Culture Shock and Violent Storms,” and the “End of the World” (May 1, 1855). In 1855 the Almohads’ control of the Iberian Peninsula – an area that extended from Spain to Morocco and contained about 6 million people – was threatened. After more than 150 years of internal strife, the Almohad emirate had reached the point of collapse. The death of Abū-l-‘Abbās al-Mansur I in 1858 was followed by anarchy and lawlessness throughout the Empire’s domains. There were reports of cannibalism, murder, blood feuds, and massacres. In 1859 Algerian tribes and European governments began to attack Moroccan ports. On March 23, 1859 the Spanish fleet attacked Algiers and bombarded the city. This was followed by the occupation of Morocco and northern Algeria by France and Great Britain, as well as the beginning of a bloody “Spanish” War of Independence. In June 1859 Great Britain established the Protectorate of Morocco and proclaimed the Sultan’s brother, Mulay Abdu-l-Aziz, an “emperor” under the regency of Ismail Almauud. In 1861 Morocco was incorporated into the French Empire. The French took Algeria from the bey of the Regency of Algiers and incorporated it into the French Empire. In Morocco the occupation by France brought the complete destruction of the old Moorish culture of the Sultanate. Its leaders were executed or fled to Spain or North Africa. The Moroccan Moroccans were also forced to convert to Roman Catholicism. The French ruled by decree with no constitution or parliament until after World War I. Morocco became a French colony with a new dynasty. The British continued their colonization of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in South Africa. In 1863, Great Britain agreed to annex the independent Orange Free State, and in 1877, it added the Zulu nation, called South Africa, to the British Empire. After the discovery of gold in 1872, the British and other whites flocked to Southern Africa, as Europeans were then called. In 1877, gold was discovered in the Transvaal and in 1889 diamonds were discovered near Griqualand West. These discoveries turned the Transvaal into a major supplier of minerals to the industrial world, making its fortunes. In the 1880s, white farmers and miners were massacred in the Great Trek by the Xhosa peoples. During a period of increasing tension between the Boers, who were English-speaking whites, and the blacks who they called the “wild” Xhosa people, a British garrison was sent to occupy the Transvaal. In 1894 a new republic was created out of the former Cape Colony. It changed its name to the Union of South Africa in 1910. The British also founded two new provinces in Canada, called Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) was a war between France and Germany and was a continuation of the tensions of the Franco-Austrian War of 1859. At the beginning of the war, France was besieged at Sedan by the German army led by Prince Napoleon. On September 1, 1870, Paris fell and Napoleon III was taken prisoner. A month later, the French agreed to peace terms and, after a revolution in the south, the French monarchy was abolished. France gave up her possessions in Algeria and Morocco and a large piece of France’s territory on the eastern frontier was ceded to the German empire. These events had a major impact on the African continent. The Arabs, who controlled most of North Africa, were defeated by France, and France forced the Egyptians to recognize the rule of Khedive Ismaʿil Pasha in 1871. The khedive controlled a state in the Nile Valley, known as the “Sudd,” a region of wetlands so extensive that Ismaʿil was only able to reach Khartoum in Sudan in 1878. France’s control of Algeria was challenged by the Rif Revolt in 1871-1874. This rebellion would lead to the formation of a modern state in Morocco. In 1875 the Zulus attacked a British outpost. The British, who had no warships in southern Africa, asked France for assistance. France sent troops but they were defeated at the Battle of Ulundi on July 4, 1879. After this defeat, French military force was removed from southern Africa. As Germany had annexed Alsace-Lorraine in 1871, a group of German nationals were invited by the government to come to South Africa to help establish European settlements, especially in the agricultural areas of the province of Transvaal. The German “Transvaal Boers,” as they called themselves, started to settle in the Transvaal. In 1877 they founded the city of Pretoria. The government of President Paul Kruger was pro-German and opposed British rule, especially after the assassination of British officers and officials. The Transvaal and the Orange Free State became a German sphere of influence, with their own representative government. British influence in Southern Africa also weakened because the South African Republic, as South Africa was known, had lost control of its gold and diamond deposits in the Witwatersrand. Under President Kruger, the government purchased the mines from Cecil Rhodes, who had formed his own company in the 1870s, and founded the De Beers mining company in 1888. Great Britain used the Boers as an excuse to create an army that would suppress the “Afrikaner revolt” and gain control of the Cape. This became a pretext for the Zulu War (1877-1878), also known as the Second Anglo-Zulu War, also known as the “Thousand Days War.” In 1878 the Portuguese lost a war with the Moors (Muslims) of Tetuan, in the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco, and in 1879 the same people revolted against their rulers. In 1880 Morocco was incorporated into the Spanish Empire, though the Spanish occupation was not successful. In 1881-1882 the French established their authority in Algeria. In 1882 the Zulus defeated a British force. This event increased European hostility toward the Zulu people. The British government attempted to strengthen its position by building forts to guard its new possessions in the South Atlantic and in central Africa and by extending its control over the Cape of Good Hope, as well as by establishing the British colony of Natal in South Africa in 1843. In 1899 another British colony, Transvaal (South Africa), was formed. The Boer Wars resulted in the expansion of British influence. Algeria’s French rulers were concerned that Germany was trying to take away its colonies in the Atlantic. Germany claimed it owned the Atlantic coast of Africa, as well as the region of West Africa bordering on the Niger River. By the 1880s a number of European countries had gained territory by expansion, while others had lost their overseas possessions, as a result of wars. In particular, Spain’s efforts to defend its empire had led to its defeat. By 1888 Great Britain had established a protectorate over Egypt. The development of railroads and steam ships and the economic demands of industrialized nations changed the balance of world power and led to the decline of European empires. An important development was that of modern arms and the use of military technology. The invention of the Maxim gun by a British engineer, Hiram Maxim, produced the first weapon of “firepower.” A weapon that could kill dozens or hundreds of people with one shot, it enabled armies to crush opponents. The advent of air power in the late 1890s and flight in the early twentieth century further increased the power of the military. Railroad and steel ship construction and industrial development in Europe and the United States also had a major impact on economic development. In the 1890s a series of economic crises in Europe, which culminated in the Wall Street crash of September, 1873, caused economic depression in the Western World. Industrial production fell drastically and governments were forced to introduce budget cuts in spending and the raising of taxes. The economic crises produced political conflicts, which resulted in radical social and economic programs. In Britain a government led by Prime Minister William Gladstone introduced the old age pension in 1883. Gladstone also raised taxes to create greater equality. In 1884 Gladstone’s government extended the franchise to most men, including some who had previously been excluded because they were property owners. In 1887 the Reform Acts were passed, granting the vote to most men in the United Kingdom. The Liberal government lost the election in that year, but was re-elected in 1892. The Reform Act limited the franchise to men with a certain annual income and excluded the children of wealthy men. The Liberal government decided to pass the Redistribution Act in 1893, in which parliamentary seats were redistributed among the British colonies, including the creation of the Canadian and South African legislatures. During the 1890s socialist programs and movements began to take root, particularly in Germany and Russia. Radical parties called “Marxists” also began to emerge. In Russia many groups formed secret societies called “socialists,” and in Britain and Germany “Communists.” Marx’s ideas of class warfare were taken up and used by leaders like the German Friedrich Engels, who was of a different religious persuasion than Marx. In the United States the followers of Thomas Paine were of a different religious persuasion than those of the