Lesson video

Hello, welcome back to key stage three history with me, Miss Dawson.

Today, we are doing less than two of a four-lesson inquiry into did tensions over Africa make a European war more likely? If you've already done lesson one, well done.

You're in the right place.

Welcome back.

If you haven't, you're going to need to do that one first.

Today, we are going to be looking at the Berlin Conference and how that started what's known as the Scramble for Africa.

What I'm going to do now is get my head out the way of the screen so you can copy down today's title.

Pause your video to do this.

After you've done that, resume the video and we'll get going.

Off we go.

Let's get started.

So for today's lesson, all you're going to need is a piece of paper and a pen.

It would also really help if you were set up somewhere nice and quiet without any distractions.

Good job if you're already doing that and ready to go.

If you're not quite ready, pause your video, go and grab the equipment you need and get yourself set up somewhere nice and quiet, where you've got space and no distractions.

Resume the video when you're good to go.

So, I'd like us to start this lesson by taking a look at this image on the screen and trying to work out what's going on.

Put your video on pause and look for key details that could help you unpick what's happening.

I will talk you through some clues in a moment.

Well done if you noticed that there is a map of Africa on the wall, in this image.

It's a little bit difficult to see, so don't worry if you didn't, but that's one of the first clues that I would have honed in on when trying to see what's happening here.

What else could we look at? I would also look at the fact that they were crowded around a table.

We've got papers, documents, between them.

We seem to have people who come from different places.

They're all discussing something.

What could they be discussing? Why would they have a map of Africa on the wall? What are they doing here? Have a think.

So, this is a picture of the 1884 to 1885 Berlin Conference.

So a conference is when a group of people from different countries or places to represent come together in order to discuss something.

So in this case in 1884, people from lots of different countries came to Berlin, 13 nations to be specific.

And they came to agree on principles for colonising Africa.

So they came together.

That's why they've got a picture of Africa on the wall, or the map.

They came to decide on what the rules are for taking over parts of Africa for your own empire.

This was intended to prevent war between the European powers.

The thought was that if they came together to discuss how they should approach taking and colonising Africa, rules for doing so, that it would prevent them from disputing areas with each other and going to war.

So that's what the Berlin Conference was.

And that's what they're doing in this picture.

Now that we've had a good look and some input from me, we're going to take a pause point in order to write up what we can see and what it suggests.

So use the sentence starters on the left if they're useful.

About two developed sentences to explain what you can see and what's going on.

Resume the video when you're ready to have a look at my answer.

Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Remember, your answer and mine might look different, but that doesn't mean yours is wrong.

So look for the details to see if what you've written is correct.

This image shows men having a discussion over a table with a map of Africa on the wall.

This suggests that they are trying to reach an agreement over Africa.

Well done if your answer looks anything like that.

Your answer could look different.

It could even be better than mine.

Your answer could say, this image shows the Berlin Conference, where European powers discussed Africa.

You could have written anything along those lines.

If you're not sure if you've got it right, then please put your video back on pause and correct it.

But if you're happy, give it a tick and we'll move on.

So a reminder of where we are in this inquiry.

We are trying to answer the question, did attentions over Africa make a European war more likely? In last lesson, we took a look at what the European situation was at the end of the 19th century, and why different European countries wanted to have an empire, wanted to take over countries in Africa.

Today, we're going to look very specifically at the Berlin Conference.

So we're going to look at the reasons the European powers decided they needed to talk about rules for colonising Africa.

And then we're going to look at the consequences of that.

We're going to see what happened as a result of that.

Did that help prevent war or did it make it more likely? And then the two lessons after that, we will look at specific case studies of Egypt and Morocco, and see how that impacted the relationship between European powers.

Just to remind us of where we are.

If you remember, last lesson, I told you that before 1870, only 10% of Africa was controlled by European powers, and there was very little interest in it.

By 1876, this had changed.

And if you remember, a large part of that was because of economic depression and difficulties, so this had caused European powers to think that they needed to look for profits elsewhere and in Africa.

So between 1876 and 1914, we've got this Scramble for Africa.

Today's lesson is based in 1884 and 1885.

So we're going to look at the Berlin Conference.

So it partially comes in the middle of this date that's known as the Scramble for Africa.

Some people would call the Berlin Conference the cause of the Scramble for Africa, because a huge amount of land grabbing happened after it.

But we'll get to that in a moment.

And then as you remember, the end of our inquiry is 1914 when the first world war starts.

And we're going to think about to what degree the first world war could have been caused by this arguing over Africa in the late 19th century.

Before that, we need to double check what we can remember about the situation in Europe in 1871.

If you remember last lesson, I introduced you to these five countries who were part of the Scramble for Africa, and they were all in a slightly different situation in 1871, but all of them had reasons for wanting an empire.

On your left hand side of your screen, there are the names of those countries.

And on the right hand side, there are statements to describe what situation they found themselves in.

They're not in the correct order.

So you need to pause your video and you need to write out the correct statements.

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

Off you go.

Okay, let's take your answers and see how you did.

Very well done if you remember that it was Britain that was industrialised and wealthy at the beginning of 1871.

It was Germany and Italy who were newly formed or newly unified countries.

So give yourself a tick if you've got that right.

France had recently lost a war to Germany and been forced to give them land.

Belgium was recently independent from the Netherlands.

Very well done if you got that correct.

If you didn't, pause the video and add in the correct answers to make sure that you've got your context ready.

We're going to start by hearing the story of King Leopold the Second of Belgium and his desires in a country called the Congo.

And this is one of the big causes of what was known as the Scramble for Africa.

So this is a picture of Leopold of Belgium on the left hand side of the screen.

And as we've just had earlier, Belgium was newly independent in 1830.

So Leopold, as the King of Belgium, was really determined to gain power, influence, and wealth for his own country.

Now, we already know that before 1870, there wasn't a huge amount of interest in Africa from lots of European countries.

And one reason for this, quite simply, is that they were quite scared of it.

They were worried about what they would find when they got there.

Africa was known as the Dark Continent.

This is because of the mystery that it was supposed to hold.

People didn't know how to get around.

They didn't know the language of the people.

They didn't know how to navigate any of the rivers.

And it was also sometimes referred to as the white man's grave.

And this is because Africa had a huge amount of tropical diseases that Europeans were very worried about catching.

So, in the 1860s, travel and exploration in Africa was quite limited.

Leopold the Second decided that he wanted to change this.

He wanted to be one of the first to get his explorers into the interior of Africa, and to find out what it was like.

He'd read some reports about the Congo and he'd read that it was rich with raw materials like rubber and cotton, and things that he could extract, export, and use in order to make Belgium rich, which is what he really desired.

So, between the years approximately 1869 and 1882, Leopold the Second sent explorers into the Congo, which is a country in central Africa.

It's got a big river in the middle of it that Leopold believed he could use to trade.

In the middle of this screen is a picture of Henry Morton Stanley, who was one of Leopold's most famed explorers, who he sent up and down the Congo River.

And he sent him with the explicit instructions that he was to gain land and influence with the different chiefs along that river.

So Stanley and Leopold's other men travelled up and down the Congo River, signing treaties with chiefs and lords of local tribes, gaining access and Belgian influence to different territories there.

They also started building military posts so that they would be poised to take over and defend the country.

This worried some of the European powers, particularly in 1884, when the United States recognised Leopold's claim to the area.

And in 1885, it was declared Congo Free State.

So they named it a country and declared it the property of Leopold the Second.

This behaviour of Leopold really worried the other European nations, as they felt that Leopold was going to be in control of a huge, valuable trading area that he would exclude them from.

So this is one of the reasons that they decided in 1884, that they would all meet in Berlin to have a conference and discuss how to colonise Africa, according to rules.

So this is a picture of that Berlin Conference in 1884.

So it was called, in 1884, to settle the problem of Africa.

The European powers had now decided that Africa was a problem they needed to discuss after sort of hearing of Leopold's exploration and this possibility of Belgium gaining power as a result of this territory they'd claimed in the Congo.

There's a few things that they discussed at this conference.

The first one is humanitarian issues.

Humanitarian issues means anything to do with the welfare or wellbeing of humans.

I've put this in quotation marks, and the reason I've done this is because humanitarian issues is what the European powers used as a justification for meeting in Berlin.

They did discuss abolishing slavery across the continent of Africa, and they did discuss other things about the welfare of African people.

But I would argue that that is not the main reason that they were there.

That is something that they were able to use to justify their real reason for being there.

And their real reason for being there was to set out the rules of how they could conquer Africa to make sure that the competition for taking over colonies wasn't so strong that it led them to war.

That was their major reason for being there.

So the purpose of this conference was to prevent the European nations from going to war over Africa.

They were worried that if they didn't settle some rules, they would end up going to war.

So that's what the purpose of this conference was.

Now, there was some unintended consequences of this conference.

It didn't just prevent the powers from going to war.

So one of the first major consequences is a chain reaction of land grabbing.

And I'm going to talk about that more in a moment.

Hopefully the image helps you work out what we mean by that.

The second consequence of this Berlin conference was some really brutal treatment in the colonies.

So those African countries that were taken over experienced really harsh treatment at the hands of their mother country, or the country that was in charge of them.

I'm going to describe a little bit more detail what both of these things mean in a second.

So, this phrase, chain reaction of land grabbing, what do I mean when I say that? I mean that once the powers had suggested that there were rules that needed to be followed in order to take over land in Africa, they all started worrying about it and competing as quickly as possible to get colonies in Africa before anyone else grabbed them.

Here's an example.

In 1884, following the Berlin Conference, Germany decided that they wanted to gain some land, and they established what is called a protectorate over Southwest Africa.

This map shows Germany's colonies.

They're the coloured in parts of the map.

This circle here is Southwest Africa.

So this is now, in modern day, known as Namibia, but in 1884, it was known as German Southwest Africa.

As soon as Germany established this protectorate, Britain decided that they were going to annex or take over a place called Bechuanaland.

I wonder if you can guess, based on what I've told you, where Bechuanaland might be in comparison to Southwest Africa.

I'll tell you.

It's right next to it.

So, as soon as Germany established some influence in one country, Britain decided they were going to do the same in a country next door, to block German influence off and stop it from spreading.

Now, imagine this multiplied across this whole continent.

And this is what I mean when I say a chain reaction of land grabbing.

It was this kind of attitude that then meant that in the Times newspaper, a journalist described what was happening as the Scramble for Africa, which is what we now know it as.

So that was one of our consequences of the Berlin Conference, is that it set off the European powers, even more frantically scrambling for land in Africa.

Another consequence of the Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa was really brutal treatment in the colonies.

It's important we take a moment to think about this, although this isn't the main focus of our inquiry.

In history, in order to answer specific questions, sometimes you have to be really selective.

And our question is about whether or not tensions over Africa caused the first world war.

We've only got four lessons in which to do that.

So it already means that I've had to slim down this huge story of an entire continent and be really selective about the places I'm talking about.

What this inquiry isn't is a discussion of the consequences within Africa, for those people who were colonised.

Those stories have been told in other inquiries elsewhere, and they're worth spending much longer looking at.

However, although this inquiry doesn't focus on that, I am going to mention it briefly.

So that for those of us who are interested, you can go and read more about it and find out about some of the consequences of empire building in Africa.

So, one of the reasons the colonies experienced such brutal treatment is because the borders that were drawn were completely artificial.

Lines were drawn on a map in Berlin without the European powers who were drawing the lines, even knowing where they were.

They'd never been there.

I told you in lesson one, that Africa was split into roughly about 600 different kind of tribal units.

And some of these lines and borders cut straight across them, separating communities and creating countries with different communities, different languages thrown together.

So this divided people and it put them into these communities that hadn't existed before.

That was a really negative consequence for those people who lived there.

There was also forced labour.

And this is why I put the term humanitarian concerns in inverted commas, because although the European powers said that one of the reasons they'd come to Berlin was to discuss abolishing slavery across the continent, in actual fact, in most of these colonies, forced labour, which is very, very close to slavery was used by the European powers against the African people who they had colonised.

Examples of this would have been in Leopold the Second's Congo, he was desperate to extract rubber.

So desperate that he forced all of the Congolese people to farm rubber.

And he used really brutal punishments of having their hands cut off if they didn't manage to find enough.

So that's an example of forced labour and horrendous treatment in the Congo, but it wasn't just Leopold the Second who treated his colonies terribly.

The British used concentration camps in Southern Africa, what's now known as South Africa, when they were fighting against the Boars.

So that's an example again, of terrible treatment in the colonies.

And there was a German genocide in Southwest Africa when their colony rebelled against them, and they drove many of them out into the desert and allowed them to starve to death.

So this is not what our inquiry is based on, but it would be remiss of me to talk about colonialism in Africa, without mentioning some of that brutal treatment.

There are other inquiries that look more into the impact of colonialism, or if you're interested, you can go and look these things up on your own.

Now that we have had some context and we know what the Berlin Conference was and what it was for, we're ready to do our written task.

Question one.

What was Africa known as in the 18th century? Question number two.

Why was European control of Africa limited by 1840? Question three, why did Leopold the Second send an Explorer to the Congo? Question four, why was this a worry for other European nations? Question five, what was called in order to try and solve this problem? Question six, what was agreed in the Treaty of Berlin? And challenge question.

In what ways did the Treaty of Berlin create tension between the European powers? And there are sentence starters there for you to use if you'd like.

Remember to read the worksheet carefully before answering the questions, because all of the answers are contained in there.

Try and use full sentences with lots of historical knowledge to back them up.

Once you're happy with your answers, resume the video and we'll check them.

Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you did.

Question number one.

What was Africa known as in the 18th century? The acceptable answer is the Dark Continent.

A good answer with more detail is, in the 18th century, Africa was often referred to as the Dark Continent because Europeans found it mysterious and therefore feared it.

Well done if you challenged yourself to writing full sentences.

Question two, why was European control of Africa limited by 1840? The acceptable correct answer is they hadn't gone inland.

A good answer is, by 1840, there were European trading posts on the coast of Africa.

However, they had not ventured further inland.

This, in part, was due to fear of the terrain and tropical diseases.

Well done if you used full sentences and historical detail.

Question three, why did Leopold the Second send an Explorer to the Congo? The acceptable answer is to make his country rich and powerful.

A good answer.

Leopold the Second had read about the Congo in reports and he knew that it contained valuable raw materials.

He thought that if he took it over, he would be able to make Belgium rich and powerful.

Very well done if you used full sentences and specific details.

If you're not sure if you got this correct, you can feel free to pause the video and add some more details.

But remember that our answers might look different, but yours could still be correct.

So be generous with yourself.

Question four, why was this a worry for other European nations? So why was Leopold's taking over of the Congo a worry for other European nations.

The acceptable answer.

They also wanted control over Africa.

A good answer.

Other European nations worried about Belgian influence in the Congo because they also wanted to establish empires in Africa.

Lots of them wanted to expand further so that they could trade and worried if the Belgians controlled the River Congo, that it would cause them problems. Very well done if you used full sentences for this answer.

Let's have a look at question five.

Question five, what was called in order to try and solve this problem? The acceptable answer is the Berlin Conference.

A good answer, in order to try and deal with the problem, there was a conference held in Berlin in 1884.

Well done if you've got that right.

Question number six.

What was agreed in the Treaty of Berlin? The acceptable answer is, rules for colonising Africa.

A good answer is, the Treaty of Berlin had three main parts.

Firstly, that there should be free passage to all ships on the Congo and Nisha Rivers for trade.

Secondly, in order to take an African territory, a European nation had to inform other governments of its claim and demonstrate that the territory was effectively occupied.

Finally, the treaty said that slavery should be abolished across the continent.

Well done if you challenged yourself to explain those three different parts of the Treaty of Berlin.

Give yourself a big tick if your answer looks anything like that; well done.

And our challenge question.

In what ways did the Treaty of Berlin create tension between the European powers? The acceptable answer is, it caused them to race for land.

A good answer is, the Treaty of Berlin sped up the competition between the European powers to gain land and influence in Africa.

They began to grab land in order to try and prevent their rivals from accessing it first.

For example, in 1884, Germany established a protectorate over Southwest Africa.

Britain responded immediately by annexing Bechuanaland in 1885 to try and block them off.

Really well done if you used the names of specific places that people squabbled over.

That's thinking like a historian.

If you need to pause the video and add some detail to your answer, you can.

If you're happy with it, give it a tick; well done.

And now, really well done for all your work so far.

Let's take a look at the extension activity.

The extension activity is thinking about our inquiry question.

Did the Treaty of Berlin make a European war more or less likely? Here's a slide with some help so that you can answer this question effectively.

I've given you some sentence starters and some key words that you can use in order to write a developed answer to this sentence.

Remember to use full sentences, historical details, and think about how to justify what you think.

We're ready to pause the video, take a look at the worksheet and complete the extension question.

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

Off you go.

Well done, welcome back.

Remember your answer might look different to mine.

So don't worry too much if that's the case.

On the one hand, it could be argued that the Treaty of Berlin made a European war less likely, because it laid down the rules for colonising Africa.

For example, European nations had to inform other governments of their claim, and demonstrate that a country was effectively occupied before taking it.

This aims to prevent armed conflict between European nations in Africa.

In the short term, it would have made war less likely.

On the other hand, it could be argued that the Treaty of Berlin made a European war more likely, because it sparked competition over land.

All of the European nations began expanding their empires in order to block each other.

For example, when Britain annexed Bechuanaland in order to block Germany, this may have caused longterm rivalries that might've contributed to war.

Well done if your answer looked anything like that.

Well done if you used historical details to justify your opinion.

What I haven't done here is indicated which one I believe is more or less likely.

And that's because I want you to be thinking about your own answer to this first.

I don't want to give the answer for you.

So you have a think about which one you think is the most likely and keep that in your head for the rest of this inquiry.

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

Really well done.

I hope now that you've got a better idea of reasons why the European powers wanted to have an empire in the 19th century, what was agreed at the Berlin Conference and why, and what some of the consequences of it were.

This is a really tough inquiry.

You've done a really good job today.

I'm looking forward to seeing you for the next two, when we take a look at what happened in Egypt, and what happened in Morocco, and think about whether or not that made war more likely.

I'll see you next time.

Take care.

Don't forget to complete the exit quiz before you go so that you can see how you did today, and how much you've remembered.

And if you would like to, please feel free to ask your parent or carer to share your work with Oak National, using Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Don't worry if you don't want to, but if you do, we'd love to see what you got up to.

Thank you very much.