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AP Success - AP European History: 'The White Man's Burden' Ideology

Source 1

"Take up the White Man's burden -

    Send forth the best ye breed -

Go bind your sons to exile

    To serve your captives' need;

To wait in heavy harness

    On fluttered folk and wild -

Your new-caught sullen peoples,

    Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden -

    In patience to abide

To veil the threat of terror

    And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

    An hundred times made plain,

To seek another's profit,

    And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden -

    The savage wars of peace -

Fill full the mouth of famine

    And bid the sickness cease;

And when your goal is nearest

    The end for others sought,

Watch Sloth and heathen Folly

    Bring all your hopes to nought."

Rudyard Kipling, "The White Man's Burden," 1900

Question 1

Multiple choice

The poem 'The White Man's Burden' by Rudyard Kipling is most closely associated with which of the following historical concepts?

The promotion of pacifism
The advocacy of women's suffrage
The justification of imperialism
The defense of absolute monarchy

Question 2

Multiple choice

Which of the following best reflects the perspective of the speaker in 'The White Man's Burden' regarding the people they are colonizing?

They are respected for their advanced technology and culture.
They are seen as equals and partners in progress.
They are considered capable of self-government without external help.
They are viewed as uncivilized and in need of guidance.

Question 3

Multiple choice

The phrase 'savage wars of peace' in the poem 'The White Man's Burden' most likely refers to which of the following?

The internal struggles within European nations over the morality of imperialism
The cultural exchanges between colonizers and the indigenous populations
The peaceful negotiations between European powers over colonial territories
The military conflicts involved in establishing and maintaining colonial control

Question 4

Multiple choice

The call to 'Fill full the mouth of famine / And bid the sickness cease' in Kipling's poem suggests that imperialists believed they had a responsibility to:

Allow the colonized peoples to solve their own problems without interference.
Promote religious conversion among the colonized peoples as the primary goal.
Address the basic needs and improve the welfare of the colonized peoples.
Exploit the natural resources of the colonies for the benefit of the mother country.

Question 5

Multiple choice

The tone of 'The White Man's Burden' and its portrayal of colonial subjects would most likely have been used by anti-imperialists to:

Criticize the paternalistic and dehumanizing attitudes of imperialists.
Argue for the strategic importance of maintaining a global empire.
Highlight the successful cultural assimilation of colonized peoples.
Support the economic benefits of imperialism for the colonizing nation.

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