Lesson video

Hello and welcome to Key Stage 3 History with me, Ms. Dawson.

Today we're starting a brand new inquiry which is titled "Did Tensions Over Africa Make a European War More Likely? This inquiry consists of four lessons and today is the first one.

We're going to be looking at new countries in the year 1870 and reasons why these new countries wanted an empire.

So what I'm going to do now is get my face out of the way of the screen and give you today's title so you can pause the video and copy it down.

Once you've done that, resume the video and get ready to start.

Off we go.

For today's inquiry, all you're going to need is a piece of paper and a pen.

It would really help as well if you were set up somewhere nice and quiet with no distractions so you're ready to work.

Well done if you've done this already.

If you haven't please pause your video, get your equipment and get yourself set up somewhere where you have no distractions.

Resume the video when you're ready to go.

Brilliant.

Let's get started.

I'd like us to begin by looking at these two images and having a look at what the difference is between them.

I'm going to talk you through some clues in a moment, but just spend a minute or so looking at the two pictures, looking at how they're different and thinking about what the significance of that might be.

If you'd like to put your video on pause while you do this, then please go ahead.

Resume the video when you're ready for some guidance from me.

So one of the first things that we might notice if we look at the second map is that the second map is colour coded and the key has the name of seven different European countries as well as two African countries.

The first image does not have a key with European countries in it.

So this might tell us something important.

So in a moment I'm going to get you to put the video on pause and to write up what you've noticed that is significant about this image.

Just to clarify, there are two images here of Africa.

One of them is from the year 1880.

One of them is from the year 1913 and the big difference that we've picked up on so far is about the colour coding in the second image.

So what I'd like you to do is to put your video on pause and use my sentence starters to write up about two sentences explaining what you can see in the picture and what it might suggest.

Once you've done that, then you can resume your video and we can take a look at my answer.

Off you go.

Well done, welcome back.

A reminder, my answer might well look different to yours, but that's not a problem.

Let's read mine and see how they compare.

This image shows a map of Africa which is colour coded with labels of different European countries.

This suggests that between 1880 and 1913, European countries took control of Africa.

Very well done if you worked out that that colour coding in the image of 1913 is supposed to indicate which countries were in control of different parts of Africa.

Don't panic at all if you didn't.

If you need to put the video on pause and correct your answer, then go ahead.

If you got it correct, then give yourself a big tick and get ready to move on.

So there are two words that we must understand before we move on and go through this lesson.

The first one is empire.

An empire is a large group of countries ruled over by a single country.

And a colony is a country that is under control of another country.

I will try and highlight when I use them so that you understand what they mean a little bit more but for now all you need to do is put your video on pause and copy down these definitions nice and clearly.

Resume the video when you're ready.

Brilliant, welcome back.

So this inquiry is titled, "Did Tensions Over Africa Make a European War More Likely?" And these are the things we're going to cover.

Today we're going to look at the reason that European countries wanted an empire.

And if you remember from the previous slide, an empire is a group of countries that one country rules over.

So European countries were looking to take control of other countries and we're going to find out why today.

Over the next three lessons after that, we're going to look at something called The Berlin Conference and then we are going to look at two particular countries which were taken over by European countries, Egypt and Morocco.

And this will help us to work out whether or not tension over Africa made war in Europe more likely.

Quite a complicated question, but let's give it a go.

I'm going to talk us through a slide just to explain a little bit of context so that we know what we're working towards.

So our question asks if tension over Africa made war more likely.

When we say European war, I'm talking about World War I, the first world war.

And if you see on this timeline, we can see that the first world war broke out in 1914 and ended in 1918.

So our inquiry all comes from the period just before that.

So from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

And we're going to be concerned with something that's called the Scramble for Africa and if you look on this timeline, you can see that it's taking place between roughly 1876 and 1914.

I'd like you to draw your mind back to that first image that you saw when we started this lesson.

We saw two different maps of Africa.

One of them from 1880 and one from 1913.

And by 1913, it looks like a lot of Africa was under the control of European countries.

So that's what the Scramble for Africa was.

And I'm going to talk you through that in more detail in a moment.

A date that we need to know that will help us to understand how this happened was the Berlin Conference in 1884 which we're going to look at in more detail next lesson.

But for now it's enough for us to know that in the 19th and early 20th century, European powers scrambled or competed to gain control of Africa.

And at the end of that period in 1914, they went to war.

So our question today is how much did what happened in Africa influence this outbreak of war? Just to be clear, when we say Europe, we are talking about the region circled here, and I'm going to be specific about the countries that we're talking about within Europe in just a moment because it's about seven European countries in total that competed for influence in Africa and we're going to focus on a few of those key players as we go through this inquiry.

For us to understand why European powers wanted an empire to take control in Africa, we need to understand what their situation was like in 1871.

This is a map of Europe in 1871 and if you look closely, it looks a bit different to a map of modern Europe.

Not all of the borders are the same.

This is something quite significant.

So this is Britain and Britain in 1871 was industrialised and wealthy.

By industrialised I mean they had developed a system of factories.

It was producing and selling quite a lot of goods and therefore making quite a lot of money from those goods.

That's the position that Britain was in, in 1871, Germany and Italy in 1871 were newly formed or newly unified countries.

Before that they had been a group of different states that were not one country.

So in 1871, both of those countries had finished that process of unification and they were new European countries who wanted to establish their strength much like some of the other countries in Europe had already done.

France, in 1871, had recently lost a war to the newly unified Germany and in that war, France had had to give Germany some land.

This was part of Germany's unification and new identity with this land they'd taken from the French and the French felt quite humiliated and aggrieved about that and they were hoping to be able to demonstrate their power elsewhere.

This small country here in the middle of France and Germany is Belgium and Belgium had previously belonged to the Netherlands and in 1830 it became independent.

So this also meant that it had something to prove for itself.

It wanted to show how powerful it was.

Now we've discussed Europe.

We're going to discuss Africa.

Circled on your map is an image of modern day Africa.

Modern day Africa is a continent that is made up of 54 different countries.

They're all very diverse.

There's a range of languages spoken there.

There's a range of religions practised there.

In 1870, Africa was not 54 different countries and one of the reasons it exists like it does today is because of European intervention which we're going to look at in more detail.

If you look at this map here, in 1880, we can see that the borders in Africa look very different.

The names of the countries are not the same.

The borders are not the same at all.

In this time period, Africa was more split into tribal communities.

About 600 different groupings in total across the continent and their borders did not look anything like they do today.

Before 1870, there wasn't a huge amount of interest in Africa from European countries.

There were parts of it under control, but not huge amounts of it.

France had control of a country called Algeria up in the North and Britain had control of a territory called Cape Colony in the South.

This is now part of modern day South Africa.

So about 10% of Africa before 1870 was controlled by Europe and they hadn't really wanted to venture much further in.

Between the period of 1876 and 1914, the Scramble for Africa happened.

So from having not very much interest, something changed and suddenly seven different European nations all wanted parts of Africa to add to their empire.

And in this period, they competed or scrambled for influence in order to try and grab it as quickly as possible.

By 1900, the story was very different.

90% of land in Africa was under control of European countries.

And if you look at the map of 1913 and remind yourself, we've got on this colour case, seven different European nations.

And then we have got only two independent African nations, Liberia and Ethiopia.

That's a huge change for a period of only 30 years.

Today we're going to think about why it is the European powers were so desperate to do this.

I'd like you now to consolidate and review the things that I've just taught you before we move on and do your main task.

In front of you you have got five statements and I would like you to pause your video and to decide which ones of them are true and which ones of them are false.

You can either do this by just writing down true or false or if you wanted to challenge yourself, you could rewrite the sentences that are false to make them correct.

The first one.

Before 1870, none of Africa was under European control.

B, Germany and Italy were newly unified countries in 1871.

C, Belgium had recently lost a war with France in 1871.

D, in total, seven different European countries competed in the Scramble for Africa.

E, By 1900 95% of Africa was under the control of European countries.

Go ahead, pause your video and decide which ones are true and which ones are false.

When you're happy, resume the video and we'll look at my answers.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's take a look.

So very well done if you worked out that statement A was false.

Give yourself a big tick if you wrote false.

Well done if you challenged yourself to write out the correct answer which is that before 1870, 10% of Africa was under European control, not none.

B was correct.

Germany and Italy were newly to unified countries in 1871.

Give yourself a big tick if you've got that right.

C, well done if you noticed that C was false and well done if you corrected it to say that it was France that had recently lost a war with Germany in 1871, not Belgium.

D was correct.

In total, seven different European countries did compete in the Scramble for Africa.

And E, this was a tricky one.

Really well done if you noticed this and corrected this.

It was 90% of Africa that was under control by 1900, not 95.

Don't panic at all if you didn't get all of them right but do pause the video and take a second to correct them.

Well done if you got them, all right.

Let's get ready to move on.

So now we know roughly what happened during the Scramble for Africa.

We know that European nations competed to add Africa to their empire and to control it.

But today's lesson is all about why, asking the question why did they do that? Particularly after not being interested in it before 1870.

There are three reasons for this broadly speaking.

The first of which is economic reasons.

Economic means anything to do with money.

So the first reason why the European powers competed for Africa is because they believed that it would make them richer, that it would help them in order to buy and sell goods from which they could make a profit.

And there were some factors going on in the 1870s which prompted these countries to believe they needed to seek profits elsewhere because they were struggling to do so at home.

So that's our first reason, economic or to do with money.

Our second broad reason is political reasons.

So this is to do with governments and relations with other countries.

So simply, this means that these countries were competing to be the most powerful, to be the most in-charge and to block off each other's influence.

So one of the reasons they competed was in order to be stronger and more politically powerful than one another.

And our final reason, feelings of supremacy.

This word supremacy comes from the word supreme or better.

And quite simply, the European countries thought that they were better than the Africans.

They believed that they needed to teach them how to live and how to behave and that they had the right to do that.

That's obviously an incredibly racist and outdated idea but that is one of the reasons why the European powers felt that they were able to colonise or take over countries in Africa and add them to their empire.

Now that we've introduced the topic, it's time for you to do your main activity which is to answer these comprehension questions.

In a moment, I'll direct you to the worksheet but I'll read you the questions first.

Question one, which two new European countries were created in 1870 and 1871? Question two, why did the older European countries worry about the creation of new European countries? Question three, why was France keen to expand it's empire? question four, what economic difficulties were European countries facing between 1873 and 1896? Question five, why didn't Germany and Italy expand their borders within Europe? Question six, what were the three Cs? And our challenge question, How were David Livingstone and Lord Lugard's reasons for colonising Africa different? And there are sentence starters there that you can use to help you.

Remember, the information to help you answer these questions is all contained within the worksheet.

So read it carefully before you start.

Also remember to try and challenge yourself by using full sentences with historical knowledge to support your answer.

You're ready now to pause the video, get the worksheet and answer the comprehension questions.

When you're happy with your answers, resume the video and we'll go over them.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's take a look at my answers and see how they compare.

Question one, which two new European countries were created in 1870 and 1871? Very well done and give yourself a big tick if you wrote Germany and Italy.

A better answer with more detail is by 1871, two new large countries were created after short wars.

They were Germany and Italy.

Well done if you've used full sentences.

If you didn't get the answer right, don't worry too much.

Put the video on pause and correct your answer.

Let's have a look at question two.

Question two, why did the older European countries worry about the creation of new European countries? An acceptable answer is they might challenge their power.

A good answer with more detail is before 1871, the existing great powers in Europe were Britain, France, Russia and the Austrian empire.

When Italy and Germany were formed, these existing countries began to worry that the balance of power could be changed and that these new countries would challenge their power.

Really well done if you developed with full sentences and used specific examples of countries which were worried.

Question number three, why was France keen to expand its empire? The acceptable answer is to prove that they were still a great power.

A good answer is that France had been humiliated when they were defeated by Germany in 1871 and forced to give them land.

They wanted to expand their empire to prove that they were still a great power.

Again, well done if you've used full sentences and specific examples.

If you're not sure if you've got this right, again, you can pause your video and add some detail to your answer.

If you did, well done.

Give it a big tick.

Question number four.

What economic difficulties were European countries facing between 1873 and 1896? The acceptable correct answer is an economic depression.

A good, more detailed answer is there was a period of economic depression where factories were making less money and people were losing jobs.

European governments believed that gaining territory in Africa would provide markets for them to sell their goods, ending the depression.

This was a difficult one.

Really well done if you used any of those key terminology and if you used full sentences.

Remember, your answer could look slightly different to mine and still be correct.

So check for the key details and give yourself a tick if you've got any of them.

Question number five, why didn't Germany and Italy expand their borders within Europe? The acceptable correct answer is that it might have started a war.

A good more detailed answer is by 1871, European borders had been agreed.

Germany and Italy had been newly formed and France had lost land to Germany.

If any country tried to expand further within Europe at this time, it was likely to start a war.

So the powers competed for control in Africa instead.

Very well done if you challenged yourself to use full sentences.

Let's have a look at question six.

Question number six, what were the three Cs? The acceptable answer is commerce, Christianity and civilization.

A good answer in full sentences is Scottish missionary David Livingstone wanted to bring Africa the three Cs, commerce, Christianity and civilization.

Our challenge question, how were David Livingstone and Lugard's reasons for colonising Africa different? The acceptable answer is Livingstone said it was to civilise and Lugard said it was for trade.

A good more detailed answer is Livingstone and Lugard's explanations for why they wanted to colonise Africa were different because Livingstone said that it was the European's responsibility to civilise the Africans.

Whereas Lugard said that the British were there in order to protect their own nation.

So if you remember, this feeds back to the explanation I gave you earlier about why European powers wanted to colonise Africa.

So Lugard is admitting that it's for economic reasons in order to trade, buy and sell goods and to make money.

Livingstone's reasons are about feelings of supremacy.

Feeling that white European behaviour and religion is the only way to behave and that they needed to teach this to the Africans.

That was his reasoning.

Very well done if you used full sentences to compare those two.

Give yourself a big tick if you got that right.

Great job, we're almost at the end of the lesson but let's try an extension activity.

How did European powers justify their desire for expanding their empires in Africa? This word justify means to explain.

So how did the European powers explain that it was okay for them to take land in Africa? What did they say? Here is some help in order to get you answering this question successfully.

On the left hand side, there are some sentence starters that you can use to develop your sentences.

And on the right hand side there are some keywords that I think might help you.

Remember, try and answer this in full developed sentences with as much detail as possible.

So you can pause the video now and return to the worksheet in order to find some answers to help you complete this extension question.

Once you're finished, resume the video and we'll take a look at my model.

Off you go.

Great job, welcome back.

A reminder, your answer may look different to mine and still be correct.

You need to scan it and look for the key details and give yourself a tick if you've written anything similar.

I'll read my answer to you.

The European powers justified their desire for expanding their empires by saying that it was their sense of duty to civilise the Africans.

An example of this was the missionary David Livingstone, who wanted to bring Christianity to Africa.

It was likely that they said this because there was a widespread belief in Europe at that time that Europeans were superior to Africans.

This gave Europeans the idea that they should conquer Africa and bring European ideas there.

Very well done if you wrote anything along those lines.

You may have also written something different.

You may have written that the Europeans justified their expansion by saying that they needed to trade, that they needed the money.

That would have been absolutely fine as well.

If you're not sure if you've got this correct, then please feel free to pause the video and add some detail to your answer.

Very well done.

That takes us almost to the end of today's lesson.

Really well done for all of your hard work.

I'm hoping now you've got a clearer idea into the reasons why European powers decided to compete over Africa.

Next lesson we're going to take a look at precisely what happened that sparked off this so called Scramble for Africa.

Before we go on and take a look at the experience of a few countries in particular.

You've done a great job today.

Looking forward to seeing you next time, take care.

Don't forget before you leave to complete the exit quiz to test how much you remember from today's lesson.

And if you would like to, you're very welcome to ask your parent or carer to share your work with us so we can see what you've been up to.

If they'd like to do that, you can use Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Thanks very much and I will see you next time for lesson two.