Chapter 4 (1) Flashcards
Reactions to the loss of empire
Support from the youth
Relief as no longer £454 million in debt to the empire
Humiliation- ‘Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role’ Dean Acheson former US Secretary of State 1962
Indifference- In 1974 an opinion poll found that 75% of the British population did not know the difference between a dominion and a colony
Criticism from the Monday Club (est 1961) which was made of 10 Conservative MP’s which aimed to oppose Macmillans foreign policy
When was Kenya decolonised
1963
When was the winds of change speech
1960
What was the first country to be decolonised
Libya in 1951
South African Parliament
White minority government which ruled over the black majority
Was Apartheid when they withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1961
Mau Mau uprising
Formed in 1952 from one of the indigenous black national groups in Kenya the Kikuyu
Faced extreme punishment from the British government for wanting freedom
80,000 members were detained to ‘re-education camps’
Minimum 11,000 Mau Mau and 32 settles were killed however it could have been up to 320,000
MacMillan as a result gained them independence in 1963 due to their strong drives for independence
Schumann plan
Set out the proposals for a coal and steel community between France and Germany to stop threat of another war
Named after the French foreign minister in 1950
Hostile Conservatives and Labour MPs (EU)
Initially very few politicians or journalists in favour
Labour and left were suspicious of the free-marker principles behind the common market
Conservatives and the right wanted to preserve traditional trade links with the old commonwealth
Britain believed it was still a great power
Move towards the EU
poor economy: Suez crisis caused economic hardship as Britain was denied help from the world bank. Growing economically slower than the rest of Europe as Eden and MacMillan failed to invest in business
Poor performance of EFTA: only moderately successful, not able to match economic growth of EEC, but caused de Gaulle to veto them as they wanted trade with Africa still
Reasons for French veto
Personal hostility of de Gaulle
Didn’t like the links of EFTA and Africa
Threatened by Britains power as France was the leading nation in the EEC
Britain was the thin edge of a large US wedge about to thrust into Europe
Disagreements over nuclear disarmament
US and UK relationship: cooperation
Korean War (1951-53): UK had support of the US and UN and showed loyalty as an ally in the fight against communism.
Britain sent 90,000 troops, the second biggest after America
But the relationship was not one of equals as Britain had very limited military capability
Macmillan and Eisenhower (1957-61): Both set out to fix the strained relationship, both had a friendship from the war so the Anglo American relationship wasn’t really damaged post Suez. MacMillan was clear that he valued the relationship between America more than that with Europe. Extensive correspondence through over 400 letters and cables
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): Chancellor Thorneycroft described Britain as bystanders during the crisis however they were important as Kennedy kept MacMillan updated with his proceedings
