Imperialism in Germany

By Alicia Zamora-Brown

In the mad dash for power in the 1920’s Germany was on the rise, soon to be in competition with the United Kingdom.  In the beginning Germany was unified as a nation state, which was the establishment of a sovereign state that established its roots in its common language and culture as defined by its people.  Germany and Franc e both arose into industrial competitors to usurp the monopolistic world market held by the United Kingdom. Germany’s main industrial markets which now began to thrive were based in textiles, engineering, metals, and its uses of iron deposits were abundant, (Faruque, 2008).  German governments also had much support in the railway industry and they were able to establish more railroad tracks than the United Kingdom as well.  Electricity was also a factor that surpassed those of the technology used in the United Kingdom.  Some similarities between Germany and the United States were their advanced use of electricity, railways, gold standard, and adoption of tariffs during the depression.  Not only did the United States have similarities with Germany in its production and manufacturing, but they both had a need to establish a nation state where all the people spoke the same language, and embraced the culture of their states entirely.  One of the biggest similarities of the United States and Germany’s rise of Imperialism that cannot be overlooked was the use of discrimination and subjugation.  The United States discriminated against African Americans and Indians. The United States condoned killing many Indian tribes , moving them from their lands onto specific government run reservations, as well as trying to convert them to Christianity and the white man’s way of life.   African Americans were lynched, and numerous men, children, and women were killed at the hands of racism and discrimination.  In Germany racism was practiced against all peoples of Jewish descent which gave rise to Stalin and Communism.  Jews were sent to concentration camps where they either starved, worked to death, succumbed to the elements, or were gassed. 

Sources:

Faruque, Salauddine Mohammed.  “Rise of the New Imperialism.” Study Group. 25 July 2009. Web.  14 Feb. 2011.