I would say it’s a little more complicated than that. Imo imperialism has to entail more than just a colonialist money grab. If we don’t acknowledge things like ethnic hierarchy and expansionism then there isn’t really a good term to describe the expansions of countries like Germany or japan during and before ww2. The same goes for the empirical expansion of the past.
I especially don’t think west Germany would be an example of colonialism or imperialism, but I think you could argue with some degrees of success that imperialism happened in places like Kazakhstan during Soviet rule.
It’s more complicated, but for someone trying to find out why the soviet union was different from the entirely imperialist west, it’s more than sufficient.
I would say it’s a little more complicated than that. Imo imperialism has to entail more than just a colonialist money grab. If we don’t acknowledge things like ethnic hierarchy and expansionism then there isn’t really a good term to describe the expansions of countries like Germany or japan during and before ww2. The same goes for the empirical expansion of the past.
I especially don’t think west Germany would be an example of colonialism or imperialism, but I think you could argue with some degrees of success that imperialism happened in places like Kazakhstan during Soviet rule.
It’s more complicated, but for someone trying to find out why the soviet union was different from the entirely imperialist west, it’s more than sufficient.