Cecil John Rhodes Influence On American Imperialism

Cecil John Rhodes is a famous English Imperialist who was born on July 5 1853 and died at Muizenberg, Cape Town, on March 26 in 1902. Rhodes had a large family with consisted of nine brothers, two sisters. He was the fifth son of Francis William Rhodes and his second wife, Louisa Peacock. He was a very educated man who attended the grammar school at Bishops Stortford as well as attended he established his own school Rhodes University. He fell ill shortly after leaving school and, as his lungs were affected, it was decided that he should visit his brother who had recently immigrated to Natal. He arrived in Durban on 1 September 1870. He brought three thousand pounds his aunt had lent him and used it to invest in diamond diggings in Kimberley.
Rhodes established many political philosophies and one that was actually implemented was British Imperialism. Rhodes believed that the Anglo-Saxons were the best race therefore they had every right to colonize “negro nations” like South Africa. In 1887 Rhodes told the House of Assembly in Cape Town “the native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise. We must adopt a system of despotism in our relations with the barbarians of South Africa”. These theories established by Rhodes were welcomed by the British population both in the Country and in South Africa. They also helped Rhodes become the Prime Minister of the Cape.

There were many political leaders all over the country and all with opposing views, the most popular ones being Paul Kruger and Cecil John Rhodes.
Paul Kruger (Oom Paul) was elected president of the Transvaal otherwise known as South African Republic (SAR) and Cecil John Rhodes became the premier of the Cape Colony in 1890. Rhodes was a British Imperialist who gained most of his fortune from mining South African Diamonds. He was also the creator of the British Imperial plan- which was to unite all South African states under the British Empire. Whilst Kruger was a supporter of Boer independence and his only goal was to maintain Boer Supremacy in the South African Republic- thus the two leaders were in direct conflict with each
other.

By the mid- 1890s the tension between the Boers and anti-republic imperialist grew stronger and Rhodes’ career took a disastrous turn in 1895.He, along with Leander Star Jameson, devised a plan that would defeat his Boer opponent, Paul Kruger.
This is known as The Jameson Raid. The raid took place during New Year weekend of 1895–96. The plan was to effectively topple the Kruger government by triggering an uprising by Uitlanders that would force British troops to enter the country in order to protect the lives of their British Citizens. This would then be followed by the British High Commissioner entering Pretoria in order to “prevent a civil war” and in doing so he would take possession of (annex) the Transvaal for Britain. Despite all the planning that went into this, the raid was complete and utter failure.

The raid was put into full force on December 29, 1895 when Leander Starr Jameson, who Rhodes had appointed as the leader of the raid, became impatient and decided to rally his force as well as the supporting Uitlanders into invading the Transvaal. Chamberlain as well as Sir Herbert Robinson (British High Commissioner of the time) were aware of the raid but did not foresee the disastrous outcomes of this plan. One the other hand, The National Union in Johannesburg lost interest in the raid and decided not to take action whilst Rhodes assumed that the raid had been called off and was shocked by Jameson’s
stunt.

Their plan completely back fired and instead of destroying Kruger’s Political career, they strengthen what looked a decline of Kruger’s Political Power. This resulted in, yet again, tension and distrust growing between the Boers and the British.

Disgraced- Rhodes was then forced to resign from all his offices, not only in the Cape government but also in the chartered company, and never fully redeemed himself. Rhodes’ involvement in the armed expedition amounted to a high-level imperial conspiracy. Britain was then faced with international criticism. They were being condemned for conspiring against an independent, European Christian state. Critics claimed that the raid “proved that Britain had no credible claim upon political morality or principled conduct”.

Besides Rhodes controversial history in South Africa, he has been given a lot of acknowledgement. There is a memorial in Rondebosch Western Cape that is a very large tourist attraction for many Europeans. It was built in 1912, 10 years after his death. Rhodes University was founded in 1904, one of the oldest university in South Africa named its school after the Controversial figure just 2 years after his passing. Prior to his death Rhodes established trust fund which was used to fund the running of Rhodes University.