How Did The Congress Of Vienna Lead To The Age Of Imperialism

The Congress of Vienna changed the borders in Europe after Napoleon’s reign. The Italian nation was split under different rulers but a growing sense of nationalism would cause them unify. Nationalism is the sense of loyalty and pride to one’s country. This idea of nationalism had not been seen on a large scale throughout history until the 19th century. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people were only aware of the immediate government and culture in front of them. Due to strong nationalistic feelings within the various countries of Europe, it lead to competition between them in order to show their strength. By gaining colonies a nation was able to show off its power, strength prestige,and economic standings to other European nations. This lead to the Age of Imperialism in which European nations and America tried to extend their power politically by acquiring land in Africa, South America, and Asia.

The Age of Imperialism had many motives. The main motives were economic due to the need for natural resources and political which was closely linked to economic motives. European powers were scrambling to establish claims and gain access to Africa’s resources, to avoid battles German chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, called for the setting of rules to establish colonies. The Berlin Conference was a meeting of fourteen European countries to decide how to split up Africa. Due to Imperialism, Africans were forced to grow cash crops like rubber, cotton, or peanuts instead of food crops which caused severe starvation and malnourishment. Another effect of Imperialism was how many different ethnic groups were being forced together into a country, which led to many resistance movements. Economically Africa was a mess. Money was not kept in Africa and Africans lost land along with their