The bear and the dragon will defeat the eagle

Say, you fellows! If thereвЂ™s any cutting up to be done, IвЂ™m here for the lionвЂ™s share.вЂќ In the foreground England and Japan, who had just negotiated the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1902, find themselves surprised by Russia and France, who claim equal rights in slicing the Chinese cake.Д¬aption: вЂќThe Newcomer.

(France and Russia: Not so fast! WeвЂ™re hereвЂќ) As in the French cartoon, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, and England slice the Chinese cake, but the not-so-subtle point of this cartoon was that while the United States self-righteously criticized the foreign scramble for spheres of influence in China and called for an вЂњOpen DoorвЂќ policy there, it was in the process of establishing its own spheres of influence in the Caribbean and the Philippines.Д¬aption: вЂњLa France et La Russie. expansion in and immediately after the Spanish-American War of 1898 against the contemporaneous scramble by other imperialist powers to carve up China. Puck, the American counterpart to the famous British humor magazine Punch, sardonically juxtaposed U.S. We canвЂ™t grudge him a light lunch while we are feasting!вЂќ The caption reads: вЂњChina: The cake of Kings and Emperors.вЂќД¬aption: вЂњJohn Bull (to the Powers). The Kaiser stabs his knife into the German-leased territory Jiaozhou (Kiao-Tcheou) in Shandong, acquired in 1898, while the Russian Tsar puts his fists on Port Arthur (the Chinese port of LГјshun, leased in 1897). In this French rendering, Queen Victoria glares at the German Kaiser, while the Russian, French, and Japanese figures look pensively at China. Le Petit Journal SupplГ©ment IllustrГ©, January 16, 1898 The four images below exhibit variants of the metaphor of the slicing of China, representing critiques from French, American, and British perspectives. Many writers predicted the imminent breakup of the empire into regions, each dominated by one imperial power. JapanвЂ™s surprising defeat of the Qing empire instigated all the powers to secure spheres of influence connected to their economic interests, and fears of вЂњslicing the Chinese cakeвЂќ increased. The multipower scramble for China, from 1895 to 1905, followed a similar pattern to that of Africa, but with very different results. As Britain and Russia competed in the вЂњGreat GameвЂќ for power over Central Asia, Britain allied with Japan in 1902 to balance Russian expansion. RussiaвЂ™s turn to the East inevitably brought it into conflict with the rival powers of northeast Asia: China, Korea, and Japan. The railroad reached the port of Vladivostok (meaning вЂњRuler in the EastвЂќ) in 1916. Russia, turning eastward, began building the trans-Siberian railroad in 1891 to connect its Asian regions closely to Moscow. The United States joined the pack of genuine imperial powers with its victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, adding Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the list of colonial possessions. JapanвЂ™s defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese war in 1895 put Taiwan and Korea under its control, starting its road to become the next imperialist in Asia. In the 1890s, the global scramble expanded to Asia, and new powers joined the race. Over the next twenty years British, French, Belgian, and German troops, explorers, and investors carved up nearly all of the African continent.

The вЂњScramble for Africa,вЂќ touched off in 1882 by the submission of the ruler of Tunis to a French resident, was followed by British intervention to secure its financial investments in Egypt. Each imperial power felt that it had to defend its own territories and pre-empt the moves of others.

completed the transcontinental railroad.ДЄs regions of the Ottoman empire loosened their dependence on the center, the French, British, and Russians looked to expand their influence. The opening of the Suez canal in 1869 dramatically shortened the route to the Far East, just as the U.S. The first durable trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, laid in 1866, connected the New and Old Worlds with a rapid communication link. Railroads supported increasing penetration of remote regions, and the telegraph rapidly communicated one nationвЂ™s victory to others around the world. In the late-nineteenth century, the major imperial powers competed more aggressively for domination of most of the worldвЂ™s territory. Punch, or the London Charivari, July 4, 1900 China in crisis-flames behind, bayonets in the foreground-is depicted as the egg poised to fall in the English nursery rhyme:ДЄll the king's horses and all the king's men

The bear and the dragon will defeat the eagle