UNIT FOUR

HISTORY WITHIN CIVILIZATIONS:1750-1914

I. Industry and Imperialism

A. The Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution begins in Britain in the mid-eighteenth century, and is considered to be a major part of the Age of Imperialism.

Countries with industrial technology had advanced military weapons, and were able to easily conquer people who did not have it.

Additionally, to feed the industrial needs of Great Britain, factories needed access to raw materials to make finished products, as well as markets to sell these products. Colonies fit both of those needs perfectly.

By the early nineteenth century, most of the western hemisphere freed itself from European control, forcing industrial imperialists (GB, France, Spain) to turn their focus to Africa and Asia, where exploitation was easy and the markets were huge.

I. A. Revolution in AgricultureAgriculture output in Europe increased heavily

during the 18th century. The industrial revolution allowed more than half the population to leave farming as a profession and move to the cities for work.

Crops from the New World (potatoes and corn) allowed farmers to rotate their crops rather than leaving one-third of their land empty each year (three-field system).

The introduction of new technologies and machinery made plowing, seeding, and reaping a much faster process, along with the development of chemical fertilizers. This allowed farmers to increase the size of their farmland, while decreasing the number of workers needed to work the land.

Urbanization was a natural outgrowth of the increased efficiencies in farming and agriculture that resulted in increased populations within the cities/ urban areas.

In 1800, only 20 cities in Europe had a population of more than 100,000. By 1900, 150 cities in Europe were over 100,000 in population, with London having more than 6 million.

These larger cities were purposely developed in areas where resources such as coal, iron, water, and railroads were available for mass manufacturing and greater efficiency.

I. A. 2. Technological Innovations

Before the industrial revolution, Europe used the domestic system, which was labor intensive and located in individual homes, not factories. This lengthy process included several middlemen, with each step being accomplished by one person at a time.

Advances in cloth manufacturing improved the efficiency of production, beginning with John Kay’s flying shuttle, in 1733, which sped up the weaving process.

In 1764, John Hargraves invented the spinning jenny, capable of spinning large amounts of thread in a short time.

Waterpower increased production, speeding up the manufacturing of fabric, but also took cloth-making out of the homes (domestic system) and into factories.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, allowing massive amounts of cotton to be quickly processed in the Americas and exported to Europe. As a result, the textile industry moved to mills and factories.

The invention of the steam engine increased production in areas outside of the textile industry. In the early 1700’s, Thomas Newcomer developed an inefficient engine, which was improved upon by James Watt in 1769.

The steam engine was revolutionary because not only did in help in industries, but also for transportation.

In 1807, Robert Fulton built the first steamship, and in the 1820’s, George Stephenson built the first steam-powered locomotive.

Because these modes of transportation operated on steam engines, which were fed by coal, industrial countries needed access to vast amounts of coal, which explains the success in industry by countries like Great Britain and the United States.

Other technological advances:telegraph- 1837 by Samual Morsetelephone-1876 by Alexander Graham Belllight bulb- 1879 by Thomas Edison

internal combustion engine- 1885 by Gottlieb Daimler

radio- 1890’s by Marconi Guglilelmo

airplane- 1903 by Orville and Wilbur Wright

The late 1800’s and early 1900’s saw huge advances in medicine and science, improving pasteurization and vaccination.

I. A. 3. The Factory System

Factories developed at an alarming rate, allowing manufactured goods to be cranked out both efficiently and inexpensively. A significant part of its success was the system of interchangeable parts, were machines and their parts were produced uniformly so that they could easily be replaced when something broke down. From this system, the assembly line was developed, making it highly profitable, but with social costs.

The factory system changed people, creating a loss of individuality. People became like machines, working hours at a time, week after week.

Overworked and underpaid, employees were regularly put in harm’s way without insurance or health care for protection.

Children as young as six worked alongside older employees, near dangerous machinery.

Women worked long hours as well, while socially still expected to fulfill their roles within the home.

I. A. 4. Economic and Social Philosophies

Industrialization created new social classes, with aristocrats becoming wealthy from industrial success.

A middle class formed, made up of managers, accountants, ministers, lawyers, doctors, and other skilled professionals.

The lower class (also the majority) was the working class, made up of factory workers in cities and peasant farmers in the rural areas.

The industrial class was based upon the concept of private ownership. Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776) which emphasized that economic prosperity and fairness is best achieved through private ownership.

Individuals should be able to own, produce, and sell products on a free and open market, where the demands for goods determined their prices and availability.

Smith argued that a free-market system (capitalism) would best meet the needs of civilization.

Laissez-faire capitalism existed in countries where the governments removed themselves from business and regulation.

Karl Marx, a German economist and philosopher, argued that the working class had the same opportunities as anyone else, but were being exploited as a consequence of capitalism.

Marx’s The Communist Manifesto (1848) written with Friedrich Engels, stated that the working class would revolt and take control of production.

The impact of Marxism would serve as a foundation for socialism and communism.

Once the working class rose up in revolt, and took the power away from the gov’t, courts, police, and the church, there would be no need for power.

Link to format and MLA guidebook

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I. A. 5. Capitalism and EnlightenmentAs abuses and social consequences of the

Industrial Revolution became clear, the British Parliament pass a law, the Factory Act of 1883, which limited the hours of each workday, restricted children from working in factories, and required factory owners to make working conditions safer and cleaner.

Labor unions began to form, allowing workers to bargain for better working conditions. Some owners realized that happy workers meant greater production and loyalty.

The slowly improving conditions of factory life also impacted family life. Additionally, public education became more widely accessible, and social mobility, moving from one social class to the next, became more common.

In 1807, the slave trade was abolished, and in 1833, the British outlawed slavery altogether.

As men began to earn more money, women returned to their traditional roles in the home, thus limiting their influence socially, politically, professionally, and intellectually.

As a result of the women’s suffrage movement, in 1920, in the United States, and 1928, in Great Britain, women were able to vote freely.

In reaction to extreme hardships in Europe, from 1800 to 1920, 50 million Europeans migrated to North and South America. Millions fled from famine in Ireland, or anti-Semitism in Russia, or poverty and joblessness.

I. A. 6. Natural Resources

Europe had a large share of coal and iron ore, but lacked other natural resources. To compensate for this lack of resources, European nations found raw materials, like cotton and rubber, on other continents. Great Britain and other European countries colonized in Asia, Africa, and the Americas to collect these raw materials, without having to pay for them.

In return, the home country (GB, France, Spain) would turn around and force the colony to buy manufactured goods made from the raw materials that were taken from them in the first place. The more colonies a country had, the richer it became.

In addition to creating more pollution, the Industrial Revolution began to have an impact on the environment by consuming larger amounts of natural resources.

I. A. 7. European Supremacy???

Most Europeans were ethnocentric, viewing other cultures as being uncivilized and barbarian.

From ethnocentrism came the idea of social Darwinism, the idea that dominant races or classes of people rose to the top through a process of “survival of the fittest.”

In addition, not only were Europeans superior, but they had a moral obligation to dominate other people, to civilize the uncivilized.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem, White Man’s Burden, expressed this idea of superiority best, explaining that it was the duty of European nations to conquer barbarians/native peoples, to civilize them and convert them to Christianity.

Through this belief, European nations were convinced that to advance their economies, gain better military positions, and inflate their own egos, God supported their efforts to conquer and colonize non-European people.

I. B. European Imperialism in IndiaThe British influence in India began with a stock

company, the British East India Company, in the 1750’s.

Led by Robert Clive, the B.E.I.C. raised a small hired army to drive the French out of India, which Indians naturally supported. However, once the French were gone, the British company, and its army, stayed and took control over much of the Bengal region, which is modern-day Bangladesh.

Bengal/ Bangladesh

For almost a century (1750’s-1850’s) the British East India Company took advantage of the weakening Indian government (Mughals) and set up administrative regions throughout the empire.

In 1798, the British took over Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and by the early 1800’s, the Punjab region fell under British control.

From northern India, the British then launched excursions into Pakistan and Afghanistan.

I. B. 1. The Sepoy Mutiny

Indian nationals that worked for the British were called Sepoys. By the mid-1800’s, the British were taking control of much of the Indian subcontinent at an alarming rate, largely ignoring the customs of the Sepoys, Muslims, and Hindus.

In 1857, the Sepoys learned that their bullet cartridges were greased with pork and beef fat, which violated Muslim and Hindu dietary laws.

The Sepoys mutinied against the British, fighting for almost two years.

In 1858, the British parliament took control away from the British East India Company and made India a colony of the British crown.

Bahadur Shah II, the last of the Mughal rulers, was sent into exile, ending the Mughal Empire for good. Over 300 million Indians were suddenly subject to the British monarchy.

In 1877, Queen Victoria was recognized as the Empress of India, in addition to being the Queen of Great Britain.

I. B. 2. British Colonialism

India quickly became a model for British imperialism. Raw materials were shipped back to England, and in return, finished products were sent back to India.

English was taught to upper castes in India, and Christianity, railroads, canals, and urbanization were all introduced to the new colony. As a result, Indian culture suffered.

In response, well-educated Indians formed the Indian National Congress in 1885, in a move towards independence from Great Britain.

I. C. European Imperialism in China

For most of its history, China remained an isolationist country.

Up until the 1830’s, China allowed European countries to trade only in the port city of Canton. China established strict limitations on what could be bought and sold.

When the industrial age made Great Britain a superpower, they assumed great privileges in China, forcing their way in with weapons and warships.

I. C. 1. The Opium Wars

The British introduce opium to the Chinese in 1773, causing widespread use in China by 1838. The Chinese emperor of the Manchu Dynasty issued an edict forbidding the use or sale of opium, and seized all of Britain’s opium supply in Canton, in 1839.

The two countries went to war over the drug, from 1839 to 1842, known as the Opium War. The British overwhelmed China and forced them to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first of what became known as the Unequal Treaties.

As a result of the Treaty of Nanjing, the British were able to have greater access to trade with China, and subsequently, more access to push opium among the Chinese.

In 1843, Britain declared Hong Kong a British crown possession, establishing a British colony in that region.

In 1844, China was forced to permit Christian missionaries back into the country.

A second Opium War was fought, from 1856 to 1860, resulting in another defeat for China, which opened all of China to European trade.

I. C. 2. The Open Door Policy

The losses to Britain gave everyone, including the Chinese, the impression that the Manchu Dynasty was weak.

Open rebellion from within China started in the early nineteenth century with the White Lotus Rebellions, led by Buddhists frustrated over taxes and government corruption.

By 1850, the Taiping Rebellion began, led by a religious zealot claiming to be the brother of Jesus. The Taipings raised a million man army, but failed to topple the Manchu dynasty.

The Manchu dynasty created the Self-Strengthening Movement in the 1860’s, in an effort to preserve their power, but it failed.

Sensing the weak control in China, in 1876, Korea declared its independence from China.

In 1883, the Chinese lost control of Vietnam to the French, during the Sino-French War, who established a colony there, called French Indochina.

In the 1890’s, imperial Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki, in 1895, China was forced to turn over control of Taiwan, and grant trading rights to Japan, similar to the Europeans. Japan also defeated the Koreans and took control of the entire region.

China was carved up into spheres of influence, with Germany, Great Britain, Russia, and France each having authority over a region.

The U.S., worried that it would be left out, quickly rushed to become involved in trade with China.

The Open Door Policy was created by the United States, pledging its support of the sovereignty of the Chinese government, announcing trading privileges in China among all imperial powers, which was basically the U.S. and European powers.

I. C. 3. The Boxer Rebellion

Chinese nationalist grew increasingly angry with how the Manchu government was failing to take care of China, and allowing the U.S. and European powers to dominate in the region.

Anti-Manchu, anti-European, and anti-Christian, these nationalists, known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or the Boxers, had a goal of evicting Europeans and Americans from China.

The Boxers killed Christian missionaries and seized control of foreign embassies, but ultimately failed to drive Japanese and Europeans from China.

As a result, China was forced to sign the Boxer Protocol, which demanded that China not only pay the Europeans and Japanese the costs of the Boxer Rebellion but also formally apologize as well.

I. D. Japanese Imperialism

Japan remained an isolationist country, resisting European imperialism at all costs. Japan created a highly ethnocentric society that did not allow its citizens to leave the country.

In 1853, the American navy showed up in Tokyo Bay, with steamships that the Japanese had never seen before. A result of their isolationism, Japan was trailing significantly in industry, and failed to compete financially, militarily with the industrialized world.

The U.S. and European powers began taking advantage of the Japanese. The Treaty of Kanagawa, in 1854, allowed the U.S. to trade freely with Japan, while giving such an unfair advantage to the U.S. that Japanese nationalists began to revolt. The Japanese were far more organized than the Chinese in resisting the European and Americans. Led by samurai warriors, the Japanese nationalists restored power to Emperor Meiji, who opposed Western influences in Japan.

I. D. 1. The Meiji Restoration

The Meiji restoration created a modern Japan with railroads and steamships, a modern army, following the abolishing of the samurai, by 1876.

Under the Meiji, Japan developed a new national identity that was militaristic in nature, and required military service for all males.

Military victories over China and Russia, along with the industrial modernization, gave Japan enough muscle to reduce European and U.S. influence within Japan. It did maintain trade with Europe and the U.S., but on equal footing.

Japan defeated China in 1895, for rights to Korea and Taiwan.

In 1904, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, evicting Russia from Manchuria, making Japan an imperial powerhouse through the region.

I. E. European Imperialism in Africa

Unlike India and China, Africa held little interest for Europeans. Its main attraction was the slave trade, and stopping points for merchant vessels heading back and forth from Europe and Asia.

Little was known about Africa’s vast interior, with the exception being North Africa, where Europe had interacted with civilizations for centuries (Egypt, Carthage, Rome, Greece).

I. E. 1. The End of the Slave Trade

Between 1807 and 1820, most European nations abolished the slave trade, although slavery itself was not abolished until decades later. No new slaves were transported to the New World. Some former slaves returned to Africa, with many immigrating to Liberia, west Africa, where they established an independent nation.

Europeans eventually turned to exploit Africa for its riches, and once again, Africans were subjugated by Europeans, this time in Africa.

I. E. 2. South Africa

Before gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the 1860’s and 1880’s, South Africa was largely a supply depot for shipping and the British military.

The Dutch arrived in Cape Town first, as a stop between Europe and India. In 1795, the British seized Cape Town, pushing the Dutch settlers (the Boers) further inland, where they settled in a region known as the Transvaal. The Dutch discovered diamonds in Transvaal, and the British soon moved in to take over.

The Boers and the British fought a series of wars, known as the Boer War (1899-1902), eventually losing to the British, who made all of South Africa part of the British Empire. Through all the fighting, the native Africans were never able to claim any gold or diamond mines.

By 1910, South Africa had its own constitution, and held a considerable amount of self-rule, and only white men could vote. In 1912, educated S. Africans organized the African National Congress to oppose European colonialism.

I. E. 3. Egypt

The Ottoman Empire ruled Egypt from 1517 to 1882. Local rulers were called beys, and had greater influence over Egypt than the rulers in Istanbul.

When Napoleon tried to conquer Egypt, Muhammad Ali defeated both the French and the Ottomans, and gained control of Egypt in 1805. As a viceroy, Muhammad Ali ruled Egypt, under the Ottoman throne, bringing industrialization to Egypt, especially in the manufacturing of cotton.

Ali’s successor, Abbas I, temporarily halted Egypt’s westernization, only to return to modernization in subsequent rulers following Abbas. Working with the French, the Egyptians began construction on the Suez Canal, which was completed in 1869, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.

The British bought the majority stock in the Suez Canal, controlling much of Egypt as a protectorate.

France was forced to focus on other North African colonies, like Nigeria, Algiers, and Morocco. The Italians, once unified into a single country, began to focus on Libya as a colony.

I. E. 4. The Berlin Conference

In 1884, German Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck called for a conference in Berlin for Europeans to discuss the colonization of Africa. As a result, almost all of Africa was colonized by Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium. Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent from European rule following the Berlin Conference.

Europeans brought railroads, dams and paved roads to Africa, but only as a means to strip African nations of natural resources for profit.

Every European nation used direct rule in Africa, except Britain, which meant that native Africans were forced to adopt European customs. Britain was occupied with their colonies in India and Asia, that they allowed their African colonies to govern themselves more freely, as long as they produced the desired results.

Traditional African culture began to break apart when the European nations began to colonize Africa. Africa was divided by European nations with little regard for African tribal boundaries, forcing tribes to break up, or forcing two warring tribes to live together under European rule. This often worked to European advantage because Africans were unable to form an organized opposition. With the addition of European schools, Christian missionaries, and western businesses, traditional African culture began to crumble.

II. Political Developments in the Americas and Europe

A. Revolutions

1. America (‘Mericuh!!!)

The colonists in America fought with the British against the French in the 1756-1763, in the French and Indian War, known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War. The British victory in America changed the boundaries between the two empires throughout the world.

The foundations of the American Revolution began following the French and Indian War. The British believed that the cost for the war should come from taxes on the colonists. The Americans believed that it was unfair, and that their efforts during the war allowed Britain to expand their empire in the first place.

The taxes were known as the Townshend Acts. The Revenue Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Tea Act (1773) were imposed on Americans, who argued that they should not be taxed for the success of British citizens.

Following the Boston Tea Party, which was an American response to the Tea Act, the British used their military to suppress American opposition. The resistance to British oppression quickly became violent, at Concord and Lexington, on April 19, 1775. Over 400 British and Americans were dead, signaling the beginning of the American Revolution.

Thomas Paine wrote in his book, Common Sense, that Americans’ natural rights were being compromised by the British crown, giving the colonists the right to establish their own government. Influenced by the Enlightenment, the Americans did establish a government based upon natural rights, to form a “more perfect union.”

II. A. 2. The French Revolution

For years, the French monarchy ignored the true needs of the people in order to live in a lavish palace at Versailles. Under Bourbon kings, the French had helped finance several wars, including the War of Spanish Succession, the Seven Years’ War, and the American Revolution. By the 1780’s, France was virtually bankrupt. King Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General, which hadn’t convened for 175 years.

France was divided into three social classes, or estates. The First Estate comprised the clergy. The Second Estate was made up of noble families. The Third Estate was everyone else in France: peasant farmers, merchants, the small middle class. This class made up 95% of the French population, and held little to no political power.

The Estates General met as three separate groups, with the nobles (second estate) getting what they wanted. The third estate, which was the largest body, was cast aside in the new constitution by the other two estates.

On June 17, 1789, the Third Estate created the National Assembly, forcing the king to demand that the other two estates be allowed to join.

Unfortunately for the First and Second Estates, and the royal family, it was too little, too late. The National Assembly, led by unemployed and homeless peasants, marched on the Bastille, on July 14, 1789, freeing prisoners and signaling the beginning of a revolution.

By August 1789, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a document that recognized natural rights based upon the Enlightenment school of thought.

Based upon the ideas of the Enlightenment, the American Declaration of Independence, and the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Declaration of the Rights of Man furthered the ideas of freedom, equality, and rule of law.

The National Assembly abolished the feudal system, and declared a right to worship freely, as an alternative to the Catholic Church.

The king, Louis XVI, was removed and taken to Paris, and France became one of the first modern “nation-states” in Europe, to be ruled by an assembly, not the king or the people.

In 1791, the National Assembly ratified the new constitution, similar to the new U.S. Constitution. The difference, however, was that the king was the executive, instead of a president.

Because the king’s wife, Marie Antionette was sister to the Holy Roman Emperor, and king of Austria, Joseph II, both Austria and Prussia attacked France to restore Louis XVI to the throne, but failed.

A new constitution was written which then abolished the monarchy. The Convention became the new ruling body in France, and led by the radical Jacobins, imprisoned the royal family. In 1793, both King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette were beheaded, for treason.

The Convention were concerned that Prussia and Austria established a new alliance with Spain and Great Britain, in support for another invasion. Throwing out the old constitution, the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety.

The Committee of Public Safety enforced all laws in France, and killed anyone suspected of anti-revolutionary actions.

Led by Maximilien Robespierre and the radical Jacobins, the Committee of Public Safety beheaded 16000 to 20000 French citizens in order to control anarchy.

By 1795, France recognized that this policy would also fail. It abandoned the Committee of Public Safety, and established the Directory, a government ran by only five men.

II. A. 3. Napoleonic Revolution

The new French government, the Directory, immediately went to work establishing a strong military. One of the generals, Napoleon Bonaparte, gained most of his success with the support of the Directory. However, in 1799, Napoleon returned to France to overthrow the Directory, declaring himself as the First Consul under a new constitution. This was the fourth constitution since the 1789 revolution began.

Napoleon reformed agriculture, infrastructure, and public education, and established tolerance and stability within the church.

The 1804 Napoleonic Codes recognized the equality of French citizens (just the men) and institutionalized Enlightenment thought throughout France. The Napoleonic Codes were paternalistic and based upon Roman law.

The rights of women and children were extremely limited, despite recognizing some basic rights and the rule of law.

Napoleon also made France the new superpower of Europe. Under Napoleon, France conquered Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and the kingdoms of Italy. He dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, and reorganized it into a confederation of German states.

In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of the new empire, and over the next several years dominated Europe.

Napoleon decided to invade Russia in 1812, making it all the way to Moscow. However, the Russians burned the city to the ground, refusing the French proper winter housing. Facing a brutal Russian winter, Napoleon’s troops had no choice but to head back to France. The Russians attacked them all along the way, turning the French retreat into a disaster. The French army was decimated and Napoleon was forced into exile on Elba.

After Napoleon’s exile, the leaders of Europe met in Vienna, Austria, to redistribute power in Europe. Present were: Prince von Metternich of Austria, Alexander I of Russia, the Duke of Wellington from Britain. However, because these leaders could not come to an agreement, Napoleon had time to plot his return to France, and gather up enough strength to regain power.

Napoleon was cornered by the allied powers of Prussia, Britain, and Austria, at Waterloo, where he was decisively defeated.

Napoleon was sent into permanent exile to St. Helena, in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Africa. The allied powers of Europe met at the Congress of Vienna, deciding the fate of France and its conquered territories.

In 1815, the Congress of Vienna decided that a balance of power should exist in Europe to prevent the rise of another dictator/emperor like Napoleon.

France’s borders were cut back to pre-Napoleonic possessions, but it was not punished militarily or economically.

The Congress of Vienna created new boundaries for kingdoms in Poland and the Netherlands, and reestablished the rule of monarchs in France, Spain, Holland, and many of the Italian states.

II. B. Independence Movements in Latin America

Inspired by the American and French revolutions, the colonized countries in Latin America began to declare their own independence from European nations. Because of Napoleon’s wars in Europe, countries like Spain, Great Britain and France could not control their colonies as they once did. Revolutionary leaders popped up in Latin America and independence movements began.

II. B. 1. Haiti

The first successful revolution took place in Haiti, where, by 1800, 90 percent of the population were slaves that worked on French plantations. Coffee, sugar, cocoa, and indigo were the exports being sent back to France, much of it financing Napoleon’s wars.

In 1801, a former slave, Pierre Toussaint L’Ouverture, led a violent and lengthy slave revolt.

Napoleon responded by sending 20,000 French troops to Haiti, but along with rebel fighting, many died from yellow fever. The French were successful in capturing L’Ouverture and imprisoning him in France. The revolution continued under the leadership of Jacques Dessalines, who proclaimed Haiti a free republic in 1804.

II. B. 2. South America

In 1808, Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to the Spanish throne. As a result, many Spanish colonies in South American decided to reject the Bonaparte king, and stay loyal to the former Spanish king.

Venezuela was first to oppose the new king, appointing Simon Bolivar as their leader. Bolivar was educated in the Enlightenment schools of Europe and the United States, and helped Venezuela formally declare its independence in 1811.

Venezuelan royalists supported the Spanish crown, fighting against Bolivar and his followers. After fighting a ten year civil war, Bolivar won freedom from Spain for areas including modern-day Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, called Gran Colombia. Bolivar’s hope for South America was to create a nation similar to the U.S., of united Spanish colonies.

In Argentina, a Spanish officer named Jose de San Martin offered his leadership for the Argentinean rebels, and fought north through Chile and Peru. He joined his armies with the Chilean rebel leader, Bernardo O’Higgins, and linked their combined forces with Bolivar in Peru. Together, these three S. American leaders defeated the Spanish, and by the 1820’s most of South America was independent of Spanish rule.

II. B. 3. Brazil

When Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807, John VI, the Portuguese king, fled to Brazil, a Portuguese colony, and set up his royal court in exile. When John VI returned to Portugal in 1821, his son Pedro was left in charge of Brazil. Declaring Brazil independent of Portugal, Pedro crowned himself emperor, and created a new constitution. His son, Pedro II, ruled for the remainder of the nineteenth century, eventually abolishing slavery in 1888.

II. B. 4. Mexico

In 1810, a Creole priest named Miguel Hidalgo led a revolt against the Spanish authorities in Mexico. The revolt failed, however, and Hidalgo was killed.

Jose Morelos carried on the Mexican revolution, but he was betrayed by the wealthy land owners, and executed in 1815.

In 1821, the landed nobility finally agreed with the need for independence from Spain. The Treaty of Cordoba was signed, giving Mexico its independence.

II. B. 5. Effects of Independence

Many of the newly independent countries did not suddenly experience some euphoric sense of freedom or enlightenment. Like the United States, slavery still existed in many parts of Latin America, and women were still considered second class citizens without the right to vote. The presence of the Catholic Church did help some of the peasants and slaves, as a policy, the Church protected the large landowners, who provided large sums of money to the Church.

The economies of the newly independent nations were still largely dependent upon the European nations they just fought against. Unlike the U.S., the Latin American countries did not have an infrastructure that allowed for economic growth apart from Europe. Exceptions to this were Brazil and Chile, who developed a growing middle class as a result of social reforms, moving away from the feudalism and nobility that the Spanish and Portuguese had lived by.

II. C. National Unification

1. Italy:

One of the consequences of the Napoleonic era was the intensified nationalism that grew in Europe. From this, the individual kingdoms in Italy began to rid themselves of foreign rulers from Spain, Austria, and France.

Under the king of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, the Austrian powers were the first to go. By 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi led an Italian nationalist army to drive Spain from Sicily, essentially unifying most of modern-day Italy.

The Italians gained control of the northern Italian province of Venetia, from Austria, when they sided with Prussia during Prussia’s war with Austria. In 1870, the Italians were able to defeat the French, and reclaim Rome.

The Italians had to face some challenges once they unified because of how culturally different the provinces were from centuries of rule from the French, Spanish, and Austrians.

II. C. 2. Germany

The German provinces had not been truly united under one rule since the decline of Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages.

Following the Treaty of Westphalia, following the Thirty Years’ War, two regions in particular dominated the HRE politically: Austria and Prussia.

Under Frederick the Great and his successors, Prussia embraced the Enlightenment, public education, and the Industrial Revolution.

By the mid-nineteenth century, Prussia wanted to unify and consolidate its provinces under one king, or kaiser. In 1861, the new king of Prussia, Wilhelm I, appointed Otto von Bismarck as prime minister. von Bismarck’s main goal was to build a strong military and consolidate the region under Prussian authority.

From 1861 to 1871, Prussia fought three wars known as the Wars of German Unification. They were: The Danish War of 1864, the Seven Weeks’ War against Austria (1866), and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

In order to consolidate all German provinces, Bismarck first had to defeat Austria, which he did in only seven weeks, based upon assurances from other European countries that they would not step in to help Austria.

In order to defeat the French, Bismarck had to form an alliance with the heavily Catholic German states of the south.

In defeating France, Bismarck was able to unify all German states, with Prussia at the lead, including the Catholic German states.

In 1871, Bismarck crowned Prussian king Wilhelm I as emperor of the new German Empire, which was also known as the Second Reich, or “second empire.” The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire.

After unification, Germany quickly became industrialized, becoming strong economically and politically within the center of Europe. Bismarck was not popular with the socialist party. When Wilhelm II was crowned emperor in 1888, a conflict of authority arose, and von Bismarck was forced to resign in 1890.

With complete control of Germany, Wilhelm II built up Germany’s navy, pursued colonial ambitions in Africa and Asia, and oversaw the rise of Germany into one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Wilhelm II would rule Germany until 1919, after the end of World War I.

II. D. RussiaIn the nineteenth century, the Romanov czars

Alexander I and Nicholas I ruled with absolute authority. Using secret police to put down small rebellions and any hints at reform, most Russians lived an almost slave-like existence, as serfs and peasants with no rights at all.

By the 1860’s, the Enlightenment slowly found its way into Russia through the rule of Alexander II, who abolished serfdom in Russia, under the Emancipation Edict.

Unfortunately, the edict did little good, and serfs were put on small pieces of land to farm for the government. Compared to western European governments or the United States, peasants lived horrible lives in the harshest working conditions.

Despite these conditions, by the end of the nineteenth century, a small middle class in Russia was beginning to emerge, and the arts began to flourish.

Authors like Tolstoy (Anna Karenina, War and Peace) and Dostoyevsky (The Brothers Karamazov) introduced Russian culture through literature, and Tchaikovsky composed ballets like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

In 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by a political group known as the People’s Will, and his successor, Alexander III put down all reform groups that had any appearance of anti-Russian sentiments.

Through a policy of Russification, all Russians were expected to learn the Russian language and convert to Russian orthodoxy. Anyone who did not follow this policy was persecuted, especially the Jews.

By the time Nicholas II came to power in 1894, revolution was beginning to take shape in Russia. The poor treatment of most Russians, especially in the work force, as well as a hopeless war against Japan in 1904, over possession of Manchuria.

During a peaceful protest at the czar’s palace, Nicholas II feared he was going to be killed and ordered his troops to open fire on the protestors, becoming what Russians call Bloody Sunday.

For the next decade, Czar Nicholas attempted bring about reforms, by creating a new prime minister, Peter Stolypin, and a political cabinet called the Duma.

Whenever the prime minister or the cabinet made changes or became critical of the czar, Nicholas II immediately fired them.

II. E. The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire began its decline in the sixteenth century, and never regained its prominence in the region.

The Ottomans continuously fought with Russia over control of the Balkans and the Black Sea region, with Russia usually victorious.

By the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was near collapse. Greece, Egypt, and Arabia started successful independence movements .

Britain and France were concerned that if the Ottoman Empire fell too quickly, then the power and control of that region would transfer to the Russian Empire.

To keep the Ottoman Empire afloat, Britain and France fought Russia in the Crimean War, in 1853.

In 1883, Britain gained control of Egypt in an attempt to stabilize the Mediterranean region.

II. F. U.S. Foreign Policy

To prevent European nations from re-colonizing Latin American countries following their independence, U.S. President James Monroe established the Monroe Doctrine, in 1823.

In his State of the Union address that year, Monroe declared that the Western Hemisphere was off limits to European aggression, and that the U.S. would handle all conflicts and disputes on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Great Britain, with its powerful navy, supported the U.S. declaration, in an effort to keep Spain out of the Western Hemisphere, and thereby reduce its power as a European empire.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Roosevelt Corollary, following the intrusion of European warships off the coast of Venezuela, demanding repayment for loans made to Venezuela.

The Roosevelt Corollary stated that the U.S. would moderate the financial disputes between Latin American and European countries.

Latin American countries enjoyed the protection from European powers that the U.S. provided. However, over time resentment towards the U.S. developed when the Monroe Doctrine began to take on the shape of American imperialism in Latin America.

This issue is best illustrated in the building of the Panama Canal, from 1904 to 1914. The U.S. negotiated with the Colombians and Panamanians for the right to build the canal, and signed a lease for the canal zone for 100 years.

The Spanish American War, in 1898, was the final battle between the U.S. and a European nation in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. quickly destroyed the Spanish fleets in Cuba and the Philippines, and gave the U.S. control over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and naval bases in Cuba.