Download Diplomatic Government

When is it okay to intervene?
SOLs:
WHII.1d The student will improve skills in historical research and geographical analysis by identifying and comparing political boundaries
with the locations of civilizations, empires, and kingdoms
WHII.9e The student will demonstrate knowledge of the effects of the industrial revolution during the nineteenth century by assessing the
impact of European economic and military power on Asia and Africa, with emphasis on the competition for resources and the responses of
colonized peoples
WHII.13b The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events of the second half of the twentieth century by assessing the impact of
nuclear weaponry on patterns of conflict and cooperation since 1945
NCSS Standards:
2 – Time, Continuity, and Change
5 – Individuals
6 - Power, Authority, and Governance
The European
Union
NATO
Scramble For
Africa
The Last
Superpower?
Nationalism
• Between 1875 and 1914, European
countries invaded, colonized, and
subjugated almost all of the African
continent.
•The new wave of colonization that
European countries found such a fervor
for during this time has become known
as New Imperialism, to distinguish it
from older traditions of colonialism
before 1850. Earlier policies focused more
on seeking commercial influence rather
than formal occupation.
Europe’s Colonies in Africa, 1880. Britain, France, Portugal, and
Spain had established a number of colonies in Africa by 1880, four
years before the Berlin Conference was convened to resolve
territorial disputes between these and other colonial powers
.
"The Rhodes Colossus"
This cartoon of Cecil Rhodes, a
prominent English businessman
turned diamond magnate and one
of the most notable proponents of
African colonization. Rhodes also
had the distinction of having a
country named after him–
Rhodesia– in what is now
Zimbabwe.
Created by Edward Linley
Sambourne, the Colossus cartoon
was published after Rhodes
announced plans for
a telegraph line from Cape Town
to Cairo in 1892.
Causes for the Scramble
There were several factors which created the drive for the
Scramble for Africa, these included:
 Strong pro-Africa movement after the revolutions of 1848
 European efforts to end of the slave trade
 Exploration
 Europeans were curious as to what African lands were like
 Religion
 missionaries and spread of Christianity
 Economic motivation
 Europeans were looking to expand their industry and trade by moving into
Africa and taking over some of their trade items (ivory, gold, rubber, coffee,
sugar, palm oil, timber, etc.)
 Wealth of resources located in Africa
How It Happened…

1879 – British and French governments take
over much of Africa in payment of debts

1882 – Belgium, Portugal, and Spain begin
staking territories; England occupies Egypt;
Italy begins colonization of Eritrea.

1884 - German South West Africa,
Cameroon, German East Africa, and Togo
created

1884-85 Berlin Conference




European countries meet to solve disputes
over land and to set up rules for dividing up
Africa
Let other countries know what areas they
were taking over and be able to exert control
and power over that area
Leaders of African nations not invited.
1885-1911 – colonial borders established
among European countries;
Colonized
Africa, 1914.
The scramble
for Africa
began in the
1880s, when
the European
colonial
powers raced
to establish
formal
colonies in
Africa. By the
time World
War I began
in 1914,
most of
Africa was
under
European
control.
World Implications
 Negotiations of the Berlin
Conference did not take into
account language, culture, or
ethnicity when they drew state
borders
 As a result, Africa has endured a
painful history of warfare, culture
clashes, and under developing
economies.
Linguistic groups of the continent
 Click the flag to discover about the European Union
 What is a superpower?
 a country which has the ability to influence events anywhere in the
world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a
time
Map of the world in 1945 with dependencies in lighter shading and respective superpowers at the time. Notice how the areas shaded belong to the US,
USSR, or British Empire.
 The term “superpower” was first used in 1944, referring to the British
Empire, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. In recent
years, it can be argued that China has also reached superpower status.
Click on the countries below to hear about two former superpowers of the world:
The British Empire once spanned across several continents, but following
World War II, its territories became independent through decolonization.
Today, Britain retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside the British Isles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GffNtEe4M8
After WWII, it seemed that the world was split in two. The clash between the
Democratic West and the Communist created uneasiness and worries of a
nuclear future. This long period of tension known as the Cold War lasted until
the 1980s.
http://vimeo.com/32287983
 What is it?
 Nationalism is a sense of identity with the nation. It means to give
more importance to unity through a shared cultural background,
including language and heritage, and will manifest differently
depending on the nation and its people.
 Hyper-Nationalism is the belief in the superiority of one's nation
and of the importance of advancing it for dominance - ex. Fascism
Primary Source Reading:
George Orwell on Nationalism
“By ‘nationalism’ I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit,
placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its
interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used
in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a
distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By
‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one
believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of
its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is
inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure
more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he
has chosen to sink his own individuality”
- George Orwell, author of Animal Farm, in Notes on Nationalism
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat
“A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may
be a positive or a negative nationalist, but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories,
defeats, triumphs and humiliations. He sees history, especially contemporary history, as the
endless rise and decline of great power units, and every event that happens seems to him a
demonstration that his own side is on the upgrade and some hated rival is on the
downgrade. The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the
strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the
strongest, and is able to stick to his belief even when the facts are overwhelmingly against
him.”
- George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism
 The following are Orwell’s principal characteristics of nationalist thought:

Obsession. “No nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is
difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied
praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which he can relieve only by making some sharp retort. If the
chosen unit is an actual country, he will generally claim superiority for it not only in military power and political virtue,
but in art, literature, sport, structure of the language, the physical beauty of the inhabitants, and perhaps even in climate,
scenery and cooking.”

Instability. “To begin with, one quite commonly finds that great national leaders, or the founders of nationalist
movements, do not even belong to the country they have glorified. Sometimes they are outright foreigners, or more often
they come from peripheral areas where nationality is doubtful. A country or other unit which has been worshipped for
years may suddenly become detestable, and some other object of affection may take its place with almost no interval.”

Indifference to Reality. “All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A
British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are
held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage
— torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the
bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side. It is the same with
historical events...The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a
remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”
- George Orwell, author of Animal Farm, in Notes on Nationalism