Comparison Of New Imperialism And World War I

Imperialism is the policy of extending the role of authority of a nation over a foreign country, usually in material gain. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States went through an era of imperialism. At the time, the US was quite powerful, but was looking to continue to spread their territory, make themselves even stronger, and have multiple trade routes to have all the resources they needed and wanted.

One factor that suggests imperialism led to the outbreak of WWI is the competitive nature of countries when it came to their search for new resources, land, and markets. As Professor Simmons pointed out during lecture, the finite nature of land and such would eventually cause conflict over the possessions of other countries. Another important factor is public opinion, which “created a pro-imperialist mood” (Barth, 4) and worsened the relations among the Great Powers. The governments of these countries were pressured into expanding their colonial territories by “strong and effective colonial pressure groups” (4), though the public was not always happy with those decisions. This caused tensions between the countries involved to arise; an example from Barth’s text is the conflict among the British and the Germans during the Anglo-Boer War (4,5).

New Imperialism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries compared to Old Imperialism of the 16th and 17th centuries. Imperialism is the spread of control over territories across the globe. The Industrial Revolution and interests in nationalism created a new period of imperialism around 1750. Old imperialism lasted from 1450- 1750, but imperialism alone remained until 1914.Old imperialism and new imperialism shared the same basic concept of controlling and utilizing foreign countries. Old imperialism focused mainly on systems of trade while new imperialism took bolder steps to overtaking nations. Old Imperialism was the period from 1450-1750

The 19th and 20th century imperialism was substantially about the exploitation of the empires colonies and thus was not a necessarily an ‘civilizing mission’. During the 19th and 20th century European powers tried to justify their actions, by claiming that they were trying to re-educate the native population through education, this included Christian missionaries which were placed throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, it became apparent that these powers gained significant wealth by commercializing items that could not be obtained otherwise. Two key examples of imperialism in the 19th and 20th century includes the Belgium Congo whereby Leopold II gained significant wealth through rubber plantations and the British

Between 1870 and 1920, the European nations took the use of imperialism due to economic, political, and social forces to control the less-developed locations of the world. Economical forces used the need for raw materials for a reason to take locations. Social forces such as racism, thinking that themselves, the Europeans were better than whomever they were taking over. Political forces used militarism more often than not to take the less-developed locations of the world. The use of economical, political, and social forces were all important during the rise of imperialism during the 1870s through 1920s due to the humanitarianism (used in both political and social forces), racism, and the market through world trade with the need for militarism.

Nations formed national identities through, compelling diverse people and regions to accept unified network of laws, administration, time zones, natural markets, and language "Nations and Empires, 1850-1914"(pg.630). The nation-building of nationalism and the acquisition of new territories of the imperialism were parallel to one another. The quest for new land was normal, and it made it easy for the different culture of people and different types of goods to travel around the world. During these times, many people left their homeland in search for better opportunities. The Japanese move to Brazil, Indians to South Africa and to the Carribean, Chinese to California and Italians to New York and Buenos Aires(pg.630). Many nations formed. The United

Lastly, politics and fighting for the highest power affected imperialism. “The political impetus derived from the impact of...power struggles [w/in] Europe and competition for preeminence [in Europe], Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were competing for power…” (Document R). More power means a country can take control and demand their necessities.“The economic motive is by no means to be dismissed but alongside of it there evidently was another one, not so easy to define but none the less real - the power complex - sheer love of power” (Document M). Along with economics, which is still a big factor, politics and being powerful afflicted conflict over

The era from 1450 CE to 1900 CE encompasses two periods in history. The early modern period between 1450 and 1750 CE is characterized by the age of commercial revolution and the beginning of European dominance. The second period between 1750 and 1900 CE represents an era of Atlantic and Industrial Revolutions as well as the Age of Imperialism. During both these periods, British domination based on sea trade, colonization, and major land-based empires in Asia impacted long-distance trade and shaped economic conditions in North America and China.

Imperialism is when a country of rich power overtakes a debilitated government. In the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. Imperialism started towards the end of the Industrial Revolution because of the lack of natural materials and resources in their own territory. During the period of imperialism, many European countries created vast empires from overthrowing governments in Africa and the Middle East. France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal were the main countries involved in overtaking territory. An effect from the age of Imperialism was the affection of World War I. Besides the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria/Hungary in 1914 was Imperialism, Imperialism caused conflict over territory. Soon Imperialism was so out of control that the countries were going to war over who they were going to overthrow. Imperialism also had an effect on the warfare during World War 1 because the countries used their claimed land as prime military bases during the war.

Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism.  It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.

In the 1900’s Europe believed that they had the most power over the world hands down. By the end of the four year war in 1918 they were sadly mistaken, losing roughly 10 million soldiers and more than 20 million injured, Europe was rethinking their claims. This war was sparked from the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The war lasted four years long between 1814 and 1918. European countries were in a dilemma they couldn't get out of.

Imperialism can be described as the idea of dominating another nation and exerting your control over them. Most of the African and East Asian countries were conquered by the European empires. In 1917, Germany called “England, the bloodsucker of the world” in (Doc F). This shows how imperial countries think of each other and the tension there is between them. Explain the significance of this, how does it relate to your argument In a political cartoon made by Germany, they made an octopus representing Britain, colonizing large portions of the world. The British Octopus with their tentacles and they are all around the world but each tentacle is like its own beak it sucks all the resources available from that territory. This demonstrates the kind of power imperial counties had over the colonial countries and how they highly benefiting themselves throughout the process.revise sentence This caused World War I because as empires competed for the land they were also gaining more power causing tension to a neighboring country, so they would start imperializing for themselves to compete for that land and build their empire. The population of the colonial empires in 1913 was Britain in first with a population of 400 million colonies, France with 56 million, Germany with 12 million, and Russia with 0 that was because they were expanding their

Moreover, Imperialism required weapons to maintain the control. All European expedentures from 1908 to 1913 had a competition of nations, and lead to rival nations forming alliances to better be equipped for defense with better military. When more weapons were created it had caused tensions to rise. In 1911 France tried to take over Morocco, Britain feared that Kaiser wanted to set up a naval base in Agadir. Later on, a conference was held and the British and French pointed their fingers at Germany. France took control of Morocco and Germany. This lead directly to Militarism. Militarism had not only done that but, it also made it increasingly hard to upkeep with all the changes going on. Not surprisingly, it was a significant cause of World War one because Kaiser was humiliated and could have felt determined to fight Britain and France earlier as an act of Revenge. Also, it would require militarism to defeat

The driving force behind European Imperialism was national competition because it is the cause of all of the other driving reasons. As a result of national competition, it creates an arms race, it also requires the countries to have more money and resources, and the people believe their country should be better than the next. Technology may had an incredible effect on the Africans, however, the reason the European countries had that technology is because they always want to beat the other country. Moreover, you cannot have more power and technology if you do not have the money or resources to make or buy the supplies. Lastly, this competition can lead to national pride and more nationalists that push the government to more imperialism and colonization.

    As Imperialism developed during the 19th century so did nationalism. The idea of building nation-states engulfed the globe which closely became linked to imperialism. As nationalism was beginning to be built, expansion was required for the process of nation building which brought that idea of imperialism. Throughout the 19th century imperialism became a facilitated widespread movement as mentioned in the textbook Worlds Together, Worlds Apart which also allowed for different countries and places to experience and to be taught different things that weren’t available to them without imperialism.