Deck 16: Europes Colonial Empires and Global Dominance, 1871-1914

Question 1

In Africa and Asia, the "new imperialism" of the late nineteenth century differed from the older imperialism because the new:

A) was fundamentally maritime and mercantile.
B) had no territorial ambitions beyond the protection of way stations and trading centers.
C) sought the political and territorial domination of colonized areas.
D) sought wares brought by local merchants and produced by local methods.

Answer 1

sought the political and territorial domination of colonized areas.

Question 2

The new European imperialists:

A) ensured that they did not use enslaved labor.
B) transformed large elements of the local population into wage earners.
C) failed to develop financial stakes in local governments and economic enterprises.
D) adapted to the production of types and quantities of goods that could be supplied by preindustrial handicraft methods.

Answer 2

transformed large elements of the local population into wage earners.

Question 3

Europe's imperial expansion led to the creation of protectorates in which the:

A) local rulers in power were maintained and guaranteed against internal upheaval and external conquest by European powers.
B) European powers took over local rule, settled colonists, and deployed European troops.
C) European powers took over local rule while protecting the territory from external attack.
D) local rulers received advisory privileges, capital investment, and trade opportunities from European powers.

Answer 3

local rulers in power were maintained and guaranteed against internal upheaval and external conquest by European powers.

Question 4

"Spheres of influence" gave European powers:

A) local political control and the clear right to defend their territory against external attack.
B) advisory privileges and investment and trade opportunities within their own sphere.
C) the most definite and explicit of all forms of imperial control.
D) no privileges other than the right to send in missionaries and diplomatic personnel.

Question 5

J.A. Hobson and Lenin ascribed imperialism primarily to:

A) Europe's need for the accumulation of surplus capital.
B) European nations' need for national glory.
C) Europe's desire for strategic military and naval bases.
D) Europe's need for imports.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true of the British in 1914?

A) They displayed an imperialist pattern in which politics was independent of economics.
B) They invested just over a tenth of all their wealth outside Great Britain.
C) They considered the capitalistic incentive to be of great importance.
D) They had few modern-type capitalists of their own.

Question 7

In 1914, only _____ percent of German foreign investment was absorbed by its colonies.

A) about 50
B) about 30
C) about 10
D) an infinitesimal

Question 8

In 1914, France's major foreign investment was in:

A) Africa.
B) the United States.
C) Russia.
D) Asia (outside of Russia).

Question 9

Joseph Chamberlain promoted the idea that:

A) the British should create a worldwide trading area that would secure raw materials and food, markets for exports, and so on.
B) the dominions with "imperial preference" should remain under the governmental control of the British sovereign.
C) the British dominions should compete with each other by means of protective tariffs.
D) the British dominions should work together economically but face military challenges independently.

Question 10

The 1856 Hatt-i Humayun, the most far-reaching Turkish reform edict of the century, did all of the following except:

A) abolish the civil authority of religious hierarchs.
B) guarantee equality before the law regardless of religion.
C) open the army to Christians and Muslims alike.
D) establish a Turkish parliament.

Question 11

Abdul Hamid II's power was challenged by:

A) the Young Turks.
B) the Young Ottomans.
C) the Chinese Gordon.
D) the Khedive Ismail.

Question 12

For Egypt, the 1850s and 1860s were a time of:

A) economic downfall.
B) deepening connections with Europe.
C) newfound freedom from the Ottoman Empire.
D) isolation from the world market.

Question 13

The Congo Free State established in 1885 was:

A) a semi-independent native-ruled state.
B) ruled by Leopold for his own personal profit.
C) jointly controlled by France and Britain.
D) ruled from Brussels as a Belgian colony.

Question 14

The battle between Italians and Ethiopians at Adowa:

A) gave Italy the opportunity to colonize eastern Africa.
B) confirmed the Italian occupation of Somaliland and Eritrea.
C) allowed the French to seize control of the Horn of Africa.
D) discouraged the colonization of Ethiopia for forty years.

Question 15

The Fashoda crisis of 1898:

A) brought Britain and France to the verge of war.
B) led to a French diplomatic triumph, blocking the British Empire in Africa.
C) brought ultimate colonial benefits for the Germans.
D) led the Italians to withdraw all their forces from Africa.

Question 16

The economic impetus for the Boer War was:

A) Britain's need for petroleum and coal.
B) the discovery of diamonds and gold in the Transvaal.
C) the refusal of the Boers to sell their agricultural products to the British.
D) the increasing German-Boer trade and the fear of German domination in all of southern Africa.

Question 17

The policy of the Dutch in their East Indies colony favored instruction in native languages to:

A) preserve native cultures from disintegrating.
B) speed the progress of nationalism and even democracy.
C) spread the Dutch "culture system."
D) ensure Dutch political control.

Question 18

The Dutch in 1815 occupied:

A) only about half the archipelago.
B) little more than the island of Java itself.
C) Sumatra and Celebes.
D) the coastlines of most of the islands but not their interiors.

Question 19

The Indian Mutiny persuaded Britain to pursue a radically different course of policy that did not include the:

A) abolition of the British East India Company and the Mogul empire.
B) collaboration between the imperial power and the Indian upper classes.
C) preservation of Indian states as protectorates.
D) promotion of native Indian languages.

Question 20

By 1914, Britain:

A) had constructed in India the densest railway network in the world.
B) had excluded Indians from all sectors of the subcontinent's administration.
C) did far more trading with people of Australia and New Zealand than with the impoverished people of India.
D) had turned India into the world's workshop and China into a supplier of raw materials.

Question 21

The initiatives for Russian expansion in Asia, which resumed about 1850, came primarily from:

A) the officer corps.
B) the government.
C) business interests.
D) Russian nationalists.

Question 22

As a result of European imperialism, after 1900, Persia:

A) became a British colony.
B) was partitioned and annexed by the British and Russian empires.
C) experienced an internal revolution, leading to the restoration of the shah's power and the rapid westernization of the country.
D) was partitioned with a British sphere of influence in the south and a Russian sphere in the north.

Question 23

Europeans attempted to defend the Qing dynasty against internal opposition because:

A) they needed a government with which they could make treaties.
B) of international law.
C) the Manchus controlled the war lords.
D) they believed its enemies to be anti-Christian.

Question 24

The Western powers imposed the "treaty system" on China, which did not include:

A) opening over a dozen "treaty ports."
B) European and American gunboats policing the Yangtse River.
C) severe limitations on Chinese import duties.
D) subjecting foreigners to Chinese law.

Question 25

Which of the following caused a war to break out between Japan and Russia in 1904?

A) The Japanese broke the treaty of Portsmouth.
B) The Japanese attacked Russian installations at Port Arthur.
C) The Russians sent their Baltic fleet around three continents to the Far East.
D) The Russians destroyed the Japanese fleet at Tsushima Strait.

Question 26

All of the following were consequences of the Russo-Japanese War except that:

A) Russia shifted its attention back to Europe, especially to the Balkans.
B) the Russian Revolution of 1905 broke out.
C) the nationalists were encouraged to stage revolutions in Persia, Turkey, and China.
D) Japan annexed Manchuria and a strip of northern China.

Question 27

What were the causes of the "new" imperialism? Of these causes, which do you believe was the most important?

Question 28

Analyze the economic and political differences between the "new" imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century and the earlier phases of European imperialism.

Question 29

Discuss the motives behind European imperialism. Outline J.A. Hobson's and Lenin's analysis of imperialism. Do you agree or disagree with this viewpoint?

Question 30

Discuss the efforts made in 1885 to bring European expansion into Africa under international regulation. Why did these efforts at internationalism fail?

Question 31

What reform policies did the Ottoman Turks follow in the nineteenth century? Why did these policies fail to prevent the political decline and gradual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire?

Question 32

What impact did the imperial expansion in Africa and Asia between 1870 and 1914 have on relations between the European powers?

Question 33

Did the imperialist policies of the United States and the European powers differ? Why or why not?

Question 34

What political factors contributed to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century?

Question 35

What happened to the areas in Europe and Africa lost by the Ottomans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?

Question 36

How did Europeans address questions of ethnic and linguistic differences as they colonized Africa?

Question 37

What were the east-and-west belts and the north-and-south belts of European colonization?

Question 38

What brought Europeans close to blows in Africa?

Question 39

Where did European powers expand their control in Asia in the latter half of the nineteenth century? Where did this expansion bring European powers into conflict with one another?

Question 40

Why were the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal considered the lifeline of the British Empire?

Question 41

How did colonial holdings help Britain retain its position as the world's workshop?

Question 42

Why did both Russia and Japan seek control over Manchuria? How did these imperialist ambitions affect China?

Question 43

Why was labor a problem for European colonizers in Africa? How did they attempt to resolve the problem?

Question 44

How and why did Egypt become a British protectorate?

Question 45

What was the Fashoda crisis? What did it indicate about relations between European powers in Africa?

Question 46

How did the Indian Mutiny result in a shift in British policy toward India?

Question 47

What opened the modern phase of Chinese relations with Europe about 1840? How did Japan join with the European powers in developing new imperialist ambitions?

Question 48

How did Japanese imperialism precipitate a crisis in the Far East?