Imperialism Dbq

1. What is ‘imperialism’? How did 19th-century colonialism, empire building, high imperialism differ from those of earlier times: in particular from the colonialism of early- modern mercantilism (16th to18th centuries)?

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.

Due to this, countires in Europe wanted to get out and gain territory, to prove that they were stronger politically too. The three main factors for imperialism during this time, were economic, military, and political motives. Countries in Europe were interested in the supplies and economic opportunities in Africa. Thanks to advances in technology and the industrial revolution,it was key for European countries to gain and with the resources needed. For instance, cotton and rubber were needed the textiles which were a popular in Europe (Document C).

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.

The standard way of thinking about the topic of imperialism is that the British seized other peoples lands without considering how the people felt, but many other countries followed in the footsteps of the British. Other countries saw that they had expanded and were gaining territory, and wanted to expand also. There were many reasons as to why imperialism became popular, money, land, education, resources, because of this many people were greatly affected by imperialism. Some of the main people affected were the British, the Germans, and the people living in imperialized countries.

The significance of imperialism is that many countries were competing to take over other countries for their resources and land, many countries also didn’t have many colonies therefore wanting to grow their power and it is also the reason why Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia, this then made the Serbians living there angry because they were happy with being Bosnia and this then triggered the Black Hand Gang to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Imperialism also leads to militarism as when a country such as Germany taking over another country such as East Africa they would gain the military resources and weaponry they owned. If imperialism wasn’t a thing, Austria-Hungary would have never invaded Bosnia in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand wouldn’t have been

Imperialism refers to settlers arriving to a land and influencing their own political control. Historically, Imperialism did not begin in the 19th century, Imperialism existed long before, although, despite the era both shared the same end goal, reaching dominion. “Imperialism is therefore an enormous exten-sion of the sphere of operation of capital, an enormous extension of capitalist relations, institutions and priorities throughout the world”(Spence). Other driving forces exist; Religion, political influence and economic uprise all contribute to why imperialism occurs. America wanted to expand its influences outside of its continent, Africa however, was under French, British and German influence. This created limitation for American expansion. America had an opportunity to further impose their ideologies post Spanish-American, the treaty allowed America to establish influence in Philippine territory and Hawaii.

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.

Causes of the Age of Imperialism were new markets, Anglo-Saxonism, and naval bases. The economic effects on the Age of Imperialism started new trading grounds. They extended colonial power around the world. The United States started having new trading partners and markets.

Imperialism means to maintain a certain strategy or system of improving power of an empire or nation. This definition is extremely significant because it expanded the authority of nations and cultures. In addition to this, there were plenty of reasons Europeans wanted to imperialize. The first and foremost reason was that they desired to imperialize natural resources. Some of the main natural resources that worthed a lot were gold, copper, tin, and diamond.

Based on the history of the world, there are countless amounts of historic events and actions that has been taken place to change the nation. Those changes involved countries all over the world to cooperate and sacrifice some of their needs. One big development that occurred during the nineteenth century was the expansion of imperialism in Europe. The spread of European imperialism has left many different types of impacts affecting politics, economic stability, and distributions of power. Although, this major shift took action in the European countries, it also impacted the whole world. Some ways that imperialism has made an impact in international politics are expanding the economic growth among the nations and provided resources through industrialization.

Imperialism was caused by many different factors like economic gain, political and military gain, religious motives, exploratory motives, and ideological motives. Imperialism was also present in non-western places like Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and the Muslim lands. While some may say that imperialism was beneficial to the non-westerners because of the many modernizations that occurred in the non-western areas, imperialism ultimately had a very harmful effect on the non-westerners because of the loss of life, loss of culture, and the loss of land and resources.

While there are multiple causes for the push for imperialism in Europe, specific causes stand out among others, such as technological superiority and factors within Africa. However, the most prominent driving force was Social Darwinism, or the belief of European superiority.

Imperialism was a trend that gained popularity in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It is defined as the process of nation building in which new territories, often overseas, were acquired (textbook, 608). This was done in order to increase the influence of a country through greater economic power. Germany, France, Russia, the United States, and Japan all tried to increase their influence and compete with Brittan on a national stage by developing their trade industries as well as seizing new territories (textbook, 608). This resulted in the movement of several influential entities including capital, commodities, and information. The dissemination of information in the new territory from the “mother country” was common. This was done in order to help the people living in the area gain a better understanding of the colonizers. However, these colonies were not considered equal to the mother country and had either reduced ability to govern themselves or none at all (textbook 608-609). A good

Although there are many other important factors, the main cause of the rise of imperialism was most certainly economic. The Age of Empire, by Eric J. Hobsbawn, provides an interpretation of New Imperialism. Hobsbawn calls imperialism “a natural by-product of the international economy” (Sherman pg 177). He is basically saying that imperialism is dependent on the rivalries of competing industries, which continually drive the international economy. Hobsbawn also dictates the need for external markets. The Industrial Revolution created many products that needed markets, thus creating a need of colonies. Hobsbawn believed that the overproduction of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression could be solved. He also realized that