2.2 Empire, Industry, Capitalism - The Rise of the West PDF

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Empire, Industry and CapitalismThe Rise of the WestThe Great Boom “The inhabited area of the world is rapidly expanding. New communities, that is, new markets, are daily springing up in the hitherto desert regions of the New World in the West and in the traditionally fertile areas of the Old World i...

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The Making of the Modern World

Week 2 – 14/10/2021 Empire, Industry and Capitalism The Rise of the West

The Great Boom -

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“The inhabited area of the world is rapidly expanding. New communities, that is, new markets, are daily springing up in the hitherto desert regions of the New World in the West and in the traditionally fertile areas of the Old World in the East” (‘Philoponos’, The Great Exhibition of 1851; or the Wealth of the World in its Workshops (1850), “What followed was so extraordinary that men were at a loss for a precedent. Never did British exports grow more rapidly than in the first seven years of the 1850s…. Wherever we look similar evidences of boom may be found. The export of iron from Belgium more than doubled between 1851 and 1857” (Eric Hobsbawm), A golden age of industry, capitalism and imperialism had dawned.

Europe in world history before 1492 -

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After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was peripheral to the major centres of civilisation, The world’s great imperial powers were Asian and Middle Eastern: The Chinese dynasties, Arab Caliphs, Indian Mughals, Persian Safavids, Ottoman Turks, Europe trailed behind in economic and military power as well as in scientific and artistic achievement.

The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates -

The Umayyad dynasty (661-750) oversaw a wave of Muslim expansion, “Within 100 years of the Prophet’s death, Arab forces had reached the Indian subcontinent in the east, and in the west, they had occupied Spain and crossed the Pyrenees into France (Cleveland), The Abbasids (750-1258) presided over an Islamic golden age that saw important advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and mathematics.

The Ottoman Empire -

Late 13th century: Osman Ghazi established the dynastic house of the Ottomans in north-western Anatolia, 1389: victory at the Battle of Kosovo secured Ottoman control over the Balkans, 1453: conquest of Constantinople (re-named Istanbul as the Ottoman capital), The 16th century Ottoman Empire stretched from Mesopotamia in the Middle East across North Africa and into south-eastern Europe.

Imperial China -

Four Great Inventions: the printing press; paper; gunpowder; the compass, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) emperors could call on an army of one million troops, The Chinese navy’s dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world,

The Making of the Modern World -

Week 2 – 14/10/2021

15th century Chinese voyages of discovery in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian archipelago, Nanjing and Peking were larger than any European cities.

Europe’s “Age of Discovery” -

15th century: mastery of the sailing ship transformed Europeans into traders, explorers, colonisers and empire builders, Spain and Portugal led a new age of European maritime dominance, 16th-17th century colonisation of the Americas, 17th century Protestant nations in north-western Europe – the Dutch and the English – emerged as maritime powers to rival Spain and France.

“Industrious revolutions” -

1600-1800: new patterns of household work; time discipline; production and consumption, Merchants adapted to and exploited new patterns of consumption and expanding demand for products like tobacco, coffee, tea, sugar, fine breads, cheaper crockery, The “invention of breakfast”, Underpinning much of this European wealth? The trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Slave Trade -

A triangular trading system between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, Europeans exported goods to Africa in return for enslaved Africans who were shipped across the Atlantic to the American colonies and sold for sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other produce, Britain and Portugal accounted for about 70% of all Africans transported to the Americas. Between 1640 and 1807 it is estimated that Britain transported 3.1 million Africans, When Britain abolished slavery it compensated slave owners at a cost of 40% of government expenditure – the modern equivalent of £17bn.

Industrial capitalism -

c.1750: Europeans industrial “take-off”, Capitalism: an economic system in which trades and industries (the means of production) are operated for profit by a property-owning class employing paid workers, Key characteristics include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour, and competitive markets, Industry, agriculture, and finance were radically transformed, New social, political, and cultural identities emerged, Marxism and the development of new forms of class politics; Weberian analysis of the entrepreneurial “spirit” of capitalism.

The growth of a global economy -

Economic integration and new communications technologies, Pillars of the 19th century liberal economy: free trade and the Gold Standard, Consumerism and capitalism fostered international trade and investment, New institutions emerged to manage international trade and finance – epitomised by the City of London.

The Making of the Modern World

Week 2 – 14/10/2021

Explaining 19th century Imperialism -

Imperialism as the result of a search for overseas resources and markets, Empire as a destination for surplus capital. Lenin: imperialism as “the highest stage of capitalism”, Strategic factors: imperial expansion as the product of great power rivalries, Religious, cultural, and racial explanations: “la mission civisatrice”, “The engine of expansion was the chaotic pluralism of private and sub-imperial interests: religious, commercial, strategic, humanitarian, speculative and migrational” (Darwin).

The Raj: British India -

“The jewel in the crown” of the British Empire, For a century after the Battle of Plassis in 1757, British imperialism in India had been dominated by the East India Company, 1857: the Great Uprising or “Indian Mutiny”, 1858 Government of India Act granted ruling authority to the British crown and parliament, British administrators in India were now directly responsible to a Secretary of State in Westminster.

The Scramble for Africa -

Few European colonies in Africa before 1870 but by 1914 only Ethiopia and Liberia were free of European imperialism, British control in Egypt, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rhodesia, South Africa, French control over vast swathes of north, west and central Africa, Belgium formalised control over Congo, Portugal acquired colonies in west and south-east Africa, Germany became a significant colonial power in both east and west Africa, Italy seized Libya in 1912.

The Scramble for China -

1894-95: Japan defeated China winning territorial gains in Korea, Taiwan, and the Liaodong peninsular, Japanese expansion was challenged by France, Russia, and Germany, 1897-99 saw a wave of Chinese concessions to European powers, Germany seized Kiaochow; Russia gained Port Arthur; France gained territories in southern China; Britain acquired Kowloon (Hong Kong) and Wei-Hai-Wei, 1899: USA called for an ‘open door’ (free access to Chinese markets for US trade).

Europe’s Age of Empire -

European empires controlled 84% of the earth’s surface by the time World War One, The British Empire had expanded by 4 million square miles in just a few decades, French Empire expanded by 3.5 million m2; Germany + one million; Belgium and Italy + just under one million; Portugal + 300,000, But imperial expansion also exposed European weaknesses: Italy was defeated by Ethiopia (1896); Spain was defeated by USA (1898); Russia was defeated by Japan (1905).

The Making of the Modern World

Week 2 – 14/10/2021

“What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of man that age was which came to an end in August, 1914! The greater part of the population, it is true, worked hard and lived at a low standard of comfort, yet were, to all appearances, reasonably contented with this lot. But escape was possible, for any man of capacity or character at all exceeding the average, into the middle and upper classes, for whom life offered, at a low cost and with the least trouble, conveniences, comforts, and amenities beyond the compass of the richest and most powerful monarchs of other ages. The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages.... The projects and politics of militarism and imperialism, of racial and cultural rivalries, of monopolies, restrictions, and exclusion, which were to play the serpent to this paradise, were little more than the amusements of his daily newspaper” (John Maynard Keynes, 1919)....