Imperialism

Résumé du document

Extension of North African Empire: Algeria, protectorate over Tunisia 1881, and over Morocco 1912. It owned a large Empire in the Far East and in Africa.
1880s: France imperialist movement encouraged by Bismarck (to direct French popular attention away from the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine). France was torn between the desire for empire and the desire for revenge in Europe (Franco-Prussian war 1870).
Rule over Indo-China (ancient and civilized people) - belief of France in herself as a great power which has successfully recovered from the humiliation of 1870 + colonies = a field for military glory.

Rivalry with Britain- especially in the 1890s: rivalry in Central Africa was a central theme in the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Investments in colonies were not very popular among the French middle class - only in Algeria that there was a large population of French settlers.
French colonialism: deeper cultural mark on the former subjects than the British ever did.

Extraits

[...] Imperialism also took the form of an intensive programme of Russification of the non-Russian peoples of the empire (e.g. Poles, Ukrainians, Finns Britain + France + Russia ( Imperialism as a matter of national interest or economic advantage Germany + Italy ( a matter of national prestige/pride (just after unification) Italy Ground for wanting colonies: the south of the country was very overpopulated ( emigration was necessary. Italy was jealous of France after 1881 (when France obtains a protectorate over Tunisia) ( substantial navy + tariff war against France + Triple Alliance in 1882 (with Germany and Austria-Hungary). [...]

[...] It had economic grounds (power of the banks controlled by the Jews) ( hatred of Jewish capitalists. But it was not the only base for anti-Semitism because generally people were not used to day-to-day contact with Jews (e.g. only 80,000 in France). E.g. Edouard Drumont used the indignation caused in 1882 by the failure of a bank (the Union Générale), wrongly believed to be caused by Jews, to start as successful anti-Jewish agitation. The financial scandal of 1891 (Panama Canal) was also used by Drumont. [...]

[...] The attempt by Germany to split this solidarity (Moroccan crisis 1905) failed badly. The new friendship was also tested with the war between France's ally Russia and Britain's ally Japan in 1904-1905 but mediation helped to resolve this major crisis. Critics of the prevailing imperialism at the end of the 19th century based on various grounds: - Humanitarians were outraged by the exploitation of Africans in the Belgian Congo + by the brutality with which the Germans repressed the rebellion in South-West Africa in 1904 + ‘methods of barbarism' used by the British in the South African War. [...]

[...] In Russia, anti-Semitism generally took the form of physical violence before WWI ( recurrent pogroms against them. In reaction, the Zionist movement was elaborated ( Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State in 1896. It is not surprising that Herzl and the Zionists responded in racial and national terms to imperialism ( plan for a return to Palestine. Destinies of the Zionist movement linked with those of the imperial powers ( Herzl failed to obtain support from the Kaiser so he turned to Britain. [...]

[...] However, the imperialist movement affected the relations between the European states and contributed to the war that made war possible: - International alignments over colonial questions often cut across the pattern of international relations. - Specific agreements on particular questions sometimes led to a more general entente (e.g. Britain + Russia + France). - The colonial rivalries and the arms race which accompanied them (especially Germany and Britain) affected the whole international life ( encouraging doctrines of racial superiority for instance. [...]