The Tension between, and Interdependence of the Ideas of Empire - Essay Example

The history of modern Europe can be described as the failed attempt to (re-)establish universal rule over the continent. Discuss the tension between,and interdependence of, the ideas of empire and of the nation state in 19th century Europe. History has always had game changers, personalities and up-risings that play a major in shaping the future of the country or continent. Eastern Europeans clung to power by passing the throne within the family in power. They greatly invested in heirs to the throne. The Europeans have maintained power and noble dominance by educating the next family generation thereby holding power within the royal family. Ministers of the crown, lawyers, church clergymen and doctors follow next in the nobility line considered the middle class society. Apothecaries, craftsmen and shop owners, qualify as the lower middle class. Workers in the city handle any job available within the kingdom. Land workers are in the peasantry category. They were called serfs in Eastern Europe in the year 1980 (Rao, 2006, p. 13). Eastern Europe classes translate the bible and decide to have it in their own respective languages. Women never get to access education unless they were in the nobility or upper middle class. Eastern Europeans reduce education spread to prevent rebelliousness and sudden uprisings. Male life expectancy is higher than women due to child birth complications. The women live ten times longer than men once they survive the childbirth. Child delivery was a complex procedure during the time due to limited surgical education. Children die by the time they reach five years old, and each family expects half of the siblings not to make it. Cold climate within the regions brings about rain. Poor drainage harbors contaminated stagnant water causing waterborne diseases resulting to multiple deaths because of lack of proper medical remedies. Women rights were non-existent. Women were the father’s property passed on to become the husband’s possession. Only women without fathers and widows had the right to have independent rights in a society in Eastern Europe. A woman’s infidelity results to murder by the husband. The Eastern Europe rule gives every husband the right to eliminate infidelity. Virginity was of high value in the 18th century. Women who lie about their virginity to the husband before marriage face the same result. Consummation is a public event until the husband is satisfactory and approves of the wedding gift. Two forms of clothing attire are available; one for church and the other for work. The Nation state achieves and exercises positions of governance, analysis of neighboring country policies even though Eastern Europe maintains ethnic and cultural rule. The two coincide geographically. In this Nation state enables European ancestry achieve economic and political dominance. Factors that enforce dominance include improved transport, invention and trade of powerful weaponry and advance communication. Biological trading consisting of humans travelling to a distant land for exploration, some carried plants and animals, proceed to have a massive effect on new cities and natural habitat. Merchants advance with trade among sea-line regions through sailing and establishment of sea ports and harbors broadening the trading economy. Technology exchange and religious backgrounds lead to the fast spread of gunpowder trading and printing skills, as well. Christianity and Islam brings along religious conversions among neighboring sea-lines. The 19th century was a period of colonial expansion (Bartlett, 1993, p. 17). The British consolidated power was all over countries such as India, Australia and Canada. British dominance spread to countries in Africa leading to the scramble of Africa. The colonial major colonial powers involved major countries such as France, Britain, Portugal and other European countries like Italy and Germany. Colonialism brought about reasons to conflict the nation states via several factors which include; reasons that merge institutional and financial pressure, political ideologies influences and religion and other societal pressure. The Structural reasons are reasons why colonialism earned consent for the nation states. One structural motivator for colonization was the industrial revolution (Lindemann, 2013, p. 7). Industrialization increased the productivity of Europe until over-production occurred. Lots of questions emerged on what would be done to the huge supply of products, because the market had flocked with wealth leaving no space to accommodate the goods. However, overseas colonies had an ideal outlet for the overproduced goods. The best feature of colonialism was the scramble for Africa, where the whole continent was under the nation states. The reforms carried out in the 19the century, increased pressure on the politicians to extend the empire. The politicians exploited colonialism and imperialism with no mercy. When the politicians expanded the empires various disagreements rose as some nation states interfered with emperors for the other nation states. The different global processes had effects for different people and states. In America and Oceania, introduced diseases from Eastern Europe killed a huge population of people and led to the collapse of many societies. The Europeans later claimed Americans land, where they established colonies and grew different kinds of crops for sale in the market. In sub-Saharan countries, many slaves underwent forced relocation to the western hemisphere, whereby went through physical and psychological torture. At the same time, Asians and Islamic individuals benefited from the increased trade and restricted the introduction of new thoughts and technologies into their society. The Europeans benefited from the global development by dominating world affairs. Most African countries and the western hemisphere were under Europe’s control during the 19th century. Also, Europeans played a senior role in the prominent roles in the world than people from other countries. Nevertheless, Europeans efforts fostered the developments in the world. British colonialism was a process for spreading the benefits of trading activities in the world (Blanning, 2000, p. 21). Globalization took place in many countries, and the new liberal economies led to cemented interdependence between the British colonies. Also, Christianity was introduced to the different British colonies especially in Africa. Christianity turned out to be the most popular religion in many countries worldwide. Even when the Arabs came to spread the Islamic religion in Africa, many people maintained the Christianity faith. Also in the process of the Europeans colonizing other countries such as Africa, intermarriages occurred frequently. Also as the Arabs moved to different countries for trading purposes also intermarried with the other communities in the world. Colonization led to prostitution behavior in many countries. As the various nation states took over different African countries, they always in looked for young girls to pay for commercial sex. Many innocent girls fell into the trap of prostitution, and this resulted to the spread of pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Colonization also led to the political uprisings in the colonized countries due to the physical torture the colonizers imposed to the people. The political uprisings led to massive deaths of people resulting in more rules imposed on the people. The conditions experienced by the colonized nations were so terrible and unbearable and for the people who tried to oppose them were killed ruthlessly. Economic ties happened to be more extensive and significant in the periods before 1914 than at any time ever before or since, the chief protagonist of the time, Britain and Germany were each other’s best customers. Even still Germany and Britain happened to pursue very different policies; Germany on one hand pursued an aggressive form of foreign policy while Britain, on the other hand, responded with an ambivalent system towards Germany, which had a mix of balancing its conciliations (Mason & Mason, 2011, p. 56). Many in society have argued that such desperate measures and the outbreak of World War one falsify the views held by majority of the liberalist of international relations with high levels of financial interdependence, which are conducive to peace. Critics have also suggested that this affirms their place that the fundamentals of high political affairs have dominance in international politics. Even though the First World War obviously contravenes the liberal vision, society has also argued that realists could also be wrong. Financial interdependence had a deep result on British and German procedures in the equation of balance-of-power policy during the time leading to August 1914, the two pursued different overseas policies because of the diverse habits their domestic supporting institutions aggregated political and financial interests. Let us first make this argument theoretically, while cleansing and synthesizing both liberal and realistic perspectives in order to explain the strategies in the late 19th century. The environment of economic ties is a significant determinant on whether society’s economic benefits sustain or combat the States security goals and policies. However, domestic institutions influence internationalists or domestic oriented financial interests are politically salient and able to influence planned decisions. Starting in the late 19th century, the enormous power structure went through a progression of innovation characterized by industrialization, urbanization, opinionated centralization, and the increase of mass contribution. Linkages clogged between states, and their societies, grew stronger in a good number of cases. As a result, modern public officials have not usually worked in a political vacuum; neither have they had limitless assets at their retention in pursuing defense policies. In most cases they have frequently been forced by companies that go up against a meticulous policy objective, have political admittance, and be in command of important assets, or because they have had to be responsive to the penalty of expensive defense policies for the market and communal wellbeing expenditure (Wickham, 2005, p. 102). Hence, since defense policies characteristically entail important business expenditure and political implications, it is vital to think whether contemporary strategists have the ability to rally financial wealth and political hold up from their communities. Economic relationships or their nonexistence give increase to internationalist including domestic-oriented financial concerns that have the ability to influence the recruitment capacities of current supporting leaders, whether they depend on the character of national political organizations. Economic ties have the ability to affect mobilization capacities in a number of ways. The role-played in the political procedure by stakes shaped by global economic ties, and by modern political influential’s need to be apprehensive with the effects of security policies on their states financial relations and economies (Thomas, 2009, p. 79). Economic ties, or the need thereof, generate and mirror the continuation of such vested welfare groups that also enjoy a financial stake in maintaining the trade, business links, and savings they have if they are important and responsive, a curiosity in avoiding relationships with other countries. Stakes a thus precious and will seek out to manipulate, their states defense policies. Economic connections also influence the enlistment process with their implications for the financial system. Monetary connections in other powers make a country extremely receptive or weak to changes in policies. Current political leaders may have reason to be worried about the major alteration costs that would occur in their own financial system should financial relationships break down, thus whether defense policies jeopardize or assist preserve such relations. Without widespread economic connections, there are no such concerns with potential alteration operating cost. Therefore, societal support for costly defense policies will be lacking. In fact, modern political leaders may feel controlled. Since the welfare of their communities will not be mainly affected by what happens outside their countries borders, societies will be inwardly looking opposed to handling substantial expenditure for external security commitments and policies. Bibliography Bartlett, R.1993. The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Blanning, T. C. W. 2000. A History Of Modern Europe. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Blanning, T. C. W.2001. The Oxford Illustrated History Of Modern Europe. Oxford [U.A.], Oxford Univ. Press. Mason, D. S., & Mason, D. S. 2011. A Concise History Of Modern Europe: Liberty, Equality, Solidarity. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield. Lindemann, A. S. 2013. A History Of Modern Europe From 1815 To The Present. S.L, S.N.]. Rao, B. V. 2006. History Of Modern Europe: A.D. 1789-2002. Elgin, Ill, New Dawn Press. Thomas, B. N. 2009. The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Wickham, C. 2005. Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More