Deck 22: Imperialism and Colonialism,1870–1914

Question 1

Giving voice to the supposed "civilizing" aspect of the "new imperialism," Rudyard Kipling urged both the British and the AmericAnswer:

A) to engage in joint colonization efforts, primarily in the Far East.
B) to take up the "White Man's Burden" of empire.
C) to form a "Cultural Union of the West" to help educate the backward peoples of the world.
D) to endeavor to make English the language of all the world's countries.
E) to send missionaries and entrepreneurs rather than the military to foreign countries.

Answer 1

to take up the "White Man's Burden" of empire.

Question 2

The T'ai-p'ing Rebellion was a conflict between:

A) Britain and China.
B) the emperors of China and Japan.
C) Chinese farmers and industrial workers.
D) the Japanese peasantry and the Shogunate.
E) radical Christian rebels who challenged the authority of the emperors.

Answer 2

radical Christian rebels who challenged the authority of the emperors.

Question 3

The Treaty of Nanking:

A) gave the British Hong Kong "in perpetuity."
B) ended British missionary activity in China.
C) gave the lucrative opium trade to the Dutch.
D) ended British claims to trade with China.
E) established the foreign enclaves in Beijing.

Answer 3

gave the British Hong Kong "in perpetuity."

Question 4

Most historians would agree that late nineteenth-century European imperialism:

A) had little to do with the underlying causes of World War I.
B) did not always lead to prosperous colonies.
C) was a completely new phenomenon on the European historical stage.
D) served as a means to quiet class conflict at home.
E) led directly to the outbreak of World War I.

Question 5

The Indian portion of the triangular European/Indian/Chinese economic relationship was comprised of:

A) textiles.
B) rice.
C) opium.
D) beef.
E) cotton.

Question 6

The British were especially interested in controlling the Suez Canal because:

A) it guaranteed their control of Egypt.
B) it allowed them to control their mandate of Palestine.
C) it demonstrated their superiority over the French.
D) it cut the travel time to their colony of India in half.
E) it allowed them to complete the "Cape-to-Cairo" railroad.

Question 7

One military solution the British used to end the Sepoy Rebellion was:

A) to disband the native Indian military units and send the men home.
B) to convene a military tribunal to protect the rights of the accused mutineers.
C) to ship all the mutineers back to England to serve their life imprisonment.
D) to do nothing with the enlisted men but provide long prison terms for the leaders.
E) to have the surviving mutineers immediately tried and executed.

Question 8

Four nineteenth-century developments aided in the rise of the "new imperialism," and among these were nation building,the rise of liberalism,industrialization,and:

A) new forms of communications.
B) transportation innovations.
C) a new sense of adventurism.
D) democratic revolutions.
E) all of these

Question 9

The British writer J.A.Hobson argued that the "scramble for Africa" was caused by:

A) intense racial hatred on the part of the middle classes.
B) the growth of democratic institutions at home.
C) the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War.
D) the interests of a small group of international financiers.
E) Christian missionaries vying to convert the Africans.

Question 10

After "the mutiny," Britain sought to rule India:

A) through the Indian upper class.
B) through the East India Company.
C) directly.
D) by means of example rather than force.
E) under martial law.

Question 11

Lord Curzon,a prominent nineteenth-century British conservative politician and proponent of empire,believed that the key colony in the British empire was:

A) Canada.
B) Hong Kong.
C) South Africa.
D) Australia.
E) India.

Question 12

The Opium Wars began when:

A) most European nations prohibited the smoking of opium.
B) the United States intensified its expansion into Asia.
C) opium prices rose due to a series of bad harvests.
D) the Chinese banned opium imports.
E) the British decriminalized the use of opium, thus driving prices down.

Question 13

British cultural policy toward its colonies always:

A) focused on indirect rule.
B) focused on direct rule.
C) remained open as they could never agree on a single policy.
D) was indifferent: the British simply had no interest in a colony's culture.
E) focused on religious matters over other concerns.

Question 14

Throughout nineteenth-century Europe,"imperial policy" was usually a matter of:

A) long-range planning by the central governments.
B) policies developed in the boardrooms of the companies involved.
C) a series of quick responses, often improvised, to particular situations.
D) policies coordinated through London as Queen Victoria was the matriarch of European royalty.
E) haphazard decisions made by politicians with no direct interest in the consequences.

Question 15

The Sepoy Rebellion had as its immediate cause:

A) the appointment of Queen Victoria's nephew as head of the East India Company.
B) the major defeat suffered by the British army at the battle of Mukden.
C) the East India Company's policy of refusing to ship opium out of India.
D) the assassination of the popular Indian leader Raj Mahal in Calcutta.
E) the refusal of Indian troops to use rifle cartridges greased with pork fat.

Question 16

Prior to the Great Mutiny of 1857,all Indian trade was held as a monopoly by the British:

A) East India Company.
B) Hudson Bay Company.
C) Prime Minister's office.
D) Royal Indian Trade Corporation.
E) Foreign Office under the direction of Queen Victoria.

Question 17

Although best known for his work to create an independent India,Mohandas Gandhi first gained recognition for his legal work in the British colony of:

A) Malta.
B) India.
C) Hong Kong.
D) South Africa.
E) Ireland.

Question 18

Historians refer to the form imperialism takes when a country annexed territories outright and subjugated the peoples who lived there as:

A) informal imperialism.
B) direct rule.
C) First European empires.
D) formal imperialism.
E) indirect rule.

Question 19

The last area of India annexed by the British in 1856 was:

A) Madras.
B) Oudh.
C) Punjab.
D) Calcutta.
E) Kumaon.

Question 20

When Great Britain took control of Egypt in 1870,Lord Evelyn Baring was appointed as the first:

A) "royal governor" of the Egyptian colony.
B) "urban pasha," or military governor of Sinai.
C) "proconsul," in a power-sharing arrangement with the Egyptians.
D) "demi-pharaoh," to look after Britain's interests under an Egyptian ruler.
E) "viceroy" of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Question 21

The theory that human beings were composed of three races,the "black," "yellow," and "white," with the "white" being the superior race,was proposed in The Inequality of the Races by:

A) Adolf Hitler.
B) Houston Stewart Chamberlain.
C) Francis Galton.
D) Charles Darwin.
E) Arthur de Gobineau.

Question 22

The Berlin Conference of 1884:

A) did not involve either Britain or France.
B) gave mining rights in the Congo to Portugal.
C) established the ground rules for a new phase of European expansion.
D) established the rights of citizens living in the Congo.
E) limited British naval tonnage.

Question 23

In reality,the Congo Free State was run by:

A) Bismarck.
B) an elected body of representatives drawn from the land-owning class.
C) a dual monarchy.
D) a private company controlled by Leopold II.
E) the British West African Company.

Question 24

Which nation used the symbol of the "Cape-to-Cairo" railway as their goal in Africa?

A) Belgium
B) Britain
C) France
D) Germany
E) Austria

Question 25

In 1900,an indictment of the French colonial administrators for indifference to women,Arab Women in Algeria,was published.It was written by:

A) Madeleine de Scudery.
B) Toussaint L'Ouverture.
C) Hubertine Auclert.
D) Olympe de Gouges.
E) Aurore Dupin Dudevant.

Question 26

The Boxer Rebellion:

A) was caused by French expansion into Vietnam.
B) serves as an example of an anti-imperialist movement.
C) was not serious enough to necessitate a response from the Great Powers.
D) demonstrated the invincibility of European imperial power.
E) led to the expulsion of foreign powers from China.

Question 27

How many independent states were there in Africa in 1914?

A) zero
B) two
C) five
D) eight
E) ten

Question 28

The Boxer Rebellion resulted in:

A) China being forced to make new trade concessions to foreigners.
B) the occupation of the major Chinese cities by Westerners until 1920.
C) the end of the monarchy and establishment of a democratic state.
D) China being divided into occupation zones by the Western powers.
E) China becoming a client state of Japan.

Question 29

The abuses of the Congo Free State were publicized by European writers such as Joseph Conrad in his book:

A) Out of Africa.
B) The Heart of Darkness.
C) Darkness at Noon.
D) Black Athena.
E) The Wretched of the Earth.

Question 30

The expression "the Great Game" referred to:

A) the rivalry between the British and the French in developing African client states.
B) the maneuvering, and occasional open hostilities, between Russia and Japan in the Far East.
C) the spying, maneuvering, and support of friendly puppet governments by Russia and Britain.
D) the race between several British corporations to complete the "Cape-to-Cairo" railway.
E) the rivalry between the British and the Americans in developing colonies in the Pacific.

Question 31

In what way was nineteenth-century Russian imperialism different from that of other European countries?

A) Russia colonized territories for only a brief time before granting the colonies independence.
B) Russia added no territory to its rule at all during the nineteenth century.
C) In the nineteenth century, Russia's only colonies were in North America.
D) Russia championed a policy of only annexing lands bordering itself; it had no overseas colonies.
E) Russia focused its imperial policy on acquiring land in eastern Europe by conquest beginning with the Crimean War.

Question 32

Who coined the term eugenics to describe the science of improving racial qualities?

A) Houston Stewart Chamberlain
B) Charles Darwin
C) Francis Galton
D) Herbert Spencer
E) Cecil Rhodes

Question 33

After viewing the conditions in the Congo,the African American George Washington Williams sent an open letter to King Leopold II in which Williams:

A) brought the king to task for the "crimes perpetrated . . . in your name."
B) praised the king for the "brilliant program" toward the natives to "secure their welfare."
C) criticized the Belgian "benevolent enterprise" that was decreasing the work ethic of the natives.
D) used satire to call attention to the wholly ineffective labor practices used in the colony.
E) praised the benevolent dictatorship imposed on the colony to develop a work ethic in the natives.

Question 34

The French colonization effort in Southeast Asia was supported by republicans such as _________,who argued that ". . . the superior races have a right vis-à-vis the inferior races. . . . They have a right to civilize them."

A) Alfred Dreyfus
B) Émile Zola
C) Jules Verne
D) Honoré de Balzac
E) Jules Ferry

Question 35

Why did Bismarck bring Germany into the "scramble for Africa?"

A) to gain national prestige and make Germany a great power
B) to satisfy public opinion, which was in favor of extensive territorial expansion
C) to add to the kaiser's personal gain and position
D) to find cheaper sources of labor as well as raw materials
E) to distract the German people from the severe economic depression

Question 36

French interest in Africa was focused on:

A) colonizing the northern part of the continent across the Mediterranean from France.
B) pursuing colonies from the north to the south of Africa.
C) acquiring colonies from the west to the east of the continent.
D) its colony in the west, French Equatorial Africa.
E) seizing the British colony of South Africa for its mineral riches.

Question 37

The greatest problem faced by the French in their African colonies was:

A) financing.
B) transportation.
C) a lack of natural resources to exploit.
D) labor.
E) their colonial officers.

Question 38

One result of the Sino-Japanese War was to secure the independence of:

A) Cambodia.
B) Korea.
C) Laos.
D) Manchuria.
E) Vietnam.

Question 39

The "civilizing mission" of the French:

A) demonstrated the greatness of the nation to all French people.
B) played no real role in creating a French identity.
C) was embraced by French workers only.
D) had no support from French popular opinion.
E) defined the French character following Napoleon.

Question 40

One cause for much concern by Europeans and colonial authorities dealt with:

A) the tension between preserving national traditions and identity in the face of a constantly changing, hybrid colonial culture.
B) the surprisingly successful creation of a well-disciplined work force and complete Europeanization of cities in western and southern Africa.
C) the inability of the European countries to change the societies they had colonized; it proved very difficult to establish schools and financial institutions.
D) the continued rejection of all contact with Europeans by the newly colonized peoples of Africa and Asia; Europeans failed in their effort to fully integrate with the native populations.
E) the failure of people in the mother countries to allow any emigration by colonials to Europe and the continued suspicion of those who had served overseas.

Question 41

Rudyard Kipling's poem,The White Man's Burden,was originally published during:

A) the T'ai-p'ing Rebellion.
B) the Boer War.
C) the Boxer Rebellion.
D) the Spanish-American War.
E) the Sepoy Mutiny.

Question 42

The Afrikaners,or Boers,were European settlers from:

A) Sweden.
B) the Netherlands.
C) Germany.
D) England.
E) Denmark.

Question 43

The crises of Western empires that developed by the turn of the twentieth century created tensions:

A) within the various European colonies.
B) between the European nations themselves.
C) between the colonies of the different European nations.
D) between individual European nations and their colonies.
E) that would not be resolved until after World War I.

Question 44

In general,nineteenth-century imperialism involved more independent entrepreneurial activity by merchants and traders and less emphasis on settlement and discipline.

Question 45

David Livingstone's famous phrase "the white man's burden" referred to the European mission to civilize the globe.

Question 46

By the late nineteenth century,Berlin had replaced London as the banker of the world.

Question 47

In 1896,Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia defeated an invading army from:

A) Italy.
B) Britain.
C) the Mahdi.
D) Belgium.
E) Egypt.

Question 48

The Suez Canal linked the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.

Question 49

After World War I had come to an end,the Great Powers:

A) were more confident of human progress than they had been in the previous century.
B) recognized the principle of self-determination for all people.
C) resumed their imperialist endeavors.
D) abandoned any hope of maintaining the partition of Africa.
E) found it impossible to reimpose the conditions of late nineteenth-century imperialism.

Question 50

Concentration camps were first used by the British during the:

A) Boer War.
B) Boxer Rebellion.
C) Opium Wars.
D) Sepoy Rebellion.
E) Crimean War.

Question 51

The London Pan-African Conference of 1900 issued a proclamation,To the Nations of the World,which had an introduction written by the American:

A) W. E. B. Du Bois.
B) Theodore Roosevelt.
C) Samuel Clemens.
D) Woodrow Wilson.
E) George Washington Williams.

Question 52

British success in India came primarily from the imposition of a single cultural society that forced English culture upon the Indians,sometimes by force.

Question 53

In 1898,under the leadership of General Horatio Kitchener,the British avenged the death of Charles Gordon and secured the Sudan at the battle of:

A) Adowa.
B) Omdurman.
C) Mafking.
D) Zama.
E) Khartoum.

Question 54

New imperialism brought fierce competition among the nations and was a profoundly destabilizing force.

Question 55

"Imperialism" is the process of extending one state's control over another.

Question 56

The sati was the Indian rite in which a wife immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre.

Question 57

The early colonial success Italy realized with Eritrea and parts of Somalia encouraged it to invade:

A) Egypt.
B) Sudan.
C) Uganda.
D) Ethiopia.
E) Libya.

Question 58

Although the slave trade was outlawed in British and French colonies,new systems of forced labor cropped up to take their place.

Question 59

The United States became an imperial power following its victory in the "splendid little war" against:

A) Canada.
B) Portugal.
C) Mexico.
D) Spain.
E) Cuba.

Question 60

The Great Rebellion of 1857 was triggered by the discipline of Indian soldiers who refused to use rifle cartridges greased with pork fat.

Question 61

Mohandas Gandhi was representative of a large number of Indians who left India to serve as indentured servants or work as professionals in other areas of the British empire.

Question 62

What was the impact of the Suez Canal on Britain and the West?

Question 63

What were the causes and effects of the Opium Wars in China?

Question 64

In what ways did the early nineteenth-century European empires differ from those established in the second half of the century?

Question 65

What was the role of the East India Company in British control of India?

Question 66

How was imperialism reflected in the popular culture of Europe?

Question 67

How do formal and informal imperialism differ?

Question 68

Private investors,such as Cecil Rhodes,played just as large a part in the partitioning of Africa as did individual countries.

Question 69

Although Britain traded with China for luxury goods such as opium,silk,porcelain,and art objects,it was the tea trade that heightened conflicts between the two nations in the early nineteenth century.

Question 70

What were the causes of the Great Rebellion of 1857?

Question 71

The technology of artillery made innovations such as the machine gun an effective deterrent to armed resistance by native peoples,as seen in its use by the British army in Africa.

Question 72

How did ideas of race serve as justification for imperial conquest in the nineteenth century?

Question 73

How did the "civilizing missions" of France differ from other attempts at colonialism?

Question 74

What were the causes of new imperialism?

Question 75

Opium was exported from China in the nineteenth century to Britain,India,and the rest of the world for use in medicine and for pleasure.