... Gallagher). The first reason why imperialism can be seen understood as a matter of national weakness was because one of the motivating forces why countries built empires was due to defensive purposes, as a form of protecting and preserving their existing extended overseas interests, which were mainly economic, in the face of foreign threats. According to Anderson, "British expansion was essentially defensive...(it) aimed not at expanding British territory but at safeguarding Britain's existing world position." One example in which this was evident would be in the example of Egypt. The British took the Suez Canal in 1875, however it took them many years to formalize control over Sudan (1882). It was the local crisis of bankruptcy that pushed the British to formalize control; for fear that the French would take the Suez Canal and threaten British trade interests. From this example, we can see that original British economic and trade ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now