The Age of Imperialism Modern World History – Unit 2

The first factories were powered by the water frame (above) drawing energy from the current of a river. The steam

engine (below) provided a portable source of power.

• A dramatic shift from an economy based

upon agriculture to one of manufacturing

• Began in Great Britain during the 1780s

• Took decades to spread across Europe

• Many factors made G.B. home of industry

• New farming practices led to higher yields

• More food caused a population boom

• Wealthy had supply of capital to invest

• Britain held the natural resources for industry

• Colonial empire served as markets for goods

• Innovations in textiles spawn first machines

• Cottage industry: making by hand in home

• Sped up by spinning jenny & flying shuttle

• 1787: Loom now powered by water frame

• This created the world’s first factories

• Watt’s steam engine brought power to cities

• Textiles quickly became Britain’s #1 export

• G.B. now able to far out-produce rest of world

• Steam engine crucial to industrial growth

• Coal in high demand as engine’s fuel

• Coal mining operations expanded greatly

• Iron used to make stronger steam engines

• Better quality iron through puddling process

• Railroads became main mode of transport

• Iron steam engine on iron wheels, pulling carts

made of iron on rails made of iron

• Railroad lines began to crisscross countryside

• Industrial economy spread to Europe, US

• Factories built in Belgium, Germany, France

• Aided by governments encouraging industry

• Provided funds for infrastructure (rails, canals)

• Flourishing United States Welcomed Industry

• Strong agricultural economy introduced

manufacturing mostly in Northern states

• Plentiful natural resources (Thanks, Napoleon!)

• Railroads, steamboats connect large nation

• Industrial Divide: dramatic differences in industrialized vs. non-industrialized nations

• Factory work led to new social classes

• Industrial working class: men, women, and

children without property who sold their

labor to factory owner in return for wage

• Long hours, low wages, unsafe conditions

• Competition amongst workers lower wages

• Industrial middle class: owners of the means

of production (machines) profit from their

investments and the labor of their workers

• Middle class only if they were not from

aristocratic households, though many were

• Industrialization spawned urbanization

• Population shifted from country to cities

• Mechanized farming displaced many poor

• Farming machines did the work of many men

• Women’s cottage industry no longer profitable

• Tenements built to house many poor families

• Lack of transportation led to overcrowding,

lack of sanitation to led disease and death

• Immigrants arrived looking for opportunity

Tenement neighborhood of London featuring open sewer drain (a luxury at

the time, though many landlords refused to pay have them emptied)

• Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations

• Every man is rational & competes for wealth

• Every man is first and foremost self-interested

• He who is wise in investing his capital (money,

labor, wisdom) shall be rewarded with gain

• Competition creates hard-work, innovations

• “Invisible Hand” of Free-Market Capitalism

• Selfish motivations are for the good of society

• Laws of supply & demand rule the free market

• Gov’t interference poisons/restricts progress

• Marx & Engels’ Communist Manifesto

• Every man is naturally industrious, our work

defines us & divides societies into classes

• Bourgeois: own means of production (capitalist)

• Proletariat: sell labor to bourgeois (Workers)

• Capitalism was doomed to fail, be replaced

• Social & economic “alienation” of proletariat

• “Class consciousness” leads to revolution

• Socialism (dictatorship of Proletariat) leads to

Communism (stateless, classless society)

Economic philosophers Adam Smith (above) and Karl Marx (below) penned

two key economic doctrines clashing over private property & control of the means of production.

• Conservatism Sought to Maintain Tradition

• Congress of Vienna: meeting of monarchs

after defeat of Napoleon, re-drew kingdoms

to balance power within Europe

• Saw French Revolution as proof of the failure

of Enlightenment ideals (liberty/democracy)

• Liberalism Challenged Traditional Society

• Sought for people to be free as possible

• Differed greatly on the definition of citizen

• Nobility? Property owners? All men? Everyone?

• New social classes (industrial middle &

working classes) further complicated the issue

• Nationalism: A Gov’t of MY People

• Nation: group w/ common culture, heritage

• One’s chief political loyalty to their nation

• Motivated two key European unifications

• Germany: Prussian state unites all Germans

• Italy: Nationalistic revolts create unified state

• New nation-states shift balance of power

• Some nations fought to free themselves from

outside control, establish self-rule

Great Britain built a global empire (below) based on motivations for profit and often racist attitudes (above).

• 19th century Europeans began to view

others nations as sources of raw materials

• Influence of industrial capitalism principles

• Manufactured goods traded for resources

• Imperialism: the extension of a nation’s

economic/political power over other lands

• Motivations behind European Imperialism

• Capitalists driven to control others by profit

• Greater control over raw materials & markets

• European rivals used colonies as leverage

• Colonies were viewed as sources of pride &

symbols of national strength & dominance

• Social Darwinism and Racist Attitudes

• Social Darwinists believed that “survival of the

fittest” culture was to the benefit of mankind

• Racist attitudes (believe in the superiority of

certain races) were common within Europe

• Humanitarian approach to Imperialism

• “White Man’s Burden” to civilize & Christianize

the “savage” people of the world

This cartoon depicts British businessman & politician Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes lead the cries for British imperialism in Africa and made a fortune building diamond mines in what is today Zimbabwe.

• Early European interest limited to coast

• Trading ports est. during Age of Ex.

• Very little known of African interior

• Work of Livingstone, Stanley shed light

• Abundance of natural resources (rubber,

ivory, diamonds), lack of political & military

strength in many cases

• The Race for Africa

• King Leopold II of Belgium’s Congo

• Established nations moved in from coast

• New nations (?) quick to follow example

• Bismarck of Germany concerned about

conflict among European nations

• Berlin Conference (1884) establishes colonial

boundaries, ground rules for exploitation

• Only Liberia & Ethiopia remain free

• Characteristics of Imperialistic Rule:

• Direct Rule: replace existing government

• Indirect Rule: control existing government

• British traders challenged Mogul Dynasty

• Forts built to protect European interests

• Britain limited French trade, empowered East

India Company authority to act on its behalf

• Sir Robert Clive built army to destroy any threat

to East India Company’s power in India

• Collecting taxes became EIC’s major income

• Sepoy Mutiny caused British Parliament to

hand power from EIC to Queen Victoria

• Indian troops turned on British officers, Brits

crushed rebellion, both sides commit atrocities

• Victoria created post of viceroy to govern

India directly

• Benefits of “Raj” (British Rule)

• Order & stability, education (only for elite),

increased technology, infrastructure

• Costs of Raj

• Economic hardship, hunger for most,

degrading treatment by British

The most known symbol of the Mogul Dynasty is the Taj Mahal (below). Above is the flag of the British East India Company.

This cartoon depicts the global interest in gaining control of a share of the

Chinese economy as well as the general racism of the era.

• China’s Opium War (1839)

• British traders restricted to single port

• Huge British demand for tea leads to debt to

China (paid in silver)

• Brits begin importing Opium into China

• Highly addictive illegal drug from India

• Addiction leads to profit (paid in silver)

• War breaks out, China falls to Britain

• Opens door for Western Influences

• China falls into political, social chaos

• End to Isolation in Japan (1853)

• US Commodore Perry: Gunboat Diplomacy

• Veiled threat to Japan: trade or be colonized

• Began massive push to modernize Japan...

• Meiji Restoration aimed to strengthen Japan

• Led by new Emperor Mutsuhito

• Federalized, organized Japan’s government

• Big emphasis on industrialization & imperialism