1. THE INTENSIFICATION OF IMPERIAL RIVALRIES AROUND THE YEAR 1900: But two of these issues promoted cooperation among the Great Powers
1898
Fashoda Crisis: France and Britain nearly go to war over control of the Sudan (Rich, pp )
Boer War: Might Germany intervene? (See Rich, pp )
1900
Boxer Rebellion provokes joint European relief expedition to the Beijing embassies (pp )
1904/05
Russo-Japanese War (Rich, pp )
Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway gains support from Russia & Britain (Rich, pp )

2. China under the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, mid-18th century
China under the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty at the height of its power in the mid-18th century under Emperor Quianlong.
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3. A fierce Manchu warrior (1760): But the Empire had no foreign ministry or diplomatic corps
One of Emperor Quianlong's Manchu bodyguards, 1760.
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4. “Export blue” Chinese soup plate from the 1750s
Chinese "export blue" soup plate from the 1750s, with a painted willow tree in a fenced garden.
SOURCE:

5. Europeans could visit only one port: “The Canton Factories,” ca. 1780
Anonymous Chinese painting, "The Canton Factories," ca
SOURCE: Jonathan Spence, _The Search for Modern China_ (New York: Norton, 1990), following p. 164.

6. Lord Macartney’s mission to Beijing, 1793
Lord Macartney's embassy to Beijing in September 1793 on behalf of the East India Company and British Government. The Emperor offered Macartney three beautiful jade scepters. In return Macartney presented the emperor a gold-plated, bejeweled telescope and the scientific and technical instruments depicted in this tapestry. Qianlong's response was to issue an edict to King George III declaring that "We have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country's manufactures." Macartney commented that it was "in vain to attempt arresting the progress of human knowledge," as the Qing were doing. "The human mind is of a soaring nature and having once gained the lower steps of the ascent, struggles incessantly against every difficulty to reach the highest."
SOURCE: Jonathan Spence, _The Search for Modern China_ (New York: Norton, 1990), following p. 132 (commentary on pp ).

7. CHINESE OPIUM DEN: By 1838 enough opium was being imported from India each year to keep several million Chinese addicted and cause a major trade deficit.
Chinese opium addicts from the late 19th or early 20th century.
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8. Emperor Daoguang (reigned 1820-1850): In 1838 he decided to suppress the opium trade
Emperor Daoguang, born 1784, who reigned over China from 1820 to He decided in 1838 to suppress the opium trade.
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9. But his officials knew nothing about the Europeans: “The old hairy one” (Chinese cartoon of a British sailor, 1839)
An "old hairy one:" a popular Chinese sketch of an English sailor, 1839.
SOURCE: Jonathan Spence, _The Search for Modern China_ (New York: Norton, 1990), following p. 132.

10. A Chinese warship guarding the approach to Canton is destroyed by the British steamship Nemesis, January 1841
A large Chinese warship guarding the approach to Canton is destroyed by the steamship NEMESIS in January 1841 in this 19th-century British lithograph.
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11. A British fleet bombards Canton in 1841 and lands marines to reopen the foreign factories. In 1842 China ceded Hong Kong and opened five “Treaty Ports.”
A British fleet bombards Canton (Guangzhou) in the First Opium War.
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12. Ruins of the Summer Palace outside Beijing, destroyed by the British in October 1860
Ruins of the summer palace outside Beijing, destroyed on the orders of Lord Elgin in October 1860 (photograph by Thomas Childe, ca. 1875).
SOURCE: Jonathan Spence, _The Search for Modern China_ (New York: Norton, 1990), following p. 132.

13. The “black devils”: Sikh troops fighting for the British in China, 1860
Men of the Loodiaah Sikh Regiment, fighting for the British in China in the Opium Wars, ca
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14. Chinese militia from upcountry, summoned to help defend Beijing in 1860
Poorly armed Chinese militia from upcountry, armed with clubs and wicker shields, in the Second Opium War. SOURCE:

15. COMMODORE PERRY HAD MEANWHILE “OPENED” JAPAN TO U. S
COMMODORE PERRY HAD MEANWHILE “OPENED” JAPAN TO U.S. TRADE IN (a humiliation for the Shogun)
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16. THE CHARTER OATH SWORN BY EMPEROR MEIJI on April 7, 1868
By this oath, we set up as our aim the establishment of the national wealth on a broad basis and the framing of a constitution and laws.
Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by open discussion.
All classes, high and low, shall be united in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs of state.
The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall all be allowed to pursue their own calling so that there may be no discontent.
Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of Nature.
Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundation of imperial rule.
SOURCE:

17. EMPEROR MEIJI RETURNS FROM KYOTO TO TOKYO, DECEMBER 1868

18. China’s defeat by Japan in 1894/95 resulted in a vast expansion of the Treaty Port system and a wave of nationalist resentment

19. Appointed German naval commander in late 1897,
The German naval base at Tsingtao, northeast China, established by Admiral Alfred Tirpitz in 1897
Map of the German naval base at Qingdao (or Tsingtao) in Shandong Province in northeastern China, Imperial Germany acquired this treaty port in 1897, built the city with a modern sewer system and safe supply of drinking water, and based its Far Eastern Naval Squadron there. Japan captured the city in 1915, after declaring war on Germany, and ruled it until 1945.
SOURCE: Hans Ottomeyer and Hans-Joerg Czech, eds., _Deutsche Geschichte in Bildern und Zeugnissen_ (Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 2007), p. 181.
Appointed German naval commander in late 1897,
Tirpitz proved a brilliant lobbyist

20. Tirpitz and Wilhelm II persuaded the Reichstag to fund the building of 19 battleships in 1898, raised to 38 in 1900
LEFT: Poster advertising a „Day of Sacrifice for the German Navy.“ SOURCE:
RIGHT: The Navy Table drawn up by Kaiser Wilhelm II (and sold in an inexpensive facsimile edition). The Kaiser's notes at bottom right compare the modest progress made by the German navy from 1894 to 1899 with the massive construction projects of other powers. SOURCE: Deutscher Bundestag, ed., _Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte. Historische Ausstellung im Reichstagsgebaeude in Berlin: Katalog_, 7th edn (Bonn, 1981), IV/158.

21. Russian Icon of Chinese Orthodox Christians martyred in 1900
Member of the nationalist martial arts society, “Boxers United In Righteousness,” China, 1900
Russian Icon of Chinese Orthodox Christians martyred in 1900
A member of the "Boxers United in Righteousness," 1900.
SOURCE: Jonathan Spence, _The Search for Modern China_ (New York: Norton, 1990), following p. 228.
Icon of Chinese Orthodox martyrks killed during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church soon thereafter.
SOURCE:

22. Sketch map by Captain John T. Myers, U. S
Sketch map by Captain John T. Myers, U.S. Marine Corps, of the embassy district in Beijing during the Boxer siege in 1900
Captain John T. Myers (U.S. Marine Corps), Diagram showing locations of foreign diplomatic legations in Beijing during the Boxer siege, 1900.
SOURCE: Sir William Laird Clowes, _The Royal Navy : a history from the earliest times to the present_, Volume VII, page 551. Published by S. Low, Marston and Company, Limited, London, 1903.
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23. Kaiser Wilhelm II addresses the troops departing for China on July 27, 1900: “No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under King Attila made a name for themselves, may the name German be affirmed by
you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German!”
“Hun Speech”: Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Address to the German Expeditionary Force Prior to its Departure for China (July 27, 1900)
The “Boxer Rebellion,” an anti-western uprising in China, was put down in 1900 by an international force of British, French, Russian, American, Japanese, and German troops. The Germans, however, forfeited any “prestige” they might have gained for their participation by arriving only after British and Japanese forces had taken Peking, the site of the fiercest fighting. Moreover, the poor impression left by the German troops’ late arrival was made worse by the Kaiser’s ill-conceived farewell address (depicted here), in which he commanded them, in the spirit of the Huns, to be merciless in battle. Kaiser Wilhelm II’s public relations blunders, particularly in the field of international relations, were legendary. He was known for bombastic cant and grandstanding – although his words were often more threatening and aggressive than his actions. The term “Hun” later became the favored epithet of Allied anti-German war propaganda during World War I.
SOURCE: 23

24. “Germans to the Front!” (painting to celebrate the role of German marines in suppressing the Chinese Boxer Rebellion in 1900)
Carl Ro"chling, "Germans to the Front!," 1902, in the Military Museum of Rastatt. What Germans most liked to recall about the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion is that the French and British called for the German marines whenever the fighting became most intense. SOURCE: Rainer Rother, ed., _Der Weltkrieg Ereignis und Erinnerung_ (im Auftrag des Deutschen Historischen Museum, Berlin: Edition Minerva, 2004), p. 36.

25. A Chinese “Boxer” flanked by German guards in Tientsien, 1903/04
A Chinese "Boxer" prisoner is flanked by two German soldiers in Tientsien, 1903/04. After the German ambassador was murdered by nationalist Chinese rebels on 20 June 1900, German troops played a leading role in a joint European punitive expedition, which captured Beijing, destroyed a number of surrounding towns, and executed numerous rebels. From Dieter Vorsteher and Maike Steinkamp, eds, THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: PHOTOGRAPHS OF GERMAN HISTORY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE GERMAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM (Heidelberg: Wachter Verlag, 2004), p. 50.

26. Travels in the East, by E. Ukhtomsky (1896): Russia’s “Manifest Destiny”
Cover design for the book, TRAVELS IN THE EAST, by E. Ukhtomsky (1895/96), reflecting dreams of a great Russian empire in the Far East. From Gollwitzer, IMPERIALISM, p. 8.

27. THE EXPANSION OF RUSSIA IN ASIA, ca
THE EXPANSION OF RUSSIA IN ASIA, ca. 1900: (with new rail links across Manchuria to Vladivostok & Port Arthur
The expansion of Russia in Asia from 1533 to 1900.
SOURCE: R.R. Palmer, ed., _Historical Atlas of the World_ (Chicago and New York: Rand McNally, 1965), p. 29.

28. “The Yellow Peril,” seen from Europe (French cartoon, 1904)
The "Yellow Peril" as seen in Europe; satirical cartoon published in L'ASSIETTE AU BEURRE, From Gollwitzer, IMPERIALISM, p. 175.

29. “The White Peril,” as viewed by Asians (French cartoon, 1904)
"The White Peril," as viewed by Asians, satirical cartoon published in L'ASSIETTE AU BEURRE, From Gollwitzer, IMPERIALISM, p. 174.

30. Japan as the pawn of the Anglo-Saxon powers (Russian postcard, c
Japan as the pawn of the Anglo-Saxon powers (Russian postcard, c. 1902): Since the Meiji Restoration of the 1860s Japan had sought to learn from the West
Russian postcard from ca. 1902, which implies that Great Britain and the USA were encouraging Japan to challenge Russian interests in the Far East. From Gollwitzer, IMPERIALISM, p. 37.

31. Admiral Haihachiro Togo, Japanese naval commander in 1904: His fleet blockaded Port Arthur and destroyed both Russia’s Pacific and Baltic Fleets when they sought to break the blockade
Undated photograph of Admiral Haihachiro Togo, supreme commander of the Japanese navy during the Russo-Japanese War. After war broke out between Russia and Japan in February 1904, the forces under his command imposed a successful blockade on Port Arthur (today Dalian, China) and destroyed all Russian naval units that sought to lift that blockade. In a humiliating peace treaty signed on September 5, 1905, Russia conceded that Korea and northern Manchuria belonged to the Japanese sphere of influence. .
SOURCE: [Bildersammlung: Kriege, Krisen & Konflikte. The Yorck Project: Das große dpa-Bildarchiv, S. 43
(vgl. dpa, S. 15) (c) 2005 The Yorck Project]

32. Japanes troops enter the conquered city of Liaujang, 1904
Japanese troops enter the recently conquered city of Liaujang in 1904.
SOURCE: [Bildersammlung: Kriege, Krisen & Konflikte. The Yorck Project: Das große dpa-Bildarchiv, S. 45
(vgl. dpa, S. 15) (c) 2005 The Yorck Project]

33. The Japanese besieged Port Arthur from February to December 1904; after they dragged their siege guns into position, they quickly pounded it into submission on January 2, 1905
The siege of Port Arthur. The Japanese attacked without warning on February 8, 1904, captured the 203 Metre Hill in December, and quickly battered the fortress into submission on 2 January 1905.
SOURCE: Richard Holmes, ed., _The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course of History_ (New York: Viking, 1988), p. 112.
Japanese troops haul an 11-inch siege howitzer near Port Arthur in January 1905.
SOURCE: Richard Holmes, ed., _The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course of History_ (New York: Viking, 1988), p. 113.

34. The “Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway” was formerly treated as a major cause of World War I, but Rich shows that it gained support from both Britain and Russia….
The Ottoman Empire and the Berlin to Baghdad Railway.
SOURCE: Norman Rich, _Great Power Diplomacy, _ (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992), p. 340.

35. Why did so many colonial conflicts take place around 1900?
Europe's "Old World" colonial empires, as of 1912.
SOURCE: Richard Holmes, _The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course of History_ (London and New York: Viking, 1988), p. 115.