Oct 8th The Scramble for Africa European Imperialism at the end of the 19th Century Background Colonized in less than 25 years I II Causes of the New Imperialism in Africa 1 Economic Motives British by 1870 France Germany and U S were closing the industrial gat that the British led French Germans started to spread out to Africa British saw this as a threat they started expanding in Africa competing with France Germany Sets off European race for Africa 2 Social Darwinism Many Europeans believed that the strongest nation will 3 survive therefore you had to take as much as possible Embedded is a racial ideology that the strongest should subdue weaker Job of European nations to civilize backwards people of Africa Industrial and Technological Advances Decade of almost constant warfare in Europe and abroad allowed for military technological advances Machine Maxim Gun gave a dramatic advantage to those who used it Quinine anti Malaria lack of kept Europeans out of the middle of Africa 1870s artificial quinine was invented therefore Europeans could go into the middle of Africa Coal Powered steam ship much faster and heavily armed Could get to Africa much faster Invention and spread of telegraph allowed near instantaneous communication 4 European Social Tensions and Domestic Politics between and within European nations Thought to use imperialism to alleviate tensions Used problems in colonies to distract away from home front problems Special Interest Groups Military special interest groups to train colonies Industrialist saw potential in large resource markets Humanitarians to civilize Africa and to stop slave trade used to promote imperialism 6 The Great White Burden White man s responsibility or burden to civilize 5 uncivilized groups in Africa III The Seizure of Africa 1880 Race for Africa begins 1 King Leopold II of Belgium begins negotiating treaties with tribal leaders along Congo River French didn t like they began claiming protectorates in West Africa British begin pushing north to south and south to north Germans start to claim protectorates in central Africa 2 Kongokonferenz or Berlin Conference 1884 1885 1885 the Congo Conference every major power meets in Berlin to decide about Africa Germans and French take lead Principle of Effectivity in order to make your claim valid you have to have military and civil administration present This insures that powers would be fighting natives not each other in order to keep claims 3 European Territories a Congo Free State Belgium keeps Congo and gets European power to protect them though negotiations Had found natural rubber vines very valuable in industrial times Ruthless vicious exploitation and taking of rubber through natives cutting of hands if daily quota not met b Southern Africa IV Results By 1902 most modern commentators foresaw a great war coming Pointed to Africa as where war would take place because Berlin Conference was falling apart They were right about the war the Great War but wrong about the location Oct 10th 12th 15th 17th The Great War 1890 1918 I II Background All thought that it was going to be a short war home by Christmas 1914 The Bismarckian International System 1871 Franco Prussian war France Germany War Germany won Germany still see France as a threat Bismarck creates Bismarck system 1873 was mostly successful until 1890 1 Phase One Economic Impositions keep France from recovering from war Bismarck underestimated France they were able to pay off their war debt and had a new growing economy 2 Phase Two Diplomatic Maneuvering Bismarck starts to make new alliances in Europe Three Emperors League 1887 league collapsed worked for a short time no wars in Europe Able to negotiate Russo German Reinsurance treaty with Russia won t fight against each other if in war 3 Results 1890 William II King of Germany didn t get along well with Bismarck system began to decline William II canceled reassurance treaty this allowed France to reemerge without fear of Russia Russia and France became allies 1894 Europe divided French Russia Germany Austria and Italy Triple Alliance III Breakdown of the Bismarckian International System 1 The Anglo German Rivalry British Splendid Isolation wasn t involved in much conflict they were busy colonizing elsewhere They didn t want to be involved but by 1894 they found it hard to not get involved Why the British and Germans couldn t get together to make treaties 2 major reasons five total i ii Second Boer War 1899 1902 between Germans and British in South Africa The High Seas Fleet German Navy Germany was going to create a huge navy problem for British because they already had the best navy and this now possessed a challenge 2 British Solutions British reach out to make new alliances First look to U S had been planning for war for 90 years since 1812 They start to form new alliance British then turn to Japanese Turned to France who needed help too French gave British Egypt as long as they didn t interfere with their plans in Morocco and continue to make alliances Entente Cordiale eventually leads to Triple Entente British France and Russia Not making a military alliance just a moral obligation to assist in times of war 3 German Reactions i ii First Moroccan Crisis 1904 1905 Russo Japanese War 1904 1905 Dispute of territory Russia for east 1 st time in modern period an Asian power defeats a European power destroying Army and Navy Germany tries to pry British French apart in Morocco Tangier Crisis Triple Entente stayed together IV The Outbreak of War 1 The Balkan Wars overlapping boundaries cultural conflict nationalities want their own state a 1st Balkans War 1912 in result of previous treaty Balkans League Serbia Greece Montenegro and Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire Ottomans run out Balkans League disintegrates after war Bulgarians not happy about territory now war against Bulgaria Russia sides with others b 2nd Balkans War to strip Bulgaria of new land Serbia came out as most powerful state in Balkans Serbia wants to create one Slavic identity that s why Russia supports them Austria Hungarian empire sees Serbia as a threat to take Bosnia this becomes their main focus 1914 Localized Balkan crisis becomes full blown war in Europe V Immediate Causes of the Great War Why WWI began in 1914 a Love Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand loved his wife The reason he was in Bosnia Wife was not royalty so the two could not be seen in public together in Austria Hungary it was their anniversary and he was with her in