World History Unit 2, Lesson 8: Colonization, Revolution, and Napoleon
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Colonization refers to large-scale population movements where the migrants maintain strong links with their—or their ancestors’—former country, gaining significant privileges over other inhabitants of the territory by such links. Revolution (Latin: revolutio, “a turn around”) is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression (political, social, economic) or political incompetence.
Colonization
When colonization takes place under the protection of colonial structures, it may be termed settler colonialism. This often involves the settlers dispossessing indigenous inhabitants or instituting legal and other structures which systematically disadvantage them.
In its basic sense, colonization can be defined as the process of establishing foreign control over target territories or people for the purpose of cultivation, often through establishing colonies and possibly by settling them. In colonies established by Western European countries in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, settlers (supplemented by Central European, Eastern European, Asian and African people) eventually formed a large majority of the population after killing, assimilating or driving away indigenous peoples. In other places, Western European settlers formed minority groups, often dominating the non-Western European majority.
During the European colonization of Australia, New Zealand and other places in Oceania, explorers and colonists often regarded the landmasses as terra nullius, meaning “empty land” in Latin. Owing to the absence of Western farming techniques, Europeans deemed the land unaltered by mankind and therefore treated it as uninhabited, despite the presence of indigenous populations.
In the 19th century, laws and ideas such as Mexico’s General Colonization Law and the United States’ manifest destiny doctrine encouraged further colonization of the Americas, already started in the 15th century. Despite countless declarations and referendums from the UN on the independence of colonial countries and peoples, implemented since 1946, there are still over 60 colonies in the world, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Bermuda
Revolution
Revolutions have occurred throughout human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration and motivating ideology. Their results include major changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions, usually in response to perceived overwhelming autocracy or plutocracy.
Scholarly debates about what does and does not constitute a revolution center on several issues. Early studies of revolutions primarily analyzed events in European history from a psychological perspective, but more modern examinations include global events and incorporate perspectives from several social sciences, including sociology and political science. Several generations of scholarly thought on revolutions have generated many competing theories and contributed much to the current understanding of this complex phenomenon.
Notable revolutions in recent centuries include:
- The creation of the United States through the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)
- The French Revolution (1789–1799)
- The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804)
- The Spanish American wars of independence (1808–1826)
- The European Revolutions of 1848
- The Russian Revolution in 1917
- The Chinese Revolution of the 1940s
- The Cuban Revolution in 1959
- The Iranian Revolution in 1979
- The European Revolutions of 1989.
History of Latin America
The term Latin America primarily refers to the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the New World. Before the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the region was home to many indigenous peoples, a number of which had advanced civilizations, most notably from South; the Olmec, Maya, Muisca and Inca.
The region came under control of the crowns of Spain and Portugal, which imposed both Roman Catholicism and their respective languages. Both the Spanish and the Portuguese brought African slaves to their colonies, as laborers, particularly in regions where indigenous populations who could be made to work were absent.
In the early nineteenth century nearly all of areas of Spanish America attained independence by armed struggle, with the exceptions of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Brazil, which had become a monarchy separate from Portugal, became a republic in the late nineteenth century.
Political independence from European monarchies did not result in the abolition of black slavery in the new sovereign nations. Political independence resulted in political and economic instability in Spanish America immediately after independence. Great Britain and the United States exercised significant influence in the post-independence era, resulting in a form of neo-colonialism, whereby a country’s political sovereignty remained in place, but foreign powers exercised considerable power in the economic sphere.
Colonization of Latin America
The Spanish colonization of the Americas began under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish conquistadors with the main motivations for being profit through resource extraction and the spread of Catholicism through indigenous conversions. The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions of South America and the Caribbean. The crown created civil and religious structures to administer the vast territory.
Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and gaining control over more territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. It is estimated that during the colonial period (1492–1832), a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas, and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era (1850–1950); the estimate is 250,000 in the 16th century and most during the 18th century, as immigration was encouraged by the new Bourbon dynasty.
By contrast, the indigenous population plummeted by an estimated 80% in the first century and a half following Columbus’s voyages, primarily through the spread of disease, forced labor and slavery for resource extraction, and missionization. This has been argued to be the first large-scale act of genocide in the modern era.
In the early 19th century, the Spanish American wars of independence resulted in the secession and subsequent division of most Spanish territories in the Americas, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were lost to the United States in 1898, following the Spanish–American War. The loss of these territories ended Spanish rule in the Americas.
Latin American Revolutions
Political upheavals and independence movements shook the foundations of empire in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Atlantic World. The American, French, and Haitian revolutions brought forth new expressions of individual rights and freedom that began to influence similar actions in the colonies of Latin America.
The origins of the Latin American independence movements of the early 1800s might be traced to changes in imperial administration. After many years of semi-autonomous local rule and limited metropolitan intervention, new bureaucratic reforms in the eighteenth century caused some discomfort in the American colonies. Whatever problems these reforms caused were magnified by French invasion of Spain and Portugal in 1808.
Following Napoleon’s disruption of royal power, some Latin American colonies established their own governments. When the Spanish and Portuguese tried to reassert control, their colonies began to move toward independence. The role of slavery and enslaved people in these places would be crucial in defining and maintaining independence.
In Venezuela, for example, the 1811 constitution ended the slave trade, but enforced slavery and racial discrimination. Across South America, political and social actions toward independence gave enslaved people greater motivation and opportunities to work toward their own freedom. When rhetoric turned to warfare, free and enslaved people of African descent became important sources of manpower in revolutionary armies. As had been the custom throughout the revolutionary Atlantic, individual manumission was earned through military service.
The new independent states—places like Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela—passed laws to end the slave trade. However, they acted less quickly on the issue of slavery, often legislating schemes for gradual emancipation. People of color who had not won immediate manumission had to fight against legal and social barriers to full freedom, sometimes for decades.
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, while phrases like Liberté, égalité, fraternité reappeared in other revolts, such as the 1917 Russian Revolution, and inspired campaigns for the abolition of slavery and universal suffrage. Its values and the institutions it created dominate French politics to this day.
The causes are generally agreed to be a combination of social, political and economic factors, which the existing regime proved unable to manage. In May 1789, widespread social distress led to the convocation of the Estates-General, which was converted into a National Assembly in June. The Assembly passed a series of radical measures, including the abolition of feudalism, state control of the Catholic Church and extending the right to vote.
The next three years were dominated by the struggle for political control, exacerbated by economic depression and social unrest with external powers like Austria, Britain and Prussia viewing the Revolution as a threat, leading to the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in April 1792. Disillusionment with Louis XVI led to the establishment of the First French Republic on September 22, 1792, followed by his execution in January 1793. In June, an uprising in Paris replaced the Girondins who dominated the National Assembly with the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Maximilien Robespierre.
This sparked the Reign of Terror, an attempt to eradicate alleged “counter-revolutionaries”; by the time it ended in July 1794, over 16,600 had been executed in Paris and the provinces. As well as external enemies, the Republic faced a series of internal Royalist and Jacobin revolts; in order to deal with these, the French Directory took power in November 1795. Despite a series of military victories, the war caused economic stagnation and political divisions; in November 1799, the Directory was replaced by the consulate, which is generally seen as the end of the Revolutionary period.
Jacobins
The Society of the Friends of the Constitution, renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club or simply the Jacobins, was the most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of its political ascendancy includes the Reign of Terror, during which time well over ten thousand people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes.
Initially founded in 1789 by anti-royalist deputies from Brittany, the club grew into a nationwide republican movement, with a membership estimated at a half million or more. The Jacobin Club was heterogeneous and included both prominent parliamentary factions of the early 1790s, The Mountain and the Girondins.
In 1792–1793, the Girondins were more prominent in leading France when they declared war on Austria and on Prussia, overthrew King Louis XVI, and set up the French First Republic. In May 1793 the leaders of the Mountain faction led by Maximilien Robespierre succeeded in sidelining the Girondin faction and controlled the government until July 1794. Their time in government featured high levels of political violence, and for this reason the period of the Jacobin/Mountain government is identified as the Reign of Terror.
In October 1793, 21 prominent Girondins were guillotined. The Mountain-dominated government executed 17,000 opponents nationwide, as a way to suppress the Vendée insurrection and the Federalist revolts and to deter recurrences. In July 1794, the National Convention pushed the administration of Robespierre and his allies out of power and had Robespierre and 21 associates executed. In November 1794 the Jacobin Club closed.
In France, Jacobin now generally leans towards moderate authoritarianism, more equal formal rights and centralization. It can, similarly, denote supporters of extensive government intervention to transform society. It is unabashedly used by proponents of a state education system which strongly promotes and inculcates civic values. It is more controversially, and less squarely, used by or for proponents of a strong nation-state capable of resisting undesirable foreign interference
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror, commonly called The Terror, was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervor, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety.
There is disagreement among historians over when exactly “the Terror” began. Some consider it to have begun only in 1793, giving the date as either September 5, June or March, when the Revolutionary Tribunal came into existence. Others, however, cite the earlier time of the September Massacres in 1792, or even July 1789, when the first killing of the revolution occurred.
The term “Terror” being used to describe the period was introduced by the Thermidorian Reaction who took power after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794, to discredit Robespierre and justify their actions. Today there is consensus amongst historians that the exceptional revolutionary measures continued after the death of Robespierre, and this subsequent period is now called the “White Terror”. By then, 16,594 official death sentences had been dispensed throughout France since June 1793, of which 2,639 were in Paris alone; and an additional 10,000 died in prison, without trial, or under both of these circumstances.
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on August 22, 1791, and ended in 1804 with the former colony’s independence. It involved black, biracial, French, Spanish, British, and Polish participants—with the ex-slave Toussaint Louverture emerging as Haiti’s most charismatic hero.
The revolution was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery (though not from forced labor) and ruled by non-whites and former captives. It is now widely seen as a defining moment in the history of the Atlantic World.
Its effects on the institution of slavery were felt throughout the Americas. The end of French rule and the abolition of slavery in the former colony was followed by a successful defense of the freedoms the former slaves won and, with the collaboration of already previously free people of color, their independence from white Europeans.
The revolution represented the largest slave uprising since Spartacus’ unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Republic nearly 1,900 years earlier and challenged long-held European beliefs about alleged black inferiority and about slaves’ ability to achieve and maintain their own freedom. The rebels’ organizational capacity and tenacity under pressure inspired stories that shocked and frightened slave owners in the hemisphere.
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815.
Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied in military schools worldwide, and his political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in world history.
Born on the island of Corsica not long after its annexation by the Kingdom of France, Napoleon’s family “occupied that social penumbra encompassing the haute bourgeoisie and the very minor nobility.” He supported the French Revolution in 1789 while serving in the French army and tried to spread its ideals to his native Corsica. He rose rapidly in the Army after he saved the governing French Directory by firing on royalist insurgents.
In April 1796, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies, scoring a series of decisive victories and becoming a national hero. Two years later, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic.
Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign, and a historic triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolving of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly knocked out Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grande Armée deep into Eastern Europe, annihilating the Russians in June 1807 at Friedland, and forcing the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to accept the Treaties of Tilsit. Two years later, the Austrians challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram.
Hoping to extend the Continental System (his embargo against Britain), Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support in the Peninsular War, which lasted six years, featured brutal guerrilla warfare, and culminated in a defeat for Napoleon’s marshals.
Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the catastrophic retreat of Napoleon’s Grande Armée and encouraged his enemies.
In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A chaotic military campaign culminated in a large coalition army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814.
Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, between Corsica and Italy, while in France, the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France, “without spilling a drop of blood” as he wished.
The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which ultimately defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821 at the age of 51.
Napoleon had an extensive impact on the modern world, bringing liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, especially the Low Countries, Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe.[b]
Lesson 7: The Enlightenment to Cromwell
