Embedded Files
Azimullah Khan Yusufzai (India)
Azimullah Khan Yusufzai was born to a poor family in India. When he was seven, he and his mother found shelter at a British Christian mission (like a community center) during a famine (lack of food). Azimullah was educated at the mission school, where he learned English and French, but he refused to convert to Christianity because he was a Muslim. After he left the mission school, he went to work as a secretary to several British military officers.
Azimullah became the secretary and advisor to Nana Sihib, an Indian noble whose family had given up its land to the British East India Company in return for a yearly payment. Nana Sihib was involved in a conflict with the British East India Company because the Company had decided to stop making the annual payment to his family. In 1853, Nana Sihib sent Azimullah to England to directly ask the officers of the British East India Company to start making the payments again.
Azimullah’s trip to England had a deep impact on him. He saw the dirty and polluted industrial cities full of poor British workers. He realized that, in contrast to the British in India who lived in large houses with servants, most people in Britain did not live much better than people in India. Azimullah was upset and offended when the Company refused to change its decision about paying Nana Sihib. On his return to India, Azimullah traveled to see the fighting in the Crimean War between England and Russia. He saw the sick British soldiers suffering under poor leadership. Though he failed to get the money for Nana Sihib's family, Azimullah returned India knowing that the British had no special ability that the Indians lacked and that it was possible to militarily defeat the British.
When he returned to India, Azimullah encouraged Nana Sihib to turn against the British. He also began to produce anti-British writings with a printing press he had brought back from Europe. In 1857, when the Sopoy soldiers (Indian soldiers working for British East India Company) rebelled against the British, Azimullah convinced Nana Sihib to support the rebellion. Nana Sihib became a leader in the rebellion – including ordering the massacre of British women and children when the British surrendered at Cawnpore. While it is unknown what happened to Azimullah after the British crushed the rebellion, he most likely died of a fever in 1859 on the run from the British in the north of India.
Surendranath Banerjee (India)
Surendranath Banerjee was born to a wealthy and noble family in India in 1848. His father was a doctor and made sure that Banerjeee received a liberal education. After graduating from university, Banerjee travelled to England to take the Indian Civil Service Exam. This exam was given once a year in England and it was necessary to pass the exam to get a position in the British colonial government in India. The British set up the exam in England to make it very difficult for any Indian person to take and pass the exam. Banerjee was the first Indian to pass the exam in 1869. The British government still made it hard to him to get a job and it took him two years to get a position as an assistant to a judge. However, Banerjee was soon fired from his job because of British racism toward Indians.
In 1875, Banerjee became a professor of English in India and began to organize the Indian National Association, the first political organizations for Indians. He travelled across India giving speeches attacking the British for their racial discrimination against Indians. This made him very popular across India. Four years later, he founded a newspaper to support his political movement. Using his organization as a base, in 1885 he participated in the founding of the Indian National Congress and became its president in 1895. Banerjee believed that it was important for Indian leaders to works slowly and with the British to win political power for the Indians. As the leader of the Indian National Congress, Banerjee argued that they should work with the British and was against Indian leaders who wanted to have revolution against the British to win independence from Britain. However, in the early twentieth century, British rule became more unpopular with the Indian population and Banerjee, with his moderate views, lost the support of many in India. In 1921, Banerjee was knighted for his support for the British Empire. In the last years of his life, he was the prime minister of a self-governing region in northeast India.
Empress Dowager Cixi (China)
Cixi was born to a noble family in China in 1835. Very little is known about her childhood because the Imperial Chinese policy forbade the publication of personal details of the Imperial (royal) family. When she was fourteen she was chosen to be the emperor Xianfeng’s concubine (official mistress). Xianfeng had one wife, two consorts, and eleven concubines. In 1856, Cixi gave birth to a birth to a boy named Zaichun. Zaichun was the emperor’s only son. The emperor died shortly after without naming an heir. Cixi made sure that her 5-year-old son was named the new emperor. At this point, Cixi became the Empress Dowager becuase she was the mother so she was given power to assist the child emperor. However, she shared this power with several government ministers. Several of these ministers opposed Cixi and tried to take away her power. Cixi turned the imperial family against these ministers and had them beheaded.
At this point, Cixi basically became the leader of China by ruling in the name of her son. This was a hard time for China because it was forced to pay the Europeans for the cost of the Second Opium War (which it had lost) and for putting down the Taiping Rebellion, which was being fought in southern China. Cixi lead the Chinese government through these problems. Then in 1875, the 18-year-old emperor (her son) died without an heir. Cixi chose her sister’s 4-year-old son, named Guangxu, to be the emperor and she continued to rule in his name.
In 1887, Guangxu took power as emperor, but he ruled under Cixi’s supervision. Guangxu wanted to reform (change) the Chinese government and modernize it. After China lost a war to Japan, Guangxu began to carry out his planned reforms. These reforms resulted in many government officials losing their jobs. These officials asked Cixi to help them to block the reforms so they could get their jobs back. In 1898, Cixi, with the support of these officials and the army, removed Guangxu from power, but kept him as emperor. Cixi again ruled China.
In 1900, the Chinese people rose in the Boxer Rebellion against the Europeans who had take control across many parts of China. The Boxers (rebels) attacked Europeans across China and any Chinese person who had become Christian. Cixi supported the rebellion when they attacked Europeans living in the capital of Beijing. In response to the rebellion, the Europeans invaded China with an army that captured Beijing. Cixi fled Beijing dressed as a peasant. However, she quickly made peace with the Europeans and returned to rule in Beijing in 1902. After this, she tried to start the process of reforming China, even though she had earlier opposed Guangxu's reforms. This was a case of too little too late. In 1908, Cixi died one day after Guangxu died and a two-year-old named Puyi became emperor.
Mongkut (Thailand)
Mongkut was born in Siam (modern day Thailand) in 1804. Mongkut was the forty-third child of the king of Siam, but because he was the first son to be born to the queen, he was first in line to the throne. However, he was he was serving as a Buddhist monk, a tradition for sons of the king, when his father died. The government officials choose his brother to become king. In order to avoid a dangerous conflict with his brother, Mongkut remained a monk while his brother was king. It was during this time during the 1830s and 1840s that Mongkut began to work with European and American missionaries and invited them to Siam to build schools and hospitals in Siam. He even hired Anna Leonowens, an American, to be his children’s teacher.
When his brother died, Mongkut became the king of Siam. As king, Mongkut was fully aware of European power and Siam’s weakness. He knew that the British had defeated China in the Opium Wars and that they had taken over the neighboring country of Burma. At the same time, he saw that the French were taking over the area of Vietnam to the east of Siam. Mongkut decided to open his country to trade with the Europeans, but on terms that kept Siam independent. He wrote Queen Victoria and the American president and signed treaties with European countries and America. Because Siam was a point where the British and French empires met, Mongkut could play the two powers against each other to keep its independence. Unlike the rest of the countries in southeast Asia, Siam was never colonized by a European country.
Toshimichi Okubo (Japan)
Toshimichi Okubo was born to a samurai family in Japan in 1830. After his samurai education, Okubo began to work as an advisor to the leader of the region of Satsuma. In this position, Okubo argued for Japan to adopt European ways and that the government needed to bring together the power for the emperor and the shogun. In 1867, Okubo helped plan the surrender of the Shogun and full power being given to the emperor.
After the emperor got power, Okubo was a leader in the new government and he worked to end the power and special rights of the samurai. In 1871, Okubo created a tax on land (which was held by the noble samurai) and then in 1876 he made the laws that banned the samurai from wearing their swords in public. This sparked rebellions by Samurai across Japan.
In 1873, Okubo participated in the Iwakuru Mission, where he travelled with a group of Japanese leaders on a two-year trip to the United States and Europe to gather ideas for the modernization of Japan and to negotiate treaties with these countries. After this, he used the government powers to promote Japanese industry, based on using modern technology, and the building of roads, bridges and sea ports. He also worked to develop a constitutional government for Japan and to recruit bright and talented young men into the government, regardless of their background. This meant that any Japanese man could become a government official or military leader. These positions were traditionally held only by the samurai.
This loss of prestige angered many samurai. For many Japanese people, especially the Samurai, Okubo was a symbol of the speed with which the new imperial government had moved as well as the willingness of the government to push aside traditional Japanese culture in its process of modernizing the country. In 1878, an angry samurai assassinated Okubo as he was walking to the imperial palace.
Saigo Takamori (Japan)
Saigo Takamori was born to a poor samurai family in Japan in 1828. When he was six, Siago began his samurai training. However, he was more of a scholar than a warrior, reading extensively. After completing his education, he began to work for the local samurai lord as an agricultural adviser.
In 1854, Siago traveled with his lord to the Japanese capital of Edo and saw the American fleet of ships in the harbor, which was demanding that Japan open itself to trade with foreign powers. As an advisor to his lord, Saigo worked to support the emperor, who wanted to open and modernize Japan, and not the Shogun, or “general of the army”, who wanted to fight the Americans. In Japan at the time, the Shogun had the power and the emperor was just a figurehead. After his lord died in 1858, Saigo had to flee Edo to escape the Shogun’s samurai, who wanted to capture him because he supported the emperor, not the shogun. For several years, Saigo lived in different parts of Japan under threat from the Shogun. However, he remained in contact with the emperor’s advisors.
In 1865, the Emperor died and his young son became the new emperor. Siago was made a military commander of forces loyal to the emperor in civil war between the emperor and the Shogun. For several years, he battled the Shogun and finally defeated him in 1868. Siago gained fame and respect in this war because he allowed the Shogun to surrender with honor. Saigo’s victory made the emperor the unchallenged leader of Japan. After the war, Siago retired and took up a life of hunting, fishing and soaking in hot springs.
In 1876, the emperor’s government banned samurai from carrying swords, which essentially ended their identity. This action caused small samurai rebellions across Japan. Saigo supported these rebellions, but refused to become involved in the rebellion because he still felt deep personal loyalty to the Emperor. Trying to resolve the conflict between the Emperor and the samurai, Saigo announced that he would go to Tokyo, the capital city, to "question" the government. As he traveled to the capital, about 12,000 young men joined him and the event became known as the Satsuma Rebellion. For over a year, Saigo’s army fought against the larger national army that was much better armed. In his final stand, Saigo and 300 of his followers were surrounded by 7000 soldiers of the national army. Saigo was killed in a final suicide charge against the emperor’s national army, the army that he had organized. For this reason, he is sometimes known as "The Last Samurai."
Menelik II (Ethiopia)
Menelik II was born to a noble family in Ethiopia in 1844. When Menelik II was a child, Ethiopia did not have a strong government and was often troubled by rebellions. Menelik’s father was killed in one of the rebellions and Menelik and his mother went to live with the Emperor of Ethiopia. The support of the Emperor helped Menelik gain power as a regional leader. However, when the Emperor was killed in a battle against the British, Menelik became involved in a civil war against the other Ethiopian leaders who wanted to be emperor.
Menelik realized how powerful the European weapons were and so he built close ties the British, French and Italians so that he could get weapons for his army. Menelik used the weapons to expand the territory under his control. Menelik declared himself emperor of Ethiopia in 1889. However, his good relationship with Italy fell apart when it became clear that Italy wanted to take over the northern part of Ethiopia. In 1894, Italy invaded Ethiopia and claimed that it had the right to use military power anywhere in the country. Menelik responded to this by spending a year building an army of 120,000 soldiers. Menelik marched this army north to take on the Italian force of 20,000 soldiers at the Battle of Adowa. The Italians believed that their weapons would give them the advantage. However, Menelik’s army was armed with modern weapons from Europe and he crushed the Italian army.
After defeating the Italians, Menelik quickly moved to sign a new treaty with Italy in which Italy recognized Ethiopia’s independence. He also signed new treaties with England and France. He used these connections with Europe to have a railroad built from the Ethiopian capital to the Red Sea. This link with the outside world led to the first western style schools, hospitals and banks being built in the country.
Menelik was also fascinated by European machinery and technology, and he took a personal interest in photography, medicine, and mechanical devices. He applied this interest to the way he ruled Ethiopia by using modern technology such as the telegraph and bridge building and ideas like the post office and to pull the parts of Ethiopia into a united country. This unity made it easier for Menelik to directly rule the country and he took power away from traditional regional rulers and replaced them with officials that he appointed.
Cetshwayo (Zulu of South Africa)
Cetshwayo was born to the ruling family of the Zulu nation in southern Africa in 1826. His uncle was the king of the Zulu and his grandfather was the great Zulu king Shaka Zulu. When his uncle died, Cetshwayo’s father became the Zulu king. However, his father was angered by Cetshwayo’s popularity among the Zulu leaders and began to recognize Cetshwayo’s brother as the next Zulu king. In 1856, this action resulted in a battle between Cetshwayo and his brother over the position of Zulu chief. Cetshwayo was able to raise an army of 20,000 warriors and he defeated his brother.
During this time, white Dutch settlers called Boers began to settle on Zulu land. Cetshwayo began to develop relations with the British to gain guns to use to defend Zululand from the Dutch Boer settlers. The British recognized Cetshwayo as the king of the Zulu and his lands. In 1877, Cetshwayo’s conflict with Dutch Boers ended because the British took over the Boer’s land. However, after taking over the Boer’s lands, the British set their sights on taking over Zululand. In 1879, after a small group of Zulu warriors raided another tribe that lived in British territory, the British demanded that Cetshwayo pay for the damages with 500 cattle and that he disband the Zulu army. Cetshwayo rejected the demand and prepared for war against the British.
The British invaded Zululand with the goal of defeating Cetshwayo and taking the Zulu territory. In the beginning of the war, Cetshwayo’s Zulu army of 24,000 warriors destroyed a British unit of 1700 soldiers at the Battle of Isandlwana (only 60 British soldiers survived the battle). The British planned to defeat the larger Zulu army with their superior guns. However, the guns were untested in battle and began to jam and misfire, which allowed the Zulu to overrun the British position. While the defeat hurt British pride, the British responded by using the resources of their world-wide empire to send more troops to invade Zululand. By the middle of 1879, the British had captured most of the Zulu lands and burned Cetshwayo’s home to the ground. Soon after that, Cetshwayo was captured by the British. The British exiled Cetshwayo from Zululand and divided Zululand into 13 different kingdoms, all under British control.
After his defeat, the British kept Cetshwayo in South Africa as a prisoner of war. In 1881, the British brought him to England where he met Queen Victoria. Cetshwayo was very popular with the British public and he was restored to his position as king of the Zulu. In 1883, he returned to rule one small part of Zululand. The British would not allow him to have an army. He died the next year.
Lobengula
Lobengula was the son of the king of the Matabele in southern Africa in 1836. Lobengula’s father had been a general in the army of the famous leader of the Zulu tribe, Shaka Zulu. His father, after a dispute with Shaka, had left the Zulu tribe along with his followers and established the tribe of the Matebele. The Matabele were, like the Zulu, a powerful warrior society. After his father’s death, Lobengula became the king of the Matabele.
Lobengula ruled the Matabele at time when the Europeans were invading Africa to set up colonies and get resources. The British, led by the work of Cecil Rhodes, became interested in Matabele lands because they contained diamonds and gold and the land could be used for farming. However, the British were not the only Europeans to want the Matabele land. The Germans, Portuguese and Dutch settlers (called the Boers), also wanted a part of Matabele lands.
In 1888, Cecil Rhodes negotiated a treaty with Lobengula. Lobengula agreed not to give any land to other European powers without the approval of the British. After this, Rhodes sent a group of officials to Lobengula to ask for the permission to hunt, trade and look for gold and diamonds on Matabele lands. Rhodes offered a thousand guns and ammunition in return. Lobengula agreed to this and signed another treaty. However, Lobengula could not read the treaty he signed and the treaty he signed was not the one that had been explained to him by Rhodes' officials. The treaty he signed gave Rhodes the right to all of the Matabele lands. After Lobengula signed the treaty, Rhodes organized a group of settlers and soldiers, who were promised a 3000 acre farm, to take Matebele lands.
When Lobengula realized what Rhodes had done, he cancelled the treaty and ordered the British to leave Matabele lands. The British ignored him. Rhodes and the British began to build a railroad across the Matabele lands. When he realized how he had been tricked by Rhodes, Lobengula said “Did you ever see a chameleon catch a fly? England is the chameleon and I am the fly.”
In 1893, Lobengula began to fight back against the British by using his 5000 man army to force the British off the Matebele lands. Rhodes' British force was much smaller, about fifty men, but they were equipped with the Maxim gun. The Maxim gun was an early machine gun that could shoot up to 600 bullets a minute. With the Maxim gun on their side, Rhodes' British soldiers slaughtered the entire Matabele army in one battle. Lobangula fled the battle, but died a month later. It is not clear how he died, but it was most likely by poison.
Page updated
Report abuse