Imperialism+Screenplay+A

The History of European Imperialism

Cast: Ben Israel – Maximilian Worthing Yates Sam Dodd – Native Soldier, Roadie Joe Fleshman – European Soldier, New Historian

Historian: Good evening. I am famed historian Maximilian Worthing Yates. Today, on “HISTORY!” we will discuss the history of European Imperialism. (Holds up title sign while “Imperial March” plays)

Historian: Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social lives of another country. By the end of the 1800’s, the most powerful countries in Europe, namely Russia, Germany, and Great Britain, controlled most of the known world; with Great Britain being the most powerful conquering nation. This form of imperialism differs from that of the Roman Imperialism in that Roman Imperialism’s main focus was on expansion of their boarders. The aim of the New Imperialism was to (air quotes) “protect” peoples whom were considered primitive by the European powers. During the period between 1870 and 1900, European governments scrambled to conquer new territories. They eventually grasped almost 20% of the Earth’s landmasses into their reign of control. The main target areas of this expansion were Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands, due to the large amount of cheap labor and resources.

When invading these areas the Europeans often met with little resistance; as can be seen in the following video clips.

(hand slowly reaches from behind chair and strangles Max. W. Yates)

(Cut to Clip)

Voiceovers

Video 1: As this young native soldier hunts for his food, a European soldier ambushes him. He does not seem to be injured by the bullet; however, his reaction is one of surprise, and anger. (Wait while Sam says “WHAT THE FLIP?!”) There you have it, “what the flip?”

Video 2: The young soldier proceeds home, not expecting to be ambushed AGAIN by a European soldier. His repeated reaction seems to be common among natives.

Video 3: (say before clip begins) The European’s often used what they called “superior intelligence” as well as advanced weaponry to their advantage, allowing them to quickly take over these poor backwater countries.

Video 4: In times when advanced weaponry was not available to use in battle, the Europeans sometimes had to use the weapons of the native land, as evidenced by this video.

Video 6: (say before clip begins) If a country proved too difficult to conquer by normal military means, the Europeans often employed a new tactic which they termed “cheating”.

New Historian: But, the Europeans did not limit their expansion to simply territorial gains. In fact they often tried to expand their economies by increasing trade with other nations. But not all of this trade was peaceful.

(cue I LIKE CHINESE)

The British actually forced China to open up their doors to the opium trade. As anyone might expect, the Chinese did not want the British to drug their entire population and they rose up against them in what is now known as the Boxer Rebellion. Despite the violence, this period was the first appearance of a world economy.

(Max. W. Yates leaps from off-camera and kicks New Historian off-camera, Roadie comes out and removes bandana from Yates’ mouth)

Yates: This kind of economic Imperialism later became more prevalent then expansionist Imperialism that had existed before, and the term, imperialism was used by Marxists to describe “the economic and political dominance of monopolistic finance capital in the most advanced countries and its acquisition — and enforcement through the state — of control of the means (and hence the returns) of production in less developed regions.

It is important to note, that despite of all the pain and suffering that Imperialism caused, the world we live in today would not exist without it.

That is all.

(Historian is attacked by a raving lunatic)

(Credits and bloopers)

The End

[|sources.doc]