Jules Ferry - A Defense of French Imperialism
Imperialism means the policy of extending a country's power and influence oversee using diplomacy and military force. Imperialism and colonial expansion are motivated by economic ideologies, political and patriotic sort. France launched its imperial expansion exercise when Jules Ferry was the Prime Minister. Ferry was behind the defensive team that supported the decision to expand its territories in a debate conducted with the member of the French Parliament (Overfield, 202).
This paper gives the answers to the questions raised from the Jules Ferry defense of French Imperialism. The paper addresses recent developments in world trade that advantaged France to have colonies, arguments against imperialism and non-economic arguments all raised by Ferry.According to Ferry, the development and changes in global trade that pushed France to seek for colonies include economic interest. He saw France as a very industrialized and populated country. Therefore, he needed the colonies to get the market for its outlets (exports) (Ferry, 1884). The production rate has increased, and the country needed more outlets for its products such as textiles. Furthermore, Germany had already set up trade barriers with France (Ferry, 1884). In addition, Ferry saw America has the potential great market for their product, and they needed to colonize. Another development in trade is that he saw the possibility of North America rising and taking over the South America market that have been of France for an extended period (Ferry, 1884).Ferry’s critics raised several argument against his ideas.
They argued that Ferry was in support of slavery by trying to justify it. They also said that Ferry had no power to tell and proclaim himself in a country where rights of human kinds were assert (Overfield, 202). Ferry counters the critics by claiming that France was a superior country that had rights above inferior nations“ (Ferry, 1884). He also urges that his country have the duty to civilize the weaker races by colonializing them.In his non-economic arguments over imperialism, Ferry says that the colonies will offer stopping points. He says that warships are not in the position to carry two weeks supply of coal and food.
Therefore, they needed stopovers that will help in supply, shelter, and defense provision. Furthermore, he suggests that a nation is great by the activity it deploy rather than spreading peaceable light (Overfield, 202).The above paper addresses the solution to the arguments by Jules Ferry defense of French Imperialism. It gives developments in world trade that made it urgent for France to have colonies; arguments made against imperialism raised by Ferry's critics and how does he counter them and the non-economic arguments that Ferry offer for imperialism.
References
Ferry, J. (1884). Jules Ferry: On French Colonial Expansion (1884). Retrieved 01 12, 2016, from Thelatinlibrary.com: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/readings/ferry.html
Overfield, J. H. (202). Sources of twentieth-century global history. Boston: Houghton …
