The Imperial Age 1880-1914

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The Imperial Age 1880-1914
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IMPERIALISM

• A practice by which powerful nations or peoples
  seek to extend and maintain control or influence
  over weaker nations or peoples
• Colonialism usually implies formal political
  control, involving territorial annexation and
  loss of sovereignty
• Imperialism refers, more broadly, to control or
  influence that is exercised either formally or
  informally, directly or indirectly, politically
  or economically

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IMPERIALISM

• Early modern European imperialism generally took
  the form of overseas colonial expansion
• Rather than one state attempting to unify the
  world, in this period many competing states
  established political control over territories in
  South and Southeast Asia and in the New World
• Imperial systems were organized according to the
  doctrine of mercantilism
• Each imperial state attempted to control the
  trade of its colonies, in order to monopolize the
  benefits of that trade.

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IMPERIALISM

• In the mid-19th century imperialism of free trade
  was the main focus
• European, especially British, power and influence
  were extended informally, mainly through
  diplomatic and economic means, rather than
  formally, through direct colonial rule
• The imperialism of free trade, however, was
  short-lived
• By the end of the 19th century, European powers
  were once again practicing imperialism in the
  form of overseas territorial annexation,
  expanding into Africa, Asia, and the Pacific

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• http//cla.calpoly.edu/lcall/decolonization.jpg
• http//regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/imper
  ialism/jeopardy/index.cfm
• http//www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/epaus/econ213/afr
  ica_colonies.gif
• http//www.uiowa.edu/c016003d/Resources/Timelinec
  olonial.gif

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IMPERIALISMThe Economic Motive

• Proponents of this view hold that states are
  motivated to dominate others by the need to
  expand their economies, to acquire raw materials
  and additional sources of labor, or to find
  outlets for surplus capital and markets for
  surplus goods
• The most prominent economic theories, linking
  imperialism with capitalism, are derived from
  those of Karl Marx
• Lenin, for example, explained the European
  expansion of the late 19th century as the
  inevitable outcome of the need for the European
  capitalist economies to export their surplus
  capital

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IMPERIALISMPolitical Motives

• Nation-states are motivated to expand primarily
  by the desire for power, prestige, security, and
  diplomatic advantages vis-à-vis other states
• In this view, late 19th-century French
  imperialism was intended to restore France's
  international prestige after its humiliating
  defeat in the Franco-Prussian War

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IMPERIALISMIdeological Motives

• Political, cultural, or religious beliefs force
  states into imperialism as a "missionary
  activity"
• Britain's colonial empire was motivated at least
  in part by the idea that it was the "white man's
  burden" to civilize "backward" peoples
• Germany's expansion under Hitler was based in
  large measure on a belief in the inherent
  superiority of German national culture
• The desire of the U.S. to "protect the free
  world" and of the former Soviet Union to
  "liberate" the peoples of Eastern Europe and the
  Third World are also examples of imperialism
  driven by moral and ideological concerns.

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IMPERIALISMEffects of Imperialism

• The truth has been difficult to ascertain for at
  least two reasons
• (1) No consensus has been reached on the meaning
  of exploitation
• (2) it is frequently difficult to disentangle the
  domestic causes of poverty from those that are
  possibly international
• Impact of imperialism is uneven
• Some poor nations have enjoyed greater economic
  benefits from contact with the rich than have
  others (i.e.. India, Brazil, and other developing
  nations have even begun to compete economically
  with their former colonial powers

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