Asher Sisneros

Note: This paper was originally submitted to Dr. Patricia O’Neil at Thomas Edison State University on February 21, 2026 as a college assignment.

Formal imperialism has existed for a very, very long time. The Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Macedonian, Roman, Holy Roman, and Ottoman empires are just a few of the ancient empires that once dominated their regions by consuming the lands around them. Today, those empires do not exist, and other nations stand in their place. But the point is that, although little remains of those empires except their shadow in the history books and a strong cultural legacy, they were all very powerful a very long time ago.

Although there are many immoral, humanitarian problems that come from imperialism, it is perfectly natural to see why empires form. With the course of history, some nations have grown strong; others have grown weak. And, in a social Darwinian sense, the “fittest” nations have survived and consumed the others. But that domination never lasts forever. As history shows, every empire eventually falls. Like dogs, they grow old, become weak, and then die. Some fall because they overextend themselves; others fall because of domestic problems such as plagues, economic crisis, or revolution. Finally, some empires fall because a larger, stronger empire consumes them, just like the Persian empire did to the Babylonian empire under the leadership of Cyrus the Great.

Strictly speaking, imperialism in the formal, traditional sense of the word involves “military conquest and the establishment of political control” (Bentley et al 2016, p. 534). It involves war and subjugation. That is how those ancient empires spread their influence and grew in size, prominence, and power. The Spanish and their conquest of the Americas is just one example of formal imperialism. They came to the New World, and then Herman Cortes conquered the Aztec empire through military force. Natives helped him, and so did plagues. But he, nonetheless, conquered the Aztec empire militarily and established political control over the region. Of course, the Spanish did the same thing to the Inca empire, the Tainos, and every other native American tribe that they displaced when conquering the New World. After conquering those peoples, the Spanish established political control and ruled through two viceroys. Thus, the Spanish checked all of the boxes for formal imperialism when they conquered the Americas: they conquered militarily, and they established political control.

Modern, informal imperialism looks very different from the formal imperialism of antiquity. It involves the widespread influence over other nations through trade, investment, and foreign aid, without explicitly conquering them, militarily speaking. As Bentley et al puts it, informal imperialism enables “imperial powers to profit from subject societies and influence their affairs without going to the trouble of exercising direct political control” (2016, p. 534). Whether it is true or not, some people accuse the United States and its allies in western Europe of engaging in a proxy war against Russia by supporting Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War. If foreign aid from the United States influences the way Zelensky rules Ukraine, then that would be an example of a type of informal imperialism. The French did the same thing when they supported the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. Of course, in both cases, that aid is not enough to say that the U.S. does influence Ukraine through that aid or that the French most certainly influenced Thirteen Colonies with their aid. But those are two examples of one way that informal empires can exert their influence on other nations.

The Qing empire was a more explicit example of informal imperialism. Chinese authorities had outlawed opium trade, but the Chinese sold valuable products to the British in exchange for it anyways, and the British happily gave it to them. When China fell under a drug epidemic because of Britain’s opium exports, they worked towards banning trade with Great Britain. That infuriated British businessmen, and Britain declared war on China in 1839. After Britain’s superior military brought China to its knees, the government formed the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, which “ceded Hong Kong Island in perpetuity to Britain, opened five Chinese ports to commerce and residence, compelled the Qing government to extend most-favored-nation status to Britain, and granted extraterritoriality to British subjects” (Bentley et al 2016, p. 542). In this example, Britain, as an informal empire, used its military might to give itself financial privileges in China, without explicitly overthrowing the Qing government.

Meanwhile, the British ruled India more like a formal empire. They started their military conquest in the 1750s (Bentley et al 2016, p. 537) through the British East India Company, and then the British crown took control in the middle of the 19th century. A viceroy ruled Britain’s holdings in India on behalf of Queen Victoria, along with all of the viceroy’s English-speaking, English-trained bureaucrats. None of them were Indian, and India had no say in its foreign or domestic policy. It was completely run by the British. In this sense, the British ran India as an informal empire, standing in direct contrast with how they ruled (or did not rule) China. Today, empires follow Britain’s model in China more than Britain’s model in India. For the most part, they no longer conquer other nations with direct military force and then enforce their political rule like they did during antiquity. After the 19th century, powerful nations shifted towards indirect imperialism. It became clear that they could influence other countries through tariffs, sanctions, and favorable treaties; they could win privileges for themselves and strengthen their nation without the difficulties that come with running another country, directly. Today, empires rule much more indirectly.

Reference

Bentley, J.H., Ziegler, H.F., & Streets-Salter, H.E. (2016). Traditions and encounters: A brief
global history, volume 2: From 1500 to the present (4th ed.) McGraw Hill Education.