Impacts of the Boer War (1)

Question 1

Despite reforms to extend the franchise what remained an issue within parliament?

Answer 1

• Only 60% of adult males had the vote, women could not
• House of Lords had considerable power, the House of Commons was also drawn from a similar constituency
• More than half of British MP’s came from aristocratic and landed backgrounds and this class dominated ministerial posts regardless of what party was in power

Question 2

What was the two main political parties in 1899? What about Ireland?

Answer 2

• The Liberals
• Conservative - Unionists
• In Ireland Catholics elected Nationalist MP’s who demanded Home Rule

Question 3

What issue divided the two main parties?

Answer 3

• Issue of Irish Home Rule
• 1886 Gladstone committed the Liberal Party to establishing an Irish Parliament which conservatives opposed
• Gladstone was unable to carry out the Home Rule Bill as a 1/3 of the Liberal Party opposed this and joined an electoral alliance with the conservatives

Question 4

Why did many Britons feel a sense of pride about their empire?

Answer 4

• Regarded the whites as superior over the non whites and Britons felt a sense of pride over the imperial ‘race’
• They did not believe in superiority as much on ‘race’ but more on ‘mission’ where they believes British rule helped the quality of life of lower races

Question 5

Did most MP’s and Britons support the war?

Answer 5

• Most MP’s and Britons did support the war, they felt a strong sense of patriotism about the empire

Question 6

How was the press more accessible to the public during the Boer war?

Answer 6

• 1890’s people could afford to by daily newspapers due to costs falling due to advertising revenue
• 150 daily papers catered by a plethora of weekly and monthly papers
• The press became a mass medium for politicians to put their views to the people and for people to keep themselves informed

Question 7

Who launched the daily mail and how much did he sell it for, how many were in circulation?

Answer 7

• Launched by Alfred Harmsworth in 1896, selling it for a halfpenny
• By 1900 the Mail had built up a circulation of nearly a million and more than its rivals
• The daily mail was imperialist, acting as the voice of the empire and devoted huge space to imperial topics

Question 8

How did the daily mail affect other papers? (2 ways)

Answer 8

• Other papers had to drop their prices to stay competitive
• News papers appeared in imitation of the daily mail, perpetuating the same imperial views

Question 9

Who were two popular Boer war correspondents who were sent out to the front lines to report?

Answer 9

• George Stevens of the Daily Mail
• Winston Churchill of the Morning Post who used his experiences for his later political career
• They were considered ‘stars’ and exercise huge amounts of political influence, they controlled and disseminated military reputation

Question 10

How did General Buller, Roberts and Baden-Powell feel about the Press?

Answer 10

• Buller hated the press, heavy-handed censorship cost him, he was widely depicted as a blundering buffoon
• Roberts buttered up correspondents and kept them away from poor conditions, e.g the typhoid epidemic
• Baden-Powell manipulated the press, exploits at Mafeking became magnified in the publics imagination due to newspaper coverage

Question 11

What is the cheap camera used during the Boer War and what effect did this have?

Answer 11

• The cheap brownie camera
• War was vividly captures through photographs
• Troops and Journalists now had access to cartridge films used in the Pocket and Bullet Kodaks of 1896 to use in the cameras

Question 12

What invention in 1895 also transformed coverage of the Boer War?

Answer 12

• The bioscope
• Allowed audiences to see moving pictures from Southern Africa
• This gave the war more immediacy, despite the ‘staged’ images shown

Question 13

How did the Commercial World exploit the Boer War?

Answer 13

• They used soldiers to advertise every kind of product in the late 19th century
• E.g soldiers on an advert for Bovril

Question 14

What labour leader promoted ‘khaki fever’ and what was this?

Answer 14

• John Burns, ‘khaki clad, khaki mad and khaki bad’, khaki fever 1899-1900 raged through Britain

Question 15

What are some examples of Khaki Fever?

Answer 15

• Half a million cheered off the First Army Corps as they left Southampton
• Men rushed to volunteer for the army
• Hysterical fervour greeted the news of Mafeking and Ladysmith being relieved
• Pro-Boers who tried to have public meetings were treated badly, Lloyd George had to be snuck out of Birmingham after a man was killed

Question 16

What examples did Historian JR Seeley give as to why some people did not like the Empire and Imperialism?

Answer 16

• Some thought it exposed them to ‘wars and quarrels in every part of the globe’
• Some thought imperial ambitions and expense was to distract from domestic issues
• Empire exploited native races and were greedy for overseas expansion
• Imperial issues caused problems between Liberal Imperialists and Radical Liberals

Question 17

How did Lloyd George lay a case of opposition to the Boer war?

Answer 17

• Argued that the war was a crime and a blunder, driven by irresponsible capitalists
• It was attacking an enemy who lived a simple pastoral life, devoted to family and farm

Question 18

Did the Church oppose the war?

Answer 18

• No, Anglican and Methodist clergyman supported the war
• 1900 organising committee of the national council of free churches banned war discussions
• apart from a few Quakers, no religious institution denounced the war

Question 19

Why did the TUC remain neutral despite labour opposing the war?

Answer 19

• The questions of foreign policy and imperial defence was out of TUC territory
• They did not want to cause problems with trade unionists who joined the war

Question 20

What two parties stood by their anti-war case and why?

Answer 20

• The Independent Labour Party (ILP)
• Social Democratic Federation (SDF)
• They believed it was a capitalist war,

Question 21

Why did many liberals not join the ILP and SDF in their anti-war views?

Answer 21

• Other Labour leaders announced that in national emergency they were supporting Britain first
• No one spoke out during the construction of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) to bring together socialist groups and TU’s

Question 22

Who were the biggest opponents against the Boer War?

Answer 22

Irish Nationalists who empathised with Boers as victims of Imperial aggression

Question 23

When was the ‘Khaki Elections’? What did Chamberlain have to say about this?

Answer 23

• Sep 1900 when Salisbury called a general election
• Chamberlain said every vote against the government is a vote to the Boers

Question 24

What was the result of the ‘Khaki Elections’ and what do Historians think about the results?

Answer 24

• Conservative Unionists returned with a majority of 134
• Historians believe the war took second priority in some places and that the results show Liberal disorganisation than support for war
• Liberals lacked funding as a lot of their investors cut their funding after their anti-imperialist comments

Question 25

When did Salisbury step down as PM and who took over?

Answer 25

• 1902
• His nephew Balfour took over who was previously Leader of Commons