Read today's textbook assignment and answer the following question in a detailed post. Before 12 noon on Saturday, respond to AT LEAST 2 of your peers, engaging in debate and discussion. The more you engage, the more credit you will receive.
***
The further along we go in the course, the more we encounter globalization in every facet: international politics, society, economics, culture, etc. We are about to embark on a heretofore unexplored part of globalization: global war. Based on your interpretation of the reading, how were the colonial conflicts in Africa between European powers a primary cause of twentieth century global war? Were they more or less important than European-based conflicts such as France vs. Germany, Liberalism vs. nationalism/conservatism, or East vs. west (think about the Crimean War)?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe conflicts in Africa between European powers are a primary cause of twentieth century global war because when Great Britain occupies Egypt, they have to fight with the Muslims to gain control of all of Egypt and when the Dutch or Boers undertake the Great Trek, during which they moved north and east of the Cape, they have to fight with Great Britain to maintain control of their territory. When Great Britain occupies Egypt, there was a collapse of authority in Sudan, in which Muhammad Ahmad annihilated an Egyptian expeditionary force led by British officers. The British then sent General Charles Gordon to Sudan and he ended up being killed in 1885 when the Mahdi’s forces captured Khartoum, the Sudan’s capital. Mahdi himself ended up dying himself shortly thereafter, but his followers established a strict Islamic state. The Sudan remained in turmoil until 1898 when an Anglo-Egyptian army (that was on Great Britain’s side) under General Sir Herbert conquered it in a violent campaign in which Great Britain won. When the Dutch or Boers undertake the Great Trek, during which they moved north and east of the Cape, they have to fight with Great Britain to maintain control of their territory. The Boers founded states outside British control that would become Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. In 1886 gold was discovered in the Transvaal. In 1895, Cecil Rhodes, the prime minister of the Cape Colony, supported a conspiracy to install a British government in the Transvaal. The conspiracy failed and Rhodes was forced to resign, but tensions mounted between Britain and the Boers. In 1899 war broke out and the British won against the Boers. These conflicts between the European powers leads to more conflicts between them and it is a primary cause of twentieth century global war. In my opinion these conflicts in Africa between European powers are as important as European-based conflicts such as France vs. Germany, Liberalism vs. nationalism/conservatism, or East vs. west because the European powers are trying to extend their influence over other countries, to provide a sense of nationalism for their countries, and to help their countries gain political and economic power.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Derek that the conflict in Africa between European powers were more important than other European conflicts such as France vs. Germany, Liberalism vs nationalism etc. I think the conflict in Africa is more important because it effects economics, and politics on a global scale. Here we see that the actions of European powers such as Britain have an effect on the whole world rather than just Europe. This idea of effecting things on a global scale brings about 20th century global war.
DeleteI also agree with you Derek. The conflict in Africa between European powers was more important than the other conflicts that were happening only in Europe. Because Africa was being controlled by more than one European country, the conflict was more ranging because it involved other parts of the world. It was an economic and political disturbance that made tensions between countries grow and eventually led to war which turned to global warfare.
DeleteThe colonial conflicts in Africa that we read about in the textbook, definitely proved to be a primary cause of twentieth century global war. In Africa we see European powers such as Britain, France, and Germany fight over parts of Africa, specifically Egypt. This step taking by these European powers to try and conquer Africa for personal gain led to many consequences. Before this time what ever happened in Europe pretty much stayed in Europe, but by conquering foreign lands, the consequences became global. Economics, politics, culture, etc, were all being changed globally. For example, if something happened in Britain, the effects would not only be demonstrated in Britain but the territory they control. In this case it was Egypt. Another thing that came out of the conflict of Africa were the peaceful resolutions and imperial disputes that took place. Both of these things were essential to the formation of the loose alliance called the Anglo-French Entente in 1904 and to the two countries fighting as allies in World War I.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in my earlier response to Derek's post, I believe that the European powers conflict in Africa was more important than any other European conflict such as France vs Germany, Liberalism vs Nationalism/Conservatism, and East vs West. I believe this simply because the conflict in Africa had a greater effect on a greater amount of people. Conflict was no longer confined to a certain region or continent, conflict was now global.
I agree with you Ben. The colonial conflict in Africa turned a European conflict into a world conflict. The politics and economics were now effected in Africa as well as Europe. Plus, tensions over other territories and having longer borders against countries that were unfriendly led to rising tensions and eventually war.
DeleteI agree that the conflict in Africa had a much larger affect on more people globally. However, I think conflicts between large European empires (such as Germany vs. France) were the ultimate cause of World War One. Africa had a huge part in building the empires in Europe, but did not play a major role in World War One. Many of the African countries were forced to surrender and only made European empires larger and more powerful. When looking at the World War One conflict, it was mainly caused by European powers attempting to become even stronger after conquering lands in Africa.
DeleteI agree with you Ben that the colonial conflicts in Africa proved to be primary cause of the global war. I also agree with you that there were peaceful resolutions and imperial disputes that came out of the conflict of Africa. I don’t agree with you Ben when you state, “This step taking by these European powers to try and conquer Africa for personal gain led to many consequences”. The reason why I don’t agree with this statement is because in my opinion I think that countries like Britain, France, and Germany were trying to conquer parts of Africa to extend their influence over other countries, to provide a sense of nationalism for their countries, and to help their countries gain political and economic power.
DeleteI agree that the conflict in Africa was on a much larger scale, and that is part of the reason why it had such a large affect. Typically, the conflicts between the European powers stay on a smaller and more local scale, but in the case of Africa and Egypt, it took the conflict outside of their typical borders. But I do agree with Gill that Africa mainly contributed to making the European empires larger and more powerful because they were forced to surrender. While the European powers benefited from this politically and economically, the Africans greatly suffered from it in all aspects.
DeleteI have to disagree, I think that European-based power conflicts were more important than the African conflicts. While I definitely agree with Ben, the African conflict was obviously more global, I think that the conquering of African countries helped to build European empires. As European empires conquered land, this only led to more growing hostilities between countries in Europe. Many countries faced problems such as strategic overstretch and many rulers became overconfident in their empires. While Africa had a very big part in causing World War One, I think this global war was caused by European empire's increasing powers politically, economically and globally.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the African colonization boosted European countries' power. However, I want to say the colonial conflict not only helped European empires, but created and deepened the conflicts between countries. As Bismark acquired colonies for their diplomatic position position, colonization was an international issue. As you written, it is true that European empire's political and economical power caused the war. But I think the African conflict caused and created those political/ economical issue more seriously, which it is possible to say its more important than other European-based conflicts.
DeleteI agree with you, Gill. I think that what came out of the African conflicts affected the European powers in a much bigger way. The European empires went after the territories in Africa to gain power and wealth and because they all wanted to maximize their territories in Africa, the competition between them all grew. This created more and more conflict between them. This conflict could be blamed more upon the European power's want for more political and economic power is what caused the hostility.
DeleteI agree with you Gill. The Great Powers only wanted parts of Africa just to gain from it such as exploiting its crops and riches. It was a diplomatic move in order to gain more power and be the top dog in Europe. Of course, when other countries started to follow the same trend of conquering Africa, tensions arose because of who would have the most power. This threatened the balance of power that Europe has always been struggling with.
DeleteColonization in Africa was the hottest issue to the European countries in the time before World War 1. Of course, there were some preparation and sign of world war during the colonial conflicts. First, countries' economics had increased. By having lots of profits and slaves, countries became wealthier. Second, there were several wars and disputes, which made countries to use and organize their military forces. The Boar War in 1902 and the Boxer Rebellion are the examples. Third, countries competed and some of them allied for their advantages. Fashoda incident, the alliance between France and Britain during the colonization, leads to the alliance of those two countries during the world war. As it shown, there were many causes and signs of World War 1 during the colonial conflict. I think this issue is more important than the other European issues. Lots of countries in Europe, especially in great powers like France, Britain, and Germany, which will be the major countries of the global war, joined this conflict. They tasted the benefit from their colonization, that made them reason to have a war.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jeong on that because the Great Powers expanded their land in Africa, that they themselves provoked war in the future. They were all competing with each other - its always been about who gets the most power and who will be subordinate to its power. In the past, when Germany was uniting and becoming powerful, countries realized that they were weak and that they had to change their ways in order to compete with the new powers. This shows the want for power, and the only way to grow stronger is by destroying other countries' spirits.
DeleteI agree with you 100%. The colonization of Africa made many countries wealthier, and in the the process created many conflict and disputes among European powers. These disputes are almost like a foreshadow of the events to come in World War I. Also like you said many countries created alliances that extended to the battlefield when global war occurred.
ReplyDeleteDuring the time period leading to world war one, there were European conflicts, colonial conflicts and nationalism, liberalism and conservatism. Although I agree with Gillian, I have to lean toward the colonial conflicts as the primary cause of twentieth century war. With each country fighting to get a hold of African land, it was basically all the countries at war, just on different territory. There is not much difference between fighting another country in Europe and fighting another European country in Africa. But that conflict in Africa was almost a pre-war for the World War about to come. The conflict in Africa was a precursor and a large cause of the rising tensions which led to war.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree. There are many things happened during the colonial conflicts which are similar with the world war. As I written before, French-Britain alliance was one of them. Also, they fought and killed for their countries' wealth and colonies, and those will be repeated at the world war. It is apt to say the colonial conflict as a pre-war of the World War 1.
DeleteI agree with you Dylan that colonial conflicts in Africa were the primary cause of global war. I also agree with you that the conflicts were a pre-war for the World war and that the conflicts influenced it. Each country was fighting for territories in Africa to see who was the strongest country to capture most of the territories in Africa. Another reason why countries like Britain, France, and Germany were trying to conquer parts of Africa was because these countries wanted to extend their influence over other countries, to provide a sense of nationalism for their countries, and to help their countries gain political and economic power.
DeleteAfter reading the section from the textbook as well as my peers comments, I think that the conflicts in Africa were one of the primary causes of the twentieth global war, however it is hard to say whether the African conflicts were more or less significant than the European-based conflicts. The European based conflicts have contributed to hostility between the powers for a long time, not only between each other such as France vs. Germany, but also internally as well, such as the conflict between classes in France. So, it is safe to say that the global war has been building for a long time. However, it was the growing competition between the European powers as they scrambled to take control over the most territory in Africa that pushed everyone that much closer to global war. I agree with Ben when he said that conquering territories outside of Europe brings things to a larger and more global scale, which is a first for most of these European powers. The conflicts led to alliances such as the German alliances with Russia and Austria. The alliances that came out of the race for greater territories became a huge part of World War I. With all of that being said, I think that the fight for territory in Africa was the kick start that the global war needed because all of these European powers were fighting for the same thing, which only fueled the competition between them. Africa and the conflicts in the African territories affected a greater amount of people, however, the natives all suffered a similar detriment because of the European conflicts. The unifying countries, hunger for power and a greater economy all fueled the war, but it was the African conflicts that put the European powers over the edge and gave them the global aspect that they needed for an outright global war.
ReplyDeleteThe colonial conflicts of Africa arose because Great Powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy wanted the same thing – power. Because Britain was the first to conquer Egypt, a part of Africa, the other great powers saw the balance of power threatened, so they all followed the trend of conquering Africa. Bismarck only took part of Africa to have a more diplomatic position in Europe, in other words, to be able to compete with the other countries. Of course, as one country grows more powerful, the other countries try to find a way to find their own source of power. This creates conflicts and tensions between the countries. I think it was less important than European- based conflicts because these were internal conflicts that overthrew the government and ended up in revolts, and these revolts then spread across Europe. The colonial conflicts were internationals and involved territory expansion and the exploitation of resources that could have an advantage to their economy.
ReplyDelete