worldhistorymrsd

Absolutism - Russia

Eastern Europe

• Centuries behind western Europe in political and economic development
• In Western Europe the majority of people were free peasants - increasingly urban - rapid modern economic growth - political growth
• In eastern Europe serfdom remained the norm - the nobility was all powerful - central governments were still relatively powerless

RUSSIA

The sleeping giant of the east

Russia was very different from the rest of Europe - it endured centuries of domination by the Asian Mongols - the Mongol Yoke - it left strong Asian characteristics - seen in dress, architecture, facial structures and political attitudes

Used the Cyrillic alphabet

Russia was also distinct from the rest of Europe in several other important aspects

Eastern Orthodox

• Christianity came to Russia from Byzantine missionaries - so unlike the rest of Europe Russia was neither Catholic nor protestant
• *** One of the tsars sent out emissaries to look at the Catholic Church, Judaism, and Eastern Orthodox.  The ones that saw the Orthodox religion came back and raved about how beautiful the ceremonies were.  The tsar invited missionaries in to convert his people and declared all the people would become Russian Orthodox.
• After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Russian Orthodox Church claimed to be the new center of Orthodoxy - Moscow was proclaimed the "Third Rome"
• By the 1500's the Russian Orthodox Church was as powerful in Russia as the Catholic Church had ever been in the rest of Europe - controlled about 25% of all land

Absolutism in Russia

Much of the following information comes from the book Fire and Water by Alex de Jonge - I just found this book on Amazon.com for $.01 if you are interested in owning a copy.  Another source is Peter the Great by M.S. Anderson.

Old Muscovy

• Czar also spelled Tsar - comes from the word caesar

Moscow

• Splendid appearance "miserable place"
• Houses crude and poor
• Streets irregular
• City almost all wood - thought it was healthier - fires - seldom fought - houses easily replaced - had quick houses (pre-fab) - moved them out of the way
• 17th Century violent city - robbery and murder commonplace - every morning corpses in the street - days not safe either - would not help others when they saw them being attacked because they could be held responsible
• Passionate belief in tradition
• Fierce resistance to change
• Fasts - children had to follow from age 2 - failure to comply punishable by death - fasts severe and rigid
• Dress - beards essential to personal salvation - dress never changed - notion of fashion unknown - hadn't changed for generations
• Law - all men equal before the czar - czar held all power - laws determined by his will
• Denunciation - encouraged - informer received all the victim's possessions - both people arrested and imprisoned and both subjected to identical process or interrogation (torture) - *** knout (had multiple strands sometime embedded with pieces of metal)- simple flogging - flogging accompanied by strappado (hands were tied behind their back and then they were raised off the floor) or dislocation of the arms - dropped almost to the ground by the rope around their wrists - also combined flogging, strappado and roasting over a slow fire and occasionally tearing out ribs with hot pincers
• If confessed still tortured to make sure they told all
• Penalties - decapitation - breaking on the wheel (*** They were spread eagled on a wagon wheel, tied down and their bones were systematically broken) - flogging to death - false coiners had molten metal poured down their throats - wives who killed their husbands were buried alive up to their necks in a public place and left to die - husbands who killed their wives paid a fine
• Women - marriages arranged - not infrequently the bride and groom met at the altar - after marriage confined to a "terem" or women's quarter - kept under rigid discipline - wife beating common - ***  Cosmetics - painted their faces red and white - teeth black
• Drinking - excessive - "Some of them going home drunk, if not attended with a sober companion, fall asleep upon the snow, and there they are frozen to death.  If any of their acquaintances chance to pass by, though they see them likely to perish, yet they will not assist them to avoid the trouble of examination if they should die in their hands.  Tis a sad sight to see a dozen people brought upright in a sledge frozen to death, some have their arms eaten off by dogs, others their faces, and others have nothing left but bones.  Two or three hundred have been brought after this manner in the time of Lent." (Fire and Water)
• Hundreds of peasants loved miserably
• Merchants unfairly taxed
• Military strength out of proportion to size and needs
• Nobles called boyars

Ivan IV  (E-von) - The Terrible - (1530 - March 18, 1584)

• Took the throne at 3 years old
• Nobility took advantage to gain power
• ***  He had a terrible childhood.  He was forced to hid out in the palace and steal food to live.  Periodically the nobles would have hunts to try and find him and kill him.
• ***  It's a matter of record that Ivan entertained himself at age 12 by dropping dogs for the Kremlin's higher battlements.
• ***  Kremlin means fort.
• When Ivan came of age he used plots and violence to destroy his enemies and gain power - 1544
• Had 7 wives - loved the first Dmitri - driven partially mad by her death
• ***  One source claims he probably went mad in his later years due to syphilis.  It is known that he would go down the street and order people killed just because he did not like the way they looked.
• Was the first to use the title of Czar - 1547
• Began oprichnik (a-prick-ni-key) - 6,000 man political police - wore black and had black horses - attached a dogs head to their saddle to scare enemies - ravaged the country, terrorizing the boyars and peasants alike - tracked down traitors
• Contributions - defeated Mongols (they had taken over Russian in 1240) - they were never again a threat - began conquest of Siberia (got it in 1581) - doubled the size of Russia
• Small farmers became serfs - not released until 1861
• No good heir - killed his son, Ivan, in a fit of anger (1580) - other son Fedor an idiot
• At his death (he was poisoned) there was a civil war over the throne - made the nation weak - his successors weak - couldn't control the nobility
• Son Fedor, the idiot, came to the throne - 27 years old (ruled 1584 - 1598) - died Jan. 1598 - ended Rurik line - Boris Gudunov regent
• ***  Rurik was a viking that had settled in Russia around 862

Time of Troubles - lasted 25 years - great strife and upheaval throughout the land

1601 - 1603  Famine - cannibalism

Michael Romanov

• Elected (by Zemsky Sobor) new czar - February 12, 1613
• Weak ruler (that's why he was chosen) - 16 when he came to the throne
• Died July 12, 1645 - while attending a church service he suffered a stroke and died
• Ruled 32 years

State improve the next 75 years

Peter the Great   (Czar 1683 - January 28, 1725)

• Born May 30, 1672
• Father 43 when he was born - Aleksey Mikhailovich  1645 - 1675
• Father's 1st wife - married in 1647 - died 1669 in child birth - Maria Miloslavskaya - had 13 children - 5 sons - 2 lived, Ivan and Fedor - 8 daughters - all lived
• Father's 2nd wife - Peter's mother - Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina - married her in 1670 - stupid and extremely limited - never understood Peter
• Childhood - stifling luxury - limited education - illiterate and innumerate - 1st tutor a drunk - Peter liked history - learned the New Testament by heart
• Father died suddenly February 8, 1676 - he caught a cold at the annual event of the blessing of the water of the Moscow River - loved for his gentleness and humanity - conscientious and diligent ruler
• Name Fedor (14 years old) his successor  (Peter is 4 at the time)
• Fedor -  (ruled 1676 - 1682) - very poor health - educated and enlightened ruler - his 1st wife died in 1681 - their only son soon after - against medical advice he remarried 9 months later, February 24, 1682 - by April 27 he died without naming a successor (he was 30 years old) - did not name his brother Ivan since he was mentally weak and almost blind
• Support was for Peter
• Peter's mother unable to cope

Sophia Alekselnva - 1/2 sister - wanted power - used the streltsy (strel-see) - literally shooters or musketeers - by 1682 streltsy at point of mutiny - April turned against their officers - new rulers panicked

• 16 officers condemned to be flogged 2 hours a day until they returned unfair taxes to the soldiers (never tried to prove they were guilty) - they were the unpopular ones - beaten twice a day
• Lynched junior officers - also tossed them off high buildings
• Sophia worked hard to increase agitation
• Turned into a violent, howling mob
• Went to the palace (Kremlin)
• Brought out Ivan and Peter to show they were O.K.
• Commander in Chief (Dolguruky) began yelling at men telling them to go home
• They grabbed him and tossed him down on the waiting spears
• Patriarch (Matveev) next - tore him from Nataly's arms - dismembered - no limb remaining joined to his body
• Soldiers went on a rampage - raping - looting - lynching - lasted all summer
• Sophia the only one who could control them
• Finally agreed on May 26 that there would be 2 czars - Ivan and Peter - with Ivan (he was mentally and physically weak) the senior - Sophia the regent
• They ruled together 1682 - 1689
• Ivan lived 1666 - 1696 (The father of Anna Ivanovra who was empress 1730 - 1740)

Peter went into exile after 1682 with his mother (in Prebrazhenskoe)

• He had a great time in the country
• Played war games
• Loved fire (bombs, grenades, fireworks)
• No regard for rank - used the sons of grooms and gentry - they become the core of his army later
• Lack of vanity
• Magnificent pride
• No education

He learned Sophie wanted him killed - fled to a monastery - a friend persuaded him to mount a coup against Sophie

Takes control September 12, 1689 - 17 years old - he rode in triumph into Moscow

Physically he was huge 6' 7" ( I have also read he was 6' 8" or 6' 5")

Had great energy

Worked hard

Supported by streltsy

Ivan deposed

Sophia imprisoned in a monastery (Novedevichy) for the rest of her life

Takes little interest in government

***  If someone annoyed him he would have their nostril torn out with iron pincers

Married Erdokia Lopukhin - February 6, 1689

• Reasonably pretty
• She lacked spirit and imagination
• They had little in common
• 2 children, ill-fated Alexis - another boy (Alexander) who died in childhood
• ***  Peter executed his wife's lover and put the head in a jar of alcohol.  Then Peter made his wife keep the jar in her bedroom
• Sent her to a convent - she kept her son (Alexis) with her
• Peter eventually divorced her (1698)

Alexis - Peter's son

• Received a lot of physical abuse from his father - beaten about the head - dragged by his hair across the floor, etc.
• Left him timid, secretive and lacking in self-confidence
• Became a heavy drinker
• None of this sat well with Peter
• Alexis disinterested in government
• 1715 Peter threatened to disinherit him
• Alexis offered to renounce the throne
• Peter told him he would have to retire to a monastery to diminish a threat of rebellion
• Alexis fled to Vienna,Austria
• Prompted a hunt for him that covered Europe for 6 months
• Coaxed back to Russia with promises of amnesty
• He publicly renounced his claim to the succession
• He was imprisoned in the fortress of St. Peter and Paul - June 24, 1717
• Same day a court ordered him executed for treason
• Before it could happen he was tortured
• Archives say: "The rack was applied at eleven o'clock, and that same day at six o'clock in the afternoon the Tsarevich gave up his soul."  (One of the movies I have seen says they gave him 40 lashes with the knout.)
• Peter's biography says 25 lashes at first interrogation - 2 days later 15 lashes
• There are 9 different versions of his death

Drinking bouts

• Might last for days
• No one allowed to stop
• Would have drink poured down them until they collapsed
• Some never recovered and literally died of drink
• Relished spectacle of hopeless and if necessary enforced drunkenness in others
• (Note: Most men during this time period were much shorter than Peter so did not have his capacity for alcohol.)

Grand Tour

• About 200 people (sources vary on this number)
• Peter wanted to travel incognito (At 6' 7" I doubt he was very successful at this.)
• Left Moscow March 9, 1696
• When he traveled in the west he realized that the other European states were far more advanced
• Went to Sweden (Riga)
• Holland - worked in the shipyard, docks - stayed 4 months
• England - king gave him a 20 gun yacht
• Vienna, Austria
• He hired hundreds of western craftsmen to come to Russia to train Russian workers
• Returned home because streltzy mutinied
• Leaders and men tortured and executed - except for the very young (16 - 20 year olds) - they were branded, flogged, noses slit, ears cut off and exiled

Began modernizing

• Cut off beards - did it at receptions and entertainments - men believed they were essential attribute to male godliness so not to have one seriously compromised ones chance for salvation - by 1699 beards were taxed
• Clothing - decreed they dress like the English - cut off the long sleeves
• Women - liberated from the terem (harem)
• Marriage - insisted it be based on mutual assent - couple should visit for at least 6 weeks before - made literacy a requirement for nobles to marry
• Encouraged the speaking of French and the learning of art and music
• Doctors trained
• Fire fighter plans
• Gardens planted
• Reformed army
• Founded schools and universities
• Centralized the government
• Forced the boyars to give a certain number of days each year in service to the state
• Set up 2 hospitals

Obsession with acquiring a warm water port

• To achieve this goal Peter built and trained a modern military based on the French model
• He equipped it with the finest weapons
• Copied enemy tactics
• First attempted to secure a Russian port on the Black Sea - he ultimately failed

Peter's Second Marriage

• Catherine - probably born illegitimately in 1684 or 1685
• Lithuanian peasant stock (Estonia)
• Mother died when she was 3
• Beautiful dark haired girl - fine figure
• Russian Field Marshal Boris Sheremetov kept her as his housekeeper for 6 months
• Alexander Menshikov (close friend of Peter's) saw her and took her
• 1703 Peter came to visit Alexander - next few months shared her with Alexander
• Eventually he took her for his own
• She went with Peter on military campaigns
• Showed remarkable courage
• 1707 they were married in a private ceremony - didn't make the marriage public for 5 years (1712)
• Had 5 children - only 2 lived Anna and Elizabeth
• Peter was absent many times for long periods fighting against Charles XII of Sweden

Great Northern War   (1700 - 1721)

• Next target was Sweden
• The leading power in the Baltic
• The new Swedish monarch, Charles XII, was only 18
• Denmark, Russia and Poland hoped to seize Swedish territory
• Charles turned out to be a born leader - he quickly defeated the Danes and Poles - only Russia hung on
• In 1708 - 1709 Charles invaded Russia
• He defeat4ed Peter's army over and over, but the Russians just kept retreating
• Russians burned everything as they retreated "scorched earth"
• Swedes could not live off the land - when winter arrived they starved
• Peter counter-attacked at the Battle of Poltava and defeated Charles's army
• In the 1721 treaty Sweden lost most of its empire
• Russia became the dominant Baltic power

Peter built a new capital, St. Petersburg, on land seized from the Swedes

Moved the focus away from Moscow

It became the "window to the west"

St. Petersburg - named after his patron saint

• Afraid of Moscow after the riots when he was a child
• Loved the sea
• Wanted a port
• Ordered people to go - 1712 - 1000 men of lesser nobility +500 merchants and shopkeepers
• Needed permission to leave
• Houses expensive
• ***  Peter's first house in Petersburg only 3 small rooms - bedroom, dining room and study - pine boards
• Food costly
• 3 - 4 hours of daylight in the winter
• Neva river would flood
• Wolves prowled and attacked in winter
• Workforce - up to 40,000 every year - soldiers - criminals - deserters exiled to labor for life - press gangs used to get skilled laborers - few saw mills or animals - most work done by human labor
• Declared St. Petersburg the capital - all senators ordered to leave Moscow and move

Did nothing for the serfs except make them more of a slave - peasant uprisings became epidemic

Used tortures and execution

Peter died January 28, 1725 at the age of 53

• He tried to save some drowning soldiers - in November
• He caught a cold
• By December he felt better - had a relapse - died in Catherine's arms

Catherine became ruler - she died 2 1/2 years later

Named Peter's grandson Peter Alexelvich successor

• Only 11 years old
• Died 1730 of small pox - not quite 15

Succession went to the line of Peter's 1/2 brother

November 1741 Peter and Catherine's daughter Elizabeth Petrovna staged a palace coup

• Arranged for her sisters Anna"s son to be name her heir
• Got him a bride from Prussia - named her in honor of her mother (Catherine)
• She ruled for 22 years
• ***  "Mixture of laziness and obstinacy, coquetry and cruelty, piety and licentiousness.  Her amorous excesses, her taste for orgies and her mania for clothes (she never wore the same dress twice) did not prevent her from fearing God and worshiping icons." ( quote fromCatherine the Great by Henri Troyat)
• ***  Every week she had a party and forced men to dress as women, and women to dress as men.  Neither sex like it.  Elizabeth thought she look wonderful in men's dress and thought other women ought to enjoy the privilege.

Catherine the Great  b. 1729   (Czarina 1762 - 1796)

• German princess
• Born Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst
• Father petty German prince - too poor to provide for his family - hired out as a military officer to the kings of Prussia - family lived comfortably
• Sophie had a French governess (Babette Cardel) - learned French from her
• Sophie curious and very spirited
• Age 7 sudden sickness - coughing, fevers, and fits - ill for weeks - a time when her life was in danger - one morning she woke up and it was gone
• Weeks of lying on her side caused a physical change - assumed the shape of a Z - right shoulder higher than the left - backbone a zigzag - a result as mysterious as the disease - no doctor could help - at last a veterinarian who practiced on the limbs of horses and cows prescribed a useless concoction of medicine - but also built a body frame to reshape her deformity - she wore it for 4 years until she regained her former posture
• Sophie did not have a close relationship with her mother - later years quarreled incessantly - but her mother expanded her knowledge of the world - took her to visit relatives who would be future kings and queens
• Sophie was chosen by Empress Elizabeth (Russia) - daughter of Peter the Great - she wanted a German princess - 1744 summoned Sophie to Russia - her mother thrilled - no one asked Sophie her opinion because it hardly mattered
• Very hard trip
• Very cold
• Huddled together for warmth
• Took nearly 4 weeks to get to St. Petersburg
• Then sent to Moscow to court
• Received with unusual warmth
• It was Peter's 16th birthday
• Everyone wanted to see his bride
• First meeting - Sophie only 15 - Peter tells her he loves one of the court ladies passionately but he'd marry her anyway - confused Sophie and caused anger and resentment - she resolved to please the empress and keep her own consul
• Before her marriage she spent her time learning Russian and the Eastern Orthodox religion
• Part of her conversion was she had to take a Russian name -Catherine
• Married August 1745 - she was 16 - he was 17
• He will become Peter III - nephew of Elizabeth - he is Peter the Great's grandson - he is mentally weak and he drank excessively - lacked charm - ugly
• Soon estranged
• His chief pleasure was playing with dolls and toy soldiers and tormenting his own dogs
• *** He never had a bath in his life
• Catherine is bright, eager for power
• Knows she is alone in the world
• Fought bitterly with her mother
• Shared nothing with Peter
• Her household all spies of Elizabeth
• Even her correspondence monitored
• Spent the next 15 years adding to her education - read everything she could get a hold of - classics, reformers
• Liked to ride - not usually done by women
• Made friends among Russia's army officers
• Passion for handsome guardsmen - had more than 20 lovers - became pregnant in 1754 - almost certainly not Peter's child - father probably Sergius Saltykov - nobody really believed the child was Peter's - nobody cared because Elizabeth had an heir
• Maybe revenge for Peter's conduct or in return for his neglect

As Empress Elizabeth's health worsened she tried to cure her ills with liquor and lovers - limited success

When Elizabeth died she was grotesquely fat - body on show for 6 weeks

• Catherine worked to endear herself to the public by weeping openly at the Empress' grave
• Peter began throwing parties immediately after her death - he refused to stand vigil over the body - he clowned his way through the funeral procession

Peter came to the throne on Christmas day 1761 - ruled 6 months

• His favorite was Elizabeth Vorontzov - she was lame, squint-eyed, marked by small pox, and stank - always ready to drink, sing, or shout abuse - she excited Peter with her stupidity and crudeness
• Peter alienated the military, nobles and the church with his demands

Catherine usurped the throne July 8, 1762

• Backed by nobles and the church
• ***  When Peter found out he ran in all directions, fainted, revived - drank large glasses of wine - he was drunk, staggering and weeping - eventually he renounced the throne

Removed Peter July 17, 1762

• Sent him to a monastery
• Lived his live lonely and weeping
• Catherine's supporters later had him killed -probably poisoned - 1762
• Official report was that he died of hemorrhoidal colic

Catherine had a dynamic personality who alternately captivated and terrified those around her

Gained a reputation as the most enlightened of European monarchs

• Undeserved
• Tried to change the law - it didn't work - never tried again

Had the sincere devotion of her people

Did nothing to help the Serfs

• Gave nobles greater power over them - after a peasant revolt
• Even took away the serfs right to complain - said nobles could beat them and send them to the salt mine in Siberia
• During her reign many peasant rebellions due to unbearable conditions - she had them crushed ruthlessly - killed the leaders

Gained land by foreign affairs

• Almost to the size it was under the Soviet Union
• Portions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) - disappeared from the map until 1918 - Russia got the most - divided it with Prussia and Austria
• Won over Turks and got the Crimea from them - annexed Crimea 1783 - wanted a warm water port
• Developed Russia into a major military power

At Court

• French spoken
• Latest fashions worn
• ***  Catherine kept her wigmaker in an iron cage in her bedroom for more than 3 years.  She didn't want anybody to know she needed his handiwork.
• Newest ideas for economic and educational reform were aired - not put into practice
• Russian nobles mingled comfortably with their European counterparts

Military Service class developed into bureaucrats and administrators

In the country it remained the same dull regimen - their quality of life was no different

Catherine died of a stroke November 10, 1796  (67)

Succeeded by her son Paul I

• For 34 years he had waited for the throne that he had always considered rightfully his
• 5 years of Paul's madness brought about a palace revolt
• Palace guards plotted with the nobles who were his "friends"
• March 11, 1801 he was murdered in his sleep

Placed his son Alexander I on the Romanov throne

• Czar when Napoleon invaded

Imperialism

`IMPERIALISM

Late in the 1800's Western nations again competed for overseas territories

Imperialism is the domination over other nations - 1870 to 1914

Scramble to control colonies

Africa and Asia carved up - exploited - great cost of lives and property

This competition one of the major reasons for WW I

Wanted three thing

• New markets - producing large surpluses of manufactured goods - more than the Western world could use - looked elsewhere to sell their products
• Raw materials - no industrialized country had enough of all the raw materials - rubber, hemp, cotton, etc
• Places to invest - saw enormous profits could be made - government take over would protect their investments

Nationalism - aggressive

• Intolerant of those of different national origin
• Encouraged rivalry and competition between nations - wanted larger armies and navies
• Wanted colonial empires for national pride
• Result - competition became intense between nations

Colonies

• Nation's greatness came to be measured by its colonial possessions
• Tried to add to their power and prestige by adding to their territory
• National pride mixed with religious and humanitarian motives
• Missionaries wanted their government's help in spreading Christianity - believed it a duty to "improve" the natives lives regardless of the natives wishes - divine mission to civilize the uncivilized
• Westerners felt confident that their beliefs and institutions were superior to all others
• Famous poem - Rudyard Kipling suggested that Westerners were duty-bound to colonize

"The White Man's Burden"

• Take up the White Man's burden-
• Send forth the best ye breed-
• Go bind you sons to exile
• To serve your captive's 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-
• Ye dare not stoop to less-
• Nor call too loud on Freedom
• To cloak your weariness;
• By all ye cry or whisper.
• By all ye leave or do, the silent, sullen peoples
• Shall weigh you Gods and you

Led to some reforms - abolition of slavery - improvement in health and justice

Military rivalries between the nations of Europe also fueled the scramble for empires - sometimes countries would take an area simply to prevent other powers from claiming it

Surplus population - said needed room for them in Africa - not true - most settlers went to the American continent

***  In 18th and 19th century Europe lace makers often inscribed bobbins made of metal, bone or wood with declarations of love or the dates and names of important events, such as the birth of a child.

***  1901 - First British submarine launched

***  1903 - Motor car regulation in Britain - set a 20 mph speed limit

***  1904 - Ten hour work day established in France

***  1904 - New York policeman arrests a woman for smoking a cigarette in public

***  1906 - China and Britain agree to reduction of opium production

***  1912 - First successful parachute jump

***  In the early 1900's the average man stood 5' 9" tall.  Today he's 5' 10" plus.  The average woman in the early 1900's was 5' 2 1/2" tall.  Today she's almost 5' 4 1/2" tall.

British

• Had the largest holdings - India, Africa, area in North America (Canada), the Pacific region, Australia and Ireland
• "The sun never sets on the British Empire"

India

• Most valuable of all the British colonies - "jewel in the crown"

British East India Company - 

• Main goal to make money
• Leading officials often got very rich
• Company active in India
• By 1647 there were 27 English trading posts in India - mainly along the coast - soon built up a thriving trade
• Traveled all over India - setting up contracts with local weavers of cotton cloth - named calico after the port city of Calicut - an important source of wealth for Britain
• Operating with permission of the Mughal rulers
• Made several small settlements - rented from local rulers - had own military forces in the settlements - were used to extend British political control
• 18th and 19th centuries, Britain and France were often at war with each other both in Europe and in their overseas empires

India a frequent battleground

At first France won

During the Seven Year's War (1756 - 1763) British won

• Got Bengal - wealthy region in northeastern India - cornerstone of the British Empire in India

British government decided to eliminate the British East India Company's political power

• India Act of 1784 gave power over the company to a Board of Control whose president was a British cabinet member
• Government also chose the highest company official in India, the Governor General
• They were sure the British way of life was superior
• Felt they had a duty to reshape Indian life according to European standards
• Did not make much of an attempt to understand Indian customs
• Made may reforms in the system of government set up by the East India Company
• Replaced East India Company employees with well-trained administrators
• Made government more efficient and less corrupt
• Indians barred from the highest jobs in the civil service
• Improved education
• Removed trade barriers among the Indian states
• 1814 - Parliament took away the company's trade monopoly
• 1833 - its China trade monopoly was also ended

Company still remained active

• Extended British control over more and more territory
• First half of the 1800's gradually took over more and more of India
• Some Indian states annexed entirely - others did not have full independence
• Sometimes conquered lands directly with their own army
• Arranged alliances with local rulers who accepted company protection
• By mid 19th century nearly all of India had come under British control

Indians resented British missionaries and policies

Alarmed by the aggressive expansion in the mid 1800's

Sepoy Rebellion (SEE-poy)

• British introduced a new kind of rifle - to load the greased tops had to be bitten off - the new rifle cartridges were greased with beef and pork fat
• Hindus regarded cows as sacred
• Muslims considered pigs unclean
• Both groups outraged
• When the British realized their mistake they quickly recalled the tainted ammunition and reissued cartridges coated with pure vegetable fat
• Nothing stopped the rumors from spreading
• Many sepoys were convinced that the problem was a devious British plot so they would have to abandon their own religion and convert to Christianity
• When troops refused the order to "load rifles" they were dismissed without pay and sent home in disgrace
• Sunday evening - May 1857 - three units near Delhi rose in revolt
• Rose in mutiny and brutally massacred many Europeans
• Both sides committed atrocities
• One incident occurred at Cawnpour - British garrison of some 400 along with several hundred civilians surrendered in return for a promise of safe conduct - as they entered boats that would take them to safety they found themselves caught in a murderous crossfire - all but a few soldiers were killed - the women and children who survived were later cut down with knives and swords
• British responded with atrocities of their own - ***  When they retook Cawnpore they forced their captives to lick the dried blood of the murdered women and children off the floor and then executed them
• Rebels were hanged or shot without trial -  ***  Some tied to the muzzles of cannons and blown to bits
• Soon spread to other areas
• Fierce fighting went on for a year
• Did not have the support of the people
• British able to end the rebellion by late 1858 - They took terrible revenge for their earlier losses, torching villages and slaughtering thousands of unarmed Indians

As a result of the rebellion the British Parliament abolished the East India Company in 1858 - transferred all of its activity and holdings to the British crown

Left a bitter legacy of fear, hatred, and mistrust on both sides

Divided India into two parts

• British India - ruled directly by the British
• Indian India - ruled by Indian princes who were in charge of their own internal affairs
• Created a new cabinet post, Secretary of State for India
• Appointed a viceroy to rule within India - had full power - aided by legislative and executive councils that included some Indians - all members appointed rather than elected
• An efficient Indian civil service developed - British held all the top positions - Indians filled most of the middle and lower posts - some trained in British schools (When they eventually gain freedom this would be an asset in running the country.)
• 1876 - Parliament declared Queen Victoria "Empress of India" - ***  This was one of her favorite titles.  Queen Victoria ruled 1837 - 1901.

Probably the most important contribution of the British in India was unification - almost all of the subcontinent had come under one authority

Use of English as the official language helped - there had been no single language that all educated Indians could speak - 6 main languages - over 200 all together

Also suppressed organized bands of robbers - reduced the dangers of travel

Protected life and property

Outlawed suttee (variant spelling sati) - suicide of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre - practiced mainly by the upper classes

Outlawed the killing of infant girls

Improved medical facilities

Added thousands of miles of railroad and telegraph lines so they could sell goods across the continent

Built irrigation works throughout the countryside

Dark side

• Population grew rapidly - food production could not keep up - result living standard declined sharply for many - one poor harvest could cause widespread famine - late 1800's terrible famines swept India - because of its large population poverty was and still is today a major problem in India
• End of the centuries old handcraft system a heavy blow - for centuries home spinning had been an important source of income for peasant families in India - Indian cotton was quickly and cheaply woven into cloth in British mills
• With the growth of British industry India became a market for cheap manufactured goods - especially cloth - it sold at a lower price than the domestic homespun cloth
• Hand woven cloth could not sell as cheaply as imported cloth and Britain forbid them to sell to to other countries
• Forced to depend more and more on agriculture to earn a living

Nationalism

• Note: the movie "Passage to India" shows the discrimination against the Indians.  Parts of it are very good to use in the classroom if it is available.
• Many high-caste Indians were educated in Britain or in British-style universities set up in India in the 1850's
• Knowledge of Western civilization helped fuel Indian discontent over British policies in India
• Major complaint - racial discrimination - British-educated Indians rejected the caste system - adopted the Western idea that a person's status should be based on their accomplishments - shocked British did not live up to their own ideals
• ***  The Indians are trying to do away with the caste system.  Supposedly there are no more "untouchables."  When I took Indian history the professor said, "If you want to find the untouchables in a village just ask who the Christians are."  The Indians have a saying about the castes, "It is better to do your own job poorly than another's job well."
• Top jobs, finest clubs and hotels, and the best railroad cars reserved for the British
• No matter how intelligent or educated, an Indian was not considered the equal of a European
• Many wanted self-government in their country - Australia and Canada had been given much home rule
• British eager to keep Indian nationalism in check, gave in to some Indian demands in the early 1900's

AFRICA

In 1875 only a tenth was under European control.  Within 20 years, only a tenth was free of such control.

English

• Took Egypt - 1882
• Suez Canal - 1875 British government bought a large bloc of shares in the Suez Canal Company - when civil war broke out in Egypt in 1882, Britain sent in a military force and reduced the country to the status of a British protectorate
• Sudan - their next move - wanted a solid belt of land from Cairo in the north to Cape Town in the south - after a battle in 1899 shared control with France

Boers

• Dutch descended farmers settled in Cape Colony (South Africa)
• British took the colony from the Dutch in 1815
• Boers resented the British rule and moved north - found their own Boer republic
• Late 1800's there were discoveries of gold and diamonds in the Boer Republic
• This set off the Boer War (1899 - 1902)
• Bitter guerrilla fighting
• ***  British placed Boer women and children in concentration camps where many died
• ***  Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers.  He escaped and they put a price on his head.  He was never recaptured.
• 1910 - British united Cape Colony and the former Boer Republic into the Union of South Africa - new constitution set up a government run by whites - laid the foundation for a system of complete radical segregation that would remain in force until 1993

Portuguese

• Had large colonies in Angola and Mozambique

Belgium - Leopold

• Congo (present-day Zaire) - 900,000 square miles
• 80 times the size of Belgium
• Vast wealth - gold, ivory, rubber
• Millions of natives worked to death - slaves - estimated 8 - 10 million
• Overseers inflicted brutal punishments in order to increase rubber production - after the invention of inflatable tires
• Held wives and children hostage
• Executions, whippings and torture were common
• ***  Had the hands and ears cut off of rebels - resorted to doing it to live people and children to meet their quotas
• Other countries in Europe tried to control Belgium
• 1908 - Leopold was forced to turn it over to the Belgium government - he demanded a huge cash payment
• Only when Leopold died in 1909 were they freed from abuses
• It did little to improve the well-being of the people

Diamond Mines

• European owned
• African laborers - terrible working conditions - little or no pay
• Africans smuggled out diamonds
• ***  Hid diamonds inside decayed teeth or self-inflicted wounds.  Others swallowed them for recovery later
• By some estimates, as much as 50% of a diamond mines production was lost to smuggling

Italy

• Occupied Libya
• Tried to conquer Ethiopia and was defeated (see below)

Ethiopia

• Manelik II - reforming ruler
• Began to modernize the country
• Hired European experts for: modern roads and bridges - western school system - latest weapons - European officers to train the army
• 1896 - Italy invaded
• Battle of Adowa (ah  DUH wah)
• Ethiopians smashed the Italian invaders (Mussolini will invade Ethiopia in the thirties as revenge for this loss.)
• Only African nation, beside Liberia, to preserve its independence

France

• Algeria - most of the west coast - invaded in 1830 - for prestige and to stop Algerian pirates who attacked French ships
• (The book A Savage War of Peace p. 120 description of massacre)
• Held Tunisia
• At the height of their holdings colonies in West and Central Africa were as large as the continental United States

Germany

• Bismark tried to stay away from colonies
• Had to yield to public pressure

Only free countries in Africa were Liberia and Ethiopia

IMPACT

• A western-educated African elite emerged
• Some middle-class Africans admired western ways and rejected their own culture
• Others valued African traditions and condemned western societies that upheld liberty and equality for whites only
• By the early 1900's African leaders were forging nationalist movements to pursue self-determination and independence

China

• Chinese viewed trade as a privilege given to foreigners, not as a right.
• Foreign merchants were allowed only one Chinese city - Guangzhou (GWONG-JOH) - once known as Canton
• Contacts with the Chinese people were strictly limited by rules set down in the early 1700's
• 1.  No foreign warship may sail inside the inlet to the river.
• 2.  Neither foreign women nor firearms may be brought into warehouses.
• 3.  Foreign warehouses shall employ no maids and no more than eight Chinese male servants.
• 4.  Foreigners living in the warehouses must not move in and out too frequently, although they may walk freely within a hundred yards of their warehouses.
• 5.  Foreigners may neither buy Chinese books nor learn Chinese.
• 6.  foreigners are not allowed to row boats freely in the river.  They may visit the flower gardens and the temple opposite the river in groups of ten or less three times a month, on the 8th, 18th and 28th.  They shall not visit other  places.
• 7.  Foreign traders must not remain in Guangzhou after the trading season - even during the trading season when the ship is laden, they should return home or go to Macao (a Portuguese colony).
• For two centuries, European traders accepted the Chinese rules
• Trade in tea and silk was so profitable they would agree to any restrictions
• Had to look hard to find goods the Chinese would take in return
• During the 1800's found opium - narcotic made from the poppy plant - would buy it in India and sell it in China
• Chinese government forbade the sale of opium - law against it had not been enforced in years
• Many Chinese officials took bribes from British traders to smuggle in large amounts of the drug.
• Harmed the Chinese people - by 1830's million addicted - turned to robbery to get money to buy opium - neglected their farms
• Drained the treasury
• Concern over problems finally prompted the Chinese government to crack down on the opium trade

Opium War  (1839 - 1842)

• Grew out of the Manchu refusal to allow the British to establish regular trade with China
• 1839 - government began a campaign against opium use - arresting and executing opium dealers
• Smuggling continued to increase
• Aware that the British were hiding opium in their storehouses the emperor sent soldiers to Guangzhou.
• The soldiers imprisoned British traders and government officials in their own warehouses and seized the opium and destroyed it
• British viewed the Chinese action as an insult to their nation
• Also saw the quarrel as a chance to get rid of Chinese restrictions on trade
• British struck back and the war began
• Chinese forces, badly organized and armed with old-fashioned weapons - lost battle after battle to the modern British army and navy - Chinese had no navy - no match for the British
• After three years the Chinese government asked for peace and gave in to British demands
• Treaty of Nanjing (1842) - ended the war and established a new pattern of European trade with Asia
• Chinese no longer made the rules
• Gave the British the right to trade in 5 treaty ports
• Foreigners accused of crimes would be tried under their own country's laws
• Gained the island of Hong Kong (lease ended in 1998)
• Got a cash settlement for the destroyed opium
• Marked the real opening of China
• Next few years other Western nations made similar treaties with China
• Treaties forced China to give other countries the kinds of trading rights and privileges given to Britain

Internal Problems

• Qing government had become corrupt and inefficient
• Public officials grew wealthy from bribes and high taxes

the Taiping Rebellion - (1850 - 1864)

• ***  Taiping means "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace."
• Probably the most devastating peasant revolt in history
• 1850 - secret anti government society led an uprising against the Manchus
• Led by a religious fanatic who claimed to be "the Heavenly Younger Brother" of Jesus - he was a village school teacher Hong Xinquan (howng shyoo CHWAHN)
• One sign of rebellion - Taiping men cut off the pigtails the Manchu rulers had forced them to wear
• Called for changes in society - divide the land equally among all peasants - equal rights for women, including the right to take civil service examinations and become government officials - about one fourth of the rebel soldiers were women
• Built a well-disciplined army of believers
• After 4 years had more than one million followers
• Easily defeated the imperial troops
• Their success frightened many Chinese who opposed reforms
• Europeans also alarmed - wanted to protect their trade treaties
• Both groups aided the Manchus - began to win military victories
• Rebellion, weakened by poser struggles among its leaders, finally collapsed in 1864
• About 20 to 30 million people had died in the fighting and parts of China had been devastated

Not the only revolt in the mid-1800's

French and British took advantage of the confusion and made new trade demands

Also looked for reasons to begin a military conflict

• Minor incident involving an "insult" to the British flag
• France claimed that Chinese authorities murdered a French missionary
• With these excuses Britain and France sent an army to invade China in 1856
• Captured the imperial capital of Beijing in 1860 - forced the emperor to flee - burned the beautiful summer palace
• Treaty - Chinese government gave in to foreign demands for more trade - opened 11 more ports - legalized the opium trade - agreed to receive Western diplomats - agreed to let British missionaries into China - other Western nations claimed the same privileges
• Each of the major European powers now carved out a part of China as its sphere of influence
• Areas largely under European control, even though they still belonged formally to China

Attempts at Reform

• Chinese slow to begin the process
• Some refused to believe in the need for change - scholars and officials - most saw no reason for it
• Others hoped that Western technology could be blended with Chinese traditions - tried to blend with "self-strengthening" movement - efforts did no go very deep
• Weakness made clear by its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 1895)

Struggle for control of Korea

• Japan's small but modern armies trounced the larger Chinese forces - gained Taiwan
• Chinese government realized Japan's victory was due mainly to its use of Western technology and ideas
• China's defeat prompted foreign nations to demand further privileges in China

China seemed in danger of being completely carve up into colonies

U.S. afraid of being shut out of Chinese trade, stepped forward - 1899 called on other countries to follow an Open Door Policy - all countries should have equal trading rights in China - several countries agreed on paper but it had little real effect

Boxer Rebellion

• Secret Society of Harmonious Fists - known in English as the "Boxers"
• ***  After seeing them train in the martial arts the English called them "Boxers"
• Dedicated to driving all foreigners out of China
• Particularly hated Christian missionaries and Chinese who had converted to Christianity
• Late in 1899 the Boxer Rebellion broke out in many parts of China - destroyed railroads, burned bridges, killed Europeans
• Mobs attacked missionaries and killed thousands of Chinese Christians
• Many government officials and court nobles shared the Boxer's hatred of foreigners - some simply looked the other way, while others actively helped the Boxers
• The Empress showed sympathy for the Boxers at first - later changed her mind
• 1900 - attacked the homes of foreign diplomats in Beijing - nearly 1,000 foreigners, as well as about 3,000 Chinese Christians had taken refuge there
• After 55 days, an army of 20,000 British, American, Japanese, German, and Russian soldiers rescued them
• Foreign nations demanded payment for the Boxer's attacks on their citizens - given a huge cash settlement and more concessions
• Further weakened the Chinese government

Last Days

• 1908 the Dowager Empress - Ci Xi (tsie SHYEE) - died at the age of 73 - she had been against change
• The imprisoned emperor - Guang Xu (gwawng SHYOO) - had died the day before - rumor spread that he had been poisoned
• The heir to the throne was only 2 years old - (the film The Last Emperor chronicles his life)
• Three years later revolts broke out in much of China

Nationalist Revolution

• 4,000 years of unbroken dynastic rule suddenly came to an end
• The last Manchu emperor left the throne in February 1912

Sun Yat-sen - (SOON YAT-SEN)  b. 1866   - alternate spelling in 10th grade text Gixian (soon yee SHYAHN)

• Western-educated Christian
• Family were poor farmers in southern China
• Age 12 went to Hawaii to find work
• Later studied medicine in China and the British colony of Hong Kong - gave it up for politics
• His political party - known as the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party - goal was to rebuild China
• His work made him a hero to many Chinese in Britain and other Western countries
• December 1911 - elected temporary president of the new republic - soon after the last Manchu emperor left the throne
• Served only one day as president - knew China needed a military leader to hold the country together

Resigned in favor of General Yuan Shikai - powerful general

• Became president of the Nationalist Party
• Not interested in democracy
• Wanted to build his own power
• By 1913 had thrown his opponents out of the government and was ruling as a military dictator - forced Sun into exile
• His actions led to civil war in China
• At the time of his death in 1916 the country was in chaos
• Warlords with private armies began to take over various parts of the country

Sun Yat-sen failed to unite China - he became a symbol of China's efforts to build a strong, modern nation

Sun is still known as the "father of modern China"

JAPAN

1630's -Tokagawa shoguns began policy of isolation from the West

• Forced Christian missionaries and many of their converts to leave Japan
• Barred Japanese people from foreign trade and travel
• Refused to let foreign ships enter their ports
• For more than 2 centuries contacts with the West limited to the visit of one Dutch trading ship per year

1850 - Western nations dominated much of Asia

• No longer willing to accept Japan's policy of isolation
• They had the power to force open ports
• Needed ports where their vessels could stop for food, fuel, and water
• Wanted protection for their sailors - Americans who had been shipwrecked on Japanese shores had been badly treated

July, 1853 - American warships under the command of Matthew C. Perry arrived in Tokyo with 4 ships

• ***  When Perry was planning this trip he quickly learned how little knowledge the West had about Japan.  he employed several agents to comb the bookstores of New york and London to gather material to study.  He found that trustworthy navigational chars to be seriously lacking.  So he traveled to the shaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in order to personally interview sailors who were familiar with the winds and currents around Japan.
• Perry brought a message from the President Millard Fillmore asking for: protection of shipwrecked sailors - establishment of a refueling station - statement of friendship for Japan
• Perry said he would return in a year for their reply
• Returned in February, 1854 with 10 ships
• Carried many presents for Japanese officials - books, rifles, clocks, perfume, sewing machine, and even a small locomotive
• Japanese impressed by the gifts and by Perry's dignity and show of force
• Japanese knew that they lacked the technology to win a war against the United States
• Shogun signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the U.S. in March
• Opened 2 Japanese ports to American ships - but not for trade (soon won them)
• Provided better treatment for shipwrecked sailors
• Set up diplomatic relations between the two countries
• Gave foreign traders only limited rights
• Was the first step toward allowing foreign influence in Japan
• Weakened the Tokagawa government
• Caused anti-foreign riots
• Treaties with the British, Dutch, French, and Russians quickly followed
• By the 1860's had been forced to make many trade concessions to the West
• Chinese deeply resented the humiliating terms of the unequal treaties

Meiji Rule

Tokugawa shoguns had held on to power partly by keeping the Daimyo (Dime yo) - feudal lords in competition with one another - they had been in power since 1600

Unpopularity of the foreign treaties gave these lords a chance to join together against the shogun

In 1866 two groups of feudal lords joined together to overthrow the shogun and restore imperial government

Next year the emperor was restore to a position of authority - capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo (means "eastern capital")

Two years later the rebel forces seized the shogun's court in the name of the emperor

The last of the Tokagawa shoguns was forced to resign

Emperor Mitsuhito  (grandfather of Hirohito d. 1989)

• Only 15 when he took the name Meiji (MAY-jee) - meaning "enlightened rule" as the name of his reign
• His accession to the throne is known as the Meije Restoration
• Formal ruler of Japan (1868 - 1912)
• Important decisions were actually made by the group of young samurai who had led the rebellion - military men eager to close the gap in military power between Japan and the West - believed in rapid modernization - next 50 years transformed Japan into a powerful modern state
• Japan becomes the first industrialized country in Asia

Charter Oath - April 1868

• Issued by the Meiji emperor
• Set a new course for Japan
• Called for an assembly to decide important matters by public debate
• 1871 - declared feudalism ended and commoners would be given the chance to hold many new jobs

Reasons for success:

• Strong national feeling - long standing sense of its identity as a nation - national loyalty more important than loyalty to family or to a feudal lord
• Prosperous and well-educated population - fairly high living standard - about 40% literate - fairly high for the time - trade and agriculture had prospered - country had become urbanized
• Acceptance of new ideas - little resistance about borrowing useful ideas from other cultures - saw modernization as a way to help them compete with the West

Reforms

• Affected all parts of Japanese society
• Large landowners had to give up direct control of their lands to the imperial government - most did so voluntarily - in return given cash and important government jobs
• Military completely overhauled - Samurai class lost its special privileges - all classes made equal before the law
• Samurai ordered to throw away their swords - for centuries it had been a symbol of their position
• 1873 law made all men subject to the draft
• Army used ideas from the French
• Navy remodeled after the British navy
• Government also relied on Western advice in industry, agriculture, and education - sent best students to universities in Europe and the U.S.
• Introduced the telegraph and built railroads - by 1900 Japan had more the 15,000 miles of track

Constitution

• Emperor remained the head of state and the highest authority in the country
• Prime Minister appointed to take charge of the day-to-day running of the government
• Parliament, called the Diet, created to make laws and advise the emperor on government policy - actually had little power - emperor could veto laws it passed and issue laws of his own
• Western nations impressed that Japan had adopted a constitution in less than 25 years after the end of feudalism - they agreed to end the unequal treaties of the 1850's and 1860's

Japanese Imperialism

• Had major handicap in lack of natural resources
• Farmland scarce - growing enough food for the nation always a problem
• During Meiji period scientific and medical advances caused a sudden population increase - further straining the food supply
• Forced to import much of its food as well as most of the raw materials needed for industrialization
• Looked to overseas possessions to provide Japan with land, crops, and raw materials

Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 1895  (Fighting over Korea)

• Japan defeated China
• China's army failed to win a single battle - it's navy almost destroyed
• Peace treaty gave Japan the island of Formosa (present-day Taiwan) - and some small neighboring islands as well as the Liaodong (lee-OW-DOONG) Peninsula in southern Manchuria - Russia forced Japan to return it to China
• China recognized Korea's independence
• Japan became the dominant foreign power in the country

Britain hoped that Japan's military strength would discourage Russia

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

• In 1902, signed a 10-year treaty of alliance - treated Japan as an equal partner - restored Japanese pride lost when Western ships first entered Tokyo Bay
• First military treaty that a Western nation signed on equal terms with a non-Western nation

Russo-Japanese War

• Japanese tried to negotiate with Czar Nicholas II about his troops in Manchuria
• Russia thought Japan was weak and delayed the discussions - fatal mistake
• February 8, 1904 - without warning - Japan attacked the Russian flee anchored at Port Arthur
• Torpedo boats struck a Russian naval squadron and inflicted heavy damage
• Japan did not issue a formal declaration of war until several days late
• Many western observers were undisturbed - The Times of London reported that "the Japanese navy has taken the initiative and has opened the way by an act of daring."
• In 1941, most western observers had an entirely different view (You can't say they hadn't been warned by this action!)
• After a bloody siege Port Arthur fell to Japan - nearly a year later
• On land Japanese troops steadily forced the Russians out of Manchuria
• Czar sent Russia's  Baltic fleet to Japan
• Britain, honoring its alliance with Japan, would not let the ship through the Suez Canal
• Forced to sail all the way around Africa
• Finally reached Japan 7 months and 10,000 miles later
• It was wiped out by the Japanese navy   ***  note: This battle would drive the strategy of the Japanese navy in WW II.  They thought if they won one big battle the U.S. would quit the way the Russians did.
• ***  Yamamoto lost 2 fingers in this naval battle.  If he had lost one more he would have been out of the military and never planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Beaten and humiliated and troubled by rebellion at home Nicholas called for peace
• Treaty of Portsmouth signed in 1905 - confirmed Japan's claim to the Liaodong Peninsula (including Port Arthur) - also got Russia's mines and industry in Manchuria - recognized Japan's interest in Korea and allowed Japan to take over the southern half of Sakhalin Island
• War forced Western nations to admit that Japan was now a world power
• First time in modern history that an Asian country had defeated a European country
• 1910 japan annexed Korea with no interference from the West - this made Japan an Imperialistic nation

RUSSIA

• Trying to get a warm water port - could go through the Mediterranean via the Black Sea - the Persian Gulf through Persia - or by reaching the Pacific Ocean north of Korea - all tried
• Mediterranean - stopped by France and England in the Crimean War (1854 - 1856) - tried again in 1914 and this was a contributing factor to bringing on WW I
• Asia - when China was forced to open to Western exploitation they moved quickly to secure a large coastal area north of Korea where they founded the town of Vladivostok in 1869 - still Russia's main naval base in the Pacific

Southeast Asia - Britain and France the two chief rivals

French - first in the area in the late 18th century

• mid-1800's hostile Asian feelings led to attacks on French missionaries
• French fleet attacked - captured Saigon in 1860
• Next 20 years took control of Cochin-China, Cambodia, and Annam - these areas had always paid tribute to China, which tried unsuccessfully to eject the French by force in the 1880's
• 1893 - took over Laos
• Grouped all of these areas together to form the French colony of Indochina - an area a third larger than France itself
• French rule gradually transformed villagers into landless agricultural workers whose incomes came to depend on the rise and fall of world prices

British

• 1885 - Burma formally annexed to India
• Also took Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka), Singapore, and northern Borneo

Netherlands

• Height of Imperialism was from 1870 to 1902
• They were one of the main sea powers of this time
• In 1870 -1880 most of the land the Netherlands had gained had been lost (areas in North American, Brazil, South Africa, Guyana, Ceylon, India and Malacca)
• Dutch mainly concentrated on the lands in the West and East Indies
• Did not try to expand the way the other great European powers did
• Controlled the East Indies
• A private trading company - the Dutch East India Company - ruled for many years
• In 1798 the home government took over
• Reaped handsome profits from their colony
• Provided Europeans with spices, sugar, coffee and tea
• Built schools - taught in native languages - preserved the many native cultures in the region

PACIFIC ISLANDS

• Britain - Australia, New Zealand, and many Pacific islands - including Fiji, southeastern New Guinea, and the southern Solomons
• Germans - northern Solomons amd northwestern New Guinea and bought some islands from Spain
• France - took Tahiti and annexed New Caledonia a major source of nickel and chromium
• United States - Hawaii - established missions and set up a thriving export trade in sugar - by 1880's dominated the government, although Hawaii was still technically independent - to receive better trade benefits, Hawaiian sugar planters wanted the islands to become part of the U.S. - when Queen Liliuokalani (le le u o ka la' ne) refused to support the annexation she was overthrown, in 1893 (President Cleveland in power) - 1898 Congress took over the Hawaiian Islands - 1959 it became the 50th state in the U.S.
• Guam - Philippines - acquired from Spain after the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War - Filipino leaders expected independence - instead the U.S. annexed them (President McKinley) - Filipino guerrilla leader, Emilio Aguinaldo (a  gwe nal' do) had been fighting the Spanish - now led a rebellion against the Americans - after 3 years of fierce fighting, the rebellion was crushed
• Samoa - 1878 secured rights to a naval base at the harbor of Pago Pago - British and Germans contested the arrangement - in 1889 the islands were divide outright between Germany and U.S.

Impact of Imperialism

By 1900, western nations had control over much of the globe.  The expansion caused radical changes in the lives of subject people from Africa to Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

A global economy emerged dominated by the industrialized nations.

From these nations, machine-made goods, investment capital, and technology reached the rest of the world.  In return, the countries provided agricultural goods, cheap labor and natural resources.

The demands disrupted traditional local economies in Asia and Africa.  Most goods had been produced by hand.  Under colonial rule, they were forced to supply other products (ex. rubber, copper and coffee) to the industrialized world.

***   Labor conditions overseas today.       (This information is from and article in the L.A. Times 12 -1- 02)

• Levi Strauss Co moves production overseas - in Georgia paying $14/hour for a woman to sew in zipper
• Last quarter of 2001, 83% of all apparel sold in the U.S. imported
• Wages per hour - Mexico $.48 - Nicaragua $.23 - Guatemala $.37 - Bangladesh $.13 to $.20 - China $.28
• Child labor
• Long workdays
• No health plans
• No environmental protections
• No work place safety standards
• No effort to organize workers
• Bangladesh - Lisa (young girl) - went to work at 10 - had never gone to school - never ridden a bike - never seen a movie - her wages allow her to eat chicken maybe once every 2 months - 90 to 100 people in her neighborhood all use one water pump, one outhouse and one stove with 4 burners - often works from 8am to 10pm - 7 days a week with a day off maybe once a month - take home pay equivalent to $.14 and hour
• Third world countries have no choice but to let these companies operate so their teeming populations don't die of hunger.