The History of Empire: Exploitation And Resistance - Professor Richard J. Evans
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- This lecture looks at the impact of empire on the colonizers and the colonized.
In Europe, ideologies of imperialism emerged, increasingly mingled with racism. These had a material effect on the attitudes of political elites that helped push Europe towards war in 1914.
Critics of imperialism argued that colonies were crucial mainly to ensure the continued existence of capitalist economies. Economic exploitation was indeed a key part of imperial rule, as settlers grabbed land to farm, merchants, traders and planters sought profits in commodities such as rubber and coffee, and state administrators tried to minimize the costs of running the colonies by turning them into profitable enterprises. In many cases, notoriously the Belgian Congo, this led to horrific acts of cruelty against indigenous people conscripted as labourers.
At the same time, economic imperatives led to attempts to develop the colonies, to provide a transport infrastructure, and to train and educate indigenous elites to meet modern economic needs. This sowed the seeds of later movements of national resistance and liberation.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac....
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The biggest danger of "taxation without representation" is that those without representation tend to get stepped on. British administrators in India were responsible to ministers in London who in turn were responsible to the British Parliament which had little reason to consider the feelings of Indians half a world away when making decisions (the feelings of the members' own constituents would have been vastly more important). So, there is no surprise that British tax policies in India sometimes "turned poor harvests into famine".
To that extent, British parliamentary government probably made the lots of colonial subjects worse than traditional monarchy would have. Queen Victoria would have had much more reason to consider the welfare of her Indian subjects than did her ministers simply because it's much easier to rule people who like and trust you than it is to rule people who don't.
Nice to see some well thought out, well expressed, constructive content about world history and world affairs on UA-cam instead of the usual rhetoric and jingoism. Thanks for posting this GreshamCollege.
I love (sarcasm) how people try to downplay the massive destruction British imperialism had on the world by trying to talk about what other civilizations did. "Oh well the Egyptians did this..." "Oh well the Berbers did that..." It doesn't lessen the effect the British empire had on the rest of the world. And it wasn't just the Belgians. Haven't made it through the whole vid but I hope he talks about Britain's role in dividing and conquering the rest of the world and fanning the flames of World Wars to institute their own versions of the shock doctrine.
it was called free trade but it was not free,it cost lives and libirty
I'm from Belgium and we do learn about leopold and what he did in Afrika. My mother didn't though. They learned about the 'great works' catholic priests were doing there.. Times change. Every empire has blood on it's hands and they all tried to legitimize it.
Hate European empires and culture all you want but it's western humanism that eventually stopped (sadly, not all) needless bloodshed and imperialism. The problem is trade and capitalism, which everyone who watched this will agree on. Colonialism = economic exploitation. Capitalism = economic exploitation. The world will never be free as long as the means of production are in the hands of single few.
No, indirect rule was nothing new. The Romans employed client rulers over 2000 years ago (and their subjects knew fully well who was really in charge), and the precedent was old then.
Also
Too bad we don’t see the same about the Egyptian, Persian,Mayan, Chinese or Muslim Empires. They were every bit as cruel and greedy as the European, but do we talk about that? No, we go on about their great cultural achievements--which they had and as we should--but nary a word is uttered about their pursuit of land and power at the expense of weaker tribes and nations.
Empire as a whole have bequeathed to us majestic edifices, sublime cultural achievements, and deplorable acts.
wolverineeagle I'm more concerned with the problems of today
Also add Egyptians and their use of slavery to construct their empire.
good thinking to add those facts of *how* it was developed and done! :)
False.
The wicked shall not go unpunished .Our time is up . Remember judgement began at the House of God first. In the very near future the time will come for all of the other nations to drink from the Cup of The God of Israel's fury.. How long ? Not long .... Our summer is near. In these times we are waiting on the Angels to gather us from the four corners of this earth to take us back to our own land Before we enter that land it shall be cleanse of all THE ROTTEN FIGS that are presently in the land.
Leopold was taught in my school....but i guess that doesnt fit your world view...