264
THE PARTITIONS OF
POLAND
(1772–95)From 1569 to the 18th century,
Poland and Lithuania were united
in a large federated commonwealth
that occupied an extensive area
of northern Europe. In 1772,
the powerful neighbors of the
commonwealth—Austria, Prussia,
and Russia—encroached on its
territory in a series of annexations,
diminishing it until they absorbed
it fully in 1795. Russia took over the
eastern half of the country; Prussia,
the north; and Austria, the southern
and central parts. The elimination
of the Polish state bolstered these
three great European powers,
leaving Polish patriots to struggle
for independence, which they
achieved in 1918.THE SIKH EMPIRE
IS FOUNDED
(1799)Maharaja Ranjit Singh brought
together a group of Sikh states
in and surrounding the Punjab
region of northern India to create
a powerful Sikh Empire in 1799.
For its creation and defense, it drew
on the Khalsa, the powerful united
army that had been created in the
1730s by Sikh leader Nawab Kapur
Singh. The empire lasted for 50
years before falling to the British.
Although not long-lasting, it helped
to strengthen Sikh unity and
confirmed the close identification of
the Sikhs with the Punjab region.firepower. The British divided up
their kingdom, eventually adding
Zululand to their empire.THE TRAIL OF TEARS
(1830)In 1830, the US Congress passed
the Indian Removal Act, which
granted Native Americans lands
west of the Mississippi in return for
them surrendering their lands within
existing state boundaries in the
east. Although the removal was in
theory voluntary, in fact it resulted
in the eviction of tens of thousands
of people from their homelands
on a forced westward march that
became known as the Trail of
Tears. The people forced to move
were mainly Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.
Among the Cherokee alone, some
4,000 died during the march.THE IRISH FAMINE
(1845–49)In the 1840s, the rapidly growing
rural population of Ireland suffered
a series of disastrously poor crops
of their staple food, the potato.
These bad harvests, due to potato
blight that spread rapidly in the
damp weather, led to about
1 million people dying of starvation,
while another million emigrated
either to Britain or North America.
After the famine ended, emigration,
especially to the US, continued as
landlords evicted tenants as part of
estate “rationalization.” The famine
was a terrible and pivotal event inFURTHER EVENTS
THE WAR OF 1812
(1812–15)In 1812, the United States declared
war on Britain over a number of
issues, including trade restrictions,
British commandeering of US
merchant seamen, and the support
lent by Britain to American Indian
peoples who opposed US expansion
into their lands to the west. The
conflict took place on several
fronts across North America and
involved a failed US invasion of
Canada, the burning of the city
of Washington by the British in
1814, and a major US victory at
New Orleans in 1815. After more
than two years of fighting, the
status quo was largely restored.
However, the war gave the US a
stronger sense of nationhood and
confirmed that Canada remained
part of the British Empire.THE RISE AND FALL
OF THE ZULU KINGDOM
(c.1816–87)Shaka, ruler of a small Zulu
chiefdom, was a dynamic leader
who formed a Zulu state after
1816 by conquering and uniting
a large number of groups of the
Nguni people of southeast Africa.
The Zulu kingdom had to contend
with two belligerent groups of
incomers: the Boers (descendants of
Dutch settlers at the Cape) and the
British. The British invaded Zulu
territory in 1879 and, after suffering
an initial defeat at Isandiwana,
overwhelmed them with theirUS_264-265_CH5_Further_Events.indd 264 15/02/2016 16:44
CHANGING SOCIETIES 265
Irish history: Ireland’s population
has never risen back to its pre-
famine level and bitterness about
the British government’s poor
response to the famine remains.THE TAIPING REBELLION
(1850–64)By the mid-19th century, Qing
rule in China had become corrupt,
and there were many who wanted
change. Among various anti-
government groups was one led by
a religious leader, Hong Xiuquan.
Hong’s followers attacked Nanjing
and took the city in 1853. The
rebellion grew and spread across
virtually all of China until it became
a war with hundreds of thousands
of fighters involved. With European
military aid, the Qings eventually
managed to crush the rebels, and
millions of soldiers and civilians
were killed. Despite its failure, the
Taiping Rebellion fatally weakened
the Qing regime, which only
survived for another half century,
increasingly prey to foreign powers.THE CRIMEAN WAR
(1853–56)When war broke out between
Russia and Turkey in 1853, France
and Britain intervened in support
of Turkey, sending a joint force to
invade the Crimea and besiege the
Russian port of Sebastapol. There
were huge numbers of casualties,
particularly on the Russian side,
before Russia agreed to peace
terms. Blunders such as the British
cavalry’s infamous, suicidal Charge
of the Light Brigade made the war
notorious for the needless waste of
human life. The Crimean War also
came to be associated with theefforts of health reformers such as
Florence Nightingale, who worked
to improve the nursing service
offered to the wounded and to
improve training for nurses in both
military and civilian hospitals.FRANCE RETURNS TO A
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
(1870)In 1870, Emperor Napoleon III of
France surrendered at the Battle
of Sedan, during the Franco-
Prussian War, and he was taken
prisoner. The French parliament
declared a republic, expecting it
to form an interim government
until a new monarch was chosen.
However, it proved impossible
to decide on a constitutional
framework for a new monarchy,
or on who should take the throne.
After elections in 1871, the Third
Republic became permanent, with
a president as head of state and a
Chamber of Deputies, elected
through universal male suffrage,
to make the laws. The Third
Republic lasted until 1940 and
set the pattern for French
government after World War II.A MAHDIST ISLAMIC STATE
IS CREATED IN SUDAN
(1885)In 1881, the Sudanese leader
Muhammad Ahmad declared
himself the Mahdi (a messianic
figure in some Muslim traditions)
and launched a revolt against the
government of Egypt, which ruled
Sudan although Britain effectively
controlled both countries. Ahmad
laid siege to Khartoum, which fell
in early 1885, in spite of a defense
by Charles George Gordon, theBritish Governor-General. The
Mahdists were finally defeated by
Lord Kitchener in 1898, after which
Sudan was ruled jointly by Britain
and Egypt.THE [SECOND] BOER WAR
(1899–1902)The war of 1899–1902 was the
second conflict between the Boers
(South Africans of Dutch descent)
and the British. After initial Boer
victories, the British defeated their
enemies by applying a “scorched
earth” policy in the areas of the
country in which the Boers had
fought successfully as guerrillas,
and capturing women and children.
Some 20,000 died in concentration
camps, and the Boers lost their
independence. The war reduced
many surviving Boers to poverty,
but it also spurred on their
nationalism and indirectly led
to Afrikaaner dominance of
South Africa’s government in
the 20th century.THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
(1910)Beginning in 1910 and initially led
by Francisco Madero, the Mexican
Revolution removed the dictator
Porfirio Diaz, who had ruled for
some 35 years. However, the
new republic could not prevent
armed factional struggles and civil
war, which continued until the
drawing up of a new constitution
in 1917 and the election of a new
government in 1920. The following
two decades saw key reforms such
as the redistribution of lands
among peasants and Indian
communities and, in 1938,
the nationalization of oil.US_264-265_CH5_Further_Events.indd 265 15/02/2016 16:44