CapitalismIn the begining, there were horses. Then came water power. Water power begat steam power. Steam power begat the mechanization of teztiles, the mass production of ceramics, and rapid developmant of the railway, steel, chemical and electrical industries. But at what cost?The most prominent example of imperialism coming from industrialization is Britain. Britain was among the first countries to become industrialized. The main reason most countries follow the industry to empire flow of cause and effect has to do with capitalism. Capitalism has all the things nessecary to evolve industry. It has an agent of change, which would be independent companies, and also a method of natural selection, which would be competition. In a capitalist economy, people struggle to stay ahead of their competitors. A company often invests in itself so that it can turn out a superior product and thus make more profit. Other companies then have to copy this technology so that they can stay in business. This mechanism of evolution lead to the rapid increase of technology, which we now call industrialization. The process of evolution still takes place in the world of today, but is much harder to see because the changes are less noticeable. I would say, that imperialism has closer ties with capitalism than it does with industrialization. Once people started to want money they began to seek interesting ways of getting it. I think that I should first explain some history. In the 1400's Britain was ruled by a lord and serf system. The lord had a large chunk of land on which the serfs lived and worked for him. Awhile after this, there was a sheep farming debacle. The lords got greedy and forced the peasants off of the land so that sheep could be raised. There ensued, of course, a bloody uprising, and the serfs got the right to own their own land. Over time, the serfs were given more rights, and the stage was set for capitalism. After capitalism had been invented by the British (specifically Adam Smith with Wealth of Nations), industrialization followed. The countries of Europe were forced to copy them, or be anihillated by the force that became Britain. This said, people began to seek money as a way of securing their future. Imperialism was started as a business proposition. People later connected imperialism to nationalism as a way of unifying their economy and culture, and as a method of explaining why they were exploiting other countries. This has been done numerous times throughout history as a way of getting over moral qualms. After Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, people used survival of the fittest as an excuse to treat people they considered beneath them poorly. Social Darwinism further extended how far people were willing to go with the abuse of their fellow humans. I would be branded, in earlier times as a communist for holding these anti-capitalist veiws, but this is not the 50's. Capitalism is getting better though. The days of imperialism are mostly over. This happened because the colonies fought back. First America, then India, and finally Africa. Now we are moving towards a more unified planet. The Euro was introduced, bringing Europe closer to unity. International trade is common place, and there are far fewer wars amongst the industrialized countries. In the past it was different. America, for example, was exploited by Britain as a source of money, goods, and power. Britain forced their will on America as a capitalist ploy to gain money. This further illustrates my point that imperialism is result of capitalism rather than a result of industrialization. Eventually though, American colonists got upset which resulted in the Boston Tea Party, the organization of colonist radical groups, and finally the Revolutionary War. In India, the same thing happened. The Brits exploited India and took power over their government. They bought their cotton at reduced prices, turned it into textiles and sold it back to them at higher prices. This caused poverty in India. Eventually India got fed up in the same way that America did. They were tired of being exploited just as America had been. They fought back but in a different way than Americans had. Instead they used civil disobedience and non-violent protest. Britain was forced to give them independence, not because of moral qualms but because they had become unprofitable. This makes it clear to me that Imperialism is caused by Capitalism. Britain was no longer able to make a quick buck off of India so they had to let it go. In Africa, the British colonies were taken advantage of in the same way that all of the British colonies were. The native people were sent into poverty, the government was taken over by British men, and unfair laws were put into place. Normally, the British used nationalism and social Darwinism as a way to justify their actions. When they colonized Africa they needed no better justification than that the Africans had a different skin color. As the colonies before them, the Africans fought back. Africa became unprofitable and thus had to be abandoned. All these colonies follow the same general path. Britain takes advantage of them, the colonies fight back, and they are abandoned. America, India, and Africa represent Post-Imperialism at three different stages. If they do indeed continue to follow the same path then they will become more powerful, become a leader in technology as America and India already are and finally become a major world power. My final summation; capitalism creates industrialism and both of these together form imperialism. Colonies are formed, colonies become unprofitable and are abandoned. The cycle begins anew in Post-Imperial nations. |