Reactions to Imperialism Overview

European Imperialism had a deep and lasting impact on the parts of the world that the Europeans took over and made into colonies. Before the Europeans took over, the societies in these places had sophisticated cultures that stretched back thousands of years and controlled regions larger than most European countries. Cities in these regions, like Beijing in China, Delhi in India and Cairo in Egypt, had been larger with healthier populations than any city in Europe in the previous centuries. Even in the 18th century, the lifestyle of people in these regions was better than that of people in Europe. However, the Industrial Revolution changed this situation because it gave Europeans a desire to get resources from the rest of the world and the military power to take over large parts of the world. The invasions by Europeans hurt the societies in the regions they took over. The Europeans defeated their armies, took away the power of these people to rule themselves and forced them to accept European culture. The short amount of time it took the Europeans to take over these regions shocked the people who lived in these places.

The impact of European imperialism sparked conflict in places where the Europeans pushed aside the traditional societies and took over. Many societies were divided about how to react to European rule. The reality was that while being conquered and ruled by Europeans was deeply humiliating, European rule also brought benefits like modern medicine and technology, such as railroads, to these societies.

In general, the societies taken over by the Europeans could be divided into three groups based on how they reacted to European imperialism. The first group was the people who benefited from European rule and worked with and supported European imperialism. These people often converted to European Christianity and worked with the Europeans in running the colonies as soldiers and administrators. The second group was people who lost their power and status or believed that their traditional society was superior to the European ways. These people often resisted the Europeans and fought back in open rebellion against the Europeans. The third group was people who resented being ruled by the Europeans but recognized that they could not defeat the Europeans because the Europeans had superior weapons and technology. These people chose to work with the Europeans so as to learn European technology and ideas so that they could use them to make their country strong and win their independence at a later date. The conflicts between these groups as they reacted to European imperialism played out in many different ways around the world.

In India, the British took over slowly through the British East India Company. The Company fought wars and made treaties with local Indian rulers. By the 1800’s, the British East India Company controlled most of India and employed an army of Indian soldiers (called Sepoys) that was larger than the British army. The British generally looked down on Indian culture and religions and tried to make the Indians adopt British ways and become Christian. Many Indians hated the way the British treated them. In 1857, this hatred toward the British became a rebellion when the Sepoys mutinied against the Company all across India. In this rebellion, the Sepoy massacred entire British communities in India. The British government responded to the rebellion by sending in the British army. The British army had better weapons, so they crushed the Sepoy forces and brutally killed any Sepoy they captured. After this, the British government made India a formal part of the British Empire and was careful to make sure Indians would never be in a position to threaten rebellion again. Still, many Indians continued to push for Indian independence, but did so through peaceful ways that did threaten violence.

The Chinese Imperial government tried to keep the Europeans out of China by allowing them to only do business in one city. The Chinese would only allow the Europeans to buy Chinese goods with silver as payment. The Chinese looked down on the Europeans and did not want to buy any European goods. The British began to smuggle opium into China to trade for Chinese goods. Opium is a highly addictive drug. The Chinese emperor reacted by having all the captured opium destroyed. This sparked the First Opium War in 1839, in which the British used modern steam powered gunships to sink the Chinese navy and forced the Chinese to open themselves to trade with Europe. The Chinese government reacted to the defeat in the Opium War by keeping its traditions and refusing to adopt modern technology and ideas. The Europeans then fought several more “Opium Wars” with the Chinese to force the Chinese to give the Europeans more benefits and trading rights. Many Chinese were humiliated that the Europeans had beaten them and that now the Europeans could freely do whatever they wanted in China.

China was then hit by several rebellions against both the Chinese government and the Europeans powers in China. The first of these major rebellions was the Taiping Rebellion which lasted from 1850 to 1864 and occurred in southeastern China. It is estimated that up to 20 million people died in this rebellion. The Chinese government was only able to end the rebellion with the help of European and American military leadership and weapons. After this, the Chinese government became dependent on American and European support and the Europeans began to directly take over some parts of China. Throughout this period, the Chinese government worked with the Europeans and did not try to modernize the way it ruled China. When the Emperor tried to start a process of modernization, he was removed from power by his mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi. This only increased Chinese anger and 1898 the Boxer Rebellion swept across China. Groups of Chinese people attacked Europeans and Americans living in China. In response, Europe and America sent a combined army to China and defeated the Boxers. After this, the Europeans and Americans stationed armies in China and the Chinese had to pay these armies. The combination of the weakness of the Chinese government and the anger of the Chinese over European Imperialism lead to the a revolution in 1912 that overthrew the Chinese government.

The reaction of Japan to European imperialism was very different from the Chinese reaction. For centuries, the government of Japan isolated the country from the rest of the world, refusing to trade or interact. During this time, Japan was dominated by the shogun, or “imperial general” who ruled the country with the loyal support of the noble samurai warriors. Japan had an emperor, but he only had symbolic power. The shogun believed that if Japan did not have any contact with the rest of the world, then it would not be taken over. However, in 1853 the American navy arrived in Japan and demanded that it open itself up to the world. Unlike China, which did not change in response to the rest of the world, Japan opened itself up to the rest of the world and started a process of fast modernization based on copying Europe and America. After this, Japan sent experts to study European and American governments, industries and militaries. When they returned, they wrote a new constitution for the government, built factories and created a modern military. In only a few decades, Japan was transformed from a weak traditional society into a modern country that was of equal strength to any European country. Japan also began to act like a European country by using its new industrial power and its military to build an empire in Asia by taking over Korea and parts of China.

Africa was the part of the world most devastated by European Imperialism. Before the Europeans came to build colonies, Europeans had damaged African societies by participating in the slave trade in which millions of Africans were removed from Africa and sent to work for rest of their lives in the Americas. In the 19th century, Europeans became interested in the resources, like rubber, coca (for making chocolate), ivory, gold and diamonds, that they could get in Africa. The Europeans began to Africa to set up colonies in a process that was called the “scramble for Africa”. The Europeans often tricked Africans out of their lands, used their military power to destroy African tribes, and then forced Africans to work like slaves to get resources for Europe. In order to avoid fighting with each other over African lands, the European countries met at the Berlin Conference in 1884 to divide Africa between them. The Europeans knew very little about the Africa when they divided it up as most of the continent was still unexplored. As a result, African tribes were divided among several European colonies and were often forced to live in the same colonies as their enemies. Africans who opposed this, like the Zulu and Matebele tribes, were destroyed by the Europeans. The only place in Africa that successfully resisted European imperialism was Ethiopia.