The Berlin Conference was convened from 1884 to 1885 and led to the division of the African continent between the various European imperial powers. The fact that it was in Berlin is telling because Germany, at the time, was a newly unified nation that wanted to compete with the colonial empires of western European nations like France and Britain, and so sought assurances for the establishment of colonies in Africa without the interference of other European nations.

The imperialist dogma “the White Man’s Burden” was coined in a poem by Rudyard Kipling in 1898. It was used to refer to a sort of moral imperative on the part of Western Europe and the United States to conquer and rule native people for their own benefit. The idea that was commonly held at the time was that western civilization had a responsibility to bring “civilization” to all the people in the world. Due to its title and provocative message it has long been a controversial expression.

The French and British both claimed vast colonies in Africa during the wave of European imperialism that marked the last few decades of the nineteenth century. British colonies in Africa tended to be governed indirectly, relying on local power structures. Whereas French colonies tended to be administered directly, relying on imported power structures. The differences between these colonies have contributed to the nature of independent African states since the independence movements of the 1950s and 60s.

The Ottoman Empire was in decline throughout the nineteenth century and this decline accelerated in the second-half of the century. This led to the Ottoman Empire being known as ‘the Sick Man of Europe.’ It also led to a series of wars between various European powers, as each tried to prevent another nation from taking advantage of the Ottoman decline. The Crimean War is one such example, as the British and French declared war on Russia over fears of Russian expansion into Ottoman territory.

The forced abdication of Emperor Puyi and subsequent fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 resulted in the rise of the Republic of China, and with it the emergence of Sun Yat-Sen’s government. This symbolized the shift away from the centuries old dynastic cycle and entrance into the 20^th century. The Song Dynasty lasted from 960-1279 CE. The Yuan dynasty lasted from 1271-1368. The Tang dynasty preceded the Song dynasty, existing from 618-904. The Ming dynasty lasted from 1368-1644.

The battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought between the French and Vietnamese during France's attempt to re-assert colonial control over Vietnam following World War II.  The Vietnamese victory resulted in the end of further French attempts at re-conquest.

When the British and French governments decolonized the Arab world, they left behind countries designed to be dependent upon Britain and France.

They did not want Arab independence, so they ensured no country would be powerful.

The modern problems in the Arab world all stem from this original systemic weakness, which is the cause of most other geopolitical problems in the modern Middle East.

The British and French did consult with certain local leaders, but made sure to hamper these leaders with linguistically and geographically disparate populations against the wishes of both the leaders and the populations.

The British and French colonial administrations were scared of the prospect of hundreds of millions of Arabic speakers coalescing into a single country, so they ensured that when they decolonized the region they left behind nothing formidable or powerful.

While France had a very large portion of Africa as colonies, their colonies were largely made up of the Sahara Desert, and had little in the way of resources. Britain's colonies, however, were the envy of the continent. They had all the great societies of the continent and access to all the best resources Africa had to offer. Add this to the shear volume of the colonies Britain received in the Scramble for Africa, and Britain was easily the dominant power.

Major ports had existed along the coastline of Africa since well before European colonization. Similarly, in the interior of Africa, where Europeans had never gone before, the primary form of transportation over long distances were animals. 

Europeans described the European way of doing things to Africans as the Western Way. The idea was that Europe was the Western world and it was the superior region of the world. Therefore the people of Africa should adopt this Western way of doing things.