Imperialism, Imperialism, Imperialism

            So based on the title of this blog post you may have guessed that it's going to be covering imperialism.  Specifically we will be looking at the colonization of Asia by the European countries.  It is this stage of imperialism, that is referred to as "new imperialism". The "new imperialism" is not to be confused with "old imperialism" (an example would be the Spanish conquest of Central and South America).  New imperialism resulted in the completion of the Suez Canal (It's in the song...)  as well as the discovery of the cure for malaria.  There are many placed in Asia that were affected by this "new imperialism", the three we will be look at (tested on) are India, China, and Japan.

India

            The British began to dominate India when the French stopped. The French had to withdraw their troops from the sub-continent to fight another war, you may have heard of it... The French and Indian War. As the nineteenth century progressed, so did the British control over India. After the "Sepoy Rebellion" of 1857, the British East India Company was replaced by a formal government. In 1877, Queen Victoria was names the Empress of India by Prime Minister Disraeli. Now, even though things may seem bad for India, bear in mind that the country still remained whole, ruled by one government. China on the other hand was not so lucky...

Mostly British, not bad India... not bad.

China

            Anyone remember the Open Door Policy? Secretary of State, John Hay dispatched his 'Open Door Note' to the European countries allowing them to grab their slice of China. The motion passed by the McKinley administration yielded disastrous results for the Chinese. The once empire was sliced like a pizza, and everyone who wanted a slice could take one. Great Britain was the first to take a piece, by establishing their informal empire. France was next with their control over Indochina and it's rubber plantations. China was unfortunately sliced, diced, and minced during this era. New imperialism was a very bad occurrence for China.

So broken... poor China.

Japan

            Japan luckily evaded invasion from the European nations. Japan mimicked the economies of both Great Britain and Germany, allowing them to become an industrial power. The country then managed to gain control of Korea after the Russo-Japanese War. Japan saw what happened to China and acted before the Europeans could imperialize...

 

See? All one color. Good job Japan.

And I'm not saying this question is going to be on the test... but it is totally going to be on the test. "Japan was an empire, China was sliced and diced, Britain took over India entirely. How did these situations play out in these countries? What were the lasting results of Imperialism?"

Just a little refresher from our friends...

Toddlers and Total Imperialism

The boom of the Industrial Revolution made prosperous countries of Europe look around with envious eyes on the lands of Africa and Asia. The boom and imperialism is similar to a teacher who brings in a new chest of toys to her class. The toys come in and the grabbing begins! The grabbing of the toys is equivalent to the grabbing by the European countries of the land south and west of them. These European countries include Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany.

Why did these countries look to Asia and Africa? The reason is that this land was close to the mother country and the land held bountiful resources. These resources included gold, diamonds, and spices. The prehistoric tools of the tribes of Africa led the conquest of land to be easy. These European countries also continued the use of natives as "indentured servants" or "slaves" to increase production and profit.
The craze began with Leopold II of Belgium. His inquisition of the Congo and the discover of diamonds began the great "African Fever". Major European countries went into a rush of land grabbing in Africa.

Cecil Rhodes taking a break during his imperial conquests

Cecil Rhodes was also a man of great conquest of ambition. Cecil Rhodes was a British man who established protectorates over Bechuanaland and Rhodesia. Cecil and his soldiers fought back the Afrikaners. Rhodes and Britain would be one of the first countries to use "self-governing" colonies. Britain and Cecil Rhodes found great wealth in gold.

Berlin Conference

This great grab of land led Jules Ferry of France and Otto van Bismarck to plan the Berlin Conference. This conference established that "European claims to African territory had to rest on 'effective occupation'". This meant that Europeans had to go to Africa, claim land, and defend it in order to claim the land as theirs. No one could look from afar and claim an entire section of Africa. This led to the map of Africa, after this time of Imperialism, to be compared to a puzzle. Before imperialism, Africa was a huge region with small sections of European countries on the outskirts of the continent. After this new age of imperialism, the land was mixed with different races and nationalities. The lack of collaboration of tribes throughout Africa left the country easy to infiltrate and conquer.

Before and After Imperialism

The imperialism of these great countries truly compares to the behavior of toddlers and new toys. When one goes for the toys, everyone goes for the new toy. Africa was the new toy. Germany, a new world power, wanted to impress the local countries with Otto Van Bismarck's reform in education in these third world countries. Other countries found the idea to educate these natives in the attitude of the "White Man's Burden". The new grab for land is equivalent to the grab of a small child. They both saw value in what they found and potential of what could happen.

The Great Migration: Snow White and Grumpy Edition

In the early 20th century, the population of Europe boomed dramatically. Although birthrates were decreasing, death rates were also decreasing due to the rising standard of living and the medical revolution around the world. Thus, the population of Europe nearly doubled between 1800 and 1900. Coupled with this growing influx of people in the world came a growing influx of people migrating out of Europe. Historians entitle this large movement "the great migration." Much like birds flying south for the winter, between 1815 and 1932, over 60 million people left Europe and settled in the "areas of European settlement," notably North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Siberia.

So, you may be asking yourself, What kind of people left Europe? and What were their reasons for doing so? Well lucky for you, the 7 dwarfs have your answer!

The typical, European migrant was most often a person who felt trapped by the "dwarf economy." Frederich List coined this term in reference to the economy before rapid industrialization, consisting of tiny landholdings and declining craft industries. The small peasant landowner or craftsman felt threatened (or was "Grumpy") by the growth of industry and the decrease in available land; therefore, they migrated to countries with greater opportunities for them to escape poverty. The emigrants were extremely useful to their new countries, since they were young and were eager to "work it"....or how snow white would say it....

....you t"work" it snow white.

Many immigrants who migrated had no intention of settling abroad permanently. For example, the Italians were largely dependent on an agricultural based society. With industry failing to provide adequate jobs for the growing population and the imports of North American wheat into Italy, many small, landowning peasants abandoned their land in Italy. Many Italians who fled from their country with no intention of remaining abroad were nicknamed "swallows." 

This was a very "Sleepy" process. After harvesting wheat in Italy, the swallows "flew" to Argentina for the harvest season between December and April, and then returned to Italy for the spring planting. 

Although the Italians had a hard life, I personally think the Asians had a harder life. Most of the Asian migrants worked as indentured laborers under incredibly difficult conditions, often on plantations or gold mines in Latin America, southern Asia, Africa, or California. They were harshly discriminated against and accused of knowing nothing about the "Caucasian civilization." Because of this claim, Americans and Australians built great white walls, or discriminatory laws designed to keep Asians out. 

I bet the Asians were pretty "Grumpy" about these laws... 

The sinking of the Titanic and the sinking of equality.

Economic imperialism during the late 1800s and 1900s was exploitive and extracted. Thanks to Alison, we all know that extracted means "taking out from something else". Thanks to Maura, we all know that exploitive is "taking advantage" of something. (Just wanted to clear that up in case anyone's vocabulary is lacking like mine...anyway!) No matter how bad one's vocabulary is there is one word that everyone knows, and that is the TITANIC. But first for a little background.  

Background: Before the Industrial Revolution, trade did not unite the globe. It was rather individual because there was no way to cover distance without technology. Also the gap between countries wasn't as large because of the equality in technology. Before the Titanic, the social classes were blindly accepted. Classes didn't try to expand and mingle with the other classes. For example, in the beginning of the movie, Jack Dawson, and artist/gambler could never get near the likeness of Rose, an aristocrat, because unfortunately he was not well off.   

See the difference?  ^^ >>

After the industrial revolution, Britain became the leading nation regarding economic imperialism and power. Instead of looking for land, Britain focused on economic imperialism, just like Jack, first focused on getting to America, ends up focusing on bettering his chances with Rose (becoming a little richer).  Britain was the original creator of new technology used for trading and economic advancement. England even launched the Titanic! It was the most industrial item at that time. However, the lavishness of the Titanic and the superiority of industry in Britain became a problem for those less fortunate.  

(Because I lost the name of the cartoon, I found a new one Sorry Mr. Yarnall!)

PS not really sure what specific event this cartoon belongs to but you get the idea! 

Because Britain was so far advanced, the middle countries (BRIC) and the 3rd world countries were left in the dust because they were not as industrially inclined. Also, Britain Imperialism was exploitive and extracted (referring back to first paragraph) because raw materials were traded to fuel Britain's economy and Britain forced other countries to take part that didn't have the means to trade. Therefore, there was a huge gap between the industrialized countries and the industrialized, the rich and the poor. Likewise, when the Titanic sank, the gap widened between the elite and the poor. Not even all the aristocrats made it on the lifeboats. It was made evident, the widening gap of the classes.

 

However, after a short while, other countries became industrialized and started to catch up to Britain! (not so much the 3rd world countries but definitely the middle countries). Jack, after only a few days, cleaned up his act and was on his way to winning over Rose's heart. Their love even influenced her to not go on the lifeboat. How romantic.   

             

Look how spiffy he looks!

Finally, although there were still economic difficulties in the less advanced countries, they were becoming real competition to Britain. In 1970, the middle countries end up surpassing Britain! You would think it was impossible considering how great Britain was in industry. As middle countries triumphed, so did Jack. He was able to win the heart of Rose and surpass her fiancé. You wouldn't think that a poor boy could end up with a rich girl at this time. Despite the hard economic troubles between classes, Jack and Rose's love conquered all.

THE END!!

Finding Stability in France

As we all are aware, French politics has always been a mess. For the past century, maybe even for its entire history, France has been on a journey to discover the best government, much like Marlin and Dory searched an entire ocean to find Nemo.

Once the despotic Napoleon III was expelled from power during the Franco-Prussian War, the government was again in turmoil, just like Marlin as he watched Nemo being taken.

Oh no!

Then, Republicans declared the Third French Republic in 1871, just as Marlin declared he would stop at nothing to find Nemo.

Meanwhile, the Germans held the French in Paris and starved them into surrender. They were forced change their diets, sometimes to include zoo animals, just like Bruce and his friends. 

The French National Assembly was forced to surrender Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. The French were angry, just like Marlin throughout the entire adventure. 

As a result, they proclaimed the Paris Commune. It was a radical group that intended to govern Paris without the influence of the more conservative country-side. This is similar to the time when Marlin thought he could find Nemo without Dory. (He couldn't)

As can be imagined, this was ill-received, and the Commune was violently put down. It was like the time when the seagulls swarmed Dory and Marlin on the dock. 

Finally, the republic was restored under President Thiers. It was fairly moderate to ensure that it would be "the government which divides us least." Similarly, Dory and Marlin can't succeed in finding Nemo while separated. 

Reunited, yay!

Along comes Leon Gambetta who helped stabilize France by advocating parliamentary supremacy. He was also instrumental in forcing the autocratic president, Marshall MacMahon, to resign. This is similar to when Nigel saved Dory and Marlin from the seagulls. 

Public education was preferred over Catholic school, and teachers were now encouraged to marry. I wonder if Mr. Ray was married.

Meanwhile, the Dreyfus affair was taking place. Catholics are believed to have falsely accused and convicted Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military captain, of treason. He was imprisoned unfairly, just as Gill and the crew were trapped by the dentist. 

They were so sad.

This case divided France (surprise, surprise), and further represented the waning influence of the church.  Finally, Dreyfus was released. Just like the fish!  

So, just as Marlin found Nemo, France finally established a stable government that (sort of) worked. 

Just keep swimming France!

Disraeli and Gladstone or Selena and Miley?

          Even though Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone lived a long while ago, you can see the similarities between the two politicians and Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. The two (Selena and Miley) were the best of friends, they would hang out in Beverly Hills together, do some shopping on Rodeo Drive, and even co-star on different Disney Channel shows... but then came Nick Jonas who ruined everything. Way to go Nick. If you don't remember what happened between them (or you couldn't care less) then here's what happened. Miley dated Nick and then they broke up. Then there were a bunch or rumors that Selena was dating Nick. Anyway Miley made a YouTube video mocking Selena and the rest is history. The two loathe each other now, just like Disraeli and Gladstone.

 

          Disraeli and Gladstone were both politicians and like any good politicians would, they hated each other. On April 1st 1880, the Conservative party (Disraeli) was defeated by the Liberals (Gladstone). The two hated each other. Disraeli referred to Gladstone in a letter he wrote as "...that unprincipled maniac Gladstone - extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition". And Gladstone called Disraeli, "the Tory party had principles by which it would and did stand for bad and for good."

          Even with these two men arguing nonstop in the House of Commons, the politicians managed to pass many revolutionary laws. In 1867 the second reform bill of England was passed which granted the right to vote to ALL middle class males. In 1884 Britain experienced universal male suffrage! With the two M.P.'s bickering, parliament managed to pass a ton of beneficial laws. Due to these laws being passed, the use of mass politics was becoming increasingly important. If you wanted to be re-elected, you had to a) listen and b) care about the will of the people.

         

"Russian" to be Modernized

We all have that elderly relative who is emotionally attached to their prehistoric phone. It always seems to be a Motorola Razor flip phone or an old Nokia phone that no matter how many times you drop the thing it will never break. This person is similar to Russia

=

While the rest of Europe was evolving with the Industrial Revolution, Russia would not budge from its old monarchy, serfdom, and predominant agrarian population. Europe was rapidly moving with their railroads and Russia got by with its slow paced rivers and wagons. 

Europe is an iphone owner and Russia is a Nokia owner. The iphone user has a touch screen full keyboard while the Nokia owner has the number pad with three letters on each number. They both are able to text but one can text at a more efficient rate. 

The Nokia owner is happy with their phone until one day, they drop their phone in a drink. When they go to AT&T they are told the Nokia phone is no longer in production. GASP! They must get an iphone. This is similar to the breaking point of Russia: the Crimean Wars.

Crimean War!

The Crimean Wars were between Russia and France over the dispute of who should protect certain Christian shrines in the Ottoman Empire. Russia's embarrassing defeat brutally displayed Russia's inability to keep up with the rest of Europe in their rapid industrialization. With Alexander II, Russia was able to make the transition to the Industrial Era. Russia abolished serfdom and created the zemstvo (a system of small local governments). Russia industrialized by subsidizing railroads and increasing exports of grain.

Under Alexander III, Sergei Witte further modernized Russia. Witte doubled the railroad network and encouraged foreign entrepreneurs and capitalists to establish factories in Russia. Witte's plan became very successful and Russia became a top competitor in petroleum and steel.

Sergei Witte

Modernizing Russia is similar to the adapting former Nokia owner. They receive their iphone and learn how to call and text. Then they venture to getting apps such as Twitter and Facebook. But eventually this former Nokia owner becomes too excited about their new phone. Soon you begin to see tweets from your relative every hour or pictures of random puppies posted on your wall from them. They don't know when to stop. Russia became a little too ambitious when they began to expand and give coveted glances at North Korea. Tiny Japan got nervous and decided to attack Russia. Again Russia failed miserably. This embarrassing loss rippled into the feelings of the people of Russia. Business and professional classes wanted political modernization. This class wanted a liberal and representative regime while the minorities wanted a government of self rule and autonomy.

Bloody Sunday

On Bloody Sunday the revolution of 1905 began. A peaceful protest was broken by gun fire into the crowd turning the people's admiration away from the tsar. Uprisings and riots began. Nicholas II calmed the people with the October Manifesto. This Manifesto brought full civil rights and a popularly elected parliament called a duma. Before the first Duma, a new constitution was issued called the Fundamental Laws. This instated election of universal male suffrage with debate of laws allowed in the upper house and allowing the tsar complete power of veto. The tsar was also allowed to choose his own ministers. The first and second Duma was fought by the liberal middle class and in 1907 the government made a shift of more power to the property owning class. In the end Russia became a conservative constitutional monarchy that is semi-modernized. 

The Duma

Russia's final state is similar to the older relative who has finally been given a talk on proper internet etiquette.  They have both found a comfortable place in between the old and the new. Russia still has a monarchy but they have modernized in industry and economy. And the older relative uses their phone only to text and check up on you once in a while.

German Unification

The unification of Germany was long in coming. In the beginning of the 1800's Germany did not exist as a country, but rather as a grouping of different states. Prussia, Austria, France, and Denmark all vied for control of this area during this period of time. The origins of German unification began with the Zollverein. This was an economic alliance between the Germanic states supported by Frederick List. The purpose of this alliance was to promote German industrial growth. Eventually the bonds formed by this economic alliance would turn into political ones.

Zollverein: Not Quite Wolverine

The man who would push for the unification of Germany with "blood and iron" was Otto van Bismarck, a Prussian. In 1864, along with the Austrians, he fought Denmark over the control of the provinces of Schleiswig and Holstein. After winning this war, he realized that he needed to remove Austrian influence from Germany. 

In The Seven Weeks' War, the Prussian forces pushed the Austrians out of German territory and limited their influence there. Prussia won because they had superior "iron" in the form of railroads and better guns. The German states and Prussia formed the North German Confederation, which did not include Austria. Poor Austria. 

SO MANY IRONS IN THE FIRE

Bismarck himself was the chancellor of Prussia. He could be described as "pragmatic" or "manipulative" depending on your opinion of him. He was  not particularly well liked by the Parliament there, because he had raised taxes without their permission to fund the war efforts. In Bismarck's eyes the king and military held the power. Additionally, he was wary of the republican liberals, the ones responsible for the revolts in 1848. Bismarck however, saw nationalism as a tool that could be used for the purposes of his regime. He was not a complete dictator though. In an attempt to compromise with Parliament, he passed the Indemnity Bill with their permission which approved of spending officially. He also allowed representatives of the lower Parliament (the Reichstag) to be elected through universal male suffrage. These concessions must be taken with a grain of salt however, as they did not significantly hinder the power of Bismarck, and if anything were mainly motivated by the desire to make friends among the middle class and the common people. 

The Orange Bits - Southern Germany

With these things accomplished, Bismarck began looking to join the southern German states to the growing country of Germany. These southern states were Catholic, while the northern ones, in which Luther had basically been born in, were Protestant. He would need a way to gain the support of the culturally different southern states if he wanted an unified Germany. But how??

Success, betrayal, and a tragic love story

To answer Katie's last cliff hanger, Victor Emmanuel succeeds in uniting Italy, but only with the help of Cavour, a member of the Sardinian government.

The story of Cavour and his beloved Sardinia is full of violence, betrayal, and heartbreak (so pretty much the Hunger Games...). The reason Cavour was even able to lead Italy into becoming a unified country was because of everyone's cooperation. Those who believed in the radical or religious ideas of government, eventually worked through their differences to obtain the one common goal that everyone had: unity. Likewise, the tributes of the Catching Fire (second movie in case you were not aware) united as well despite Katniss's dislike of Finnick, Katniss's mistrust of Johanna (so pretty much just Katniss hating everyone), and the minor detail that everyone was supposed to kill each other. Just look at everyone trying to be friends! With these unities created, actions could be taken.

Cavour, in charge of Sardinia don't forget, needed to kick out the Austrians from the North. Napoleon III comes to the rescue! Just as the game maker leads the tributes to one another via poisonous smoke, tidal waves, and lighting among other things, Napoleon leads each of the Italian states to one another. However, kicking out Austria was a small task, it is the preservation that is the most important. Napoleon III scared of reigning too much power for Italy and disrupting the balance of power, abandoned them. This resulted in Sardinia losing some of the land it conquered. Likewise, as the game maker fought for power, the union slightly faltered as tributes were killed. The unity in both cases still existed but was not as strong as it once had been. 

Napoleon had to make things difficult for poor Italy :(

Despite these obstacles of betrayal, Italy as well as the tributes worked for their goals. Katniss and her friends started a revolution by destroying the game board and Cavour started unification of Italy under one government by setting up a parliamentary monarch under Victor Emmanuel (HE SUCCEEDED!!!) "Italy was united on paper"(textbook) but still had many problems to face.

Italy has fallen apart, now its on its way to being put back together.

One last point I would like to touch upon is the other countries reaction to Italy. The moment the countries found out about the power of Italy was like the moment Gale found out Peeta and Katniss were engaged:

                                                                                 Betrayal at its finest

                                      

Anyway the countries felt threatened because if Italy became united, they would have a bigger role in trade and become a stronger country overall. Italy was a growing power and no one knew what to do. There was no way to stop the process unification. There was no way to stop the mocking jay revolution.

Hope this all made sense! Hope I did the Hunger Games justice (that statement is directed at you Kiersten).

Thanks for reading and may the odds be ever in your favor ;)  

Oh and one more thing....  whilst browsing tumblr I came across the possibly the coolest thing ever