British, French and German Colonialism in Comparative Perspective

This chapter conducts a comparative study of colonialism and overseas imperialism for Great Britain, France and Germany. Primarily focused on the 19th and 20th centuries, the chapter examines the rise of these three nations’ vast overseas empires. It compares the overall levels of violence inflicted by these nations in establishing and maintaining their empires. The examination takes advantage of examples of similar colonial circumstances, neighboring colonies controlled by different European powers, or transfers of colonial territory from one colonial power to another. Based on this comparative work, the chapter establishes that Germany&s;s imperialism was, on average, the most violent and brutal of the three, with British imperialism the least violent (though by no means peaceful) and French imperialism ranking between the two. The chapter explains this variation in colonial violence with religious factors. British imperial policy was most impacted by Christian actors, many of whom practiced particularly missionary and humanistic varieties of Christianity, such as Evangelicalism. Furthermore, British religious actors were often in positions of influence within British government and society. By contrast, French and especially German religious actors were either less interested in the Evangelical implications of violence, and/or unable to influence colonial policy to a significant degree.