Essays on Berlin Conference

At the forefront of the causes of the First World War was the growing sense of Nationalism among the European nations as they reacted to the “fallout” of imperialism abroad and social class conflicts at home (WWI and the Interwar Years, Part 1 3-4mins). In other words, each European power was keen to minimize its counterpart’s influence in the colonized territories and within its borders. Subsequently, one of the effects of World War I was the taint it placed on the presentation of the West as the “height of civilization”; in answer, colonized persons began to question the ...

The Great War was the bloodiest war in world history up to that point. Many historians claim that the buildup to the war was caused my militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism (MAIN). This might be the composite indicator, but special importance should be placed on the Dual-Alliance between Austria-Hungary and the German Empire. The two came together for a myriad of reasons, most importantly a shared fear of Russian aggression, and remained together for over thirty years. Thus, an entire generation grew up recognizing that the two Germanic empires were closely allied, and the knowledge pervaded the culture of ...

The Berlin Conference, or the West African Conference, took place between November 15, 1884, and February 26, 1885, and sought to settle skirmishes that erupted among the European nations that desired territories in Africa. Central to the calls for the Conference was Otto Bismarck of Germany and the French government. By 1884, three European powers boasted of control over a portion of the Africa Continent: the British, French, and the Portuguese. However, with the Conference and the ensuing endorsement of the “General Act,” tides changed as the colonization of Africa gained momentum (Craven, 2015, p.38). Before the Berlin Conference, ...

Introduction

The Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885 which is also referred to as the Congo Conference signified a powerful role in the regulation of European colonization as well as free trade in parts of Africa during the period of neo-imperialism. One of the outward goals of the conference was to implement regulations on the rampant colonization of Africa in order to prevent the military conflict between the colonizing states. It is to be noted that colonial powers went into what historians coined as the ‘Scramble for Africa’, where they decided to invade, occupy, divide and colonize the different parts ...