Editing New Imperialism (section)

==Rise==
{{main|International relations (1814–1919)}}

The [[American Revolutionary War]] (1775–1783) and the collapse of the [[Spanish Empire]] in [[Latin America]] in the 1820s ended the first era of European imperialism. Especially in Great Britain these revolutions helped show the deficiencies of [[mercantilism]], the doctrine of economic competition for finite wealth which had supported earlier imperial expansion. In 1846, the [[Corn Laws]] were repealed and manufacturers grew, as the regulations enforced by the Corn Laws had slowed their businesses. With the repeal in place, the manufacturers were able to trade more freely. Thus, Britain began to adopt the concept of free trade.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Corn Law|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|date=10 November 2010|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137814/Corn-Law}}</ref>

[[File:Congress of Vienna.PNG|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=An oil painting of the delegates to the Congress of Vienna.|''The Congress of Vienna'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Isabey]] (1819). The congress was actually a series of face-to-face meetings between colonial powers. It served to divide and reappropriate imperial holdings.]]
During this period, between the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]] after the defeat of [[Napoleon]]ic [[First French Empire|France]] and Imperial Germany's victory in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1871, Great Britain reaped the benefits of being Europe's dominant military and economic power. As the "workshop of the world", Britain could produce finished goods so efficiently that they could usually undersell comparable, locally manufactured goods in foreign markets, supplying a large share of the manufactured goods consumed by such nations as the German states, France, Belgium, and the United States.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nadel|first=George H. and Curtis, Perry|title=Imperialism and Colonialism|year=1969|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> {{Pn|date= January 2022}}

The erosion of British hegemony after the [[Franco-Prussian War]], in which a coalition of German states led by [[Prussia]] soundly defeated the [[Second French Empire]], was occasioned by changes in the European and world economies and in the continental balance of power following the breakdown of the [[Concert of Europe]], established by the Congress of Vienna. The establishment of nation-states in [[Unification of Germany|Germany]] and [[Italian unification|Italy]] resolved territorial issues that had kept potential rivals embroiled in internal affairs at the heart of Europe to Britain's advantage. The years from 1871 to 1914 would be marked by an [[Belle Epoque|extremely unstable peace]]. France's determination to recover [[Alsace-Lorraine]], annexed by Germany as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, and Germany's mounting imperialist ambitions would keep the two nations constantly poised for conflict.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Franco-German War|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|date=10 November 2010|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/216971/Franco-German-War}}</ref>

This competition was sharpened by the [[Long Depression]] of 1873–1896, a prolonged period of price deflation punctuated by severe business downturns, which put pressure on governments to promote home industry, leading to the widespread abandonment of free trade among Europe's powers (in Germany from 1879 and in France from 1881).<ref>Kindleberger, C. P., (1961), "Foreign Trade and Economic Growth: Lessons from Britain and France, 1850–1913", ''The Economic History Review'', Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 289–305.</ref><ref>Porter, B., (1996), ''The Lion's Share: A Short History of British Imperialism 1850–1995'', (London: Longman), pp.118ff.</ref>

===Berlin Conference===
[[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|upright=2|Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913]]

The [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–1885 sought to destroy the competition between the powers by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of a territory claim, specifically in Africa. The imposition of direct rule in terms of "effective occupation" necessitated routine recourse to armed force against indigenous states and peoples. Uprisings against imperial rule were put down ruthlessly, most brutally in the [[Herero Wars]] in [[German South-West Africa]] from 1904 to 1907 and the [[Maji Maji Rebellion]] in [[German East Africa]] from 1905 to 1907. One of the goals of the conference was to reach agreements over trade, navigation, and boundaries of [[Central Africa]]. However, of all of the 15 nations in attendance of the Berlin Conference, none of the countries represented were African.

The main dominating powers of the conference were [[French Third Republic|France]], [[German Empire|Germany]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. They remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 different colonies. The attendants established who was in control of each of these newly divided colonies. They also planned, noncommittally, to end the slave trade in Africa.

===Britain during the era===
{{Further|Historiography of the British Empire}}
[[File:old disraeli.jpg|thumb|upright|British Prime Minister [[Benjamin Disraeli]] and [[Queen Victoria]]]]

In Britain, the age of new imperialism marked a time for significant economic changes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xypolia |first1=Ilia |title=Divide et Impera: Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of British Imperialism |journal=Critique |date=2016 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=221–231 |doi=10.1080/03017605.2016.1199629 |hdl=2164/9956 |s2cid=148118309 |url=http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/9956/1/Xypolia_Divide_et_Impera_Vertical_and_Horizontal_imperialism.pdf |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Because the country was the first to industrialize, Britain was technologically ahead of many other countries throughout the majority of the nineteenth century.<ref name="Lambert">Lambert, Tim. "England in the 19th Century." Localhistories.org. 2008. 24 March 2015. [http://www.localhistories.org/19thcentengland.html]</ref> By the end of the nineteenth century, however, other countries, chiefly Germany and the United States, began to challenge Britain's technological and economic power.<ref name="Lambert" /> After several decades of monopoly, the country was battling to maintain a dominant economic position while other powers became more involved in international markets. In 1870, Britain contained 31.8% of the world's manufacturing capacity while the United States contained 23.3% and Germany contained 13.2%.<ref name="Platt">Platt, D.C.M. "Economic Factors in British Policy during the 'New Imperialism.'" ''Past and Present'', Vol. 39, (April 1968). pp.120–138. jstor.org. 23 March 2015. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/649858?seq=18#page_scan_tab_contents]</ref> By 1910, Britain's manufacturing capacity had dropped to 14.7%, while that of the United States had risen to 35.3% and that of Germany to 15.9%.<ref name="Platt" /> As countries like Germany and America became more economically successful, they began to become more involved with imperialism, resulting in the British struggling to maintain the volume of British trade and investment overseas.<ref name="Platt" />

Britain further faced strained international relations with three expansionist powers (Japan, Germany, and Italy) during the early twentieth century. Before 1939, these three powers never directly threatened Britain itself, but the dangers to the Empire were clear.<ref name="Davis">Davis, John. ''A History of Britain, 1885–1939''. MacMillan Press, 1999. Print.</ref> By the 1930s, Britain was worried that Japan would threaten its holdings in the Far East as well as territories in India, Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="Davis" /> Italy held an interest in North Africa, which threatened British Egypt, and German dominance of the European continent held some danger for Britain's security.<ref name="Davis" /> Britain worried that the expansionist powers would cause the breakdown of international stability; as such, British foreign policy attempted to protect the stability in a rapidly changing world.<ref name="Davis" /> With its stability and holdings threatened, Britain decided to adopt a policy of concession rather than resistance, a policy that became known as [[appeasement]].<ref name="Davis" />

In Britain, the era of new imperialism affected public attitudes toward the idea of imperialism itself. Most of the public believed that if imperialism was going to exist, it was best if Britain was the driving force behind it.<ref name="Ward">Ward, Paul. ''Britishness Since 1870''. Routledge, 2004. Print.</ref> The same people further thought that British imperialism was a force for good in the world.<ref name="Ward" /> In 1940, the Fabian Colonial Research Bureau argued that Africa could be developed both economically and socially, but until this development could happen, Africa was best off remaining with the [[British Empire]]. Rudyard Kipling's 1891 poem, "The English Flag," contains the stanza:
<blockquote><poem>
     Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro--
        And what should they know of England who only England know?--
     The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag,
        They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English Flag!<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.readbookonline.org/readOnLine/2727/|last=Kipling|first=Rudyard|title=The English Flag|publisher= Readbookonline.org|date=1891|access-date=23 March 2015}}</ref></poem></blockquote>

These lines show Kipling's belief that the British who actively took part in imperialism knew more about British national identity than the ones whose entire lives were spent solely in the imperial metropolis.<ref name="Ward" /> While there were pockets of anti-imperialist opposition in Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resistance to imperialism was nearly nonexistent in the country as a whole.<ref name="Ward" /> In many ways, this new form of imperialism formed a part of the British identity until the end of the era of new imperialism with the Second World War.<ref name="Ward" />