Impact of Industrialization on Imperialism: A Literary Perspective

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After the prosperity of the industrial revolution, nations/states started competing for world power by extending their influence beyond their borders. Industrialization and technology created a sense of limitlessness and as a result, societies were no longer bounded by geography, morality, resources and technological constraints. European imperialism is a product of this sense of limitlessness. Nations began to compete for power and increased their influence through the exploitation of other countries. In the novels, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, both authors demonstrate how imperialism and war were driven by the ideologies of capitalism and nationalism. Although imperialism …show more content…

The older generation were the charlatans who utilized nationalistic rhetoric to influence the younger generation to go to war. Through nationalism the older generations pressure the innocent youth to go to war but failed to prepare them for it. “We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character.” Nationalism was used to evoke pride, patriotism and a romantic sense of adventure but failed to prepare them for the horrors of war. What good is nationalism when all your friends are dying? Parents and the community also pushed the young boys to follow their nationalistic duty. “Because at that time even one’s parents were ready with the word coward; no one had the vaguest idea what we were in for.” The authority figures in the novel were quick to criticize or label the young men as cowards, but they themselves never experienced anything like World War One. Soldiers, “had to quickly recognize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs.” War was fueled by nationalistic romanticized ideals that were hollow, they had no use to the young soldiers facing death in the trenches. The hypocritical authority figures forced young men to die for these empty …show more content…

Both imperialism and war claimed to be protecting a way of life, advancing it but evidence has it that it had a declining effect on the values of lives. Imperialism and war had a negative effect on anyone involved. Although imperialism and war have completely different driving factors, they both corrupted anyone involved and showed the hypocrisy of the hollow ideologies that inspired people in the first place. Imperialism was supposed to be a civilizing mission but ended up proving to be a lustful greedy mission that corrupted individuals. War was supposed to be a competition between nations to prove and secure their values but ended up destroying a generation of men from all nations. Both imperialism and war damaged and isolated the individuals involved while the rest of society were ignorant of the re of these “romanticized

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