The concept of imperialism is one that has pervaded nearly every major society or empire throughout human history. It seems to be a natural consequence of societies growing in size, power, and knowledge. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries vast changes occurred in Western Europe (and soon spread elsewhere) that spurred a new round of imperialism the likes of which had not been seen before. The changes were the industrial revolution that was taking place. Countries were rapidly advancing to industrial societies producing much greater quantities of goods at much lower costs. The goods produced ranged everywhere from cotton textiles to military machinery, all of which would play important roles in rounds of imperialistic expansion that would follow. The imperialistic displays by Western European nations also brought about several other industrial revolutions in other regions including the Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Japan. I will take a look at how the industrial revolution encouraged imperialistic expansion, as well as some of the results of that expansion in other regions.
While there are many important facets of the industrial revolution that took place in Western Europe there are two very important results in relation to imperialism. One is simply the advancement of the economies. Switching over to an industrial society meant that greater volumes of raw materials were required, because the concept of industrial society is using mechanization to produce quality goods on a mass scale. In doing this much of the labor forces naturally moved from agricultural areas to industrial ones. And so not only was a smaller percentage of the population providing the necessary inputs for many industrially produced goods, but the quantit...
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... industrial sector but would experience many setbacks simply due to the size, diversity, and traditional ways of Russian workers.
Although Russia did not become an imperialistic power like the nations in Western Europe, as well as the United States and Japan, it does serve as an example of how imperialism encouraged a “second round” of industrial revolution. Unlike Russia many other parts of the world became subject to imperial rule due to the advancements in Europe, Japan, and the United States. In fact nearly all of Africa was carved up and claimed by different imperial powers. As was India one of the first nations to be fully subjugated British imperial rule. This was all done in efforts for these nations to assert their control over as many people and natural resources as possible to obtain every competitive advantage possible in the rapidly advancing world.
The country I will be using for an example of imperialism is England. England imperialize South Africa, Canada, Australia, and India. The British Empire became the largest empire spanning over 35 million square kilometers in 1913.
Imperialism is a policy by which a country gains power over the world or other countries. It begun in 1865 and it caused US to expand. America had “Thirst for New Market”. The business in The United States was developing rapidly so it needed more supplies (trade) from other countries. The United States used different methods such as Jingoism/Racism, Economic Expansion and American superiority over Europe, but however, economic expansion contributed most for the US Imperialism. This meant more money and power compare to other countries.
Imperialism is the practice by which powerful nations or peoples seek to extend and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. By the 1800’s, the Western powers had advantages in this process. They led the world in technological advances, giving them a dominance when conquering other countries. The European Imperialists made attempts to conquer China and Japan. In this process, they succeeded by influencing Japan greatly. However, they were not as successful with China.
Russia, industrialized as a result of many peasant revolts. The revolts led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, they received land but the political chains were still in place. Many reforms were still needed. The military became based on merit, education was increased, transportation became more efficient with the introduction or railroads, and law codes were improved with local councils put in place called zemstvoes. These reforms and the great size and natural resources of Russia allowed it to build factories. Yet, the change experienced by the West had not, yet, occurred.
They also needed land to acquire raw materials for growing markets. One country that had imperialism was India. By the mid-1880s, the British East India Company controlled three fifths of India. The cause of British domination was that the land was very diverse and the people could not unite and that the British either paid local princes or used weapons to get control. Positive effects of imperialistic rule in India were that the British set up a stronger economy and more powerful industries.
During the twentieth century, China developed the strongest economy throughout the world. The mass population of the Chinese people helped in the production in goods which in tailed helped China’s economy grow. Russia was not far behind China after the Industrial revolution, Russia needed a plan if they were going to catch up to China. China was relying on the exporting of goods and long term goals for profit. Russia focused on Five-Year Plans, “the form of economy worked for communism, consistently appealing to the intellectuals of developing countries in Asia” (Paul Craig Roberts 2). The Industrial Revolution had helped the growth of both China and Russia’s economy throughout the Twentieth
Differing perspectives exist on the topic of imperialism. Some of the main causes of imperialism were the need for resources to supply the industrial revolution with raw materials, and maintain a supply of cheap labor. There was also the desire to sustain a steady market for exported manufactured goods.
The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain truly effected Europe in different ways. The peasants worked long hours and lived in poor conditions. The middle class lived modest lives and sometimes were promoted to the upper class. The upper class greatly benefited with the new advancements in technology. The Industrial Revolution helped make Europe a more advanced place, even though it did have some flaws.
Imperialism is when a mother nation takes over another nation and become its colony for political, social, and economical reasons. Imperialism is a progressive force for both the oppressors (mother country) and the oppressed (colony), majorly occurring during the late 19th and early 20th century. It had more negative effects than positive effects due to its domination to other nations.
Like previous American expansion, American imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was motivated by desire for new economic gains and improvements. However, the social justification, diplomatic and military approach and geographical aspect of imperialist expansionism varied greatly from previous American growth. Therefore, American expansionism underwent more change in this period than continuity.
Imperialism and Industrial Revolution have a very important connection, Industrial Growth makes Imperialism needed (Frontloader). Industrial Growth is the production of products, that are available to sell or trade. Well the more product you create, you need more resources. How do you get the resources? You need Imperialism in order to gain more resources. Imperialism is when a nation expands its power by conquering another land. The more land a nation has the more resources they are able to gather. With all those resources we can sell, trade, or create new products. So, without Industrial Growth, nations may have not gotten the push they needed to imperialize their nation, but without imperialism, there would be a lack of resources and the Industrial Growth would be deeply wounded. The connection between these two parts are extraordinarily important.
Around the 1700s regions in Europe were using the method of imperialism to not only expand but to economically benefit as well. Thus, imperialism was not only a form of government but also a form of economy. Furthermore, it is when regions extend their power and wealth through their military force and diplomacy. Specifically speaking, the Spaniards and British were two different groups of Europeans who colonized different regions around the world. As a result of doing so, the Spaniards who conquered Latin America and the British who conquered Southeast Asia causes depopulation along with cultural changes within the land they colonized.
After their defeat in the Crimean war (1853-1856), Russia’s leaders realized they were falling behind much of Europe in terms of modernisation and industrialisation. Alexander II took control of the empire and made the first steps towards radically improving the country’s infrastructure. Transcontinental railways were built and the government strengthened Russia’s economy by promoting industrialisation with the construction of factory complexes throughout...
At the turn of the 20th Century the Russian Empire began to show signs of deterioration long before the Revolution of 1917. The Russian Empire spread across Europe an Asia and consisted of roughly 125 million inhabitants. (Rosenberg, 2014) Although, these people were never unified because of the many different nationalities, languages and religions. This made it difficult for the government to rule since the nation was so vast at the turn of the century the empire was plagued with poor communication, bad roads and few railways. (Wilde, 2013) In an attempt to connect the far reaches of Russia the Trans Siberian Railway was completed in 1904 that connected Moscow to Vladivostostok. Also, the farming economy was out of date and most of the population was peasants who lived under the rule of nobles. However, the beginning of the century brought great change throughout Russia the nation began to industrialize, towns and factories began...
The period of 18th and 19th century is marked by the greatest transformations, reformations, revolutions and many other critical events that ever took place in human history. The credit is given to all these revolutions for enlightenment of mankind. The two most important revolutions were the French revolution and the industrial revolution. One can feel that both of these revolutions mutually reinforced each other and later became the back bone of all other revolutions. On the other hand, both revolutions had totally different impacts and consequences at various economical, political and social realms.