Imperialism Analysis

Imperialism is the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. It occurred in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century. Nationalism had produced strong, centrally governed nation-states. The Industrial Revolution had made economies stronger as well, with growing need for raw resources that continental European countries didn’t have. During this time, European industrialized nations became more aggressive into expanding into other lands. Despite the massive gains in land and resources, because of the economic and humanitarian costs, in the eyes of the conquerors, imperialism wasn’t justified.

Several forces stimulated imperialism. Imperialism arose from a complex mixture of political, economic and social forces one of the forces were a desire for self-sufficiency. These two poems had a strong nature of imperialism in them. Kipling's poem was focusing on white people and how they handled all the problems. Unfortunately this was not the case. As said

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, Europeans developed a superiority complex when comparing themselves to the people of less-developed nations. During the age of imperialism, many European powers ventured into Asian, African, and South American lands in order to colonize and impose the rules of Western society. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden”, properly depicted the racist ideals that developed with imperialism, as Europeans believed it was their duty to civilize the people they viewed as savages. Europeans held a racially superior point of view for almost an entire century. In the latter half of the twentieth century, however, waves of immigrants began flooding into various European nations. This caused the perception

With the late 19th century came a great change in the ideas of expansionism in the United States, but also a continuation of its ideals. The idea of imperialism, where the United States would extend its power around the globe, stood in contrast with the original Manifest Destiny ideal of the 1840s and 1850s when America was expanding west from ‘sea to shining sea.’ However, the inherent social and cultural sentiments were still present in the late 19th century expansionism, though the economic and political purposes had changed.

What were some of the political, economic, social, intellectual, and military factors that explained the sudden increase in the pace and importance of European imperialism in the late 19c? The essential impetus was the Industrial Revolution which led to a search for (and control of) sources of raw materials and captive markets to sell manufactured goods, and become a world power with the most colonies and most money.

6. Nationalism can be both a unifying and disunifying force in many different ways. One way nationalism was a unifying force was that it brought people together who were not loyal to the king and did not want him to rule. Many of these people we known as liberals and radicals. Since they were not loyal to their kings they were instead loyal to their people or to those that they shared a common bond with. Nationalism was also able to unify masses of people. Specifically nationalism was able to unify the country of Italy when nationalist in Italy had looked for leadership form from the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Italian states, Piedmont-Sardinia. Another country that was also unified by nationalism in the mid-1800's was the country

In history, colonization was a truly popular tradition practiced by great and powerful empires in order to extract and retrieve all materials necessary to support their homeland. However, in order to achieve such sense of commerce and well-being, those colonists who had the power, had to colonize weaker and far less advanced societies. Great powers such as Britain and France would then travel to these societies and implement their rule in order to gain prosperity. Some, those who benefited from colonization, felt that the practice of colonization was an obligation to better the “uncivilized,” societies and help them advance, but the emotional and physical hurt that came from colonizing outweighed the positive aspects. The intention was good, but the manner in which colonization was carried out was poor. This topic is immensely controversial that pieces such as Kipling’s poem, “A White Man’s Burden,” and Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” have been written in order to support or go against colonization. But despite much debate, colonization has been a tradition that has caused those regions being colonized much struggle and negativity.

Imperialism has been one of the most powerful forces in human history, serving to set the foundation of our modern world. While this has led to the formation of a global society where cultures, ideas, and innovations are spread across countries, imperialism has also left a history of exploitation, racism, and violence that is still affecting the world today. Imperial relationships are always imbalanced when it comes to power and influence; that is, one group (known as the metropole) maintains authority and control over another group (known as the periphery) with economic, political, and cultural dominance (Spiegel 2012). There are many reasons why one group chooses to dominate the other, such as expanding territory, extracting raw resources to fuel economic development, or to spread their beliefs (i.e. religion) (Spiegel 2012). In spite of these varied reasons, one of the main motivators for imperialism began with competition between empires.

“Take up the White Man's burden / Send forth the best ye breed / Go bind your sons to exile / To serve your captives' need,” (1-4) starts the poem written by Rudyard Kipling who is aiming to convince the United States to undertake imperialism under the guise of assisting and helping the savage indigenous people of Africa and East Asia. The nineteenth and early twenty centuries was the time of new imperialism where Europeans took up the white man’s burden, the idea that it was the European’s duty to civilize the “savages.” Europeans broadened their colonies, motivated by economic reasons to grow markets and to prove strength following the rise of social darwinism. European expansion left lasting impacts on, most recognizably, Africa.

He supported the imperialist aim that, "Westerners shouldered the responsibility for governing and converting the supposed savages under charge and strove to remake them superior European models"(Mckay, 809). The hope was that these primitive nonwhite people would eventually benefit from imperialism and modern achievements and higher levels of living (Mckay, 810). The white man's burden was to " send forth the best yet breed-" the brightest white men to go over to these under-performing primitive countries and work hard at converting and modernizing theses evil and immature people Kipling refers to as,"Half devil and half child"(Mckay et al., 810). Kipling's poem makes a case for imperialism by telling the Europeans it is their moral obligation. It was a burden because the task would it be easy.

Europeans contained the belief that their customs and religious values were the sole method in living. Missionaries from throughout Europe desired to journey to foreign lands in order to teach the civilized and Christian ways of living to the natives. Often missionaries were in competition for converts, and thus supplied imperialism with other drives (Patterson, par. 10). The Social Darwinist ideas were prevalent in this time. The Europeans believed in the survival of the fittest, and it was generally accepted that the Anglo-Saxons were the superior race. In the 1890’s Rudyard Kipling published “Whiteman’s Burden”. This poem defines the white man as responsible for civilizing the “others”. It is supportive of the imperialism of other countries

     Throughout American History the U.S. has sought to expand its boundaries. This need increased greatly during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the start of the industrial revolution. This Expansion was a big departure from earlier attempts to expand the boundaries of the U.S. The needed for Natural resources forced the U.S to look for places that could supply them with the natural resources they needed and markets where they could sell their goods in. The need to imperialize caused the U.S. to look to foreign places to gain resources to better the nations industries.

Rudyard Kipling’s attitude towards the British Empire was significantly negative. The novella essentially expressed Kipling’s feelings towards British Imperialism and his overall frustration with the British Empire. However, there are several positive qualities of the Empire pointed out by Kipling several times throughout his novella. Despite his mixed feelings, he is ultimately dissatisfied with the British Empire, claiming that it is “the White Man’s Burden”. Kipling was a steadfast imperialist, living in a time of British domination and oppression. He shared similar outlooks with the natives, that the majority of them were oppressed by the government and the wealthy. The upper class was greedy and wanted working men to do all of the work for them so that they could reap the profits. Kipling conveys his attitude towards British Imperialism through parallelism and figurative language.

However, some westerners actually genuinely thought that they should help and westernize the inferior countries of the world. The British went into Africa, thinking that it was their duty to spread their advances of medicine, law, western civilization, and the Christian religion. This was proved to be embraced in the "anthem of imperialism," called the White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling. He expressed in the poem that the duty of the "white man" was to teach and help the people who they cast the inferior rank to. However, it is hard to believe that this was Britain's most important goal in their imperialism.

     In one of his most famous poems, Rudyard Kipling said, "Take up the white man's burden!" (146). He was only one of many who believed in the virtues of imperialism in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. During that period, imperialism was on the rise, and Africa was being swallowed up by competing European nations. The imperialists had many arguments supporting imperialism. They said it was beneficial and, in some cases, essential. Their arguments did not satisfy everyone, but that did not bother them. The justifications ranged from economics to social services, while touching on everything else in between (Hayes 222-3).