The advancements in the military technology after the Industrial Revolution had made the European empires even stronger and even more dominant in the world.
With superior weaponry, the European empires were able to gain much more new territories around the world with relative ease. Africa was overtaken almost entirely, South Asia, most of Southeast Asia, parts of East Asia, and Oceania, all fell into the hands of the European empires, and the biggest reason for that was the superior weaponry and much better prepared military.