Notes

Yes, Colonialism did indeed spread hardship and suffering on a large scale, but not everything that was done was evil. In many cases, the French to some extent, and the English especially also set up the infrastructure and educational systems in the places they went to. In some cases, these set up stable economies where only tribalism and subsistence farming had ever been before.

In many cases, Revolutionaries were educated not in their own nations, but in the countries of their colonial masters. They would go to study in the Universities in France or England, of Spain, and return home filled with ideals that the Europeans espoused, but did NOT apply to their colonies. These foreign educated colonials would then ask "why not us?" And would take these European enlightenment ideas such as "life, liberty, and property" and use them as rallying cries to lead revolutions to overthrow the Imperial powers and attempt to set up democracies.