Imperialism by military means

How European Powers Conquered Africa and Asia and the Role of Technology and Organization

von Nico Schäfer

252 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

How did European powers manage to conquer huge areas in Africa and Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries and control them with comparatively few soldiers and officials of their own?"Imperialism by Military Means" looks at European expansion from a military and organizational perspective. The focus is not only on battles and weapons, but also on the factors that made colonial conquests possible in the first place: steamships, railways, telegraphy, modern medicine, industrial production, supply systems, local allies and colonial troops.From British rule in India to the Opium Wars in China and France's conquest of Algeria to the Russian advance in Central Asia, the book takes us through some of the most important theatres of imperialism. It deals with the race for Africa, British expansion in Egypt and Sudan, the conquest of West African empires, the Congo Free State, the German colonial wars and resistance to European rule.It turns out that history has by no means consisted of simple European victories. The defeat of the British at Isandlwana, the decades-long resistance in Aceh, the difficulties in the Boer War and especially the Ethiopian victory over Italy at Adwa illustrate the limits of European superiority. Modern weapons were important, but they did not decide a war alone.The book also explains why European colonial armies often consisted of large numbers of African and Asian soldiers, how local rivalries were used for expansion, and why infrastructure and supplies were often more important than individual technical innovations.At the same time, the consequences of these conquests are not ignored. Loss of land, forced labor, economic dependence, racist power structures and extreme colonial violence had a lasting impact on numerous regions. The genocide of the Herero and Nama, the violence in the Congo Free State and the destruction of civilian livelihoods in various colonial wars show the dark side of an era that often justified itself with terms such as progress and civilization.This book is aimed at history buffs who want to get a comprehensible and comprehensive overview of military imperialism. It is deliberately not an academic textbook for historians, but a factually narrated introduction that connects political decisions, military developments and larger historical contexts in an understandable way.>Parts of the text have been revised with the support of artificial intelligence. It was used as a tool in structuring, research and linguistic elaboration. The contents have been carefully edited, historically classified and checked for factual consistency. In this way, the book combines modern working methods with the claim to offer a serious, understandable and high-quality presentation.

• Reihe: Independently published
• ISBN: 9798174857933
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 16.09.2026
• Größe: 229 x 152 mm
• Verlag: Independently published