Many statesmen before 1914 were convinced that the concept of the struggle for existence was also valid in foreign policy. With the exception of the Russians, ruling liberal and conservative elites were increasingly influenced by vague forms of Social Darwinism. The technical progress after the 1870s led to the appearance of new attitudes in several European countries, while important social groups demanded more aggressive expansion outside of Europe. The reasons for the acceleration of European expansion in the second half of the 19 th century are still subjects of controversial debates, but this topic calls for a separate analysis. The enormous progress in communications (railways, trans-oceanic telegraph lines, steamships), the second industrial revolution (steel, electricity, energy, chemistry), and technical progress in weapon technologies (modern artillery, Maxim-guns or machine guns) had enabled Europeans and North Americans to occupy and control territories and states which were either unknown (the African interior) or even perceived to be culturally superior (like China) some decades before the First World War. After its victory in the Spanish-American War, the United States conquered a colonial empire of its own in East Asia (the Philippines), occupied Hawaii, and established an informal zone of influence in the Caribbean.

As a regional Great Power, Japan established colonies in Korea and in the Pacific Ocean.

Japan successfully fought against China (1894/95) and Russia (1904/05). After the turn of the century, two non-European states – Japan and the United States – also became imperial powers. With the founding of Germany and Italy, two rather aggressive and aspiring new powers appeared on the scene. Between the early 1880s and 1914 the map of the world was redrawn, especially in Africa. The first part deals with European imperialist cultures and attitudes before the First World War the second part takes a deeper look at economic and financial imperialism, focusing on Anglo-German relations, which were crucial in the pre-war era and the third part analyzes the diplomacy of the European Great Powers with reference to imperialist concepts and ideas.Įuropean expansion started in the early modern period, but most historians agree that at the end of the 19 th century new forms of imperialism appeared. The article distinguishes between several levels of analysis. In broaching this issue, this article aims not to give an overview of the history of imperialism and colonialism, but rather to focus on the aspects that might have worsened the relations between the Great Powers and have led to the Great War.

However, the extent to which European imperialism was responsible for the outbreak of World War I is both an open and a controversial question. Most textbooks agree that the imperialist tensions in the two decades before 1914 contributed to the diplomatic constellation of the July Crisis.

Imperialism 2 diplomatic vctory