Imperialism

“a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.” ● 's – Period of time where Industrial nations – mostly Europe and America – seize control of large sections of the earth by force ● Understanding imperialism can help to explain very much about the world – Tensions/ mistrust between states or countries – Why some regions of the world are underdeveloped and others are at very high levels of development – Allow recognition of modern forms of this practice and the ability to weigh the pros and cons

Why take over the world? "The strong do as they can and the weak suffer what they must." ● Imperialist nations want to grow in wealth, power and influence ● Industrial Revolution- Resources – Had created a demand for more consumer goods and industry – Industrial nations needed/wanted more resources like tin, rubber, oil other commodities

Why? ● Ind. Rev: Markets – Also created a large surplus of goods – US/Euro. Business interests wanted markets to sell surplus too ● Cheap labor – Eventually as wages rose in imperialist countries, colonies could be used as sources of cheap labor (they still are!)

How? ● Europe had developed the first machine gun – The Maxim Gun – “Whatever happens, we have got the Maxim gun and they have not” ● Well equipped ● armies – Ind. Rev.!

Africa ● Besides lack of tech. Africa lacked political unity ● A great diversity of languages continues to slow development in Africa

Steam power... ● Steam engines cut travel times enormously ● Made possible a world spanning empire- control and communication

Ideas that fueled Imperialism ● Charles Darwin had written his theories on natural selection in his book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859 – Social Darwinism was an attempt to apply Darwin's theories, incorrectly, to society – Herbert Spencer – popular “Social Darwinist”, argued that social progress comes from the struggle for survival ● Some rich people used this to explain their success and said the poor were just weak and lazy ● Extreme nationalists said nations/ countries were in a struggle for survival ● War was a way to rid society of the weak and unfit

Ideas that fueled Imperialism ● “The White Man's Burden” - pp. 658 – There was a popular sentiment that imperialist nations were helping the countries they conquered ● Bringing railroads, running water, education, western culture, Christianity ● Were all these things helpful? Were they all even actually offered? Not exactly..