Attitudes Towards Imperalism In Britain

Question 1

When did Benjamin Disraeli assert about the Empire in 1852?

Answer 1

‘Those wretched colonies will all be independent in a few years and they are a mill-stone around our necks’

Question 2

What did William Gladstone assert?

Answer 2

He went as far as to promise to ‘abstain from any territorial acquisitions and from contracting any new obligations’z

Question 3

Why was there a shift in attitude in the 1870s around Empire?

Answer 3

Central to this was the concern about other European powers.

As nations grew stronger industrially, Britain found itself facing greater economic competition.

Question 4

Where was Disraeli on the political spectrum?

Answer 4

Conservative

Question 5

Where was Gladstone on the political spectrum?

Answer 5

Liberal

Question 6

What did Disraeli describe his Conservative party as?

Answer 6

The party of the Empire, their liberal opponents will let the Empire crumble.

Question 7

Did the conservatives win over the electorate with this idea of bolstering Empire?

Answer 7

This was the first Conservative Party victory in 33 years, they won an electoral victory in 1874.

The ‘imperial card’ was a success.

Question 8

Did The Liberal Leader, Gladstone, oppose Empire?

Answer 8

He made the distinction between the terms Empire and Imperialism.

Britain needed to avoid making new acquisitions and concentrate on developing the existing colonies, helping them towards self-government.

He supported Empire but opposed Imperialism.

Question 9

Under Disraeli, what events occurred that contributed to the resounding Conservative defeat in April 1880’s general election and the return of a liberal government under Gladstone?

Answer 9

Disraeli’s government launched a war on the Zulu and Pedi tribes in the hope of establishing a British confederation over Southern Africa.
This proved to be a failure and humiliation.

In November 1878 Disraeli sought to consolidate the Raj, he launched an attack on Afghanistan in an attempt to make it a client state (afraid of Russian ambitions in area). This was a protracted conflict that expended British-Indian troops’ lives, 10,000.

These setbacks contributed to this defeat.

Question 10

How did Gladstone demonstrate the distinction between Liberal and Conservative colonial policy when we was picking up the pieces of Conservative imperialism?

Answer 10

Gladstone declined to commit further troops, time or money to uphold Disraeli’s ambition for British hegemony over South Africa.

The same was true during the Mahdist Rebellion. Gladstone urged the withdrawal of Anglo-Egyptian troops and reflected that the Sudanese are ‘right struggling to be free’.

Question 11

Despite his principles, Gladstone became embroiled in Egypt. Why was this?

Answer 11

For the sake of safe passage to India and also as a result of public pressure as exemplified in the press.

Question 12

From the 1860s and 1870s, the Empire began to fire the public imagination in a way that it had never done in the earlier years of the century. Why was this?

Answer 12

This was, in part, because of the reporting in the growing popular press which saw the stories of the exotic, if heroism and of national one-upmanship.

The lurid reports of atrocities were also exaggerated in the press.

Question 13

When was the Boy’s Own Paper’s first appearance?

Answer 13

1879

Question 14

What did the Boy’s Own Paper feature?

Answer 14

Stories portraying soldiery and bravery across the globe.

It included contributions from Colonel Baden-Powell who urged readers to lead ‘manly and Christian lives’.

Question 15

When was the Boy’s Brigade established?

Answer 15

1883

Question 16

What did the Boy’s Brigade promote?

Answer 16

Imperialist values by offering military training and by reminding young men of what it meant to be part of the ‘glorious’ British Empire.

Question 17

What was a common belief that the Empire would do to the peoples it occupied?

Answer 17

It would ‘civilise’ indigenous peoples, leading them away from their heathen, savage existence and turning them into hard-working law-abiding citizens.

Question 18

How was the view that British had a moral right or imperial duty to control overseas territories reinforced?

Answer 18

By the idea that white races were naturally superior.
This attitude was encouraged in Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ (1859).

Although Darwin himself never suggested it, the theory that certain species had advantages over competitors was soon applied to human races.

Question 19

The sense of British Victorian society’s physical and social superiority was reinforced by popular exhibitions.

What was shown at the 1886 Exhibition?

Answer 19

Buildings that housed the exhibition were built in Indian style.

Question 20

Summarise British attitudes towards Empire.

Answer 20

They reflected a combination of factors, from greater literacy and party politics, to popular culture and press.

Drawing on benefits on the benefits of Christianity, commerce and liberal reform, an imperial ideology was established to justify British imperial gains.

The exploits of figures such as Cecil Rhodes and Livingstone were used to show that Britain had something beneficial to offer the native peoples.