Why was Britain able to create a worldwide empire by the mid-nineteenth century? The sources are in clear agreement that economics played a huge part in the creation of a worldwide empire by the mid-nineteenth century, as shown by source one “no one any more seriously doubts that capitalist pressures (economics) were the primary reasons for Britain’s Imperial expansion in the nineteenth century” and by Source two “Britain dominated the global economy.” Source three also supports the importance of economics, “Britain owned around 1/3 of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage.” Source three suggests, however, that the reason Britain was able to create a worldwide empire by the mid-nineteenth century was “thanks to the unrivalled productivity of her shipyards” and the power of the British Military, “Imperial competitors and nations that resisted British influence faced annihilation.” Source four also supports this reason with a quote from the Foreign Secretary and later Prime Minister Palmerstone, “Competitors and “half-civilised governments” needed to “not only see the stick, but feel it on their shoulders before they yield.”” Economics was a major factor as to why Britain was able to create a worldwide empire. Source one supports this “capitalist pressures (economics) were the primary reason for Britain’s imperial expansion in the nineteenth century.” Source two highlights the importance of economics in the creation of a worldwide empire “by controlling the crucial “avenues of empire” Britain dominated the global economy.” By controlling the avenues of empire “the British “could access all markets, and shut out other nations.” Source three also suggests that the reason Britain was so powerful economically was down to “the industrial revolution” and it was this that managed to “transform the world economy and the international balance of power” in Britain’s
Germany had only been a united country since 1871 however by 1914 it had built up a strong army, navy and had the beginnings of an overseas empire. As you can see, Germany since its unison had been very competitive and ambitious against the other ‘leading’ countries. I feel that this may have brought the other countries resentment, especially Britain. Britain had been known as and was the main industrial country in Europe for over 100 years but Germany had very quickly grown into a powerful country. This would have caused Britain some concern, especially because the leader over Britain was cousins with the Kaiser, this would have brought extra tension between them as they both wanted their country to be the best.
For many the main question is, more specifically, why did the industrial revolution not take place in China? In the years preceding the industrial revolution, until around 1800, China was one of the largest nations on earth, both in terms of population and economic output; it had also been one of the most advanced nations for many centuries, as Yifu Lin says ‘China by the fourteenth century was probably the most cosmopolitan, technologically advanced and economically powerful civilisation in the world’ China went from having 32.8% of the world’s total output in 1750 to having 8.2% in 1860, while in the same time period Europe went from having 23.3% to 53.2% (Mukherjee, 2004). Therefore a common question is; why did Europe experience an ‘Industrial Revolution’ before China? There was not one single factor
Between 1750 and 1850 the most important colonial possession in Asia was British India. Differing from the changes that British India brought to North America, the changes that the British made in Asia did not bring political independence. The East India Company was chartered in 1600 by the crown and was quickly made into a large powerful authority. The East India Company quickly took over India’s imports and exports in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries along with controlling the Chinese economy greatly with the power of opium imports. Britain operated on claims that their system was based on free trade but the practices that they followed showed anything but that.
The years between 1792 and 1850 were a crucial period for both the British and Chinese empires; Britain expanded to become the greatest maritime empire while China, which had been the greatest land mass empire, became a shadow of its former self as the two fought for supremacy and control of trade. As Britain was a relatively small nation, its empire was by necessity outward looking. Characterised by a series of informal settlement colonies, economic policy was the key to expansion and it focussed on trade relationships between the metropole and peripheries; these were supported by a strong bureaucracy and powerful naval fleet. Cultural ideology had a role to play, but it could be argued that it was never as important. On the other hand, the autarkic Chinese empire was formal, insular, economically self-sufficient and relied heavily on both bureaucracy and an ethnocentric ideology to sustain itself.
By 1914 over a third of British exports went to the empire. Empire also untied people with a sense of patriotism and national identity, people saw themselves as members of the greatest nation on Earth. Despite all of this, even before 1914 the empire was beginning to show signs of strain, the Boer War was one of the first significant impacts in Britain's (and the rest of the world’s) view on imperialism and Britain. The Boer War (1899-1902) was fought directly against the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, in which the Boers were defeated first in open warfare and then in a long and bitter guerrilla campaign. During the war controversial methods like concentration camps and scorched earth policy were used to win the war.
History 113 Research Paper 12/5/08 The Temperance Movement and its Effects on American Culture The19th century in antebellum America was filled with reform movements. These individuals saw reform as an indication that they had taken control of their own lives and had become morally accountable human beings. These reform movements however encountered much hostility and were not embraced by all Americans. The Temperance Movement was no different, finding its strongest support in the North Eastern States. In 1831, over one-third of the temperance pledges cam from New England, a region that contained eighteen percent of the nation’s free population.
Was the British Empire a force for good in the world? The British Empire, at its peak, ruled a quarter of the worlds land. This shows that the Empire was a great force in the world-but was it for the better or for the worse? Three points will take us to a conclusion- the social effect the Empire had on colonised countries, which was how it altered the indigenous peoples cultures and their religious choices; the economical impact, what was left by the Empire and how it was being ruled at the present time; and the methods used by the empire, assessing whether they were brutal or not. The British took it upon themselves to alter the cultures and beliefs of the different countries that were colonised.
Like with most everything else, money and power influenced European Imperialism. Nationalism and racism were also factors in the New Imperialism during the 19th century all the way up to the first world war. Free trade was established and the old mercantile system faded away. No country took more advantage of the new free trade system than Britain. And this same idea still exists today.
In time, they might be ready for self-government and Western democracy. Mother France, in return, would gain millions of new Frenchmen that would help defend her honor at all costs, if necessary. The English model of Association was less about the spread of English culture and more about the efficient extraction of wealth, and was therefore carried out by private companies, who hired and trained local subjects to do most of the dirty work. Because of this, a good portion of England’s colonial possessions were acquired by British companies without the proper authority from the government. This then created a situation in which the British government often got involved in distant lands more than it had originally intended.