EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

cultural superiority, along with the Biblical commands on discipleship “go therefore and
make disciples,” created in many, especially the elite and religious, the obligation to
bring those less fortunate up the evolutionary and spiritual ladder as much as possible.
As Kipling so aptly quipped, it was “the White man’s burden.” 44
The perceived economic and social reasons for empire had the added advantage
of utilizing the potentially stagnant and peacetime military units that were not fighting
continental wars. What better use could there be than to be involved in the glory of
imperial military service against the savages of Africa and opium addicts of Asia?
Colonies needed protection, and that protection was deliverable by the navies that grew
ever bigger to connect, protect, and project the colonial world of nineteenth century
Europe. War did not end in Europe, however. The peace in Europe for these hundred
years had seen at least two major wars, the Crimean War (1854-56) and the Franco-
Prussian War (1870-1). They reminded Europe that despite its recent success in
preventing war on an annual basis, war was always possible, if not inevitable, and that
required the availability of large experienced armies and navies. The use of these forces
thus served the dual role of protecting the colonies and training and maintaining large
armies should the pax europa end, as it did in 1914. What gave the political necessity,
economic forces, spiritual drive, idealistic motivation, and adventurous spirit the ability
to colonize the world, especially Africa, were advances in medicine, science, and
cartography.
44
Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man's Burden,” McClure's Magazine, February 1899, 12.
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