Nationalism And Imperialism

664 Words3 Pages
In both articles, Confessions of Faith and Manifesto for the Society for German Colonization, Cecil Rhodes and Carl Peters offer their arguments for national imperialism and colonization for their respective countries. Cecil Rhodes, Britain’s strongest promoter of the empire, outlined his views on British imperialism in his personal “confession” written in the 1870s. Rhodes argues for imperialism by saying that his race, the Anglo-Saxon race, is superior to all others and that it is their duty to spread their influence. He says, “It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race more of the best most human, most honourable race the world possesses.” The main reasons for imperialism for Cecil Rhodes are nationalism and ethnocentrism, while Carl Peters called for imperialism and colonization is to keep his country alive. His arguments are for survival because every year his country is losing people. He says, “Every year our Fatherland loses the capacity of approximately 200,000 Germans. The greatest amount of this capacity flows directly into the camp of our economic competitors and increases the strength of our rivals.” Carl Peters is proposing colonization and imperialism to keep his country alive and to make sure that they stay in power and not fall to their competitors. Germany was losing money and Peters saw imperialism as a way back to economic supremacy. To achieve his ends Cecil Rhodes proposed a secret society with the only goal being to increase the prestige of the British Empire. He wants to have a society that strives to extend the British Empire. He says, “In every Colonial legislature the Society should attempt to have its members prepared at all times to vote or speak and advocate the closer union of
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