The Era of Imperialism: Part II

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The Era of Imperialism Part II
War Print by Toshikata
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European Domination of AsiaIndia and the
Imperial Model

• India (modern countries of India, Pakistan,
  Bangladesh, and Myanmar, or Burma) was the jewel
  of the British Empire.
• In India, British expansion did not lead to
  territorial incorporation, nor were colonial
  subjects supposed to become part of a national
  citizenry.
• They would be governed with an iron fist.
• Suppressed the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
• East India Company rule replaced with crown
  government in 1858.

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India and the Imperial Model

• Public Works Project
• By 1910. the Indian railways were the 4th largest
  railway system in the world.
• Economic Purpose
• India was to become a consumer of British
  manufactures (especially textiles) and a supplier
  of primary staples like cotton, jute, tea
  (Liptons), wheat, and vegetable oil seeds.
• Indian exports balanced Britains huge trade
  deficits with the rest of the world and helped
  Britain retain its financial might.

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Imperial Legacy in India

• British administrative programs did turn
  India into a unified territory and take the
  first steps toward becoming a nation.
• India would remain part of the British Empire
  until Mohandas Gandhi led drive for independence
  through civil disobedience and nonviolent
  resistance.
• India would finally gain its independence after
  World War II had exhausted Britains resources.
• The country would be split into Muslim Pakistan
  and Hindu India.

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European Domination of Asia China

• At first, China excluded foreigners in an effort
  to preserve traditional beliefs.
• The British defeated the Chinese in the Opium War
  of 1839-42 and forced them open trade with the
  West.
• In the process, Britain seized several Chinese
  ports including Hong Kong.
• For a time, Europeans were content with trading
  rights.
• After Japans victory in the Sino-Japanese War of
  1894-95, Europeans began to carve up China into
  spheres of influence.

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European Domination of Asia China

• China could have been partitioned off like
  Africa, however, each Western nation resisted
  partitioning for fear that it would give an
  advantage to a rival.
• Americas Open Door Policy
• Guaranteed that the territorial integrity of
  China would be preserved.
• Boxer Rebellion (1900)
• An international army of Europeans, Japanese, and
  Americans would put down the revolt.
• China would remain at the mercy of outside
  interests until after World War II.

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Japan

• Like China, Japan had chosen isolation but was
  forced open by the West by the 1850s.
• U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853
• A flood of violence followed as the warrior
  nobility, the samurai, attacked foreigners and
  took control of the government, returning to
  power the emperor.
• The feudal aristocracy, under the shogun, had
  ruled for 700 years.
• The Meiji Emperor (Enlightened Rule) became the
  symbol of a new Japan.

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The Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)

• Determined to protect Japans independence,
  younger Japanese, especially among the military
  (samurai) elite, felt that Japan should respond
  by adopting, not rejecting, Western practices.
• The new government turned Japan into a powerful
  modern centralized nation-state.
• Universal military service promoted nationalism.
• The Japanese modeled their constitution on
  Bismarcks German constitution.
• Elected first parliament (Imperial Diet) in 1890.
• Introduced modern industry and economic
  competition.

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Economic Transformation of Japan

• During the Meiji period, the government
  transformed the economy by building railroads,
  laying telegraph lines, founding a postal system,
  and encouraging the formation of giant firms
  known as zaibatsu, which were family
  organizations consisting of factories,
  import-export businesses, and banks.
• Japan moved from economic backwardness to a place
  among the top ten industrial nations.

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Japanese Expansion

• The new nationalists stressed linguistic and
  ethnic homogeneityas well as superiority
  compared to others.
• In this fashion, the Meiji leaders overcame
  age-old regional divisions and mobilized the
  country to face the threat of the powerful
  Europeans.
• Turned their attention to the Asian mainland.
• Captured Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) in 1879.
• Defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
  and annexed Taiwan. Annexed Korea in 1910.
• Established control of Manchuria by 1905.

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Japan

• By 1900, Japan was an imperialist power in its
  own right, culminating with their victory over
  Russia in 1904 during a war over Manchuria.
  (Russo-Japanese War 1904-05)
• The victory of an Asian power over a Western
  power had a tremendous impact throughout Asia.
• In World War I, Japan fought on the side of the
  Allies and was rewarded with much of Germanys
  territory in Asia, becoming the most powerful
  Asian state.

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Southeast and Central Asia

• The Great Powers rushed to claim territory
  throughout Asia.
• The French claimed Indochina (Vietnam, Laos).
• The Dutch established colonial rule in Indonesia.
• U.S. and the Philippines.
• States began organizing patriots to resist
  foreign domination.
• It would come to a dramatic climax in the
  aftermath of World War II.

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The U.S. and Latin America

• European influence in Latin America was very
  different than in Africa and Asia.
• Europe penetrated South America with investment
  and trade and immigration.
• Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other countries
  took in the Irish, Germans, Italians, eastern
  Europeans, and Spaniards.
• Direct imperialism would only come from the
  United States.
• U.S. declared war on Spain in 1898 and captured
  the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.

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The U.S. and Latin America

• Following the Spanish-American War, the U.S.
  regularly sent troops to many Caribbean and
  Central-American countries.
• The Americans preferred to make these regimes
  into dependent client states rather than making
  them part of the United States itself or
  converting them into formal colonies as the
  Europeans had done in Africa and Asia.
• Became the model of 20th-century U.S.
  expansionism.

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The Legacy of Imperialism

• The drive to found nation-states and subordinate
  colonies provided an effective catalyst for
  integrating the global economy.
• Labor, commodities, and capital moved across the
  world more rapidly and in greater numbers than
  ever before.
• The political division of the world into imperial
  nation-states and colonial outposts shaped the
  economic division of the world into
  industrialized and non-industrialized societies.
• It would not be until the aftermath of World War
  II that we would see a widespread move toward the
  decolonization of most of the world.