<span>Remember, at the time, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Empire (unlike any of the other major states in Europe) was a patchwork of over a dozen major ethnic groups. Nationalism tends to organize along ethnic boundaries (that is, nations tend to form around a large concentration of one ethnic group). Thus, with a very large number of different ethnic groups, the Empire had to worry about each group wanting to split from the Empire, and form its own nation. Indeed, after WW1, this is what happened to the Empire - it was split into about a 8 different countries (or, more accurately, portions of 8 countries included lands formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).</span>
Answer:
an increase in wealth, the production of goods, and the standard of living
Imperialism is a political and military philosophy in which one country or government seeks to conquer other countries and societies and bring them under the control or influence of the invading country.
Imperialism is often associated with the economic theory of mercantilism, in which the conquering country (known as the metropole) becomes the center of manufacturing and production while the conquered countries (the colonies) become the suppliers of raw natural goods. Under a mercantilist system, the point of having colonies is to enrich the metropole.
Imperialism takes a number of forms. There's settler colonialism, where a metropole established colonies to gather raw goods or resources (New York and Jamestown are examples). There's religious imperialism, in which a country invades other countries for the purposes of spreading a religion (Spain was infamous for this) or establishes religious communities abroad (as in Massachusetts Bay).
Imperialism has also existed for ages and ages. The Romans are one famous example, but virtually every country in Western Europe (France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, etc) had an empire at one point. But so did the Japanese, the Russians, the Zulus, and the Comanches.
