INDUSTRY, EMPIRE, AND EVERYDAY

LIFE

Chapter 23

Industry and Empire

The New ImperialismEurope controlled most of the African continentExpanded into Asia

○ French in Indochina○ Dutch in Indonesia○ English into Africa, Middle East

Nationalism – citizens took pride in their country’s conquests

Marianne North connected the empire to citizens daily lives.

Marianne North

The Advance of Industry

Franco-Prussian War ends in 1870German victoryFrance cedes Alsace and part of LorraineGermany unites under Wilhelm I (Kaiser)

○ Otto Von Bismarck named first Reich chancellor.

Continental power shifts towards the new unified Germany.

The Advance of Industry

1870s-1890sKarl Benz invents a workable gas engineArmand Peugeot constructs working car –

beings working with Daimler. Eiffel Tower built in 1889

Production of coal, steel, and iron increase exponentially.

Sometimes known as the “second” Industrial Revolution.

Rise of German Power Challenges British

German power begins to take off after Franco-Prussian War. Alsace and Lorraine had textile industries

and rich iron deposits.New industrial processes and mass

production of goods.Begins to spend as much on education as it

does on military.○ Famous German engineers.

Facing Economic Crisis

1873: Economic depression hits most of Europe.

Before 1850, economies rely on agriculture. After 1870, economies rely on industry.

Shift from labor intensive to capital intensive industry

Mass production lowers scarcity, prices dropFirms lower wages and fire people to make up

for the difference.

Revolution in Business Practice

Earlier, factory owners were involved in all aspects of their business.

By the 1870s they began to hire specialized managers to run these aspects.

Explain how these new business practices began to reshape gender roles. What is one negative aspect of these shifts?

The New Imperialism

Britain and France “Invest” in Egypt Suez Canal, railroads, harbors, telegraph

systems, high interest loans 1879: BR & FR take over Egyptian treasury

(guarantee repayment of loans) 1882: They invade to squash native

resistanceBR seizes gov’t and reshapes Egyptian economy

○ Used to be self-sufficient multi crop, now few crops (cotton, silk, wheat) – Egypt suffers

The New Imperialism

France Invades Tunisia, 1881 To protect its Algerian colony FR & Britain flood Asia Minor and the

Levant with cheap goodsDestroying domestic business there.Drives local artisans into low-wage labor

jobs.Both use ethnicity and religion to set wages

○ Muslims paid less than Christians○ Arabs paid less than other ethnic groups

Scramble for Africa – “The Magnificent Cake”

Britain Shift from slave trade to raw material

extraction – palm oil, cotton, metals, diamonds.

Belgium Pure predatory imperialism in the Congo

Leopold II installs a kind of encomienda system amongst the natives.

Scramble for Africa

Berlin Conference, 1884-1885 Called for by Portugal, organized by

Otto von Bismarck. It regulated European colonization and

trade in Africa. General Act of the Berlin Conference

formalized the so-called Scramble for Africa.Virtually ended any African autonomy

Scramble for Africa

Southern Africa British and Dutch battle the Xhosa, Zulu, et. al.

for control of the land.Dutch moved into area by 17th cent (called Boers

thereafter)“I contend that we are the finest race in the world…

and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is.” - Cecil Rhodes

Britain “should rule the country as if there were no inhabitants.”

Social Darwinism begins to be used to justify racist sentiments.

Acquiring Asia TerritoryBritain

Malay PeninsulaBurma

Russia – (Khanates)TurkmenistanParts of AfghanistanBorders of Persia (Iran)

FranceIndochina (Laos, Cambodia, Cochin China -

Vietnam)

March Towards World War?The Paradoxes of Imperialism

Begins to create distrust amongst the European powers.○ Austria-Hungary, Russia, and rival ethnic

groups disputed control of Balkans. Costs were great

○ Armies, bureaucratic control, all paid for by the taxpayers of the country.

What do you think the biggest paradox of imperialism was/is?

Migrations of Working People One third of all European migrants came

from the British IslesPotato famine, landlords kicking farmers out to get

higher rents from newcomers. Destinations included

North & South AmericaNew ZealandAustralia

Migrants would send money back to their home country, support family members, improve life.

Adaptation to Industrial ChangeWhat do you think the effect on workers will be when they are suddenly faced with new machines that run much more quickly than previous?

Workers forced to work at “unrealistic pace”Much more physical exertion, with no increase in

payAnimosity between the managers and the workers.Unionization

How do we reconcile small federal government with top-down industrial capitalism?

The Birth of Mass Politics1880s: the pace for improvement in working conditions accelerates. London Matchstick Girls: struck to end

the fining system, wages, and working conditions (white phosphorous is toxic)Publicized by the press (much freer press

back then, see US labor press of 19th century).

The girls won their demands and the strike ended

The Birth of Mass Politics

Governments began responding to strikes with police or paramilitary forceWhy the violent reaction from governments

(state or local)?○ Democracy?○ Adam Smith’s maxim that the principle architects

of policy are merchants and manufacturers.

New Unionism: a development in labor that employed salaried managers to plan wide-spread general strikes.

The Birth of Mass PoliticsEuropean Workers Become Active Labour Party – England Socialist Party –France Social Democratic Party – Sweden,

Hungary, Austria, GermanyMost inspired by Marxist theories

Second International: 1889, formed in Paris by workers across Europe. Attempted to continue Marx’s First International.

Expanding Political Participation

1. Journalism: gives working class an opportunity to learn and share ideas. Fuels public interest in politics.

2. British Political Reform: William Gladstone – new approach to

campaigning. Speaks with ordinary working people. Spoke out against empire.

The Ballot Act of 1872 – made voting secretReform Act of 1884 – enfranchised many

urban workers and artisans.

Expanding Political Participation

Irish Politicians Rise Up Irish National Land League: 1879,

opposed absentee landownership.Nationalist representatives elected from this

group.Vote as a bloc in English Parliament.Charles Stewart Parnell: advocated home

rule, a system of giving Ireland its own parliament.

Expanding Political Participation

France’s Third Republic Napoleon III’s defeat at the hands of the

Prussian’s led to the Third Republic, replacing the Second Empire.Bonapartists, Orleanists, and Bourbons all struggle

to restore their families to power. Henri of Artois – Count of Chambord – attempted to

revive the monarchy. Refused to accept tricolored flag.○ Opted instead to adopt the white flag with the fleur-de-

lis of the Bourbons.○ Rejected from office in the 1870s.

Expanding Political Participation

France’s Third Republic 1875: New constitution creates presidency

and premiership dependent on support from an elected Chamber of Deputies.Third Republic would last until WWII, when

France folds (like a house of cards) to the Nazis.

Economic downturns, corruption, and antisemitism keeps the republic on shaky ground. ○ Jews blamed for economy, etc…

France Galvanizes Ideology Leaders attempt to strengthen citizen loyalty.

Compulsory and free public education, 1880sSecular teachers support republicanism, replace

Catholic clergy.Centralized curriculum

○ Patriotic readings – courses in French geography, lit, and history.

Mandatory military service ○ Shift from local loyalty and Catholicism toward

national pride.○ “Schools and the Army turn peasants into

Frenchmen.”

Liberalism Rejected Spain and Belgium: male suffrage in 1890

and 1893 respectively, but remained monarchies.Landowners and Catholic church dominated

Spain. Denmark and Sweden: limited progress in

the Netherlands. Only 14% male suffrage by 1895.

Italy: universal suffrage to all men with primary education (14%).Debt, and a disconnected citizenry in the south.

Power Politics in Central and Eastern Europe Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia industrialize

at different rates.Germany quickly, Russia more slowly.

Bismarck’s Germany Goals achieved, he seeks diplomacy instead of

war.Calls Germany “satisfied” and forms the Three

Emperors’ League – Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

Kulturkampf defeated, he stops persecuting Catholics. Starts attacking socialists and liberals as enemies of the state.

Power Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Bismarck’s GermanyOutlaws the Social Democratic Party (using

a failed assassination attempt in Kaiser Wilhelm I).

Implements tariff to protect German agriculture and industry.○ Increases food prices, owners had to pay

workers more.Stops working with political liberals,

increases power of agrarian conservatives.

Power Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Austria-Hungary Parts of the empire industrialized through

liberal economics. Liberals decline under the leadership of

Count Edouard von Taaffe (PM). Began to play nationalities off each other.

Centralizes role of the government in holding together competing interest groups.

Balkins rebel against Ottoman rule.