What was New Imperialism?
Crystal Palace - the scene for Disraeli's 1872 speech whcih put empire at the centre of British politics
Ruskin announces a new role for empire
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the British Empire increased in size and was seen as the means of arresting Britain's decline in the world. In 1870, art critic, social reformer and the Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, John Ruskin, made a speech in which he announced a new role for Empire. He introduced the theme of Imperial Duty as Britain's destiny and how Britain had a mission to found colonies and settle them with young men who would advance the power of the home country. 'There is a destiny now possible for us, the highest ever set before a nation...This is what England must do or perish: she must found colonies as fast and as far she is able, formed of her most energetic and worthiest men; seizing every bit of fruitful waste ground she can set her foot on, and there teaching these her colonists that their chief virtue is to be fidelity to their country and their first aim is to advance the power of England...' What Ruskin was doing was to introduce a new ideology for Empire and adding a new justification for the annexation of new territories.
John Ruskin
Disraeli puts empire at the centre of British politics
Two years after Ruskin's speech, in 1872, Disraeli made a very famous speech at Crystal Palace, putting Empire at the very centre of British politics. Disraeli claimed that the British had a choice before them. They could be subjects of a comfortable England, insular and ordinary or of a great country, an imperial country which commands the respect of the world. Disraeli was appealing to the newly enfranchised working man in the cities and claiming that the Tory Party was the party of Empire. He was making Empire out to be exotic, glamorous, exciting, glorious and infused with a certain morality. Disraeli was positioning himself against Gladstone, the Liberal leader, who often saw Empire as exploiting native peoples and getting involved in unnecessary wars. For all of their bluster about the British Empire though, there was little to choose between the two men when it came to them taking action as Prime Minister.
In 1879 Gladstone made his famous Midlothian campaign attacking the very idea of empire yet when he became Prime Minister in 1880, he was the Prime Minister who sent Wolseley to Egypt which resulted in Egypt becoming a virtual British protectorate.
Bejnjamin Disraeli
In the 1880s exports fell from an average of £234m at the beginning of the decade to £226 by the end of the decade, leaving Britain with a falling share of world trade. From having 23% of world trade in 1880, by 1910 Britain had just 17% compared to Germany's 16% and the USA's 35%.
Empires could alleviate recession
With world trade in a permanent slump, Empire was seen as a way of alleviating the impact of recession. It was thought that Empires could provide raw materials and a captive market and also an outlet for an underused population. This produced the rivalry amongst European powers to acquire and increase their empires which was a feature of international politics in the last quarter of the century. The so called Scramble for Africa was the result of this increased rivalry between the powers.Sir John Seeley changed attitudes towards empire
The added interest in Empire proved the opportunity for a number of commentators to give their thoughts on the importance of the Empire to Britain. In 1869 Sir Charles Dilke in his book Greater Britain argued for British Imperial domination whilst Sir John Seeley in his book The Expansion of England 1882 claimed that the Empire was the source of Britain's strength, and that its expansion and survival was essential for British power. These books together with Mahon's made a powerful case for empire. Seeley believed that the future of Britain lay with the white colonies which he believed were an extension of Britain. These ideas on the Empire came at the same time as Herbert Spencer was espousing his ideas on Social Darwinism. It was Spencer who coined the term the survival of the fittest and went on to propose' that society was the product of change from lower to higher forms, just as in the theory of biological evolution, the lowest forms of life are said to be evolving into higher forms'.
Sir John Seely's book on 'The Expansion of Britain' had a huge impact on attitudes towards empire
Africa became the focus of 'New Imperialism'
Ideas on racial superiority came together with ideas on imperial unity to produce an ideology of empire which became the justification of empire and its expansion in the last quarter of the century. The most significant advocate of this new Imperialism was Joseph Chamberlain who advocated the spread of civilisation to the world as justification for new colonies in Africa and development of economically moribund colonies in the West Indies.
The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 led to a series of events which changed the character of the young Boer republic and changed forever the economic and political relations between Britain and the Boer republics and eventually led to the war of 1899.
Goldminers on the Witwatersrand in the late 1880s
The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand changed the geopolitical landspe in south Africa
The 1886 discovery of gold ushered in an influx of largely British labour and capital which established an industrial economy centred on Johannesburg where the uitlander (foreigner) was soon seen as a threat to the Afrikaner way of life. By 1891 the number of whites in southern Africa had grown from the 250,000 that lived there in 1870 to 600,000 and the increase was largely the result of migrant miners .
The gold on the Witwatersrand was difficult to mine yet the price of gold was controlled and did not reflect the difficulty and expense of extracting it. As huge amounts of capital were needed to extract the ore, the industry came to be run by a dozen or so 'Randlords' like Cecil Rhodes who brought his diamond industry expertise to Johannesburg. The owners of the deep mines wanted a government sympathetic to their needs for low wages and easily available capital and resources like dynamite at a decent price but President Kruger saw the Randlords and their European labour force as a threat to the way of life of the Boer.
The British may have hoped that the influx of British labour would help bring about the collapse of the Transvaal but Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal, was determined to resist any change to the character of the Transvaal. He resisted any moves to incorporate the 'uitlander' into the political community and saw the gold industry as providing the money to maintain the independence of the Boer republic. It was clear that by 1894 the Transvaal was not going to implode even though the Transvaal was going through an economic revolution that meant the pastoral community was being threatened by the gold industry that within its midst.
The political map of Africa in 1880
Kruger
feared the impact of immigration and industrialisation on Boer society
and remembered the threat that Britain had posed in the past in 1880 and
believed they continued to pose a threat. He did nothing to allow more Africans
to move to the Rand. He maintained a government monopolies and placed heavy
taxes on essential items like dynamite. In 1890 he restricted the
Uitlander vote to men who had been resident in the Transvaal for fourteen
years. It is doubtful that many British miners would have wanted to exchange
their British citizenship for Transvaal citizenship but in making it more
difficult for those who might have wanted to become Transvaal citizenships he handed
an easy target to the British government who could claim that the British were
being victimised.
The annexation of African territories wa seen as the answer to many of Britain's economic and political problems
The 'Scramble for Africa' was urged on in Britain by a variety of people and groups. There were merchants looking for new customers, industrialists looking for new raw materials, financiers looking for new investment opportunities, strategists talking about India and the Nile, missionaries wanting to convert heathens, soldiers looking for glory and excitement, patriotic newspapers looking for stories and the British public acting like a baying crowd egging on the protagonists. As a result the empire increased by 5 million square miles but in doing so the whole purpose and value of the British Empire was called into question. Victoria died in 1901 during the Boer War which laid bare the frailties of the British Empire. A debate on the efficiency of the nation and whether it could defend herself began with those defences being put right just in time for World War One.