impact of ww2 Flashcards
what influenced britain’s colonial policy 1920 - 1930?
the great depression 1929 - costs of defending empire became a great burden since industries lost out in international markets
new aggressive regimes emerged in europe and asia, posing a threat to empire and britain itself. imperial japan in asia, fascist italy in africa
rise of nationalsot independence movements, particularly in india made the need for military resources more urgent
faith in the league of nations - could provide security but by the mid 1930s it was clear that this was not the case
policy of appeasement - to allow the deployment of resources to other areas. this meant seeking to diffuse tensions with nazi germany and fascist italy by allowing them to get much of what they wanted in terms of territory, therefore enabling british forces to be strengthened against a possible attack
response to call to arms:
australia
had to become involved due to commitment to the mother country.
‘great britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, australia is also at war’
contributed almost 1 million men. 1939 - announced recruitment for military divisions at home and abroad and men rushed to enlist due to reasons such as social pressure.
13,000 australian men served in the raf, australian soldiers played a large part in north africa defending the empire’s interests and their ships were nicknamed the ‘scrap iron flotilla’.
australia was important for the british as its location meant it could deploy troops more easily to north africa and malaya
impact of war - forced theto look towards other trading partners like the usa. people seemed committed to empire as many enlisted and were eager to contribute to the war effort even though they had been severely impacted by ww1
response to call to arms:
canada
conscription - detested the idea of a second war.
german attack on poland in september 1939,
britain declaration of war, canada remained neutral.
substantial financial support was provided by canada to the uk and commonwealth dominions, in the form of over $4 billion in aid through the “billion dollar gift” and the war appropriation act
lack of enthusiasm for the war and its particular opposition to conscription were as evident as in the ww1 (voluntary enlistments in quebec amounted to only about 4% of the population, whereas elsewhere the figure was roughly 10%)
financial cost of the canadian war effort was astronomical. expenditure for the fiscal year 1939–40 was a modest $118,291,000. the next year it rose to $752,045,000; in the peak year, 1943–44, it was $4,587,023,000
royal canadian navy escorted 1/3 of north atlantic convoys that aided britain.
royal canadian air force supplied 73,000 air crew.
response to call to arms:
new zealand
around 140,000 men and women had served overseas in the 2nzef and the rest went to either the air force or the navy.
a further 100,000 had been put as home guard duty.
new zealand had given the empire around 30% of its national income for the war effort and around 50% during the urgent time of 1942-44
impact of war - a threat to britain was seen as a threat to new zealand and depended on the overall allied victory .felt association with britain in its time of crisis was natural and necessary. leading pacifist were arrested for speaking out against war. empire was still strong in new zealand
response to call to arms:
south africa
contributed around 334,000 volunteers as they didn’t have conscription.
majority of south africans supported going to war, and many afrikaners (77,000) non-white (46,000) and whites (211,000) enlisted
impact of war - postive impact on south africa’s heavy mining industry. many vehicles, gun boats, barges and arms came from south african factories. factories also contributed to the boots and blankets used in the war
response to call to arms:
india
became involved due to fear over japanese aggression.
committed 2.5 million more servicemen to active service combatant roles than in ww1.
war was declared by the viceroy on behalf of india.
contributed industrial resources building weapons
impact of war:
- the muslim league supported the british war effort while the largest and most influential political party existing in india, the inc demanded independence before it would help britian. london refused, and when congress announced a ‘quit india’ campaign in august 1942, it’s leaders were imprisoned by the british for the duration.
- meanwhile, under the leadership of subhas chandra bose and several other indian revolutionaries who were seeking independence from the british, japan set up an army of india prisoners of war known as the indian national party
response to call to arms:
south asia
sweated behind the scenes to secure supply lines and to support
the allies.
there were non combatants like cooks, tailors, mechanics and washermen.
thousands of asian labourers died building treacherous roads at high altitude. they did not share the same prestige of fighter-pilots
impact of war - elite south asians made their own profits in the war and transformed their own fortunes. the illiterate left little trace of their service and did not see it as belonging to a heroic part of world history.
fall of singapore
britain’s main military base
the japanese seized hong kong, overran malaya and burma and by the summer of 1942 seemed poised to attack india itself - narrowly averted in 1944
30,000 indian troops that had been captured in singapore joined the ina which aimed to rid india and asia of the british. fought against the british in burma
destroyed the idea of white invincibility
factors which weakened empire in ww2
usa dominance economically and politcally. atlantic charter - choose form of government
promises made in india in 1942 - cripps failed to get india to agree to full dominion status after the war. churchill would let indians appoint their own ministers. creation of pakistan agreed
british economic position in 1945. usa demanded repayment of all war deb, creation of nhs and lost war reconstruction was prioritised by the labour government
loss of india 1947
august 1942 - ghandi and other congress leaders launched a quit india campaign, calling for the british to leave india entirely
if britain tried to keep india, there would be widespread violence which would stretch military resources to the limit
the activities of the ina and the strength of pro independence feeling meant that the indian army might not be reliable and british troops would have to be deployed
india was no longer the great market for cotton it once had been, so holding onto it would outstrip any economic benefits
labour government concluded it was no longer feasible or desirable to keep india
lord mountbatten decided india would be partitioned. independence for pakistan and india by 15th august 1947
loss of burma 1948
the afo had initially supported the japanese against the british during the war. however, they belatedly came to accept that an allied victory would be more likely to win burmese independence and switched sides
the restoration of the british governor dormansmith who believed physical reconstruction of burma should precede any political change, turned the afo into a resistance force, under the anti fascist people’s freedom league
september 1945 - mountbatten recognised the strength of support and agreed that the burma national army would be incorporated into a new army for the country
september 1946 - mounting civil disobedience and the increasing ungovernability of the country prompted the replacement of dorman smith with sir hubert rance
independent in 1948
loss of palestine 1948
the holocaust led to a massive increase in jews wanting to migrate to palestine. by 1945, arab jewish relations were deteriorating so rapidly that the british were keen to limit the scale of immigration into palestine
two major problems for britain:
- president truman and the weight of american and internaitonal opinion favoured jewish settlement in palestine because of the ways they had been treated by the nazis. however, while britain needed american economic aid and international support, it also wanted to retain arab alliances to access oil
- there were outbreaks of jewish terrorism inside palestine against the british. britain faced the prospect of having to police a country in violent turmoil at a time when their resources were stretched to the limit
three possible solutions:
- a unitary state - favoured by the arabs who wanted to be able to dominate, unacceptable to jewish leadership
- provincial autonomy - in which palestine would be divided into smaller provincial areas, each with a measure of self control but led by a nationally elected government, jews rejected
- the partition of palestine into separate jewish and arab states, this was the only solution the jews would support but was not acceptable to the arabs
the united nations favoured the partition largely because of pressure from the usa
september 1947 - britain decided they would withdraw from palestine by may 1948
