The occupation of Egypt was carried out for economic and strategic reasons; however individuals were important in the timing of annexation. In 1881, Colonel Arabi, head of the nationalist movement in Egypt overthrew Turkish rule with a nationalist uprising. Britain was concerned that Arabi might close the canal to Britain, blocking the route to India and ceasing trade in Egyptian cotton which was highly sought. Therefore, then Prime Minister Gladstone decided there was no alternative option but to invade in order to protect these interests. In 1882 at the battle of Tel El Kabir British victory saw the Khedive re-installed as puppet leader under British control.
Because We Could Harry James-Roxby There is no single event that caused the scramble of Africa, rather it was a series of choices made by European countries between 1870 and 1900s. Each nation had their own reasons for wanting a piece of the African “pie”, for Brittan it was to give the empire more power over trade, for the French it was for prestige, and for King Leopold II it was boredom and the means to do it. Before the scramble for Africa could happen, Europeans had to go through an industrial revolution that began in 1840, this boom created new tools and medicines that helped Europeans exert control over far off lands. The revolution ushered in an era of “New Imperialism” that helped spread the ideas of empire around Europe. With all the nations wanting a piece of Africa agreements had to be met so that a Europeans don’t go to war with one another.
Due to British and French influence in the area, Britain and France assume dual control of Egypt’s finances. Although they manage to control debt levels, this is done at the expense of the Egyptian public and army. This interference led to an anti - European uprising in 1882 led by Arabi Pasha. On the 13th of September 1882 Sir Garnett Wolseley defeated the Egyptian army, however finding that the Egyptian government was in chaos the British armed forces occupied Egypt to restore stability. This gave Britain a lot of influence over this region which was important as the Suez Canal and therefore trade with India was now secure.
Since the slave trade in the 1830’s, Africa didn’t impress the British. But the Britain’s imperialism in Africa changed dramatically, and for many reasons. The main reason the British annexed land in Africa was to prevent invaders from getting to India. In 1869, the French completed the Suez Canal, which was a quick route to India. If other countries were to seize control of the canal, the possibilities rose that they would cut Britain off, and seize India for themselves.
This meant more power for their empire. This is why Britain backed France as they didn’t want Germany to gain land as they could potentially get more land and a bigger empire than Britain. In the long term this caused problems between Britain and Germany because they was both power hungry and the thought of another country having a bigger empire or navy made them angry. Wilhelm tested the Entente Cordiale again in 1911 when he demanded compensation
The canal was immensely important for the British as there was a large amount of trade that went on between India and Britain, Rather than going all the way around Africa, they passed through the Canal saving ships huge amounts of time an average of two-thirds of the voyage around Africa, giving the British and its allies a huge advantage for the battles to come. In addition Oil specifically had turn into a discriminating key thing because of the expanded mechanization of present day armed forces. Britain, which was the first real country
The idea of westward expansion was a good one because it would enable people to live in more room and to grow the population, however many northerners merely saw the idea of westward expansion to spread slavery. Polk’s ideas angered and worried the north and caused relations to break down further due to a lack of trust. At The very beginning of the Mexican war the north issued the Wilmot Doctrine that proposed that any territory gained from Mexico should exclude slavery. This was very unpopular in the south as they
Essentially, every country not only wanted to better themselves economically but also strongly desired expansion. Hobsbawm’s point becomes clear when colonies began to fight for possession of land in Africa. Colonizing in Africa was ideal in order to harvest new raw materials and have ownership of another piece of land. The Moroccan Crisis is also an important event in which demonstrates industrial capitalism and how it led to WWI. Britain and France had recently signed a treaty called the Entente Cordiale, which initiated an alliance between the countries.
Consequent to the political and economic rivalries among the European empires in the last quarter of the 19th century, the partitioning of Africa was how the Europeans avoided warring amongst themselves over Africa. The later years of the 19th century saw the transition from "informal imperialism", by military influence and economic dominance, to the direct rule of a people, which brought about colonial imperialism. The social and economic effects of European Imperialism in Africa are, economy, military, and social class. Africa was a new market for manufactured goods that could be sold for high prices, and was also a source of raw materials that could be manufactured. Although, in the grand scheme of the African economy, it grew to a more global position, the social or individual part, suffered greatly.
Africa Imperialism of Africa was directly related to three factors, economic, political, and social. After the collapse of the profitable anti-slave trade, expansion of European capitalist Industrial Revolution there was a demand and assurance of raw material, because Africa was so large and fruitful this brought about the scramble for Africa. European powers, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain sought out to gain control of land. This was so intense that the presence of fear of war would evolve, a treaty instilled by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck was produced at the famous Berlin West Africa conference known as the Berlin Act in hopes of preventing conflict and war. Africa did not partake in the treaty and eventually use military resistance.