During the 19th century, the major European powers divided almost all of Africa and Asia among themselves. Japan joined the imperialist ranks soon after being forced ‘open’ by the United States in 1854. Although imperial rivalries lead to international tension, the Russo-Japanese War (1905) was the only war among the major powers to result from imperial rivalries.

Timeline

• 1842 Britain acquires Hong Kong
• 1854 Perry (USA) ‘opens’ Japan
• 1857 Sepoy Mutiny in India – leads to Victoria’s title of Empress of India
• 1860 Treaty of Tianjin ends Second Opium War; demands more concessions from China; 11 treaty ports opened along China’s coast
• 1867 British North American Act est the Dominion of Canada
• 1869 Suez Canal (French built) opened
• 1895 Japan defeats China
• 1898 Fashoda Crisis brings France and Britain to brink of war on the Nile
• 1898 British take control of Sudan after the Battle of Omdurman (Winston Churchill present w the 21st Lancers)
• 1898 USA defeats Spain; takes control of Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii
• 1902 British defeat the Boers in South Africa; take control of Orange Free State and Transvaal
• 1905 Japan defeats the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima; ignites rebellion in Russia
• 1910 Japan annexes Korea

Motives for Imperialism:

• Political and Psychological: colonies a sign of national greatness
• Social Darwinism: countries that fail to expand lose the struggle to survive; white ‘race’ has obligation to civilize the less developed peoples
• Religious and Humanitarian: mission to Christianize and bring benefits of Western civilization
• Economic: industrial demand for raw resources and new markets [Imperialism: A Study (1920)by J.A. Hobson blamed capitalist financiers…Imperialism: The Last Stage of Capitalism (1916) by V.I. Lenin insisted that capitalism had to expand in order to survive.]

The British Empire

• South Africa: tangle with the Boers in the Cape Colony (1820s). In the Great Trek (1835-37) the Boers move north and est two independent republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Britain will go to war with them twice between 1880-1902 in the Boer Wars. Concentration camps established for Boer civilians by the British. Anglo-Zulu War fought 1879. Diamonds discovered in 1869. In 1910, the British unite all regions to form the self-governing dominion, the Union of South Africa (Herbert Gladstone, first Governor-General).
• India: Britain gains control after Seven Years’ War, though India administered by the East India Co. until the Sepoy Mutiny (1857)
• China: Britain forces opium trade on China with two wars (1839-42, 1856-60), annexing Hong-Kong and opening 16 ‘treaty ports‘ along the Chinese coast.
• Egypt: Disraeli buys shares in Suez Canal Co (opened in 1869) from Egypt’s khedive, who was in serious debt. Egyptians attack British interests and provoke military intervention; Britain est a protectorate over Egypt in 1882, eliminating the French from the scene.
• West Africa: Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria
• East Africa: Cecil Rhode , founder of DeBeers, attempts to build railway connecting Cairo to Cape Town; possessions include Kenya, Uganda, Somaliland, and Zanzibar.

The French Empire

• North Africa: Algeria (1830s), Tunisia (1881), and Morocco
• West Africa: Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast
• East Africa: Madagascar, French Somaliland
• Indochina: extend control between 1860s-90s (Siam’s independence maintained as a buffer between French Indochina and British Burma)

Italy

Seeking to create an East African empire, Italy acquired Somaliland (1889) and Eritrea (1890). Italy suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Adowa (1896) when it attempted to seize Ethiopia. Ethiopia and Liberia (protected by the USA) succeeded in maintaining independence. Italy also acquired Tripoli from the Turks in 1912.

Germans and Russians

The Germans came late to imperialism, mainly because Germany didn’t exist until 1871 and Germany’s Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1871-90), considered colonies a nuisance. But new generation joined the game in 1890s and est colonies in China, Africa (Cameroon, Togoland, East Africa). By the 1890s the Russians secured rights to build Trans-Siberian rail-lines across Manchuria, bringing them into conflict with Japanese interests. The Japanese launched a surprise attack against the Russian Far Easter Fleet at Port Arthur, beginning the Russo-Japanese War, and then defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, precipitating a rebellion in Russia (a precursor of the Russian Revolution).