What is Imperialism?

Imperialism is the extension of  a nation's authority over other nations or areas through conquest or political or economic hegemony.

Background

The move toward imperialism began only late in the 19th Century because most European countries had been stung by the loss of their overseas colonies.  For example,  England lost the American colonies and the Spanish lost their South American lands.  Adam Smith's ideas of free trade had influenced Europe and suggested colonies were not necessary. At the same time, Europe gained more power from recent technological and agricultural breakthroughs. With this came authority and a nationalist mood that fostered expansion. European countries began taking over and industrializing new lands, beginning the New Imperialism era.
By: Bethany and Brooke

Motivation for Imperialism



Motivations of Imperialism

·         The European Nations during the 19^th century did not just want absolute power.

·         The industrial revolutions were a major motivation of European imperialism. Important raw materials such as cotton that was grown in Indian was also I major factor because cotton could not be produced in Europe.

·         Any opportunity that Europe had to increase trade they quickly acted upon it.

·         Other than the competition for trade,  having power was a big factor

·          Religion was a motive  so they could spread Christianity.

·         The last motive was to explore places  that have not been explored yet.

By: Alyssa Radecker

White Man's Burden

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke (1) your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel, (2)
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

         

Background

        Debate over U.S. imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century occurred not only in newspapers and political speeches, but in poetry as well. “White Man’s Burden,” urged the U. S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Other authors, by contrast, wrote parodies and critiques of Kipling’s poem and the imperial ideology it espoused. “The Black Man’s Burden” and “The Poor Man’s Burden,” by H.T. Johnson and George McNeil, respectively, were two such parodies. (response to the American take over of the Phillipines after the Spanish-American War). Kipling's "white" meant everyone who subscribes to the values of Western Civilization; it had nothing to do with actual race or ethnicity. The “burden” of the “white man” was to teach others how to live and act like residents of the Western Civilization.  

About the Author

Born in British India in 1865, Rudyard Kipling was educated in England before returning to India in 1882, where his father was a museum director and authority on Indian arts and crafts. Thus Kipling was thoroughly immersed in Indian culture: by 1890 he had published in English about 80 stories and ballads previously unknown outside India. As a result of financial misfortune, from 1892-96 he and his wife, the daughter of an American publisher, lived in Vermont, where he wrote the two Jungle Books. After returning to England, he published "The White Man's Burden" in 1899. As a writer, Kipling perhaps lived too long: by the time of his death in 1936, he had come to be reviled as the poet of British imperialism, though being regarded as a beloved children's book author. Today he might yet gain appreciation as a transmitter of Indian culture to the West.


By: Bethany S.

Locations

German Imperialism by Kaylie K.

German Imperialism

Zollverein

            A German Customs Union founded in 1834. It had no centralized power and was unorganized. The suggestion was made that Austria, the Zollverein, and the North-West German states should be joined. The custom line between Austria and Hungary was removed, they revised tariffs, and removed trade prohibitions. Their goal was to remove Prussian leadership roles from Germany. Germany eventually became more industrialized.

Frankfurt Assembly

          The assembly was held in 1848 and was to plan the unification of Germany.

Otto Von Bismarck

          He went to a school know as a center of German liberalism, but he wasn't a liberal. He became part of the United Diet. A constitutional problem put Bismarck in play. He then planned a war against Prussia. By the end of the War Bismarck had united Hanover, North Lesse, Schleswig, and Holstien and they became the North German Confederation. This brought Germany together under Prussian leadership.

Danish War of 1864

          Prussian forces entered Schleswig on February 1, 1864 and the war ended with the Treaty of Vienna. The war was caused by controversy in Schleswig because of two conflicting political systems in the danish unitary state.

Austro-Prussian War of 1866

          Also know as the Seven Weeks War, it lasted from June 15-August 23, 1866 and fought between Austria and Prussia. Otto Von Bismarck purposely started the war because he wanted Austria to be removed from the German Confederation. He then shortly after decided that the German Confederation would end. Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and Frankfurt were added to Germany. They were then considered the North German Confederation.

North German Confederation

            It was an alliance of 22 German states that were ruled by Prussia and proceeded the German Confederation. The king of Prussian was considered the president of the NGC and Otto von Bismarck was the federal chancellor. The states kept their governments, but the military was under the GNC's control.

Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871

            A conflict between France and Prussia that showed Germany's military and imperialism rise. Bismarck caused the war as a way to unify Germany.

Napoleon III

            Napoleon was captured during the Franco-Prussian war and France was made a Republic.

German Empire under Bismarck

            Bismarck was the prime minister of Prussia and lead to the unification of Germany. German markets got British domestic imports. Prussia played a large leadership role in Germany at the time as well. The kulturkampf laws were also passed in order to bring marriage, education, and religion under the control of the state. The congress of Berlin took place as a meeting of major European powers. It kept Russia from expanding its navy, the Ottoman Empire was a European power, and Austria could occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina.

German Imperialism in Africa

            In 1884 Germany unexpectedly formed the Cameroons, German South-West Africa, and New Guinea. This caused the rest of Europe to scramble for the rest of Africa.

Boer War 1899 - 1902

The Boer War was fought between Great Britain the two Boer republics. It was the largest and most costly war that Britain was a part of since the Napoleonic wars and WWI. The war began on October 11, 1899. It was fought because Transvaal wouldn't grant mining rights to the European population. Transvaal contained one of the largest gold mines in the world, beyond direct British control.

The Road to World War I

There was competition for overseas colonies, particularly between Germany and Great Britain. Most European nations at the time of the First World War were imperialist nations. They controlled overseas colonies in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. The exploitation of these colonial empires was a great economic advantage to the European nation that controlled them, and competition between the imperial powers for new colonial lands was intense. Imperial control over dissident minorities occurred especially in the Austrian empire. The Austrian empire was ruled from Vienna by emperors of German descent. The empire contained a large number of ethnic minorities who were not content to be ruled by the Austrians, especially those in the Balkan areas, such as the Serbs. The Serbs, for example, wanted to be independent from Austria and looked to the Russian empire for support. This created great friction between Austria and Russia, and by extension between their allies (Germany allied with Austria, Britain and France allied with Russia). The arms race driven by Imperial ambitions, particularly between Great Britain and Germany led to Germany wanting very much to develop a world-wide colonial empire that would rival Britains. This was made difficult by Great Britain's control of the seas by the Royal Navy, at the time the largest and best navy in the world. So, the German Empire began to build naval warships at a very rapid rate in an attempt to equal, and perhaps challenge, the Royal Navy. Britain could not allow this to happen, so they also began to build more ships, and this began an arms race that spread to other nations and to other forms of warfare. This arms race contributed to the willingness of Germany, in particular, to go to war in 1914.
By: Bethany S. and Brooke R.