Authors such as Hannah Arendt , in her 1951 book '' The Origins of Totalitarianism '' , have said that the racist ideology ( '' popular racism '' ) which developed at the end of the 19th century helped legitimize the imperialist conquests of foreign territories and the atrocities that sometimes accompanied them ( such as the Herero and Namaqua Genocide of 1904 – 1907 or the Armenian Genocide of 1915 – 1917 ) . Rudyard Kipling 's poem , '' The White Man 's Burden '' ( 1899 ) , is one of the more famous illustrations of the belief in the inherent superiority of the European culture over the rest of the world , though it is also thought to be a satirical appraisal of such imperialism . Racist ideology thus helped legitimize the conquest and incorporation of foreign territories into an empire , which were regarded as a humanitarian obligation partially as a result of these racist beliefs
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Racism