Spielvogel Imperialism Analysis

Spielvogel describes “new imperialism” as the new expansion of Europeans for overseas territories. He also says that this new form of imperialism was very closely tied to the rise of nationalism as “newspapers and magazines often featured soldiers’ letters that made imperialism seem a heroic adventure on behalf of one’s country” (Spielvogel p.745). The need for expansion was not always economically driven, sometimes, like in Great Britain, it was used to keep other countries from taking the land themselves. In turn this causes people to promote their own countries expansion and “plays were even written to excite people about expansion abroad” (Spielvogel p.745). The empire builders that did expand, like Britain and the Dutch benefited greatly from this while the ones that were expanded upon (Africa mostly) were forced into a state like those that have been conquered.

Kipling’s The White Man’s Burden justifies European expansion by saying that they would be giving the natives of the lands a higher form of living. He calls the way they live as almost savage like and even says “your new-caught sullen peoples, Half-devil and half child” (Kipling in Spielvogel p.746), as if the natives were less than man. He talks

Kipling seems to have a sort of almost ignorance to the actual deeds of his people and tends to justify the cruelty they do to the Africans. Morel supports the natives and even says “It is [the Africans} who carry the “Black man’s burden”” (Morel in Spielvogel p.746) meaning that the way Kipling says the white man is the one with the burden when it is really the Africans. He calls them invaders and conquerors as they really are and says “For from the evils of the latter, scientifically applied and enforced there is no escape for the African” (Morel in Spielvogel p.746). Morel supports himself with rational thought while Kipling only tries to