Alliance System and New Imperialism: France
Damon Johnson
HIS/114
August 2, 2011
David Hopkins
Alliance System and New Imperialism: France
The France empire engaged in an alliance with other powerful empires and participated in a new wave of imperialism to acquire power and influence. France engaged in these strategies to promote power against Germany and to maintain power and influence among the other empires in Europe. This would prevent France from becoming a nation capable of takeover from another nation seeking to add more territory.
Alliance System
France dealt with the reality that the entire German empire faced the entire France empire. As a result, France became isolated geographically as one side faced the German empire and the other side faced the Atlantic Ocean. During this time, Germany previously had signed into an alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, known as the Triple Alliance. With the increasing power of Germany facing France, France began to face isolation and possible conquest by the German powers. To prevent this, France allied with Great Britain and Russia, known as the Triple Entente. Under the Triple Entente alliance, France had an ally in Russia that would give German powers fear of developing possible hostilities with France and Russia on the German empire’s western and eastern frontiers (Kishlansky & O’Brien, 2008).
New Imperialism
Europe began a new wave of imperialism, the acquisition of territories on an intense and unprecedented scale, in the late 19th century (Kishlansky & O’Brien, 2008). France became quite an active participant in this new wave of imperialism. For example, France occupied thousands of square miles of the Sahara Desert to protect France’s interests in Algeria, a territory considered important because of the country’s proximity to acquired colonies and to territories targeted for takeover (Kishlansky & O’Brien, 2008). Another example includes France’s dual rule of Egypt with Great Britain, for Egyptian land had accessible sea routes deemed profitable for trade.
Conclusion
In summary, France engaged in a triple alliance with Great Britain and Russia to establish enough power to counter the insurgency of power from the German empire. In the new wave of imperialism, France occupied thousands of square mile of the Sahara Desert to ensure the protection of land acquisition interests in Algeria. Furthermore, France had dual rule over Egypt to access the profitable sea routes the land had to offer.
References Kishlansky, M., Geary, P., & O’Brien, P. (2008). Civilization in the west (7th ed.). New York,
NY: Pearson Longman.
