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The End of Empire

Contradictions of the colonial empires: Major factors for the collapse of the colonial empires were the numerous contradictions between European ideals and the nature of colonial rule. How were Christians, heirs of the Enlightenment, and democratic states able to justify the stark injustices of colonial rule? A new international climate after WWII: Decolonization also saw some clear conjunctures of new forces after WWII. The war weakened Britain, France, and Holland, and the United Nations offered a new forum for arguing the anticolonial cause. Several of the colonizers began to prepare to divest themselves of their colonies but also to establish favorable postcolonial economic relationships. New elites challenge colonial rule: Several generations of Western rule had produced various new elites that could use their Western education, their military service for the colonizing power, and their knowledge of how to mobilize a mass-based nationalist party to challenge colonialism. A numbe...
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Revolution, Socialism and Global Conflict

Marxism’s path to the future: Interpretations of the work of nineteenth-century philosopher Karl Marx predicted a path to an egalitarian future utopia. Societies would industrialize under capitalism, then see revolutions that would take them through socialism and on to communism. This ideology was named after Marx, although he discussed the nature of capitalism and its history rather than spending much time thinking about the future. Communist revolutions in agrarian societies: Ironically, the revolutions that brought about so-called Marxist regimes happened in preindustrial agrarian societies such as Russia, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. This went against the actual theories of Karl Marx. Nonetheless, these revolutions and a few others established regimes that called themselves Marxist and communist. Communist parties outside of communist regimes: In Western Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, there were communist parties that ran candidates for elections. T...
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Collapse at the Center - Chapter 20

Treaty of Versailles, 1919: The treaty that ended the war punished Germany rather harshly, taking away 15 percent of its territory and all of its colonies. Furthermore, Germany was blamed for the war and forced to pay a massive sum in reparations. This only fostered great resentment within Germany and directly led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Armenian Genocide, Ottoman collapse, and the rise of Turkey: The young Turk nationalist government had long been suspicious of the Armenians. Fearing that they might work with the Russians, they launched a campaign of deportations and murder against 1 million Armenians. As the war saw uprisings from various Arab groups, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. However, the new Turkish Republic with its young Turk leaders emerged from the ruins of the empire. View from the colonies: Many in the colonies were stunned by the slaughter in Europe. In order to get support for the war, the French and British made promises for reforms and paths ...
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Empires in Collision

Opium Wars remain a central element of China´s “patriotic education” s  Some 170 years after that clash between the Chinese and British empires, the Opium War retains an emotional resonance for many Chinese. China faced an immense military and political ambitions of rival European states. Became enmeshed in networks of trade and investment s  Touched by various aspects of European culture – modernity and scientific rationalism. In 1853, 430 million Chinese, had no Industrial Revolution, no agricultural revolution and couldn’t keep up. Huge peasant population, unemployment, impoverishment, misery and starvation high. State was unable to collectively perform many functions: tax collection, flood control, social welfare. Corruption gave rise to bandit gangs, peasant rebellion opposed to Qing Dynasty, Taiping Uprising 1830s British and Americans found enormous, growing profitable market for this addictive drug: opium. Chinese authorities recognized problem, illegal trade, corruption. Ch...
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Colonial Encounters

Europeans had defined others largely in religious terms, now they adopted the idea and techniques of more “advanced” societies equals precedent by wealth, and used both to produce unsurpassed military power.   It’s not surprising that their opinions of other cultures dropped sharply. European eyes to the status of tribes led by chiefs as a means of emphasizing their “primitive” qualities. Still Europeans used the apparatus of science to support their racial preferences and prejudices. (Measure the size of the skull, white skull larger; therefore more advance and intelligent) Race in this view, determined human intelligence, moral development, and destiny. “Race is everything”. The sense of responsibility to the “weaker” races. Europeans had “duty to civilize the inferior races”. “Discipline and production for the market to the lazy natives”. Charles Darwin – “the survival of the fittest” led to the “social Darwinism” – destruction of backward races or “unfit” races. Second wa...
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Industrial Revolution

No element of Europe´s Modern transformation held a greater significance for the history of humankind than the Industrial Revolution, which took place in 1750 and 1900. French Revolution transform European society, Agricultural Revolution some 12,000 years ago had a way of life been so fundamentally altered. Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, spread much more rapidly than agriculture. More than Christianity, democracy or capitalism. Industrial Revolution enthusiastically welcomed everywhere.  The global context for this transformation lies in the very substantial increase in human numbers. From 375 million in 1400 to 1 billion in 19th century. Industrial Revolution marks a human response to that dilemma as nonrenewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas replaced the endlessly renewable energy sources of Wind, water and wood.   Raw materials to feed to fuel industrial machinery- coal iron, petroleum altered landscape in many places. Some from coal fired ...
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Atlantic Revolutions ( Global Echoes)

Other peoples to had times of cultural flowering: Greeks, Indians, South Asia, Arabs, Chinese, Incas and Aztecs. Western people have enjoyed their worldwide primacy for at most two centuries. The rise of Europe occurred within an international context it was the withdrawal of the Chinese naval fleet that allowed Europeans to enter the Indian Ocean in the 16th and 17th centuries. Native Americans lacked the immunity of European diseases. Industrial revolution also benefited from the New World resources and markets European control of the elite. The rise of Europe to a position of a global dominance was not an easy automatic process Europeans had to modify their policies example British control in India. In Africa the entering of missionaries, always in some way was a negotiated arrangement. People in the world made active use of Europeans ideas for their own purposes seeking to gain advantage over local rivals or to seek a benefit. Haitian Revolution used French ideas about the rights...
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