1.
Watch this video on the Boxer Rebellion Links to an external site.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=Y-18lUI8ZBnuxhxe&v=JSe8FmYlYdk&feature=youtu.be)Review this website https://omniatlas.com/maps/asia-pacific/19000616/Links to an external site.
These will help you gain insight to the topic.
Create a two-column chart that explains the events of the Boxer Rebellion through the perspectives described in the featured sources.
Sources:
Excerpt from Fei Ch'i-hao’s account of the Boxer RebellionLinks to an external site. ( Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History (fordham.edu) )
Excerpt from Luella Minor’s account of the Boxer RebellionLinks to an external site. ( Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History (fordham.edu) )
2.
Read Primary Source 18.1 and answer the following questions:
Why did the other women at the meeting ask Gage not to allow Sojourner Truth to speak? What were they afraid of?
What does Truth mean when she says, "Ain't I a woman?"
What role does religion play in this document?
CHAPTER 18
An Unsettled World
1890–1914
Copyright © 2021, W. W. Norton & Company
Numerous factors lead to global instability: vast population movements, worldwide financial crises, class conflict, the rise of women’s consciousness, and hatred of colonial domination.
Class conflict, economic instability, and great power rivalry within Europe combine with growing protest from overseas to undermine Europe’s dominant position in world affairs.
New forms of scientific thinking and artistic expression, known as cultural modernism, challenge the dominant western view of progress and open Europe and North America to the cultural achievements of nonwestern societies.
Global Storyline
2
What was the connection between migration and the development of nationalism in this period?
How did China’s responses to imperialism compare with those in Africa?
What political, economic, and social crises swept through the world in this period? What impact did they have on different regions of the world?
How did new cultural forms at the turn of the century reflect challenges to the world order as it then existed?
In what ways did race, nation, and religion unify populations but also make societies more difficult to govern and economies more difficult to manage?
Focus Questions
3
Three key factors underlay the anxieties and insecurities that unsettled the world at the turn of the twentieth century.
Uprooting of millions from the countryside and from one continent to another
Discontent with poverty
Resentment and resistance to European domination
Modernism
Questioning of old ideas and a flowering of new thinking
An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
The turn of the twentieth century was a deeply unsettled time. While Europe had consolidated its dominance abroad, it faced challenges to the entrenched order at home. Three key factors underlay the anxieties and insecurities of this age.
First, millions of people were uprooted from the countryside and from one continent to another. Second, discontent with poverty simmered even as industrial production soared. Third, those under European colonial domination resented and resisted their subjugation.
This instability led to a questioning of received ideas and a new cultural flowering labeled “modernism.”
4
In the decades leading up to 1914, various groups challenged the established order and power holders.
In Europe and the United States, left-wing radicals and middle-class reformers sought political and social change.
In places colonized by Europe and the United States, resentment grew toward colonial rulers or indigenous elites.
Popular discontent in places such as China targeted European domination.
New industries drove economic growth and also inequities, loss of jobs, and organized opposition to authoritarian regimes or to the free market system.
Modernism was the way that a generation of artists, writers, and scientists broke with convention and sought new ways of seeing the world.
Progress, Upheaval, and Movement
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the global economy was growing rapidly. But this growth had a price: instability that led many to challenge the established order and power holders.
These challenges came in different forms in different parts of the world. In Europe and the United States, leftist radicals and the more moderate middle-class advocated for social and political change. People in colonized countries grew increasingly resentful of colonizers or indigenous elites. Even in places that were not formally colonized, like China, anger directed against European domination was a potent political force.
As the economy grew, so did inequality. Inequality grew not only between classes in the industrializing countries, but also between these countries and the rest of the world, much of which was forced through colonialism to reorganize its economies to benefit industry. These instabilities in some cases led to organized opposition of authoritarian regimes or the free market system itself.
At the same time, a new generation of artists, writers, and scientists attempted to break with tradition, forming a movement called modernism. But as much as certain people were thrilled by the idea of breaking free of conventions, those who were more invested in the old order were reluctant to see it fade away.
5
Mass emigration of Europeans to the United States (and Argentina)
High point 1901–1910 with over 6 million to the United States
Emigration, immigration, internal migration
1840s–1940s: 29 million South Asians recruited to labor on plantations, railways, and mines in Malay Peninsula, Burma, Dutch Indies, East Africa, and the Caribbean
1845–1900: 800,000 Chinese emigrated due to population pressure, shortage of cultivable land, and social turmoil; went to Americas, New Zealand, Hawaii, West Indies, and Southeast Asia
Industrialism pushed millions to migrate within their own countries, from the countryside to cities or to new frontiers.
There were few restrictions until 1914.
United States Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Travel within Europe required no passports or work permits.
Peoples in Motion
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a wave of mass migration from Europe to the Americas. Emigration began in earnest after the Napoleonic wars and picked up momentum in the 1840s. Many of the migrants of this period were Irish fleeing starvation in their home country. After 1870, the flow of European immigrants intensified even further, with the United States becoming the most favored destination, and Argentina in second place. The highest point was between 1901 and 1910, with over 6 million Europeans entering the United States.
Europeans were not the only people on the move. From the 1840s to the 1940s, 29 million South Asians migrated to colonial outposts in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Many of these people were recruited to work on plantations, railways, and in mines.
Around 800,000 Chinese emigrated as well. Seeking to escape population pressures, land shortages, and social turmoil, many Chinese left their homes to find a new life in the Americas, New Zealand, Hawaii, the West Indies, and Southeast Asia.
Industrialization did not just cause emigration beyond borders. Internal migration also occurred on a large scale as people pushed into frontiers or moved to cities to work in factories.
Until 1914, there was almost no immigration policy. The United States admitted almost anyone until 1882, when it passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law, spurred by racist reactions to increasing numbers of Chinese immigrants, prohibited Chinese migrants from settling in the United States.
Travel in Europe was basically unrestricted. No passports or work permits were required. Foreigners who committed crimes were eligible for deportation, but that was the extent of immigration policy.
6
Cities boomed, leading to city planning.
Major housing shortages, despite rebuilding projects
Goals were to ward off disease and crime, impress others with modernity
Reorganization along class lines
Cities remained inhospitable to poor
Nonetheless, cholera and tuberculosis remained major killers.
However, they offered some hope of social mobility.
Greater possibility for collective action, but increased social division
Urban Life and Changing Identities
Cities grew rapidly, with Tokyo’s population more than tripling between 1863 and 1908, and London’s reaching 6.5 million. The rapid growth of the population caused major housing shortages, despite the attempts of municipal governments to rebuild and beautify the cities. City planning developed during this period in order to regularize traffic and make city life more attractive for residents.
City governments all over the world spent enormously on opera houses, libraries, sewers, and parks, hoping to keep disease at bay. These new projects also meant reorganizing cities along class lines, bringing the benefits of urban design to wealthier areas while edging out the poor. Cities were transformed into arenas where wealthier residents could socialize, relax, and showcase their wealth.
Cities remained largely inhospitable and unsanitary environments for the poor. Cholera and tuberculosis remained potent dangers associated with urban life, as well as increased rates of suicide and alcoholism. However, they offered at least some hope of social mobility, especially to women in Europe and North America, who found new economic and educational opportunities.
While denser populations led to an increased opportunity for collective action, this did not produce social harmony. Conflicts between social classes and the formation of ethnic enclaves divided urban communities.
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Map 18.1 | Nineteenth-Century Migration
Map 18.1 | Nineteenth-Century Migration
The nineteenth century witnessed a demographic revolution in terms of migration, urbanization patterns, and population growth. The world’s population also rose from roughly 625 million in 1700 to 1.65 billion in 1900 (a two-and-a-half-fold increase).
• To what areas did most of the migrants from Europe go? What about the migrants from China, India, and Africa?
• What four areas saw the greatest population increase by 1900?
• How were migration flows and urbanization connected? What factors most accounted for these global population changes? Was internal growth more important than external migration in the case of the world’s population growth? In what countries was population growth most affected by external or internal migration?
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Opposition to European domination in Asia and Africa gathered strength before the Great War (WWI).
The cycle of resistance and repression escalated in the colonies.
Europeans at home questioned their methods.
Unrest in Africa
Many anticolonial uprisings in Africa
Some Europeans concluded that Africans were too stubborn or unsophisticated to appreciate European generosity.
Others called for reform to colonial violence.
A few radicals demanded an end to imperialism.
Discontent with Imperialism
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw both an aggressive expansion of imperialism and the strengthening of anticolonial resistance. This resistance gained strength, especially during the decades leading up to World War I. During that time, many Europeans promoted imperialism as a “civilizing mission,” claiming that their efforts in the colonies were intended to benefit the colonized peoples. But many of these peoples articulated alternative visions for their societies, contesting Europe’s claim to supremacy. As tensions in the colonies escalated, many Europeans also began to question their methods.
Colonization met fierce resistance all over Africa, despite differences in the approach to colonization. The Germans and Belgians upended local political traditions, whereas the British left them intact. Despite these differences, both groups of colonizers faced violent uprisings.
Many Europeans were shocked by the resistance. Unable to understand why Africans would reject the benefits of civilization as they saw it, many Europeans concluded that Africans were too stubborn or unsophisticated to appreciate European generosity. Others were shocked by the extent of colonial violence and called for reform. A few radicals event went so far as to demand an end to imperialism entirely.
9
South African Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) pitted British settlers of the Cape Colony and Natal against Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.
Involved 4 million Black inhabitants and 1 million Whites
The discovery of gold in the Transvaal in the mid-1880s frightened the British, who feared the Afrikaners were becoming a powerhouse.
The Transvaal president launched a preemptive strike against the British, starting a war that would last three years.
The British introduced a terrifying institution, the concentration camp.
The British won; the Transvaal and Orange Free State fell under British control.
Horrors of war shocked British
The Anglo-Boer War
One of the most devastating anticolonial uprisings was the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. Fought in 1899–1902, this war pitted British settlers against Afrikaners, who were descendants of Dutch settlers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The war involved around 4 million Black inhabitants and 1 million Whites.
The main cause of the war was the discovery of gold in the Transvaal in the mid-1880s. The wealth of the area rapidly increased, and the British feared increased competition with the Dutch. The president of the Transvaal feared that war was inevitable and launched a preemptive strike against the British. This strike started a war that lasted three years, resulting in a British victory over the Dutch forces.
To secure their victory, the British introduced a new institution: the concentration camp. At one point during the war, at least 155,000 people were forced into camps. The British imprisoned both Africans and Afrikaners, whom they feared would side with the “anticolonial” Dutch.
At the end of the war, the British were shocked by the extent of the violence and began to question their self-image as Europe’s most enlightened and efficient colonial rulers.
10
Map 18.2 | Uprisings and Wars in Africa
Map 18.2 | Uprisings and Wars in Africa
The European partition and conquest of Africa were violent affairs.
• How many separate African resistance movements can you count on this map?
• Where was resistance the most prolonged?
• According to your reading, why were Ethiopians (see Chapter 17), who sustained their autonomy, able to do what other African opponents of European armies were not?
11
Herero, San, and Muslim Arab peoples rebelled against German rule.
German commander in German South West Africa issued an extermination order against the Herero population.
Those favoring imperialism viewed the horrors of colonization as exceptions to enlightened rule.
Believed Maji Maji Revolt reflected Africans’ childlike primitivism
Thought Europeans hadn’t done enough to bring “civilization”
Often increased number of officials stationed in colonies
Other Struggles in Colonized Africa
For some Europeans, doubts about imperialism increased as people learned of German atrocities in Africa. Germany had acquired African colonies in 1884–1885, taking South West Africa, Cameroon, Togo, and East Africa. In South West Africa, the Herero and San people rebelled against German rule in the Herero Revolt. Muslim Arab people also resisted the Germans in East Africa, or modern Tanzania.
While attempting to suppress the Herero rebels in South West Africa, a German commander ordered that the population be exterminated.
Despite the shock of colonial violence, many Europeans continued to believe in a “civilizing mission.” Such people saw the horrors of colonization as exceptions to the rule. Many continued to see Africans as accepting subjects. When Africans resisted, as in the Maji Maji Revolt, Europeans regularly represented them as childlike primitives.
Resistance in Africa caused Europeans to redouble their efforts, often increasing the number of officials stationed in the colonies.
12
Problems of landlessness, poverty, and peasant discontent left the Qing vulnerable to internal revolts and foreign intervention.
External factors
Breakdown of dynastic authority
China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 was humiliating.
Japan acquired Taiwan as a colony.
European powers demanded Chinese territory as “spheres of influence.”
The United States proposed an “open door” policy while supporting Christian missionaries.
Most violent reaction was the Boxer Uprising, started by peasants
Christian missionaries were targeting commoners.
Tensions mounted after killing of two Christian missionaries in 1897
Martial arts groups believing in divine protection rose up in 1899
The Boxer Uprising in China
Although China was never formally colonized, it too struggled against European intrusions. In the late nineteenth century, internal and external pressures weakened Qing dynastic rule. Domestically, the Qing struggled to deal with problems of landlessness, poverty, and peasant discontent.
At the same time, foreign pressures corroded Qing authority. China’s defeat by Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 was deeply humiliating. As a result of this war, Japan acquired Taiwan as its first major colony. European powers at this time also demanded that the government grant them specific territories as their own “spheres of influence.” The United States, meanwhile, proposed an “open door” policy that would keep access available to all traders and support missionary efforts.
The most violent reaction was the Boxer Uprising, started by peasants in 1899. Like other colonized peoples, the Boxers violently resisted European influence.
Their story is closely tied to missionary activities, as was the Taiping Rebellion before them. Early missionary activities in China focused on the court and attempted to convert elites, but after the Taiping Rebellion, missionaries poured into China’s hinterlands and focused on converting commoners. Tensions mounted increasingly after the killing of two German missionaries in 1897.
In 1899, martial arts groups believing in divine protection rose up and began attacking missionaries and Christian converts. Under the name “Boxers United in Righteousness,” these men declared their support for the Qing, and their resistance to what was foreign.
13
Boxers flourished where natural disasters and harsh economic conditions were most severe.
“Red Lanterns” were mostly young unmarried women wearing red garments.
Crucial in counteracting influence of Christian women
Believed to possess magical powers
The Qing court vacillated over feeling threatened by the Boxers and embracing them as a check on foreign intrusion.
Boxers attacked Christian and foreign people and symbols without central leadership or a plan.
Internal Factors
The Boxers flourished in areas like Shandong province, which had been particularly hard hit by natural disasters and harsh economic conditions. Numerous people from marginalized groups found their messianic and anti-foreign message appealing.
The Boxers rejected claims of western superiority. Women played a prominent role in the movement. The “Red Lanterns” were mostly young unmarried women who wore red garments to signify their allegiance. Although kept separate from the Boxers, the women also trained in martial arts and were believed to possess magical powers.
The Qing court could not decide how to respond. On one hand, the Boxers represented a threat to order; on the other hand, they could be exploited as a force to check European intrusion. In the spring of 1900, the Boxers could no longer be controlled, and the Qing court decided to side with them and declare war on foreign powers.
Without any central leadership, Boxers attacked Christians, foreigners, and all symbols of foreign culture. In Beijing, foreign nationals were besieged in embassy compounds and churches.
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Map 18.3 | Foreign Spheres of Influence in China, 1842–1907
Map 18.3 | Foreign Spheres of Influence in China, 1842–1907
While technically independent, the Qing dynasty could not prevent foreign penetration and domination of its economy during the nineteenth century.
• Which five powers established spheres of influence in China?
• At what time was the greatest number of treaty ports established?
• According to your reading, what did the foreign powers hope to achieve within their spheres of influence? What kinds of local opposition did the foreign influence inspire?
15
Foreign army of 20,000 defeated Boxers
Army mostly from Japan, also Russia, Britain, Germany, France, and United States
Boxer Protocol required the Chinese regime to pay twice the empire’s annual income for damages and authorized western powers to station troops in Beijing.
The rebellion revealed:
Western reach beyond port cities and elites to peasants across China
China’s widespread political opposition to westernization and their willingness to resist western programs
Foreign Involvement and Aftermath
The end of the rebellion came when a foreign army of 20,000 crushed the Boxers. The army came mostly from Japan, with about half coming from the other European powers.
At the end of the conflict, China was forced to sign the Boxer Protocol, which required China to pay an enormous indemnity amounting to twice the empire’s annual income. It also granted European powers the right to station troops in Beijing.
The rebellion revealed how much had changed since the Taiping Rebellion. Boxers were primarily peasants, but even they felt unsettled by the increasing contact with Europeans. Ultimately, the uprising showed that responses to imperialism in China were similar to those elsewhere in the world. Widespread political opposition led disaffected populations to resist.
16
Most Europeans could ignore resistance to colonization.
Some vocal dissenters
Conflicts closer to home weakened European and North American confidence.
Imperial rivalries at home
Europe’s rise to dominance intensified rivalries at home.
Political realignment changes balances of power
Arms race
Financial, industrial, and technological change
Adam Smith’s small-scale, laissez-faire capitalism gave way to an economic order dominated by huge, heavily capitalized firms.
Instead of smooth progress, western economies bounced between booms and busts.
Economies were increasingly dominated by a few large-scale firms.
Worldwide Insecurities
Resistance to colonization generally did not cause most Europeans to question their ways, even while some vocal dissenters did raise awareness about the horrors of colonial warfare.
But conflicts within Europe and North America led to increasing insecurity. Within European states, military rivalries, expanding industrialization, challenges about the roles of women, and uncontrolled urbanization created social instability that reverberated around the world.
Europe’s rise to dominance undermined its own stability at home. Political realignments shattered the old balance of power. The unification of Germany and Italy threatened France and the Austrian Empire. Nationalist movements threatened to break apart the Ottoman and Habsburg states. Deepening rivalries and instability spurred an arms race that many feared would lead to a catastrophic war.
In the late nineteenth century, capitalism looked very different from how Adam Smith imagined it. Smith’s laissez-faire capitalism envisioned small-scale producers in vigorous competition, benefiting from a division of labor that was efficient, not exploitative. By the late nineteenth century, the economic order was dominated by huge, heavily capitalized firms. Instead of smooth progress, economies were rocked by booms and busts. Periods of downturn and the expansion of large companies ruined many small property owners, including farmers.
Like never before, the economy was increasingly dominated by a few large-scale firms.
17
Increasing international financial integration
More countries joined the world system of borrowing and lending.
National currencies were exchanged at a reliable rate.
Banks in London were at the center of global finances.
Rise of banks and industrial corporations seemed to signal end to free markets and competitive capitalism
Reformers called for states to manage national economies and greater government regulation.
Financial crises
J. P. Morgan rescued the American economy in 1907.
Federal Reserve Act by 1913
Showed how national financial matters were also international affairs
Global Financial and Industrial Integration
Industrialization and rapid economic change led to international financial integration. Countries increasingly joined the world system of borrowing and lending, while the major national currencies in Europe and the United States were exchanged at reliable rates. Global finances became centered on the banks of London.
The rise of giant banks and industrial corporations seemed to signal the end of free markets and competitive capitalism. Instead of calling for a return to free markets, many reformers actually called for state regulation of national economies that would protect people from economic instability.
Many industrializing countries already had central banks that controlled monetary policy, but governments did not have the resources to protect most investments during times of crisis. In 1907, a panic on Wall Street led to a run on the banks. Many American investors withdrew their funds from investments in other countries as well, giving the crisis international scale. J. P. Morgan helped rescue the economy by compelling financiers to commit almost $35 million to protect banks and trusts.
The crisis convinced many in the United States that public oversight of the banking industry was needed, leading to the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. This law created boards to monitor the supply and demand of the nation’s money. The crisis of 1907 showed how national financial matters were also international affairs.
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Industrialization linked nations, and industries spread to new places.
With European investors, Russia built railways, telegraph lines, and factories.
Russia produced half the world’s oil and a considerable amount of steel by 1900.
Development remained uneven, with southern Europe and the American South lagging behind northern regions.
Gap even more pronounced in colonial territories
By 1914, factory and railroad symbolic of modern economy
Industrialization and the Modern Economy (1 of 2)
The benefits of industrialization were unevenly distributed and offset by new problems. Improved financial sophistication enabled some countries to develop rapidly. For example, Russia used loans from European investors to build railways, telegraph lines, and factories. By 1900, Russia was producing half of the world’s oil and a considerable amount of steel.
But development lagged behind in southern Europe, the American South, and especially in the colonial territories.
By 1914, the factory and the railroad had become symbolic of the modern economy. But people were ambivalent about these changes, which could be both exhilarating and disorienting.
19
Positive and negative effects of the new economy
Factories produced cheaper goods but also pollutants.
Railways enabled faster transport but ruined small towns not on branch lines.
Machines were more efficient than humans, but workers’ work was monotonous.
Frederick Winslow Taylor’s “scientific management” had the goal of getting humans to perform more like machines.
Numerous strikes to resist “Taylorization.”
Industrialization and the Modern Economy (2 of 2)
Although factories produced cheaper goods, they polluted the environment. Railways offered faster transport, but towns left off of the lines were ruined. Machines were more efficient than humans, but working in mechanized factories made people feel like machines themselves. Some industrialists actually promoted the image of machinelike work. The American Frederick Winslow Taylor proposed a system of “scientific management,” which intended to make human bodies perform more like machines, maximizing the efficiency of their movements.
But many workers resisted this “Taylorization” through strikes. Such pushback against the new economy reflected its uneven progress.
20
Female activists demanded more rights as citizens.
More radical voices demanded fundamental changes to family and the larger society.
Debate over role of imperialism/colonial rule on improvements to women in Africa and Asia
Cross-border alliances made women’s rights a global issue
Progress was limited
The “Woman Question”
The turmoil of industrialization was complicated by the “woman question.” Activists in the west demanded more rights for women, with some calling for fundamental changes to family and social structure. At the same time, imperialists claimed that colonial rule had brought improvements to the status of women in the colonies, but this was debated as well.
Women’s rights activism was buoyed by the new speed with which information and ideas could travel around the world. Alliances crossed borders and made women’s rights a global issue. However, progress was limited in most places.
21
Women’s status was a contentious issue in the colonies that was primarily debated among men.
Arguments that colonialism benefited women cited veiling, footbinding, widow burning (sati), and female genital mutilation as justifications for colonial intervention.
In reality, colonialism often added to women’s burdens.
Male workers were drawn into the export economy, so formerly shared agricultural work fell exclusively to women.
In Africa, the growth of mining and large estate production meant that men were often gone for much of the year.
European missionaries preached messages of domesticity; limited numbers of women enrolled in new schools.
Customary colonial law, instituted by colonial officials, favored men, and women lost their property and other rights they enjoyed before European colonization.
Women’s Status in the Colonies
The woman question was also debated in the colonies. However, there the problem was debated mostly by men. Many imperialists claimed that colonization had brought improvements in the treatment of women. Such people pointed to practices like the veiling of women, footbinding, widow burning (sati), and genital mutilation as justifications for colonial intervention.
In reality, colonialism often made women’s lives more difficult. The disruptions to traditional social and economic patterns ended up placing a heavier economic burden on women. As male workers were drawn into the export economy, agricultural labor that was previously shared became the sole responsibility of women. Especially in Africa, where the mining and estate economy drew male laborers away for much of the year, women faced the challenge of making up the labor deficit at home.
European missionaries preached an ideal of domesticity—that women belonged in the home. This attitude limited the number of women enrolled in new schools.
Political reorganization under colonial regimes also decreased the status of women in many cases. Many women lost their former rights, such as owning property.
22
Increasing challenges to the idea of “separate spheres”
Economic developments created new jobs for women and greater access to education.
Women became involved in public reform movements.
Much of the population did not support higher education or public activism among women, however.
Women’s Issues in the West (1 of 2)
In western countries for much of the nineteenth century, a belief in “separate spheres” supposedly confined women to the household, while men took charge of public life and economic affairs. In fact, only women from upper- and middle-class families had actually avoided working outside of the home.
However, as the industrial economy progressed, new opportunities for women offered greater economic and social independence. Some educated women spearheaded efforts to improve conditions for the urban poor and advocated for greater government regulation of economic affairs. However, much of the population did not support social mobility for women.
23
Advance toward political equality was slow
Suffrage in New Zealand 1893, Australia 1902, Finland 1906, Norway 1913
Male alarmists portrayed women’s suffrage/rights as the beginning of civilization’s end.
Many women began to assert their control over reproductive rights.
Contraceptives were illegal in many countries, yet women used other methods to limit number of children
Spermicidal herbs, marrying late, abortions
Successful contraception tended to be more effective as education levels increased.
In the early twentieth century, the birthrate in America was half of what it was a century before.
Women’s Issues in the West (2 of 2)
Social changes did not lead immediately to political changes. Women in western countries were still excluded from the full rights of citizenship. However, the push for women’s suffrage did have some limited successes. Around the turn of the century, some women were given the right to vote in local elections in New Zealand, Australia, Finland, and Norway.
Many men pushed back against women’s gains during this time. Some alarmists represented women’s rights as the beginning of the end for civilization.
Another important change was women’s assertion of control over reproductive rights. Contraception was illegal in many countries, but women used several methods to control the amount of children they bore. Some of these methods were effective, but illegal or dangerous. Spermicidal herbs could be effective, but could also kill women who used them. Abortions were illegal, but many women turned to them when contraception failed.
Because it depended on communication and cooperation, contraception tended to be more effective as education levels increased.
By the early twentieth century, the birthrate in the United States was half of what it was in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Fewer children meant more expendable income for families. Declining birthrates, along with improvements in medicine, also meant that fewer women died in childbirth.
24
Under capitalism, although European and North American living conditions improved, growing income inequality produced sharper class conflict and frustrations with the slow pace of reforms.
Most workers remained peaceful, but some radicals favored violence.
Closed character of political systems led to frustration and radicalism
Syndicalism (organization of workplace associations), socialism, and anarchism (belief that society should not be subject to government laws)
Strikes and revolts
Numerous tactics to express working-class discontent in Europe
Emergence of new political parties catering to workers (Labour Party in Britain, Social Democratic Party in Germany)
Syndicalists, anarchists, and socialists organized to make work stoppages commonplace.
In the United States, workers founded unions and organized strikes.
The 1894 Pullman strike was spawned by wage cuts and firings; federal troops protected the railway operation, and strike leaders were jailed.
Strikes often failed to achieve immediate goals but did worry those in power, leading to important changes.
Social Conflict in a New Key
Capitalism’s volatility shook confidence in the free market and sharpened class conflict. Although many workers’ living conditions improved over time, inequality and the slow pace of reform caused frustration. Workers expressing this frustration mostly remained committed to peaceful methods, but some radicals favored violence against the state. This was especially the case in places like Russia and Latin America where closed political systems left little outlet for protest. In some areas, workers turned to syndicalism, socialism, and anarchism to articulate their demands.
In Europe, radicals adopted several different tactics for promoting the interests of the working class. New political parties, like the Labour Party in Britain and the Social Democrats in Germany, formed to cater to the needs of workers. Conservatives feared labor as a political force. In both Britain and Germany, the new parties soon gained a large share of the vote.
While legally sanctioned parties remained committed to peaceful methods, other groups like syndicalists, anarchists, and socialists organized to regularly disrupt the labor economy.
The United States had similar radical groups, but they were fewer and smaller. But in 1894, the power of organized labor was dramatically revealed. During the Pullman strike, workers protested wage cuts and firings in the railcar industry. Their strike swelled to more than 3 million workers. However, the strike ended when federal troops became involved, and strike leaders were jailed.
Strikes and protests in the United States and Europe often failed to achieve their immediate goals. But they gave representatives of the status quo cause for concern, and over time they led to important changes.
25
Mexican Revolution, 1910, most successful turn-of-the-century revolution
Fueled by the unequal distribution of land and disgruntled workers
Elites split over the succession of General Porfirio Díaz.
Led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, peasants, farmers, cattlemen, and rural workers toppled Díaz and destroyed large estates.
10 percent of country’s population died in the ten-year conflict
New leaders had to accommodate demands for democracy, respect for sovereignty of peasant communities, and land reforms.
Creation of rural communes for peasants, ejidos, reminiscent of precolonial life
New regime used new nationalism based on the heroism of rural peoples and a celebration of the Aztec past
Revolution in Mexico
One of the most successful revolutions during this period occurred in Mexico in 1910. The Mexican Revolution emerged from tensions over unequal distribution of land and disgruntled workers. Although such tensions had been simmering for some time, they reached a breaking point when political elites split over the succession of General Porfirio Díaz. When Díaz refused to step down, dissidents, peasants, and workers raised a call to arms.
Forces in the north under Pancho Villa, and in the south under Emiliano Zapata, toppled the Díaz regime. Wanting to distribute land more equitably and end the rule of a small group of elites, peasant armies defeated Díaz’s troops and destroyed many large estates. The fighting lasted for ten years and killed 10 percent of the country’s population.
After the war, political leaders were forced to accept demands for democracy, respect for the sovereignty of peasant communities, and land reforms. One of the revolution’s most lasting legacies was the creation of communes called ejidos, which were reminiscent of rural life before the Spanish conquest.
The new regime drew on a new kind of nationalism to support its legitimacy. This new set of national myths was based on the heroism of rural peoples and a celebration of the Aztec past.
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In other Latin American countries, the ruling elite remained united against assaults from below.
Brazilian peasants, tenant farmers in Cuba, and Maya Indians were unsuccessful in reclaiming land or power.
In Europe and the United States, elites agreed to gradual change.
Bismarck, the German chancellor, diffused the appeal of socialism by enacting social welfare measures in 1883–1884: insured workers against illness/accidents/old age and established maximum working hours.
In the United States, muckraking journalists uncovered unsanitary practices in slaughterhouses, prompting federal reform.
Progressive reformers attacked corrupt city governments and urban vices, such as prostitution, gambling, and drinking.
Preserving Established Orders (1 of 2)
Workers and farmers in other Latin American countries were not as successful in their struggle against the elite-dominated order. Farmers in Brazil and Cuba, and Maya peoples in Guatemala were unable to reclaim lost land and power.
In Europe and the United States, elites managed to hold on to power not just through repression, but also by yielding to some of the demands of the lower classes. In Germany, Otto von Bismarck was unable to repress the socialist movement. In order to diffuse the appeal of socialism, he enacted some social welfare measures that gave workers health insurance and established limits on working hours.
In the United States, muckraking journalists exposed unsanitary practices in slaughterhouses, prompting the federal government to enact reform that required government supervision of meatpacking operations.
Such consumer and family protections reflected a broader reform movement. Progressive reformers attacked corrupt city governments. They also criticized vices such as prostitution, gambling, and drinking. City planners focused on creating urban parks, hoping to provide healthier alternatives for entertainment.
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Associations attempted to buffer capitalism’s harsher effects and were sometimes effective at impacting state policy.
Elites were forced to make (limited) reforms during this period.
Preserving Established Orders (2 of 2)
New urban associations attempted to mitigate the effects of capitalism and sometimes were successful in shaping state policy.
In the decades leading up to World War I, rapid changes reverberated across the world. Formerly marginalized peoples began to assert their rights, and elites were forced to make reforms, however limited they might have been.
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Modernism came to prominence in the arts and sciences in the early twentieth century.
Nature of movements international in scope
Culture became less elitist and more popular.
The arts became more abstract.
Modernism replaced the certainties of the Enlightenment with the unsettledness of a new time.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Challenged artistic conventions
Modernist movements were international.
Cultural Modernism
During this tumultuous time, reformers and revolutionaries were challenging political and social orders. At the same moment, artists, writers, and intellectuals were also transforming the cultural world to make sense of all of this change.
This gave birth to a movement called modernism. Modernism created the sense of having broken with tradition. The movement touched many fields, from architecture to painting to the social sciences. It was also international in scope, with artists and intellectuals both within and outside of Europe exchanging ideas.
Modernism helped redefine the meaning of culture, causing it to be less elitist and more popular. However, while modernists turned against many of the older forms of high culture, the new art did not necessarily appeal to urban workers or colonized peoples. Instead, art became more abstract. It replaced the certainties of the Enlightenment with the unsettledness of a new time. Facing growing doubts about the meaning of civilization and progress, artists and scientists struggled to understand a world in which human reason seemed inadequate.
The paintings of Pablo Picasso were emblematic of modernism. These works challenged artistic conventions and sought to provoke their viewers.
Modernism was notably international. European artists sought inspiration in artifacts from across the world. Thinkers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America borrowed both from Europe and from each other.
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New urban settings, technological innovations, increased leisure time, and mass education allowed the emergence of popular culture.
Sports attracted mass followings; dance halls and vaudeville shows; mass-produced engravings
The press became a major form of entertainment and information.
The English Daily Mail and French Petit Parisien had circulations of over 1 million.
In the United States, immigrant urbanites avidly read newspapers.
The kind of culture consumed became a reflection of status.
Popular Culture Comes of Age
During this period, the production and consumption of culture changed dramatically. These changes were spurred on in part by new urban settings, technological innovations, increases in leisure time, and mass education. The combination of these factors underlay the emergence of popular culture. This new form of culture delivered affordable and accessible entertainment to “the masses.”
The press was a major form of entertainment and information. Newspapers developed enormous readerships. In the United States, immigrants read newspapers in English and sometimes in their native languages. Journalism adapted to the needs of such audiences. Newspapers used banner headlines, sensational stories, and simple language to appeal to readers with little education or poor English skills.
The kind of culture one consumed became a reflection of one’s status, or the status one desired. For example, in Argentina, certain newspapers were defined as working class. Working-class readers of newspapers seen as bourgeois faced heckling and ridicule by fellow workers.
In this period, the community of cultural consumers broadened. This led the makers of culture—writers, artists, and scholars—to adapt to these new audiences.
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In intellectual and artistic terms, Europe at the turn of the century experienced perhaps the richest age it had seen since the Renaissance.
Artists’ work reflected doubts about the modern world, as represented by the railroad, the big city, and the factory.
The primitive came to symbolize Europe’s lost innocence and forces that reason could not control, such as sexual drives, religious fervor, or brute strength.
Paul Gaugin (1848–1903) sought new ways of representing the world outside of Europe.
German Albert Einstein challenged the idea that a single unified scientific theory could explain everything.
Modernism in European Culture (1 of 2)
In the artistic and intellectual worlds, Europe at the turn of the century experienced a time of ferment and transformation not seen since the Renaissance. The new forms of art reflected doubts about the modern world as reflected by the railroad, the big city, and the factory. This cultural movement turned away from the Enlightenment faith and reason. Instead, it sought meaning in instinct and emotion. The primitive came to symbolize Europe’s lost innocence. As faith in reason waned, there emerged a new interest in irrational forces like sexual drives, religious fervor, and brute strength.
In visual art, Paul Gaugin pioneered these new themes, seeking new ways of representing the world outside of Europe and its artistic conventions.
This turn against reason was not confined to the arts. Science also began to question the human power to understand and control the natural world. The theories of Albert Einstein especially undermined the notion that a single unified scientific theory could explain everything.
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Overall, faith in rationalism faltered and some questioned if it was too difficult to sustain.
Nietzsche claimed that European Truth, or faith in science or Judeo-Christian moral codes, were life-destroying quests for power.
Freud introduced the subconscious to explain human behavior, asserting that human beings were driven by sexual longings and childhood traumas.
Modernism in European Culture (2 of 2)
Many questioned whether faith in reason could be sustained at all. Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that claims to assert absolute truth—in morality or in science—were merely attempts at claiming power. Sigmund Freud proposed a new way of understanding human motivation. Instead of appealing to rationality, Freud suggested that humans were really driven by sexual longings and childhood traumas. Both of these thinkers were rejected by many contemporaries, but would become fundamental to political and intellectual movements of the twentieth century.
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The late Qing period was a time of competing cultural modernities, critical reflection on Chinese traditions, and mixed reactions to western culture.
As in the west, Chinese authors could now write for a wider audience.
170+ publishers in China served growing readership of 2–4 million
Newly rich also patronized the arts
The Shanghai School of painting incorporated Chinese and foreign techniques.
Fantasy novels drew on science and Chinese-western relations.
Struggle to find a balance between western thought and Chinese learning
Cultural Modernism in China
Debates over the meaning of modernity went far beyond western Europe. In many cases, thinkers outside of Europe gave different answers to the question of what it meant to be modern.
In China during the late Qing period, there was no single notion of modernity. Instead, it was a time of competing cultural modernities. During this time, Chinese thinkers reflected critically on Chinese traditions amid mixed reactions to western culture.
Some of the conditions for the debate about modernity in China were similar to those in Europe. By the late nineteenth century, Chinese authors could write for a wider audience. More than 170 publishers served a growing readership of 2–4 million. Although the size of this readership was considerable, it remained mostly limited to cities. Also in urban areas, newly rich beneficiaries of the treaty-port economy patronized the arts.
This period also saw experiments in painting and fiction. The Shanghai School of painting merged traditional Chinese artistic styles with new western techniques. At the same time, fantasy novels incorporated elements of western science and indigenous supernatural beliefs, sometimes dealing directly with Chinese-western relations.
Intellectuals debated the implications of western modes of knowledge for China’s scholarly traditions. Most agreed that some balance should be sought between the two, but exactly what that should look like remained a source of debate for generations to come.
Modernism was thus a global phenomenon. It arose at a time when people all over the world were struggling to deal with the changes brought by new technology and new economic forms. In Europe and North America, this entailed questioning the faith in reason that had defined much of the nineteenth century. Modernism originated in Europe and saw its most profound impacts there. But in many ways it also drew on sources from outside of Europe and spread its influence throughout Africa and Asia.
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Despite the changes and modernization of this time, many elites defended the idea of identities as deeply rooted and unchangeable.
Racial roots became a crucial part of cultural and national identity.
Nationalist and racial ideas differed in different areas.
Europe and America: debates on race and national purity reflected concerns of being overrun by Brown, Black, and East Asian peoples.
In India, China, Latin America, and the Islamic world, discussions of identity were part of the anticolonial debate and opposition to western domination and corrupt indigenous elites.
Panethnic movements looked beyond the nation-state to consider political communities.
Rethinking Race and Reimagining Nations
At this time, identities were in flux. Population transfers, new technologies, and new forms of social organization led to new questions about how to define peoples. Ironically, despite all of this change, many elites defended the idea that identities were deeply rooted and unchangeable. The concept of race took on a new importance. Now, defining a people meant understanding their biological ancestry.
In Europe and America, debates about race and national purity were born out of concerns with being overrun by Brown, Black, and East Asian peoples who were beyond the limits of “civilization.”
In India, China, Latin America, and the Islamic world, discussions of identity were closely tied to anticolonial resistance and frustration with indigenous elites.
Concepts of race and ethnicity provided the basis for panethnic movements. These movements looked beyond the borders of the nation-state and imagined political communities based on broader ethnic ties.
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Restricting immigration
Fears over the “closing of the frontier”
Fueled nativist sentiment that sought to curb immigration
Some Americans wanted to preserve the dominance of persons of European descent.
New racial lines of discrimination, since old forms like slavery had broken down
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882, prohibiting nearly all Chinese immigration
“Jim Crow” laws upholding racial segregation and inequality
More restrictive immigration policies based on fear of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, as well as colonial subjects in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba
Europeans elsewhere had similar fears.
Germany and Italy could take only a finite amount of land and resources from Africa
Nation and Race in North America and Europe
In 1890, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the American frontier had “closed.” This prompted cultural alarms, fueling nativist movements that sought to curb immigration.
A major concern for many Americans was preserving the domination of people of European descent. Old forms of racial discrimination, like slavery, had been abolished. To maintain the supremacy of White people, new forms of discrimination were enacted. For example, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited nearly all Chinese immigration. Jim Crow laws in the South enacted discriminatory measures against African Americans.
More immigration policies were enacted based on fears about immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, as well as from America’s new colonies in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.
Europeans elsewhere in the world engaged in similar discussions. The end of the frontier in North America was similar to the Scramble for Africa. Countries like Germany and Italy were concerned about their small colonial holdings as colonial powers realized that the land and resources they could take from others were finite.
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Darwinist theory prompted European obsessions with racial purity, the preservation of the White race, and inherited diseases.
Homosexuality was viewed as a disease and a threat to society.
Debates over whether Jews could be fully assimilated into European society
Pogroms in 1880s and 1890s targeted Jewish population in Russia
Stirred up fears and resentments, especially in Austria, Germany, and France
Facing New Social Issues
Darwinist theory was intertwined with these new discussions of race. Imagining races as analogous to Darwin’s species, Europeans became anxious about racial purity, the preservation of the White race, and inherited diseases. In the colonies, sexual relations between colonizers and indigenous women had always been part of European expansionism. But in the late nineteenth century, people came to see this as especially harmful to the supposedly superior White race.
The preoccupation with disease shaped peoples’ perceptions of other social identities. For example, homosexuality came to be seen as a disease threatening society.
The question of racial or ethnic purity prompted new debates over the status of Jews in Europe. In the nineteenth century, Jews had gained rights as citizens in most European countries. But the increasing prominence of racial thinking led people to define Jews increasingly in ethnic as well as religious terms. This raised new questions about the possibility of Jewish assimilation.
The persistence of discrimination against Jews led to violent attacks. In the Russian Empire in the 1880s and 1890s, Jews were the victims of violent attacks called pogroms in the western territories. Jews fled this violence, heading westward into places like Austria, Germany, and France. Here, they stirred up fear and resentment; anti-Semitic discourse became increasingly widespread.
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At the turn of the century, Americans worried that they had exhausted what had once been an inexhaustible supply of land and resources.
Disappearance of buffalo, erosion of soils, depletion of timber stands
1890 Census Bureau announcement that the frontier had closed
1905 creation of National Forest Service (Theodore Roosevelt)
Similar worries existed in Europe
Protecting the Environment
At the turn of the century, people began to doubt the image of America as a source of inexhaustible resources and economic potential. Worries emerged over the disappearance of the buffalo, the erosion of soils, and the depletion of timber stands.
When Theodore Roosevelt became president, he translated these concerns into new policies for conservation. Like other conservationists, he doubted the market’s ability to protect nature. So he created the National Forest Service and helped pass the National Reclamation Act to help regulate the management of public lands.
Similar worries existed in Europe. In France, city dwellers who were worried about the loss of pastoral landscapes spearheaded conservation efforts. In Russia, peasants who sought to make soil more productive promoted environmental protections.
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Contested mixtures
Identity debates in Latin America were focused on ethnic intermixing and social hierarchies.
Historic hierarchy with European Whites at the top, Creole elites in the middle, and Indigenous and African populations at the bottom
Anxieties about racial mixing
The racial hierarchy saw disruptions beginning in the 1880s as a deluge of poor European immigrants arrived.
Race-Mixing and the Problem of Nationhood in Latin America
In Latin America, debates over identity focused on ethnic intermixing and social hierarchies. These debates were rooted in the establishment of racial hierarchies in the sixteenth century. In early colonial society, Whites born in Europe were at the top, Creole elites in the middle, with Indigenous and African peoples at the bottom. The higher people were on the social scale, the more likely they were to be White.
Racial mixing in Latin America did not lead to a sense of shared heritage or homogenous identity. Nor did the ideal racial order always match up with reality. In fact, some people of color ascended the social ladder, while some Iberian Whites had low social status.
Still, anxieties about racial mixing persisted, just as they did in North America and Europe. Some reformers sought to improve their countries’ population by attracting White immigrants from northern Europe.
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Latin American government leaders invented myths to legitimate their rule.
In Mexico, the celebration of Aztec grandeur created a mythic arc from greatness of the Aztec Empire to the triumphal story of Mexican independence.
Promoting Nationhood by Celebrating the Past
To help create a sense of common national identity, Latin American leaders created national myths. Stories of bygone glories could support the legitimacy of national governments, especially those who needed to represent themselves as the successors to the struggles of the past. In Mexico, this meant celebrating the glories of the Aztecs, even while the modern descendants of the Aztecs were excluded from mainstream Mexican society.
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Chinese writers used race to emphasize superiority of Han Chinese.
Pace of change prompted desire to trace one’s roots back
Promoting Han nationalism
Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) established an organization in Hawaii, advocating for the Qing downfall and the creation of a republic.
Cornerstone of his message was Han nationalism
Blamed Manchus for feeble rule
Replacing the Qing and reconstituting a nation
Manchu court attempted reforms, but it was too late
1911 mutiny ended 2,000 years dynastic tradition
China’s reconstitution was heavily based on Sun’s ideas.
Sun Yat-sen and the Making of a Chinese Nation
Like elsewhere in the world, Chinese writers also drew on the new concept of race to lend legitimacy to their political struggles. The pace of change prompted a desire to trace roots back to a secure foundation. Here, the idea of a Han race heightened resentment of the ethnically Manchu Qing dynasty.
Sun Yat-sen was a major figure in shaping China’s future. Sun was part of an emerging group of critics of the Qing regime. He studied western medicine in the British colony of Hong Kong. Later, he offered his services to the Qing government during the Sino-Japanese War. But the government rejected him, leading him to believe that the Qing were irrevocably out of touch with the times.
He began to agitate for the overthrow of the Qing. He established a revolutionary organization in Hawaii, hoping to bring down the Qing and establish a republic. The cornerstone of his message was a Han nationalism that blamed the Manchus for ineffective rule.
Faced with increasing political opposition, the Manchu court attempted to reform. Although they tried to overhaul the administrative and military systems, their reforms came too late. A new group of urban entrepreneurs, merchants, and professionals came to see the Qing as hopelessly out of date. After a military mutiny in 1911, few people were willing to come to the emperor’s aid. The Qing dynasty collapsed, ending 2,000 years of imperial dynastic tradition.
The newly reconstituted China drew heavily on Sun’s ideas, especially his racial thinking. The new flag of the republic had colors for each of China’s major racial groups. But Sun had doubts about this representation, thinking that China should be defined as a single Chinese race.
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British colonialism, which consolidated the territory, also made it possible for anticolonialists to create a resistance movement uniting India as a people and a nation.
A modernizing elite
Leaders of this nationalist movement were western-educated intellectuals from colonial cities and towns.
Growing public sphere where intellectuals debated social, political matters
In 1885, voluntary associations founded the Indian National Congress.
Underlying political assertiveness was cultural nationalism
Nationalism and Invented Traditions in India
British imperial rule in India continued during this period, but it began to weaken as nationalist sentiment grew. Colonial consolidation of the territory had reached an unprecedented level of integration. Now, colonial administration, railways, and infrastructure knit the country together, while western education and ideas circulated among new elite groups. Colonial capitalism had also integrated the territory’s economy. It was now possible to speak of India as a single unit. It was also possible for anticolonialists to create a resistance movement in the name of a single, national India.
Leaders of the emerging nationalist movement were western-educated intellectuals based mostly in colonial cities and towns. They were a tiny, minority elite group, but they gained influence through their access to colonial administration and their familiarity with European knowledge. This group created new cultural forms by transforming colloquial languages to standard literary forms for writing novels and dramas.
Expanding print culture led to a growing public sphere for intellectual debate. In 1885, urban voluntary associations established a new political party: the Indian National Congress. This political organization demanded a greater role for Indians in administration and criticized the colonial government’s policies.
Underlying this new political assertiveness was a kind of cultural nationalism. Proponents of this nationalism claimed that Indians may not be a single race but were unified through a common culture and a common past.
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Recovering traditions was a way to establish a modern Indian identity without attaching this identity to recent British colonial subjugation.
Intellectuals reconfigured Hinduism so that it resembled western religion.
In the process of fashioning this identity, Indian revivalists often became narrow in their vision, emphasizing Hindu traditions as the only source of Indian culture.
India’s Muslim past, in particular, had no prominent role.
Building a Modern Identity on Rewritten Traditions
To establish a modern Indian identity, Indian intellectuals tried to recover ancient traditions. Like elsewhere in the world, the ancient past was reimagined to support the idea of a modern nation-state. In India, intellectuals were especially pressed to find a source of Indian identity that had nothing to do with recent British colonial subjugation.
In order to depict Indians as a people with a single, unifying religion, scholars reshaped Hinduism to fit the model of European religions. But Hinduism did not have a single textual authority, monotheistic beliefs, established creed, or organized church. Nonetheless, Hindu intellectuals combined various texts, beliefs, and practices to fashion an image of a single, authentic Hindu tradition.
In this process, other contributions to India’s past were forgotten. The Muslim past, for instance, did not have a prominent role.
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Hindu revivalism became a powerful political force in late nineteenth-century India.
British authorities partitioned Bengal into two territories—one predominantly Hindu, the other Muslim.
Militants protested and boycotted British goods.
Activists formed voluntary organizations (Swadeshi Samitis) to promote the indigenous manufacturing of soap, cloth, medicine, iron, and paper.
Late nineteenth-century Indian nationalists imagined a modern national community.
Fought for the political rights of Indians as a secular, national community
Hindu Revivalism
Hindu revivalism became a potent force in late nineteenth-century India, when nationalist sentiment took a militant turn. British authorities sparked major protests in 1905 when they partitioned Bengal into two territories—one Hindu, the other Muslim. Militants protested and urged that people boycott British goods. Activists formed voluntary associations called Swadeshi Samitis that promoted the indigenous manufacturing of important household goods.
Unlike the insurgents of the rebellion of 1857, nationalists at the turn of the century imagined a modern national community. This national community was couched in the imagery of traditional symbols and supported by modern political associations. Indian nationalists at this time did not seek to radically overturn the colonial order. Instead, they fought for the political rights of Indians as members of a secular, national community.
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Pan movements sought to link people across state boundaries.
Attempted to rearrange borders to unite dispersed communities
Threatened imperial rulers
Pan-Islamism
Muslim intellectuals and political leaders called all to put aside sectarian and political differences to unite under the banner of Islam in opposition to European incursions.
Iranian Shiite Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839–1897) urged Muslims to overcome their Sunni and Shiite differences and unite against the west.
Pan-Islamic appeals confused Muslims as they faced divided loyalties between nation-states and Islamic leaders, but the message struck an important chord.
The Pan Movements
Across the world, people imagined new ways of founding political communities. Pan movements sought to link people across state boundaries, by focusing on ethnicity or religion. The goal of these movements was to rearrange state borders to unite dispersed communities. But these newly imagined ethnic communities were ruled over by different empires. Rulers of these empires were thus threatened by the growth of pan movements.
One of these movements was pan-Islamism. In the Muslim world, certain intellectuals and political leaders called on Muslims to look past their differences and unite under the banner of Islam. This unity was intended to counter the threat of European incursions.
One of the most prominent pan-Islamists was Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Born in Iran, Afghani was a Shiite. But he urged Muslims everywhere to put aside their allegiances to Sunni or Shiite versions of the faith and unite against the west.
Pan-Islamic appeals added to confusions felt by Muslims trying to formulate responses to the European threat. Many Muslims felt conflicting loyalties to the different groups to which they belonged. What their primary identity should be was unclear: they could be imperial subjects, Muslims, or members of nation-states. In the end, most decided to identify with emerging national identities. Nevertheless, the appeal of pan-Islamism remained.
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Pan-Germanism gained followers across central Europe.
Competed with the pan-Slavic movement of Poles, Czechs, Russians, Serbians, Ukrainians, and other Slavs
German-speaking elites in Slavic lands were alarmed by the assertion of Slavic nationalism.
As Russian persecution drove Jews westward, German resentment increased.
These movements motivated regions to think of themselves as part of a race, rather than defining themselves by state borders.
Pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism gave rise to militant groups dangerous to nation-states and eventually brought about World War I.
Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism
Pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism were closely intertwined pan movements. Both movements articulated a common identity across national borders and found themselves competing over the same territories.
As pan-Germanism gained followers in central Europe, it found itself in competition with a pan-Slavic movement that sought to unite Poles, Czechs, Russians, Serbians, and Ukrainians. This movement was opposed to Austrian, German, and Ottoman rule in Slavic territories.
The areas in which pan-Slavism took root had traditionally been ruled by German-speaking elites. This group became alarmed as Slavic populations grew rapidly and became politically organized. Adding to their fears were the eastern European Jews heading westward as they fled pogroms.
Pan-Germanism inspired mass grassroots political activism. Pan-Germanists encouraged central Europeans to think of themselves as members of a German race, rather than citizens of particular nations. Pan-Slavism articulated a similar message.
The militancy and competition between these pan movements contributed to the outbreak of World War I, when a Serbian nationalist assassinated the heir to the Habsburg throne in 1914.
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Europeans began to question the Enlightenment idea of “progress” because of challenges from urbanization, industrialization, and colonized people’s resistance to the “civilizing mission.”
To many ruling elites, it appeared that the “masses” were developing the means to unseat them and were unprepared to deal with modern ideas and identities.
Nationalists learned to mobilize large populations to challenge colonialism.
Socialist and right-wing leaders challenged liberal political power in Europe.
Elites were unprepared to control an unbalanced global economy, great disparities in wealth, the size and power of industrial firms, and large cities with urban problems.
Conclusion (1 of 2)
For much of the nineteenth century, Europeans maintained their faith in the Enlightenment idea of progress. Expanding industry and improving technology seemed to confirm that humans could use reason to master nature. But toward the end of the century, disillusionment set in. Challenges of urbanization, industrialization, and the resistance of colonized peoples to Europe’s “civilizing mission” weakened many people’s faith in reason.
The gradual empowerment of common people threatened the power of ruling elites. Old ways of doing politics could no longer deal with the force of modern ideas and identities. In the colonies, nationalists learned how to mobilize large populations. Within Europe, both left- and right-wing leaders appealed to popular sovereignty to challenge the status quo.
The old elites were unprepared to deal with the imbalances of the global economy. Everywhere, disparities in wealth developed. The size and power of industrial firms reached unprecedented levels. Cities grew, and with them came a new set of urban problems.
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Anxieties produced creative energies and exchanges: nonwesterners borrowed western vocabulary and ideas, and vice versa.
European power rivalries intensified, resulting in the Great War with violent consequences.
Conclusion (2 of 2)
At the same time, these problems stimulated creative energies and exchanges. Nonwesterners borrowed western ideas, even as they formulated anti-western ideologies. Western intellectuals and artists borrowed nonwestern forms to push for cultural change.
As all of these changes were taking place, rivalries between European powers intensified. These rivalries would eventually result in the Great War, which saw the close of the nineteenth century. At the same time, it inaugurated a time of even more rapid change and violent consequences.
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https://digital.wwnorton.com/worldstogether6
This concludes the Lecture Slide Set for Chapter 18 WORLDS TOGETHER, WORLDS APART SIXTH EDITION
