The Great Powers and nineteenth century colonialism

... The Great Powers and nineteenth century colonialism By 1882 Europe's naval superpower, Great Britain, had already acquired a significant global empire. However, it was in the following two decades that two key areas of the world opened up to the imperialist appetites of most of the other great powers of Europe, as well as Italy, Portugal and Belgium. The scramble for Africa and the dash for China, were flippantly referred to as the "Great Game", suggesting that colonies were of less value compared to the serious balance of power issues in Europe. This was essentially true and, despite many crisis points, no two powers went to war over a colonial dispute until the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war in February 1904. However, there were instances where extra-European issues did affect the balance of power and appeared close to producing a serious conflict, and hence the Great Game was a significant development

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