chapter 13- expansion and contraction of the empire Flashcards
which treaty stripped Germany of its colonies?
Treaty of Versailles (1919) stripped Germany of its former colonies
The league of national mandates
Treaty of Versailles (1919) stripped Germany of its former colonies
* They became ‘Mandates’ administered by the newly created League of Nations. Britain dominated it because
America was in isolation
* The post-war arrangements were based on the Skyes-Picot agreement in May 1916 which defined the boundaries of the official and non-official British and French empires in the middle east
* Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and Treaty of Lausanne (1923) also stripped the Ottoman Empire of its colonial territories
- This was renegotiated after the Turkish War of Independence with the Treaty of San Remo (1920)
* Mandates were supposed to help territories become independent nations
- However, the Mandate powers (Britain + France) secured virtually imperial control over their mandates
* Under the Mandate system the allied powers had to fulfil certain obligations for the Mandates defined by a series
of categories:
- Category C – Territories where independence was not considered feasible e.g. Samoa & New Guinea
- Category B – Territories that ‘needed’ a much longer period of guidance e.g. Tanganyika, Togoland &
Cameroon
- Category A – Territories seen as quite developed and independence might be possible in the near future e.g. Palestine & Mesopotamia
* Britain argued:
- The German and Ottoman (Turkish) colonies were politically and economically underdeveloped with
uneducated populations
- These colonies were not ready to govern themselves and needed a ‘guiding hand’
- Britain and France were the most experiences at governing less developed territories
* They wanted to retain their dominant status as a global power; gain strategic locations to protect their interest –
especially in India and were influenced by economic factors e.g. oil in the Middle East
* Britain controlled a number of strategically important states in the Middle East and financial and commercial
pre-eminence in many other areas. No other power enjoyed the same degree of global influence
* Around 1.8m square miles were added to the empire and around 13m new subjects
The Palestinian mandate and the 1916 Sykes Picot agreement
-Britain had wanted to acquire the Palestinian mandate for economic and strategic reasons. The Middle East incorporated the main overland route to Britians Indian and Asian empire and because of its proximity to the Suez Canal. Mesopotamia was also increasingly valued because it was oil rich.
In 1915-1916 the British and the French had secretly plotted to split up the Middle East between themselves. By the 1915 Sykes and Picot agreement Britain would take: Jordan, south Iraq and Palestine
- France would take: East Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria & Lebanon
what was the 1917 Balfour declaration
- Arthur Balfour (Foreign Secretary, pro-Middle East imperialist & former PM from1902-5) sent a letter to Lord Rothschild (banker & leader of British Jewish community)
- The letter was leaked to the press and expressed sympathy for Jewish Zionism
- It promised British support for:
- a ‘national homeland’ for the Jews out of sympathy for Jews in the East
- It did not promise:
▪ a separate Jewish state
▪ the undermining of Arab rights - The declaration was motivated by a desire to:
▪ Keep British Jewish bankers supportive of the war
▪ win the support of anti-imperialist American public to accept British influence in the Middle
East - High Imperialists Leo Amery & Alfred Milner both supported the letter
why did the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the Palestinian mandate prove troublesome for the British?
Jews set up the Zionist Commission (1918) to campaign for more rights
- Arabs set up Muslim-Christian Association (1918) as a response
- 1918-20 there were violent clashes between Arabs + Jews
- More Jews began to migrate to Palestine - 175,00 by 1931 (17.7% of the population – it at had been only
6.8% in 1918)
what occurred with the Irish Free State?
Gladstone & Asquith had both failed to deliver independence as PM
* Irish Volunteers prepared an armed uprising against the British - Dublin Easter Rising (1916). The risings brutal
suppression radicalised popular opinion in Ireland
* After WWI there was a period of guerrilla warfare led by IRA (Irish Republican Army) & MPs of the Irish
nationalist party Sinn Fein set up Irish parliament in Dublin
* British attempts to maintain control became more aggressive and increased resentment among Irish nationalists
* Many Britain lost confidence in the justice of their cause
* Fighting was ended by Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)
- New Catholic Irish Free State set up - But the King remained the Head of State
- Six protestant northern counties not included as they chose to remain under British sovereignty.
- Irish Free State granted Dominion Status - remaining part of the British Empire
* The Irish Free State did not gain complete parliamentary independence until the Statute of Westminster (1931)
* The Irish Free State was renamed Eire in 1937.
* Eire was eventually declared a Republic in 1949 and left the Commonwealth
how did Egypt gain independence?
Egypt was made a Protectorate in 1914
* Serious demonstrations in 1919 - convinced British officials that Britain’s annexation shouldn’t be permanent
* Britain however still wanted to protect its strategic and economic interest in Egypt - the Suez Canal
* 1922 Britain recognised Egypt’s independence. It was still effectively a client state but it no longer had to pay for its development.
- But Britain maintained control of Egypt’s foreign policy and defence
- Britain kept an army in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal
* Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936)- British troops withdrew to defend only the ‘Suez Canal Zone’ in return Egypt was assisted to join the League of Nations
Iraqi Indepence
As a ‘Category, A’ Mandate Mesopotamia (Iraq) was always supposed to be granted independence but Britain had governed for 12 years from 1920 and maintained control thereafter and provided protection for the Hashemites.
* Mesopotamia was never a stable Mandate to govern though
- T.E. Lawrence publicly criticised British policy in the region
* Nationalists caused problems and revolt in 1920 was suppressed with difficulty
* Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, was determined to find a rule that was acceptable to Iraqis and friendly to the British
- Feisal I, son of a trusted Arab leader, was chosen
- Although Feisal had no previous connection to the area he was ‘elected’ King of Iraq
* Iraq was granted independence from Britain under Feisal I in 1932
* But the British government kept close economic and military ties with Iraq
- Britain retained its air bases in the country
- Britain had the right of transit for its forces through the country
- Britain still had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq through its control of
the Iraqi Petroleum Company
In what ways were the mandates in the Middle East of benefit to Britain?
They were beneficial to Britain’s strategic position in regards to India because it prevented the are being
governed by Muslims and it protected the land route to India and its other Asian territories
* It was important to prevent an absence of empire in the middle east to help to restrain the growing Indian
nationalism
* They were rich in oil which was needed to fuel British industries and the navy
In what ways were the mandates in the Middle East a burden to Britain?
The conflict between the Arabs and the Jews that they had created had to be policed to try to prevent violence. The area disliked the rule of the Ottomans but Britain simply swapped one imperialism for another so the problem
still existed
why was the creation of the Irish Free State significant?
It was significant because it showed that violent uprising and government action could lead to independence
from Britain. The fact that this was achieved in Britain’s oldest and closest ‘colony’ mad others think that it could be achieved
elsewhere
how was South East Asia involved in the war?
By 1942, Japan seized the major European imperial possessions in South East Asia
* Britain lost Singapore, the great new ‘invulnerable’ imperial base, in February 1942 – this was where Britain’s
main military base was and its loss brought the largest surrender of British troops in history.
* The Japanese seized Hong Kong, overran Malaya and Burma and by summer 1942 seemed poised to attack India
* An attempted Japanese invasion in 1944 was narrowly averted and thereafter the allied forces were able to roll back the Japanese conquests in the region
* The success of the Japanese ended the myth of ‘white invincibility’ and gave independence movements greater
confidence
* 30 000 Indian troops had been captured by the Japanese in Singapore joined the Indian National Army which aimed to rid India and Asia of the British
* The INA, left from 1943 by Subhas Chandra Bose, fought against the British in Burma and elsewhere
* The Burma Independence Army, formed by Aung San under the guidance of Japan, also fought the British
How was North Africa involved in the war?
North Africa was an important battleground between Britain and Germany and Italy
* Britain was desperate to preserve its influence in Egypt and access to Suez and the oil in the Middle East but the Germans came close to dislodging the British.
* The Germans were only driven back by the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942
* Both the Egyptians and the Palestinians saw the opportunity for exploiting British weakness
India within the Inter-war years
- Nationalist demands for self-government after WW1 had resulted in the Government of India Act 1919 which
allowed a limited system of self-government for India based on the sharing of powers between Indian ministers and the British Viceroy - This intended to satisfy the demands for greater Indian representation among the more moderate nationalists by
presenting the reforms as a step towards full Dominion status for India - The British were concerned that these reforms would strengthen nationalist aspirations
- The adopted a ‘twin track’ strategy – a combination of reforms and a clear signal that ant resort by the
nationalists to create mass resistance would be dealt with ruthlessly - The second strand was enshrined in the Rowlatt Act of 1919 which gave the authorities harsh powers to arrest
and imprison anyone who protested against British rule - The Rowlatt Act proved counterproductive, producing much resistance and tragic results, including the
Amritsar massacre of April 1919 where General Sir Reginald Dyer fired on demonstrators, killing 379 and injuring 1200 - Gandhi led a non-violent, non-cooperation which lasted from 1919 to 1922 which captured the imagination of
the Indian public - Lord Irwin acknowledged in 1929 a British desire to see India achieve dominion status
- Nationalism grew but negotiations on moves towards Dominion status for India at the Round Table
Conferences in London in the early 1930s failed - The Government of India act in 1935 increased the number of Indians eligible to vote and strengthened the elected provincial assemblies. It granted autonomous government for the Indian provinces, with protected
Muslim representation, but nationalist opinion still favoured complete Indian independence - Congress won control of most of the provinces
- During the 1930s, the British increasingly favoured their former policy of ‘divide and rule’, playing on the
growing divisions in the nationalist movement - The All India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted a separate Muslim state of Pakistan
- The Hindu Congress movement, led by Mohandas Gandhi wanted a united Indian state. However, they were divided by those willing to share power with the British and those who suspected (correctly) that the British were trying to break up the Congress by ‘federalizing’ India into self-governing provinces
- Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, but the Muslims viewed him with suspicion
- The British favoured the Muslim league – they suggested that the divisions between Hindus and Muslims
proved the necessity of continued British rule since the alternative was likely to be a bloody civil war famine
In what ways did Britain struggle to keep control of India during WW2?
The nationalists suspended their protests in 1939 and supported the British war effort however, the British defeats in South East Asia in 1942 led to the Hindu Congress demanding immediate
reforms British anxieties were multiplied by the emergence of the Indian National Army. The British therefore adopted a policy of repression, imprisoning Congress leaders and blatantly leaning in favour of the Muslim League. In March 1942, Churchill aware of vuneralibility of the British Empire in Asia, sent Sir Stafford Cripps, to promise the Indians full dominion status.
* The ‘Quit India’ campaign emerged in August 1942
movement was a massive emergency – the gravest threat to the Raj since the mutiny as it called for the British to leave India entirely.
* Gandhi and others were arrested and spent the rest of the war in prison
* The elections of 1945-6 were a triumph for the Muslim League which highlighted the extent of polarisation
