Since World War II, Western Europe has been presented as the protector of liberal democracy. This narrative has be an accepted myth. When France, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and the United States defeated the Axis powers, many were either attempting to keep their colonies or establish a new power status in the international order. The United States took over as the main world power when the British Empire was dissolving. The Soviet Union was in conflict with the United States for geopolitical dominance of the globe. When the Cold War ended, the US continued to be the sole superpower. This did not mean liberation for people of the global south. The US continued to have close ties to Europe and engage in NATO expansion. This as a result triggered Russian military expansion to counter NATO reach. The UK and France continue to intervene in areas of the world that were former colonies. Such an escalation of violence does not seem to be a great example of the greatness of the free world. Europe's history demonstrates that it does not bring liberation or stability to the world. What started during the Age of Exploration morphed in a race for global empire. Two World Wars and then the Cold War reveals that a powerful Europe is a threat to global peace.
The Age of Exploration opened up new trade routes for newly centralized states. The result of this economic expansion was perpetual warfare. This was an occurrence internally to the European continent. When Spain became unified in 1492, while simultaneously expelling the Moors. Spain and Portugal would then embark on the building of empires in the New World. The contacts with peoples of the Americas was extremely violent. A reduced population meant that were few people to enslave, which explains why the trans-Atlantic slave trade would emerge. France and Britain would later become colonizers in the New World. What would become Canada and the United States saw French and British exploration and colonization. The Spanish obtained most of the western section of the US and Florida. The French had the territories mostly in Louisiana and the mid-west. The Amerindian peoples of the Americas were murdered by war and disease from European conquerors. Pizarro, Hernan Cortes, Christopher Columbus, and Hernando De Stoto were responsible for the destruction of civilization in the New World. As time passed, the British and the French empires would surpass the Iberian ones. The British victory over the Spanish armada in 1588 proved that it would be the master of the seas.
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| European states around the year 1500. |
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| Areas of colonization and conquest |
The need and desire did not just stop in the Americas. Africa and Asia became targets for Europe's appetite for new markets and raw materials. Japan chose isolation from foreigners as a means of protecting itself. Indonesia, India, and China would gradually see their sovereignty dissipate. The Dutch would take Indonesia, the British would take India, and the Philippines would fall under Spanish domination. Calling this period the Age of Exploration is in a way a misnomer. These journeys were not for the sake of pure curiosity; it was for economic subjugation. European states for most of their history were stuck in some form of conflict. The Reformation was not just a conflict between rival Protestant and Catholic sects, but for control of the continent as a whole. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) would be a continent wide conflict ending with the peace of Westphalia. The wars of religion were over for a temporary moment, but the belligerent behavior still continued. Around the 18th century, most of the Americas were subjugated. European colonial expansion would continue. African civilization faced European intrusion with the establishment of forts on the western coast. The Age of Exploration resulted in the growth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the extermination of the Amerindians of the New World.
This was event that was quite astounding considering Europe's history. The Roman Empire did not even have a reach this vast. Greek civilization colonized areas in the ancient and classical periods, but never to the extent of modern emerging European states. Roman and Greek contact with Africa and Asia was either in the circumstances of being a conqueror or finding allies. The Age of Exploration was a turning point in a sense that Europe was spreading its fights to a greater global reach. There may have been some form of logic to this conquest. It allowed Europe to take conflicts outside its immediate domain and fight other rivals for continental domination indirectly. The cost of having a mass continental war to settle who directs all of Europe would have been too devastating. Although there were attempts through diplomacy to avoid this is was inevitable under an imperialist framework .
The 19th century was a dramatic turning point in global affairs. Enlightenment principles were spreading as well as a new ethnic nationalism. The rule of Napoleon Bonaparte altered the power politics of Europe. France and Britain would be engaged in conflict for domination of the continent. Napoleon invaded Spain, Portugal, and Italy. France was becoming a predominant power in Europe. Napoleon sought to change the traditional European political establishment. At the height of his power he then directed his attention to Russia. Since the rule of Peter the Great Russia was viewed a threat to the West. This theme of a dangerous Russia continues to present day. Prussia and the Austrian Empire were suspicious of the Russian Empire. The British Empire would later have tension with the Russians for control and subjugation of Central Asia. The Russian did engage in the same process of colonization as their western counterparts. The slavic peoples entered the Eurasian landmass removing many the Tartars who occupied the area. The British Empire was also attempting to stop Russia from partitioning areas of the Ottoman Empire. This explains why it was British policy to keep the declining empire intact. Alexander I the Russian Emperor was able to fend off Napoleon's invasion in 1812. The defeat of Napoleon once again shifted the balance of power. The Holy Alliance was a treaty and new collaboration between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Its goal was to prevent the spread of revolution or Enlightenment ideas, while simultaneously supporting the authority of absolute monarchy. The conservative monarchs of Europe wanted to put an end to liberalism.
The wave of change could not be stopped. Ethnic nationalism was growing more powerful in Eastern Europe and also in the German Confederation. The Balkans also were also developing a new consciousness and this became a foreshadowing to an eventual breakaway from Ottoman rule. The European desire for further conquest continued even as turbulence was sweeping the continent. The British went further into Africa including France. The French had made Algeria a part of its empire by 1830. Britain would absorb Egypt and Sudan. Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam would be amalgamated into the Indochinese Union under French control in Asia. Germany and Italy would be later comers to the imperial venture, due to the fact they first had to unify themselves as nation-states . Otto Von Bismarck was a master statesman who did not only unify Germany, but contributed to the formation of a new powerful empire in Europe. The German Empire defeated France and Austria becoming a prominent world power. The problem that faced Germany was a possible two front war between France and Russia. To prevent such a mass continental conflict Bismarck formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Russia known as the three emperor's league. This was also designed to undermine the British Empire and the French Empire. There was also the Berlin Conference in 1885 . European powers agreed among one another to partition the African continent. The British, French, Belgians, Spanish, Germans, Italians, and Portuguese made claims. All around the world non-white people found themselves victim to European violence. The policy of China was to have an open door. The British, French, Italians, Americans, Japanese and Germans had concession zones and spheres of influence.
China only was independent in name only. Japan avoided colonization and European imperial domination in Asia because of its efforts in modernization. However, it would follow the same model of politics in regards to empire of Europe and began building an empire of its own. Ethiopia was like Japan they only state able to maintain its independence. Other states like Persia and Afghanistan had their national sovereignty undermined by the British Empire. South America was dominated by the United States under the context of the Monroe Doctrine. Similar to the situation in Persia and Afghanistan states such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic were subject to multiple US military interventions. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the globe had been conquered by European powers. It was only a matter of time before these powers would clash.
The worst conflicts in human history were both World War I and World War II. These wars were fought in multiple theaters around the globe killing millions. What sparked World War I was a combination of uncontrolled imperialism, rival alliance systems, and aggressive nationalism. The aftermath of the first World War inevitably made the conditions for a second conflict. Totalitarianism emerged as an attractive alternative to economic and political tumult. World War I did not just involve Europeans fighting, but their colonial subjects. This also happened again in the second World War. The African and Asians that gave their lives to these wars had to fight to gain independence. It was not willingly give although these sacrifices were made. World War I was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Austria-Hungary was a fragile empire attempting to maintain control of the slavic peoples that resided in its territory. Just as the forces of ethnic nationalism were tearing apart the Ottoman Empire, the implications were far more devastating for Austria-Hungary. Allying itself with Germany against Russia put Europe in a precarious situation. France and the British Empire reached out to Russia hoping to encircle Germany. The Ottoman Empire wanted to reverse its failures and decline by leaning closer to Germany. The Berlin Baghdad railway represented a new direction between the two empires. They were going to be long term strategic partners. This caused alarm in the British Empire that wanted to see the Ottoman Empire remain under their influence and not to collapse so that Russia would not expand into the Middle East . Britain's fears were that Egypt and India would come under threat from Russian expansion. The Ottoman Empire lost most of its European territories in the Balkan Wars of 1912- 1913. Thus Ottoman Turkey was then allied with Germany hoping to prevent its collapse. The Allies which included the British Empire, the Russian Empire, and the French Empire fought Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire for domination of the world and Europe itself. When Russia was knocked out the war due to a communist revolution, it looked as if the Central Powers could revive their war effort.
The United States entered the war in 1917 due to the German Empire's policy of unrestricted U-boat warfare. The reality was the US was not completely neutral, because it was supplying loans to European powers which was fueling the conflict financially. The German Empire was on the verge of defeat. Bulgaria was captured which allowed for the loss of a direct land route to their Ottoman ally. Austria-Hungary also disintegrated. When the armistice was signed, Europe now had new countries and the world was more calamitous as ever. The League of Nations was established to promote international peace and a standard of conduct among nations of the world. The American president Woodrow Wilson supported this organization, but the Congress and the American citizens did not. His ideas of national self determination were not popular with the British and the French. they wanted to expand their colonial holdings by dividing the former territories of the Central Powers. The Middle East and German Southwest Africa were placed under the mandate system. War guilt placed the culpability for the war all on Germany. Italy which fought with the Allies never was given any territory like the other victors. Japan's proposal at the League of Nations known as the racial equality clause was rejected. This proposal sought to give a voice to the colonized peoples of the world demanding liberation. Japan began to move further away from the West realizing Europe still viewed the country in the context of yellow peril. The failure of a fair settlement at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 only created an atmosphere of anger. This resentment would grow over the years causing another World War.
World War II showed that a powerful Europe can cause extensive damage beyond its borders. The causes of this mass global conflict were the products of the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascism. Fascism was an extreme far-right political ideology that promoted militarism, aggressive nationalism, racism, and anti-democratic values. Nazism and Italian fascism operated on a social darwinist world view that strong nations had the right to dominate or destroy weaker ones. Both Italy and Germany wanted to challenge the British and French geopolitical dominance of the world. Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 with a promise to rebuild a new German Empire. The Third Reich he claimed would last a thousand years. Fascism became more attractive to the people of Europe due to the 1929 crash. The weakness of democratic institutions and the paranoia of communist revolution caused many in Germany to see Nazism as a means of saving Germany. Italians frustrated by their treatment at the Paris Peace Conference, saw Benito Mussolini as a breath of fresh air. These two fascist leaders would gradually move Europe to war. Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Hitler absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia between 1938 and 1939. When Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France reacted. Nazi Germany and Italy continued to spread fascism all over Europe reaching its zenith in 1942.
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| The height of Axis domination in Europe (1942) |
Adolf Hitler's war became truly global when he invaded the Soviet Union and conquered France. The defeat of France allowed the Japanese Empire to expand its holdings in by Invading Indochina. This only left the British Empire and later the United States as challengers to its expansion in Asia-Pacific. From 1943 onward, the Axis would retract in conquered territory.Some historians state that fascism emerge due to challenging circumstances and these atrocities were an anomaly given the Europe's history of civilization and culture. The violence of Hitler and Mussolini was done in colonies of the British and French. The two empires claimed to be democratic, but denied millions of African and Asian peoples the right to rule themselves. They were not citizens;they were subjects of empires. The rabid antisemitism of Germany did not emerge suddenly. Europe had a long tradition of anti-Jewish hate that was both religious, but later racialized. The 19th century gave birth to pseudoscientific biological racist theories presented in the form of eugenics. Selective breeding it was believed was needed to maintain the health and purity of the white race. Different ethnic, cultural, or religious groups were either being classified as inferior or superior. Europeans believed they were biologically superior to the non-white races of the world and used this as a justification for violence against Africa and Asia. Hitler and Mussolini just applied the same abusive practices to Europe itself. Enslavement, genocide, and war were common tools of imperial subjugation.
After the Second World War ran its course the international order was once again changed. The power void left by the Axis allowed the Soviet Union and the United States to become the world's strongest nations. This time the United Nations would be more durable than the League of Nations and new states would emerge in the Third World.
Russia was again viewed with suspicion after World War II. The Cold War had made the West paranoid of a Soviet invasion. The Soviet Union was also alarmed that there could be a possibility that Germany and Japan could rise again starting another World War. This is an explanation why the Soviet Union had an interest in having a military presence in Eastern Europe. Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia came under the influence of the Soviet Union . While it is true that the US was antagonistic to Soviet Union since the Russian Revolution, Russia's actions were not always peaceful. The Russian Empire was engaged in war with Japan between 1904 and 1905. The Russo-Japanese War saw a victory for the Japanese Empire, but damaged Russia internationally. This also angered the British and French seeing an Asian nation defeat a European empire. Russia's imperialism was more oppressive to the Central Asian states. There was resistance that lasted from 1916 to 1936 known as the Basmachi revolt. Joseph Stalin was able to brutally crush it among other movements. Stalin fought to have the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia absorbed into the U.S.S.R and after the war it happened. The Soviet Union also attempted to conquer Finland. Stalin although not a fascist, was a totalitarian leader and wanted to have a place in the European balance of power. When Germany and Italy were no longer part of the power balance, Stalin was free to mold a new foreign policy direction. Germany had to remain separated to preserve security and East Germany had to be a part of that. Meanwhile, President Harry S. Truman of the United States was developing a containment policy directed at the Soviet Union and communism in general.
This sent both Russia and America down a dangerous path. These were two major superpowers with nuclear weapons in a contest for geopolitical dominance. Cold War conflicts propagated to every corner of the globe which involved wars of proxy, espionage, and regime change. The Soviet Union intervened in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the communist governments there were moving away from a Russian model. The US used the cover of anti-communism to continue to dominate Latin America and expand into East Asia. The devastation in Vietnam continues to haunt the United States as one its worst military and foreign policy failures. When the Soviet Union collapsed the US became the sole superpower in the world. Russia is not as aggressive as it used to be with its Asian neighbors, but there are times in which there are provoked responses. US involvement in Ukraine led to a Russian response. The Russian Federation now supplies arms to rebels in the east of the country. The US attempt to remove Bashar Al-Assad from Syria cause another Russian military reaction intervening on the behalf of his Baathist government. Russia was promised that there would not be any NATO expansion, but it appears activity is increasing in the Baltic and Eastern Europe. This could conflate into a much wider conflict if relations are not improved.
The world is now in a perilous state. There seems to be a new rival alliance system which has NATO and the US on another side and Russia and China on the other. The main culprits of violent military action continue to be the US, France, and the UK. France has intervened in the Ivory Coast, Mali, Syria, and continues a policy of having a presence in its former colonies. The US and UK have been involved in Iraq and Libya even after the overthrow of longtime leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi. NATO also continues military operations in Afghanistan. European nations just as they have done in the past continue to inflict violence on people of the global south. Where hateful racist rhetoric would be used as a justification, now imperialism is disguise under the coded language of human rights. People who are being invaded are now being "liberated" or "freed" from authoritarian regimes. Another dynamic added this rhetoric is counterterrorism. The false narrative that terrorism is the biggest threat to global peace has been used to advance the agenda of the military industrial complex. NATO does not serve a purpose in a world of peace. Its original purpose was to be a military alliance that would fight the Soviet Union if it invaded Western Europe. Since the collapse of the U.S.S.R NATO in a sense lost purpose. It has since the bombing of Kosovo and its role in the break up of Yugoslavia has been recreated. It acts now as fighter of terrorism giving it license to fight anywhere in the world. History reveals that a Europe too powerful means war. The European countries in NATO are willing to follow the US into various military conflicts just as long as they can benefit economically. A more active Russia and a Germany more economically stronger than before has caused unintended repercussions. Sweden now wants to bring back conscription, the Baltic states are becoming more militarized, and anti-Russian sentiment is growing. The only conclusion is that a multipolar world would best serve the cause of peace. Europe wants to maintain predominance, while the US want to be the main leader. This is not plausible anymore. The African, Latin American, and Asian nations will no longer tolerate such poor treatment. The West must dramatically change its worldview and attitudes of others if it is to survive in the 21st century.
