Bloody Battles Between Mother Country And Colony example essay topic

From the Beginning Colonization began when we decided, as established, civilized nations that we were better than these so called 'lands of savages. ' We claimed superior intelligence, culture, and divine right. However, as we began divvying up a world that didn't really belong to us, we were also unknowingly laying the groundwork for our own destruction. One of the biggest contributors to the downfall of imperialism is the ideology we used to justify our imperialist actions- namely the "Civilizing Mission". This was the idea that as a nation high up on the 'social ladder,' it was our duty to bring these poor savages to a 'more civilized' way of life. So we came in and took their land and imprisoned their people but in return we showed them hygiene, gave them clothes, and most importantly educated them- big mistake.

We came in and gave them schools, but even more than that we showed them our way of life. Inadvertently we taught them about democracy and nationalism, things that we valued in our society yet were not prepared to offer to these people that we viewed as below us. This created great frustration for the colonized people as we taught them to think, yet refused to let them; showed them a free society, yet told them it didn't apply to them; showed them everything they should need and want to be, yet told them they could never have it. It was these imperialistic double standards that enraged the native people and showed them that perhaps their mother country didn't quite have their best interests at heart.

Unfortunately for imperialism, mother country was a little to busy to notice this shift in the colonies. By 1914, the entire world was involved in a very bloody and surprisingly costly war. At the end of the war, when the dust settled, it seemed that a new Europe stood where the old one once had. Four years of war seemed to have taken their toll on the once great imperialistic super powers.

Even though countries like France and England claimed victory, they still stood irreversibly weakened with war-torn economies and devastated egos. They, however, fared better than some Empires (namely Ottoman, Austria-Hungary, and Russia) that as the world saw the end of the War; they also saw the end of their Empires. It was in this time, after the First World War, that talk of self determination began to arise. The United States with Woodrow Wilson and his 14 Points called upon the imperialistic nations to grant the independence that their colonies so eagerly desired. The Bolsheviks condemned imperialism and joined the U.S. in their call for self determination for all. But before the rest of the world could answer this call, we found ourselves in the throws of the Second World War.

Europe, still recovering from WWI, relied heavily on their colonies for support both economically and through man power. WWI had devastated many European populations so they looked to the colonies for men to both fight and work for their mother country. For the first time this gave the colonized people a taste of nationalism, and to make things even better they were promised limited self government. However, soon the colonies realized that once again they had been lied to, only this time they had had enough. As WWII ended in Europe, many colonies prepared to fight a war of their own. However, this time it was with their mother countries for their freedom.

After two wars, many Empires were not prepared for the long battle it would take to retain power over their colonies; however, these Empires were also not ready to just give up the countries that they had invested so much time in. This led to intense, bloody battles between mother country and colony. However, these Empires soon realized that they were fighting a loosing battle and most colonies were granted their freedom by the early 1960's. After centuries of imperialistic rule, we just packed up our stuff and left, leaving them to start over. When the first ship set sail to a foreign land, when the first European conquered a piece of native land, they were setting into motion the circle of event that would lead them back to where they started. No one seemed surprised when the age of imperialism ended, almost as if, from the beginning, they could see it coming.