New Imperialism Essays - Gaming, Windows Games, Philosophy

New Imperialism New Imperialism 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