Imperialism was the common practice of conquering other lands at the expense of the natives and establishing colonies for trade to exploit the people and resources of these regions. This was actually a normal practice for most of human history. Imperialism was an actual policy of European nations in the 18th and 19th centuries, and led to many wars among the European nations. The last war between empires was the First World War, which destroyed the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires. The Japanese empire was dismantled after World War Two. The British Empire phased itself out of existence and was replaced by the British Commonwealth.