Berlin Conference and Imperialism?
Imperialsm is cited as one of the main causes of WWI. What forces changed from the time of the Berln Conference, where the European nations all (peacefully?) agreed to carve up Africa, and the start of the war?
What happend during the Opium Wars in China?
First Opium War 1839-1842: In response to Chinese attempts to forcibly halt the lucrative opium trade,the British government and the East India Company combined in a series of naval operations against Chinese ports and fortifications on the south China coast,during which the Chinese navy was destroyed.Under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking,China had to pay compensation for "interrupted trade" (in reality confiscated and destroyed opium),cede Hong Kong to Britain,and agree to open up to greater Western trade. Second Opium War 1856-1860: Chinese efforts to avoid complying with the Treaty of Nanking,combined with persecution of Europeans on the Chinese mainland led to an alliance between France and Britain against China,the southern coast again being attacked and Guangzhou being occupied.The Qing imperial government refused to ratify an originally agreed treaty that would have ended the war, and in response an Anglo-French army sailed north to commence a land campaign against Beijing,the Chinese capital. This army defeated the Chinese and entered Beijing 6 October 1860.Discovering that the staff of the British Embassy had been arrested and many of them tortured to death,the Summer Palace was looted and then burned down in retaliation.The Chinese then signed the Treaty of Tianjin,which included paying a large war indemnity.
History question help! 10 points and full stars?
At the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the Allied leaders approved the Declaration of Liberated Europe. Spurred by Roosevelt, the Big Three agreed that post-war "interim governmental authorities" were to be "broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people." The Declaration, coupled with the promise of a United Nations organization to maintain world peace, contributed to the general spirit of hopeful optimism that gripped western leaders following the Yalta Conference. President Roosevelt informed the Congress, after his return to the United States, that the era of "spheres of influence and balances of power" was ended. The apparent solidarity and good will that permeated the Yalta Conference soon faded. In light of the ensuing Cold War, the post-war agreements negotiated by the Big Three remain controversial. Some historians equate Yalta with Munich and appeasement; others blame Roosevelt's deteriorating health for his failure to take a hard enough line against Stalin. The military situation in Europe, however, and the desire to bring the Soviets into the fight against Japan, called for compromise. Most of the settlements reached at Yalta—especially those pertaining to Eastern Europe—employed language vague enough to allow the Soviets to violate the spirit if not the letter of the agreements. Under the circumstances, however, there was little short of war that the U.S. and Britain could do about it. Q: Many critics feel that the Yalta Conference did not do enough to ensure world peace following World War II. Why do so many people blame Roosevelt for the failure? Knowing that Stalin had implemented a communist government in the Soviet Union and hoped to extend it to other parts of eastern Europe, do you think that Roosevelt and Churchill could have done anything more or better?