The European takeover of Asia and Africa is considered the second conquest, while the first is the conquering of the America’s. This second conquest was lead by different countries, instead of the Portugal, Spain, France and England; it was lead by Germany, Italy, Belgium, the United States, and Japan. The United States was the most surprising player, and mainly gained its territories through the Spanish-American War. There were other differences in this second conquest, the lack of a “Great Dying,” and the Europeans military might.
The “Great Dying” occurred in the America’s during the conquest by the Europeans, disease would strike the people of the America’s to such a large number that it is possible that up to 90% died. These deaths meant that the conquering Europeans did not face larger armies, or very organized resistance. Rather they came on to lands that, to them, seemed to be uninhabited and freely available to them to take over, as if God had set the land aside for them. The lack of a “Great Dying” meant that in Africa and Asia that the Europeans would face off with a population that was much larger, more organized, and protecting their homelands. Along with having to fight for the conquering of the land, they also had establish new administrating systems for the large number of inhabitants.
Faced with this large resistance, the Europeans experience with military and technology helped them get into and conquer Asia and Africa. Some of the military developments that helped were more organization, drilled practicing, and an advanced command structure the simplified tactics. Another major helper was the development of the repeating rifles and machine guns. These helped to morally devastate the people of Africa and Asia.
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