Chapter 14 - The administration of India, Africa and the Middle East 1918-67)(SECTION 3) Flashcards
What was decided under the Government of India Act 1919?
Under the act:
1) The Viceroy retained control of major areas, such as defence and foreign affairs, and his council remained a purely appointed body, but it was required to defend its actions before the Legislative Council.
2) The Legislative Council was split into:
- a lower house (Legislative Assembly) where 104/144 members were to be elected.
- an upper house (Council of the State), of which 34/60 were to be elected.
3) Provincial councils run by elected Indian ministers took responsibility for local government, health, education and agriculture.
What did Britain hope for the Government of India Act 1919?
1) Hoped that reforms would weaken popular popular support for the Indian Congress.
What were the Round Table Conferences? When were they?
1) Opposition from the independence movement in India led to 2 special ‘Round Table Conferences’ in London in 1930 and 1931.
2) Gandhi represented the Congress Party at the 2nd Conference.
3) No agreement was reached. Britain rejected self-governing Dominion status for India due to their prejudice about the competence of non-white leaders and people’s as well as concern for India’s strategic and economic important to Britain.
What was the Simon Commission? What did it do and when did it do so?
1) The Simon Commission reviewed the India Act and recommended that:
- a federal system of government be created across India, incorporating both provinces under direct British rule and the Princely States.
- the provinces be given more power.
- defence, internal security and foreign affairs should remain in the hands of a British viceroy, ensuring overall British control.
What did the Government of India Act 1935 do? When was it signed
1) The Act created a Federation of India by:
- making the provinces completely self-governing (although the Viceroy could suspend self-government in emergencies.
- expanding the franchise from 7 to 35 million people.
2) Received Royal Assent on August 2nd 1935.
What was the reaction to the Government of India Act 1935?
1) Act was opposed by the Congress Party because it fell short of the independence enjoyed by the Dominions because of a desire to be completely free from British rule.
2) Princely States also rejected a federal India since they wanted to maintain their independence from the rest of India.
3) In 1939, members of Congress-controlled ministries in the provinces resigned from office, in opposition to Indian participation in the war.
What had become clear by 1947 regarding India?
1) Clear that British colonial policy had failed, but the independence movements had succeeded, and India became two independent states, India and Pakistan.
What categories did British colonies in Africa fall into?
1) Colonies ‘indirectly’ ruled by Britain through existing local rulers. Included most colonies in West Africa, as well as colonies such as Uganda, Nyasaland.
2) Colonies where substantial numbers of Europeans had settled, and whee the British directly ruled through their own officials, with some political representation for the white settler population. Included nations such as Southern Rhodesia and Kenya as well as South Africa (who had been a Dominion since 1910).
How did British policy and administration in colonies under ‘indirect’ British rule develop between 1919-1939?
1) Colonial policy stressed the promotion of the colonies’ economic and social development, in order to increase economic value to the empire. Several notable initiatives in East and West Africa:
- Britain allocated £3 mil for the Gezira Cotton Scheme in Sudan.
- East Africa, 1925, the government allocate £10 mil for improving rail and dock facilities.
- In West Africa, there was investment in schools and educational facilities.
- Numerous agricultural research stations were setup in colonies across the continent.
2) All of the African colonies were expected to be self-financing which meant that major projects had to be mainly funded by taxes collected from African people.
3) Colonial Development Act 1929 earmarked £1 mil of British Treasury funds for development projects across Empire.
4) But, African colonies suffered from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Economic problems led to increased numbers of strikes by African workers.
How did British policy and administration in European settler colonies develop from 1919-1939?
1) What happened with white settlers in Kenya?
2) What happened to white farmers?
3) What did actions of white farmers lead to?
4) What about Southern Rhodesia?
5) What about SA?
1) White settlers in Kenya put pressure on the British to give Kenya a degree of self-government in 1920. Power was given to the 20-30,000 strong white settler community, who dominated the Legislative Assembly and used their influence to exclude from the fertile Northern Highlands both Indian settlers and the Kikuyu peoples.
2) White settler farmers became wealth through growing tea and coffee and squeezed the Kikuyu out by taxing them heavily.
3) This produced the first strings of African nationalism among the Kikuyu and alarmed the Colonial Office which issued the ‘Devonshire Declaration in 1923 which stressed that the interests of black Africans had to be respected.
4) In Southern Rhodesia, the white population was similarly dominant. It took political power and won what was effectively self-government in 1923.
5) In the Union of South Africa, the white minority had established its control of SA internal affairs by the 1930s and the Statute of Westminster 1931 enabled white dominance to continue.
What was British colonial administration’s task for the British mandate in Palestine.
1) To ensure that Palestine’s strategic importance as a buffer against potential threats to the Suez Canal was maintained with British military presence.
2) To ensure that internal stability of the country was maintained.
Why was it hard for Britain to maintain control in Palestine?
1) Financial strains of WW1 played a part.
2) There was also disagreement between the government in London (pro-Jewish) and British authorities in Palestine (more sympathetic to Arabs).
3) There were problems over landholding. Most Palestinian Arabs were poor farmers, renting land from absentee landowners. When wealthier Jewish settlers began to buy up land with the help of the Jewish National Fund, growing numbers of Palestinian Arabs were evicted from their farms
What effect did Nazi Jewish persecution have on British administrators in Palestine?
1) 1936 - British sent 20,000 troops to Palestine to deal with Arab insurgency and attacks on Jews.
2) 1937 - Peel Report recommended that Palestine should be partitioned into separate Arab and Jewish. Arab population opposed.
3) 1937-39 - British adopted a policy of repression to deal with escalating violence. 25k troops sent.
4) 1939 - with war imminent and fears of an Italian attack on Egypt, Britain changed policy. It called for a Palestinian state in which Jews currently living in the country would enjoy the right to a ‘national homeland’.
5) 1939 - Jewish immigration was restricted to 15,000 per year for 5 years.
Explain administration of the British mandate in Iraq (Mesopotamia).
1) What problems did they face?
2) What did they do?
3) What happened at the Cairo Conference? When was it?
4) What did the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922 do?
5) What did the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1939 do?
1) Same issues of curbing the costs of administration by managing internal conflicts shaped colonial policy.
2) 1920: British intervened militarily when widespread Muslim demonstrations against British rule in Baghdad turned into a full scale revolt.
3) Cairo Conference 1921 - British meeting with a limited Arab representation decided to allow for some local self government.
4) Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922 confirmed Faisal I as King.
5) Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 promised full consultation between the two powers on matters of foreign policy. Small step towards getting Iraq full independence in 1932.
Explain the context behind the Statue of Westminster (regarding the dominions).
What did British concerns lead to?
1) - The role played by dominions in WW1 led to them wanting control over their own affairs. British authorities in London recognised that this could not be ignored and were concerned about the desire in SA and Canada.
- The Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 led the British to worry that SA might be tempted to desert the Empire altogether.
2) Out of these British concerns emerged the concept of the Commonwealth.
