(11) Attitudes towards imperialism in Britain Flashcards

1
Q

When was Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee?

A

1897

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2
Q

Supporters for Imperialism?

A

Khaki election - Conservatives won the 1900 election using the victories in the Boer War
High Imperialists =
Made people in colonies ‘subjects’ rather than citizens
Lord Curzon - Empire was ‘an instrument’ for the ‘good of humanity’
Alfred Milner - Round Table movement - promote closer union between Britain and its self governing colonies - All self governing colonies had them by 1911
Joseph Chamberlain - ‘National crisis’ of other powers developing faster than Britain that only the Empire could solve - ‘Imperial preference’
Victoria League 1901 - Womens league designed to bring union between the Empire
Empire Day - 1902 from Lord Meath
Daily Express in 1916 promoted the Day as the ‘imperial family’

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3
Q

What were the views of the Empire among the political parties?

A

Conservatives - Good government and ‘White rule’
Liberals - ‘Education’ and improvement of colonies and their peoples to achieve self rule - however were still reluctant to bring an end to the Empire
Labour and Liberals agreed freedom ‘through’ Empire rather and ‘from’ it

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4
Q

Lord Salisbury

A

Served three times as conservative Prime Minister
(85-86) (86-92) (95-1902)
Imperialist
British rule was better for the advancement of ‘backward’ races
Opposed alliance systems

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5
Q

Critics of the Empire

A

John Hobson - economist who wrote Imperialism in 1902 - Empire only for the rich capitalists - his views catalysed by Boer War - was a ‘capitalist plot’ - aimed to secure gold reserves for rich British entrepreneurs
Emily Hobhouse - Welfare campaigner - led to report in concentration camps - tarnished Imperialisms reputation to civilise the world
Wilfred Blunt - said the real White Man’s burden was the ‘burden of his cash’ in response to Kipling’s poem
William Digby - Raised awareness about Indian grievances in the British Parliament in 1888

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6
Q

Why was there need for National efficiency?

A
  • 450,000 British troops served against 30,000 Boers for 2 and a half years
  • Led to demand for a better quality army
  • Needed ‘home grown’ soldiers not just those from the Empire
  • 40% of British recruits from Britain were unfit
  • Poor diet and living conditions weakened Britons manpower
  • In 1902 newspapers would say that Newspapers said that Britains needed ‘national efficiency’ to stop decline
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7
Q

How did Britain improve its ‘national efficiency’?

A
  • 1902 Education Act - raise school standards and open 1000 new secondary schools in the following decade
  • Modernisation of the Royal Navy - the Dreadnought - first launched in 1906 - In the wake of German naval expansion
  • 1907 ‘Imperial College’ opened - centre for technological, scientific and medical excellence
  • Liberal reforms - 1906 free school meals - 1907 School medical inspections - 1908 children’s welfare charter - 1908 old age pensions - trade boards act 1909 - unemployment and health insurance 1911
    New Liberal philosophy headed by David Lloyd-George and Winston Churchill
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8
Q

Popular press

A
  • 1890-1914 was the ‘golden age’ for newspaper publication
  • Alfred Harmsworth pioneered the Daily Mail in 1896 aimed at the lower-middle class - sold at low price - during Boer war averaged a million copies a day - damming Boers and Kruger - Hobson criticised it for its ‘crude sensationalism’
  • Changed to going against Germans leading up to warp
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9
Q

Imperial literature

A
  • Rudyard Kiplings - ‘White Man’s Burden’ - almost religious belief in empire - ‘The Jungle Book’ - Nobel Prize for literature in 1907
  • G.A Henty’s tales of military campaigns ‘Dash for Khartoum’ - Victorian bestseller
  • Gertrude Page - emigrated to Rhodesia in 1900 and produced 20 novels - British India became the most popular setting for her novels
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10
Q

Imperialist music

A
  • Edward Elgar - ‘Imperialist’ composer who created mental images with his music of the ‘nobility of the Empire’ - wrote ‘Imperial March’ for the Diamond Jubilee (1897)
  • Sir Henry Coward took his Sheffield choir on a musical tour of the Dominions if 1911
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11
Q

The Empire and its impact on the youth

A
  • Increased education meant there was a new market for comics and imperial books - exotic tales in E.J Brett’s Boys of the Empire (1888-1900)
  • Religious Tract Society produced the Boy’s Own Paper and the Girl’s Own Paper and secured up to a half a million readers from 1890-1914
  • Comics read in schools and church halls
  • Howard Spicer published a Boys Empire League of books which boasted 7000 members in 1900 - also annual book focusing on colonies and winner would receive £25 and a trip to a colony
  • Boy’s brigade 1883 -
  • Boy Scout Movement 1908 - trained on the Empire competitively for badges - prompted imperialism and to grow up in its service
  • Girls guides 19012
  • History and Geography books emphasised the glories of the empire and presented explorers and missionaries as heroes
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12
Q

Representations of the Empire

A
  • Through architecture = Lutyens - Johannesburg Art Gallery 1911 and the British Pavilion - invited in 1912 to design New Delhi as the new capital
  • Represented through the Queens Diamond Jubilee 1897
  • King George V’s coronation was also celebrated with a festival of the Empire at Crystal Palace in London 1911
  • Imperial products were favoured
  • Intra-Empire sports championship which became known as the British Empire Games (Commonwealth)
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