The Age of High Imperialism 7/31/07 9:31 AM

← Empires on Display

Great Exhibition of 1851

o The Crystal Palace

Massive structure of steel and glass

In the middle of Hyde Park, in the middle of London

o Huge trade show

o Over 14,000 exhibits, over 100,000 objects on display

o About 6.2 million people visited

o Queen Victoria went 34 times to the exhibit

proud of exhibit and her reign

the exhibits became a regular thing on the western empires

National Millenial Exhibition

o Hungarian exhibit

o designed to show the world that Hungary was a modern

country

o they were in a position between the west and east

they wanted to show they were leaning toward the west

o displayed an imperial ideology

particularly interested in placing into display their

treatment of other nationalities

o the highlight of the display was when all the different societies

walk down with their national garbs.

this exhibitions where the showcases of the western European

modern world

the processes and the fruits of the empires

they wanted to have a contrast between the developed west and

the undeveloped rest

between the pax Britannica the British looked at the world as their

warehouse and their market place

o 1815 and 1870s

o great diversity of colonies

white dominions like Canada

conquest territories and India

Indian affairs had its own office in the metropole

o it was effectively without rivals

← A new era

Emergence of Rivals

o the 1870s start the era of high imperialism

global depression

new imperialism in the British sense

o building of navy

Germany and France

o start to expand their empires where Britain used to be the

only traders

o British and Russian fight for Afghanistan

o the French become involved in indo-china

o recent unified countries like Germany were interested in

establishing a colony in china, whether formally or informally

Industrial Competitors

o New empires start to rival the British and their workshop of

the world mentality

o Germany started slowly, but once it picked up, it jumped

dramatically

o The British empire dropped about 50% from their height of

industrialism

Shift in nature and peace of Imperial Acquisition

o Very aggressive empire building

o British feel that they have to take over other lands, because

otherwise some other nation will do so.

They reluctantly take over Egypt

o Benjamin Disraeli, Crystal Palace speech (1872)

He does not like the liberals, calls them anti-imperialist

o William Gladstone

Leader of the more cautious side.

o Egypt

Instability in Egypt was threatening the trade canal of

Egypt

Gladstone won the election, but he felt that he had to

keep control of the canal, so they take over Egypt

o The Scramble for Africa

European leaders got together in a conference and split

Africa among themselves

they drew arbitrary boarders

there was gold and diamonds

mostly about gaining lands away from other

imperial powers

some African involvement, but only on the local end

By 1900 western powers partitioned almost all of Africa

among themselves

only two countries are left to Africans

Imperial Ideologies

o supreme confidence and insecurity in the other

o Jingoism

originated from music halls by Jingoes

feverish nationalism

extremely patriotic stance (seen in a bad sense)

evidence of confidence

national pride intertwined with imperial pride

o imperial advertising

high point in consumerism

extensive advertising, packaging

advertisers knew that Imperialism sold

o Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (1897) (60th anniversary of her

empire)

All the prime ministers from the dominions went to

London to mark her jubilee

troops from all over the empire came to see her

Kipling writes a poem in which he believes that the

British should not be too sure about their power

(Recessional)

o Race

Enlightenment

18th century had been characterized with some

respect for the races of other nations

noble savages in Australia

Monogenesis

A theory of the 18th century that human kind

had emerged from one source

they were capable of progress

Perfectibility

The idea that humans could achieve a

higher state o civilization

it wasn't about themselves it was about the

situation they were in

if you took somebody from Africa to London

they could become an Englishmen

Philanthropic Humanitarianism

Africans were brothers and could be remade

into valuable Christian subjects

Trusteeship

The British had a responsibility to protect

vulnerable non-European people

The age of race as seen through the age of

Enlightenment is changed during the 1900s (Social

Darwinism and scientific racism)

Social Darwinism and Scientific Racism

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)

proposed the world was eternally changing

he did not say anything about people

Others use the term Social Darwinism

race was given a new meaning

in 17th and 18th century race just meant

different

by the 19th century race was now the

difference, not the environment

they blamed race for them being inferior and

could not become proper men like whites

important to keep in mind that race consciousness is

not inherit

it changes over time and is learned

race has become a way to self-identification

a way for whites to differentiate from others, and

those to differentiate from whites

← Questioning Imperialism

a lot of public debate within advocates of Empires, however, they

would all say that Britain should stay as an imperial power

Now there are people that are questioning whether the British

should be an empire

at this point the colonial wars are becoming more visible, the

general public is starting to change their views

J.A. Hobson, Imperialism, A Study

o one of the first critics of empires

o author of several dozen books, journalist, economist and book

writer

o opposes the war

o Southern African War (Boer War)

Dutch and British are fighting for control of south Africa

highly controversial war

they were fighting European colonizers

o The Pro-Boers

Irish nationals that supported the Boers

7/31/07 9:31 AM

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7/31/07 9:31 AM

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