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New Imperialism Essay, Research Paper

Starting around the 1870?s and lasting

until around 1905, western nations began what is today called ?New Imperialism.?

The major powers of the western world started to gain a need for expansion.

Italy, France, Great Britain, United States and Germany started to feel

the pressure being exerted on them by each other and realized that in order

to stay on top and remain the a western power they must stretch their boundaries

across seas. During this time period imperialism was a common theme

amongst the populations of the western nations and many very influential

people wrote and preached the need for expanding their particular countries

influence. There were three reoccurring explanations given by people

in favor of expansion: the need for more land and resources in order to

better suit the rising populations in the countries and increase economic

chances for them, the feeling of social Darwinism meaning only the strong

and powerful will survive and be on top when it is all over, and finally

most of the countries that are being considered, want to be under the rule

of the western powers. All these factors lead to this brief but extremely

large ?imperialistic explosion.?

A very common explanation for imperialism

which people were using was the need for more territory in order to allow

the population to expand culturally and economically. The rapid increase

in population in Europe and the industrial revolution started causing an

overcrowding in cities and serious need for jobs in order to maintain order

throughout the different countries. Many countries held the belief

that if a population increase was to continue at its current pace, then

sometime in the near future individual countries could no longer support

itself and provide jobs for the majority of the population. The United

States felt the need for expansion because of the massive flow of immigrants

into a recently developed nation and was not prepared for such a dramatic

increase in the overall population. A common view was that the foreign

territories could provide a vast new amount of natural resources as well

as new agriculture. Also, once colonized, the new territories would

provided a new region to sell its goods from the homeland and at the same

time export more goods throughout Europe and North America. Because

of the tariff barriers that most of the powers had, there was little room

for exports. According to a Frenchmen of the time, Jules Ferry, ?

exports are essential for public prosperity. Both demand for labor

and scope for capital investment depend on the foreign market.? (Wiesner

pg. 252) With the rise of the industrial revolution a larger market

for various products had developed and with the resources and fertile lands

of foreign territories, economic growth was inevitable. With the

increase in employment in the western world, people started a demand for

new goods. It was clear that the customary thought of the western

powers was that there was no escaping the need for new territories in order

to export and import more goods. The people all knew that in order

to gain these new territories and to insure and better economic future

that there would be a cost. There would have to be a significant

amount of money used by the government in order to send and army over to

the new lands. Once the army was to arrive it was evident that there

would be some sort of fighting and with war comes loss of lives.

None the less expansion was necessary because ??it is less secure

and more expensive to endeavor to cultivate three million hectares of barren

land? than to insure the prosperity of a large agricultural colony??(Wiesner

pg. 257). Because of, at times, the intense rivalry between the western

powers all the nations felt the need for expansion in order to remain not

only a military power but an economic power.

During this period of ?New Imperialism?

many countries made the realization that this time period could be the

last chance for them as a nation to build up their empires. On account

of this idea many people developed a sense of ?Social Darwinism.?

This is the assumption that humans are involved in a struggle for supremacy

over each other and for those nations that could come forth victorious

will be considered the most worthy to be called a western power.

Because of this idea, the exploitation of the weaker nations ?by laws of

nature? was not only allowed but also encouraged. By following in

accordance with this new ?law,? eventually a better world for everyone

will result. In 1879 a German used this way of thinking to try and

urge his fellow country men to move on expand as a western power:

??More important is the consideration

that one nation which is led to the height of political power can only

maintain its historical position as long as it understands and proves itself

as a bearer of a cultural mission. This is at the same time the only

way which guarantees the existence and growth of the national well-being,

the necessary foundation for a lasting development of power.? (Wiesner

pg. 249)

Not only did people have the over bearing

feeling of imperialism, but also they wanted to be the first to do so.

Many living at the time knew that it was impossible to avoid the expansion

of other nations so

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