Western civilization has had an enormous outsize impact on the wider world in the last two centuries, primarily through spreading western ideas and assumptions about society. The source of the capability of these western civilizations to impact other regions of the world comes from their political philosophies. The two political philosophies that have allowed western civilizations to have such an impact are Leninism and liberalism. Both of these political philosophies generate immense power for a nation, albeit liberalism generates power much slower than Leninism. It was these political philosophies that allowed Europe and the United States to develop into super powers capable of establishing dominance around the globe.
Another major source of this capability of powerful European nations to dominate the globe comes from the traditional nature of the regions they colonized. While Europe was developing strong governments and institutions, much of the rest of the world was still agricultural and had little to no development in terms of government. This is particularly true in Africa; the native people were loosely associated and couldn’t form strong nations or allyships to protect themselves and each other.
Perhaps as important as the capability of domination is the motivation for it; European imperialists sought colonization for a variety of reasons, the most important being natural resources. The need for raw materials and natural resources goes hand in hand with
After an elite revolution involving the advance of new technology and economy, global changes occurred. Capitalism, socialism, and nationalism were very popular before the fall of Africa, and before imperialism. With these ideas in mind, motivations like: the military, politics, demographic features, economics, and social classes had influence for the future of Africa and countries like Europe, Germany, and Russia were more powerful than Africa. Imperialism shaped when borders were opened, and authority was limited. A nation that is thriving on foreign trade and control outside its borders is more likely to imperialize. Europe’s acquisition towards African colonies in 1880 to 1914 included actions like the spread of religion , Africa’s lost
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.
Although Europe may have encountered a series of obstacles along the way, European countries collectively imperialized the entire country of Africa for many reasons. European countries seized land by utilizing technological advancements to their advantage, to gain power and rise above competing other European countries, and to spread their own culture and religion throughout Africa. European countries did technically compete with each other to conquer African land, but altogether each country eventually came together to take over the entire country. All of these reasons share one common factor: they only benefit the Europeans. From the way Europeans treated Africans and forcefully took over their country, it is clear that Europeans would destroy any other countries without hesitation to gain as much power as
Like in document 3 Raymond Aron says "One of the colonial undertakings was motivated by the quest for capitalist profits", which explains another cause for imperialism. Also in document 4 Cecil Rhodes says "..the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race", he's explaining the idea of spreading power. This idea is still applied to
For this reason, Pope Loe IX led other church officials in implementing reform efforts that would see ensure that the church could get back its lost power. For this reason, Pope Loe IX gave orders to the Roman Catholic clergy to dismiss the church officials that had taken part in selling church offices, and to renounce their wives (McKay et al., 2014). The orders were essential for ensuring that the church could control the corruption that was becoming rampant in the church. The measures were also essential for sending a message to the secular leaders, which was presumably an indication that they were working on regaining their lost power. After the death of Pope Leo, Gregory VII, Leo’s successor, continued with the reform work based on his ideological foundation (McKay et al., 2014). One of the reforms was the expelling of secular influence within church and the papal institution, which led to the expansion of the papal powers. such reforms solved the problems that the church was facing, which means that they were appropriate for the realization of the predetermined
Gaining complete dominance within a society can be viewed as a lion taking control over its land. These lions can be regarded as a powerful empire, as they live among other preys fighting for supremacy. In History it has been said that “A nation that did not expand would not survive” (American Passages, 529). Imperialism is a prime example of a group of prey fighting for sovereignty, within this land we come across the lions, otherwise known as the nations who control the prey and victimize them to gain complete dominance. Nations such as Japan, United Kingdome, United States, Germany and France were all living amongst themselves in this word fighting for the ultimate position in the game of imperialism. These leading nations took it upon themselves to find undeveloped nations and control certain aspects; they managed to do this because of their strong military base, as well as a stable economy. Although imperialism has been viewed in a negative way, many have seen positives aspects emerging from colonization. These include building roadways, canals and even railways for the underdeveloped nations; other examples include giving them an education system, and stabilizing their economy. That being said, the negative elements outgain the positive, these mother nations took advantage of their daughter nations, causing them to work for cheap labor and neglecting their natural born rights. These prevailing nations took it upon themselves to create a world
From the start, there were many beneficial reasons for a European nation to imperialize, and by far, one of the most appealing reasons to imperialize other nations was access to raw materials. By the late 1800s, many European nations were seeing rapid growth in industry and manufacturing, but did not have the resources within their continental borders
In the Mid-1800s the Europeans Imperialised Africa for three main reasons. Those reasons being Cultural, Political, and Economic. The Europeans were encouraged by all the resources, and a way to find a peaceful way to divide Africa up. What motive did the Europeans have about taking over Africa? The best motive for the Europeans was economic because they needed the natural resources for the benefits.
supplies, protected their interests, and conquered their enemies. Varying opinions exist as to the motives for
During the late 1800's the initial ideas of colonizing susceptible territories in Africa and monopolizing an area under one European colony is the main influence on European Imperialism. European countries were motivated by the abundance of new market and good, the growing competition between European countries to imperialize African countries, and the idea of social darwinism. The main European countries involved in the colonization of Africa were Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. While each of the countries had their own individual motivations that contributed to their roles in European Imperialism, they were all competing against each other which
colonization is compelled by predatory empowerment. The driving force behind european imperialism in africa was the trade of resources, and the power obtained from the competition of it.
Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.
Western Civilization from 1589 to 1914 had many specific changes that contributed to the structure of the western world before World War I. In the absolutism state sovereignty is embodied in the person of the ruler. Kings were absolute kings and were resposible to no none except god. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries absolute rulers had to respect the fundamental laws of their land. They had to control competing jurisdictions, institutions or groups that were interested in their territory. They regulated religious sects. France of Louis was the classic model of absolutism. Louis XIV, " the sun king," was a devoted Catholic who believed that god had estalblished kings as rulers on the earth. The French language and culture became
Going back to the 1860s, Africa was an unknown continent to many Europeans. Most Europeans only had colonies on the coastline, such as current day Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal etc. The only people to go into the interior of Africa was missionaries, reporters and traders. As people of Europe discover more about Africa, discoveries will begin the Scramble of Africa, an event in which very rapidly, Europe was able conquer most if not all of Africa. They did this with technological and medical advances, economic reasons, and the motivation of prestige and White Man’s Burden.
In this essay I will be discussing four of the major themes in this course in terms of progress, they will be religion, humanism, individualism and secularism. I will discuss these concepts within the countries of England, France, and Russia, and show my point of view on each.