1.
Explain the goals of Islamic revitalization movements such as Wahhabism in the Arabian Peninsula and dan Fodio’s movement in West Africa. How were these programs affected by the new world order? What alternative did Islamic revitalization propose?
2.
Read Primary Source 16.5 and answer the following:
According to Marx and Engels, how does class conflict change over time? Pay special attention to the range of groups opposed to one another.
Define the term bourgeois. How are the bourgeoisie different from all the prior dominant classes in history?
This document was initially conceived as a declaration of faith. What role, if any, does religion play in this final version?
CHAPTER 16
Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
Copyright © 2021, W. W. Norton & Company
Protest movements challenge the nineteenth-century order based on industrial capitalism, the nation-state, and colonization.
Led by prophets, political radicals, and common people, the movements arise among marginal groups and regions and express visions of an ideal, utopian future.
The movements differ markedly, depending on the local circumstances of the global forces of change.
Although most movements are defeated, they give voice to the views of peasants and workers and have a lasting effect on the policies of ruling elites.
Global Storyline
What alternative visions challenged the ideals of industrial capitalism, colonialism, and nation-states in this period?
How similar were the utopian goals, immediate outcomes, and long-term influence of rebel movements around the world? How did they differ?
How did an urge for social justice animate the alternative visions?
What role did religion play in these alternative social visions?
Focus Questions
By the late nineteenth century, the United States confined almost all Native Americans to reservations.
One Paiute Indian named Wovoka had a vision in 1889, in which the “Supreme Being” told him if they shunned white ways, especially alcohol, and performed the cleansing Ghost Dance, then Native Americans would be reborn to live in eternal happiness.
The “Red Man’s Christ” inspired new hope and drew people, including the Sioux, to make pilgrimages from hundreds of miles around.
Sitting Bull, revered Sioux chief, killed by police in 1890
In 1890, the U.S. Army massacred Sioux Ghost Dancers at a South Dakota creek called Wounded Knee.
This movement exemplifies the prophetic crusades that challenged the emerging nineteenth-century order.
Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
By the late nineteenth century, the United States had confined almost all Amerindians to reservations. The westward expansion of the United States drastically altered indigenous ways of life. The people of the Great Plains depended on buffalo, but these had declined in population as white settlers built towns and railroads on their natural habitat. As they saw their way of life disappearing, many Native Americans fell into despair.
One such person was a Paiute named Wovoka. In 1889, Wovoka had a vision that offered the hope of a revival of Native American life. In a dream, a “Supreme Being” told him that Native Americans should shun white ways, especially alcohol, and perform the cleansing Ghost Dance. If they did so, then the buffalo would return and Native Americans would be reborn and live in eternal happiness. The hope that Wovoka’s vision provided caused a stir among indigenous peoples. Calling Wovoka the “Red Man’s Christ,” people flocked to him, often making pilgrimages over hundreds of miles.
Sitting Bull, a charismatic Sioux chief, was one of the people inspired by the Ghost Dance movement. But, in 1890, he was killed by police on the Sioux reservation. A few days later, the army massacred Sioux Ghost Dancers at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
Although it failed, this movement was one of many prophetic crusades that challenged the emerging nineteenth-century order. During this period, the notions of equality, popular sovereignty, and the nation-state increasingly defined political life. At the same time, the global economy was shaped by the rise of laissez-faire capitalism and deepening industrialization.
This chapter focuses on those who opposed global capitalism and colonialism during a time when these forces were dramatically transforming the world. The people who challenged this emerging order differed significantly, but they were all motivated by the impending loss of their existing worlds and by visions of ideal, utopian futures. Although many of these movements were ultimately defeated, some of them continued to shape the course of world history into the twentieth century.
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Political, social, and economic revolutions transformed the world order in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Imperial expansion
New nation-states
Alternatives to the emerging nineteenth-century order varied considerably.
Revitalization of traditional religions
Strengthening of village and communal bonds
Society with no private property and equal shared ownership of goods
Dissidents and their actions depended on their local traditions and the degree of contact they had with the effects of industrial capitalism, European colonialism, and centralizing nation-states.
Reactions to Social and Political Change
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, political, social, and economic revolutions dramatically reshaped the world order. Both the United States and Mexico initiated expansions that disposed hundreds of indigenous groups. New nation-states in Latin America confronted the question of how to govern their diverse populations. In Asia and Africa, people at all levels of society confronted the growing power imbalance between Europe and the rest of the world.
Resistance to the nineteenth-century order varied considerably. Some people thought that the solution to the problems of industrial capitalism and colonization was the revival of traditional religions. Others sought to strengthen village and communal bonds to fight against the forces of social transformation that threatened traditional communities. Still others envisioned a society with no private property and equal shared ownership of goods as the antidote to increasing inequality.
Opponents of the emerging order, and the counterproposals they made, differed depending on their local traditions. Their degree of contact with the effects of industrial capitalism, colonialism, and centralizing nation-states also affected their responses. The intense contestation over the meaning of power and justice offers unique opportunities to examine the lives and historical roles of ordinary people, whose perspectives elites often suppressed.
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Decline of Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires prompted modernization efforts
Further from main trade routes, people led religious revitalization movements.
Led by prophets
Sought to establish theocratic governments
In non-Islamic Africa, where long-distance trade and population growth were transforming the social order, charismatic leaders gained power by resolving local environmental crises.
Prophecy and Revitalization in the Islamic World and Africa
In the Islamic world, the decline of the great empires prompted religious revitalization movements. The age of Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal power was largely over, making an increasingly powerful Christian Europe seem all the more threatening. This danger prompted some elites to modernize their states. In places far from the main trade and cultural routes, people outside of the emerging capitalist order led revivalist movements that sought to return to the glories of the past. These movements were led by prophets who sought to establish new religiously based governments throughout the Islamic world.
Non-Islamic Africa was also experiencing the influence of long-distance trade and population growth. Prophetic figures played an important role in the response to these tensions. Similar to Muslim clerics, these charismatic leaders drew on peoples’ own spiritual and magical traditions. Their ability to gain and maintain authority often depended on effective responses to local issues, like environmental crises.
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Movements to revitalize Islam took place on the peripheries, in areas removed from trade networks and changes from global capitalism.
Looked to past traditions
Attempted to establish new full-scale theocratic polities as instruments of God’s will and the vehicles for purifying Islamic culture
Islamic Revitalization
In several Muslim regions, the reaction against capitalism did not occur in the areas most affected by its rise. Movements to revitalize Islam took root in the peripheries, removed from the centers of trade networks and the most dramatic changes brought by the new economic forces. These movements looked to past traditions, modeling their resistance on the life of Muhammad. At the same time, their goals represented something new: full-scale theocracies. Leaders of these movements saw the state as a vehicle for performing God’s will and purifying Islamic culture.
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One of the most powerful reformist movements came from the Najd region.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792)
Attacked lax religious practices and demanded return to pure Islam
Stressed the oneness of Allah
Criticized Sufi sects for extolling saints over worship of God
Wahhabism threatened Ottoman hold on Arabian Peninsula
Wahhabis became militant, and the Ottomans persuaded Egyptian troops to suppress the movement.
Although the Egyptians defeated the Saudis, Wahhabism continued to grow in the Muslim world.
Wahhabism
One of these reformist movements began on the Arabian Peninsula in the Najd region. There, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab founded a movement that would remain influential for centuries. Although Najd was far removed from centers of trade and cultural interaction, Abd al-Wahhab himself was not. He had traveled and been educated in Iran and Iraq. His experience of the outside world convinced him that Islam was facing a crisis. According to Abd al-Wahhab, the faith had fallen into a degraded state and was in dire need of a purifying return to its origins.
On returning to his homeland, he attacked lax religious practices that he saw as polytheistic and contrary to the tenets of Islam. Stressing the absolute oneness of Allah, he deplored the worship of trees, rocks, and tombs and criticized the Sufis for emphasizing saints over the worship of God.
The Ottoman state soon took notice of the new movement in their territory on the Arabian Peninsula. The influential Najdian House of Saud was especially attracted to the new ideology. Their followers became militant toward the end of the eighteenth century. The Ottomans persuaded Egypt to send in troops to crush the Saudi movement. But despite being defeated, the Saudis and Wahhabism continued to grow in the Muslim world.
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Muslim revolts erupted in West Africa in response to increased trade with the outside world and circulation of religious ideas from across the Sahara.
The Fulani were cattle keepers, both nomadic and sedentary.
Sedentary Fulani converted to Islam and sought to recreate a purer Islamic past.
Fulani had driven reform movements in response to disruptions of the slave trade since seventeenth century
Argued that rulers who turned away from Islam could be the target of jihad, or holy war
Fulani Muslim cleric and prophet Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) created a vast Islamic empire in modern northern Nigeria.
Encouraged jihad against unbelievers
Dan Fodio targeted local leaders for failure to respect Islamic law in an 1804 revolt, with support from Fulani tribes and Hausa peasantry.
Usman dan Fodio and the Fulani (1 of 2)
Muslim reformist movements also emerged in West Africa. There, several Muslim revolts erupted in the early nineteenth century. One such movement was led by Usman dan Fodio and the Fulani people. The Fulani were a mix of nomadic and sedentary cattle keepers. The sedentary peoples converted to Islam and had contact with religious leaders from North Africa, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula. Soon many of these sedentary Fulani also began to conclude that Islam had fallen into a degenerate state and needed to be purified.
Fulani clerics had led Muslim reform movements in response to the since the late seventeenth century. Such movements were not against slavery in itself. Rather, they saw the practice of capturing freeborn Muslims and selling them into captivity as against the tenets of Islam. Fulani clerics charged that elites profiting from the slave trade had turned away from the fundamental principles espoused by the Prophet Muhammad. Because of this, jihad—or holy war—could be waged against them.
These sentiments coalesced around the figure of Usman dan Fodio, a cleric who created a vast Islamic empire in what is now northern Nigeria. Dan Fodio’s movement was similar to the other Muslim revolts of this period. It sought inspiration in the life of Muhammad and encouraged holy war against unbelievers. A member of a Sufi brotherhood, dan Fodio experienced visions that encouraged him to challenge the ruling classes. In 1804, dan Fodio began a revolt that targeted leading Hausa leaders. Claiming that local leaders failed to respect Islamic law, dan Fodio’s revolt gained support from Fulani tribes and the Hausa peasantry.
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Fulani women made critical contributions to the success of the religious revolt.
Women expected to support community’s military and religious endeavors
Dan Fodio’s daughter, Nana Asma’u, was well known as an intellectual and as one who accompanied warriors into battle, nursing them, encouraging them, and hurling a spear toward the enemy.
“Song of the Circular Journey” celebrates the triumphs of jihad military forces.
Usman dan Fodio created an enduring and stable theocratic empire by 1809, called the Sokoto caliphate.
Usman dan Fodio and the Fulani (2 of 2)
Although women were expected to obey sharia law, they also played an important role in dan Fodio’s revolt supporting military and religious endeavors. Dan Fodio’s daughter, Nana Asma’u gained a reputation as a religious scholar. She supported the movement’s military endeavors, nursing the wounded, offering words of support, and composing poetry celebrating military accomplishments.
Usman dan Fodio’s revolt led to an enduring theocratic empire, known as the Sokoto caliphate, that transformed Nigeria’s religious landscape.
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Map 16.1 | Muslim Revitalization Movements in the Middle East and Africa and the Mfecane Movement in Southern Africa
Map 16.1 | Muslim Revitalization Movements in the Middle East and Africa and the Mfecane Movement in Southern Africa
During the nineteenth century, a series of Muslim revitalization movements took place throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
• According to this map, in how many different areas did the revitalization movements occur?
• Based on their geographic location within their larger regions, did these movements occur in central or peripheral areas?
• According to your reading, were any of the same factors that led to Islamic revitalization involved in the Mfecane developments in southern Africa?
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Non-Islamic Africa also experienced revolts, new states, and prophetic movements.
In response to the same combination of factors: long-distance trade and population increase
Also looking to religious traditions and charismatic clan leaders
In early nineteenth-century southern Africa, political revolts called Mfecane reordered the political map.
The Bantu-speaking peoples did not have the political structure to cope with competition for land in southern Africa.
Charismatic Military Men in Non-Islamic Africa (1 of 2)
Non-Islamic Africa also experienced political turmoil and state building led by prophetic movements. These events were also part of a response to the influence of long-distance trade and growing populations that strained environmental resources. Like the Islamic movements, these African movements looked to religious traditions and formed around charismatic clan leaders called ”big men.”
In the early nineteenth century, southern Africa experienced a series of political revolts called the Mfecane. These revolts changed the political map, creating a new empire. In this area, Bantu-speaking peoples had lived for centuries in small-scale political structures. Toward the beginning of the nineteenth century, such structures could no longer cope with the competition for land. This was especially true after the appearance of British and Dutch colonists.
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Shaka created a ruthless warrior state.
Drove other populations out of the region
Forced shift from small clan communities to large, centralized monarchies
Warriors lived, studied, and fought together.
Shaka’s adversaries developed similar military states, like the Ndebele in Zimbabwe and Sotho of South Africa.
Charismatic Military Men in Non-Islamic Africa (2 of 2)
Instability caused by the introduction of European goods prompted the rise of a charismatic warrior leader, Shaka Zulu. Shaka created a warrior state that drove other populations out of the region, and forced smaller populations to come together under larger monarchies. To win territory for this empire, Shaka created an army of 40,000 well-trained warriors. Forbidden to marry until they were discharged, these warriors lived, studied, and fought together. Adversaries of the Zulu drew inspiration from this form of organization and created similar states.
In bringing together formerly separate communities into a larger overarching political community, Shaka Zulu built a community that asserted its traditions against the encroaching outside forces.
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By mid-nineteenth century, China was no longer isolated
Rising population put increased pressure on land and resources
Rising opium consumption brought social instability and financial crisis
Amid declining authority of Qing dynasty, thousands of peasants joined the Taiping Rebellion
The rebellion drew on China’s tradition of millenarian peasant revolts and Christian beliefs.
Women played important role
Inspired by Daoists or by Buddhist sources
New global context
Prophecy and Rebellion in China
By the mid-nineteenth century, China was becoming increasingly integrated into world trade systems. At the same time, a population increase that began in the early Qing was placing pressures on land and resources. Forced to trade in opium by the British, the Qing government struggled to deal with social and financial instability brought by rising opium consumption.
As the authority of the Qing gradually weakened, banditry and unrest gripped the countryside. In this environment, the Taiping Rebellion emerged. Thousands of peasants sought refuge from economic crisis within their ranks. The rebellion mixed Christian beliefs with China’s long tradition of egalitarian, millenarian peasant revolts. Such revolts were often inspired by Buddhist sources or Daoist images of a past golden age prior to human corruption.
In contrast to orthodox institutions, women played an important role in the Taiping community.
While the rebellion shared many elements with those of China’s past, its mixture of Christian influences and the fact that a foreign power—the British—was instrumental in its suppression highlight the new global context in which it took place.
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Founding prophet Hong Xiuquan (1813–1864), native of Guangdong, southern China
First encountered Christian missionaries while preparing for the civil service examination in the 1830s
On failing the exam for the third time, he began to have visions.
On failing the fourth time, he reportedly understood the significance of his earlier visions through a Christian tract.
The “Old Father” was Lord Ye-huo-hua (Jehovah); Jesus was Hong’s older brother
Like Jesus, Hong believed he had been sent to save the world from evil.
The Dream of Hong Xiuquan
The rebellion began with the dream of Hong Xiuquan. A native of Guangdong, in the southernmost part of the country, Hong was preparing for the civil service examinations when he encountered Christian missionaries in 1830. On failing the exam for the third time, he began to have visions. In these visions, divine beings revealed to him that the Manchus were demons who had led humanity astray. After the fourth failure, he began to interpret his visions through a Christian tract given to him by missionaries. He recognized the Old Father, one of the divine figures in his dreams as Ye-huo-hua (or Jehovah), and another as Jesus. Jesus, Hong determined, was his older brother. As a result of these visions, Hong began to believe that he had been sent to save the world from evil.
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Map 16.2 | The Taiping Rebellion in China, 1850–1864
Map 16.2 | The Taiping Rebellion in China, 1850–1864
The Taiping Rebellion started in the southwestern part of the country. The rebels, however, went on to control much of the lower Yangzi region and part of the coastal area.
• What cities did the rebels’ march start and end in?
• Why do you think the Taiping rebels were so successful in southern China and not in northern regions?
• How did western powers react to the Taiping Rebellion? Would they have been as concerned if the rebellion took place farther to the north or west?
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Unlike other sectarian leaders, Hong began preaching and baptizing converts publicly, destroying Confucian idols and shrines.
Hong’s message of the revitalization of a troubled world and restoration of the heavenly kingdom appealed to subordinate classes.
Taiping Rebellion claimed to herald new era of economic and social justice
The Rebellion (1 of 4)
Once he felt secure in his interpretation of his visions, Hong began promoting his message publicly. Convinced that he was doing God’s will, he destroyed Confucian idols and shrines.
Hong’s message of revitalization appealed to people on the margins of Qing society. People who had suffered from the turmoil of the Opium Wars directed their anger principally at the ruling Manchus for failing to fend off the foreign invaders. The Taiping (or Great Peace) promised them a new, egalitarian, and just order.
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Hong’s first followers came from the margins of society, where anger was directed at the Qing Manchus instead of the Europeans, after the social and economic problems caused by the Opium Wars.
Manchu rulers were considered “demons” who were obstacles to realizing God’s kingdom on earth.
Converts could not consume alcohol or opium, or indulge in sensual pleasure.
Men and women were segregated for administrative and residential purposes.
Women (mostly Hakka) served in the army in segregated units.
Women could serve in bureaucracy
All land was divided equally.
The Rebellion (2 of 4)
Hong’s message was tinged with ethnic tensions. He labeled the Manchu rulers “demons” who were obstacles to realizing God’s kingdom on earth. The social order he instilled in the ranks of his followers was strict and emphasized purity. Converts were forbidden alcohol, opium, and sensual pleasures. Strict gender segregation was also enforced. Men and women lived and fought in separate groups. Female military units were composed mostly of women from the Hakka ethnic group to which Hong Xiuquan belonged.
Many Taiping institutions challenged established social and cultural norms. Despite segregation, some women saw their status rise. For example, they could serve in the Taiping bureaucracy. The Taipings also promoted an egalitarian agrarian policy, declaring that all land was to be divided equally, and that agricultural surpluses were to be shared.
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In 1850, Hong had 20,000 followers.
Qing rulers sent troops to arrest Hong and other rebel leaders but the Taiping forces repelled them and began to capture major cities.
In 1851, Hong declared himself the Heavenly King of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In 1853, Taiping rebels captured Nanjing and systematically killed Manchu men, women, and children.
The Rebellion (3 of 4)
By 1850, the Taiping movement had grown to 20,000 followers. This alarmed the Qing court, who sent troops to crush the rebellion. But the government troops were repelled. The Taiping forces then went on the march, capturing major cities. In 1851, Hong declared himself Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In 1853, the Taiping captured the first Ming capital of Nanjing, a major cultural and economic center. Once the city fell, the Taipings set about systematically killing all of the city’s Manchu residents.
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Rebellion initially enjoyed support of some Europeans
Hong Rengan seen as potential westernizer and Christianizer
Rebellion collapsed in the end
Struggles within the leadership
Excessively rigid codes of conduct
Han and Manchu elites rallied to the Qing dynasty’s side.
Western governments also supported the Qing and provided a mercenary army led by foreign officers to help suppress the rebellion.
Qing forces crushed the rebellion and killed Hong in 1864; 20 million died in the rebellion.
The Rebellion (4 of 4)
Initially, the Taipings enjoyed support from some European missionaries. While wary of Hong Xiuquan, many approved of the pro-Christian and pro-western attitudes of his brother Hong Rengan.
But in the end, the Taiping rebels were unable to sustain their assault or maintain their own captured areas. Factional struggles within the leadership whittled away at their authority. Extremely rigid codes of conduct created tensions within the rank and file. Han and Manchu elites also supported the Qing, in some cases sending local militias to help fight the rebels. Western governments also became involved. Claiming that the Taipings were a perversion of Christianity, these governments sent a mercenary army led by European officers to help suppress the rebellion.
In 1864, the Qing forces defeated the Taipings at Nanjing. During the decade and a half of the Taiping Rebellion, over 20 million people died.
Similar to other violent responses to the approach of the capitalist world order, the Taiping Rebellion used prophetic revitalization to channel people’s discontent into active movements.
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Europe and North America: core areas of economic growth
Challenges to main currents of thought and activities: radicals, liberals, utopian socialists, nationalists, abolitionists, and religious mavericks
Reformers faced newly restored conservative monarchies.
Restoration and resistance
Social and political unrest during Restoration period (1815–1848) stemmed from ambiguous legacies of French Revolution and Napoleonic wars
Emergence of ”radicalism,” the notion that real change must start at the root
Jacobins, nationalists, utopian socialists
Liberals accepted French Revolution’s overthrow of aristocratic privilege
Wanted to hold onto free trade and equality before the law without price control and political violence
Reactionaries/conservatives wanted to return to world before French Revolution
Socialists and Radicals in Europe
The core areas of the emerging global capitalism were Europe and North America. But even in the center of this emerging order, people were challenging old institutions and ways of seeing the world. Giving voice to these challenges were radicals, liberals, utopian socialists, nationalists, abolitionists, and religious mavericks. These people articulated antiestablishment sentiments and saw in this time of change potential for alternatives. But they did so in the face of newly restored conservative monarchies, which had been reestablished at the Congress of Vienna.
This attempt to restore the old order in Europe is known as the Restoration period. It followed the turmoil of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the legacy of which was ambiguous. From 1815 to the revolutions of 1848, representatives of the old order in Europe attempted to return to things as they were before. But they had a range of political options from which to choose, which in turn led to a new social and political ferment.
Radicalism, or the idea that real change must begin at the root of a problem, spread during this period. There were several key groups of radicals. Jacobins believed that the French Revolution had not gone far enough. Others promoted nationalism. Still others—called “utopian socialists”—modeled themselves on the religious radicals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and desired to remake society from the ground up. This group also grappled with problems raised by the new industrialism.
Numerous groups competed for supremacy with the radicals. Liberals welcomed the end of aristocratic privilege. In its place, they advocated free trade and equality before the law. These people were proponents of an ideology called liberalism, which emphasized the political and economic rights of the individual. Reactionaries and conservatives, on the other hand, wanted to return to the prerevolutionary order.
Ultimately, liberals would come to dominate in Britain, France, and the Low Countries, even as reactionaries were most successful in eastern, central, and southern Europe.
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Map 16.3 | Civil Unrest and Revolutions in Europe, 1819–1848
Map 16.3 | Civil Unrest and Revolutions in Europe, 1819–1848
Civil unrest and revolutions swept Europe after the Congress of Vienna established a peace settlement at the end of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s conquests. Conservative governments had to fight off liberal rebellions and demands for change.
• How many sites of revolutionary activity can you locate on this map?
• What parts of Europe appear to have been politically stable, and what parts rebellious? Based on your reading and the map, can you explain the stability of some parts of Europe and the instability of others?
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Radicals envisioned a total reconfiguration of the old regime’s state system, a continuation of the revolution.
Radicals’ threat of return to revolutions ultimately reconciled liberals and reactionaries to preserving the status quo.
Radical Visions
Radicals desired a complete overthrow of the old regime and a continuation of the revolution. Radicals came in many forms, but they all contested the status quo and insisted on popular sovereignty. Some desired the abolition of private property, while others—like the nationalists—wanted to break free from imperial rule. The threat that radicals posed to the prevailing order ultimately caused the reactionaries and the liberals to join together in order to preserve the current order.
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Nationalism important to liberals and radicals but threatened conservatives
Idea of popular sovereignty spread with “the people” generally defined as those who shared a common language, culture, and history
Which people counted and who decided caused conflict among nationalists
Each nationalist movement drew backers from liberal aristocracy and well-educated, commercially active middle classes
Most nationalist movements initially weak, such as Polish uprisings
Leaders pursued educational, cultural programs to arouse and unite their nations
Greece secured independence from Ottoman Empire in 1832, inspired by religious revivalism and enlightenment ideas.
Most nationalist movements were suppressed or slowed down with little bloodshed in the first half of the century but not in the later half.
Nationalists
Nationalism was promoted by liberals and radicals, but threatened conservatives who supported a concept of sovereignty rooted in divine right. Nationalists, on the other hand, claimed that sovereignty should be on “the people,” an idea known as “popular sovereignty.” But deciding who “the people” were proved to be a subject of much debate. Generally, the nation was defined as a people who shared a common language, culture, and history. But where and how exactly to make the distinction, who to include and who to exclude, varied from thinker to thinker and place to place. This proved to be a major source of conflict between nationalists.
Nationalist movements drew their support from the liberal aristocracy and the commercially active middle classes. At first, most nationalist movements were weak and easily suppressed. The Polish uprisings in the 1830s and the 1860s were easily crushed by tsarist Russia. When movements could not gain political power, they transitioned to pushing for cultural and social change, promoting educational and cultural programs to arouse and unite their nations.
Greece, by contrast, was a successful early nationalist movement. Spurred on by ideology drawn from the Enlightenment and religious revivalism, Greek fighters successfully threw off Ottoman rule in 1832.
Most nationalist movements were suppressed or contained without resorting to large-scale violence. In many places, groups of young men gathered to exchange ideas and plan for future republics. But, as happened in Italy, these movements were suppressed through censorship and a few strategic executions. However, despite early failures, these movements re-emerged later on in the nineteenth century.
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Socialists and communists were concerned about the inequalities produced by industrial capitalism.
Concern about economic gap between impoverished workers and newly wealthy employers
Concern that the division of labor would make people into soulless, brainless machines
They argued that the whole free-market economy, not just the state, had to be transformed to save human beings from self-destruction.
Socialists and Communists (1 of 2)
Socialism and communism also emerged during this time. Socialists contrasted with liberals, who favored free markets and were concerned principally with political structures and the rights of the individual. Instead, socialists and communists emphasized the inequalities produced by industrial capitalism. The political questions of the day could not be answered, they thought, without addressing the economic gap between workers and employers. They were also concerned about the moral effects of the division of labor. Delegating different parts of the production process to different people was certainly efficient, but socialists and communists believed that it might make people into soulless, brainless machines.
These ideologues wanted a more radical transformation of the world order. Not only should the state be fundamentally altered, but the whole free-market economy should also be abandoned.
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Ordinary workers, artisans, domestic servants, and women in manufacturing joined radical prophets in attempts to answer the “social question.”
John Stuart Mill and his wife campaigned for equality of sexes.
Peterloo Massacre: Manchester (England) workers demonstrating peacefully were killed and injured by guardsmen in 1819.
Chartism: People’s Charter in 1839 and 1842 with 50 percent of British adults signing for universal suffrage for adult males, secret ballot, equal electoral districts, and annual parliamentary elections; rejected by Parliament.
Socialists and Communists (2 of 2)
These movements gained support among the ordinary working class. Industrial workers, artisans, servants, and women joined radical prophets in their attempts to remake the social order. The English philosopher John Stuart Mill and his wife Harriet campaigned for the social and political equality of the sexes. Some workers also joined together in mass protests. In 1819, workers in Manchester, England, who were demonstrating peacefully were fired on by guards, killing several and wounding hundreds.
Workers in England also sought to reform the existing political order, making it more inclusive. A movement called Chartism advocated for universal suffrage for adult males, secret ballots, equal electoral districts, and annual parliamentary districts. Petitions for these changes in some cases were signed by 50 percent of the adult population, but were ultimately rejected by Parliament.
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Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and his utopian socialism most visionary of Restoration-era alternative movements
Fourier believed himself to be the scientific prophet of a new world to come.
Experience in cloth trade gave him intense hatred for merchants and middlemen, as well as division of labor and repressive moral conventions
Believed reorder should occur through organization, not bloodshed
1808: created his system, which advocated for reorganizing society into phalanxes or communities of about 1,500 people
All members of the phalanx would work in short spurts of two hours in varied tasks, and undesirable work would fall to adolescents.
Fourier and Utopian Socialism (1 of 2)
One of the most visionary prophets to emerge from the alternative movements was Charles Fourier. Fourier believed himself to be the scientific prophet of a utopian world to come. Making his living in the cloth trade, Fourier developed an intense hatred for the economic order of the day. Despising merchants and middlemen and suspicious of the moral effects of the division of labor, Fourier tried to devise a different way. But he believed that transformation should come through organization, not bloodshed.
In 1808, he fashioned a utopian socialist system that advocated for a reorganization of society into units called phalanxes, or communities of about 1,500 people. All members would work in short spurts of two hours at different tasks. In this way, work would be more interesting, and people would naturally be less inclined to idleness and overindulgence. Undesirable work would fall to adolescents, whom Fourier supposed enjoyed dirty tasks anyway.
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Fourier’s writing gained popularity in the 1830s.
Some women viewed Fourier’s system as a higher form of Christian communalism and worked to make his work more respectable to middle-class readers.
His writings influenced Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Karl Marx.
Fourier and Utopian Socialism (2 of 2)
In the 1830s, Fourier’s writings gained popularity, especially among women. His female interpreters reshaped his work to make it more palatable to middle-class readers. Other notable people influenced by Fourier were the Russian novelist Dostoyevsky and one of the founders of communism, Karl Marx.
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Karl Marx (1818–1883) became the most important Restoration-era radical.
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895): The Condition of the Working Class in England
Marx and Engels developed scientific socialism.
Argued in materialist theory of history: what mattered in history was production of material goods and the ways in which society was divided into classes of producers and exploiters
Claimed that history consisted of successive forms of exploitative production and rebellions against them
Marxists believed the current clash between wage workers, proletarians, and capitalists would usher in a brave new world of true liberty, equality, and fraternity.
Believed history moved through stages: feudalism to capitalism, socialism, and finally communism
Marxism (1 of 2)
Karl Marx was one of the most important Restoration-era radicals. Together with Friedrich Engels, who had already published critiques of the plight of the working classes, Marx developed a theory called scientific socialism. In contrast to Fourier’s utopian socialism, Marx and Engels rooted their ideology in a materialist theory of history. To them, what drove historical change was in the production of material goods and conflict between classes of producers and exploiters. History, they claimed, was a succession of rebellions against exploitative forms of production.
In their own time, Marxists thought the new conflict between wage laborers and capitalists would yield a utopian future. They believed that history moved through an inevitable set of stages from feudalism to capitalism to socialism and finally, communism. Once the contradictions of capitalism had been resolved, a new world would be born that truly lived up to the ideals of the French Revolution: liberty, equality, and fraternity.
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Revolutions of 1848 resulted in uprisings in France, Austria, Italy, and Czechoslovakia
The Communist Manifesto (1848): Marx called on the workers of all nations to unite in overthrowing capitalism.
These revolutions were cross-class affairs, however, and were crushed.
Marxism (2 of 2)
The Communist Manifesto was published in a time of revolution. In 1848, uprisings in France, Austria, Italy, and Czechoslovakia inspired Marx and Engels to circulate their ideas calling on the workers of all nations to rise up against capitalism. But Marx and Engels misinterpreted the nature of the 1848 revolutions, which were cross-class affairs, rather than representing an antagonism between classes. In any case, the revolutions were ultimately crushed, to the disappointment of Marx and Engels.
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Colonialism was a great threat to traditional worlds.
Native Americans and Indians subject to British colonization developed local alternatives to foreign impositions, drawing upon traditional cultural and political resources.
Met this period’s challenges with prophecy, charismatic leadership, and rebellion
Native American prophets
Early calls for resistance and a return to tradition
In 1805, Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa foretold how invaders would vanish if Native Americans returned to customary ways and traditional rites.
Pueblo Revolt, 1680
During the 1750s, rebellion led by Delaware shaman Neolin
In 1794, Native Americans could not repel invading colonial armies, and leaders surrendered what is now Ohio.
Insurgencies Against Colonizing and Centralizing States
In many places outside of Europe, the biggest threat to traditional ways of life was colonialism. Native Americans in North America and Indians in British India sought alternatives to the strengthening colonial order. Drawing on their own traditions and political resources, these peoples met the period’s challenges with prophecy, charismatic leadership, and rebellion.
In North America, prophetic movements against the encroaching colonial order drew on a long tradition of visionary leadership. In 1805, a Shawnee prophet called Tenskwatawa told followers that the key to repelling the European invaders was participation in cleansing ceremonies, a return to traditional ways, and violent anticolonial resistance. Colonists had experienced firsthand how effective these prophetic movements could be. As early as 1680, Pueblo villagers had driven Spanish colonists out of their territories in New Mexico, though the Spanish reconquered the area twelve years later. In the 1760s a Delaware shaman called Neolin led an uprising against the British. Although the revolt was eventually defeated, the British learned not to underestimate Native American resistance, and forbade settlers from going west of the Appalachians.
America’s independence from Britain altered the relationship between the colonists and the indigenous peoples. No longer restricted by the British ban, settlers flooded into Tennessee and Kentucky. Although Native Americans effectively resisted for some time, they could not repel invading armies in 1794, and were forced to surrender the lands that are now Ohio.
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Shawnee of the Ohio River valley were among the most bitter and angry, as they had lost most of their land.
Forced to give up hunting for farming
Pushed to abandon communal traditions for private property rights
Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa (1775–1836) overcame personal failures through religious visions and a strict moral code, similar to Hong Xiuquan.
Failed hunter and medicine man Tenskwatawa had a vision in 1805.
Dream featured a heaven where virtuous Shawnee would return to traditional life and evildoers suffered punishments in hell
Exhorted Indians to avoid contact with outside influences, boycott European trade goods, and sever relationships with Christian missionaries
Claimed that if they heeded his message, the deer would return, the dead would be resurrected, and evil Americans would leave their land west of the Appalachians.
Tenskwatawa: The Shawnee Prophet (1 of 2)
The Shawnee, who lived in the Ohio River valley, lost most of their land. As the colonial order took root, they were forced to give up hunting for farming and pushed to abandon communal traditions for private property rights. In response to this crisis, the prophet Tenskwatawa advocated a strict moral code based on religious visions.
In many ways, Tenskwatawa was similar to Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Rebellion. Until his visions, Tenskwatawa had not had much personal success. He had failed as a hunter and as medicine man, and was blinded in one eye. In 1805, he had a dream in which he saw a heaven where virtuous Shawnee lived according to their traditional ways of life, and a hell where evildoers suffered. Based on this vision, he exhorted followers to shun contact with Europeans, boycott their goods, and reject the teachings of missionaries. He claimed that banishing the influence of Europeans was the key to a revival of traditional life. If only the Shawnee would heed his message, the deer would return, people killed by the Europeans would be resurrected, and the settlers would return to the east.
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Americans grew concerned as Tenskwatawa gained more followers.
American territorial governor William Harrison challenged Tenskwatawa to make the sun stand still; Tenskwatawa predicted an eclipse on June 16, 1806, for which he claimed credit.
Tenskwatawa made plenty of enemies among fellow Native Americans as well.
Tenskwatawa: The Shawnee Prophet (2 of 2)
American officials, similar to the Qing government, grew concerned as Tenskwatawa gained popularity. William Henry Harrison, then a territorial governor, sought to undermine Tenskwatawa by challenging him to make the sun stand still. But learning of an eclipse on June 16, 1806, Tenskwatawa took credit for the celestial event and saw his own popularity soar.
At the same time, Tenskwatawa alienated many of his fellow Native Americans. His harsh indictments of people who collaborated with colonists and missionaries, and his criticism of the use of alcohol caused some to resent his stark moral vision.
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Map 16.4 | Native American Revolts in the United States and Mexico
Map 16.4 | Native American Revolts in the United States and Mexico
The new world order of expanding nation-states and industrial markets strongly affected indigenous peoples in North America.
• According to this map, where did the fiercest resistance to centralizing states and global market pressures occur?
• What regions of the United States were Native Americans forced to leave?
• According to your reading, to what extent, if any, did the Native Americans' alternative visions create or preserve an alternative to the new emerging order?
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Tenskwatawa’s brother Tecumseh (1768–1813) spread Tenskwatawa’s vision around the Great Lakes; also organized idea of an enlarged Indian confederation to combat American expansion
American officials viewed Tecumseh as dangerous by 1810.
In 1811, William Harrison and American forces burned Tenskwatawa’s village
Defeat discredited Tenskwatawa.
Tecumseh fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812 against Americans to check their expansion, but was killed in 1813.
Tecumseh and the Wish for Native American Unity
Tenskwatawa’s brother Tecumseh took the wish for Native American revival to a new level. Spreading Tenskwatawa’s vision throughout the Great Lakes region, Tecumseh also promoted the idea of a pan–Native American confederation. Such a broad alliance would serve as a potent force in combating American expansion.
American officials were alarmed by the prospect of a united indigenous front and saw Tecumseh as dangerous. In 1811, William Harrison led American forces in an attack on Tenskwatawa’s village, called Prophet’s Town, on the Tippecanoe River in modern-day Indiana. Although the battle was evenly fought, Native American forces eventually gave ground and were defeated. The defeat discredited Tenskwatawa, who had promised expulsion of the Americans. Tenskwatawa fled to Canada, but Tecumseh remained.
Tecumseh allied with the British in the War of 1812 in an attempt to check American expansion, but was killed in 1813.
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Discrediting of Tenskwatawa, death of Tecumseh, and British withdrawal of support following war’s end in 1814
By 1815, Americans outnumbered Amerindians in the West by a seven-to-one margin, with the gap continuing to widen.
Ethnic cleansing of Native Americans
In the 1820s, Native Americans north of the Ohio River were removed to lands west of the Mississippi River.
In the 1830s, southern tribes were removed.
Tenskwatawa died in the final removals.
Other Native American prophets emerged, but their visions and dreams failed to halt American expansion and the contraction of Native American lands.
Native American Removals
The discrediting of Tenskwatawa and the death of Tecumseh damaged the hopes for Native American unity and resistance to expanding colonization. The cause was further damaged by the British withdrawal in 1814, following the end of the War of 1812. This left Native Americans without an ally against the tide of settlers moving westward. By 1815, Americans outnumbered Amerindians in the West by a seven-to-one margin. The gap increased in the following years.
Many Native Americans recognized that military resistance was futile. In the face of these insurmountable challenges, many resigned themselves to relocation. In the 1820s, peoples north of the Ohio River were removed to lands west of the Mississippi. The same happened to the southern tribes in the 1830s. During the relocation process, Tenskwatawa died. But his vision for a revival of traditional life and recovery of old lands had faded long before. The relocation of the Native Americans amounted to an ethnic cleansing of the lands east of the Mississippi.
Later, other Native American prophets emerged. But, like the visions of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh, these dreams failed to prevent the expansion of colonialism and the loss of the Native American lands and ways of life.
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The Spanish establishment of an expansionist nation-state in Mexico sparked widespread revolts by indigenous peoples.
The most protracted was the Maya revolt in the Yucatán Peninsula (1847–1901).
Early Maya autonomy
Due to lack of previous metals and fertile lands, Maya were not recruited for silver mines or sugar plantations by the Spanish.
Retained many precolonial social and political structures
The Caste War of Yucatán
Indigenous peoples elsewhere in the Americas mounted resistance to the changes in the political and economic order of the nineteenth century. The expansion of the nation-state in Mexico was met with widespread indigenous revolts.
One of the most protracted of these was the Maya revolt on the Yucatán Peninsula from 1847 to 1901. The strength of resistance in this area had to do with the historical process of Spanish colonization. In Latin America, the Spanish were most interested in mining precious metals and establishing plantations on good, arable land. The Yucatán Peninsula lacked these, so the Maya largely escaped forced labor in silver mines or on sugar plantations. In large part the transformations brought by colonization and commerce were less disruptive to indigenous peoples on the Yucatán Peninsula than they were elsewhere in Mexico.
The Maya retained many precolonial social and political structures. Villages were still the chief political domain. Ownership of land remained the collective property of families. Food retained its communal and spiritual significance.
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After Mexico gained independence, Maya autonomy began to erode
Regional elites bickered for supremacy
Sugar cultivation began in the Yucatán Peninsula.
Debt peonage: key method of “recruitment”; cash advances obligated laborers to work for meager wages to pay off debt
Government officials sought revenue and soldiers from Maya villages.
In 1847, a small group of free Maya began a revolt against local White elites because of material and physical threats; it spread and lasted half a century.
Wanted to dismantle old definitions of Indians as a caste
Leaders Jacinto Pat and Cecilio Chi upheld a republican model of equality and devotion to a spiritual order.
Growing Pressures
After Mexico gained independence, Maya autonomy began to erode, causing tensions that would later erupt into war. The capital in Mexico City was weak, leaving a power vacuum in other places. Regional elites, most of whom were White, struggled for supremacy. Some Maya groups were caught up in these political struggles.
At the same time, sugar cultivation expanded on the Yucatán Peninsula. Sugar plantations began to overtake the traditional corn economy. One means by which elites acquired indigenous labor for the growing plantation economy was debt peonage. By giving small cash loans to Maya families, elites secured a labor pool of workers obligated to work for low wages to pay off their debt. Mexico’s costly wars also played a role in forming tensions in this region. Government officials sought to bring the indigenous communities more firmly under the control of the state in order to increase their revenues and the size of their armies.
In 1847, these tensions erupted into open conflict. A small group of free Maya revolted against local elites. This sparked a war that lasted over half a century. Maya leaders like Jacinto Pat and Cecilio Chi wanted to dismantle old definitions of Indians as a caste. This would allow them political equality with Whites in a republican order and free the Maya from special taxes.
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Local White elites viciously repressed the uprising and dubbed it a “caste war.”
Viewed it as struggle between forward-looking liberals and backward-looking Indians
Maya armies were initially successful.
Settlement of war with United States enabled Mexico City to rescue local elites
Mexican soldiers drove back Maya forces.
Beginning in 1849, the war took a new turn.
Roughly 30–40 percent of Maya killed in war and repressive aftermath
War degenerated into guerrilla warfare; ground to a stalemate
The “Caste War”
Local White elites were alarmed by the revolt and attempted to repress it. The resulting conflict was called a “caste war.” From the perspective of White elites, it represented a struggle between forward-looking liberals and backward-looking Indians. This narrative helped frighten Whites into a common cause and to justify the ensuing repression.
But the forces of liberalism were not immediately successful. The Maya armies seized towns and destroyed symbols of humiliation at the hands of White elites and gained control over most of the peninsula.
Eventually, however, a coincidence turned the tide of the war. As Maya farmers were returning to their fields for the planting season, the settlement of Mexico’s war with the United States freed up resources for the Mexican government to renew its assaults in the south. Mexican soldiers soon drove back Maya forces. Beginning in 1849, the Mexican government waged a scorched-earth campaign that killed 30–40 percent of the Maya population. The war degenerated into guerrilla warfare, with mobile bands of Maya fighters attacking Mexican troops. The war remained at a stalemate for decades.
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War prompted spiritual transformation that reinforced value of purely Maya identity
Shifted war from demand for legal equality and cultural autonomy to crusade for spiritual salvation and complete cultural separation of Maya Indians
José María Barrera claimed a divine encounter at the Speaking Cross.
Leaders managed to create an autonomous region and polity in the Yucatán Peninsula that was cut off from the Mexican government.
The movement offered new opportunities to women disenchanted with colonial spiritual authority.
Disease, encroachment of henequen plantations threatened community
Mexican government sent commander Ignacio Bravo to vanquish Chan Santa Cruz
Hunger and government arms crushed rebellion by 1900 and extinguished their alternative vision, forcing Maya to work on Mexican plantations
Reclaiming a Maya Identity
The caste war sharpened distinctions between Maya identity and the cultural and political order represented by the Mexican state. Renewed claims to a purely Maya identity were grounded in spiritual movements. These movements shifted the goals of the war from a demand for legal equality and cultural autonomy to a crusade for salvation and complete separation of Maya from Mexico.
One of the leaders that emerged in this context was José María Barrera, who claimed to have had a divine encounter at a cross carved into a mahogany tree. This holy place, called the Speaking Cross, became the site of a new village called Chan Santa Cruz. There, people from surrounding villages came to form a new moral community, blending Christian ideas and icons with older Maya traditions. At the center of this village was a stone temple called Balam Na.
Many members of the new community were women who were disenchanted with colonial spiritual authorities. The movement provided an opportunity to press for education as a condition to fulfill sacred duties.
However, the community of Chan Santa Cruz faced numerous challenges. Disease diminished its numbers, and many saw their lands taken over by plantations devoted a new crop called henequen.
Soon, the Maya fashioned a political community that ruled in complete autonomy from the rest of Mexico. To reclaim the Yucatán Peninsula, the Mexican government relied on the strongman leader Porfirio Díaz, who sent his commander Ignacio Bravo to destroy Chan Santa Cruz. By 1900, hunger and the onslaught of the Mexican armies destroyed the community, and the Maya were absorbed into the Mexican plantation economy.
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Long history of Indian opposition to colonial domination but 1857 rebellion was unprecedented in scale
Led by nobility and landlords with broad popular support
Posed alternatives to British rule and capitalism
India under company rule
British rulers of India dismantled the traditional powers of nobility and rights of peasants.
Charter Act of 1833 gave governor-general absolute legislative power
1840s: annexation of princely kingdoms
In 1765, the company forced a treaty on the kingdom of Awadh, forcing tribute payments to protect the kingdom from enemies.
The Rebellion of 1857 in India
Like the Native Americans, Indians under British rule had a long history of opposition to the expansion of colonial rule. But in 1857, a rebellion occurred that was unprecedented in scale. Though led by traditional elites, the rebellion enjoyed widespread popular support. Rebels invoked religious sentiments and reimagined traditional hierarchies as a way to challenge British rule and capitalism.
The roots of this rebellion lie in the tensions engendered by the rule of the British East India Company. The British had all but dismantled Mughal rule. But for decades they maintained alliances with princely kingdoms that maintained a large measure of autonomy. However, changes in the 1830s and 1840s began to strengthen company rule. The Charter Act of 1833 gave the governor-general absolute legislative authority.
In the 1840s, the British began annexing princely domains, stripping native aristocrats of their privileges, and collecting taxes from peasants directly. This destabilized the social and political order, leaving many formerly powerful elites and retainers without a source of income. At the same time, peasants were forced to rely on money lenders to meet the high tax burden.
One of the princely domains most attractive to the company was Awadh. A small, prosperous state founded by an Iranian adventurer, Awadh had gained a measure of independence from the Mughal Empire. In 1765, the British imposed a treaty on this state that forced tribute payments to maintain a garrison of British troops, supposedly to protect the state from enemies.
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In 1856, the East India Company violated treaty obligations and annexed the kingdom of Awadh.
The British launched major infrastructure development of railroads, telegraph lines, and a postal network to develop India as a productive colony.
Simmering discontent exploded into the furious Rebellion of 1857, as rumors spread among Hindu and Muslim soldiers that they were required to bite rifle cartridges greased in cow and pig fat, violating their religious traditions.
Wave of rebellion spread through the 270,000 Indian soldiers (versus 40,000 British soldiers)
Treaty Violations and Annexation
In 1856, the company violated the terms of its own treaty and annexed the kingdom of Awadh. The annexation of princely domains was becoming an important part of the colonial repertoire. In addition to this, the British promoted the development of infrastructure. Building railroads, telegraph lines, and a postal network, the British sought to cement their control over the colonies and increase India’s productive value for the British economy.
Discontent with the advance of company rule erupted into the Rebellion of 1857. What sparked the revolt was a rumor that the British were going to force Hindu and Muslim soldiers to use rifle cartridges greased with pig fat, violating their religious traditions. Believing a plot existed to force them to convert to Christianity, 270,000 Indian soldiers rebelled against the roughly 40,000 British soldiers stationed in India.
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Map 16.5 | Indian Rebellion of 1857
Map 16.5 | Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 broke out first among the Indian soldiers of the British army. Other groups soon joined the struggle.
• According to this map, how many centers of rebellion were located in British territory and how many in dependent states?
• Why do you think the rebellion occurred in the interior of the subcontinent rather than along the coasts?
• In what way was the East India Company’s expansion into formerly autonomous areas during the first half of the nineteenth century a factor in the rebellion?
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On May 10, 1857, a mutiny started at a military barracks in Meerut.
Threw company into crisis
Though the dispossessed aristocracy and petty landholders led the rebellion, many individual leaders came from the lower ranks.
The rebellion led a Muslim theologian and charismatic prophetic leader of the common people, Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah, to call on Hindus and Muslims to unite against British rule.
Rebellion Breaks Out
The rebellion began as a military mutiny on May 10, 1857. Soon, however, it developed into a full-scale civil rebellion, drawing supporters from all levels of society. Many rebel leaders sought to promote unity between Hindus and Muslims, arguing that colonial order posed a threat to both of their religions.
The rebellion was largely led by the dispossessed aristocracy and petty landholders, but many leaders also came from the lower ranks. Bakht Khan, who began his career as a low-ranking officer in the British army, became commander in chief of the Delhi forces, replacing one of the Mughal emperor’s sons. Devi Singh, a wealthy peasant, set himself up as a king modeled on the Hindu royalty. At the same time, he instituted a government that took after British bureaucratic techniques.
The rebellion led by Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah, a Muslim theologian, took on the charismatic, prophetic character shared by many other anticolonial revolts around the world.
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Peasants claimed the revolt as their own, despite having been brought in by the upper classes.
Destroyed anything that represented company authority and attacked native moneylenders and local power holders
The rebellion consisted of a series of revolts through which local people attempted to settle local and regional grievances; no national vision existed.
The rebellion did not challenge traditional hierarchies of caste and religion.
Participation by the Peasantry
Although the initiative for rebellion often came from the upper classes, peasants brought into the rebellion soon claimed the revolt as their own. Revolting peasants destroyed symbols of authority like prisons, factories, and police posts. They also attacked moneylenders and local power holders.
As widespread as the rebellion was, it is better to think of it as a series of revolts that were highly localized. Instead of coalescing into a single, unified movement, rebels directed their anger at the most immediate symbols of oppression. Grievances and allegiances remained local and limited. No national vision emerged. Nor did the rebellion seek to challenge traditional hierarchies of caste and religion.
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By 1858, the British brutally and violently crushed the rebellion.
In August 1858, Parliament assumed control over India, ending company rule and transferring authority over India to the British crown.
Queen Victoria issued a proclamation guaranteeing religious toleration, promising improvements, and allowing Indians to serve in the government.
Also promised to honor treaties and agreements and refrain from interfering in religious matters
Although the British had crushed the rebellion, they were shocked by insurgent determination to form a new order.
The British resumed the work of transforming India into a modern colonial state and economy, but the desire for radical alternatives did not vanish.
The British Response
By 1858, the British had regained control of India through a violent repression of the rebellion. But the rebellion had shown that the character of colonial rule needed to be changed. Having revealed the incompetence of the East India Company, the British Parliament assumed direct control over India. In that same year, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation guaranteeing religious toleration, improvement in administration, and a place for Indians within the colonial government. She also renewed a promise to honor treaties and to refrain from interfering in religious matters.
The uprising of local communities acting independently startled the British. Once order had been restored, they renewed the work of reshaping India into a productive colony suited to their own purposes. But Indian communities’ desire for radical alternatives did not disappear.
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The nineteenth century was a time of turmoil and transformation, not just for powerful forces such as capitalism, colonialism, and nation-states, but also alternatives based on local circumstances and traditions.
When viewed on a global scale, these rebellions signified the existence of many groups of people who were marginalized by the dominant world and who desired a world with multiple centers and different historical timelines.
At the center of alternative visions, common people and their voices gained a place on the historical stage, compelling ruling elites to adjust the way they governed.
Conclusion
The nineteenth century was a time of turmoil and transformation. Capitalism, colonialism, and the formation of nation-states unquestionably reshaped the world order. But, at the same time, the nineteenth century also gave rise to proposals for alternatives. These visions for a different world were based on local circumstances and drew inspiration from local traditions.
But these movements should not be seen as isolated, romantic, last-ditch attempts at maintaining a status quo. Instead, focusing on resistance to the advancing global capitalist order gives us insight into how that order marginalized certain communities, while empowering others. It highlights the contrast between the world that became dominant and other visions that desired a world with multiple centers and different historical timelines.
At the center of these alternative visions, common people began to have a voice in historical events, even if it was often violently suppressed. The protests raised by these people, while they may have often failed, nevertheless compelled ruling elites to change the way they governed.
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https://digital.wwnorton.com/worldstogether6
This concludes the Lecture Slide Set for Chapter 16 WORLDS TOGETHER, WORLDS APART SIXTH EDITION
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