Imperialism was the main cause of WWI out of other factors like militarism, alliances and nationalism. It was the main reason because of the fact that all European powers wanted to expand their borders and colonies which in turn, conflicted with other powers around the world. The Boer Wars, The Opium War in China and the major race in Industrialization were examples of Imperialistic events prior to WWI.
The Boer War was when Britain, feeling weak, felt obliged to attack African colonies in order to expand and control trade and resources because of Germany’s telegram which was sent to Paul Kruger congratulating him on his defence against the ‘foreign invaders’. This was a cause because Germany was using political techniques to isolate Britain from the rest of the world by luring Britain into a trap to attack the Africans with such force that it would look inhumane to other nations. The strategy worked and Britain became extremely unpopular and made all European nations hate Britain. The reason that Britain became unpopular from this event was because the Africans were still developing and were not considered a strong adversary, so Britain was merely walking in and killing all those that stood in their path.
The Opium War was caused when China refused to open its trade routes to the rest of the world due to the fact that they had everything they needed and did not require other countries resources. It all started when raw materials only grown in China, were needed by the rest of the world. Desperately, Britain found a gateway in which they could provoke China into a war and open its trade routes. They did this by bringing in opium into China in which China countered by illegalizing it. Angrily, Britain illegally smuggled opium from India into China and started a war. This led to rebellions such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Teiping Rebellion in which other consecutive events took over China’s way of governing. European nations and Japan took full advantage of China’s weakness and set up colonies, traded cheaply with China and led to other events in which these nations would fight for such as Korea. The Opium War was not a ‘cause’ to WWI, but it was the other China issues such as land division, which made European nations fight with each other for.
The Major race in industrialization symbolized imperialism in the sense that all European powers required vast amounts of raw materials to mass produce goods such as steel. This led European nations to go into foreign countries and colonize them. When they colonized specific areas, they would send all the raw materials back to the mother country and then manufacture it into something that they can sell. This led the British to a war with African colonies, such as the Transvaal, and in China with the Boxers. Industrialization was a cause to WWI in the sense that all European nations were colonizing other ‘weaker’ countries and stealing their resources and sending them back which caused tension between the European nations. The tension between European nations was caused because they were all competing in the same areas such as Africa and Asia, and this led to conflicts with each other with governing issues, etc.
In conclusion, gathering from the events listed, you can see that these events were important during the first World War. Industrialization was a key point because of its breakthroughs with technology and better weaponry. The Opium War does not have a direct link with WWI but opened up new and smaller events in which European nations argued over and brought tension. The Boer War left Britain out of further events prior to WWI and left it in its isolation. They broke out of the isolation in WWI when they entered because of the German invasion of Belgium which surprised the whole of Europe. So in all, Imperialism was a group of many, small events which built up to a big worldwide problem which made it the big problem which drew tension between all of Europe.
