His 114 Paper

Prior to World War I, Britain was the most imperialistic country in the world. The British Empire occupied more than a quarter of the world, which spread over five continents and France controlled most of Africa. Because of this control the rivalry with Germany and Italy had increased, they decided they wanted a colonial empire also.

The 1800s were a time of change in the world. Industry and imperialism became the main focus of many nations, no nation more than Great Britain. Britain already being a world power, lead the charge of industry throughout the world, using their far superior technology at the time to imperialize and colonize almost any nation that would benefit them. Britain was the workshop of the world and required an abundance of raw materials to fuel their industry. After losing a majority of its land in the west to American independence, Britain turned its attention to the east. Britain expanded to Africa and India both full of resources, and both full of people with different cultures, customs, and religions. When the British colonized these new lands, they changed things. Britain advanced the land and the territories greatly in terms of technology and society, it came at the expense of the native peoples.

Prior to the 19th century imperialism of both Africa and Asia, revolutions and changes of territories led the Europeans to colonize these continents. The industrial revolution was a major impact to new imperialism. This revolution raised Europe’s economy and forced them to find new opportunities to sell the goods they have produced. Also, the change and loss of territories around the world meant a decline of power for Europe, and yet another reason to imperialize. The 19th century imperialism of Africa and Asia was caused by the industrial revolution because of goods, resources, and new markets in their countries. The industrial revolution also influenced imperialism based on the military and technological advances, such as the invention of

England's colonial increased majorly. Causing Germany to catch fear. At this point England was the largest colonial empire. England wants to remain strong and never again become the slaves of humanity. This all caused alliances to help create balance of power between groups of nations that helped keep

France and England created an alliance because they both feared Germany’s naval strength and supremacy. Despite claiming it was defensive in nature, it spread east and eventually, other countries were involved. Since Austria-Hungary and Germany were in dispute over the assassination, they became involved too. Therefore, alliance systems played a significant role in the outbreak of the war. Since these countries. became involved in

The economic motives that were responsible for the new imperialism was the desire for raw materials such as coal, iron, and cooper. Asia and Africa were a main target to get these materials from and trade to. According to Imperialism and World Politics, the makers of cotton, iron, telegraphs and railways were strengthened by the higher demand of industries for raw materials (Document 1). Another economic force that was necessary for the new imperialism was expansion, according to American Senator A. J. Beveridge, the Americans surplus of goods brought on the idea of the expansion of the market, and therefore, expansion was necessary to keep up with the high demand (Document 2). According to the map provided in document 9, Africa was an easy target by strong countries such as Great Britain because of the fact that Africa had many raw materials. The main motive behind political forces was the fact that European nations were involved in rivalries and were competing for power. The political reasons that were responsible for the new imperialism were the strategies. According to The Century of Total War, the true cause for imperialism was political

During the 1700’s through the 1900’s empires like France and Britain began to take over land in various continents and turned them into colonies. Although Britain and France saw this as a positive thing, the colonies proved to be difficult to control. Today it is hard to tell if the acquisition of these colonies was more beneficial or detrimental to their respective motherlands. Britain was the first European nation to imperialize. This is because England is an island and was running out of natural resources, and with growing population, there was no way to tell when England would run out of resources. Britain also had the world’s strongest navy. This brought up the idea to imperialize. Some other reasons for imperialism was the desire for

Industrialization added to Britain’s desire for raw materials and new markets and the British were motivated by this desire and looked for colonies to obtain. Adopting the policy of imperialism was economically beneficial for Britain, since it helped supply Britain with raw materials for industrial development, along with cheap food for Britain’s developing population. Britain chose to become imperialistic, because it would bring them prudent and economic benefits.

Within the NO portion the author states several things to support that imperialistic rule by Britain was not primarily economic. Industrial Europe required a highly specialized world, in which some areas would produce food for its industrial proletariat, others would produce raw materials for the industrial process, and the entire world would constitute a market for industrial goods. But to achieve this Europe needed to recast the world in its own image, to create the same infrastructures and similar institutions that would permit resources to be exploited and trade conducted (MacKenzie 99). This shows that imperialistic rule by Britain and other European nations was not solely economic but more so a way to gain materials, trade materials, and expand their cultures and receive outside cultural influence through imperialistic rule rather than using imperialistic

     Every imperialistic nation has a motive for expansion. Military, materialism, and missionary are three of the biggest motives foe expansion that imperialistic countries use to expand their borders. Conquests

An imperial government must protect its own territories while expanding it as well. If another power gets a territory, they gain that land’s resources, meaning more power. Due to this, each European power perceived other powers trying to expand as a threat to their security and prestige. This results in every European power to seek out new territories. A prime exemplar of this is the Fashoda Crisis. France wanted control of the Nile, but that would mean excluding Britain from it (Tusan, The Scramble for Africa III, October 30th). In the end, France backed off because it needed to be on friendly terms with Britain in case of a war against Germany. Instead of fighting over a valuable trade route, France decided the safety of the country was more important if war does happen with Germany. As a result, Britain’s control in Egypt was asserted.

The cultural ties to empire are not so easy to efface as the political ones. This is perhaps one of the most important lessons the world has learned from the mass movement towards independence on the part of European colonies in the past half-century. Even we Americans, more than two hundred years after having rejected the British monarchy and all it stands for, are forever poking our noses in the

Before the Europeans began the New Imperialism in Africa, very little was known about the inner parts of the continent. However, after some explorers delved deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans soon realized how economically important this area was, and how much they could profit from it. At the time, Britain had only small occupations of land in Africa, but after they realized that they could make money from the rich resources from the inner regions of Africa, they wanted to invade the African countries and take over. This led to the scramble and ultimately, the partition of Africa. During the Age of Imperialism, from 1870-1914, Britain was a major country, which proved to be true

 The late 19th century imperialistic mentality brought many countries into heated conflicts. The two biggest players, before the Berlin Conference, were France and Britain (Bennett 67). These two rivals had been among the first to take interest in colonies in Africa. The British, by 1880, were mainly located in South Africa (51). They had annexed South Africa way back in 1815, mainly because of the strategic importance it held for trade to British India (69). At first, the British did not observe a great reason for expansion. By 1880, the "economical advantages" began to present themselves more clearly (Hugon 30).

Many, on the other hand, blame the flaws in the world's alliance systems for the war. Development of political and military alliances caused tension and hostility among nations leading up to World War I. Two major alliance systems developed due to conflicting national interests, which had been evident during the past two decades throughout Europe. These were the 'Triple Alliance' of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy and the 'Triple Entente' of Britain, France and Russia. Also several smaller countries became indirectly involved in the alliances, which effectively divided Europe into two 'Armed Camps'. Russia pledged to support Serbia in order to prevent further Austrian-Hungarian expansion into the Balkans. Germany stated its support for Austria-Hungary and Britain had given its support for Belgium's independence in 1839. However, historians such as A. J. P. Taylor argue that 'Pre 1914 alliances were so precarious and fragile that they cannot be seen as the major cause of war'. This points to the fact that it should also be stressed that even a formal alliance in 1914 did not guarantee support for war, therefore not being a significant factor.