How Did Imperialism Cause World War I?
Starting around 1870 imperialism amplified and is a major cause of World War I due to the actions and emotions associated with imperialism. Imperialism was the practice of one or more nations trying to control another nation or people, thus reducing or even eliminating their sovereignty. While not all the Great Powers and Serbia hold equal blame, each country felt or stimulated imperialism from 1870 until 1914. To start, England believed that the sun never sets on her empire, thus she believed in the need to continually keep building geographically and militarily. British forces were bold, innovative, and caused irritation and “international friction” (Remak 30). In 1898, English and French forces collided in pursuit of Sudan. Sudan had been held by locals, however, under the rules of European imperialism the land should be controlled by, “...the fittest conqueror” (30).
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After Bismarck was dismissed in 1890, Germany set her sights on competing with England. Germany believed that land power was no longer sufficient and she needed to pursue building a greater navy to measure up to England's. In addition, in 1905, the Kaiser gave a speech in Morocco publically announcing “...Germany’s support for Moroccan independence and integrity” (41). This action was not a true act of value and morals, but rather one with hidden intentions, “... [the Kaiser] did mean to suggest was that Germany had as much of a claim to Morocco as any other greedy European power” (41). This backdoor finagling was an example of the danger of imperialism. Additional countries would feel the tensions similar
After Bismarck was dismissed in 1890, Germany set her sights on competing with England. Germany believed that land power was no longer sufficient and she needed to pursue building a greater navy to measure up to England's. In addition, in 1905, the Kaiser gave a speech in Morocco publically announcing “...Germany’s support for Moroccan independence and integrity” (41). This action was not a true act of value and morals, but rather one with hidden intentions, “... [the Kaiser] did mean to suggest was that Germany had as much of a claim to Morocco as any other greedy European power” (41). This backdoor finagling was an example of the danger of imperialism. Additional countries would feel the tensions similar