Great Britain is a unitary of many nations including England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and other smaller islands. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Great Britain had to form mutual relationships (alliances) with other European nations in order to expand its wealth, territory, and security/strength. The need for power and territorial expansion fuelled the empire to engage in imperialists activities especially in the nineteenth century.
Imperialism was an ideology adapted to facilitate colonialism in other non-European nations especially in Africa. Furthermore, the hunger for political power, colonial power and military power together with creation of alliances facilitated the commencement of World War 1. Therefore, the Great Britain Empire used imperialism to manipulate her allies like France in the name of assisting her to remain wealthy, superior, and maintain her military prowess thus winning category as one of the great powers in Europe.
The formation of alliances or signing of treaties in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to mutual aid among the allies especially during wars. The Great Britain formed alliances with some European nations like Russia and France. Other smaller nations like Belgium, Serbia, Japan, Greece, and Romania were members of the triple entente contributing to the civilization of Europe (Kishlansky, Geary, & O’Brien, 2008, p.50). The primary allies of Britain were Russia and France who helped her to conquer/invade German.
The triple entente became famous in 1907 after the establishment of Anglo-Russian entente (Williams, 1966, p.370). Britain’s declining economic power prompted her to sign treaties with other sovereign states. Britain allies contributed to the growth of empire by assisting her to gain military personnel, tactics, and weapons.
Furthermore, the allies strengthened the kingdom’s political reign especially against her enemies. Moreover, the main aim why Britain created alliances was to keep her enemies or rivalries closer to herself to monitors their movements. France and Russia were her main rivalries in the expansion of her territory thus the mutual relationship eased the tension among the allies.
As aforementioned, the need to maintain peace, acquire more wealth, and strengthen the empires motivated Britain to form alliances. In the late nineteenth century, Britain opted to remain neutral among all other nations in Europe; therefore, she was not involved in the political and the economical affairs of the continent. Unfortunately, the acquisition of enemies pushed her to abandon her position as a neutral nation (Williams, 1966, p.373).
The first alliance was between her and Japan (Anglo-Japanese treaty) in 1902, which aimed at supporting each other especially during wars. Ironically, Britain was using the Japanese to end her stand as a neutral nation; therefore, she focused on military expansion incase a war broke out.
Thusly, the treaty enabled Britain to put her enemies at bay because the treaty required the members to extend military assistance during wars. Furthermore, the Japanese supported Britain’s activities in India where she had established a commercial company to expand her wealth
The conquest of other nations especially in Africa (colonialism) aimed at acquiring wealth and expansion of the empire of the Great Britain. To strengthen her wealth, Britain established companies in other nations like India. For instance, the company rule in India contributed to the growth of both wealth through trading activities and military in the Great Britain. With local rulers, Britain was able to establish her political prowess in India elevating her status as the world’s super power.
Earlier on, she had conquered America, which enabled her to acquire more wealth through trade and agriculture. Eventually, the scramble for Africa set in thus pushing the Britain to extend her political prowess to African countries. She established business companies and agricultural farms with the sole aim of expanding her wealth. Unfortunately, other countries like German, France, and Belgium were interested in colonial territories leading to tension among the European states.
Imperialism or the urge to subordinate less developed states was one of the tactics used by the Great Britain in the nineteenth century to elevate her economical and political power over other European states. Britain established imperial activities in 1870 where she was able to exploit other empires like the Mughal Empire in order to benefit her empire both economically and politically. Through force and peaceful negotiations, Britain was able to establish business empires overseas, making her one of the rich nations in the world.
The Britons had advanced weapons like guns as opposed to the Africans who used arrows and bows among others. Consequently, they were able to defeat the African traditional armies with great ease. The imperialists established communication and transport facilities to facilitate their movement around their colonies collecting wealth.
Some of the British politicians tricked traditional African rulers to establish indirect rule in their territories. Therefore, the colonial governments used the resources in their territories to acquire wealth. At the same time, they trained the Africans as soldiers to assist them during conflicts with other European nations. Although Britain colonized America, the fight for decolonization by different states in the late nineteenth century forced her to pull out as a colonial government.
The two ideologies that aggravated the break out of the First World War included imperialism and alliances. Britain was always at tension with German due to political/economical uprising of the German’s empire.
Thus, the formation of the triple entente between Britain, France, and Russia and triple alliance between German, Austria-Hungary, and Italy significantly contributed to the war because the alliances aimed at armament process whereby there was collection of military weapons like naval ships and personnel in preparation for any war.
The triple alliance always opposed the triple entente and due to frequent conflicts between the two sides, the First World War broke out. Additionally, the impact of the imperialists’ activities or the need to expand her colonial activities contributed to the commencement of the First World War because back in Africa, other members of the triple alliance also fought to acquire colonial territories.
In summary, Great Britain signed treaties forming alliances with other nations like Russian and France as a means of expanding her political and economic activities. The alliances tricked other nations to remain at peace with her. On the other hand, she adopted imperialism in a bid to expand territories overseas especially in the African states.
The alliances/imperial activities aimed at assembling military weapons and armies in readiness for any war. Unfortunately, the alliances and imperial activities not only led to tension with other alliances, but also led to the break out of the Great War in Europe. Finally, through manipulation and trickery of other states Britain was able to achieve the status of as the powerful nation in Europe.
References
Kishlansky, M., Geary, P., & O’Brien, P. (2008). Civilization in the West. New York: Longman Pearson Education.
Williams, B. J. (1966). The Strategic Background to the Anglo-Russian Entente of August 1907. The Historical Journal, 9(3), 360–373.