers exploded and declared an all-out rebellion against foreigners in China. The Boxer Rebellion targeted all westerners and western interests. The monarch, the Dowager Empress, supported the rebellion. It was a miscalculation. The Boxer Rebellion's main accomplishment was to unite the competing European imperialist powers in their fight against the Boxers and the Chinese government. Both were swiftly defeated, and the Boxers suffered terrible punishment and retribution at the hands of the Europeans. The plunder of China continued.

Why Colonize?

From the Age of Exploration and beyond the Industrial Revolution, European nations competed against each other to colonize and control less developed parts of the world. Each nation felt that its status and pride depended on outdoing or at least matching its neighbors in acquiring and controlling colonies. Many European nations engaged in a mad scramble to find and control faraway places as colonies. The more colonies you had, the greater your prestige and power as a nation. The more successful your imperial ambitions, the better off your economy was. Some nations were able to control colonies outright. These colonies became part of the nation's empire. The annexation of these outposts was solely for the purpose of exploitation, and their people lacked all or most rights. Where it was impractical to directly control a region, an imperial power might incorporate it within its sphere of influence, an area mainly of economic control. Spheres of influence were created in places that were too difficult to take over completely and politically. China is one example where several European nations created their own spheres of influence in different parts of that nation.

Major Empires of the Past Timeline

Introduction: Some of the world's greatest and longest-lasting empires were formed during ancient times. There is a reason for this. In ancient times, people were less tied to nations. In fact, nations as we understand them today basically did not exist. People lived in culturally and/or linguistically homogeneous groups. Lacking nationhood, most small groups of people could not withstand attack by an ambitious empire builder who sent his army to subdue them. Persian Empire, 550-330 BCE: The Persian Empire, also called the Achaemenid Empire, is one of the most ancient and extensive. Persia is the ancient name of modern Iran. The ancient Persian Empire extended from the Middle East to North Africa, including Babylonia and Egypt. Cyrus the Great was the primary conqueror who established this empire for the Persians. Maurya Empire, 321-185 BCE: The Maurya Empire, created largely under Chandragupta Maurya, was one of the largest in history. It united all of the Indian subcontinent and Bengal. After Alexander the Great lost his hold on them, this empire incorporated both Pakistan and Afghanistan Han Dynasty Empire, 87 BCE: China's Han Dynasty expanded throughout most of eastern China, uniting the people and helping to form the majority Han Chinese culture prevalent in that country today. Under the leadership of Liu Bang, later known as the Emperor Gaozu of Han, the empire was extended in the west to the border of Tibet (but did not include it) and to the Gobi Desert in the north. Roman Empire at Its Height, 117 CE: At its height, the mighty Roman Empire extended from Britain and the Atlantic coast of Europe, along the Mediterranean coasts of Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East. Byzantine Empire at Its Height, ca. 550 CE: The Byzantine Empire is really the eastern branch, including much of Asia Minor, of what had been the Roman Empire. As the Roman Empire fell after repeated onslaughts by "barbarians," the Eastern Roman Empire persisted. The Byzantine Empire maintained its capital in Constantinople (today's Istanbul in Turkey). Repeated invasions weakened the empire until it, too, collapsed. Holy Roman Empire, 962-1806 CE Part 1: The Holy Roman Empire was created by the German royal house as a way to rule over central Europe. At the time (in fact, until the mid-1800s) Germany did not exist as a single, unified nation. Holy Roman Empire, 962-1806 CE Part 2: The Holy Roman Empire encompassed not only the many small principalities in today's Germany, but also controlled northern Italy, eastern France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and western Poland. At the time, these nations did not exist as such but were culturally and linguistically distinct parts of this empire. After the Reformation, the Holy Roman Empire became closely associated with the Catholic Church and defended it against "heretics." Ottoman Empire, 1299-1923 CE: The Ottoman Empire emerged from the growing power of today's nation of Turkey. The empire grew to encompass many lands in and around Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa, and even eastern Europe. With the exception of Europe, people in many parts of the Ottoman Empire were Muslims. The Ottomans were at first known as fierce and fearless fighters. Later, they became famous for their complex, yet effective, administration of their far-flung empire. The empire was lost after Turkey allied itself with the losing side during World War I. Austro-Hungarian Empire at Its Height, 1914 CE: The Austro-Hungarian Empire served to unite and combine the power of two great powers: Austria and Hungary. At its height, this empire ruled over parts of Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and of course, Austria and Hungary. Though both Austria and Hungary had monarchs, the Habsburg monarch of Austria became the de facto ruler over much of the empire and represented it internationally.

Is Colonialism Over?

Most colonies gained independence in the early part of the 1900s. During this time, most colonized people rebelled against the colonial powers. Some revolts were nonviolent because independence was willingly granted. Other rebellions involved years or decades of violent conflict. No European power maintains colonies the way they once did. In some cases, colonialism has given way to a more gentle system. For example, most former British colonies are now independent nations. However, they remain voluntary members of the British Commonwealth. But for the most part, the legacy of imperialism has continued to cause problems. The social and political upheavals brought on by colonialism continue to cause widespread problems around the world. One reason for this is the way imperialists drew the borders of the colonies they established. Oftentimes they ignored the divisions in culture or ethnicity already in place. When most colonies gained independence, these arbitrarily drawn boundaries were kept. This often lassoed traditionally hostile groups or people with different languages, religions, and cultures into a single nation. These nations were then often beset by simmering internal conflicts. To make matters worse, the countries were often led by incompetent or corrupt officials who sought only to continue the profitable exploitation of resources that occurred under the colonial regime.

The American Empire

Nor was the United States immune from the lure of imperial expansion. As early as 1823, President Monroe had issued the Monroe Doctrine that warned all European nations against any interference in the Americas (Western Hemisphere), which was claimed as a U.S. sphere of influence. In the 20th century, the doctrine was reinforced by President Theodore Roosevelt in the Roosevelt Corollary, which announced a U.S. commitment to intervene if any European country entered into hostilities with any Latin American nation.

Empires in the West

The Western Empires were established and developed far earlier than those later empires formed in the east. However, by the early 19th century, much had changed in the Western Hemisphere. France had lost much of its colonial possessions to Britain. Not long afterwards, many of the British colonies in North America had broken free to form the United States. Haiti in the Caribbean had declared independence. Brazil had become its own monarchy. And the Spanish colonies in Mexico, Central America, and South America were in rebellion against Spain.

How Should Historians Conceptualize the Age of Imperialism?

The Age of Imperialism can best be understood as having occurred in two different periods. The first was a product of the Age of Exploration. This process resulted in the colonization of most of the Western Hemisphere by Spain, France, Britain, and Portugal. The second imperialist expansion occurred later and was largely a product of the Industrial Revolution. This process resulted in the colonization of most of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and the South Pacific. The world that existed in the period before the First World War was one divided among competing colonial powers. Maps of this era are multi-colored testaments to the European desire for new lands and new markets.

Korea

The Korean Peninsula had been a colony of the Empire of Japan for 40 years when it gained independence after World War II. Under Japan it had gone through rapid modernization and industrialization. It also suffered many attempts by the Japanese to suppress Korean nationality. When Japan was forced out, Korea found itself split into two groups. The north came under the control of those influenced by bitter war with Japan in China. In the south, control passed to those who maintained an exiled Korean government abroad. As a result, the south was able to build upon the industrial and economic foundations the Japanese had helped to build. South Korea is currently a stable democracy with the tenth largest economy in the world. North Korea remains a communist nation.

How China Was Colonized

The Opium Trade: By the early 19th century, the drug opium had become a persistent problem in China. The British, who controlled the opium trade, understood that opium addiction was proving to be a problem in China and hoped to use this to control and ultimately subdue the country. Europe Seeks to Gain a Foothold in China: In this French political cartoon from the 1890s, China (Chine) is shown as a pie being carved up by the European imperial powers (from the left: Queen Victoria [Britain], Kaiser Wilhelm [Germany], Tsar Nicholas II [Russia], Marianne [symbol of French liberty], and a Japanese samurai). A Chinese Mandarin official stands behind the group, his gesture commenting on their actions. The Chinese Seek to End Drug Abuse: The Chinese recognized the problem opium was causing. And they understood that opium was being used as a tool by the colonial powers. In a dramatic attempt to put an end to the opium addiction in China, one governor-general in China confiscated 2.6 million pounds of opium and had it destroyed. Unfortunately, this act only encouraged the British to seek retribution. Imperialism Colors the Chinese Map: China became the powerless puppet of the imperialist powers. Its economy was in shambles. Humiliation was piled on as imperialists took (or imported) what they wanted without a thought for its effect on the Chinese. Many at that time thought that China was so weak it would break apart, as the Ottoman Empire was doing. China tried to reform by reviving Confucianism and other cultural norms. Yet nothing seemed to help it regain its lost power and self-respect.

What Tools Did Colonizing Countries Use to Hold Their Colonies?

The institution of imperialism was maintained by a complex set of ideas on race and civilization. These ideas worked to both justify the colonization of countries and to maintain the military and economic power that upheld the colony. European nations entered Africa and Asia armed with the idea that they were bringing civilization to an area without it. This idea assumed that European civilization was the only legitimate form of civilization. Therefore, when colonized groups refused to act "European," they were demonstrating how uncivilized they were. Colonizers were in turn compelled to try to "civilize" them. This cycle perpetuated the institution of imperialism. But it also encouraged Europeans and Americans to see colonization as a duty. Evidence of this is obvious in everything from the words of Rudyard Kipling to the editorial cartoons of the American press.

Political and Social Goals

To increase status: The status of a European nation, as viewed by its neighbors, was often determined by the extent and wealth of its colonies. Status sometimes had less to do with the culture and development within the nation itself than it did with the nation's overseas possessions. However, overseas possessions were an especially important status symbol for both colonial powers like Britain and aspiring colonial powers like Belgium. Colonizing countries often showcased their colonial holdings in World Fairs or Expositions. To become more competitive: The mercantilist system and the mad rush for colonies forced European nations to compete with each other for the richest, most prestigious colonies. Also, by establishing a colony in an area, colonizing nations could keep competing European countries away. Germany, for example, was late to the imperialist game, mainly because it did not become a unified nation until the mid-1800s. In its zeal to compete with and catch up to other European nations, Germany built up its military to help it conquer as many colonies as it could as quickly as possible. To support racial bias and ideas of Social Darwinism: The role of race strongly influenced European justifications for imperialist actions. Social Darwinism, now largely discredited, expressed the idea that competition among societies was as natural as competition among species and individuals in nature. By this standard, it was only natural for nations to compete with each other for territories. The nation that gained the most territories was the "best adapted," most "fit," or otherwise in some way superior and more deserving of survival than nations with few or no colonies. Social Darwinism was also applied to the role of race in imperialism. It suggested that some people are innately "fitter" than others because they have won the "competition for cultural survival" through their "superior" societies (and skin color). Social Darwinism was used as a rationale for white European control over "less evolved peoples with lower societal fitness" (i.e., dark-skinned people).

Economic Goals

To succeed in the mercantilist system: Mercantilism is an economic system that forced nations to get and keep as much gold and silver as they could. The only places they could find these metals were to mine them in faraway nations. Any nation that could control a metal-rich nation would get the most gold or silver and, thereby, be the most "powerful" mercantile nation. The quest for control of the most resources was the primary cause of the Age of European Imperialism. To control resources necessary for industrialization: With the growth of the industrial economy, European nations needed increasing amounts of natural resources to power that growth. Wood, ore, and other natural resources were vital to manufacture the goods that made industries and nations rich. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, many European nations had long since used up most of their natural resources. They looked to distant lands to exploit and bring home needed natural resources. To fuel industrialism at home: Factories in Europe were churning out more and more goods at cheaper and cheaper prices. However, to continue this unprecedented growth, nations needed secure and reliable markets for these goods. Colonialism provided an answer to this problem. By capturing an overseas colony, the nation could also capture a large group of consumers. The colonizing nation could then exclude other European nations from trading, thus guaranteeing a steady price and a reliable market.

The Congo

Under Belgian rule, the Congo was a brutal place. Greed and racist sentiment combined to make torture and brutality common tools for extracting resources out of the region. The legacy of this brutality persists even after gaining independence in 1960. Political repression in the 1970s was common. Corruption and mismanagement have plagued the economy. Leaders, rebel or otherwise, have tended to maintain power with violence and coercion.

Empires in the East

With the colonies of the Western Hemisphere labeled a lost cause by European countries, it was only natural that the second phase of European imperialism would take place in the east. Britain took the lead in this era of expansion and soon had colonies spanning the globe. But it wasn't the only nation to seek new colonies in the east. France wasn't far behind. It had colonized areas of northwest Africa, Madagascar, and Indo-China. The Dutch controlled Indonesia and many other islands in the South Pacific. By the late 19th century, Germany and Belgium were attempting to catch up by establishing control of areas in Africa and ports in China. Japan began exporting its influence to the Korean peninsula in the 1870s.

Roosevelt Corollary:

a U.S. commitment to intervene if any European country entered into hostilities with any Latin American nation

empires:

a generally large region controlled by a central government

Commonwealth:

a group of sovereign states and their dependencies associated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests

sphere of influence:

a region where an external nation may not govern directly but where its influence is so strong it essentially has significant control over that region

Boxer Rebellion (1900):

anti-Western rebellion by a group of Chinese nationalists who opposed the exploitation of china by the imperialist powers

annexation:

assuming the rule of a place and adding it to your empire, colonies, or sphere of influence

Monroe Doctrine (1803):

statement warning European powers not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere, which the United States viewed as its own sphere of influence

Social Darwinism:

the notion that survival of the fittest applies to society such that a "fitter" society naturally lords it over or outcompetes less "fit" societies; also used to justify racism

imperialism:

the system under which nations take over other countries either by conquering them or by gaining control over their political and economic systems

exploitation:

use or utilization, especially for profit

Opium Wars (1832-1842; 1856-1858):

wars fought by Britain (and later France) to force China to take opium as payment for resources taken out of China by these colonial powers