2. Colonial Policy and Administration Flashcards
What did Britain regard its dominions as after WW2?
Regarded as Britain’s most reliable friends, tied to Britain by common interest and cultural ties
How did the Dominions regard Britain after WW2?
The Dominions had their own interests and were prepared to assert separated identities
What military pact implied that the USA had taken over Britain’s responsibilities in the Pacific?
The 1951 ANZUS military pact - Australia, New Zealand and the USA
What was the new Commonwealth that Atlee hoped to build?
An association of free, independent states which would go beyond race, colour and belief
Surrendering costs of formal control whilst maintaining informal ties to protect Britain’s global economic interests/influence
How were the Commonwealth countries united?
United by their history instead of having legal obligation to one another
3 problems of trying to build the Commonwealth
Britain couldn’t offer enough reward for association in form of trade, investment and defence
Talk of racial partnership didn’t appeal to white South Africans (apartheid)
Different governments with differing views throughout Commonwealth
The importance of the Sterling Area to Britain / British imperial ties (5)
Almost all Dominions and other countries used pound sterling and banked their overseas earnings in London, helping to maintain the value of the currency
Britain remained most important market for most members of sterling area
IMPORTANT) In 1947, various measures tied the sterling area members to a common trade policy, obliging them to purchase more of their imports from Britain
IMPORTANT) Exceeded the dollar area as it made up 1/4 of the world population and trade
Britain’s hopes for its African colonies
Supply Britain with mineral wealth and source of men armed forces to replace Indian army
Development of colonial economies to boost purchasing power of colonial consumers to help compensate for markets lost during WW2
In 1950 how many troops was Africa estimated to provide for an imperial army?
1950 - estimated that Africa could provide 400,000 troops for an imperial army
What 1945 British Act assisted colonial development?
Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1945 allocated £120m over 10 years to assist the colonies’ development
Further Act in 1948 that were established to improve the living standards in the colonies
1948 Act - Colonial Development Corporation and the Overseas Food Corporation
What is meant by the term ‘the second colonial occupation’?
Britain urgently needed raw materials so British ‘experts’ descended on Africa with schemes for agricultural development (E.g. TGS)
Aggressive approach - known as ‘economic colonialism’
Britain wanted to maintain the empire and its role as a global power
How was the TGS a failure?
Cost Britain £36 million and failed to provide oil or employment
What did the Labour government claim about its colonial rule?
Claimed it had abolished the old type of capitalist imperialism
Notion to raise colonial standards of living, and stress was continually placed on the mutual benefits for Britons and colonial peoples
The reality of the Labour governments colonial policy
Exploited its colonies: restricting investment, controlling trade and prices of their main commodities rationing the goods they could purchase from Britain
Sometimes it led to giving less rather than more power to indigenous leaders
Between 1945-51 the colonies were forced to lend Britain more money than Britain actually invested in the colonies
Was the labour government successful in its colonial rule?
Not at all:
- led to exploitations
- not fulfilling the claimed aims
- TGS was a complete failure
- colonies led more money to Britain than they invested
How/why did the Labour government reform Britain’s colonies in West Africa? (4)
Aware that WW2 led to need for more representative government
Tried to convey the idea of working in collaboration with nationalists
System of universal suffrage to elect an assembly introduced in the Gold Coast but British authorities continued to control finance, police and civil service
Nigeria pressed for more political participation
Result of the political reforms introduced in West Africa by Attlee’s government
Helped get colonial politicians in position to remove British rule
The African independence was gathering momentum so there was very little his government could do to stop it
2 reasons why Malaya was economically important to the British government post-WW2
Produced 1/3 of the world’s tin and huge amounts of rubber
Rubber alone earned more currency than all Britain’s domestic exports to the US in the 1940s
Who was the Labour Foreign Secretary post-WW2?
Ernest Bevin
Why was the Middle East so important to Britain according to Ernest Bevin?
Oil and the Suez Canal
Central to imperial defence
Ernest Bevin’s aims in the Middle East
Wanted area to stay in British sphere of influence
Wanted to keep Russian influence away
Tried to maintain British hegemony (dominance) by cooperating with the Arab states in the region
Ways in which the labour government was successful in developing the Commonwealth and Empire from 1945-51
Successful in developing Commonwealth but not Empire
Commonwealth allowed Britain to maintain some influence in regions that were strategically or economically valuable
