Why Did Imperialism Grow So Rapidly At the End of the 19th Century
By David Hwang 14th August 2014
There are few reasons that Imperialism grew so rapidly at the end of the 19th century. One of the reasons was industrialisation. With the industrialisation revolution beginning at the start of the 19th century the big powers in Europe were getting superior than other small countries like in Asia or Africa. Like the creation of steam engines which made the way for the creation of steam locomotive which meant that people can transport goods faster and move places further faster. Also with the revolution of steam boats which meant that people could travel by sea faster which meant it was easier to go to places overseas (lucideyeproduction, 2006). As the power countries in Europe were industralising they need more resources and raw materials to manufacture goods (lucideyeproduction, 2006). Through industrialisation revolution countries became stronger while most of the other countries lagged behind. Countries like the Spanish, British, French, German, Italian Empires were the far superior than the nations in other continents like in Africa, Asia or South America. As all these Empires were growing they wanted all to expand but they could not invade countries around them because they were all in similar stages and if they start invading one Empire around them it could end up in destruction so they decide to go with the weaker nations that they knew would be an easier win and easy takeover. Also as all this Empires were in similar stages of growth they were basically all competing with each other to see who was the superior and powerful. As they were in competition with each other they were trying to see who could take over other nations faster which is one of the reasons it grew so quickly cause if few groups of superior nations starts to invade other nations all over the globe it would be a rapid growth to imperialism. Also the idea of social Darwinism fueled the nations as his theory was that it was natural for stronger nations to dominate the weaker ones, and that drove the European Empire's motivation into imperialism and invading other weaker countries(Gopal & Tikhvinsky). Also the spirit of Nationalism and what it promote also motivated the Empires (OCS, n.d.). As Nationalism promotes the idea of national superiority and also the devotion of your country and willing to sacrifice for your country. So that drove more motivation for the European Empires and it would be a significant factor in the reasons of the growth of Imperialism. Also the belief that their nation was the best and also that the Western Culture was far better than other countries also that they thought all other countries were weak and that God gave them the gift to help the "weaker" countries by taking over and promoting the Western Culture and destroying their culture. Also they thought they can educate them to be as "good" as them. Also as all the European was some type of Christianity or Catholic they wish to spread their faith and their religion with other nations as their religion was the best and other religion was weaker than there's. As British was Anglican, Italian and French and the Spanish was Roman Catholic so they were willing to spread their religion to other weaker nations.