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19 - War and Empire

from Part II - Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

By
Jari Eloranta  and
Leigh Gardner
Edited by
Stephen Broadberry  and
Kyoji Fukao
Stephen Broadberry
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Kyoji Fukao
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
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Summary

By the beginning of the twentieth century, a combination of military and economic advantages had allowed imperial powers to expand the territory under their jurisdiction to include large parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This conquest of territory was both driven by and helped to facilitate the movement of people, goods, and capital in the decades leading up to World War I, with varied impacts on the development of both colonized countries and their colonizers. At the same time, imperial expansion also contributed means and motivation for the global conflicts which erupted during the twentieth century. After these conflicts, empires proved to be fragile. Little more than a half-century after they had reached their peak, most European empires had collapsed, and a new hegemonic order had emerged. This chapter examines the origins and legacies of empires, and asks why European countries lost their empires, despite persistent gaps in technological, military, and economic assets. It also examines the similarities and differences of the new order with the old.

Keywords

EmpirecolonialismWorld War IWorld War IIcold warAsiaAfrica.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 526 - 550
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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