History Exam Notes

DEPTH STUDY : MAKING A NATION

Transatlantic Slave Trade

How the industrial revolution led to the the Slave Trade

● The Industrial Revolution required an increased amount of raw materials such as

sugar, tobacco, cotton, coffee and rice. Slave labour were used to produce these
raw materials.
● Over 12 million Africans were transported to the slave markets of Europe between
the 15th & 19th centuries.
● Approx 100 000 slaves were transported across the Atlantic each year to work on
the plantations in America.

Impacts of slavery
The slave journey from Africa to America was violent. The captives were chained and marched to
the slave markets located on Africa’s coast. They were then held in prison cells called barracoons
until negotiations with European slave traders began. The barracoons were dark, damp prison cells
that were often constructed under the ground. Many captives died under these conditions.
Historians believe that approximately half of the Africans captured for the slave trade were dead
before the arrival of the European traders. The survivors were paraded in marketplaces and publicly
examined for physical defects. They were stripped, shaved and branded before being herded onto
the slave ships, known as slavers, for a journey across the Atlantic that took between one and two
months.

Once on board, families were separated, as captives were divided according to gender. During the
Middle Passage journey, the men were usually chained together into the cramped and stifling heat
of the cargo hold, while women and children were confined on deck. Men remained in filthy
conditions with barely enough room to sit upright. The sick soiled themselves where they lay, men
suffocated and disease spread. Many Africans also died as a result of their resistance to slavery. A
watchful eye had to be kept on slaves while they exercised on the decks of the transport ships to
prevent them committing suicide by throwing themselves overboard. In some cases the slaves
managed to revolt and take control of their ships. Conditions on slavers improved at the end of the
eighteenth century as the traders realised the delivery of a healthy cargo brought higher profit.

Sick slaves were commonly pitched overboard to stop further spread of disease. Slave traders
claimed from insurance companies for the loss of profit resulting from the dead thrown overboard
but received no payment for slaves too sick on arrival to be of value in the marketplaces of the
Americas. In one notorious case, Captain Luke Collingwood murdered 133 slaves when he threw
them overboard because he declared he was running out of fresh water supplies. Upon his return to
Liverpool in England he made an insurance claim for the loss of slave sales profit.

Movement of Convicts and Free settlers

From the time of the First Fleet, free settlers chose to come to Australia. They found ways of
paying for the journey and establishing themselves in new homes and on farms. In the early
years of each colony, many of these people became the first landowners, establishing pastoral
properties that were to form the backbone of the country’s thriving wool industry. By the 1820s,
although convicts (and former convicts) still made up the largest segment of the population,
there were growing numbers of free settlers arriving in the colonies. The need for workers had
increased as land exploration opened up the continent.

The Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution is the combination of farming economies in Europe and America transform
into urbanised industries. Causes of the industrial revolution include the Agricultural Revolution,
this caused the industrial revolution years later. The Large Population requiring more materials.
Better metals and richer fuels lead to industrialization as this allowed for steam engines to be
invented and operated.

Social Legislation
White Australia Policy: Australia in 1900 was made up predominantly of those who had
migrated from the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales). Around 17 per cent
of the population were British-born. Of the non-Indigenous population, 75 per cent were born in
Australia, and most of these had parents or grandparents who had come out from Britain). The
two largest non-British groups were the Germans and the Chinese. The Germans had left their
homeland because of restrictions on practising their religion. They settled mainly in the wine-
growing region of the Barossa Valley in South Australia and in the agricultural region of the
Darling Downs in south-eastern Queensland. The Chinese settled mainly in New South Wales,
Queensland and the Northern Territory. While people from Asia and the Pacific Islands formed a
very small proportion of the population, it was a fear of them that led to one of the first acts of
the federal government being a Bill to stop them migrating into the country.

The Harvester Judgement ensured that even the lowest-paid worker would get a ‘basic wage’
a wage on which he (for in those days it was only men who were expected to support a family)
could live at a basic level. This has continued to the present day, where each year the Minimum
Wage Panel of the Fair Work Commission determines what is a fair wage for the lowest-paid
worker. In many other countries, there is no limit as to how low wages can be.
Pension: Before Federation, some states had old age pensions but it was not until 1908 that a
federal Invalid and Old Age Pension Act 1908 (Cwlth) was passed. A pension of ten shillings ($1)
a week was to be paid to those over 65 or who were too disabled to work. A person had to
have lived in Australia for 20 years to be eligible for the pension and these included Indigenous
Australians, indigenous people from Africa and the Pacific Islands, and Asian people.

Under the Workers Compensation Act 1912, workers compensation was paid to
Commonwealth employees who suffered a work-related accident or illness. Although it did not
apply to most workers under state awards, it provided a model that could be introduced by
states.
Under the Maternity Allowances Act 1912, a ‘baby bonus’ was introduced that gave every
mother £5 (equivalent to around $10, or more than two weeks’ pay at that time) on the birth of a
child.

Impacts of European settlement on Aboriginals

At the time that Europeans established their settlement at Port Jackson, the whole continent
had been occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for 50 000 years. Estimates
of the Aboriginal population at that time ranged from 300 000 to 700 000. They were
distributed across the continent in some 250 different language groups. For these original
Australians, it was an invasion of their land. The consequences of this invasion — consequences
that were sometimes intended and other times not — led to widespread suffering and death.
This came about through many factors:

● imported diseases to which they had no resistance

● the occupation of land on which their living depended
● the introduction of alcohol to a society that had no knowledge of it and had not
built up social restraints to limit its effects
● massacres of innocent men, women and children in retaliation for acts such as the
spearing of a sheep for food
● government policies to isolate and divide Aboriginal communities
● a disruption of their social and cultural life.

There were Aboriginal leaders who fought against the invasion and others who tried to get
government support. There were also individual Europeans who had some understanding of
the Aboriginal situation and tried to protect them, but sometimes in ways that actually caused
other problems.

Non-European (Chinese) migration and impact on Australia

Several thousand Chinese had come to Australia prior to the Gold Rushes of the 1850s.
They came as indentured labourers — having to work to pay off the cost of their voyage. The
gold rushes in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851 led to a new wave of Chinese migrants. By
1857 there were 25 000 Chinese in Australia and this soon rose to 50 000, a number that then
remained fairly constant.
The Chinese stood out among the many other nationalities on the goldfields because of their
appearance, language and customs. However, they also had strong social networks, with
access to supplies from market gardens and their own stores. Generally they were left alone to
live in their own communities; but when things became difficult on the goldfields, they became
a convenient target to turn on.

CORE STUDY - AUSTRALIA AT WAR

Alliance Systems
Increasing national rivalries within and beyond Europe resulted in nations forming two rival
alliances. From 1907 onwards, the major powers were all members of one of these two rival and
armed power blocs. Britain had joined with Russia and France in an alliance known as the Triple
Entente, while Germany was linked with Austria–Hungary and Italy in the Triple Alliance.

These agreements increased nations’ sense of strength and protection and fostered the fear
and mistrust of the nations that did not belong to them. They reflected the threat that the
powers sensed from one another, and the desire to avenge past ‘wrongs’:
● Russia and Austria–Hungary competed with each other to extend their power in
the area of south-eastern Europe known as the Balkans.
● France feared Germany’s army and sought revanche (revenge) for Germany taking
the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France in 1871.

Between 1905 and 1913, tensions among the great powers increased as a result of crises in
northern Africa and the Balkans. The great powers resolved these crises, although hostility
generally increased among those involved.

Significant battles and events that took place during WWI

-----
Short term and long term causes of WWI
Militarism

The policy of building up or creating a large military with the objective of having a larger quantity and
quality of weapons compared to other nations. This creates competition between the nations as they
were fearful of the strength of the other countries and therefore did the same. All the countries compete
with each other to have a better military. This is like a domino effect, they all copy each other and are
ready for war as they have the resources ready to do so. Militarism was a significant force in Europe prior
to World War I. Several European governments were strongly influenced, if not dominated by military
leaders, their interests and priorities.

Alliances

Alliances are the agreement between two or more countries to assist or aid each other when in need.
This can have a domino effect as they have alliances to help each other they all bring their alliances
along with each other and the fight accentuates into a war between a large amount of people.Just before
World War I, the Great Powers of Europe split into two main teams: The Triple Alliance (Austria-Hungary,
Germany, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, and Russia).

Imperialism

Imperialism is when countries attempt to gain others land and through military force want to gain more
land to expand their empire. Imperialism is a system where a powerful nation controls and exploits one or
more colonies. The British Empire famously occupied one-quarter of the glob.

Nationalism

Extreme Nationalism is to believe that your country is better than others and people are willing to defend
their country. This is when people think that their country is better or superior to others and they try to
gain more power. They also loose empathy for others. Nationalism was a prominent force in early 20th
century Europe and a significant cause of World War I. Many Europeans – particularly citizens of the so-
called Great Powers, Britain, France and Germany – were convinced their nation occupied a position of
cultural, economic and military supremacy.

Immediate Causes

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Reasons for and against federation

For Against
Sharing their wealth which makes the New South Wales and Victoria were more
country stronger. Such as defence.
Combined army forces would make a
stronger army for the country.
Some colonies charged import/export
tariffs and had immigration officers search
luggage at train stations. Some people
believed that allowing free trade between
the colonies would strengthen the
economy.
powerful than the other colonies and the
people of other states were fearful of the
powerful taking over.
Some colonies did not want to surrender
laws to the Commonwealth, particularly
around tariffs, intercolonial trade, and
customs.