War and Imperialism are both constructs that have had a tremendous impact on history. Interrelated, they both build on each other and lead to one another. As we have seen throughout this semester, both have had their great deal of supporters and opponents.
Jules Ferry was one such supporter of imperialism. In his speech to the Assembly on July 28, 1883, the reasons he gave for French imperialism was for economic necessity, transportational necessity and to civilize “inferior races”. Concerning the first two points, his views were in reaction to the growing strength of the other western superpowers. The expansion of the French Empire would allow for a growth in their economy and would give them various locations across the globe which they could use for outposts. Ferry’s third point, however, was not based on any need of the nation, but one of the prevailing views…show more content… War was justified with nationalistic sentiment that pushed for the betterment of the nation. This also served to romanticize the fighting, portraying it as almost operatic. The reality of this conflict was far different than was it was prescribed as. The German soldier from Souchez described the actuality well. The war in the trenches was nothing less than a bloodbath full of despair. To the people who were out fighting the war, the battlefield wasn’t a glorious conflict, but a ghastly hellscape that they were throwing their lives into.
In a similar manner for imperialism, the negatives were glossed over by those who supported it. The major abhorrence that was avoided was the treatment of people that the imperialist reached. The opposition députés in the Assembly decried Jules’s apparent justification of slavery, but in reality, the effect on the peoples in areas colonized should have been just as big of a concern. As we can see in hindsight, the actions of the west on their territories had a derogatory effect on the people
