Relations with indigenous peoples (18) Flashcards
Conflict in Ireland leading to independence
Threat of Civil War between Protestants in the six northern counties and the Catholic majority
Home Rule Bill of 1912/13 was weakening
March 1914, British soldiers at Curragh mutinied, refusing to take action to enforce Home Rule on the hostile north.
Also had conflict between the ‘Ulster Volunteers’ in the North and the ‘National Volunteers’ in the South.
Deaths and casualties in July 1914
Home Rule had to be suspended during the war
Southern pro-independence group, Sinn Fein organised the Easter Rising riot in Dublin, 1916
Sinn Fein won a majority of seats in the 1918 election
Declared independent Ireland and the Irish Republican Army began a guerrilla war against the British
Britain reinforced the Royal Irish Constabulary with the ‘Black and Tans’
Conflict Ended in 1921 with the Anglo–Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State as a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire
Ireland post-independence
The Six Northern Counties used their legal right to ‘opt out’
A further Irish civil war occurred because Eamon de Valera of the South refused to sign the treaty, ended in 1923 with a defeat of Valera and the Republicans
Southern Ireland given ‘Canadian Dominion’ Status and then given full independence in the 1931 Statute of Westminster
Valera was not satisfied and refused to attend the Imperial Conference of 1937 and drew up a new constitution - creating Eire
Was neutral in the Second World War
In 1948 separated itself entirely from the rest of Britain in the Republic of Ireland Act.
The Amritsar Massacre
The 1919 Government of India Act failed to satisfy the nationalist demands for independence
Fear of further uprisings led to the recommendation of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts - political cases to be tried without juries and imprisonment without trial - period of extreme tension in the Punjab region
The Amritsar Crisis came about because of the Rowlett Act that had imposed martial law. There could be no more than a gathering of 5 people meeting in public.
In Amritsar 20,000 people gathered, despite General Dyer’s warning that he would uphold the law.
1919 Amristsar Massacre in the Punjab - rioting had brought British deaths - British Army Troops led by Dyer then fired on the crowd for 10 minutes continuously killing 379 an injuring 1200
The Indian National Congress responded saying that the British no longer possessed any moral authority to rule and Gandhi started his Non-Co-Operation Movement of 1920-22
Further Indian Conflict
Chauri Chaura incident of 1922, Non-Cooperation Movement protestors were violent towards the police who then opened fire, the demonstrators then set fire to a police station - 3 civilians dead and 23 policemen killed
Emergence of the Muslim League in the 1930s brought increasingly militant conflict as they did not agree with Gandhi’s peaceful non-cooperation
Massive sweep of violence after the Second World War - the offer of Dominion Status put forward by Stafford Cripps in 1942 was rejected and Hindus and Muslims fought for ascendancy
India was given independence in 1947
400,000 then died during the conflict that had led to the partition
The Quit India Movement
1942 - the All-India Congress called for a wide scale civil disobedience, calling for an ‘orderly British withdrawal from India.
The British, backed by the All Muslim League, the Princely States and many business men arrested nearly the entire INC leadership until 1945
The Campaign failed
Conflict in Egypt
Egypt - countrywide uprising by Egyptians and Sudanese against the British occupation in 1919 when the British exiled the nationalist leader, Saad Zaghlul and other members of his party - civil disobedience - rioting - demonstrations - strikes - encompassed all classes regions and genders
Attacks on British military bases, civilian facilities and personnel, in which Egyptian villages were burnt and railways destroyed. At least 800 Egyptians killed and 1,600 wounded - Britain accepted the ‘Milner’ Report and granted Egypt Independence in 1922, Britain failed to recognise full Egyptian Soverignty over Sudan, or to withdraw its forces, even after a further treaty in 1936 British troops remained in the Suez area
Conflict in Palestine
Increased Jewish-Arab disputes as more Jews fled to escape Nazism and then created the Haganah to protect themselves
More militant Jewish nationalists formed the Stern Gang, which waged open war on both the British and Arabs. By 1945 there was open conflict between the two and the British could not control the situation.
In 1947 the British departed from Palestine.
Evidence for pride in Colonial Identity
The Coronation of George VI in 1937 was widely celebrated and covered by 23 hours of continuous broadcasting in Canada.
Empire day brought thousands to celebrate on the streets and all over the globe.
Indian Nationalism
The Indian Congress Movement grew in popularity in response to Britain’s failure to offer the Indians a satisfactory constitutional arrangement in 1918 - Gandhi took control in 1915 who moved it toward civil disobedience and peaceful protest, for example boycotting elections in the 1920s.
Nehru also became a nationalist leader, who disagreed with Gandhi on the future of India but allied with him for independence and was imprisoned twice, supported the 1942 Quit India Campaign became the first Prime Minister in 1947 with full independence.
Gandhi had an opponent with the untouchables as he refused to completely reject the caste system
Subhas Bose allied himself with Japan and Germany in 1943 and formed the Indian National Army
The All Muslim League, originally formed in 1906, became increasingly popular under Jinnah’s leadership and opposed Gandhi and a Hindu Majority and after 1940 favoured the idea of a separate Pakistan.
Irwin and Gandhi
First Round Table Conference 12th November 1930 - Gandhi not present - basic agreement to implement the Second Government of India Act but was meaningless without Gandhi
Viceroy Irwin therefore had personal negotiations with Gandhi and created the Gandhi-Irwin Pact March 1931 which stated that: the civil disobedience movement would be halted and Congress would participate in the second round table conference but Irwin had to concede that Political prisoners of non-violent acts would be released and political organisations unbanned and peaceful protest in favour of Indian goods allowed and all future reforms would be in favour of India
Irwin had given Gandhi symbolic and political power by doing this and thus was replaced by Lord Willingdon later in 1931
Reaction to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact
Lord Willingdon called it ‘weakness’
Churchill resigned his front bench post to campaign around Britain against Congress and formed the India Defense League with 50 Tory MPs
West African Nationalism
Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast already had limited power and minimal African representation in the Legislative councils by 1914
Prompted political activists to hold meeting in Accra to found the National Congress of West Africa in 1919
Dominated by educated elite from the Gold Coast and the black middle class European Educated
Few concessions were granted in the 1920s
The spread of education and the attempt to spread support for the empire by administrators with new work a new, young group of radical leaders emerged.
The West African Students Union formed in 1925 brought together London educated West Africans and increasing nationalism in India inspired radicalism. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah from the Gold Coast were among them. WW2 accelerated these trends and in 1945 a Pan African Congress was convened in Manchester, calling for ‘autonomy and independence of black Africans’
East African Nationalism
Harry Thuku was the key individual in nationalism in East Africa - initially formed the Young Kikuyu, a non-militatant group setup to recover Kikuyu lands that had been lost when Kenya became a crown colony in 1920.
Formed the East African Association in 1921
Jomo Kenyatta joined in 1922
WW2 had a radicalising effect on the group and Thuku helped establish the Kenya Africa Study Union, became the Kenya African Union in 1946
1947 - Jomo Kenyatta became the president and played a significant role in decolonisation
Pre-Ireland relations?
William Gladstone - Home Rule Bills in 1886 and 1893 failed in Parliament
Gladstone had based his 1886 Bill on the model of Canadian and Australian internal self-government - after Canada was given Home Rule in 1867 the two countries seemed to become closer than ever before.
Joseph Chamberlain felt that the whole Empire would collapse if Ireland was given Home Rule - switched his allegiance from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives.
Home Rule MPs managed to extort a 3rd Home Rule Bill from Herbert Asquith’s Liberal Government in 1914 - Bill was passed because Irish MPs were able to sway the majority - the outbreak of WWI postponed its implementation.
Easter Rising?
In 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a radical nationalist group, seized the Dublin general post office and declared Ireland an independent republic.
British troops and artillery battered them into submission while the general population stood by and watched.
Afterwards more and more Irish Catholics came to admire the Dublin uprising and came to support independence
560 prisoners were released and they were the men who became the leaders of the Irish War of Independence (e.g. Michael Collins)
