Conquest may well be a reaction to being boxed
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:54 pm
"Tin Islands" was a response to British help to the Belgae). The Carthaginian Empire was a trading empire defended by an armed fleet, the American Empire was acquired by purchase and fraud, the gun being used to blast away those Indians who had neglected to read the small print of legal documents. An Empire may grow out of fear of being shut in and excluded from access to raw materials- Imperial Japan comes to mind. The "Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" was a stark example of how imperial militaristic interests are driven by economic necessity.
By 1941 Japan had no choice other than between expansion or decline in living standards. But expansion may be "peaceful" instead of militaristic. Since the war Japan has pursued the same end by job function email list non-military means, to establish a co-prosperity sphere in Asia and increase living standards in it generally at the expense of European and American ones. Japan's imperial strategy is now commerical/financial.
Even where an empire expands through military conquest, this c in (eg Japan, Germany) or as a result of defending important colonial outposts. For example, Clive's victory at Madras in 1751, which marked the beginning of the history of India as a British colony, was a defensive victory: the withstanding of a siege. Much of the rest of the conquest of India was the response to an appeal for assistance from Indian princes to the tiny force of British. But it is also true that a response to an appeal for assistance is a time honoured pretext for an Empire to advance under the banner of altruism. Helping a weak ally was the standard pretext for the Roman invasion of new lands, more recently for British, Japanese, Russian and American interventions. (My friends call it "intervention" my enemies call it "invasion".)
By 1941 Japan had no choice other than between expansion or decline in living standards. But expansion may be "peaceful" instead of militaristic. Since the war Japan has pursued the same end by job function email list non-military means, to establish a co-prosperity sphere in Asia and increase living standards in it generally at the expense of European and American ones. Japan's imperial strategy is now commerical/financial.
Even where an empire expands through military conquest, this c in (eg Japan, Germany) or as a result of defending important colonial outposts. For example, Clive's victory at Madras in 1751, which marked the beginning of the history of India as a British colony, was a defensive victory: the withstanding of a siege. Much of the rest of the conquest of India was the response to an appeal for assistance from Indian princes to the tiny force of British. But it is also true that a response to an appeal for assistance is a time honoured pretext for an Empire to advance under the banner of altruism. Helping a weak ally was the standard pretext for the Roman invasion of new lands, more recently for British, Japanese, Russian and American interventions. (My friends call it "intervention" my enemies call it "invasion".)