HIST 109 Flashcards
Identify and state the significance of William Wilberforce
ID:
- British man who “abolished” slave trade in 1807 (Slave Trade Act 1807)s
- National hero to the UK
- Responsible for the act that abolished slavery in 1933 (died right before it came into effect)
- Famous British abolitionist who was not a good politician and needed another guy, Thomas Clarkson to organize most of his work. Got a lot of credit even though he does not deserve it as he did not act alone or significantly enough to deserve all the praise he gets. Wilberforce primarily focused on convincing the parliament to abolish slave trade, and did not focus on other external factors. Thomas Clarkson focused on addressing external needs and believed that it should be an outside movement.
SIG:
- Played a role in abolishing slavery, which then meant that formerly enslaved people needed to get jobs with almost no pay and learn how to do new things. This changed the economy because it completely ended a system that had been in place for hundreds of years, ended transatlantic slave trade, people involved in running that had to change their plans. Major accomplishment for social justice movements and for black people, was the beginning of making black voices being heard. Still oppressed, but not as much as under slavery. This evolved and because slavery was abolished, major events like the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter Movement in the 2020s could happen, and therefore could create social change to better the lives of POC.
Identify and state the significance of the 1772 Somerset Case
ID: In 1772 James Somersett was taken from Jamaica to England by Charles Steuart, who wanted a slave in his own home. Somersett ran away and was later put in prison when he found out he was supposed to go back to Jamaica. The judge doing this case was conflicted because all his friends were planters, but the religious antislavery movement (the bible was against slavery, heavy evangelical influence) was also important to him. He decided that James Somersett should be set free because of the Free Soil. He didn’t want it to be applicable anywhere else or with any other person. However, all the antislavery campaigns heard about it and were inspired. After 1772, it became impossible for the court of law to support the slave owner
SIG: Got the abolition movement started by making people question concepts like the morals of slavery in England and in the colonies, and with their relationship. It did not have any major positive effects immediately as a consequence of the decision to free Somerset, but it got the ball rolling for the abolition movement. Also, it is an early example of a black person winning in court, which was rare.
Identify and state the significance of Frederick Douglass
ID: Activist, abolitionist and public speaker and escaped slave. Compasses the difference between life as a slave vs. life after escaping. Asking people to listen to him and take him seriously by being vulnerable: “With experience and with less learning…”
He’s talking just after the American day of independence. Comparing the horrors committed by both America and England. He calls out America for what it is, and delivered a very passionate moving speech. Points out the hypocrisy of the holiday of July 4th being about freedom when slavery is omnipresent
SIG: Douglass was significant because he was able to use his experience as an escaped slave and his knowledge and talent at public speaking to influence the public on the horrors of slavery and what America and Britain were doing to black people. He was a famous abolitionist who educated and inspired many people. He also worked to get black soldiers in the army during the civil war during the 1860s.
Identify and state the significance of the British Abolition of Slave Trade
ID: Abolition of Slave Trade in 1807. Slavery continued, but slave trade was abolished in Britain. Wilberforce played a large role in this, attempting to get the parliament involved. There were previous attempts to ban slave trade before 1807, but none of them were successful.
SIG: It had an international impact on how slave trade was handled and affected slave markets and routes from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. It was one of the initial acts of reform in terms of slavery, and led to the abolition of slavery in 1833.
Identify and state the significance of David Livingstone
He was a Scottish missionary who travelled extensively in Africa and said he was there for commerce and Christianity. He wanted interior Africa to join in on Europe’s capitalist economy and cycles to end slave trade. He went to Africa many times, and he made it into the interior because he was alone (or with 1 or 2 people) and never posed a threat. He was not stopped by African powers, unlike huge military groups. His grandson discovered Victoria falls and led an expedition into Zambazi, and wanted to find out more about the source of the Nile. He went on this expedition. In the 1860s-80s (timing?) thought he died because he disappeared.
SIG: He was significant because during his exploration, he discovered a lot about African geography and mapped out the interior of the continent. Also, he tried to do missionary work but only converted one person. Another reason why he is significant is because he represents British Imperialism, coming into Africa to study its land and try to change its people.
Identify and state the significance of the Belgian Congo
ID: Henry Stanley prepared the Congo for King Leopold’s arrival in 1885, who then used it as a rubber plantation and he was horrible. It was a personal colony, and 10 million people died. There were impossible taxes and quotas, and the punishment was the death penalty. If only 75/100 units were produced, 25 people had to be killed as punishments
They were given bullets by the governor and told not to hunt with them. They were just used for punishment for not producing the tax. The governor then required that the hands were cut off of the dead people to go with the bullets. To survive, the locals cut the hands off of living people to submit as proof for the tax collectors. Villages turned against each other to protect their own people, and they would break into each other to cut off people’s hands
SIG: Significant because it was a prime example of high imperialism. It also represents colonial exploitation and the brutality that comes with that. It was so bad that other European powers thought it to be too much, showing how terribly the people of the Congo were treated in the name of money and cheap labour. Also, large part of the scramble for Africa and how Europe wanted to divide it up for their own economic gain.
Identify and state the significance of Rabindranath Tagore
ID: Poet and the first asian to win a Nobel prize (“impressive character in world history”- prof. He was given knighthood in 1915. Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre in 1919 where peacful religious asssembly was attacked by British troops. People jumped into a well to avoid the bullets, but it was deep and they drowned. There was a curfew that meant that no one could go in and save the injured and the dying. In response and protest to this, Tagore gave up knighthood.
SIG: Significant because it was Anti-colonial movement and an example of individual resistance. He also was peaceful yet stated his place and disgust with Britain’s actions by revoking the knighthood that was given to him.
Identify and state the significance of Vladimir Lenin
ID: Lenin was a charismatic leader near the end of WWI in Russia, and represented exiting the war and peace and safety from the Provisional government. He was a communist leader and had power throughout Soviet Russia.
SIG: Was a consequence of the First World War and contributed heavily to the idea of communism in Soviet Russia and led the Bolsheviks to revolution. His ideals were maintained throughout the Cold War, and he had many followers.
Identify and state the significance of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
ID: Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre in 1919 where peacful religious asssembly was attacked by British troops. People jumped into a well to avoid the bullets, but it was deep and they drowned. There was a curfew that meant that no one could go in and save the injured and the dying. In response and protest to this, writer Tagore gave up his knighthood.
SIG: Significant because it led Tagore to give up knighthood, which was an Anti-colonial movement and an example of individual resistance. He also was peaceful yet stated his place and disgust with Britain’s actions by revoking the knighthood that was given to him.
Identify and state the significance of Subhash Chandra Bose
ID: - Born in 1897 in India. He went to study in England and wrote a very desirable exam to become a civil servant. He ranked first in all of the colonies and Britain from the exam, and they wanted him to not do as well because they couldn’t have someone from the colony as number, so the oral exam questions got harder and harder.
- He was imprisoned 11 times in 20 years for his political views against the British presence in India
- Became allies with the Nazi party (not Hitler who didn’t want to talk with people from India) because “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and they both hated Britain.
- Wasn’t originally fascist, but became allies to his advantage. Climbed the political ranks in India and proposed a 5y plan for how well India could do once out of Britain’s control
- Mysterious death in a plane crash
SIG: He is significant because he represented ideas of decolonization and led the Indian nationalist movement. He disagreed with Gandhi and had a huge impact on Indian politics, helping to promote Indian and anti-colonial nationalism.
Identify and state the significance of the Rape of Nanjing
ID: December 1937 to March 1938. 7000 Chinese women were raped in Nanjing when the Japanese took control. Killing games by the Japanese soldiers, ex. whoever kills 100 people first wins for the day (image of a Japanese soldier holding the heads of Chinese people). Very graphic ways of killing women and infants. Japanese hated anyone who wasn’t an ethnic Japanese. Imperial Japanese Army seized the city and brutalized all the people there. Absolute massacre. Context: occurred during the early 1930s, some people say it’s the beginning of WWII. Looking at Japanese and Chinese involvement in the beginning of WWII
SIG: Historical and humanitarian tragedy, extreme massacre. Example of Japanese Imperialism and shows the war crimes they committed during WWII.
Identify and state the significance of the Berlin Blockade
ID: beginning of the cold war 1940s, conflict between east and west Berlin. Soviets and the allies split germany after the war, especially berlin. Cuts to the Western supply chain and America airlifts stuff to their side. Allied Germans tried to come up with a solution, which was to fly resources over to Western Germany, which was with the allies. Food and clothes were easy to send, but coal was difficult. Air life operation (lasted 11 months and sustained West Berlin in this time) 400 planes flew a day; Russia never shot any of these planes down, but they would try to scare them by flying alongside. No one wanted another war at that time so they didn’t actually do anything.
SIG: Showed how divided the world was because of the Cold war, especially Germany. Highlighted the divide between communism and capitalism. Is part of the reason why NATO war formed: to protect agains the Soviet Union and meant that the allies could be heroes to west berlin with the Berlin Airlift.
Identify and state the significance of the Holocaust
ID: Began with Nazi Eugenics; This kind of killing off of people who were unfit for parenthood was the basis of the Holocaust; the mass extermination taught the Germans how to do it and be good at it. And then with Jews not being allowed to have certain jobs. This Led to deportation, which Snowballed into the “final solution” which was to exterminate all Jews brutally and horrifically. Mass genocide that killed 6 million Jews.
SIG: Shown the world that this kind of atrocity can never be committed again. Led to many peace treaties and global groups to end conflict (NATO, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations) Huge impact on Jewish identity. A lesson that cannot be repeated.
Identify and state the significance of Robert Oppenheimer
ID: Physicist in WWII who led the Manhattan Project, which created the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan at the end of WWII.
SIG: Insane developments in physics and modern weaponry, atomic bombs. “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” Because of him, humanity has reflected on ethical and moral questions concerning weaponry and when to use bombs. After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and the end of WWII, Peace has finally set in after the war that killed close to 18 million people.
What is the difference between formal and informal imperialism?
Formal imperialism is simply defeating an opponent with military might.
Informal imperialism is using free trade as a form of power, as seen in South America, China, and South East Asia.
