Question

What were the destructive effects of imperialism?

Answer 1

Imperialism can be defined as the domination of an undeveloped nation by a developed nation by virtue of establishing a colony.
(i) Trade of Slaves: The imperial nations started ill-treating the people by buying and selling slaves for getting labour at cheaper prices.
(ii) Declines of Values: The policy of divide and rule adopted by imperial nations sowed the seeds of hostility among different social groups. The policy was adopted to maintain the rule of the imperial nations. This led to degradation in morality because of enmity, violence and selfishness among the people.
(iii) Economic Exploitation: European nations were in need of raw materials at cheaper rate. They had been competing with one another for procuring the raw materials and capturing markets for their products. Undeveloped nations of Asia and Africa were the best source of raw material as well as potential markets.
(iv) Destruction of Village antonomy: The land revenue system adopted by the British Govt. had an adverse influence on the rural life in India. The farmers had to mortgage their land in order to pay the taxes to the British Govt. Thus the farmers became bankrupt. The workers on the other hand became jobless due to closure of many small scale industries.
(v) Suppression of Underdeveloped Nations: The imperial nations governed the colonies thoughtlessly as their sole intention was to develop their economy.
(vi) Armament Race: The European nations had become competitors. Along with economic dominance, they also wanted to display their military
power. This gave rise arms race. It also gave rise to hunger of power. The small scale struggles gradually magnified into intense conflict which eventually led to the First World War, in the year $1914$.