“Glory and Honor to you, who Drive the Pigs with their Long Snouts out

of our Garden”:Left-Wing Immigrants Confront McCarthyism

Friday, January 25 at 2:30 p.m. Piper’s Pub 

Join students and faculty for an informal discussion over a drink. Dr Zecker will introduce his latest research project; that will be followed by questions and (we hope) a lively debate about his theoretical approach and sources.  

This will be of interest to all thesis/advanced major students in History

and everyone is welcome.

What else is going on by the 19C: the Building of Global Empires

Imperialism is the policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by establishing economic and political hegemony over other nations

‘Empire, in the modern period, was the product of European power; its reward was power or the sense of power.’

Imperial Motives, unmasked

Economic motives: traderaw materialsmarkets

Political motives: geopolitical and militarydiffuse internal tensions

Cultural justification: missionary campaignsthe ‘civilizing’ mission

Trade: instigator and cultural influence

and in your tea….

Sugar

A. a matter of taste

B. for some classes, energy(moved from daytime to electrical clock)

C. Important commodity

for the nation

• London Stock Exchange

Other examples of raw materials

Formosa (Taiwan): geopoliticalraw materials

•Indigenous peoples•Chinese from 12C; 17C influx

•Manchu then Qing rule•Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, British •Japan (1895)

Camphor: medicinal (soap)celluloid (valuable, by

1870s)

•new scramble for China, 1870s

Markets: ‘what are little girls made of?’Charles II m. Catherine of Braganza, 1661

Mughal India: the ‘rot within’• dispersed and ‘not always loyal’

provinces

• by 17C: most of territory (with land revenue) sarkar

local lords, warriors and tributary chiefsdemand for goods and services from

EIC, VOC

•how: militarydiplomacysubterfugeaccommodation

Power in South Asia: 18C

Mughal EmpirePrincely StatesEuropeans (Dutch, Portuguese, English and French)

• Bengal: Englishmen and Indians worked for the EIC and their

own profit, under the protection of the company

•Mughal power was disintegrating•local nawabs had established stable rule•hemmed in by the Marathas to the south

•from 1744 British at Madras and French in Pondicherry

tried to exploit rivalries to their own end•20 years of warfare ended in 1765 with British success

• British became the new Nawabs HOW?

In Bengal:• nawabs attempted to drive increasingly powerful

EIC out but unsuccessful: the Battle of Plassey in 1757

• Clive impeached – made at least 400 000 in a ₤personal fortune

• Mughals ceded financial administration or diwani of Bengal and Bihar in 1765

• expansion to 1765 presented as exceptional; further expansion was forbidden• for next forty years the gap between

official understandings and reality on the ground enormous [how could this be?]

• trade central, and especially country trade

Hyderabad: Empire by indirect rulePhilip Meadows Taylor ‘Confessions of a Thug’• south-central Indian state – Nizam

• Mughal subsidiary• enemy of Tipu Sultan (French)

• English help in return for:moneypromise to keep army at the readyEuropean arms, officers and training‘Resident’ to deal with outside politics

• emasculated: indebtedlost political power agricultural

revolution

Britain in Chinadesire to push trade balance:

resulted in War (Opium War (1839-42)five open ports and extraterritorialityfurther destabilized the country strengthened reactionary powers

series of rebellions

‘Empire by accident’: liberal governmentreform groups

The Ottoman Empire, 1800-1914 • peak expansion in late 17C

• retreat: a. internal turmoilb. external factors

a. internally: Sultan, ulema, Janissary corpsin Empire: regional power/Nationalismimports, corruption, misuse of tax revenues

b. externally: European advances in technology and strategythe Great Game: British support Ottomans only to avoid possible Russian expansionBritish government pushes ‘extraterritorial status’

c. results: territorial losses in Caucasus, central Asia, Balkans, Egypt linking of Islam to nationalism/supra-national identities

The Capitulations and Reforms• Ottoman economy increasingly relies on foreign loans• by 1882 forced to accept foreign administration of

debts

• Capitulations: agreements that exempted Europeans from Ottoman law

• early attempts at reform

• the Tanzimat era

• the Young Turks era

Conclusions

Ironically,

as Britain is defining the legal, financial and philosophical/intellectual/cultural apparatus to become a liberal democracy

it is also becoming the world’s largest Empire

fancy footwork to make that work