Imperialism+Research+B

=Period 8 Imperialism Research=

GENERAL OVERVIEW:


//A map of the British Empire in 1921, a popular saying of the time was that, "the sun never sets on the British Empire."// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_empire We live in a world today in which the consequences of nineteenth-century Western imperialism are still being felt. By about 1914 Western civilization reached the high point of its long-standing global expansion. This expansion in this period took many forms. There was, first of all, economic expansion. Europeans invested large sums of money abroad, building railroads and ports, mines and plantations, factories and public utilities. Trade between nations grew greatly and a world economy developed. Between 1750 and 1900 the gap in income disparities between industrialized Europe and America and the rest of the world grew at an astounding rate. Part of this was due, first, to a rearrangement of land use that accompanies Western colonialism and to Western success in preventing industrialization in areas Westerners saw as markets for their manufactured goods. European economic penetration was very often peaceful, but Europeans (and Americans) were also quite willing to force isolationist nations such as China and Japan to throw open their doors to Westerners. Second, millions of Europeans migrated abroad. The pressure of poverty and overpopulation in rural areas encouraged this migration, but once in the United States and Australia, European settlers passed laws to prevent similar mass migration from Asia. A third aspect of Western expansion was that European states established vast political empires, mainly in Africa but also in Asia. This "new imperialism" occurred primarily between 1880 and 1900, when European governments scrambled frantically for territory. White people came, therefore, to rule millions of black and brown people in Africa and Asia. The causes of the new imperialism are still hotly debated. Competition for trade, superior military force, European power politics, and a racist belief in European superiority were among the most important. Some Europeans bitterly criticized imperialism as a betrayal of Western ideals of freedom and equality. Western imperialism produced various reactions in Africa and Asia. The first response was simply to try to drive the foreigners away. The general failure of this traditionalist response then led large masses to accept European rule, which did bring some improvements. A third response was the modernist response of Western-educated natives, who were repelled by Western racism and attracted by Western ideals of national independence and economic progress. Thus, imperialism and reactions to it spread Western civilization to non-Western lands.

Schmiechen, James. __A History of Western Society, 6th ed. Study Guide vol. II__. Boston: Houghton, 1999. (pp. 441-442)
The high tide of modern imperialism is generally agreed upon to have fallen roughly between 1870 and the 1930s. It began with the European takeover of most of the world, and the Japanese annexation of most of the other Asian countries. At issue in the new imperialism was promoting modern state power, ensuring national prosperity, and making citizens feel that their nation was better because it had colonies. One journalist announced that "Japanese imperialism is not based on momentary whims," but " It is a policy born out of necessity if we are to exist as anation and survive as a race." The great powers came to believe that only having large empires would guarantee their status in the future. - //Imperialism: a History in Documents// by Bonnie G. Smith

=New Imperialism=

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term //[|imperialism]// was used from the third quarter of the [|nineteenth century] to describe various forms of political control by a greater power over less powerful territories or nationalities, although analytically the phenomena which it denotes may differ greatly from each other and from the "New" imperialism. //The Partition of Africa is regarded as an important event in the history of New Imperialism// http://www.homestead.com/wysinger/berlinconference.html A later usage developed in the early 20th century among [|Marxists], who saw "imperialism" as 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. Elements of both conceptions are present in the "New imperialism" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But along with the adoption of [|ultra-nationalist] and racial [|supremacist] ideologies, the period saw a shift to pre-emptive colonial expansion, fueled by the imposition of [|tariff] barriers aimed at excluding economic rivals from markets.

//Cecil Rhodes was a supporter of the scramble for Africa// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa [|English] [|writers] have sometimes described elements of this period as the "//era of empire for empire's sake//," "//the great adventure//," and "//the scramble for Africa//." During this period, European nations conquered 20% of the [|Earth]'s land [|area] (nearly [|23,000,000 km²]). [|Africa], [|Asia] and the [|Pacific Islands], the remaining world regions that had largely been uncolonized by Europeans, became the primary targets of this new phase of imperialist expansion; in the latter two regions, [|Japan] and the [|United States] joined the European powers in the scramble for territory.

The New Imperialism and the newly-industrializing countries
Just as the U.S. emerged as one of the world's leading industrial, military and political powers after the [|Civil War], so would [|Germany] following its own unification in 1871. Both countries undertook ambitious naval expansion in the 1890s. And just as Germany reacted to depression with the adoption of tariff protection in 1879 and colonial expansion in 1884-85, so would the U.S., following the landslide election (1896) of [|William McKinley], be associated with the high [|McKinley Tariff] of 1890. United States expansionism had its roots in domestic concerns and economic conditions, as in other newly industrializing nations where government sought to accelerate internal development. Advocates of empires also drew upon a tradition of westward expansion over the course of the previous century. Economic depression led some U.S. businessmen and politicians from the mid-1880s to come to the same conclusion as their European counterparts — that industry and capital had exceeded the capacity of existing markets and needed new outlets. The "closing of the Frontier" identified by the 1890 Census report and publicized by historian [|Frederick Jackson Turner] in his 1893 paper //[|The Significance of the Frontier in American History]//, contributed to fears of constrained natural resource. Like the Long Depression in [|Europe], the main features of the U.S. depression included deflation, rural decline, and unemployment, which aggravated the bitter social protests of the "[|Gilded Age]" — the [|Populist movement], the free-silver crusade, and violent labor disputes such as the [|Pullman] and [|Homestead] strikes. The [|Panic of 1893] contributed to the growing mood for expansionism. Influential politicians such as [|Henry Cabot Lodge], [|William McKinley], and [|Theodore Roosevelt] advocated a more aggressive foreign policy to pull the United States out of the depression. However, opposition to expansionism was strong and vocal in the United States. The U.S. became involved in the War with Spain only after Cubans convinced the U.S. government that Spain was brutalizing them. Whatever the causes, the result of the war was that the U.S. came into the possession of [|Cuba], [|Puerto Rico] and the [|Philippines]. It was, however, only the Philippines that remained, for three decades, as a colonial possession. Although U.S. capital investments within the [|Philippines] and [|Puerto Rico] were relatively small (figures that would seemingly detract from the broader economic implications on first glance), "imperialism" for the United States, formalized in 1904 by the [|Roosevelt Corollary] to the [|Monroe Doctrine], would also spur on her displacement of Britain as the predominant investor in Latin America — a process largely completed by the end of the Great War. In [|Germany], Imperial Chancellor [|Otto von Bismarck] revised his initial dislike of colonies (which he had seen as burdensome and useless), partly under pressure for colonial expansion to match that of the other European states, but also under the mistaken notion that Germany's entry into the colonial scramble could press Britain into conceding to broader German strategic ambitions. [|Japan]'s development after the [|Meiji Restoration] of 1868 followed the Western lead in industrialization and [|militarism], enabling her to gain control of [|Taiwan] in 1895, Korea in 1910 and a sphere of influence in [|Manchuria] (1905), following her defeat of Russia in the [|Russo-Japanese War]. Japan was responding in part to the actions of more established powers, and her expansionism drew on the harnessing of traditional Japanese values to more modern aspirations for great-power status; not until the 1930s was Japan to become a net exporter of capital.

Social implications of the New Imperialism
The New Imperialism gave rise to new social views of colonialism. [|Rudyard Kipling], for instance, urged the [|United States] to [|"Take up the White Man's burden"] of bringing the European version of civilization to the other peoples of the world, regardless of whether they wanted this form of civilization. While [|Social Darwinism] became current throughout western Europe and the United States, the paternalistic French-style "[|civilizing mission]" (In [|French]: //mission civilisatrice//) appealed to many European statesmen. Observing the rise of trade unionism, [|socialism], and other protest movements during an era of mass society in both Europe and later North America, elites sought to use imperial [|jingoism] to co-opt the support of part of the industrial working class. The new mass media promoted jingoism in the [|Spanish-American War] (1898), the [|Second Boer War] (1899-1902), and the [|Boxer Rebellion] (1900). Many of Europe's major elites also found advantages in formal, overseas expansion: large financial and industrial monopolies wanted imperial support to protect their overseas investments against competition and domestic political tensions abroad; bureaucrats wanted and sought government offices; military officers desired promotion; and the traditional but waning landed gentries sought increased profits for their investments, formal titles, and high office.

"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular [|magazine] //[|McClure's]// in 1899, with the subtitle //The United States and the Philippine Islands//.[|[1]] "The White Man's Burden" was written in regard to the [|U.S. conquest] of the [|Philippines] and other former Spanish colonies.[|[2]] Although Kipling's poem mixed exhortation to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the United States latched onto the phrase "white man's burden" as a characterization for imperialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise.[|[3]][|[4]][|[5]][|[6]] The poem was originally written for Queen [|Victoria]'s [|Diamond Jubilee], but exchanged for "[|Recessional]"; Kipling changed the text of "Burden" to reflect the subject of American colonization.[|[7]] The poem consists of seven [|stanzas], following a regular [|rhyme scheme]. At face value it appears to be a [|rhetorical] command to white men to [|colonize] and rule people of other nations for their own benefit (both the people and the duty may be seen as representing the "burden" of the title). Because of its theme and title, it has become emblematic both of [|Eurocentric] [|racism] and of Western aspirations to dominate the developing world.[|[8]][|[9]][|[10]] A century after its publication, the poem still rouses strong emotions, and can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives.
 * The White man's Burden**