Lecture notes: Berlin, 1885
Up to now
- history of diplomacy as very Euro-centric
- the origin of our present system of diplomacy
But the world is much bigger than Europe
- today: catch up with stuff that’s going on in the rest of the world
Berlin Conference, 1885
- the apotheosis of European colonialism
- but actually the beginning of the end — WW1 and WW2
“Scramble for Africa”
Intense competition among European nations to establish control over Africa’s vast resources and strategic locations
Economic Interests:
- secure raw materials, such as rubber, cotton, and minerals, to fuel their growing industries
- create new markets for their manufactured goods, ensuring a favorable balance of trade
- cf. China in Africa today
Political Rivalry:
- European competition for global prestige and influence
- enhance their political power and strengthen their position in international politics.
Technological Advancements
- steam engine, the telegraph, and advanced weaponry
- enabled European powers to navigate, communicate, and exert control over vast territories more effectively than ever before
The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885
- let’s start by talking about the Berlin conference …
Organized by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and held in Berlin from November 1884 to February 1885
- attended by representatives from 13 European nations
United States
- had been an observer in Paris, 1856
- but now a proper participant — protect commercial interests
Ottoman Empire
- important since much of it concerned Ottoman lands
- a power vacuum in the regions it controlled, particularly in North Africa
- France seized Algeria in 1830, and Tunisia in 1881
- Italy occupied Libya in 1911 — the first time bomb planes were used
No African representatives were present
- only one person who actually had been there
Only Liberia and Ethiopia independent in Africa
- Liberia, resettled slaves — American Colonization Society — often racist motivation
- Italy attacks Ethiopia in 1895 but are defeated at the Battle of Adwa in 1896
- Italy returns in 1935, and stays until the end of WW2
Regulate the colonization and trade in Africa
- establish rules for the division of African territories among European powers
The principle of effective occupation
- European powers could only claim African territories if they effectively occupied and controlled them
- prevent conflicts among European powers by establishing clear criteria for territorial claims
The Congo Free State
- recognition of King Leopold II of Belgium’s personal rule
- agreements on free trade and navigation in the Congo and Niger rivers
Prohibition of slave trade — presented as a moral and humanitarian endeavor
- suppress slave trade in Africa
- 1804, Haiti; 1807, UK; 1848; France; 1865, the US; 1888, Brazil
Map of Africa
- at the convenience of the Europeans
- often without regard for the continent’s ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity
Long-term consequences
- ethnic conflicts, border disputes, and political instability in Africa
Still, some conflicts
The Boer Wars (1880-1881 and 1899-1902)
- between the British Empire and the Boer republics (Afrikaner settlers) in South Africa erupted over control of resources, particularly gold and diamonds
- the British eventually emerged victorious, leading to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Fashoda Incident (1898):
- standoff between French and British forces in Sudan nearly led to war, but diplomacy prevailed
Herero and Namaqua Genocide (1904-1908)
- German colonial forces in present-day Namibia committed one of the first genocides of the 20th century
- targeting the Herero and Nama peoples in response to a rebellion against German rule.
Anti-Imperialism
In response to the Spanish-American War of 1898
- American empire, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines
Atrocities committed by the Belgians in the Congo Free State
- “heart of darkness”
- millions of Congolese were subjected to forced labor, brutal exploitation, and widespread violence under King Leopold II’s rule
- Congo Reform Association, 1904
Mark Twain
- played an essential role in raising awareness and advocating for the end of imperialism.
- American Anti-Imperialist League, 1898
Nationalist independence movements around the world
- Indian National Congress
- Vietnam
The Seven Years War, 1756-1763
- let’s go back a bit in time …
Fought in Europe, but also a global conflict involving multiple European powers and their colonies
European theater:
- Prussia, backed by Britain
- against: Austria, France, Russia, and Sweden
North American theater:
- French and Indian War
- Britain and France, with both sides allying with various Native American tribes
Caribbean theater:
- British forces captured French and Spanish territories, including Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Havana
African theater:
- the British targeted French trading posts and forts
- in Senegal and along the West African coast
Indian theater:
- the British East India Company and the French East India Company
- along with their respective Indian allies
Naval warfare:
- extensive naval battles in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean
- European powers protect and expand overseas territories and trade routes
A world revolution
- French Revolution of 1789 — far-reaching consequences outside of Europe
Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804
- French colony of Saint-Domingue — revolt against their oppressors
- liberty, equality, fraternity
- Haiti as the first independent black republic
- second independent nation in the Americas, after the United States
- but the neo-colonial dependence continued
- very sad story — given the situation today
Latin American independence movements:
- French Revolution weakened the Spanish monarchy
- contributed to the destabilization of the Spanish colonial empire
- opportunity for Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín, etc
- independence between 1820 and 1835
- the leaders were inspired by the liberal, revolutionary, ideals
Impact on the United States:
- Democrats, led by Thomas Jefferson, supported the French Revolution
- Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, concerned about the radical elements of the revolution
- cf. the first party system in the United States.
Nationalism:
- French Revolution helped spread ideas of democracy, republicanism, and nationalism
- inspired revolutionary movements and nationalist struggles
“Civilization”
The concept of “civilization”
- increasingly used to describe the cultural, social, and political progress of societies
- transformation in the way Europeans perceived their relations with non-European parts of the world
Europeans as the bearers of “civilization”
- democracy, rationality, secularism, and progress
- cf. industrial revolution — ideas of progress
- “the great enrichment”
Perceived “backwardness” of non-European societies
- traditional customs, religious beliefs, and political systems
Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden”
Mission civilisatrice
- bringing “progress” and “enlightenment” to the colonized peoples
Paternalistic attitude
- legitimize the exploitation and subjugation of non-European societies
Cf. Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
“The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes.”
“The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.”
“The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. […] It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image.”
“All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe.”
Civilization as reciprocity
- you are civilized if you are a part of our group
- and prepared to do what we do
Civilized members of diplomatic society
- these had always been the principles of the European diplomatic system
- court society
- resident ambassadors
Very difficult for outsiders to break in
- some tried
- Russia, Turkey, Japan
Rokumeikan
- we talked about the Ottoman Empire’s inclusion into the world of European diplomacy
Very similar story about Japan
- never a colony
- but harassed by the US after 1853 — Perry’s “Black Ships”
Japan closed 1600-1868, the Meiji Restoration
- the US forced Japan to open up to international trade — Christian missionaries
- extraterritorial rights for foreign residents
- “unequal treaties”
Rapid modernization
- above all in the 1880s
- actively reject everything traditionally Japanese
- often compared to the Atatürk reforms in Turkey
Backlash in the 1890s
- more nationalistic
Trying to join European system of diplomacy
- translate handbooks on diplomacy
- treaties on international law
- send the first permanent ambassadors abroad
But had to learn to socialize
- dress, manners, dancing
- Western music
Rokumeikan
- banqueting hall built by the Japanese foreign ministry in 1883
- near the Imperial Palace
- English architect
- grand staircase, ballroom, and dining halls
A place for foreigners to socialize
- but also for Japanese people to learn foreign manners
- organized dancing classes
- show off how Westernized they had become
- training for Japanese diplomats
Pierre Loti
- there making fun of it
Cf. Piyer Loti teras
But loses its role
- sold in 1890
- demolished in 1941
But success
- 1903 — Japan officially invited into the European system of diplomacy
- revised all unequal treaties
- no more extraterritoriality
Alliance with Britain
- one of the winner in WW1
- start the push into China
“Civilization” comes to Cambodia
the importance of “twisting” in Cambodia in the 1960s
International law
Good way to understand the idea of “civilization”
- and European relations to the rest of the world in the 19th century
19th century as a time of relative peace in Europe
- we talked about this last time — the 100 years after the Congress of Vienna
- increased economic interdependence
- “perhaps finally we have found a way to live in peace together”
International law
- a way to manifest this civilization
- we are now going to be bound by laws
- we “civilized people” that is
Great development of legal standards
- Lieber Code — American Civil War
- the generals would have this little book with them
“Positive law”
- not natural law
- not finding out some sort of eternal truth
- just look at what individual states were doing
The role of international lawyers — often Belgian
- gather information about what all states are doing
- codify it
- based on the most “progressive” parts
For example
- only soldiers are targets
- compensate civilians
- prisoners of war revert to civilian status
- not target sources of livelihood
- religious buildings, art works, archives
- outlaw particular weapons
From now on
- wars would be civilized
International law defined what it meant to be civilized
- a civilized country is a country that follows international law
The paradox of sovereignty
You can do whatever you want — you are sovereign
- but only if you first become a “civilized state”
- a state like us
If you are not a state like us
- you have no sovereign rights
On the contrary
- we have the right to invade you
- control you
- manage you in your interests — and in our own
This would drive the Chinese crazy
- “how can you say we are not civilized”
- but China was not civilized since it did not reciprocate
Rest of the world
- they did not follow the rules of international law
- did not fight in a “civilized way”
- they attacked civilians, for example
Impossible to use civilized forms of warfare against uncivilized people
- we are forced to fight like them
- the more civilized we become in Europe, the more uncivilized we become in the rest of the world
The destruction of Yuanmingyuan
- prove our civilization
- a world to which you don’t belong
The pedagogical value of violence
- strike once and strike hard
“Small wars”
- French invasion of Algeria, 1830
- Indian Uprising, 1858
Berlin Conference again
A very civilized occasion
- since the Europeans managed to divide Africa without conflicts
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