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The intervention of the European powers into the affairs of peoples in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania takes on both economic and political implications, as the European countries vie with each other for power on the international stage. Some areas, such as India, prove to be economically beneficial to their colonial oppressors; others prove to be political quagmires that draw in multiple powers, including the newly powerful United States. The empires of the Middle East and Africa came into conflict with the Europeans over land and rights. The Ottoman Empire struggled to maintain its power against the Russians, the British, and others, while the African nations found themselves overrun and destroyed by the more powerful—and more technologically advanced—Europeans. Both areas founded themselves subjugated, although the manner of subjugation varied depending on the region. Within the European empires, struggles also raged. The Irish in Great Britain, the Jewish population of virtually every state of Europe, and the various minority groups which lived in the largest of the empires, including Russia and the Hapsburg Empire, found themselves constantly belittled, besieged, and fighting for equality. Rarely was equality granted, or even considered, but it remained a constant goal for the peoples who were not the majority.
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