Age of Empire

The following essay is a short review on Hobsbawms chapter entitled the Age of Empire, it is to give a summary of the chapter at the same time pointing out the main points he mentions in the reading. The reading is basically about a period called the ‘Age of Empire’, which was a period from 1975 to 1914. It was given the name Age of Empire for the reason that leaders of that period preferred to be called by the title Emperor. The writer highlights how the world economy was being controlled by the developing capitalist principal, in which the developed countries controlled the underdeveloped areas thus turning into a World empire.
The writer points out the fact that between 1880 and 1914 most of the world outside Europe and America was divided into territories under the informal and formal rule of the European powers also known as the great powers. These included countries such as Great Britain, America, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Japan. None of the great powers ever tried to conquer the Americas due to the reason that it was protected by the Marce Doctrine which was first stated by the US government in 1823, it gave US the only freedom of action on the Americas meaning the USA had the only power and right to interfere in that hemisphere.
Observers saw the colonial process differently; Orthodox observers took it as a new era of national expansion on the other hand heterodox observers evaluated it as a new phase of capitalist development. However more arguments escalated among different schools of thought, that argued that imperialism was nothing new, they believed that it was ordinary pre-capitalist survival whilst others argued it was new.
Analysts such as Leninist argued for the fact that the new imperialism had economic roots which led to the division of territories among the great powers. The opposition among the great powers which led to the division of territories also led to the World War 1. Non -Marxist analysts argued that there