Flags on the Map: Nationalism and Prestige

The late 19th century was an age of intense nationalism, and colonies became symbols of national power. Germany and Italy, unified in 1871 and 1861, felt they had arrived late and wanted empires to match their new status. In 1897 the German foreign secretary Bernhard von Bülow declared that Germany also demanded its 'place in the sun. ' France, humiliated by defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, saw overseas expansion as a way to restore prestige, although some French politicians argued it distracted from recovering Alsace-Lorraine.

Popular newspapers, maps colored by empire and patriotic celebrations made empire exciting for ordinary voters, so politicians could win support by promising new territory. Prestige motives help explain why powers took lands of little economic value, and why imperial rivalry heightened tensions that later fed into World War I.