203
raw materials for their factories,
and markets for their new products,
found them in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America. They also sought
land for their expanding populations
to settle in thinly populated zones
such as the North American plains
and Australia. Peoples who stood
in their way were swept aside. The
Europeans started expanding the
areas under their direct rule or
control. The British takeover of the
Indian subcontinent, more or less
complete by the mid-19th century,
was the most spectacular example
of imperialism in action, and Sub-
Saharan Africa was divided among
the European powers as if the local
population did not exist.
The world’s response to Western
imperialism was mixed. Resistance
was widespread in the form of wars
and uprisings against Europeandominance. On the other hand, the
growing superiority of the West in
technology, science, military power,
and social organization led several
non-European governments to try
to modernize based on the Western
model. In the Muslim world, Egypt,
Turkey, and Iran attempted, with
only partial success, to pursue a
modernizing agenda. In East Asia,
Japan successfully transformed
itself into an efficient modern state,
becoming an imperialist power in
its own right. China, by contrast,
experienced turmoil and invasion,
and imperial rule collapsed in the
early 20th century.Rising nationalism
Most Europeans and people of
European descent gloried in a sense
of their own racial and cultural
superiority to the rest of the world,but Europe remained a deeply
divided continent. Militant
nationalism, unleashed by the
French Revolution, was a threat to
stability. By 1815, the Napoleonic
Wars had generated battles of
unprecedented scale. After the
wars of the mid-19th century
that created a unified Italy and
Germany, the great powers
maintained large conscript armies
and formed mutually hostile
alliance systems. These armies
were equipped with high-explosive
shells and rapid-fire weapons.
European military power, which
was supported by highly organized
state systems and economies, was
certainly one of the key elements in
European world domination. There
would be disaster when European
states turned this power against
one another. ■CHANGING SOCIETIES
1859
1860
1863 1869 1908
1868 1892 1913
Charles Darwin
publishes On the Origin
of the Species, in
which he introduces
his controversial
theory of evolution.Giuseppe Garibaldi
leads 1,000 volunteers
to overthrow the French
Bourbons in southern
Italy and Sicily; Italy was
unified one year later.During the American
Civil War, US president
Abraham Lincoln gives
the Gettysburg Address,
one of the greatest
speeches in history.The Suez Canal opens,
linking the Red and
Mediterranean seas, and
dramatically reducing
sailing times between
Europe and the East.A coalition of various
reform groups, known
collectively as the Young
Turks, overthrow the
authoritarian Ottoman
sultan and attempt to rule.The Tokugawa
shogunate is ousted and
the Emperor Meiji
becomes ruler of Japan;
the nation emerges as
a major imperial power.Ellis Island opens in New
York Harbor to process
arrivals of immigrants
to the United States;
most become US citizens.
The island closed in 1954.Emily Davison steps
out under King George
V’s horse at the Derby
and is killed, raising
the profile of women’s
suffrage worldwide.US_202-203_Ch_5_intro.indd 203 15/02/2016 16:43