The Decline Of The European Empires

The geographical advantages of Eurasia allowed civilizations to develop productive agriculture, and domesticated animals as a result the Europeans had food surplus, developed immunity to epidemic diseases, and forged steel. These inherited advantages allowed them to decimate other civilizations and appropriate their resources making them even more powerful.

European imperialism during 1450-1750, began as a plan to gain more riches for the European nations. The Europeans did this for three main reasons, which were for God, Gold, and Glory. The Europeans domination over Latin America, Africa and Asia were made out to be good for the native people of these lands. However, the Europeans were not there to help these geographic areas. They were there to spread their influence and gain riches for themselves and the European nations. The successes and failures of the Europeans and non Europeans would decide their relationship status for as long as they could co-exist.

During the European age of expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, various European nations were colonizing the newly discovered Americas. Spain and France would become prominent players in the Western Hemisphere, both conquering and colonizing new territories. However, each country had different methods of developing their colonies in the New World. Spanish and French settlements contrasted greatly with one another in terms of economic development and Native American relations.

Europeans sought out lands that provided new sources of raw materials, cheap labor, markets, areas of investment, and military boosters. As European nations became competitive with one another, there was an increased pressure to practice Imperialism to maintain power. New Imperialism was motivated greatly by the Industrial Revolution and its advancements, and efficiency of manufacturing and supplying products. European nations also focused on opening trade routes that would give them places to sell their goods. Also significant was the Europeans desire to Christianize and “civilize” other nations through missionary work and the enforcement of European cultures and beliefs. The new Imperialism brought on social changes as well. Many people urged the taking up of the “White Man’s Burden”, bringing the European version of civilization to the rest of the world, regardless whether they wanted it or not.

Chau’s thesis that the rise and fall of empires was due to tolerance, inclusion, difference, and diversity is shown to be true of the Roman Empire because of the way that tolerance allowed and caused the empire to rise, enter its golden age, and fall. The Roman Empire was a “hyperpower” that lasted from 44 BCE to 476 CE. The empire contained Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe, along with North Africa; thus, there was an abundance of culture from many different conquered groups. Romans wanted to make these conquered nations provinces of Rome. The Roman Empire began (and the Roman Republic ended) with the assassination of Julius Caesar, who wanted to be a dictator. No longer a republic, the lands already ruled by Rome became part of an empire. The government became centralized with a single ruler, the emperor. However, even before the empire, during the Republic, there was also the similar feeling of wanting to conquer other nations was there.

They would go get new raw materials, so they would be able to sell to a new market of people. Secondly, both the Americans and Europeans were both strong in nationalism, which led to competition between countries which made the people of these countries go out and look for areas that they can conquer. Racism was also a factor in Imperialism. Americans and the Europeans and their white race felt they were the best in the world and thought what they stood for was the best, so they wanted

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

The European empires colonized the Americas, so they had to cross the Atlantic ocean to get there. This gave them more goods to trade with because the Americas had different natural resources than Europe and Asia. The empires without colonies had faster trade because there wasn’t that great distance but the new things they needed they got from the empires with colonies in the Americas. The empires with the colonies in America had the advantage. The European Empires were also different from the Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires in that Europe hurt the unintentionally natives of the land they took over while the other empires did not.

Europeans were in a much closer proximity to the Americas than they were to asian countries. European societal groups, which included the competing merchants, impoverished nobles, monarchs, and commoners, Christian missionaries, and minorities different yet very strong motivations for having participation in empire building. European trading companies enabled the mobilization of both material resources like wood and crops as well as humans. The Disease in the Americas that had been brought by spanish conquerors made the natives weak and unable to stop the European invasion

This decade portrays the exploration of the Europeans to the American colonies which allowed England, France, Holland, Spain, and British to colonize with other lands and obtain power by expanding their territory. Nevertheless, England rose as the country with the dominant colonial power. Throughout this decade, the demand for silver and other valued items influenced trade globally by commercializing and strengthening European trade. In addition, the desire for power and control enriched the economy of the Europeans. The rise of European colonization also shaped cultural globalization since traders established various ethnic societies in foreign regions. European explorers were to stop at nothing in order to achieve success in expanding their

Competitions between European empires sparked conflicts in many relationships among various people in North America. One of the main competitions was between the Dutch and the French. The Dutch and the French both had a big interest in the furs that the Natives were selling, and were willing to go to any extent to outbid the opponent. Evidence at the bottom of page 96 to the top of page 97 shows that the Indians would force this competition. “Just as the French adapted to Indian trade protocols, Indians began to think of the goods as commodities with negotiable prices. They learned never to trade with the first vessel to come their way but to await several to compete for their furs”(96-97). This created a competition between the two countries,

Unlike that of China, the decline of Rome was much more upsetting having a much larger impact on the surrounding world. The Decline and fall of the Mediterranean and Chinese civilizations was a result of population decrease, weak government, a frail economy, and invasion. The causes of the imperial collapse in Rome and Greece(The Mediterranean region)with the causes of imperial collapse in the East Asia during the period 600 BCE toward 600 CE has had an remarkable achievements but those same achievements have caused them into decline. A combination of these causes sparked the slow decline of these once great empires..

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late fifth century plunged Europe into a long period of darkness and barbarism. This era until the dawn of the ‘age of discovery’ in the sixteenth century was later termed to be the ‘Middle Ages’. While this epoch of European history is labeled as ‘middle’ or even ‘dark’, it was during this time that many social, political and cultural developments took place. The obliteration of the great Roman Empire left Europe prey for disunity and continuous foreign invasion and migration. From Scotland to the alps of Sicily a prayer emerged in the ninth century, “Save us, O God, from the violence of the Northmen”. Now known as Vikings, these northmen were pagan Germanic people from Norway, Sweden and Denmark that often went on raids and harassed isolated monasteries and villages throughout the continent. Similarly peoples known as Magyars from central Europe looted settlements took captives and forced leaders to pay tribute to prevent further attacks. Muslims from North Africa already ruled most of Spain and continued northward towards central Italy and southern France. The expansion of Islam continued on into the tenth and eleven centuries during the times of the Fatimid Caliphate and the Seljuk Turks. The centuries before the first crusade were one of terror and chaos from a European or Christian perspective. People were frightened that their world was slowly coming to an end, overrun by pagans and Muslims. This fear combined with

Empires were not simply created from a day to another. There is huge number of factors that contribute to the development of an empire. The history of the world has seen a tremendous number of empires form. However, it has also seen a great amount of them fall apart and eventually disappear. An empire can fall into one of the two paths, developing completely into a stable and long-lasting empire that has a powerful army, a strong central government, and freedom of religion or turning into a short-lasting empire and collapsing.

The one constant theme from any period in history we examine seems to be that of change. As Europe began to take shape, it did so with an expansion and contraction rate that was dramatically impacted by changes in political organizations, positive and negative economic forces, and through shifts in social structure. The path to the creation of the European empires was a long and tedious journey. Sixth century feudalism gave way to the creation of a central authority. The thirteenth century was scarred by the Black Death but it brought about economic changes that would resonate well into the Renaissance period of the fifteenth century. Nation-states began their formation as the need for a centralized government dictated. With each step