Essay Example on Jules Ferry was the Prime Minister of France during the Time

Jules Ferry was the Prime Minister of France during the time France was looking for imperial expansion Jules felt that it was an urgent matter that France continue colonial expansion He was concerned that the industrial population of France needed exports Things had changed with the other nation-states in Europe and the United States and they were beginning to provide new products to their own people They no longer needed to rely on France as heavily and they began setting up trade barriers However for France if there were no exports there was no economic market to help sustain them Ferry recognized this as a great complication Kleinman para 2 to the trade market the French had excelled at for so long As the United States continued to grow their trading and exports Ferry became increasingly concerned they may eventually take over the South American market that he claimed had belonged to France forever He asked his people if they felt this was a need that could wait for the future 

He argued that it must not wait and that it was a need of the most urgent kind as it directly affected the livelihood of the French economy Ferry was concerned the advancement of other countries was directly threatening France Ferry made a bold statement even during that time that the higher races have a right over the lower races para 3 He argued that those races have a duty to civilize the lower races It is extremely easy to recognize the racism in his statements Ferry went further to accuse Spain of introducing slavery incorrectly into South America claiming the Spanish soldiers were the higher race and they did not fulfill the duty of that title Was this not justifying slavery Ferry seems to suggest there was no wrongdoing because they are of the higher race

According to Ferry the French maneuvered the situation correctly by handling themselves with sincerity and grandeur para 4 and this was enough to release them of any guilt in their actions Ferry s critics questioned why he felt there were superior and inferior races It was asked why the inferior races did not seem to have the same rights as the superior races Brower and Sanders 2014 discussed the nature of the colonial expansion and what it meant for any country that was taken over by France p 7 When France took on new colonies in different regions of the world they would impose their own government language and military rule over these regions It did not seem to be a supportive two-way street rather just a conquest for the French empire 

The native people of the regions were not recognized for what they were as an independent tribe that can govern themselves only as land available to expand farming or any other economic conquest that Ferry deemed necessary If Ferry could predict the future he may have been able to see how the inequality would affect the French empire and humanity as a whole Over time the regions would have an uprising because of the control the French had over them

This meant constant conflict within France s own imperial borders Was this not a form of civil war Slavery and race inequality seems to have been an outstanding issue for several centuries and an issue that is still present in today s society Ferry focuses on the needs of the military in an effort to gain support of colonial expansion He argues that a naval force needs multiple regions available to them to supply fuel and other necessary resources He states that Indochina and Tunisia among other countries are necessary for the French naval forces to help establish safe harbors and provide supply centers when the forces are out at seas He recognizes that a navy ship can only carry two weeks worth of coal and if they should deplete all the coal while out at sea this would leave any ship vulnerable to take over by any other force passing by He vehemently argues against leaving these other colonies in the voice of military strength Ferry sees that many other European countries and the United States have rapidly grown and technologically advanced their military strength and this is a direct threat to the first place stance France held at the time Without colonial expansion to continue to provide safe ports and resources all around the world for their own country they will have no advantage over any other country Simply put if France does not take over these regions someone else will Ferry seems to have a desire to have the largest and most powerful military 

Ferry s final push for colonial expansion involves a call to do more He claims that to sit back and watch would be detrimental to the French economy Ferry argues that no great nation can succeed without activity and NOT pursuing colonial expansion is the worst way to remain inactive in this matter He fears that France would quickly fall from first in rank down to third or fourth with continual military and economic growth that would come from expansion The country of France is the best according to Ferry and it s top seed ranking should remain In conclusion Ferry is a true nationalist The French empire is of utmost important to him regardless of the effect that it has on other people Control this one sided rarely ends well and it is easy to see how his approach will eventually turn people against him The French colonial expansion efforts just leach any resources out of whatever country they decide to attach themselves to which explains why Ferry feels the need to continually expand Once France has exhausted one country region of their resources it must move on to new resources However with no resources or support being provided back to the territories they are taking from there is no sustainability in this system