Roles Of Individuals At The Start Of C.20 Towards Empire In Britain

Question 1

How devoted was Joseph Chamberlain to the empire?

Answer 1

‘Man with a mission’ - most committed colonial secretary of the Victorian era

Question 2

How was it clear that Chamberlain really wanted to be colonial secretary?

Answer 2

Turned down roles of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary in 1895

Question 3

How did Britain generally feel towards the empire?

Answer 3

That it was their ‘duty’ to spread the empire to get ‘alien cultures’ to do things in a British way

Question 4

What was Chamberlain’s beliefs about the British Empire?

Answer 4

. An effective use of the empire could sustain British prosperity and prestige as he acknowledged Germany’s growing threat to British dominance
. Believed in a reorganised empire to be more central to Britain rather than expanding too much
. Believed imperial bonds needed reinforcing for the Empire to be preserved if Britain wanted to stay as a world power

Question 5

How did Chamberlain influence attitudes to the empire?

Answer 5

. 1897+1902: held two colonial conferences after failure to get a colonial council in 1887 to agree on an imperial council/parliament to work for the Empire. These conferences only involved self-governing colonies and they rejected his ideas

. Promoted government investment in less profitable areas of the empire:
- promoted tropical trade (with US etc. to get more money for Britain)
- believed in an imperial duty: ‘British race is the greatest of the governing races.’

Question 6

How did Cecil Rhodes’ role change in 1890?

Answer 6

Went from a trader to the PM of the cape colony

Question 7

What were the roots of Rhodes’ imperial drive?

Answer 7

A belief that British civilisation and control were needed to better the world

Question 8

What report scheme did Rhodes control?

Answer 8

Cape newspapers

Question 9

What was Rhodes message to people at home and abroad?

Answer 9

It was both the right and duty of Anglo-Saxons to dominate Africa and beyond

Question 10

What were Rhodes hopes in Africa and what were these hopes inspired by?

Answer 10

To establish British rule from the North to South of Africa, linking Cape to Sudan and Egypt. Inspired by his social Darwinist view that the ‘more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.’

Question 11

How did Rhodes take action on his plans in Africa?

Answer 11

1890 - sent settlers and BSAC troops to establish Fort Salisbury in the Ndebele territory, expanding into territories that became known as Rhodesia after 1899

Question 12

How did Rhodes plan on outflanking the Transvaal and Germans in a rush to central Africa and how did this fail?

Answer 12

Was going to create a railway line from Cape through Bechuanaland and wanted to extend it along the mountains to get to the Nile = complete dominance of east-central Africa

1891 - German occupation of East Africa blocked this dream of a Cape to Cairo route

Question 13

When did Rhodes resign from PM and when did he die?

Answer 13

1896 after the Jameson Raid, died in 1902

Question 14

How did Rhodes’ life impact attitudes to the empire?

Answer 14

. Made a great fortune out of the empire
. His funds after his death were used to help the empire, such as the publicity work of the Round Table (imperial pressure group)

Question 15

What were Alfred Milner’s roles in his life?

Answer 15

1889-1892: served in Egypt as administrator
1892-1897: chairman of the Board Of Inland Revenue
1897 onwards: picked by Chamberlain to be Britain’s High Commissioner for South Africa

Question 16

What was Milner’s main belief?

Answer 16

British superiority over Africans and Boers and a need for British regional supremacy

Question 17

When was Kruger re-elected as president of the Transvaal?

Answer 17

February 1898

Question 18

What was Milner’s approach to solving the situation in the Transvaal?

Answer 18

‘Reform in the Transvaal’ or ‘war’ was the only way out of the ‘political troubles’ in SA - brutal views

Question 19

What is Milner mainly known for and what did he do?

Answer 19

Mainly known for leading Britain into the 2nd Boer War:
. Demanded full citizenship rights for Uitlanders after 5 years residence and resorted to force after the Bloemfontein Conference

Question 20

What were Milner’s other notable achievements for the empire?

Answer 20

. Founded English-speaking ‘Milner schools’ In Pretoria and Johannesburg
. Milner and Kitchener negotiated the Peace of Vereeniging and was made a viscount in 1902 for his services in the Boer War
. Made ‘Milner’s kindergarten’ after the Boer War to resettle the Boers and promote economic growth, especially in the gold mining industry

Question 21

How did Milner’s role change in 1901?

Answer 21

Left post as Governor of Cape and administered over the newly annexed OFS and Transvaal

Question 22

What is a viscount?

Answer 22

British nobleman ranking above a baron and below an earl.

Question 23

What were Milner’s hopes in Boer territories?

Answer 23

Hoped to attract British settlers to former Boer territories and introduced a vigorous English language education programme there

Question 24

What was the problem with Milner’s hope of attracting British settlers to Former Boer territories?

Answer 24

More British residents left than arrived to these territories in the depression in south Africa that followed the 2nd Boer War

Question 25

How did Milner make up for the lack of British settlers in former Boer territories?

Answer 25

Used Chinese labourers (‘coolies’) on 3-year contracts to make up for a lack of workers in the gold-mining industry

Question 26

When did Milner’s first group of ‘coolies’ reach the Rand?

Answer 26

June 1904

Question 27

Why were the use of ‘coolies’ very controversial?

Answer 27

. Often flogged and racially abused by white mine managers

Question 28

How was the controversy of coolies reacted to back in Britain?

Answer 28

. Investigation by British press
. Questions in parliament arose on whether the conditions were under the ‘knowledge and approval’ of Milner

March 1906: move to censure (formally disapprove) Milner’s use of coolies but this produced a counter-campaign by Bartle Frere who appreciated the services of Milner in Africa.

Question 29

How did Milner’s mistreatment of ‘coolies’ affect politics?

Answer 29

Contributed to the conservatives election loss in 1906 as the Liberal government rejected Milner’s plans for the future of the Transvaal

Question 30

What is Orientalism?

Answer 30

The way in which Western European societies perceived societies in N. Africa and Asia, particularly those that had been colonised

Question 31

Who was Edward Said and what did he do?

Answer 31

Cultural theorist that published Orientalism in 1978

Question 32

What does Said’s book say on Orientalism?

Answer 32

Often Western ‘knowledge’ of the East was based off of stereotypes that saw all ‘Eastern societies’ as similar and different to ‘Western’ ones

Question 33

What are 3 typical stereotypes of ‘Oriental societies’?

Answer 33

. Static rather than progressing
. Superstitions rather than rational
. Sensual rather than civilised

Question 34

Who’s books clearly represent orientalist ways of thinking?

Answer 34

Baring’s books on Egypt

Question 35

What period of time is defined as ‘peak imperialism’?

Answer 35

1890-1914

Question 36

When did Chamberlain resign as colonial secretary and why?

Answer 36

1903 due to the dragging on of the Boer war considering his hostile attitudes towards SA

Question 37

How did Chamberlain fight back after being passed as prime minister by Balfour in 1903?

Answer 37

He conducted a campaign of tariff reform to try and convince the British public of the need for duties on all foreign goods to give colonies imperial preference and access to duty-free British market

Question 38

What did Chamberlain’s tariff reform league do?

Answer 38

Organised the distribution of large numbers of leaflets and played his recorded messages to crowded public meetings on a gramophone

Question 39

How did Chamberlain’s campaign for a reorganised empire based on imperial preference fare with the conservatives?

Answer 39

They never fully agreed and so the party became split and Balfour resigned

Question 40

How did Chamberlain fail in his aims by the 1906 election?

Answer 40

The public feared the cost of living rising and weren’t convinced that Chamberlain’s reorganised empire would save them from this, even though he claimed a reorganised empire would reduce unemployment
Liberals won largest landslide since 1830s

Question 41

What was Chamberlain’s confusing political view?

Answer 41

He was a radical liberal, then a liberal unionist opposing Irish home rule and then an imperialist working in coalition with the conservatives, ending up splitting it