The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia Essay

Exclusively available on IvyPanda Available only on IvyPanda

In the nineteenth century, part of Eastern Europe was characterized by rising political ambitions. States such as Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia emerged as conquerors of their neighbors using military powers. As a result of Peter the Great’s ambitious expansions of Russia, the number of wealthy Russian people increased due top rise in population and the rate at which people were assuming ownership of land.

We will write a custom essay on your topic a custom Essay on The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia
808 writers online

At this time, Prussia and Russia were almost in competition to acquire more land and power in the eastern and northern European regions. This ambitious pursuit for supremacy and domination was characterized by series of wars and creation of enemies in the course of interaction. Hence, in its quest to conquer other European regions, Prussia engaged in a series of wars and consequently losing civilians and soldiers. Its creation of enemies especially the Western Europe saw it receive only British support just because Prussia was against its long time enemy, France. This coalition ensured continual survival of Prussian interests in the northern European regions. During Maria’s reign, there were “schemed alliances” (Sherman & Salisbury 498) which plunged the whole of Europe in wars for a bigger part of the eighteenth century. Russia thus became a great winner of the two countries while bad governance from the reign of Maria led to a crisis in Prussia leading to eventual lose.

During the same period, great rivalries between France and the Great Britain continued and thus incessant wars were observed in the region. Political systems differed greatly whereby France practiced a monarchical system of ruling whereas in Britain, there was achievement of the rule of law (Sherman & Salisbury 484). This was one big achievement of Britain by then. Britain continued to dominate in trade whereby all Britons agreed to focus less on war and opted to extend “their businesses at home and abroad” (Sherman & Salisbury 493). This period was characterized by agrarian and industrial revolution whereby Britain took over colonies and turned them into agricultural producing regions. With this dimension, Britain emerged as the leading exporter of agricultural products to countries in European and the Asian regions. As such, it became the strongest nation economically in the whole of Europe and was thus able to control other European countries through diplomacy and negotiation.

Major battles between these two nations revolved around colonial territories. During this time, France had a relatively low number of colonialists while Britain continued its upward trend. During the first three decades of the eighteenth century, it experienced increased rate of colonialism in North America from more or roughly equal to 100folds, this translated to an increase from “1700 to more than 1.7million colonialists by 1760” (Sherman & Salisbury 493). This was also considered as one other great achievement by Great Britain. Armed with these colonies, there was need for laborers. This led to commencement of slave trade (Sherman & Salisbury 488).

Having conquered America and especially the northern part, British colonialists embarked on slave trade in a bid to amass wealth. They considered the trade to Africa as “advantageous to Great Britain” (Sherman & Salisbury 501). Hence, they built voyages for shipment of slaves from Africa and Asia. The majority of the slaves were acquired from Africa. Therefore, these colonialists and thus the North America gained heavily from utilizing free human resource in agricultural produce. North America started to experience wealth gains and major economic booms and consequently a lot of power. By doing this, the Great Britain was also gaining since a majority of the northern Americans were of Briton descent and were thus great allies of Britain.

As a result, Africa experienced a lot of losses in terms of human resource and governance. The governing “kingdoms of Africa fell” (Sherman & Salisbury 512) and strong African men were taken away. The raids made by slave raiders saw the collapse of kingdoms and thus migration of those who remained behind for fear of consequent attacks. By so doing, the potential of development of Africa through agricultural activities was also lowered since the strong and able bodied men were taken away and the weak either left behind or killed. In addition, much of Africa was l deserted. Africa was thus the greatest loser of the century.

On the other hand, having gained from free labor and attained a lot of economic strength, North America sought out for independence. The seventh decade of the eighteenth century saw great rebellion between the America soldiers and British troops. In the middle of the seventh decade, America experienced victory and was thus declared independent. Much of the wealth acquired remained in America and the use of free labor continued. Economic boom continued in America and the independence in addition to its political alliance with Great Britain and large number of population added to its acquisition of international political power. Russia on the other hand continued to “experience population growth which continued to give it an upper hand in military power” (Sherman & Salisbury 508). This made it a great super-power in the European and Asian regions. Moreover, agrarian revolution led to emergence of new agricultural methods and hence economic boom for England, France and America.

1 hour!
The minimum time our certified writers need to deliver a 100% original paper

Works Cited

Sherman, Dennis & Salisbury, Joyce E. The West in the World: From 1600. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Web.

Print
Need an custom research paper on The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia written from scratch by a professional specifically for you?
808 writers online
Cite This paper
Select a referencing style:

Reference

IvyPanda. (2020, May 26). The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-west-in-the-world-russia-and-brandenburg-prussia/

Work Cited

"The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia." IvyPanda, 26 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-west-in-the-world-russia-and-brandenburg-prussia/.

References

IvyPanda. (2020) 'The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia'. 26 May.

References

IvyPanda. 2020. "The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia." May 26, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-west-in-the-world-russia-and-brandenburg-prussia/.

1. IvyPanda. "The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia." May 26, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-west-in-the-world-russia-and-brandenburg-prussia/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "The West in the World: Russia and Brandenburg-Prussia." May 26, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-west-in-the-world-russia-and-brandenburg-prussia/.

Powered by CiteTotal, online referencing machine
If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. Request the removal
More related papers
Cite
Print
1 / 1