14.3: The Second Industrial Revolution

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***The Industrial Revolution was discussed in World History A. However, there is a quick review here, since it does contribute to the expansion of neo-imperialism.***

Technology created a motive for imperialism, because of a phenomenon referred to as the “Second Industrial Revolution.” This revolution consisted of the development and spread of new innovations, such as modern steel (1856), electrical generators (1870), electrical appliances and home wiring (circa 1900), and both bicycles and automobiles by the 1890s. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, and thousands of phones, carrying millions of calls annually, were in operation already by the early 1880s. These advances created a huge demand for the raw materials – rubber, mineral ores, cotton – that were components of the new technologies.

During the First Industrial Revolution, the raw materials necessary for production had been in Europe itself: coal deposits and iron ore. The other raw material, cotton, was available via slave labor in the southern United States, as well as Egypt (which seized virtual independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1833). However, the raw material of the Second Industrial Revolution was mostly located outside of the older areas under European control. So, business interests pressured their respective governments to seize as much territory overseas as possible. For example, when oil fields were discovered in Persia in 1908, European interest in Middle Eastern imperialism reached a fever pitch.

Mines and plantations were crucial in Africa and Asia. Mining in particular offered the prospect of huge profits. There were Canadian nickel deposits for steel alloys, Chilean nitrates, Australian copper and gold, and Malaysian tin, mineral resources coveted by Europeans. Thus, while the motives behind imperialism were often strongly ideological, they were also tied to straightforward economic interests. Indeed, many of the strongest proponents of imperialism had ties to industry.

Other than seizing control of the Philippines from Spain in 1898 and exercising considerable power in Central America, the United States was not a major imperial power. However, it was a major manufacturing power and the major source of exports from the 1870s to the early 1900s. As a result, Europeans feared becoming economically obsolete. Thus, European politicians and businessmen focused on territorial acquisition overseas to counterbalance the vast natural resources of the US.

Graphs depicting the coal and steel production levels of different Western countries from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. The USA dwarfs all of the other countries by the twentieth century. — Figure 6.2.1: American resource production and industrial output vastly outpaced European production over time; already by the 1870s astute European observers correctly anticipated the rapid acceleration of American production.