Imperialism: historical causes, impacts, and global consequences

Imperialism

Roosevelt: Gentlemen, we have gathered here with the purpose of discussing one of the most pressing problems that society has ever dealt with: Imperialism. I personally believe that this concept is responsible for significant damage inflicted on a great deal of innocent individuals.

Kipling: Indeed, I agree that Imperialism can be harmful when it occurs in certain circumstances, but effective when the people in charge with trying to assimilate a culture make it possible for locals to understand the greatness of Western thinking.

Roosevelt: I have to contradict your perspective, Mr. Kipling! Trying to assimilate foreign cultures is one of the primary reason for which Imperialism is immoral.

Bismarck: Mr. Kipling is right in considering that an Imperialist power should try to impose its power over the nations that it conquers. This would enable the respective authority to exploit resources in territories that it comes in possession of.

Napoleon: Surely, one should also think about the people that he is conquering, given that they will be particularly important for the Empire as it expands.

Bismark: This is not necessarily true, as conquered people can easily turn against you if you provide them with the same ideologies that you provide your troops.

Roosevelt: Please gentlemen, calm down and try to understand that Imperialism is wrong and that your actions can easily backfire against you and your countries. All people need to be provided with equal consideration, justice needs to prevail, and influential individuals have to fight in order to make freedom available to people from around the world.

Kipling: You need to consider the importance of order in the Empire, Mr. Roosevelt. This can only be possible through imposing the Empire's power over the savages that conquerors can come across. The world is likely to become a better place consequent to this, as it foreigners will be presented with thinking present in the Empire and will learn more in regard to freedom.

Roosevelt: Yes, but this would virtually mean that you deny their cultural values and that you impose your power over people that are generally determined to maintain their traditions.

Bismarck: I do not understand, why would you be interested in customs belonging to inferior nations. It is right to want to teach them in regard to moral values, but it is wrong to allow them to put their thinking into practice.

Roosevelt: You all should have little difficulty in understanding me, considering that you have been an active part of movements that assisted your countries and the world as a whole in experiencing progress.

Bismark: This is especially curious, Mr. Roosevelt, considering that you are currently in charge of a nation that discriminated Native Americans and that was initially a colony.

Napoleon: The United States stands as a perfect example of the benefits of Imperialism, as it is one of the most successful colonies that ever existed and given that it supplied the British Empire with resources for a long period of time.

Roosevelt: Matters have changed ever since the colonial era, as the U.S. is known solely interested in promoting the concept of freedom and in emphasizing the wrongness related to imperialism. We currently want to spread our ideology, not our influence.

Kipling: This sounds strange coming from someone who lived most of his life trying to protect the interests of his country instead of looking into the well-being of nations who experienced suffering.

Bismark: You are essentially not very different from us, Mr. Roosevelt. While our perspective in regard to Imperialism relates to physical aspects of the act, you and your people have simply advanced this concept and have made it possible for countries to feel that they are being assisted when they are actually being tricked into serving the U.S. I, for one, am not ashamed to admit that I perform many acts of decadence at the time when I focused on exploiting other nations. However, I was primarily concerned in helping my nation, considering that nationalism is one of the most effective ideologies.

Napoleon: I personally believe that Imperialism is unlikely to suffer severe change in the future. It is very probable that it will change its appearance, but its character will remain the same, with people being focused on expanding their influence over territories and nations that have little to no power to stop authoritarian forces from doing so.