Imperialism In The 1800s

Humans, in general terms, have always been a socially competent species. At their inception, they bonded to those who lived near them and looked like them. From there on through humanity’s lifespan, this rudimentary classification evolved into innumerable global herds separated from each other by deep cultural components like religion, language, and politics. Globally, these herds turned to tribes, which naturally evolved into nations. Simultaneously, ever since the dawn of mankind, our species has been intrinsically inclined to feud within its ranks. The vast incongruence that countries faced among the other foreign countries encouraged them to place their own group on a pedestal of sorts, and to impress their own beliefs and ways upon said

As such, to address the issue most thoroughly, one must define imperialism in its most basic form as it systematically came about in the 1800s with the uprising of organized empires. At its very core, imperialism is defined as “the domination…over subject lands in the larger world,” (The Twentieth Century, 733). The exact forms of said domination and the mediums by which it has occurred varies greatly, and can be seen over nearly all eras of history. The most obvious form of domination came in the form of brute force. Hitler’s Nazi Germany is one of the most infamous examples of this. Hitler, viewing his Third Reich as superior, sought to construct a vast empire spanning all of Europe and, eventually, the world. This process was set forth by unrelenting military occupation and action. To relate to the conundrum of censorship, Nazis did not in fact diminish censorship in the territories it conquered, but instead heightened it through burning their texts. This type of imperialism is also one of the most concrete forms, as it typically forms new borders and produces new colonies. This was the case with the enormous scale of the colonization of Africa in the late 1800s. European giants including Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal engulfed nearly the entire continent, destroying Africans with their superior weaponry and forces. This can clearly be seen in the conflict in Omdurman in 1898. The

Perhaps the next greatest form of imperialism came in the form of political influence and subtle control. Our own United States, of all countries, was most notorious for using this system. Throughout nearly all of American and European history, it has been known that it was the ‘White Man’s Burden’ to care for the rest of the world, as the whites believed themselves to be superior humans. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823, set this into motion by proclaiming that both Americas henceforth existed “as a U.S. protectorate,” ensuring no further land would be able to be taken advantage of by the Eastern world. Later aided by the Roosevelt Corollary, which gave the U.S. full permission to intervene in Latin affairs if the need arose, the United States now had all the power in the world to exercise its influence in the area. As a protectorate, Latin and South America would be open for intervention, in order to “prevent rebellion and protect American business interests,” (The Twentieth Century, 747).This era was absolutely critical in furthering the United States as a world superpower. By holding the promise of aid over the lesser developed countries’ heads, American ideals such as democracy and free trade flourished - even in the countries that America did not directly own at the time. Innumerable countries all over the land, like Argentina,