Imperialism Essay, Research Paper

Imperialism

In the late 19th century, imperialism was a major issue in many nations of the world. Imperialism is the extension of a nation’s power due to the acquiring of territory or economic conditions through military force or political means. Countries revived the imperialistic movement because the need of raw materials and labor for industrial purposes was so great. Also, the countries wanted to increase their overall wealth and trade. Christianity gained power due to this imperialistic movement of the Western world. Missionaries became rampant in lands that had been acquired by countries of the Western world. The primary reasons that imperialism succeeded during this time were the technological and military advances of this time period. Uncivilized countries could not compete with the artillery and military prowess of the Western world. Latin America became subject to imperialism due to the poor economic conditions of its countries. The Middle East experienced the movement because of the decline of such vast areas as the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. The Western world gained control of Africa through trading companies from Great Britain, France, and Germany. Many countries gained territories during this period of imperialism. Persia was divided between Great Britain and Russia, and Britain also seized Burma and Malaya. The Dutch gained control of the majority of the archipelago of Indonesia. In Asia, Britain still had control of India. Japan took the area of Formosa from China, which was saved as a whole from the imperialistic powers because the United States intervened and no country wanted the other to have the advantage of possessing China. Japan defeated Russia for the control of Manchuria. Many factors gave the West an advantage over the rest of the world. Vaccines were developed. Telegraphs became essential tools of communication. The steamboat and railroad drastically reduced transportation costs for materials. Machine guns allowed countries of the Western world to simply mow down the competition. The Europeans used these technological advancements to make the assumption that their race was far more superior to those of races other than Caucasian. Yet not all Europeans believed this way. Some wanted to educate the races of other nations and believed that it was the duty of the Western world because of their intelligence and knowledge. This idea became known as the White Man’s Burden. Citizens of nations were very supportive of imperialism until their governments were faced with the great costs of this movement. Many people began criticizing the governments of their nations. This led the countries to making public statements to justify the need for these colonies that had depleted such large amounts of public tender. Some countries did indeed become wealthy as a result of this movement. For the most part, though, the losses far outweighed the gains. Many of the colonies that had been acquired by countries held no real value of any kind. Due to the small amounts of natural resources and raw materials, the profits from some of these colonies was almost nonexistent. Was this imperialistic movement a direct cause of World War I? No, but many results of this movement helped to influence the setup of the war. Territorial wars and new agreements caused tension between many of the European countries. Even though it wasn’t a direct cause of the war, it influenced the way it was fought, as well as the outcome, drastically.

Fascisms in Germany and Italy

Oliver Bleich Mrs. Howell Modern European History 5/22/00 Fascism in Germany and Italy Germany and Italy rose up under new leaders with a new type of governing policy. However, the same policies that caused growth lead to eventual collapse of these nations. Fascism grew because of extreme nationalism, fear, and governmental control. It failed due to absolute power by one man, its own aggressive nature, and lack of organization. Hitler?s rise to power can be credited for many reasons. Firstly, the Nazi?s gave the German middle class a reason why they were having problems, and came up with a solution. As Hitler explained it by using pseudo science, the Jews were the problem and there was only one solution. Along with this he instituted mass propaganda against the Jews and for the Aryan race. This went a long way to create the kind of nationalism that Hitler was looking for. Soon most of Germany felt like a strong and united people, willing to do anything for their state and their leader. Those who were not, lived in constant fear of the Nazi?s. The SS and the SA policed the streets and used excessive violence whenever they felt it necessary. People were either happy to be with Hitler or afraid to oppose him. Hitler had control. With this control Hitler made policies that were actually very beneficial to the middle class. By eliminating large corporations, creating a strong military and increasing industry to equip the military Germany began to grow. There were a lot of problems in Italy. Mussolini used fascism in a very similar manner to Hitler. The way he saw it, Italy was divided into two sections: the north and the south. The northern part of Italy was industrialized while southern almost completely agricultural. Thus, Mussolini wanted to unify the people to create one strong nation. He went about this by using his own charisma and propaganda. He spoke of the history of Rome and the strength of Italians. He created a military and a police force to keep the people under control. Most, however, followed him because they believed in what he said. In conquering Ethiopia Mussolini was able to prove his own strength and the weakness of the League of Nations. When he combined forces with Hitler, Italy took the final step in its own progression. Fascism had its faults as well. Through its own aggressive nature both Italy and Germany followed the ideals of fascism directly into war. It is hard to say if these countries might have continued to grow if they had not tried to conquer. Another major problem with Fascism was its reliance on one man. Hitler and Mussolini became the only men who had the authority to make and decision. This caused great problems within the sate. Problems were slowly dealt with during a time were decisive quick reactions were needed. On top of this poor decisions were made without any sort of counsel. There were no advisers to help these two leaders. It seems that the fear that helped create the power contributed to its downfall because no one would question the solutions the men came up with. From this also spawned poor organization. For example Hitler, who controlled all of the army, left no power to his generals. Therefore, no one knew exactly what they could and couldn?t do. All of these thing contributed to the fall of Fascism

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