2. Q. “Why was imperialism practiced so heavily in
Europe?”
As we went over in class, there were two main reasons for
European imperialism:
• Many European nations, due to an increase in life
expectancy and a decrease in infant and childhood death,
were using up their resources at an increased pace. The
nations that they took over had these materials in abundance!
• Many European nations (Germany and Italy, being relatively
new nations, were guilty of this) believed that, in order to be
taken seriously by the ‘big dog’ nations like England, France,
and Russia, they had to mimic their behavior. If those nations
practiced imperialism, then they had to as well! While this
sounds silly and juvenile, this appearance of power was a
VERY important facet of national identity and security!
3. Q. “What were the benefits of imperialism?”
As we have talked a good bit about the benefits for the nations doing the
conquering, lets look at the benefits to the nations being manipulated:
• Technology! This is the big one, as it covers almost every area of a
person’s life. It led to new and improved farming tools, increased means
of communication, and industry that leads to large population centers
being possible.
• Medical advancement: medical science of this time, even in Europe,
was barbaric by what we consider ‘standard’ today. But, compared to
most of the areas that they were taking over, it was a night-and-day
difference! Better knowledge of medicine and nutrition led to a higher life
expectancy and a higher quality of life (at least in theory!).
• Establishment of schools, universities, and hospitals.
• Transportation and communication: roads, railroads, and the telegraph
allowed for these people to move and communicate like never before.
4. Q. “Why was imperialism practiced mainly by
Europeans only?”
In order to fully practice imperialism, a nation needed several
things:
• Transportation: specifically, a nation needs a powerful. Ocean-
going navy in order to mover people and materials from place-
to-place quickly.
• Communication: the ability to speak to distant people with
relative speed (using the telegraph and later the telephone and
radio) improved a nation’s ability to react and transfer
information.
• ADMINISTRATION!: A nation must have the ability to take all
of the information, materials, and people and put them where
they need to be when they need to be there!
Europeans had these things. Other nations did not!
5. Q. “Why did European nations see themselves as
superior?”
Simply put, Europeans looked at the people they targeted for
imperialism and saw the things that they had left behind to become
more ‘civilized.’ They lived comparatively clean lives in permanent
buildings. They enjoyed a greatly advanced life expectancy, and
used modern devices to do things with ease that took the average
‘savage’ hours, days, or even weeks to accomplish.
Europeans saw their ability to master their environment rather than
be mastered by it as a symbol of superiority. They saw that,
throughout history, they had progressed from tribal people using
simple tools and weapons to a modern, urban people using trains,
machine guns, and medicine.
Think about it, Americans have VERY SIMILAR attitudes to people
in other nations (especially ‘Third World’ nations) today!
6. Q. “What is cultural diffusion?”
Cultural diffusion is the process by which culture spreads
from area to area. Just like in chemistry, it moves from a
place of high concentration to one of lower concentration
until it is found everywhere.
Modern culture is LOADED with examples: dubstep, Coca-
Cola, blue jeans, martial arts in movies, different dance
steps, and the like are pop culture examples.
Examples from the age of imperialism include: the concept of
permanent residence over nomadic society, increased
industrialization, a refocusing from land power to naval
power, the concept that people are inherently free and have
rights that are common to all men (at this point, they meant
WHITE men, later amended to JUST GUYS, and then
WOMEN, TOO).
7. Q. “Why did nationalism lead to nations taking over
other nations?”
Nationalism, at its heart, is the belief that your nation is the best
nation in the world. And since your nation is the best, it is your
job to show the other nations how to be more like you!
This can be done passively or actively. Imperialism is a much
more active form, as it requires that you literally take over the
other nation, often citing that it is “for their own good”
(paternalism). Since your nation is OBVIOUSLY superior, it is
your duty to help, and your right to do it by force if need be.
A more passive form comes from the idea of cultural diffusion.
As mentioned in a previous slide, cultural diffusion is the
process by which a cultural element (for example, dubstep)
begins in one place and, through various forms of transmission
(radio, word-of-mouth, CDs, movie soundtracks, and
advertising), becomes common in a new place.
8. Q. “What is the balance of power?”
The balance of power is the theory that nations only get along
well when no one nation is so powerful that it can dominate all of
the other states. The theory states that should one nation
become so powerful that it can dominate all others that it
invariably will use this power to do just that.
Knowing this, when a nation begins to gain this kind of power, its
neighbors will notice this, band together in a coalition (a group of
nations fighting for one goal), and attempt to defeat the stronger
nation. While this theory has proven true over the entirety of
human history, the two most common examples in modern
history are WWI and WWII.
Also included in this theory is the idea of nations being
“balancers” (joining the coalition to regain the balance of power)
and “bandwagoners” (joining the powerful nation to get in good
with the bully on the block.
9. Q. “How did the British regain imperial power after the
Revolutionary War?”
Simple answer? They never really lost it!
America was a large group of colonies, to be sure. But America
was by no means the only jewel in the British imperial crown!
They still maintained power all over the world, and the lessons
that they learned during the U.S. War for Independence made
them much more efficient when dealing with their imperial
vassals during the 19th Century!
G.B. learned that naval power was the key to imperial power,
and focused heavily on technology that took their already
fearsome navy and made it truly unrivaled. They also learned
that brutal, repressive policies inevitably lead to civil unrest. This
insight led to their policies of dependant colonialism and
protectorates over direct military activism. With these types of
lessons learned, our gain in the Revolutionary War became their
gain as well!
10. Q. “What decided if a nation was ‘weak’ or ‘strong?’”
Generally speaking, a nation’s level of influence is based on the
amount of power that it has in a few key areas:
• Resources – how many key resources does the nation control?
As time progresses, the list of important resources grows, and
most nations do not have all (or even most) of them within their
own borders!
• Infrastructure – how adept is your nation at moving people,
items, and ideas from place-to-place? Also, if one key piece
breaks down, does your whole nation fall apart, or is it more of a
setback?
• Leadership – strong leaders almost always lead to strong
nations. A strong, WISE leader leads to an even stronger nation!
Strong leaders can instill fierce nationalism
Nations who score well on the three things above tend to be
viewed as ‘strong’ nations, while those that do not score well are
considered ‘weak.’
11. Q. “What began the rush towards imperialism in the
late 1800s?”
There were several reasons for the sudden increase in
imperialistic tendencies in Europe (the book has several
examples), but two stand out (at least in my mind):
• The need for new resources. By comparison to the U.S., many
European nations are pretty small. Even more so, they had used
up a good deal of their mineral wealth, and increases in
population due to longer life expectancies led to nations seeing
food shortages in their near future. They needed new lands to
acquire the resources needed to stay ‘on top.’
• MONEY! Many of the lands that Europe’s rulers were targeting
had resources that, if properly taken advantage of, would make
whatever nation that did ENORMOUSLY wealthy! King Leopold II
of Belgium is a notorious example of this concept.
12. Q. What is Social Darwinism?
Social Darwinism is the political theory that, just as in nature, the
strongest tend to survive. Therefore, it is the right for stronger
nations to not only lord over weaker ones, but to use whatever
means they can to insure as few other nations as possible rival
your nation’s power.
From the late 1800s all the way to today, many leaders have
used this idea to justify all manner of horrible activity. Fascism
and Nazism are both heavily invested in Social Darwinism, as
are many racial hate groups. By taking Darwin’s theory of
‘survival of the fittest’ to this extreme, these leaders decided
that, since their race or nation was superior, then it was their
right to exploit, conquer, or kill those ‘lesser’ people as they saw
fit.
13. Q. “What caused the end of the Age of Imperialism?”
It can be argued that imperialism never really ended!
But for historical purposes, the Age of Imperialism ended on July
28, 1914, AKA the beginning of World War I. During the war the
imperialist nations did not have the resources or manpower
spare on imperialism, and after the war treaties were put into
play to limit imperialism, which was recognized as a main reason
WWI happened in the first place.
As an important note, some nations (India is a good example),
actively supported their European ‘allies.’ India sent 1,000,000
troops to the battlefields of WWI. 75,000 of them died in battle.
14. Q. “Could a nation with 1-3 strong markets maintain a
stable economy?” (Draven Welch)
EXCELLENT QUESTION! In the Ancient World, having a
surplus in a few key market areas (grain, timber, building
materials, ores, gold, and livestock are all good examples) was
often enough for a nation to enjoy hundreds of years of success.
Ancient Egypt was an excellent example of this!
However, as technology becomes more complex, new materials
become more important. During the Age of Imperialism, rubber,
coal, copper, iron, and oil become ever more important, and
practically no nation had ample reserves of all of these that were
easy to acquire. The list of materials needed to build, crew, and
maintain a 1800s steam-powered warship is immense, so just
imagine what a modern aircraft carrier, fully loaded and crewed,
requires to build!
So, short answer: in the distant past, yes. In modern times: no!
15. Q. “What is the difference between nationalism and
patriotism?
Short answer? The spelling is different.
Ok, a longer answer then. From a political theory standpoint,
nationalism is generally regarded as a measurement of one’s
national strengths and character and, based on this perception
(whether rational of not), deciding that one’s nation is the best on
Earth. Basically, it is “Look at how awesome we are! We MUST
be the best!”
Patriotism, in general terms, requires little insight. A stereotypical
patriot (in modern terms), requires little insight as to WHY their
nation is the best, and simply accepts that it IS the best. At its
extreme, patriotism can be like a form of zealotry, where one
believes in the superiority of their nations regardless of the
evidence of the nation’s insufficiencies or wrong-doing.
