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This increased struggle for colonies mirrored much more than a new wave of overseas conduct by traditional colonial powers, including Russia. The new imperialism was renowned particularly by the surfacing of other nations in the hunt for slices of the colonial pie: Germany, the United States, Belgium, Italy, and, for the first time, an Asian power, Japan. Indeed, this very duplication of colonial powers, taking place in a relatively short time, accelerated the pace of colonial growth. Unoccupied space that possibly could be colonized was limited. Therefore, the more nations there were seeking extra colonies at about the same time, the greater was the prize on speed. Thus, the rivalry among the colonizing nations reached new heights, which successively strengthened the drive for preventative occupation of land in addition to attempts to control territory of use for the military defence of existing empires in opposition to rivals. .
The impact of the new increase in rivalry is a good example in the case of Great Britain. Relying on its economic superiority in manufacturing, trade, and international finance as well as on its acknowledged rule of the seas throughout most of the 19th century, Great Britain could afford to take it easy in the search for new colonies, while focussing on the unitement of the empire in hand and on constructing an "unofficial empire". But the challenge of new empire planners, backed up by increasing naval power, placed a new priority on Britain's wish to expand its colonial empire. On the other hand, the more that impending colonial space diminished, the greater the urge of lesser powers to solve inequalities in the size of empires by redivision of the colonial world, turned out to be. The debate over contested space and for redivision of empire created an increase in hostilities among the colonial powers and an escalation of diplomatic manoeuvring.
It has been implied that imperial competition was a long-term cause of World War 1.