What Is Imperialism?

Definition and Historical Perspective

Robert Longley
Updated on March 02, 2022

Imperialism, sometimes called empire building, is the practice of a nation

forcefully imposing its rule or authority over other nations. Typically involving the
unprovoked use of military force, imperialism has historically been viewed as
morally unacceptable. As a result, accusations of imperialism --- factual or not ---
are often used in propaganda denouncing a nation’s foreign policy.

Periods of Imperialism

Imperialistic takeovers have been happening all over the world for hundreds of
years, one of the most notable examples being the colonization of America. While
the colonization of the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries differed in
nature from the expansion of the United States, Japan, and the European powers
during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both periods are examples of
imperialism.

Imperialism has evolved since the struggles between prehistoric clans for scarce
food and resources, but it has retained its bloody roots. Throughout history, many
cultures suffered under the domination of their imperialist conquerors, with many
indigenous societies being unintentionally or deliberately destroyed.

The histories of ancient China, western Asia, and the Mediterranean were defined
by an unending succession of empires. During the 6th to 4th century BCE, the
tyrannically authoritarian Assyrian Empire was replaced by the more socially
liberal and longer-lasting Persian Empire. The Persian Empire eventually gave way
to the imperialism of ancient Greece, which reached its apex from 356 to 323 BCE
under Alexander the Great. While Alexander achieved a union of the eastern
Mediterranean with western Asia, his vision of the world as a “cosmopolis” in
which all citizens lived together harmoniously remained a dream until it was
partially realized when the Romans built their empire from Britain to Egypt.

After the fall of Rome in 476 BCE, the idea of imperialism as a force for
unification faded quickly. The European and Asian nations that arose from the
ashes of the Roman Empire pursued their individual imperialist policies as
imperialism became the divisive force it would remain in the modern world.
The modern era would see three periods of vast imperialism and aggressive
colonialism. From the 15th century to the middle of the 18th century, England,
France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain built empires in the Americas, India,
and the East Indies. A strong negative reaction to imperialism led to almost a
century of relative calm in empire building. The period from the middle of the 19th
century and World War I (1914 to 1918) were again characterized by a rapid
spread of imperialism.

As indirect, especially financial, control became a preferred form of imperialism

over direct military intervention, Russia, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the United
States, became new imperialistic states. After World War I, the promise of a
peaceful world inspired by the League of Nations brought another short pause in
imperialism. Japan renewed its empire-building in 1931when it invaded China.
Led by Japan and Italy under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, Nazi Germany
under Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, a new period of
imperialism dominate the 1930s and 1940s.

Five Theories Used to Justify Imperialistic Expansion

A broader definition of imperialism is the extension or expansion—usually by the

use of military force --- of a nation’s authority or rule over territories not currently
under its control. This is accomplished through the direct acquisition of land and/or
economic and political domination.

Empires do not undertake the expenses and dangers of imperialistic expansion

without what their leaders consider to be ample justification. Throughout recorded
history, imperialism has been rationalized under one or more of the following five
theories.

Conservative Economic Theory

The better developed nation sees imperialism as a means of maintaining its already
successful economy and stable social order. By securing new captive markets for
its exported goods, the dominant nation is able to sustain its employment rate and
redirect any social disputes of its urban populations into its colonial territories.
Historically, this rationale embodies an assumption of ideological and racial
superiority within the dominant nation.

Liberal Economic Theory

Growing wealth and capitalism in the dominant nation results in the production of
more goods than its population can consume. Its leaders see imperialist expansion
as a way to reduce its expenses while increasing its profits by balancing production
and consumption. As an alternative to imperialism, the wealthier nation sometimes
chooses to solve its under-consumption problem internally through liberal
legislative means such as wage control.

Marxist-Leninist Economic Theory

Socialist leaders like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin rejected liberal legislative
strategies dealing with under-consumption because they would inevitably take
money away from the dominant state’s middle class and result in a world divided
into wealthy and poor countries. Lenin cited capitalist-imperialist aspirations as the
cause of World War I and called for the adoption of a Marxist form of imperialism
instead.

Political Theory

Imperialism is no more than an inevitable result of the attempt of wealthy nations

to maintain their positions in the world’s balance of power. This theory holds that
the actual purpose of imperialism is to minimize a nation’s military and political
vulnerability.

The Warrior Class Theory

Imperialism actually serves no real economic or political purpose. Instead, it is a

pointless manifestation of the age-old behavior of nations whose political
processes have become dominated by a “warrior” class. Originally created to
satisfy an actual need for national defense, the warrior class eventually
manufactures crises that can only be dealt with through imperialism in order to
perpetuate its existence.

Imperialism vs. Colonialism 

While imperialism and colonialism both result in the political and economic
domination of one nation over others, there are subtle but important differences
between the two systems.

In essence, colonialism is the physical practice of global expansion, while

imperialism is the idea that drives this practice. In a basic cause-and-effect
relationship, imperialism can be thought of as the cause and colonialism as the
effect.
In its most familiar form, colonialism involves the relocation of people to a new
territory as permanent settlers. Once established, the settlers maintain their loyalty
and allegiance to their mother country while working to harness the new territory’s
resources for the economic benefit of that country. In contrast, imperialism is
simply the imposition of political and economic control over a conquered nation or
nations through the use of military force and violence.

For example, the British colonization of America during the 16th and 17th
centuries evolved into imperialism when King George III stationed British troops
in the colonies to enforce ever more restrictive economic and political regulations
imposed on the colonists. Objections to Britain’s growingly imperialistic actions
eventually resulted in the American Revolution.   

The Age of Imperialism

The Age of Imperialism spanned the year 1500 all the way to 1914. During the
early 15th to the late 17th century, European powers such as England, Spain,
France, Portugal, and Holland acquired vast colonial empires. During this period of
“Old Imperialism,” the European nations explored the New World seeking trade
routes to the Far East and --- often violently --- establishing settlements in North
and South America as well as in Southeast Asia. It was during this period that
some of imperialism’s worst human atrocities took place.

During the Spanish Conquistadors’ conquest of Central and South America in the
16th century, an estimated eight million indigenous people died in the era of
imperialism’s first large scale act of genocide. 

Based on their belief in the conservative economic theory of “Glory, God, and
Gold,” trade-motivated imperialists of this period saw colonialism as purely a
source of wealth and vehicle for religious missionary efforts. The early British
Empire established one of its most profitable colonies in North America. Despite
suffering a setback in the loss of its American colonies in 1776, Britain more than
recovered by gaining territory in India, Australia, and Latin America.

By the end of the age of Old Imperialism in the 1840s, Great Britain had become
the dominant colonial power with territorial holdings in India, South Africa, and
Australia. At the same time, France controlled the Louisiana territory in North
America as well as French New Guinea. Holland had colonized the East Indies and
Spain had colonized Central and South America. Due largely to its mighty navy’s
dominance of the seas, Britain also readily accepted its role as keeper of world
peace, later described as Pax Britannica or “British Peace.”  

The Age of New Imperialism

While the European empires established footholds on the coasts of Africa and
China following the first wave of imperialism, their influence over local leaders
was limited. Not until the “Age of New Imperialism” had started in the 1870s did
the European states begin to establish their vast empires --- mainly in Africa, but
also in Asia and the Middle East.

Driven by their need to deal with the over-production and under-consumption

economic consequences of the Industrial Revolution, the European nations pursued
an aggressive plan of empire building. Instead of merely setting up overseas
trading settlements as they had during the 16th and 17th centuries, the new
imperialists controlled the local colonial governments for their own benefit.

The rapid advances in industrial production, technology, and transportation during

the “Second Industrial Revolution” between 1870 and 1914 further boosted the
economies of the European powers and thus their need for overseas expansion. As
typified by the political theory of imperialism, the new imperialists employed
policies that stressed their perceived superiority over “backward” nations.
Combining the establishment of economic influence and political annexation with
overwhelming military force, the European countries --- led by the juggernaut
British Empire --- proceeded to dominate most of Africa and Asia.

By 1914, along with its successes in the so-called “Scramble for Africa,” the
British Empire controlled the largest number of colonies worldwide, leading to the
popular phrase, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

U.S. Annexation of Hawaii

One of the best recognized, if controversial, examples of American imperialism

came with the nation's 1898 annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii as a territory.
Throughout most of the 1800s, the U.S. government worried that Hawaii, a key
mid-Pacific whaling and trade port --- fertile ground for American protestant
missions, and most of all, a rich new source of sugar from sugar cane production
--- would fall under European rule. Indeed, during the 1930s, both Britain and
France forced Hawaii to accept exclusionary trade treaties with them.
In 1842, U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster reached an agreement with
Hawaiian agents in Washington to oppose the annexation of Hawaii by any other
nation. In 1849, a treaty of friendship served as the basis of official long term
relations between the United States and Hawaii. By 1850, sugar was the source of
75% of Hawaii’s wealth. As Hawaii’s economy became increasingly dependent on
the United States, a trade reciprocity treaty signed in 1875 further linked the two
countries. In 1887, American growers and businessmen forced King Kalākaua to
sign a new constitution stripping him of power and suspending the rights of many
native Hawaiians.

In 1893, King Kalākaua’s successor, Queen Lili’uokalani, introduced a new

constitution that restored her power and Hawaiian rights. Fearing that Lili’uokalani
would impose devastating tariffs on American-produced sugar, American cane
growers led by Samuel Dole plotted to depose her and seek the annexation of the
islands by the United States. On January 17, 1893, sailors from the USS Boston,
dispatched by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, surrounded the ʻIolani Palace in
Honolulu and removed Queen Lili’uokalani. U.S. Minister John Stevens was
recognized as the islands’ de facto governor, with Samuel Dole as president of the
Provisional Government of Hawaii.

In 1894, Dole sent a delegation to Washington officially seeking annexation.

However, President Grover Cleveland opposed the idea and threatened to restore
Queen Lili’uokalani as monarch. In response, Dole declared Hawaii an
independent republic. In a rush of nationalism fueled by the Spanish-American
War, the United States, at the urging of President William McKinley, annexed
Hawaii in 1898. At the same time, the native Hawaiian language was entirely
banned from schools and government proceedings. In 1900, Hawaii became a U.S.
territory and Dole was its first governor.

Demanding the same rights and representation of U.S. citizens in the then 48
states, native Hawaiians and non-white Hawaiian residents began to push for
statehood. Nearly 60 years later, Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state on August 21,
1959. In 1987, the U.S. Congress restored Hawaiian as the state’s official
language, and in 1993, President Bill Clinton signed a bill apologizing for the U.S.
role in the 1893 overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani. 

The Decline of Classic Imperialism

While generally profitable, imperialism, combined with nationalism, began to have
negative consequences for European empires, their colonies, and the world. By
1914, an increasing number of conflicts between competing nations would erupt
into World War I. By the 1940s, former World War I participants Germany and
Japan, regaining their imperialistic power, sought to create empires across Europe
and Asia, respectively. Driven by their desires to expand their nations’ spheres of
world influence, Hitler of Germany and Emperor Hirohito of Japan would join
forces to launch World War II.

The tremendous human and economic costs of World War II greatly weakened the
old empire building nations, effectively ending the age of classic, trade driven
imperialism. Throughout the ensuing delicate peace and Cold War, decolonization
proliferated. India along with several former colonial territories in Africa gained
independence from Britain.

While a scaled back version of British imperialism continued with its involvement
in the Iranian coup d’état of 1953 and in Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis, it was
the United States and the former Soviet Union that emerged from World War II as
the world’s dominant superpowers.

However, the ensuing Cold War from 1947 to 1991 would take a massive toll on
the Soviet Union. With its economy drained, its military might a thing of the past,
and its communist political structure fractured, the Soviet Union officially
dissolved and emerged as the Russian Federation on December 26, 1991. As part
of the dissolution agreement, the several colonial or “satellite” states of the Soviet
empire were granted independence. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the
United States became the dominant global power and source of modern
imperialism.

Examples of Modern Imperialism

No longer focused strictly on securing new trading opportunities, modern

imperialism involves the expansion of corporate presence and the spreading of the
dominant nation’s political ideology in a process sometimes pejoratively called
“nation-building” or, specifically in the case of the United States,
“Americanization.”

As proven by the domino theory of the Cold War, powerful nations like the United
States often attempt to block other nations from adopting political ideologies
counter to their own. As a result, the United States’ failed 1961 Bay of Pigs
Invasion attempt to overthrow the communist regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba,
President Ronald Regan’s Reagan Doctrine intended to stop the spread of
communism, and U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War are often cited as examples
of modern imperialism.
Aside from the United States, other prosperous nations have employed modern ---
and occasionally traditional --- imperialism in hopes of expanding their influence.
Using a combination of hyper-aggressive foreign policy and limited military
intervention, countries like Saudi Arabia and China have sought to spread their
global influence. In addition, smaller nations like Iran and North Korea have been
aggressively building their military capabilities --- including nuclear weapons --- in
hopes of gaining an economic and strategic advantage. 

While the United States’ true colonial holdings have declined since the era of
traditional imperialism, the nation still exerts a strong and growing economic and
political influence on many parts of the world. The U.S. currently retains five
permanently populated traditional territories or commonwealths: Puerto Rico,
Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

All five territories elect a non-voting member to the U.S. House of

Representatives. Residents of American Samoa are considered U.S. nationals and
residents of the other four territories are U.S. citizens. These U.S. citizens are
allowed to vote in primary elections for president but cannot vote in the general
presidential election.

Historically, most former U.S. territories, such as Hawaii and Alaska, eventually
attained statehood. Other territories including the Philippines, Micronesia, the
Marshall Islands, and Palau, held mainly for strategic purposes during World War
II, eventually became independent countries. 

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