Grade 9 essay- Imperialism For and Against

Example 1:

“What you leave behind is not what
 is engraved in stone monuments,
 but what is woven into the lives of others.” A quote from Pericles, a man exclaiming that imperialism is not something, which can be completely lost or erased within us, but that it changes countries for all eternity. Take the British Imperialism for an example. They managed to expand their culture; ‘Christianity’ through imperialism, which still is a common religion today. The question remains whether the invaded countries favoured this change? And how many losses did the invaded country go through in order for the British to get their way? From this, society can conclude that imperialism has positive and negative effects. The negative effects outweigh the positive effects more often than not. This essay will explain, and prove that the negative effects of imperialism out shadow the positive effects.

“Imperialism is a situation in which one country has a lot of power or influence over others, especially in political and economic matters”. This definition of Imperialism from Cambridge categorizes the impacts of Imperialism. One category; Political includes the improvement of political concepts such as constitution and democracy as well as abolishing religious inequalities in the smaller countries governments. Education and health systems may also change and the country taking over gains power. Professor Peter Marshall at King’s College wrote, in his books, that when the British came to India, the racist Mughal government was replaced by a variety of regional states. Through this the strong hierarchy in India was erased and the caste system was reduced. This is reliable due to Professor Marshall’s education in history. On the other side Imperialism caused many political injustices. Before the governments were improved, it was common that wars spread out through the imperialism-impacted area. The smaller countries governments were also stripped off their pride and weren’t allowed to have a say in the new government, as well as the education changed and the abusing of human rights. The more powerful country would use military operations to over win the smaller country. David Diop, a poet who neglected Imperialism, and fought for Africa’s independence exclaimed, in the Documentary “The white men”, the murder of many innocent souls. David Diop was referring to the wars against colonialism, especially against the German invaders. Temple University provided an article with a primary source from the leading general Witbooi, about Witbooi’s rebellion against the Germans, and his death in 1905. After the General’s death, the Nama and Herero rebellions were lead into an extermination war, where the Germans starved, and killed the rebellions through concentration camps. Due to the primary sources used in this text it is a reliable source. From the previous information a conclusion can be met that imperialism does have positive and negative outcomes. Nevertheless the negative outcomes are to harsh to let the positive outcomes benefit the effected country.

Imperialism can also result in experiences and situations, which may influence individuals or larger group of people’s personalities, lifestyles (traditions, cultures) and attitudes to certain topics, also known as the social effects. One can split these effects into the pros and cons groups. The pros include an improvement in sanitation and health (vaccines), abolishment of religious in equalities (caste system) and new modernised cultures. The improvements in sanitation and health mostly came from the new modernised technology the more powerful country brought into the less powerful country. China can resemble this positive change, as they gave up their way of life in order to obtain a better education, and a better lifestyle, provided by the British. This information comes from a source showing both the British and Chinese side to the imperialism, making the information non-bias. Yet the social change in many countries through Imperialism became to be disastrous. Even the Chinese, who believed the British would provide them with a modernised style of life, realised that the change could not make up for the loss of their culture. Negative social effects include the culture loss, the bloodshed and how tribes, and ethnic groups were torn apart. When a foreign country overruled the invaded countries government the impacted community often suffered. They suffered as they were often treated as something less than a human being. The reliable educated letter by Oshafu Huawa Omur from the University of Maidugui explains the social impacts of Imperialism in Africa. When the British came with their new culture and language, as F.C Okoli exclaimed the African society split into two groups; the ones who have “effectively shaved themselves of all traces of ‘traditionalism’ bath in the white men’s cleansing pond” and the ones who “denied access to the white man’s world”. The British also caused communities to split apart due to their ‘divide and rule’ tactics. The British took every opportunity to convey the old traditions of the Africans as out-dated, even though the Africans were known for the strong culture, their value for human life and their extravagant festivals and ceremonies. Sexual harassment arose, spreading diseases; the Africans came to be disrespectful people not only to their elders, but also to themselves. In addition many empires broke apart after certain periods. These empires generally left the nation in utter chaos. Although imperialism modernized many countries, the cultures lost, and social injustice overshadows the ‘positive effects’.

From the social and political factors, Imperialism has in both of them ended with more cons than pros. Economical impacts or ‘the production, and management of material wealth, as of a country, household, or business enterprise’ appear similar to the political and social impacts, with a positive overview, but soon Imperialism presents itself on a negative side. Positive impacts include trade, markets and industries, transportation, and the introduction to new technology, cheap work labour and smarter diplomatic decisions. Roman is a valid example of positive economical imperialism, from a source taking information out of science-fictional movies based only upon roman imperialism. Through Rome’s expansion they introduced many aspects relating to trade. They used the grain system; they developed industries and agriculture due to the ‘cash crops’. In order for this trade to work Rome had to expand its borders, enslaving many populations, and making many countries dependent on Rome. Coming to the other side, there were also many negative economical impacts on the imperialised nations, . The critical, and important ones were the dependency weaker nations had on the large nations, the exploiting of raw materials as well as trade, the cheap labour and enslavement, and the loss of money through war. An example provided by the non-bias source refers to how the British came to China due to the Chinese tea, silk and porcelain china provided. They exploited china by introducing the barter system, where they traded opium (a wanted resource in India) for their wanted goods. Firstly opium was a drug increasing addiction; secondly the British bought their wanted goods for cheap prices, when the opium was traded at steep prices. Through this China did not only suffer from addiction, but war as well. The trade from Britain affected many other countries such as India. Who were forced to work under cheap labour with taxes. Although imperialism might have introduced many smaller countries to new technology and a chance to trade, and provided invading countries with cheap labour as well as a chance to exploit resources, the invaded did not profit to raise the positive changes over the negative. The invaded would suffer under exploitation, and when the invading had drained the land from all the raw material they left the smaller nation with nothing.

Now after observing, and learning about all the effects of imperialism had, one can be sure that it is true that the negative results did dominate the positive outcomes of Imperialism. It may be true that the British, the Americans, and all the other invaders had the opinion that the imperialism that they caused was be positive. This is a false believe. The British, the Americans and all the others were observing Imperialism from their profits. In the end many of these invaders may have profited, but many lives were lost, identities were lost through the struggle of imperialism. The overrun countries lost a lot more. In the beginning the quote: “What you leave behind is not what
 is engraved in stone monuments,
 but what is woven into the lives of others.” From Pericles, was stated. This statement may have been neutral in the start, but when Pericles states “but what is woven into the lives of others” what really is meant is the mischief, the cultural loss, the exploiting of slaves, the human rights violations, the bloodshed. The list is endless. With this, the proclamation relating to if negative effects really do out shadow the positive effects of imperialism can be supported and proofed to be correct. Therefore imperialism today wouldn’t be of any help as our world aims to improve itself not to fall down under negative impacts, not to cause something, in which countries suffer more than strive.

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and-how-did-it-get-to-the-philippines/ "Ancient Roman Economy." Ancient Roman Economy. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. http://www.unrv.com/economy.php BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml "Economic." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/economic "Engrade › Wikis › Imperialism in India › Control by the British East India Company." Imperialism in India. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. https://wikis.engrade.com/imperialisminindia/4 "Effects of The European Imperialism In Africa « Humanities II – World History." Humanities II World History Effects of The European Imperialism In Africa Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://world-history.nmhblogs.org/2012/11/11/effects-of-the-european-imperialism-in-africa/ "Guided History." Guided History British Imperialism in China Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/tao-he/ Mohan, Giles, and A. Zack-Williams. JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4006293?uid=2129 "Nationalism-Imperialism - Home." Nationalism-Imperialism - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://nationalism-imperialism.wikispaces.com/ "Negative Effects of Imperialism:." Period6-5Imperialism10. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://period6-5imperialism10.wikispaces.com/Negative Effects of Imperialism "Negatives-Robert Brown - Imperialism in India." Negatives-Robert Brown - Imperialism in India. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/indaandimperialism/effects-of-imperialism/negatives Prabhu, Arun. Buzzle.com. Buzzle.com, 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-imperialism.html Rajeev, Loveleena. Buzzle.com. Buzzle.com, 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-imperialism.html "The Roman Empire." The Roman Empire. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_empire.htm "What Were the Negative and Positive Effects of Imperialism on China? ." What Were the Negative and Positive Effects of Imperialism on China? N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. http://sawaal.ibibo.com/lucknow/what-were-negative-positive-effects-imperialism-on-china-502092.html

Example 2:

“We could not leave them to themselves - they were unfit for self-government - and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was ... there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them. “ stated the U.S. President William McKinley in 1899 on the Filipinos. According to the Oxford Dictionaries (The world’s most trusted dictionaries) imperialism is ‘a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means’. Imperialism, as everything in this world is neither good nor bad but a blend of both and one may be stronger depending on whom you ask. This essay will be discussing the positive and negative aspects of imperialism using empires of the past and present to explore this topic.

Imperialism's purposes factors are only to the advantage of the ‘mother-nation’ and are predominantly economical or nationalistic. 1 Raw materials (such as iron, copper, rubber and cotton)2, new markets and cheap labour or slavery were the driving points of economical imperialism and often a sense of nationalism and feelings of prestige caused ruthlessness in empires. By conquering counties the empires gained power, economic strength, prestige and protection male enslaved natives were often forced into the military. Notable was the English businessman, mining mogul and South- African politician, Cecil Rhodes3, who was a frim believer of British imperialism believed that the white man was worth more than any other. He once wrote "…it is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory... more territory means more of the Anglo-Saxon race more of the best the most human, most honourable race the world possesses." In 1890 Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape colony and e introduced the Glen Grey Act that pushed Africans of their land so there was space for industrial expansion.4 Slavery and trade became large economic interests of the British Empire. They travelled along the west coast of Africa and enslaved millions of Africans. Britain supplied slaves to European colonies in the Americas. The trade of goods such as tea, textiles, spices and opium from India and China and the trade of slaves proved very lucrative for the Empire and cities throughout Britain grew rich. 5The facts above are all positive for the ‘mother-nations’ however they negatively impacted the nations and their people. In 1850 for example, India’s debt to England was 53 million pounds and from 1850 to 1900 the per capita income of an Indian had dropped by two-thirds. Just 40 years earlier India had been exporting more to Britain that Britain to India. The British then set up extortionate tariff barriers started positioning their products in India with the support of the military. 6 The acquired nations of empires didn’t only suffer; empires helped shape todays countries into what they are and without them many would be in poor conditions.

Nonetheless, imperialism has had  positive  effects  on  today’s  world.  All ‘mother-nations’ gave aid small colonies by building infrastructures and introducing the countries to benefits of their civilizations. The Roman Empire changed the world completely and positive traces are seen throughout the former empire. The Romans built 400.000 kilometres of roads, of which 80,500 kilometres were paved. 7Buildings that still stand today (Coliseums) and aqueducts such as the antique Proserpina dam in Spain are still in use today. 8It took the British in India 10 years to pacify the country and to establish a rule of order and justice. Education systems were improved, a civil service was organised, military training was modernised. After the British left in 1947, India itself improved the TB Macaulay"s education system and added universities. 9 Former ports of imperialistic powers such as Hong Kong or Singapore are amongst the wealthiest cities/countries in the world. According to the CIA World Fact Book both have higher GDP (Gross Domestic Product) than the UK or the USA in 2011. Canada, Australia and the USA are also amongst the wealthiest countries and the economically fastest growing countries are India and China, which have both suffered from imperial control. 10

The railway system of India was organised and built by the brutish. Entire cultures and ideas were spread. According to the BBC news article ‘Did the Romans invent Christmas?’ The romans farmers’ festival Saturnalia heavily influenced what we today celebrate as Christmas. 11Of course not all long lasting effects of empires are positive and imperialistic nations often leave countries in ruins. Unfortunately even while an imperialistic power resides in a country the idea of improving and sustaining a healthy place for social growth is often forgotten on the way to economic power. Many countries that used to be great pieces of empires are now shadows of themselves, left completely in ruins. Finally the topic effects both positively and negatively in contrast shall be discussed and if empires are our way to the future. An imperial power changes a countries government and affairs. Imperialism, compared to the structure of different tribes in an area is very organised however this organisation, in benefit for the imperialistic power doesn’t necessarily positively impact the conquered population as they must learn to live in a completely new manner and through all old rules and regulations overboard. Nevertheless, some imperialistic powers such as the British ruled through intermediaries and collaborators in India. In the 1890s there were less than 1000 British administrators supervising 300 million Indians. 12 This meant that a foreigner didn’t govern the general public however these collaborators often looked down on their subjects and in effect, weren’t kinder than the British. Most former colonies were left in terrible positions. After the Indonesian national Revolution, Indonesia was free from the Dutch Empire however shortages of almost everything were common and it was economically and politically weak. Decades later former colonies are still rebuilding themselves. 13

Socially the population of imperialistic states were taught from a young age that nationalism and imperialism go hand in hand. A nursery rhyme book ‘An ABC for baby patriots’ by Mary Francis Ames has a line ‘ C is for colonies, rightly we boast, that of all great nations, Great Britain has the most.’ 12Social aspects of imperialism have log lasting effects. The beliefs, cultures and lifestyles of a country are shaken when they are taken over. Century old ideas are replaced by the imperial beliefs and customs. Everything has to be improved and made more ‘civilised’. Hate is fuelled in both parties by this refusal of ideas and customs and when a country is ‘free’ of the imperial power again, its people are separated. Those who followed the old ways and those who took the new. Racial hate and segregation is invited and countries don’t know how to help themselves. Even today so many former colonies are poor, with inhuman living conditions and so unsafe that everyone disappears into a house at dusk. These countries are still licking their wounds and trying to cope with the scars of the years past.

“We could not leave them to themselves - they were unfit for self-government - and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was ... there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them. “ stated the U.S. President William McKinley. Is this really true? When a country needs aid, needs support then helping them is what is right to do, however stating that a country, with its own history and culture needs to be educated, civilised and Christianised by another shows that the imperial power only sees the benefits. "I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land." Mark Twain, an American author once said. A country should be willing to help another country, not take it over, to expand its own land forces. The ‘eagle’ should land gently and help carry the burden not increase it.

After researching positive and negative effects of imperialism to this world, and the overshadowing amount of suffering that blokes out all shades of glory, one must come to the conclusion that while empires have shaped today’s and tomorrows world for better and for worse, we mustn’t let new empires shape it more. Empires, today with the sheer amount of weaponry and military intelligence exists would do more damage than one can fathom. The sources used in this essay are predominantly reliable. They were written by historians, authors of encyclopaedia articles, amateur historians, scholarly institutes, CIA fact book authors, and political analysers. The sources that were the least reliable were the ones by amateur historians because they haven’t had a higher education on the topic. 

Bibliography :

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Anonymous, . "Roman aqueducts ." http://www.romanaqueducts.info. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . Anonymous. "Singapore ." CIA World Factbook . Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . Anonymous , . "Slavery in South Africa." http://www.sahistory.org.za. Web. 23 Nov. 2013 . . Anonymous , . "The slave trade - a historical background." http://www.bl.uk. Web. 23 Nov. 2013 . . Cartwright, Mark. "Aqueduct." http://www.ancient.eu.com. 1 Sept. 2012 . Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . Clearly , Vern . "Conclusion: The Legacy of Imperialism." http://webs.bcp.org. Web. 25 Nov. 2013 . . Conciatori , Tess, Jordan Maia, and Quinn O'Malley . "Cecil Rhodes: the Scramble for Africa ." Web. 20 Nov. 2013 . . Imperialism: Crash Course World History #35 . Dir. John Green/Stan Muller . Perf. John Green . 20 Sept. 2012 . www.youtube.com . Web. 25 Nov. 2013 . . Lazar, Daniel A. "Quotes on imperialism." www.daniellazar.com . Web. 25 Nov. 2013 .

Lutwyche, Jayne . "Did the Romans invent Christmas?" BBC Religion and Ethics. 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013 . . Parenti, Michael . "Imperialism 101." http://www.michaelparenti.org. Web. 25 Nov. 2013 . . Sherwood, Marika . "Britain, slavery and the trade in enslaved Africans." http://www.history.ac.uk/. Web. 23 Nov. 2013 . . Stephen . "The British Empire ." http://www.britishempire.co.uk/. Web. 25 Nov. 2013 . . Sud , Hari . "Good Things, the British Left Behind in India." http://www.ivarta.com. Web. 25 Nov. 2013 .

Historical Background The British Empire The Greatest Empire The World Has Ever Known Upon Which The Sun Never Set To fully appreciate the significance of the Commonwealth, Britain s global position and the proposal for Commonwealth Union Confederation, it is important to understand its origins from the British Empire. The British Empire consisted of various territories all over the world conquered or colonized by Britain from about 1600. Most are now independent; the British Empire was at its largest at the end of World War I, consisting of over 25% of the world's population and area. The Commonwealth of today is composed of former and remaining territories of the British Empire. The British Empire lasted more than three and a half centuries - almost as long as the Roman Empire. By the time the British began colonizing overseas, the Portuguese and Spaniards had already divided a considerable part of the earth's land surface between them. The Empire grew comparatively quickly, initially with acquisitions in North America and India, as well as some marginal settlement in Africa, in the 17th and 18th centuries. The 19th century saw the largest expansion of the Empire as the British took many former French possessions in the West Indies and began to settle in large numbers in Australia in the early part of the century and later competed fiercely with other European powers for territory in Africa. At the same time, there was serious expansion in Asia, notably the acquisition of Singapore (1824), Hong Kong (1841), and Burma (1886), and the South Pacific, particularly the settlement of New Zealand (1840). The final big expansion of the empire was following World War I, when former German and Turkish territories were mandated to Britain and the dominions. The only serious loss of territory was the loss of the 13 American colonies in the American Revolution of 1776 - 1783. The Empire was transformed gradually into the Commonwealth from the 1940s onward as one by one, former British colonies and protectorates gained independence but retained this last link with the Crown. Economic Factors Commercial interests, rather than territorial ambition, dictated the growth of the early Empire: England in the 16th century was a poor country, lacking the wealth of Portugal and Spain and so unlike the Spaniards and Portuguese, the English were neither missionaries nor colonists. When the English put to sea it was to seek immediate profits. This pattern began to change in the 17th century as the English realized the huge commercial potential of overseas acquisitions, starting with the lucrative exploitation of produce from the West Indies. The union of England with Scotland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 effectively created the largest free trade area then existing, just at the time that the new union's overseas possessions were expanding. 1 In North America, the Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic seaboard between French Canada and Spanish Florida were firmly established by 1733. The colonists had begun to plant cotton in the 17th century, and this plantation crop was grown on a very large scale by the late-18th century. This combined with a scattering of settlements in West Africa and the trade from the West Indies to create the `Triangular Trade': British ships took manufactured goods and spirits to West Africa to exchange them for slaves which they landed in the West Indies and the southernmost of the Thirteen Colonies. The ships then returned to Britain with cargoes of cotton, rum, sugar, and tobacco, produced mainly by the labour of the slaves. Britain's prosperity was bound up with the slave trade, until it became illegal in 1807, by which time the Empire had ceased to be dependent upon the slave trade as other forms of commerce had become more profitable and Britain was starting to emerge as the leading industrial nation, inevitably reducing the economic demand for slave labour. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Empire made Britain one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. Exploration to Colonization The early growth of the Empire was not laid down in any coordinated plan and it was held together and administered by whatever means seemed most expedient for a particular time and place. Pirates, traders, soldiers, explorers, financial speculators, missionaries, convicts, and refugees all played a part in creating the British Empire. Private individuals or companies often provided the initial impetus for the exploration and subsequent exploitation of foreign lands, frequently in the face of government reluctance, but, increasingly, British governments were drawn in to maintain them. One of the early pioneers of British settlement in North America was William Penn, who gave his name to Pennsylvania. The British ruling class developed a great interest in science during the 17th and 18th centuries and what started out as inquiry and exploration usually led to settlement and eventually colonization. Between 1768 and 1780, scientific naval expeditions commanded by Captain Cook explored the islands and coasts of the 2 Pacific Ocean all the way from the entrance to the Arctic to the then unknown coasts of New Zealand and Australia. However, the British government showed little interest in annexing these southern lands until the loss of the American colonies deprived it of a dumping ground for the convicts and debtors who had up until then been deported to North America. Perhaps the best-known example of private initiative leading the way was the East India Company. An important exception was in the West Indies, where many members of Parliament had commercial interests and so there was frequent government intervention. However, as the Empire grew, Britain became a rich and powerful nation and by the late 19th century British policy tended towards imperialism, annexing countries for reasons of national prestige rather than solely for commercial gain. Religious Missions British missionaries of all denominations took the Christian religion throughout the Empire. Although they made relatively little impression in places where advanced religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam dominated, even in those areas their converts numbered several millions. Their success was greater in the West Indies and in Africa south of the Sahara. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary, explored much of what is now Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Like several other intrepid explorers, such as Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, and Sir Samuel Baker, Livingstone explored the River Nile. His journeys also took him to the Zambezi River and to lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa (now Malawi). Following Livingstone's journeys, the Free Church of Scotland sent a mission to Nyasaland (now Malawi) in 1875, and the country became a British protectorate in 1891, a year after Bechuanaland (Botswana). Building the Empire The first successful British colony was Jamestown, Virginia, founded in 1607, although there was an earlier settlement at Newfoundland in 1583. The Empire was gradually built over the next two centuries as the British established colonies and trading posts in many parts of the world, as well as capturing them from other European empire builders. Settlements were made in Gambia and on the Gold Coast of Africa in 1618; in Bermuda in 1609 and other islands of the West Indies; Jamaica was taken from Spain in 1655; in Canada, Acadia (Nova Scotia) was secured from France by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which recognized Newfoundland and Hudson Bay (as well as Gibraltar in Europe) as British. New France (Quebec), Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island became British as a result of the Seven Years' War of 1756-63. West Indies The West Indies was a very attractive target for colonization due to the huge commercial possibilities of the region, mainly the rum and sugar produced there. Between 1623 and 1632, English settlers occupied St Kitts, Barbados, St Croix (later lost), Nevis, Antigua, and Montserrat. Cromwell's forces took Jamaica from the Spaniards in 1655, although it was not officially ceded until 1760, and the tiny Atlantic island of St Helena was annexed in 1673. Belize (British Honduras) was governed as part of Jamaica until 1884. North America Following the early settlement in Virginia, British colonies spread up and down the east coast of North America and by 1664, when the English secured New Amsterdam (New York) from the Dutch, there was a continuous fringe of colonies from the present South Carolina in the south to what is now New Hampshire. These colonies, and others formed later, had their own democratic institutions. A dispute regarding taxes, involving the American colonists, roused them to resistance, which came to a head in the 3 American Revolution of 1775-1781 and led to the creation of the United States of America from the thirteen English colonies. The Canadian colonies, however, remained loyal to Britain. Constitutional development in Canada started with an act of 1791 which set up Lower Canada (Quebec), mainly French-speaking, and Upper Canada (Ontario), mainly English-speaking. In the War of 1812, the U.S.A. tried unsuccessfully to annex Canada. However, in both the Canadas, there was sufficient discontent to lead to rebellion in 1837. After the suppression of these risings, Lord Durham was sent out to advise on the affairs of British North America; his report, published in 1839, became the basis for the future structure of the Empire. In accordance with his recommendations, the two Canadas were united in 1840 and given a representative legislative council: the beginning of colonial self- government. With the British North America Act of 1867, the self-governing dominion of Canada came into existence; to the original union of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were later added further territories until the federal government of the Dominion of Canada controlled all the northern part of the continent except Alaska, which belonged to the U.S.A. Newfoundland, a self- governing dominion through the 1920 s, was the last new province of Canada, joining the confederation in 1949. 4 5 6 South America South America is the one part of the world where British expansion was rather small. Only British Guiana, taken from the Dutch in 1803, and the Falkland Islands, annexed in 1833, were successfully added to the British Empire in this part of the world. Venezuela claimed a large part of western British Guiana, which it still claims today. Britain, at one time, did have plans for a much larger empire in South America. After the loss of the North American colonies, the British decided to expand into the Spanish Colonies of South America. In 1795, a Scot by the name of Nicholas Vansittart wrote a white paper clearly outlining a way to take South America away from Spain. The British Government initially approved the Vansittart plan but later cancelled it, in 1797. A Scottish Major General, Sir Thomas Maitland, a friend of Nicholas Vasinttart, revised the Vansittart plan in the early 1800's. The British Government approved this plan and it subsequently changed its name to the Maitland plan. The Maitland plan was put into effect during the Napoleonic War in 1806. Great Britain used the fact that Spain was now technically an ally of France as the excuse to start the war. Great Britain sent an expeditionary force of 1,600 men to invade Buenos Aires, in Argentina, under General William Carr. This attempt failed. A year later, an invasion army of 11,000 men arrived in Buenos Aires under the orders of General John Whitelocke. At the same time, a second fleet with 4,000 men captured Montivedeo and used the city as a staging post and communications centre. The Spanish colonial authorities in Buenos Aires were made to swear allegiance to the British Crown. The people of Buenos Aires single-handedly defeated this huge invasion force in hand-to-hand and street-by-street fighting. The planned extensive British Empire in South America was never established as most of the countries on the continent became independent in the early 19th Century. Many British people decided to settle in Argentina and the country now has a large British community of over 500,000 people, including a Welsh- speaking community in Patagonia at the continent's southern end. 7 India India was at the heart of the British Empire but it was initially controlled, not directly by the British government, but through the East India Company. This huge company, chartered in 1600, set up a number of factories, as their trading posts were called, and steadily increased its possessions and the territories over which it held treaty rights until its power extended from Aden in Arabia to Penang in Malaya, both vital ports of call for company vessels plying between Britain, India, and China. The East India Company was the most powerful private company in history, controlling India partly by direct rule and partly by a system of alliances with Indian princes, maintained by the Company's powerful army. The company's political power was ended by the Indian War Of Independence (referred to by the ruling British as the Indian Mutiny ) in 1857. Although this revolt was put down, it resulted in the Crown taking over the government of India in 1858; Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India on 1 Jan 1877. India then became known as the Indian Empire and the vice-regal representative was called a Viceroy. The British army fought two wars with Afghanistan (1839-41 and 1878-80) to protect India's northwest frontier and invaded Tibet in 1904. A protectorate existed in Afghanistan from 1880 to 1921. After several years of non-violent protest for home rule from Indian leaders, a semi-Dominion status with a federal parliament was given to India in 1935. 8 9 10 East Asia When the Netherlands came under French occupation (1793-1815) the East India Company took the opportunity to occupy parts of the East Indies, such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) annexed to the East India Company in 1796. When the British government took over from the company it also acquired the Straits Settlements and by 1914 all Malaya was under British control. Britain gained Hong Kong as a result of the Opium Wars (1839-42) and Kowloon was added to the colony after a second Opium War (1856-58). Burma (now Myanmar) became a province of British India in 1886 after a series of Anglo-Burmese Wars from 1824. In Borneo, Sarawak was ruled as a personal possession by James Brooke, a former soldier of the East India Company, and the British North Borneo Company acquired Sabah in 1888. The sultanate of Brunei, which had formerly possessed Sarawak and Sabah, itself came under British protection in the same year. 11 12 Australasia In Australia, colonization began with the desire to find a place for penal settlement after the loss of the original American colonies. The first shipload of British convicts landed in Australia in 1788 on the site of the future city of Sydney. New South Wales was opened to free settlers in 1819, and in 1853 transportation of convicts was abolished. Before the end of the century five Australian colonies - New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland - and the island colony of Tasmania had each achieved self-government; an act of the Imperial Parliament at Westminster created the federal commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing dominion, in 1901. New Zealand, annexed in 1840, was at first a dependency of New South Wales. It became a separate colony in 1853 and a dominion in 1907. In 1906, a condominium between Britain and France was established for the New Hebrides islands. The German territory of New Guinea was mandated by the League of Nations to Australia in 1919, while the island of Nauru was mandated jointly to Britain, Australia and New Zealand, also in 1919. 13 Southern Africa The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa was occupied by two English captains in 1620, but initially neither the government nor the East India Company was interested in developing this early settlement into a colony. The Dutch occupied it in 1650, and Cape Town remained a port of call for their East India Company until 1795 when, French revolutionary armies having occupied the Dutch Republic, the British seized it to keep it from the French. Under the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the UK bought Cape Town from the new kingdom of the Netherlands for the equivalent of $6 million. British settlement began in 1824 on the coast of Natal, proclaimed a British colony in 1843. The need to find new farmland and establish independence from British rule led a body of Boers (Dutch `farmers') from the Cape to make the Great Trek northeast in 1836, to found Transvaal and Orange Free State. Conflict between the British government, which claimed sovereignty over those areas (since the settlers were legally British subjects), and the Boers culminated, after the discovery of gold in the Boer territories, in the South African War of 1899-1902, which brought Transvaal and Orange Free State definitely under British sovereignty. Given self-government in 1907, they were formed, with Cape Colony (self-governing in 1872) and Natal (self-governing in 1893), into the Union of South Africa in 1910. German South-West Africa was transferred to the Union of South Africa by League of Nations mandate in 1919 and the territory was absorbed into the Union in 1948. Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, chartered in 1889, extended British influence over Southern Rhodesia (a colony in 1923) and Northern Rhodesia (a protectorate in 1924); with Nyasaland, taken under British protection in 1891, the Rhodesias were formed into a federation (1953-63) with representative government. Uganda was made a British protectorate in 1894. Kenya, formerly a protectorate, became a colony in 1920, certain districts on the coast forming part of the sultan of Zanzibar's dominions remained a protectorate. 14 15 West Africa The British showed little interest in Africa outside the Cape until the scramble for territory of the 1880s, although a few forts were kept in West Africa, where gold and ivory kept their importance after the slave trade was ended by Britain in 1807. An early exception was the colony of Sierra Leone founded in 1788 with the cession of a strip of land to provide a home for liberated slaves; a protectorate was established over the hinterland in 1896. British influence in Nigeria began through the activities of the National Africa Company (the Royal Niger Company from 1886), which bought Lagos from an African chief in 1861 and steadily extended its hold over the Niger Valley until it surrendered its charter in 1899; in 1900 the two protectorates of North and South Nigeria were proclaimed. World War I ousted Germany from the African continent, and in 1919, under League of Nations mandate, Cameroons and Togoland, in West Africa, were divided between Britain and France. East Africa The high ground of the area made it far more suitable for settlement by white colonists than the colonies in the west. Once again, private companies under charter from the British government pioneered the way, establishing their control over Kenya in 1888 and Uganda in 1890. Somaliland came under direct control of the British government in 1884 and in 1890 Germany, which had already relinquished its interests in Uganda, ceded Zanzibar to Britain in exchange for Heligoland, an island off the German coast. In 1898, after a victorious war against the Mahdi of Sudan, a condominium between Britain and Egypt was established over the territory, known from then on as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. German East Africa was transferred to British administration by League of Nations mandate, and renamed as Tanganyika, in 1919. 16 Middle East British Empire in the Middle East only lasted for a short time. It began when the British government bought shares in the Suez Canal in 1856. Britain subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882 and declared it a protectorate in 1914. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1919, Palestine, Trans-Jordan and Iraq were mandated by the League of Nations to Britain. An uprising against British control in Egypt led to independence in 1922. British troops, however, continued to guard the Suez Canal until the 1950 s. Iraq was also set up as an independent kingdom in 1932. Trans-Jordan gained independence as Jordan in 1946 and the State of Israel was declared in Palestine in 1948. Antarctica In Antarctica, as more and more government officials began to realise the potential strategic, economic, and scientific importance of the last continent, governments began to lay claim to vast tracts of land there, basing their claims on the prior discoveries of their countrymen The oldest continuously occupied station is the weather station on Laurie Island in the South Orkneys, turned over to Argentina by W.S. Bruce in 1904. This history of occupancy forms a key element of the Argentinean claim to the Peninsula, but the first formal claim over Antarctic territory was made by Britain in 1908 to a large part of the continent south of the Falkland Islands. In 1923 Britain handed over part of their claim, the Ross Dependencies, to New Zealand. In 1924, France laid claim to Terre Adlie. Australia claimed a large chunk of territory in 1933. In January 1939, Norway formalized its claim to Dronning Maud Land (largely to protect its whaling interests and preempt the anticipated claims of the German Schwabenland Expedition). Finally, in 1940, Chile became the third country to claim sovereignty over the Antarctic Peninsula (after Britain and Argentina). Although the United States pursued no claims of its own, the flurry of international land grabbing may have encouraged the U.S. Congress to establish the U.S. Antarctic Service in 1939. From that moment on, the U.S. government assumed almost complete control of American Antarctic exploration. Other countries were soon to follow suit. By the late 1940s Antarctic exploration had entered a new phase, and one not just due to increased government involvement. For the first time in history, permanent bases were established. The British had been the first when they erected their secret bases in the closing days of the Second World War. Once their existence was known, however, the scramble to occupy the continent was on and other countries established bases there as well. These bases remain active in Antarctica today. 17 18 19 20 COMPARATIVE TABLE OF EMPIRE STATISTICS CIRCA 1930'S Area in Sq. Miles GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND 120,876 British Tropical America Jamaica 4,207 Trinidad and Tobago 1,976 The Bahamas 4,040 Barbados 166 Area in Population Sq. km 193,402 47,307,601 6,731 858,188 3,162 365,913 6,464 53,031 266 156,312 1,144 122,242 826 163,477 143,168 297,691 13,747 45,317 5,967,464 8,788,483 68,374 259,358 756,942 6,928,580 440,000 153,000 18,746 497,000 10,685 134,000 515,840 227,000 238,400 807,000 465,600 931,500 537,120 18,750,000 128,000 2,078,643 49,600 1,541,311 6,614 209,000 63,317 1,202,000 392,000 2,376,000 176,480 3,132,312 584,000 4,107,000 1,623,040 5,912,402 108,800 300,000 14,400 757,182 59,406 400,000 229,200 2,849,282 4,759,330 5,435,754 144,864 250,000 Imports £ 1,003,098,889 5,530,000 6,904,000 1,096,000 2,642,000 1,560,000 622,000 3,488,000 688,000 222,000,000 4,180,000 51,413,450 556,000 1,221,000 3,879,000 741,000 10,769,000 7,661,000 1,770,000 924,000 500,000 6,912,000 1,300,000 5,206,070 349,000 5,700,000 13,769,000 101,000,000 484,770 Exports £ 823,202,080 3,394,000 4,684,000 378,000 1,468,000 1,900,000 611,000 3,639,000 627,000 243,000,000 4,460,000 64,978,524 510,000 1,587,000 4,628,000 505,000 8,024,000 6,942,000 1,625,000 793,000 440,000 5,061,000 1,400,000 2,057,230 318,000 1,300,000 6,557,000 127,000,000 270,481 Capital London Kingston Port of Spain Nassau Bridgetown Georgetown Belize Ottawa St. John's Pretoria Gaborone Maseru Mbabane Windhoek Salisbury Livingstone Lagos Accra Freetown Bathurst Zomba Nairobi Entebbe Dar-es- Salaam Khartoum Berbera Jerusalem Amman Baghdad Canberra Port Moresby Leeward Islands Windward Islands British Guiana British Honduras British North America Dominion of Canada Newfoundland 42,734 British Dominions in Africa Union of South Africa Bechuanaland Basutoland Swaziland South-West Africa Southern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia Nigeria Gold Coast Sierra Leone The Gambia Nyasaland Kenya Uganda Tanganyika Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Somaliland 68,000 British Interests in the Near East Palestine 9,000 Trans-Jordan 37,129 Iraq 143,250 British Dominions in Oceania Commonwealth of Australia 2,974,581 Territory of Papua 90,540 715 516 89,480 8,592 3,729,665 473,089 275,000 11,716 6,678 322,400 149,000 291,000 335,700 80,000 31,000 4,134 39,573 245,000 110,300 365,000 1,014,400 21 Territory of New Guinea Dominion of New Zealand British Dominions in Asia Indian Empire Ceylon Straits Settlements Federated Malay States Unfederated Malay States British North Borneo Brunei Sarawak Links of Empire in the Atlantic 112,000 103,568 1,805,332 25,331 1,600 27,506 23,486 31,106 4,000 42,000 179,200 250,000 165,709 1,218,913 2,888,531 318,942,480 40,530 4,504,549 2,560 883,769 44,010 1,324,890 37,578 1,123,000 49,770 257,804 6,400 25,454 67,200 600,000 1,500,000 235,000,000 24,200,000 68,126,020 12,007,000 4,299,000 800,000 45,690 1,929,000 1,300,000 45,000 917,000 3,700,000 1,412,000 6,011,000 1,414,000 5,159,000 114,000 3,223,000 81,940,000 1,510,000 282,939 252,000 159,174 177,000 130,000 78,000 1,921,695,002 42,000,000 282,000,000 25,600,000 58,025,105 15,745,000 4,688,000 957,000 67,360 2,983,000 240,000 24,000 3,133,000 1,047,000 871,000 5,367,000 946,000 6,826,000 119,000 3,246,000 85,673,000 2,458,000 365,610 183,000 245,000 170,000 213,000 1,864,551,390 Rabaul Wellington Delhi Colombo Singapore Kuala Lumpur Sandakan Brunei Kuching Hamilton Jamestown Stanley Gibraltar Valetta Nicosia Aden Manama Port Louis Victoria Zanzibar Victoria Suva Apia Tulagi Vila Nukualofa Bermuda 19 St. Helena 47 75 3,747 Ascension 38 61 250 16 140 10,080 3,275 1,600 1,000 Tristan da Cunha Falkland Islands South Georgia 10 6,300 1,000 Links of Empire with the Far East, Australia and New Zealand Gibraltar 2 Malta 118 3 17,160 189 224,680 5,734 310,709 14,400 54,923 2,211 12,000 448 110,000 1,280 385,074 250 25,176 1,632 197,000 Hong Kong Fiji Islands Western Samoa Solomon Islands New Hebrides (Anglo-French) Tonga 385 Gilbert and Ellice Islands 200 320 30,500 Cyprus Aden and Perim Sokotra Bahrein Mauritius Seychelles Zanzibar and Pemba Links of Empire in the Pacific 3,584 9,000 1,382 280 800 156 1,020 Nauru 4 BRITISH EMPIRE 13,307,365 6 2,192 21,291,784 448,998,323 Note: Figures not available for missing information 391 7,083 1,260 13,400 5,500 626 625,166 11,333 157,266 2,016 38,655 21,440 168,000 8,800 60,000 616 23,562 30 20,410 22 23 24 Imperial Federation Proposal In 1884, the Imperial Federation League was established with the purpose of promoting a Federation of the British Empire governed by an Imperial Parliament with representatives from Britain and the colonies. Firm proposals were drawn up for imperial free trade and for a parliament in London with M.P.'s from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. It was proposed that M.P.'s from India and other colonies would be added later. The idea of a global inter-continental state was far ahead of its time as international communications and travel were very slow in the late nineteenth century. Joseph Chamerberlain, the Secretary for the Colonies in the early 1900's, was an avid supporter of the idea. However, it was opposed by many Canadian and South African politicians. The movement dissolved in 1911 due to disagreement and the last proposal for an imperial federation parliament was put forward in 1919. However, the movement was successful in getting Imperial Conferences established, which continue today as Commonwealth Conferences. Empire Free Trade was established at Ottawa in 1932. After the First World War, the idea of drawing the British colonies closer together in imperial federation faded away to be replaced by greater colonial self-government and cooperation. British Empire Federal Parliament: 300 Seats England and Wales: 185 seats Scotland: 25 seats Ireland: 40 seats Canada and Newfoundland: 20 seats Australia: 15 seats New Zealand: 5 seats South Africa: 5 seats West Indies: 5 seats The Informal Empire In addition to the British territories around the world, customarily shown in red or pink on maps of the world, there was the British sphere of influence, often known as the Informal Empire . These were countries which had either been occupied by British troops at one time or had been of strategic or of economic interest to Great Britain. They were independent, but British military and/or economic involvement was significant. Argentina, in South America, was occupied by the British from 1806 to 1807 in an aborted attempt by Britain to build a South American empire. After the country gained its independence in 1816, many British people continued to settle there and the country was built up on British investment and finance. Egypt was occupied by British troops in 1882 to safeguard the Suez Canal. The country was declared as a formal protectorate of Britain in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. However, after a nationalist revolt in 1919, Egypt received its independence in 1922. British troops remained in the Suez Canal Zone until 1956. Afghanistan, on the North-West Frontier of the Indian Empire, was invaded by British troops in 1839. A formal protectorate over the country was declared in 1880, but it was abandoned in 1920 as it was difficult to defend. Nepal, a kingdom on the northern frontier of India, though never annexed into the Indian Empire, was definitely in the British sphere of influence. The famous Ghurkas in the British Army come from Nepal. In 1904, the Viceroy of India sent troops into Tibet, immediately north of Nepal, to open up a trade route to China, but this invading force quickly withdrew after meeting heavy resistance. British influence in Tibet did remain for some time. After annexing Iraq, British troops entered Iran (Persia) at the end of the First World War and an informal semi-protectorate was declared over the country in 1919. A more ambitious plan to create new British Protectorates in the Caucasus region after the fall of the Russian Empire, in Georgia and Azerbaijan, was 25 not pursued. The semi-Protectorate in Iran was abandoned also as unworkable. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company opened up much business between Britain and Iran. The British sphere of influence began to fade after the Second World War, but much British investment remains in countries all over the world. The British Commonwealth Dominion Status The concept of self-government for some of the colonies was first formulated in Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America in 1839 which recommended that responsible government (the acceptance by governors of the advice of local ministers) should be granted to Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). This pattern was subsequently applied to the other Canadian provinces and to the Australian colonies which attained responsible government by 1859, except for Western Australia (1890). New Zealand obtained responsible government in 1856 and the Cape colony in 1872, followed by Natal in 1893. A further intermediate form of government, dominion status, was devised in the late 19th and early 20th century at a series of Colonial Conferences (renamed Imperial Conferences in 1907). Canada became a dominion in 1867, Australia in 1901, New Zealand in 1907, the Union of South Africa by 1910 and the Irish Free State in 1922. These five self-governing countries were known as Dominions within the British Empire. Their meetings with the British government were the basis for the idea of the Commonwealth of Nations. Dominion status was very inexactly defined until the Statute of Westminster in 1931 established it as complete self-government. This act was adopted immediately by Canada, the Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State. Australia did not adopt it until 1942 and New Zealand did not adopt it until 1947. The Canadian government requested that the British North America Act, acting as Canada s constitution, remain in the possession of the British government since Canadian politicians could not agree on an amending formula. On 11 December 1931, the United Kingdom and the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union Of South Africa, Irish Free State and Newfoundland formed the British Commonwealth. This was the collective name for the now completely autonomous parts of the British Empire held together by a common allegiance to the Crown. The United Kingdom would only act on their behalf with their consent and they made their own declarations of war at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. In 1935, a large measure of self-government was granted to India, with an expectation that it would soon gain full Dominion Status within the British Commonwealth. In 1933, Newfoundland reverted back to colonial status due to financial difficulties and joined Canada as its tenth province in 1949. Today, all that remains of this original British Commonwealth group still owing allegiance to the Crown is the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 26 FLAGS OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS (THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 1931-1949) Until the late 1940's, all citizens of the British Empire were British Subjects and no separate citizenships for the individual dominions existed. Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, etc. were British Subjects and travelled on British passports. However, after 1947, that began to change. The British Commonwealth countries began to establish their own distinctive national citizenships beginning with Canada in 1947, followed by South Africa in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1949. Peoples of these countries remained as British Subjects in addition to becoming citizens of their own countries. Common British Subject status alongside national citizenship throughout the Commonwealth was phased out in the 1970's. Transformation Into the Commonwealth of Nations A major challenge to the Empire came from Ireland, where it can be argued the British Empire began when Henry II declared himself `Lord of Ireland' in 1171. After 630 years of English rule and 120 years as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland since 1801, 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland became the Irish Free State in 1922. The Free State had dominion status but in contrast to the relatively amicable and gradual devolvement of the four other existing dominions, only after centuries of hatred culminating in civil war. A new constitution adopted by the Free State in 1937 dropped the name Irish Free State and declared Ireland (Eire) to be a `sovereign independent state'. The break was completed in 1949 when Eire became a republic outside the Commonwealth, though remaining in a special relationship with the now United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and becoming a fellow European Union member. There were varying degrees of unrest throughout much of the Empire during the 1930s, although most notably in India, where Mahatma Gandhi led a campaign of `civil disobedience' against British rule. Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah disagreed with the civil disobedience and, fearing a dominance of India by Hindus, began to demand a separate state for Muslims, in areas where they made up a majority. World War II (1939-1945) hastened the end of the former colonial empires, mainly because it destroyed the psychological basis upon which their existence depended. Under the guidance of the last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British Indian Empire gained independence within the British Commonwealth as the two dominions of India (predominantly Hindu) and Pakistan (predominantly Muslim) in 1947. Mountbatten became the first governor-general of India, and Jinnah became the first 27 governor-general of Pakistan. In 1948, King George VI dropped the title 'Emperor of India'. In 1949, the Indian government stated that they wished for their country to become a Republic but to remain within the Commonwealth. In November of that year, a formula was agreed upon where the required common allegiance to the Crown was dropped. Members could have whatever status they wished, but they would all recognise the British Monarch in the new position as 'Head of the Commonwealth'. In the future, the now completely independent members of the Commonwealth would include Dominions (now to be called Realms), Republics and some even with their own Monarchies. The title of the organisation was changed from the British Commonwealth to the Commonwealth Of Nations to reflect this new reality. In 1950 India became a republic but remained a member of the Commonwealth, as did Pakistan in 1956. Burma and Ceylon became independent in 1948. Burma chose to leave the Commonwealth, but Ceylon became a dominion, eventually becoming the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972, however remaining a Commonwealth member. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned as Queen of each of the Realms separately. She was also the first monarch to adopt separate titles for each of the Realms, and the first to include the new title 'Head of the Commonwealth' in those titles. League of Nations mandates granted to Britain and the dominions in 1919, in the Middle East became independent after World War II, but in Africa and Australasia, they became United Nations trusteeships in 1946, continuing under the guidance of Britain and the dominions they were awarded to. They eventually became independent within the Commonwealth after 1960. Home rule and independence movements began in Africa in the early 1950 s, modeled on the movement in India of the 1930 s. This started with a home rule campaign led by Kwame Nkrumah in the Gold Coast (Ghana), in West Africa. This resulted in the creation of the first independent native-ruled African dominion in 1957, known as Ghana, brought into existence ten years after Indian independence. Sudan, and Malaya also gained independence in the 1950s. Much of the rest of Africa gained independence in the 1960s, with a majority of the British territories opting to remain within the Commonwealth. Rhodesia declared itself independent 1965 in order to maintain white minority rule, but Britain declared its action illegal, and no other state recognized it, until a final settlement leading to the creation of majority-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980. In the 1970 s and early 1980 s, most of the West Indies and South Pacific islands had become independent within the Commonwealth. The old dominions, which had stood loyally by Britain s side during World War II, were becoming far th more nationalistic in the second half of the 20 own citizenship in 1947, as distinct from the common imperial citizenship of British subjects. This was followed by the adoption of a unique Canadian flag in 1965 and the last constitutional control by Britain was removed in 1982 when Canada finally adopted its own constitution. However, the Queen remains Sovereign. Australian states also had a direct constitutional link with Britain until 1986 when an Australian constitutional Act finally ended this link. A referendum was held on republican status in Australia in 1999, but it was defeated. Thus the Queen remains Sovereign in Australia; also in New Zealand, which maintained very close links with Britain, including a Royal Powers Act, imperial honours and a vast majority of its trade, until after Britain forged closer links with Europe after 1973. The Queen also remains Sovereign in 12 other countries, which have gained their independence since the 1960 s. These will be discussed in detail, later. The Union of South Africa adopted a distinctive national flag in 1928 and was transformed into a republic outside the Commonwealth in 1961 after a very narrow victory for republican status in a referendum during the previous year. The mandate over South-West Africa, held since 1919, was terminated in 1990 Century. Canada was the first dominion to introduce its 28 when it became independent within the Commonwealth as Namibia. The Republic of South Africa also returned to the Commonwealth in 1994. By 1973, when Britain entered the EEC, now European Union, only a few small possessions remained, most of which were proceeding toward independence. Some did not want to end their colonial status. Gibraltar, for example, felt that it risked absorption by Spain if Britain withdrew. Hong Kong was returned to China after the expiry of the 99 year lease over the New Territories in 1997. However, Britain fought a war against Argentina in 1982 to retain control of the Falkland Islands. The British Empire had completely and peacefully transformed into the Commonwealth of Nations by the late 20th Century. Today, there are 53 independent members of the Commonwealth, 16 of which recognize Queen Elizabeth II as Sovereign, 5 have their own indigenous monarchies and 32 are republics. There are also two almost-independent associated states of New Zealand and 13 remaining British colonies, now referred to as British Overseas Territories. About 95% of the British Empire remains within the Commonwealth today. Additionally, Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony in southern Africa, and Cameroon, made up mostly of a former French mandate, became members of the Commonwealth in 1995, thus, for the first time, extending the organization beyond the borders of the British Empire. Other aspirant nations, particularly in Africa, are expected to apply to join the Commonwealth in the near future, as it offers many programmes as a stable English-speaking block. 29 Present Day The Commonwealth Of Nations The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of currently 53 independent countries, almost all of which were formerly under British rule. While remaining entirely responsible for their own policies, member countries choose to consult and co-operate in certain areas such as strengthening democracy by good government, promoting human rights and working for social and economic development of poorer countries. Much of the strength of the Commonwealth is derived from its non-governmental and informal 30 links, such as teacher-training schemes, youth ministries, distance education, science and environmental projects, shared sports and arts festivals. This means that it is as much a commonwealth of peoples as of governments. The 1.6 billion people of Commonwealth countries make up over a quarter of the world's population, and over 50 per cent of the population of the Commonwealth is under 25. The great majority of Commonwealth members are parliamentary democracies. Membership of the Commonwealth has, since its beginning, been open to any independent state which was once ruled or administered by Britain or other Commonwealth countries, and recognises The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth. (In 1995, Mozambique became the first country to join which had not previously had such links with Britain, being a former Portuguese colony.) Almost all countries, when they became independent of the United Kingdom, have chosen to join the Commonwealth but, since the link is entirely voluntary, any member can withdraw at any time - the Republic of Ireland did so in 1949, as did South Africa in 1961 (subsequently rejoined in 1994). Zimbabwe withdrew in 2003. There are 53 member countries of the Commonwealth. These are listed below, with the years in which they joined the Commonwealth. Also listed is their constitutional status: 'realm' indicates a Commonwealth country which retained a monarchical constitution, recognising The Queen as Sovereign; 'monarchy' indicates an indigenous monarchical constitution; republic indicates a constitution with a President as head of state. Country Antigua and Barbuda Australia The Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belize Botswana Brunei Cameroon Canada Cyprus Dominica Fiji Islands The Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana India Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Date Of Joining The Commonwealth 1981 1931 1973 1972 1966 1981 1966 1984 1995 1931 1961 1978 1970 (left in 1987, rejoined in 1997) 1965 1957 1974 1966 1947 1962 1963 1979 Status Realm Realm Realm Republic Realm Realm Republic Monarchy Republic Realm Republic Republic Republic Republic Republic Realm Republic Republic Realm Republic Republic 31 Lesotho Malawi Malaysia The Maldives Malta Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea St. Christopher and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenandines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu* United Kingdom Uganda Vanuatu Zambia 1966 1964 1957 1982 1964 1968 1995 1990 1968 1931 1960 1947 1975 1983 1979 1979 1970 1976 1961 1965 1978 1931 (withdrew in 1961, rejoined in 1961) 1948 1968 1961 1970 1962 1978 1962 1980 1964 Monarchy Republic Monarchy Republic Republic Republic Republic Republic Republic Realm Republic Republic Realm Realm Realm Realm Republic Republic Republic Republic Realm Republic Republic Monarchy Republic Monarchy Republic Realm Monarchy Republic Republic Republic * Tuvalu is a special member, with the right to participate in all functional Commonwealth meetings and activities, but not to attend meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government. Remaining Dependent Territories of the United Kingdom consist of: Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands 32 Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Montserrat Pitcairn St. Helena South Georgia Special Base Area Cyprus Turks and Caicos Islands Niue and Cook Islands are Associated States of New Zealand. Pre-World War II British Empire territories which are not members of the Commonwealth today include: Bahrein, Burma (Myanmar), Hong Kong (part of China since 1997), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Quatar, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zimbabwe. As Head of the Commonwealth, The Queen's role is symbolic and has no constitutional functions attached to it. The Monarch personally reinforces the links by which the Commonwealth joins people together from around the world. This is done through Commonwealth visits, regular contact with the Commonwealth Secretary General and his Secretariat (the Commonwealth's central organisation which co-ordinates many Commonwealth activities and which is based in London) and Heads of Government, attending the Commonwealth Day Observance in London, broadcasting her annual Christmas and Commonwealth Day messages, acting as patron for Commonwealth cultural events and often attending the Commonwealth Games to open or close them. During her reign, The Queen has visited every country in the Commonwealth (with the exception of Mozambique and Cameroon, who joined in 1995) and made many repeat visits, either as a multiple visit (e.g. Anguilla, Dominica, Guyana, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Bahamas and Bermuda in February/March 1994) or to one country (such as Canada in June/July 1997, which included the celebration of Canada's National Day, and Jamaica in 2002). The Queen also visited India and Pakistan in October 1997, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their independence from Britain, which led to the formation of the modern Commonwealth. One third of The Queen's total overseas visits are to Commonwealth countries. The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal family also pay frequent visits to the Commonwealth. A meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) is usually held once every two years, at locations throughout the Commonwealth. The Queen is normally present in the host country, during which she has a series of private meetings with the Commonwealth countries' leaders. The Queen also attends a reception and dinner during the conference period at which she makes a speech. The latest CHOGM was held in March 2002 in Coolum, South Australia. Since 1977, Commonwealth Day is celebrated throughout the Commonwealth on the second Monday in March; this was approved by Heads of Government as a day when children throughout the Commonwealth, for whom the day is particularly intended, would be at school. To mark the day, The Queen broadcasts a Commonwealth Day message which, like the Christmas Message, is delivered by The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth to the peoples of the Commonwealth as a whole. These messages are unique in that they are delivered on The Queen's own responsibility, drafted without Ministerial advice. Each year, The Queen also attends an 'Observance for Commonwealth Day' which is an interdenominational service held in Westminster Abbey, followed by a reception hosted by the Secretary General (the Head of the Commonwealth Secretariat). 33 34 The Crown Commonwealth Today, Queen Elizabeth II remains sovereign of sixteen Commonwealth countries and their dependencies. These are: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Queen is represented by a Governor General in all except the United Kingdom, where she is in permanent residence. The Queen is also represented by Governors in Australian states and by Lieutenant Governors in Canadian Provinces. She has a Deputy Governor General on Nevis. The Queen distinguishes between her various roles by using a personal flag - initial E and crown within a chaplet of roses - for use at Commonwealth meetings where the Royal Standard would be inappropriate, or by using special Standards in her various realms. The Queen, though not being part of the machinery of government in the Commonwealth, has become a personal link and human symbol of the Commonwealth as an international organisation. The former realm of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, became a republic in 1992, after several attempts to make the change were defeated by public outcry. The country s original 1968 constitution, containing the Queen and a Governor General, remained intact for a few years longer, with the republic proclaimed by an amendment added on to the constitution. This was eventually replaced by a new republican constitution. Interestingly, Fiji Islands, located northeast of Australia and south of Tuvalu, was a realm of the Queen until 1987, when a military coup against the government, due to ethnic divisions, proclaimed a republic and the country s membership in the Commonwealth lapsed. However, 35 all royal symbols have remained in place and the Union Flag remains part of the country s national flags. The Queen s portrait even remains on Fiji Islands currency. A move to change the country s flag in 1990 to remove the Union Flag met with so much opposition, that it was dropped. After ten years, Fiji Islands resumed membership in the Commonwealth in October 1997. The Great Council of Chiefs, which advises the Government, is considering asking the Queen to resume sovereignty over Fiji and the Prime Minister has apologised to her. If this was to happen, it would represent the first restoration of the monarchy to a Commonwealth country, but it remains to be seen if this will indeed happen, due to the continuation of frequent changes of government in Fiji Islands. The country has rewritten its constitution three times since the first coup in 1987. Original Dominions When she took the Coronation Oath, Elizabeth II swore "to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, and of [her] Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs". Of those seven countries mentioned in the Coronation Oath, today Queen Elizabeth II remains: Queen of the United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland Queen of Canada Queen of Australia Queen of New Zealand The other countries mentioned in the Coronation Oath having since become republics: Queen of South Africa (1952-1961) Queen of Pakistan (1952-1956) Queen of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) (1952-1972). South Africa and Ceylon were the first Commonwealth realms to recognise Elizabeth II as Queen of their respective countries, rather than of the United Kingdom. Australia's external dependencies are the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and the Coral Sea Islands Territory. Associated States of New Zealand in the South Pacific include the Cook Islands and Niue. Both are completely self-governing and New Zealand is only responsible for their foreign affairs and defence. Otherwise, they act like independent states. Each country has a representative of the Queen, though it is not called a Governor General. It is simply called 'The Queen's Representative'. It is very possible that these two countries could take the final step and becomes fully independent new realms of the Queen. New Zealand also has the Ross Dependency, which is its territorial claim in Antarctica. Africa During the Queen's reign many of the former British colonies in Africa became independent countries. When independence was granted to these nations, as is the British colonial practice, they became constitutional monarchies by default, with Queen Elizabeth as Head of State. The new African leaders usually proceeded to quickly abolish the monarchy (and usually the parliamentary system, as well) and establish executive presidencies in its place. However, Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) became a republic on independence in 1964, as did Botswana in 1966, formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland. 36 Queen Elizabeth II was briefly: Queen of Ghana (1957-1960) Queen of Nigeria (1960-1963) Queen of Sierra Leone (1961-1971) Queen of Tanganyika* (1961-1962) Queen of Uganda (1962-1963) Queen of Kenya (1963-1964) Queen of Malawi (1964-1966) Queen of The Gambia (1965-1970) *Now Tanzania From 1965 to 1970 she was also proclaimed 'Queen of Rhodesia' by the White minority government in Southern Rhodesia, although she never accepted this office. Caribbean When independence was granted to the British Caribbean colonies, Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of the West Indies Federation in 1958. When the Federation broke up in 1962, she eventually became Queen of each former member state. In the Caribbean, Queen Elizabeth II is currently: Queen of Jamaica (since 1962) Queen of Barbados (since 1966) Queen of The Bahamas (since 1973) Queen of Grenada (since 1974) Queen of Saint Lucia (since 1979) Queen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (since 1979) Queen of Antigua and Barbuda (since 1981) Queen of Belize (since 1981) Queen of Saint Kitts and Nevis (since 1983) The Queen's position as Queen of Grenada remained unaffected by the overthrow of Prime Minister Eric Gairy by the left-wing Maurice Bishop in 1979, and the Governor General remained in office. Following the United States-led Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in October 1983, in the wake of Bishop's violent overthrow, the Governor General oversaw the holding of new elections and the restoration of parliamentary democracy. The Queen was also previously: Queen of Guyana (1966-1970) Queen of Trinidad and Tobago (1962-1976) Unlike other British colonies in the region, Dominica became a republic at independence in 1978 with its own elected President as head of state. Oceania When Papua New Guinea became independent of Australia in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II was styled "Queen of Papua New Guinea", the first time she became Queen of a nation that was never a British colony in its entirety. 37 (Her father, King George VI, upon becoming Emperor of the Dominion of India in 1947, had also become Emperor of many former Indian Principalities which had merged with the Indian Union in 1947 which were originally never British Colonies but had been under the suzerainty of the British Crown.) In the Pacific, Queen Elizabeth II is currently: Queen of Papua New Guinea (since 1975) Queen of the Solomon Islands (since 1978) Queen of Tuvalu (since 1978) Her role as Queen of Fiji (1970-1987) was ended by a military coup. Even after Fiji was declared a republic, the Queen's portrait remained on the country's banknotes and, unlike the United Kingdom, her official birthday remained a public holiday. When Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth in 1997, consideration was given to restoring her as head of state, but the idea was not pursued further. However, the Council of Chiefs continues to recognise the Queen as its "Great Chief", though she no longer has any formal constitutional power. Other former Commonwealth realms The Queen was also previously: Queen of Malta (1964-1974) Queen of Mauritius (1968-1992) Titles From 6 February 1952 until 26 March 1953, the Queen s official title was similar to her late father s title throughout the Commonwealth. It was Elizabeth the Second, By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Queen, Defender of the Faith . With Commonwealth nations now being fully sovereign, this title was considered to be out of date, so it was changed. On 26 March 1953, the Queen s title in the United Kingdom became Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her Other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith . The Queen s title in the United Kingdom remains the same today. The Queen s other Commonwealth realms adopted their own variations of this title to show their independent status. In Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Queen s title was adopted as 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, (the country s name) and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith'. This title remains the same in Canada today. However, it was changed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970 s. In the Union of South Africa and Ceylon, the Queen s title became 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of (the country s name) and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith'. Pakistan did not adopt a distinctive title for the Queen. These three countries are now republics. Today, in Canada, the Queen is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith'. In New Zealand, the Queen is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of New Zealand and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Defender of the Faith'. In Grenada, she is Elizabeth the Second, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Grenada and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. In Australia, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Solomon Islands, 38 Tuvalu, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, The Queen is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of (the country's name) and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth'. Papua New Guinea uses the same formula, but omits the reference 'by the Grace of God'. Role in the Realms Apart from the United Kingdom, the Queen usually visits her realms at a rate in which each realm is visited at least once every five or six years. Though her constitutional powers in each realm are virtually identical to those she holds in the United Kingdom, the Queen does not play an active role as political Head of State in these countries, nor does she commonly perform ceremonial duties, except on occasions of significant historical or political importance. Day to day political and ceremonial duties are instead performed by a Governor General who serves as the Queen's permanent representative, and is nominally appointed by her (though in reality they are chosen by the nation's Prime Minister, or in the unique case of Papua New Guniea where they are decided upon in a Parliamentary vote). Generally, Commonwealth Realms have all got along well, with few diplomatic problems. The concern is sometimes raised, however, that with Queen Elizabeth being head of state of so many different countries, her neutrality and dual loyalty could come into question should a conflict ever emerge between two of "her" countries. In Operation Urgent Fury, for example, Queen Elizabeth was the Queen of Grenada while it was being invaded by many other Caribbean countries of which she was also Queen. Even more confusingly, the invasion was also opposed by several other countries in which she was Queen, notably Britain and Belize. The Queen did not make a statement on the invasion, likely because, had she done so, no statement could adequately represent all those involved countries of which she was Queen. The Queen s personal flag for use in the United Kingdom, Crown Territories and British Overseas Territories is the Royal Standard with four quarterings of two royal banners of England and one royal banner of Scotland and one royal banner of Ireland. The Queen uses this flag when she visits foreign countries outside the Commonwealth, also. In Scotland, the flag contains two quarterings of the royal banner of Scotland and one of England and one of Ireland. The Royal Standard was in use in all of the Queen s other realms until 1962, when it was decided to introduce separate personal flags for each realm. From 1962 to 1968, the Queen adopted personal flags for while she is in each realm, which is usually based on that country s coat of arms stretched into a flag. It contains the Queen s personal E for Elizabeth surmounted by a crown, surrounded by a garland of roses in the centre of the flag. The Queen has personal flags for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados. She had them for Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Malta and Mauritius before they became republics. The symbol in the centre of the personal flags is also used by the Queen as her flag when she is visiting all other Commonwealth countries. Her other realms have not yet adopted personal flags for the Queen (i.e. Grenada, Belize or Tuvalu). Though not done since 1968, personal flags for these realms, based on their coats of arms, may ultimately be adopted. 39 40 41 Until the 1930 s, Governors General of Dominions, the Viceroy of India and Governors of the Crown Colonies, Protectorates and Mandates used the same design of vice-regal flags. This is the Union Flag with the country s coat of arms on a roundel in the centre surrounded by laurel leaves. This design continued to be used by Lieutenant Governors of Canadian Provinces and Governors of Australian States until the 1980 s. The Lieutenant Governor of the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia continues to use this type of flag to this day. A new design based on the royal crest was adopted by Governors General of self- governing dominions after the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, though this had been planned since 1928. The vice-regal flag based on the Union Flag continued to be used by the Viceroy of India until 1947, and by colonial Governors. The Governor General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan had his title in the centre of the Union Flag instead of a coat of arms, until 1956. Dependency Governors today still use the vice-regal flag based on the Union Flag. Since the 1930 s, with the adoption of the Statute of Westminster, Governors General in all realms use a royal blue flag containing the royal crest of a crowned lion standing on a large St. Edward s Crown in the centre. Underneath the Crown is a scroll with the country s name on it. This flag was adopted to show that the Governor General had become the personal representative of the Sovereign only and not of the British Government. The Governors General of Canada and the Union of South Africa adopted this design in 1931 and Australia and New Zealand adopted it in 1936. This design has been used by all Governors General in realms created since then and is currently used by all Governors General of the Queen s realms today. 42 43 44 Some variations of the blue Governor General s flag do exist to suit more local identification. The Union of South Africa s Governor General s flag (1931-1961) had two scrolls on it, one above the crowned lion with the country s name in English and the other in the traditional place below the large crown with country s name in Afrikaans Unie Van Suid Afrika . India, when it was a realm (1947-1950), Pakistan (1947-1956),andCeylon(1948-1972)didnotusethescroll,buthadthecountries namesshowninlarge letters under the Crown. Fiji, when it was a realm (1970-1987), used the traditional Governor General s flag but displayed the country s name on a tabua, a whale s tooth, which is the native symbol of authority in that country. The President of Fiji Islands still uses this design today, in anticipation of a possible restoration of the monarchy in that country. Currently, Canada, Solomon Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis use variations of this royal blue vice-regal flag. In the 1980 s, Canada changed its vice-regal flag from the traditional design to one using the crest of the Canadian coat of arms, which depicts a crowned lion holding a maple leaf in its paw, with no scroll or name under it and no large crown. Canada is identified by the red maple leaf in the lion s paw. This was modified again in 1998 to give it a friendlier look. The Governor General of the day objected to how the lion s tongue and claws were shown, so they were removed. However, the previous design, adopted in 1981, was reinstated in 2002. Solomon Islands uses the traditional Governor General s flag but depicts the country s name on a native frigate bird instead of on a scroll. Saint Kitts and Nevis uses the traditional Governor General s flag, but puts the motto Country Before Self in place of its name on the scroll. All other Queen s realms continue to use the traditional royal blue Governor General s flag without variations, showing the crowned lion, the large St. Edwards Crown and the scroll containing the realm s name. All current Governors General are knighted except in Canada and in Australia. It was proposed in 1867 to refer to the new Canadian confederation as the Kingdom of Canada, but this was changed to Dominion of Canada so as not to offend Americans. Canada is the only remaining realm of the Queen which is still formally styled as a dominion in its official title, though it is very rarely used. New Zealand and its associated states and dependencies, formerly styled as a dominion, is now known as the Realm of New Zealand. Pakistan, Ceylon and Fiji were also styled as dominions before they became republics. South Africa and India were styled as Unions when they were realms. Australia and The Bahamas are styled as Commonwealths. Saint Kitts and Nevis is called a Federation, Grenada is considered a State and Papua New Guinea describes itself as an Independent State in its title. All other realms just officially use their country s name without any prefix. The term dominion has fallen out of use since its was used to denote the self-governing territories of the British Empire. However, members of the Commonwealth which are the Queen s realms, along with their dependencies, are officially known in legislation as  Her Majesty s Dominions . The Queen s portrait appears on stamps, banknotes and coins throughout her realms. Her portrait appears on British banknotes, stamps and coins. Bank of England banknotes and those of British Overseas Territories, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, feature the Queen. The three types of Scottish banknotes and four types of Ulster banknotes do not feature the Queen, except a recent commemorative five pound note issued for the Golden Jubilee by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The 'tradition' of featuring the Queen on banknotes only began in England in the 1960 s. The Queen appears on some Canadian, Australian and New Zealand banknotes and definitive stamps and on all of their coins. The Queen s portrait does not appear on any Jamaican, Barbadian or Papua New Guinea banknotes or stamps, but it does appear on their coins. Other than the British Pound Sterling, all other realms of the Queen have dollars, except for Papua New Guinea, which is the only one of the Queen s other realms to use a unique name for its currency, being called a Kina. The Queen appears on some banknotes and all coins of the Solomon Islands and cameos with the royal cipher (EIIR) appear on Solomon Islands postage stamps. This same situation still currently exists in the former realm of Fiji Islands. Tuvalu does not have its own currency, but uses the Australian dollar, which has the Queen on some banknotes and on all coins. Her portrait does not appear on stamps. Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis all use the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, which has the Queen s portrait on 45 al banknotes and coins. However the Queen does not appear on their postage stamps. The Eastern Caribbean Dollar is also used in Dominica. Fiji Islands and Dominica are the only two republics in the Commonwealth which have Her Majesty s portrait on their banknotes. The Queen appears on all banknotes, coins and stamps of the British Overseas Territories. The ones in the Caribbean use dollars, but the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and St. Helena use Pounds, as in the United Kingdom. Pitcairn uses the New Zealand Dollar. The Queen does not appear on any banknotes or stamps of the New Zealand associated states of Cook Islands and Niue, but she is on all of their coins. The Queen frequently visits her realms and is often asked to open parliaments and read the speech from the throne, as she does in the United Kingdom, an event usually carried out by the Governor General, in the Queen s absence. The Queen does visit the republics in the Commonwealth as Head of the Commonwealth, but spends more time in the countries in which she is sovereign. As Her Majesty gets older, many of these visits are being undertaken by the Prince of Wales, as he prepares for his future role as King. During the Golden Jubilee Year of 2002, the Queen toured throughout all regions of the United Kingdom and visited Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica. Controversy and the Rise of Republicanism In recent years, there has been some controversy within various Commonwealth Relams in regards to the constitutional powers given to Queen Elizabeth II. While many view the Queen's role as Head of State as generally stable, unoffensive or unimportant, some view her as an obstacle to true "independence" from Britain. While the Queen's powers in Commonwealth Realms are limited to appointing the governor general (and even this is done on the advice of the prime minister), her name and image still play a prominent role in political institutions and symbols. For example, the Queen's face usually appears on Commonwealth Realm coins and stamps, and an oath of allegiance to her is usually required from politicians and judges. These traditions are interpreted as impediments to nationalism in some realms, and have sparked the rise of republicanism. All African and Asian Commonwealth countries have dropped the Queen as sovereign and become either republics or have their own monarchies. Additionally, some other Commonwealth Realms, including Malta, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and Fiji, decided to become republics, and created constitutional amendments removing Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, and replacing the governor general with an elected president. In 1999, a referendum was held in Australia on removing the Queen as the nation's head of state, but it was unsuccessful. Though the move failed, it was widely seen as vision of things to come. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Percival Patterson, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, and Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados, have all since voiced their support for republicanism. However, no action has yet been taken in these countries on this issue. A related controversy deals with the notion that Britain itself may one day choose to become a republic. Should such an event ever happen, it is unclear how this would affect the British monarch's standing in the Commonwealth Realms. He or she may remain the monarch of Canada, Australia, etc "in exile", so to speak, or a new British President may in turn become President of Canada, etc. It would certainly create a constitutional crisis and it remains unclear and is easily debatable. This is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, as support for the Crown in the United Kingdom is fairly high. 46 The Remaining British Dependencies It's a far cry from the days when more than a third of the atlas was pink, but the remaining islands which are still dependent on Britain are anxious for the government in London not to forget them. Anguilla Located in the Caribbean, tourism and banking are two of the major contributors to the island's economy. The British army intervened on the island in 1969 when there was violent opposition to being administered from St Kitts. It was formally separated in 1980. Bermuda Located in the North Atlantic, Bermuda is Britain's oldest colony, dating from 1609, and its residents are content to remain a dependent territory, as an independence referendum in 1995 showed, where independence was rejected by a 75 per cent margin. Its main trade is in insurance and investment, but fishing is also important. The independence movement continues to campaign in Bermuda. British Antarctic Territory A whaling station existed on South Shetland Island, part of what now constitutes the BAT. But now the population is about 70 scientists at the British Antarctic Survey Station, which was established in 1943. The territory has a total area of 1,709,400 square kilometres. The British Antarctic Territory is the region of Antarctica over which the United Kingdom claims sovereignty. It includes all the lands and islands in a wedge extending from the South Pole to 60° S latitude between longitudes 20° W and 80° W. It is administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as an Overseas Dependent Territory. The British Antarctic Territory issues its own postage stamps. Although the United Kingdom claims sovereignty over this region, there are overlapping claims by Argentina and Chile. Under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, all territorial claims remain frozen, allowing the whole of Antarctica to be used as a continent for peace and science. The Antarctic Peninsula was the first part of the mainland of Antarctica to be sighted by explorers. In 1820, Smith, Palmer and Bellingshausen all sighted the Antarctic Peninsula. Many expeditions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries visited the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands, and the region contains many sites of historic interest. British Antarctic Territory has a great wealth of marine life, including large breeding colonies of penguins and seals, which attracted the first sailors to the region in pursuit of fur and seal-oil. British Antarctic Territory includes a wide range of landscapes, from the spectacular mountains and islands of the Antarctic Peninsula, to the smooth plains of the ice shelves and ice caps. British Indian Ocean Territory Access to these islands located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, south of India, is limited to the British and American military and civilian contractors working there to provide support for the UK and US navies. 47 British Virgin Islands Located in the Caribbean, discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Tourism is now the most important factor in the economy. Cayman Islands Located in the Caribbean, having been a dependency of Britain and then Jamaica, the Caymans reverted to being under the British in 1962. It is the fifth largest banking centre in the world. Falkland Islands Located in the South Atlantic off the southern tip of South America, the Falkland Islanders were given full British citizenship after the conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982. Islanders have made it clear on several occasions that they want to stay British, even though nearby Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands and refers to them as the  Malvinas . Gibraltar Located on the southern tip of Spain, having been governed by at least eight different rulers, the Spanish ceded Gibraltar to the British in 1713. The British have said they will stand by Gibraltarians' right to defend who should rule them. As EU citizens, many are also British citizens. Spain continues to claim sovereignty over Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Liberal Party advocates independence for Gibraltar as a Dominion. Montserrat Located in the Caribbean, the population is thought to have fallen since two-thirds of the island was made uninhabitable by a volcano in 2003. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus, but was first ruled from Britain in 1632. Pitcairn Islands Located in the middle of the South Pacific, one of the most remote parts of what is left of the Empire, it is best known for being a home to Fletcher Christian and nine of the mutineers from the 'Bounty'. It is now Britain's last dependent territory in the Pacific. Islanders speak a mixture of English and Tahitian - 18 Tahitians accompanied Christian when he landed in 1790. Saint Helena Located in the South Atlantic, St Helena is the only one of Britain's dependent territories which currently receives aid. The Foreign Office estimates the aid amounts to £3.2 million, although the island's government is trying to increase inward investment and tourism. Its dependencies include Ascension Island, Gough Islands and Tristan da Cunha, thought to be the world's most remote inhabited island, which has a population of 300. Ascension Island has no indigenous population but is used as a relay station for the RAF, the USAF, Cable and Wireless and the BBC. South Georgia Located in the South Atlantic, east of the Falkland Islands, with just a military and a scientific base, these islands were administratively part of the Falklands until 1985 when they were converted into a separate 48 territory. Like the Falklands they were occupied by Argentine troops in 1982. Argentina claims these islands. Turks and Caicos Islands Located in the Caribbean, south of the Bahamas, consisting of more than 30 islands, they were a dependency of Jamaica from 1874 until 1959, but then became a separate British dependency. A great many of the tourists who visit the Turks and Caicos Islands are Canadian. Owing to this and the islands' status as a British colony, some politicians, both in Canada and the Turks and Caicos, have suggested some form of union between the two countries. In 1973, Canadian NDP MP Max Saltsman introduced the first failed attempt at annexing the islands. The idea was brought up again in 1986 by Canadian Conservative MP Dan McKenzie, but it was rejected by his party's caucus committee on external affairs in 1987. The committee, chaired by MP David Daubney, looked at immigration, banking, health care and tourism issues in making its decision. In 2004, Canadian Conservative MP Peter Goldring visited Turks and Caicos to explore the possibility once more. He plans to table a Private Member's bill in the Canadian House of Commons offering full Provincial status in Canada to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Joining Canada as a full province would require amending the Canadian Constitution. The last new province, Newfoundland, was brought into the country in 1949 by an act of the British Parliament. Joining as a territory would be easier, as territories can be created by an act of Canadian federal law. Akrotiri and Dhekelia Also known as the Special Base Area Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia are two British military bases located in southeast Cyprus. British troops and their families are stationed there permanently and the base areas are sovereign British territory. They were retained by the United Kingdom after Cyprus became independent in 1960. 49 The Effect of New Trading Blocks on the Commonwealth In the mid-twentieth century the Commonwealth was the leading economic community in the world. Writing in 1956, Gunnar Myrdal compared the Commonwealth favourably to Western Europe as an economic and political grouping. He commented that Western Europe lacked the Commonwealth s  sense of solidarity . By 1970, however, the Commonwealth had lost its raison d etre as an economic association. In this year Britain launched its third, and this time successful, application for membership of the European Economic Community (EEC). Canada occupied an ambiguous position in the Commonwealth economic community. The Canadian economy was second only to the British in size and industrial sophistication, but Canada was not a member of the Sterling Area, the financial mechanism at the heart of Commonwealth economic cooperation between 1940 and 1958. Even before the Second World War, the Canadian economy was more closely integrated with the USA than with Britain. Naturally, this reliance on the USA inspired some Canadians to promote the Commonwealth nexus as a counterweight. But the purpose of this paper is not to discuss Canada s economic policy towards the Commonwealth, but rather to explain why the Commonwealth ceased to offer a viable alternative to other economic arrangements. The British Economic Complex American officials in the 1950s characterized the global web of financial, economic, political, and military relationships centred upon London as the British complex . The Commonwealth economic community was a set of interlocking networks spanning the private and public sectors. A network is a form of organization that is intermediate between, at one extreme, impersonal interchange among unrelated agents, and, at the other end extreme, a formal hierarchy controlled from the centre. Members of a network interact with each other more than they interact with outsiders. Networks are not inherently more or less efficient than other forms, but they can prove invaluable under particular circumstances. The notion that the Commonwealth was a network, or group of networks, is an old one. The British statesman, Stanley Baldwin, described the Commonwealth in 1924 as a network of contacts . In 1940 Keith Hancock remarked that this network was intricate and intimate , although membership did not bar intercourse with other nations. In the public sector, networks of ministers, civil servants, and central bankers met regularly at Commonwealth economic conferences, and sat on committees and working parties such as the Sterling Area Statistical Committee. These networks discussed the overall direction of economic policy in the Commonwealth. But the Commonwealth was also permeated with networks of bankers, traders, shipping companies, and manufacturers, whose decisions may or may not have been consistent with the communiqués issued after Commonwealth economic conferences. These public and private networks were interdependent. Cain and Hopkins stress the close links between policy-makers and business leaders, especially in commerce and banking, at the core of the imperial network. It is not suggested that each component of these networks possessed equal influence. Britain s voice carried far more weight than New Zealand s, however the views of small countries could not be disregarded. Networks depend on give and take, and require a high level of mutual trust. Private sector networks were largely responsible for creating Britain s commercial empire between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries. It was only in the 1930s that economic cooperation between governments of empire countries developed along systematic lines, in response to the global crisis of 1929-33. Sterling left gold in 1931. India and the dominions, except Canada due to its proximity to the USA, resolved to fix their currencies against sterling, instead of letting them float or fixing them against gold or the US dollar, and thereby formed the Sterling Bloc. The establishment of central banks in India 50 and the dominions facilitated greater monetary cooperation.6 In 1932 Britain abandoned free trade and imposed tariffs or quotas on most imports from foreign countries, while continuing to grant duty-free status to empire produce. Empire countries, including Canada, reciprocated by raising tariffs on non- British manufactures. The Ottawa Agreements codified the system of Imperial Preference. During the 1940s, the need for cooperation between Britain and other Commonwealth governments intensified. Notwithstanding the provision of aid by the USA and Canada, Britain and the sterling Commonwealth remained desperately short of US and Canadian dollars to pay for essential imports. By 1945, the Sterling Bloc had evolved into the more restrictive Sterling Area. Members of the Sterling Area imposed various restrictions, including exchange and import controls, on dollar expenditure, and deposited dollar earnings into a central pool in return for additional sterling balances. Sterling balances could be converted into dollars to pay for imports from North America. Each year some parts of the Sterling Area were in deficit, others in surplus, with the dollar area. Fewer dollars in total were needed under this system than under the alternative of separate reserves in each country. Pooling freed member countries from the need to earn dollars directly. Since the US market for agricultural produce was tightly protected, it would have been difficult for countries like Australia and New Zealand to earn enough dollars by their own efforts. Under pooling, however, they could draw dollars that had been earned by British manufacturers and tropical colonies. Not all members of the Sterling Area had the same rights. Britain controlled dollar expenditure by the colonies, and restricted the freedom of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, Iraq, and Egypt to convert sterling balances accumulated between 1939 and 1945. Australia and New Zealand faced no formal constraints on their dollar spending. The economic goals of most governments in the early post-war period were reconstruction, stability, and full employment. After the traumas of the 1920s and 1930s, few outside North America had faith in unfettered market forces. The possibility that the world economy would fall back into depression could not be ignored. According to the economic thinking of the time, demand shocks were transmitted from country to country by fluctuations in exports and imports. A decline in exports relative to imports led to a leakage of spending and a reduction in economic activity. For example, if economic activity were to fall in the USA, Americans would buy fewer imports, and consequently in the Sterling Area aggregate demand would fall and unemployment rise. In theory, however, the Sterling Area apparatus made it possible to match any reduction in exports with an equal reduction in imports, leaving aggregate demand and employment unchanged. Demands from the USA, supported by Canadian, for the abandonment of dollar discrimination did not prevail in the late 1940s. A brief flirtation, in 1947, with the free convertibility of sterling into dollars for current account transactions, ended in embarrassment when the dollar reserves collapsed. Similarly, early post-war attempts to negotiate the abolition of Imperial (or Commonwealth) Preference produced disappointing results for the Americans. Though the members of the Commonwealth Preference Area (CPA) surrendered the right to increase preference margins, in the GATT negotiations only Canada actually made deep cuts in preferences. Other Commonwealth countries held back because Washington declined to offer larger concessions. As the Cold War intensified, however, the Americans grew more tolerant of the Commonwealth economic community. The Commonwealth was America s only credible ally, and therefore had to be accommodated. Self-interest was one element in the willingness of independent Commonwealth nations to cooperate with Britain in the management of the Sterling Area and the CPA. As British officials put it in 1956, Commonwealth countries  are accustomed to trade with us, as we are with them. That is why it is in their interest that their currencies are tied to sterling, and the fact that their currencies are tied to sterling increases the tendency for us to trade with each other.  Aside from the benefits of dollar pooling, Sterling Area countries enjoyed indirect access to dollar loans and aid obtained by Britain. It was to the advantage of sterling balance holders to protect the value of sterling, and thereby to avoid a capital loss. 51 Furthermore, tariff preferences were regarded as useful bargaining counters in negotiations with other countries, and therefore not to be sacrificed lightly. The collapse of the Ottawa Agreements would have brought into question the right of Commonwealth primary producers to enjoy unrestricted duty-free access to the British market, as well as Britain s disposition to permit Sterling Area governments to float loans in London. Commonwealth and Sterling Area countries would have been worse off in the short term if they had refused to cooperate. The Sterling Area and the CPA were useful networks because of the increased transaction costs of doing business with non-members as a result of the disruption of international markets, the dollar gap, and US agricultural protectionism. Britain and, to a lesser degree, Canada occupied pivotal positions within this complex, due to their wealth and their ability to intercede with the USA on behalf of other members. It was the British, in response to an Australian request, who persuaded the Americans to allow Marshall Aid funds to be applied to cover the dollar deficit of the Rest of the Sterling Area (RSA). Relationships within the Sterling Area and the CPA were strengthened by trust. Casson suggests that cooperation among nations is harder to sustain than cooperation among firms, since political leaders have short electoral time horizons, and little incentive to invest in a good reputation abroad. In the Commonwealth, however, the temptation to act opportunistically was balanced by the unifying bonds of a shared language, history, and culture. Judd Polk, an American observer, contended that solidarity, reinforced by habit and informality, was an important, if intangible, characteristic of the Sterling Area as an international organization. Solidarity was not confined to politicians and officials of British birth, such as the New Zealand statesmen Peter Fraser and Walter Nash, or even British ancestry. According to Mansergh, the leaders of India, Pakistan, and Ceylon were easily incorporated into the highest councils of the Commonwealth in the late 1940s. He added that the Commonwealth did not cease to be a fraternal association , in Churchill s phrase, until after Suez. Trust was particularly important for the smooth working of the Sterling Area. Britain relied on independent members of this group to regulate imports so as to ensure that the central pool did not run out of dollars. During successive balance of payments crises, the RSA responded to calls for restraint, and the Sterling Area survived. A combination of Sentiment , Tradition , and Interest counteracted the temptation for Commonwealth countries to behave opportunistically. The Sterling Area and the CPA were as ad hoc defensive networks against the economic impact of depression, war, dollar shortage, and uncertainty. They provided members with a degree of insulation from external shocks, although it was not imagined that either would be self- sufficient. Erosion Of The Commonwealth Economic Complex The medley of networks that comprised the Commonwealth as an economic community decayed during the 1950s and the 1960s. At the micro-economic level, Britain lost its leadership in world shipping, and its competitive advantage in many branches of manufacturing. Customers in the Commonwealth were to a limited extent prepared to pay more for a British than for an equivalent foreign product, in view of the low transaction costs of going through familiar British companies. As British firms continued to lose competitiveness, however, a point came at which customers did switch to foreign products and commercial networks. Disengagement is also discernible at the inter-governmental level. The growth in political disunity in the Commonwealth was not conducive to economic cooperation. Suez destroyed Britain s credibility as a world power. The Macmillan government scuttled the African remnants of empire, after they had been devalued in the imperial economic audit of 1957, thus completing the transformation of the Commonwealth from a cozy club into [just] another international association . Nevertheless, the British endeavoured to hand power over to responsible successors in order to protect residual business and political interests in these countries. This strategy was most successful in Britain s most profitable colony, Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Even in Malaya, though, goodwill towards Britain diminished as new politicians and civil servants rose to prominence. Apartheid, Rhodesia, Biafra, and Kashmir divided the Commonwealth during the 1960s, and crowded out discussion of 52 economic cooperation. Harold Wilson, who came to power in 1964, wished to revitalize the Commonwealth as an economic association, by linking the development plans of Asian and African members to the expansion of Britain s capital goods industries. Agreement on the basis of Wilson s project was impossible under the conditions prevailing in the mid-1960s. Australia was Britain s most important export outlet during the 1950s. Fieldhouse describes sterling markets as Britain s lifeline between the 1930s and early 1950s. By 1960, however, the share of the Commonwealth in British exports was falling, while the shares of Western Europe and the USA were rising. The relative decline of Commonwealth trade preceded Britain s membership of the EEC. Western Europe s rising share of British trade, between 1955 and 1970, merely restored the state of affairs pertaining before the First World War. But Western Europe s share of British exports continued to grow during the 1970s and 1980s. The EEC required Britain, which became a member in 1973, to discriminate against non-members. Wartime discussions between the leading Allies  the USA, Britain, and Canada  focussed on how stability could be restored to the world economy. It was in principle resolved to establish multilateral organizations to manage the post-war international economy. The purpose of the first of these bodies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was to reduce currency instability, eliminate restrictions on current account transactions, and prevent international financial crises. IMF members were obliged to fix their exchange rates against the US dollar, and to progress towards non-discriminatory and unrestricted payments. Significant changes in exchange rates required the approval of the IMF. Members could borrow from the IMF when in difficulty, but the more they borrowed the tighter the conditions imposed, and the greater the IMF s interference in their economic policies. One of the advantages of IMF membership was eligibility to join the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD or World Bank), an increasingly important source of capital for development projects. The Bretton Woods institutions (the IMF and the IBRD) offered a rival structure, and source of legitimacy, to the Sterling Area. Attitudes in the Sterling Area towards the IMF were ambivalent. The IMF was highly critical of the Sterling Area s regime of dollar discrimination in the early 1950s. Britain and the RSA endorsed the principles of non-discrimination and current account convertibility, and accepted the need for international coordination. After 1947, however, the Sterling Area declined to be pushed into the premature resumption of convertibility. The phasing out of dollar discrimination, starting in the mid-1950s, and the resumption of convertibility in 1958, highlighted the self-liquidating aspects of the Sterling Area. Schenk concludes that the Sterling Area was a temporary expedient.2The Sterling Area became increasingly irrelevant after 1958, and members gradually reduced their holdings of sterling. As regards commercial policy, in 1945 the Americans proposed an International Trade Organization (ITO). Though the ITO did not win the endorsement of the US Congress, its place was taken by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Prior to the formal discussion of these schemes, the British, under intense US pressure, had conceded the principle of no new preferences. The sterling dominions resented, but later accepted, this concession, which precluded the extension of the Ottawa system while Britain and other Commonwealth countries were members of GATT. The Commonwealth was unable negotiate as a bloc in GATT. Canada enthusiastically supported GATT, but Australia and New Zealand were suspicious of this institution. At several points, Britain and Australia attempted to modify the no new preference (NNP) rule. However, foreign members of GATT vetoed any retreat from the NNP rule, while even the Commonwealth was divided over this issue. Asian countries were lukewarm about Commonwealth Preference, which they regarded as a remnant of colonialism. Peter Thorneycroft, the President of the Board of Trade, advised the British Cabinet, in 1954, to refrain from insisting on reform of the NNP rule, as this would cause a rift between Britain, Australia, and New Zealand in one camp, and Canada, India, and Pakistan in the other camp. 53 The exchange of British manufactures for imperial primary produce was at the heart of the imperial economic system. While several parts of the empire, including Canada, Australia, and, after 1917, India, placed tariffs on imports from Britain, it was not until after 1945 that import substitution industrialization (ISI) became a cornerstone of economic policy in the underdeveloped and semi-developed world. The purposes of ISI were to foster economic development, strengthen the capacity for national defence, and reduce dependency on more advanced nations. During the late 1930s and the Second World War, Britain encouraged the establishment of munitions-related industries in the empire. It was recognized, for example, that Australia could not be defended in the absence of a large increase in population and military capacity. British and Australian ministers agreed in 1938 that a substantial rise in the Australian population was in the interests of the Empire as a whole , and that this would entail further industrialization. Hancock pointed out that, in view of the Japanese and German threats, economic nationalism in the dominions could be consistent with the highest imperial priorities. Industrial decentralization within the British Empire was a rational response to Britain s inability to guarantee maritime communications. British ministers advocated the development of a modern engineering industry in India, so that this country could make a mechanized contribution to imperial defence. Nevertheless, ISI cut against the grain of British industrial interests, which were to supply Commonwealth countries with a full range of imported manufactures. Employers on the UK Engineering Advisory Council complained, in 1952, that Commonwealth countries were  making strong efforts to develop their secondary industries, even when these are uneconomic. Not only did ISI undermine exports, but it also drew resources out of primary production, leading to higher food and raw material costs in Britain. ISI was particularly damaging to the interests of British manufacturers of consumer products. Although import substitution policies created opportunities for exporters of capital goods, firms in this branch of engineering experienced declining competitive advantage relative to European, US, and Japanese producers. India was the most systematic exponent of ISI in the Commonwealth. Instead of investing in light industries, India was determined to modernize in depth, starting with heavy industries. This semi-autarchic strategy did not bode well for trade with Britain. In fact India s partial withdrawal from the international economy seriously reduced the scope for the Commonwealth to develop as an economic community. The persistent use of tariffs and import controls against British goods was a source of tension in the Commonwealth during the 1950s and 1960s. Although New Zealand lacked a coherent ISI programme, it restricted imports from all sources in order to safeguard the balance of payments, which was chronically weak due to zealous full employment policies. Small-scale manufacturing firms expanded in this insulated environment, and import controls were tweaked in their favour whenever they were under threat. Britain often remonstrated with New Zealand. For instance, in 1966 the British submitted a list of exports, including televisions, gin, coffin furniture, and vices, with respect to which they alleged unfair treatment by New Zealand. Britain also faced the possibility of growing competition from Commonwealth manufactures in the UK domestic market. In 1956, the British Cabinet noted that problems might arise from the industrialisation of the Colonies, based on very low costs , as the United Kingdom would be unable to absorb Colonial manufactures in large quantities without harming sunset industries such as cotton. Most colonial and Commonwealth manufactures were imported duty-free under the Ottawa Agreements. The government finally intervened in 1959 to impose a rather loose quota scheme on cotton textile imports from India, Pakistan and Hong Kong. In the 1960s, Britain was a party to the Short-Term and Long-Term Arrangements in GATT, which permitted Western countries to regulate textile imports from the Third World. By participating in these schemes, Britain was retreating from the principle of Commonwealth free entry under the auspices of a multilateral organization. Many British firms responded to ISI by opening subsidiaries in the countries concerned. Indeed, this tendency was visible before 1939. The geographical distribution of British FDI was skewed towards the Commonwealth until the surge of investment in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. Large firms, such as ICI, Unilever, and BMC, were in a better position than were smaller firms to make the transition from 54 exporting to FDI. Some companies were coerced into establishing joint ventures in Commonwealth countries on pain of the grant of exclusive rights to foreign rivals. Leyland Motors  investment in India in the 1950s was made against the backdrop of such a threat. British plants in the Commonwealth suffered from the same competitive malaise as manufacturers in the UK. Several large British companies opened works in Malaysia, in the 1960s, to make consumer goods for the local market. Although initially successful, these businesses wilted when Japanese companies also set up plants in Malaysia. Import substitution undermined the British economic complex. Dissatisfaction with the erection of barriers against British exports inclined policy-makers in London to pay greater attention to the potential of alternative markets. Agricultural development, the British counterpart to ISI, caused as much anxiety to dominion farmers as import substitution did to manufacturers in Manchester and Birmingham. During the 1930s, Britain introduced food tariffs on many agricultural imports, including foreign dairy produce and beef, and quotas on foreign beef. Imports from the empire, however, remained free of duty. At the same time, certain products, notably wheat, continued to be imported duty-free and in unlimited quantities from all sources. War and its aftermath disrupted the British food economy, and the government entered into long-term contracts with Commonwealth countries in order to ensure supplies. Britain encouraged the dominions, with mixed results, to expand their primary producing capacity. For several reasons, including fear of renewed blockade, concern about the import bill, and farmers insistence on higher living standards, the 1945-51 Labour government introduced a lavish system of agricultural subsidies called deficiency payments. Britain s output of temperate foodstuffs grew rapidly under these benign conditions. As the world food shortage abated, the Churchill government terminated the long-term food contracts in 1953- 54, and loosened controls over food imports from the dollar area. Britain refused to join the revised International Wheat Agreement (IWA) in 1953, arguing that its price range was too high. The British welcomed the dumping of food surpluses by foreign countries, as this helped to contain the cost of living. Moreover, Commonwealth food preferences, which were specific rather than ad valorem, had been eroded by inflation since 1939. Commonwealth suppliers were squeezed between the deficiency payments scheme and foreign competition. Farmers in the dominions considered that they had been betrayed. Geoffrey Scoones, the British High Commissioner, reported on opinion in New Zealand: Her Majesty s Government s frequent exhortations to New Zealand since the war to increase her exports of meat  are very much in New Zealand minds  it is felt here that such exhortations cannot now be unsaid, and that they, no less than the Ottawa Agreement, place an obligation on Her Majesty s Government to assure New Zealand producers a remunerative return in the United Kingdom market. As the cost of deficiency payments mounted, Whitehall began to search for an alternative means of assisting British farmers. In 1962, Nicholas Soames, the Minister of Agriculture, suggested that, whatever the outcome of negotiations for EEC membership, Britain should introduce variable import levies or quantitative restrictions on cereal and meat imports from all sources. He noted that Britain had the right to terminate at six months notice the agreements under which Commonwealth food was imported in unrestricted quantities. Cabinet decided in 1963 to work towards a regime of minimum import prices for cereals, and voluntary restrictions on beef and lamb imports. In the event, it proved impossible to agree with suppliers on the control of meat imports, except bacon, but an understanding was reached with Australia, Canada and other exporters on a regime of minimum import prices and market sharing for wheat. Although Commonwealth producers encountered far fewer restrictions in Britain than elsewhere, the thrust of British policy was hostile towards traditional suppliers. Regardless of policy changes, however, Britain would not have been able to absorb the Commonwealth s rising food surpluses at remunerative prices, in view of the slow growth of the population, and the low income elasticity of demand for food. 55 London s position as the world s principal capital market was undermined by the two world wars. Britain needed Canadian as well as American Lend-Lease aid during the Second World War, and in 1946 Canada granted Britain a generous loan of C$1.25 billion. India, Egypt, Australia, and other parts of the Sterling Area also provided Britain with large wartime credits, which accounted for the rapid growth in sterling balances. However, Britain intended to resume its role as a capital exporter once the international economic situation returned to normality. Due to the parlous state of the balance of payments, overseas governments, public agencies, and companies required official sanction to issue debt on the London market after the war. Preference was given to borrowers from sterling countries, but even they were rationed. Unable to raise sufficient capital in Britain to support an ambitious development programme, Australia turned to the World Bank, in 1950, for a loan of US$100 million. World Bank borrowing relieved Australia s dollar shortage, and enabled it to buy more American equipment. Australia returned to the World Bank on a number of occasions. At the 1952 Commonwealth Economic Conference, Britain, under pressure from the rest of the Commonwealth, agreed to make a special effort to provide more capital for development projects. However, it was acknowledged that the Sterling Area also needed to attract much more foreign, and especially American, capital. The Colombo Plan was a Commonwealth initiative, proposed in 1950, to provide economic assistance to Asian developing countries. As the British were short of capital, they persuaded the Americans to make a financial contribution, even though thus compromised the Colombo Plan s branding as Commonwealth scheme. While Canada became an important capital exporter in the 1950s and 1960s, the bulk of its investments were in the USA not the Sterling Area. By 1956-57, British government attitudes towards investment in the Commonwealth were hardening. Sir Frank Lee, the Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade, was in no doubt about the need for a change of course. We are clearly over investing abroad (particularly in the Commonwealth) and under-investing at home  But what troubles me particularly  is the ingrained belief in so many Commonwealth countries that the U.K. must finance somehow or another the great part of what are thought to be their essential investment needs (usually on the basis of a very rapid rate of economic growth) ... My belief is therefore that we shall be forced to a drastic reconsideration of our overseas investment policy, particularly in the Commonwealth ... I fully realize that a substantial contraction  of our investment in the Commonwealth would be likely to involve very serious political and other consequences  e.g. the future of the sterling area as we know it would be in question ... [but I am] very sceptical indeed about the real advantage to us of maintaining the sterling area   Lee contended that too much British capital had been wasted on prestigious, but uncommercial, development schemes, with the result that British industry had been starved of capital for modernization. British industry s lacklustre performance, especially against European and Japanese competition, was a matter of growing concern. Over the longterm, Britain s ability to provide the Commonwealth with fresh capital depended on British industry s international competitiveness. Without a current account surplus, Britain could not be a net exporter of capital. These issues were given careful consideration in 1956-57. Although the British resolved not to impose additional restrictions on lending to the RSA, they used higher interest rates to deter overseas borrowing. Britain urged Commonwealth governments to borrow in New York, and to join the IMF and World Bank, if, like New Zealand, they were not yet members. In 1966, as sterling came under renewed pressure, British investors were asked to reduce capital outflows to the Sterling Area. The practical impact of these  voluntary  controls is uncertain. The point is that they signalled a tougher British stance. Britain remained the principal source of capital inflows (direct plus portfolio) into Commonwealth countries, with the notable exception of Canada, during the 1950s and 1960s. Even so, the demand for capital imports exceeded Britain s willingness to supply capital. The USA, the World Bank, Japan, and continental Europe supplemented British capital flows to a greater or lesser extent. As regards FDI, the growing involvement of foreign, and especially American, subsidiaries reflected their ability to offer superior processes, products, or brands compared with British firms. In Australia, General Motors- 56 Holden, Ford, International Harvester, Chrysler, Goodyear, Kodak, Nestlé, Philips, and Volkswagen were ranked among the top 100 companies in 1964. As the pattern of capital flows changed, Commonwealth countries reduced their dependence on British components, technology, and management services. Hence the Commonwealth economic network experienced further erosion. Economic Alliances Excluding Britain The weakening of the Commonwealth as an economic community owed much to the competing attraction of alternative centres of power, including the USA and Japan, and other regional networks. By 1939 Canada was in some respects already an extension of the US economy. Canada s manufacturing sector was quite closely integrated with its US counterpart. Large US firms, such as General Motors and Ford, operated plants in Ontario. The Canadian economy derived substantial benefits from proximity to the US market, and ease of access to US capital, technology, and management expertise. Intra-industry trade increased as Canadian industry became more sophisticated. Although some Canadians resented American domination, Canada achieved a much higher level of industrial development than either Australia or New Zealand, which were both isolated, and more reliant on British investment, did. The pull of the USA was much weaker in Australasia. Several Australasian products, such as beef, found a buoyant market in the USA during the 1950s and 1960s, but protection was a serious obstacle to the export of dairy produce, and even of wool, to the USA. American firms and consumers had no interest in inferior Australasian manufactures. The resurgence of Japan, under American sponsorship, threatened Britain s economic position in the Far East. Soon after the war, the Americans resolved that Japan should be developed as a bulwark against communism. However, they also determined that the revival of the Japanese economy must not be allowed to undermine US industrial jobs. Mainland China had been Japan s principal market before the Second World War, but, after the communist takeover in 1949, the Americans wished to isolate China, and therefore required alternative markets for Japan. The most convenient markets were in non- communist Asia, including the Sterling Area. Washington argued that the exchange of Japanese manufactures for Asian and Australasian primary produce would be mutually beneficial. A strong Japanese market would provide Australia and New Zealand with a serviceable alternative to the protected US market. American pressure for Japan to be admitted into GATT presented Britain, Australia, and New Zealand with a dilemma. Washington s demands could not be ignored, and there was no denying that Japan was a potentially lucrative outlet for Sterling Area primary produce. But Japanese consumer goods posed a serious threat to Australasian industries and British exporters. When Japan joined GATT in 1955, certain countries, including Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and India, refused to grant it full MFN status for several years. Australia concluded a bilateral trade agreement with Japan in 1957, and New Zealand followed suit in 1958. These agreements ended quantitative discrimination against Japanese trade, and reduced tariffs on Japanese products from the general level to the MFN level, thereby cutting actual British preference margins. In return, Japan confirmed the duty-free status of wool, and agreed to import certain quantities of selected primary produce. Australia and New Zealand came to terms with Tokyo in order to secure a bridgehead in the Japanese market. They were spurred into action by the slow growth of the British market, the lamentable state of British agricultural policy, the 1954 trade agreement between Canada and Japan, and persistent overtures from Tokyo. British exporters bore the brunt of these agreements. Relations between Australia and Japan strengthened in the 1960s, stimulated by vast mineral discoveries in Western Australia. Trade between New Zealand and Japan, which started from a lower level, grew even faster than trade between Australia and Japan. In the 1960s, Japan floated a scheme for a free trade area embracing Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Canada. Nothing came of this proposal, which may be regarded as a precursor of APEC, but it provided further evidence that Australia and New Zealand might be drawn into an Asia Pacific economic network. In 1960, Malaya, Thailand, and the Philippines started to discuss the formation of a regional economic bloc as a counterweight to the EEC. India also showed interest in an Asian-African association. Britain s turn towards Europe gave 57 added impetus to the design, if not the implementation, of regional economic arrangements in Asia. The South East Asian plans of the 1960s foreshadowed the later development of ASEAN. The New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement of 1965 was the main practical development at the sub-regional level. New Zealand began to transfer its economic allegiance from Britain to Australia. NAFTA (not to be confused with the North American free trade grouping) was the first step towards the reintegration of the Australian and New Zealand economies, which had drifted apart after New Zealand s rejection of membership of the Australian Federation in 1901. A Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement followed in 1983. The newly independent Commonwealth African nations also sought to construct new economic links. Nigeria signed a preferential trade agreement with the EEC in 1966 that entailed discrimination against British goods. Commonwealth governments in East Africa reached a similar agreement with the EEC in 1968. Developing African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, including Britain s former colonies, entered into a wider preferential agreement, the Lome Convention, with the EEC in 1975. Britain could not prevent the unravelling of its economic complex east of Suez, since it could not offer new trading opportunities to match those available in the Pacific Rim and Asia. In the long run, Britain was too small to absorb the rising food, raw material, and manufacturing surpluses of the Commonwealth. New outlets were needed for Commonwealth produce, and these could not be obtained without the formation of new inter-governmental and business networks. It was inevitable that these networks should gradually displace older networks centred on London. Ottawa Or Europe? Britain s Choice The decision of six European countries in 1955 to form a Common Market (the EEC) coincided with a serious deterioration in Britain s relationship with Australia. Britain started, slowly at first, to refocus its external economic strategy towards the rapidly growing European market. In 1955, the British still considered the Commonwealth to be a more valuable economic asset than Western Europe. But they feared that if the EEC were to go ahead, German industry would gain an even more dominant position in Europe, while British industry would face discrimination and marginalization. Ideally, from the British perspective, Franco-German squabbling would kill the Common Market scheme. However, the Six were determined to proceed with or without Britain s blessing, since they enjoyed strong support in Washington. The demand of Australia, in 1956, for large reductions in contractual British preferential margins, in order to facilitate trade negotiations with other countries, was viewed askance in London. As far as the British were concerned, the Australian proposals would wreck the Ottawa system, of which Australasia was the core. Britain made a net loss from the Ottawa system as a whole, but a significant net gain from its preferential tariff arrangements with Australia and New Zealand. The campaigns mounted by Australia, in 1956, and New Zealand, in 1958, for reductions in contractual British preferences led to the revision of their respective Ottawa Agreements. In the event, however, foreign countries were unwilling to open their markets to Australian and New Zealand food exports for the sake of lower British preference margins, and actual margins did not fall by much in the late 1950s and 1960s. Economic theory suggests that the welfare implications of participation in a regional trading arrangement, such as the Commonwealth Preference Area or the EEC, are ambiguous. It appears, though, that the Ottawa system exerted a significant influence over the direction of trade. The intensity of trade was greater between Britain and the Commonwealth than between Britain and comparable non- Commonwealth countries. What really mattered in the mid-1950s was that British perceptions of the relative value of the Commonwealth and Europe as economic communities started to change. Harold Macmillan outlined the position in Cabinet in July 1956: Australia s changed attitude to the preference system reflected the fact that the United Kingdom was no longer able to fulfill her traditional role of providing the capital needed for the industrial [sic] development of the Commonwealth.  The preferences were still of great value to us and it was important that we should retain what preferences we could. It would now be necessary, however, to re-examine, in the light of the Australian attitude, the relative importance and future 58 prospects of our trade with Australia and the Commonwealth, and with Europe and other overseas markets. Britain began to draw closer to Europe. At first the British promised that they would do nothing to jeopardise Commonwealth food preferences in negotiations with the Europeans. Late in 1956, they floated a scheme for an industrial free trade area in Europe, which after a lengthy delay was rejected by EEC countries. Frustrated by the collapse of this initiative, the British scrambled to establish the smaller European Free Trade Area, another largely industrial bloc, in partnership with the Scandinavian countries, Portugal, Austria, and Switzerland. In 1961-63, Macmillan launched an application for British membership of the EEC. He regarded it as imperative that British industry should have access to EEC markets on the same terms as the Germans. Large manufacturers were among the most enthusiastic supporters of the European connection. Growth in Europe continued to outstrip growth in the Commonwealth, giving further impetus to the pro-EEC stance of the British establishment. One of the stumbling blocks to membership of the EEC was the privileged status of Commonwealth agriculture. The Six insisted that Britain must scrap Commonwealth food preferences, and adopt the projected Common Agricultural Policy, which incorporated draconian restrictions on imports from non- EEC countries. Some safeguards might have been available for New Zealand dairy farmers, and for some tropical producers, but otherwise the EEC had nothing to offer the Commonwealth beyond a vague undertaking to promote world commodity agreements. Essentially, Commonwealth farmers and manufacturers would forfeit their British markets to European suppliers. Diefenbaker was the most virulent critic of Macmillan s policy, though Canada had less to lose than many Commonwealth countries. New Zealand still consigned over 50 per cent of its exports to Britain, and feared that even partial exclusion from this market would lead to ruination. Apart from Canada, however, the mood in the Commonwealth in 1961-63 was one of sullen resentment rather than outright opposition to Britain. New Zealand could not afford to alienate the British. The Australians effectively washed their hands of the affair, taking comfort from the gathering pace of mineral exports to Japan. De Gaulle s veto of Britain gave Commonwealth food producers, especially in New Zealand, a reprieve, although there was no suggestion that Britain now planned to withdraw into a strengthened Ottawa bloc. It seemed only a matter of time before Britain submitted another application to join the EEC. Wilson s flirtation with the Commonwealth in 1964-65 was short-lived. In 1965, officials warned that Britain faced political and economic isolation outside the EEC. Britain needed to develop high technology industries in cooperation with other advanced countries, since it could not compete alone with the USA. The Commonwealth had little to offer. A satisfactory alternative [to EEC membership] had to be considered not only in terms of the  size of market for a major industrial complex but also in terms of the size of research and development potential for future expansion in a highly technological world.  The Commonwealth would not provide a satisfactory alternative; the new Commonwealth was in need of technical assistance and they were in no position to contribute to research and development resources. On the other hand, among the old Commonwealth countries Canada was linked to the United States in research and development, and Australia and New Zealand pursued their own policies. Wilson s approach to the EEC in 1967-68 was rebuffed, but thereafter negotiation was virtually continuous. De Gaulle s departure facilitated success for Edward Heath s government in 1970-71. Britain joined the EEC in 1973, having obtained minimal concessions for Commonwealth producers other than New Zealand dairy farmers and Third World sugar growers. The Commonwealth Preference Area ceased to function in 1977. It is debatable whether Britain after 1973 was better off as a member of the EEC than it could have been under the various alternative arrangements. This paper, however, is not concerned with the merits of British policy. During the 1960s the British convinced themselves that it was preferable to join the EEC than to lead a much looser Commonwealth economic community. Once the British had made their decision, the rest of the Commonwealth could do nothing to change their minds. 59 The Commonwealth economic community emerged as an intergovernmental network in the 1930s in the wake of the collapse of the Gold Standard and multilateral trade. During the 1940s, this community became more inward looking, as the cost of transacting with outsiders was increased by the war, the dollar shortage, and uncertainty. The 1950s and 1960s, however, saw the reversal of this process of growing integration. When normality was restored to the international economy, transaction costs fell, and the need to discriminate against the dollar area waned. Commonwealth countries were drawn towards new centres of attraction. The Commonwealth had never been self-sufficient, and Britain could not absorb the export surpluses of Commonwealth Asia, the African colonies, and the dominions. Import substitution policies in Britain as regards agriculture, and in the rest of the Commonwealth as regards manufacturing, undercut traditional patterns of economic interchange within the Commonwealth. Britain was neither willing nor able to supply Commonwealth countries with sufficient capital to finance their ambitious development programmes. Commonwealth states in the Asia Pacific worked to improve their relations with the USA and Japan, ultimately to Britain s loss. Australia s demand for more leeway to reduce British preference margins helped to spark the British government s interest in European economic integration, although this was bound to happen sooner or later given Europe s proximity. Britain started to transfer its allegiance from an imperial economic grouping to a regional one. In due course, other Commonwealth countries, including Canada (NAFTA and APEC), Australia (CER and APEC), New Zealand (CER and APEC), Malaysia (ASEAN and APEC) and Singapore (ASEAN and APEC) also entered regional groupings. Commonwealth Africa and the Caribbean became linked to the EEC through the Lome Convention. The writing was surely on the wall in 1958, when in conversation with General de Gaulle, John Diefenbaker, of all people, commented that the Ottawa Agreements were now mainly of sentimental value. 60 The Future Commonwealth Federation 61 62 The Time For Commonwealth Federation Is Right Until now, the British Empire and its successor, the Commonwealth, were not ready for federation. During the days of Empire, communication and transportation were just too slow and people wanted to bring government closer to home. Nationalism drove the change from Empire to Commonwealth. During these years of years of adversity, 1942  1973, the drive for Commonwealth Federation of C-4 countries encountered four main setbacks : First. The Lend Lease Agreement (23rd February 1942) dismantled Commonwealth trade preference. The US was determined to see the end of the British Empire & Imperial Trade preference to the advantage of the US. Britain had no choice but to accept the terms. Second. Quebec was immovably against a Commonwealth Federation. So, Canada could not go forward. Third. Canada, Australia & New Zealand [the C-3] eventually decided to go it alone in trade. Fourth. The C-3 stopped buying British civil & military aircraft [the VC10 & the TSR2 being pre- eminent]. The US succeeded in supplanting Britain in supplying advanced aviation products to the C-3 despite Britain producing top class aircraft. This demoralised Britain. The Economic Situation Today Each of the C-4 countries went their separate ways. Britain to the EU, Canada to NAFTA, & Australia & New Zealand with multiple bi-lateral trade deals. Each of the C-4 countries is now either in real political difficulties or are being squeezed by major trade blocs. Much of Canada is most unhappy with their relationship with the USA. The body politic, the press & the public are all seriously concerned about trade & environmental bullying as they see it by the USA. Canadian officials are even telling other countries to ask themselves if the word of the USA on a trade document is worth anything at all. [Source, The Economist, 10th September 2005]. Example 1 - The USA imposed tarriffs on Canadian softwood exports to the USA. "Illegal" said Canada. "We agree" said the umpires of NAFTA in a "final" decision & imposed a fine on the USA of $4 Billion. The USA then took the matter to the World Trade Organisation [WTO] where thedecision was "overturned". But, the WTO has no jurisdiction in the matter. [Source, The Economist 10th September 2005]. Example 2 - The USA is diverting polluted waters from their Devil`s Lake into the river system & on into Lake Winnipeg in Canada. Despite all Canadian protests the Americans are continuing the drainage. In 1909, Canada & the USA signed a Boundary Waters Treaty that set up a joint Commission to deal with such disputes. But American officials refuse to refer this matter to the Commission. Instead they want the issue to be heard in front of a US Federal agency, The Council on Environmental Quality. [Source The Economist 16th July 2005]. Example 3 - A Mr. Jalbert took a walk from his village in Canada to the nearest petrol station which was 45 feet into the USA. This was a usual & customary practice. He was arrested & held in prison as an 63 illegal immigrant for 35 days until the Canadian government got the US Secretary of State to personally intervene. [Source, The Economist 27th August 2005]. The examples above are but a sample of what causes the deep & abiding resentment that Canadians feel toward their southern neighbour. That Canada`s fellow NAFTA partner Mexico complains similarly about the USA reinforces Canadian resentment as being justified. st Today, in the 21 up, fast travel and the internet are bringing the world together. There is already discussion of the main English-speaking nations working together as an Anglosphere or a network Commonwealth. The Iraq War of 2004-2005 saw the military cooperation of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. A Commonwealth Federation For The Future The Commonwealth failed as an exclusive economic club, but continues today as a political club for the promotion of human rights, democracy and international relations. A revival of the Commonwealth as an exclusive economic grouping is most unlikely and not advantageous. However, a political reunification of parts of the Commonwealth would create the very advantageous position of tying together the regional economic blocks around the world into a large global free trade area. Global trade in on the increase and regional blocks cannot be exclusive any more. Even though the United Kingdom has been part of the European Community for over thirty years, it has the fourth largest economy in the world and is expanding its global trade. However, it is not allowed by the EU to enter into bilateral trade agreements with other non-EU countries. 85 per cent of Canada s trade is with the United States, however, it is now st Century, the time is right for Commonwealth Federation. Global free trade is opening looking to expand its global trade and build up economic links elsewhere. The trend in the 21 towards global free trade. The proposal here for Commonwealth Federation would promote just that. It is not about creating a new imperial trade area, but it would link up the European Union with NAFTA, ANZCERTA, ASEAN and possibly others. It would provide the opportunity for each member country to expand its markets while maintaining its current regional economic links. It would benefit all around, open up global free trade and puts its members in the most advantageous position of having access to four or more economic areas at once. Politically, the C-4, which is the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have a shared history, a common head of state and a common form of government. The political ties are there. Each now comes with regional economic ties. The economic and political integration of these countries into one, with possibly others, could be done easily and would create an economic, political and military powerhouse that can stand equally with other powers. The Federal Commonwealth Society was formed in 2002 in London to promote the plan for Commonwealth Federation. The regional branches of FCS Canada, FCS United Kingdom and FCS Australia were formed the year after. While the organization is in its infancy, the idea is catching on with the public, particularly young people. For the details of the Commonwealth Federation plan, please go to the Proposals page on this site, located at http://www.fcscanada.com/federation-proposal.htm. Century is 64 This document was created with Win2PDF available at http://www.win2pdf.com. The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-commercial use only. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire Part I Professor Patrick N. Allitt THE TEACHING COMPANY ® Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D. Goodrich C. White Professor of History, Emory University Professor Patrick N. Allitt was born in 1956 and raised in Mickleover, England. He attended John Port School in the Derbyshire village of Etwall, and he was an undergraduate at Hertford College, Oxford University, from 1974 to 1977. In 1978, he began graduate school in the United States. He studied American History at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1985. Between 1985 and 1988, he was a Henry Luce Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, where he specialized in American Religious History. Since then he has been on the history faculty of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, except for one year (1992–1993) when he was a fellow at the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion. Since 2007 he has been the Goodrich C. White Professor of History at Emory University, and since 2004 he has been the director of Emory College’s Center for Teaching and Curriculum. Professor Allitt is the author of four scholarly books: The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History (Yale University Press, 2009); Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America: 1950–1985 (Cornell University Press, 1993); Catholic Converts: British and American Intellectuals Turn to Rome (Cornell University Press, 1997); and Religion in America Since 1945: A History (Columbia University Press, 2003). In addition, he is the editor of Major Problems in American Religious History (Houghton-Mifflin, 2000) and the author of a memoir, I’m the Teacher, You’re the Student: A Semester in the University Classroom (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). He has written numerous articles and reviews for academic and popular journals, including recent reviews in The New York Times Book Review. He has made five other courses for The Teaching Company: American Religious History, Victorian Britain, The History of the United States, 2nd Edition (with Professors Allen C. Guelzo and Gary Gallagher), The American Identity, and The Conservative Tradition. Professor Allitt’s wife, Toni, is a Michigan native, and their daughter, Frances, is (in 2009) a rising senior in Emory College. ©2009 The Teaching Company. i Table of Contents The Rise and Fall of the British Empire Professor Biography ................................................................................................................................................................... i Course Scope .............................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Lecture One Lecture Two Lecture Three Lecture Four Lecture Five Lecture Six Lecture Seven Lecture Eight Lecture Nine Lecture Ten Lecture Eleven Lecture Twelve Lecture Thirteen Lecture Fourteen Lecture Fifteen Lecture Sixteen Lecture Seventeen Lecture Eighteen Lecture Nineteen Lecture Twenty Lecture Twenty-One Lecture Twenty-Two Lecture Twenty-Three Lecture Twenty-Four Lecture Twenty-Five Lecture Twenty-Six Lecture Twenty-Seven Lecture Twenty-Eight Lecture Twenty-Nine Lecture Thirty Lecture Thirty-One Lecture Thirty-Two Lecture Thirty-Three Lecture Thirty-Four Lecture Thirty-Five Lecture Thirty-Six Timeline .................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 Biographical Notes...................................................................................................................................................................75 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................. 77 The Sun Never Set .............................................................................................................. 2 The Challenge to Spain in the New World ......................................................................... 4 African Slavery and the West Indies .................................................................................. 5 Imperial Beginnings in India .............................................................................................. 7 Clive and the Conquest of India ......................................................................................... 8 Wolfe and the Conquest of Canada .................................................................................. 10 The Loss of the American Colonies ................................................................................. 12 Exploring the Planet ......................................................................................................... 14 Napoleon Challenges the Empire ..................................................................................... 16 The Other Side of the World ............................................................................................18 Abolition of the Slave Trade and Slavery ......................................................................... 20 Early African Colonies ..................................................................................................... 22 China and the Opium Wars............................................................................................... 24 Britain—The Imperial Center ........................................................................................... 26 Ireland—The Tragic Relationship .................................................................................... 28 India and the “Great Game” ............................................................................................. 30 Rebellion and Mutiny in India .......................................................................................... 32 How Canada Became a Nation ......................................................................................... 34 The Exploration and Settlement of Africa ........................................................................ 36 Gold, Greed, and Geopolitics in Africa ............................................................................ 37 The Empire in Literature .................................................................................................. 39 Economics and Theories of Empire..................................................................................41 The British Empire Fights Imperial Germany .................................................................. 43 V ersailles and Disillusionment ......................................................................................... 45 Ireland Divided ................................................................................................................. 46 Cricket and the British Empire ......................................................................................... 48 British India between the World Wars .............................................................................50 World War II—England Alone ........................................................................................ 52 World War II—The Pyrrhic Victory ................................................................................ 54 Twilight of the Raj............................................................................................................ 56 Israel, Egypt, and the Suez Canal ..................................................................................... 58 The Decolonization of Africa ........................................................................................... 60 The White Dominions ...................................................................................................... 62 Britain after the Empire .................................................................................................... 64 Colonial and Postcolonial Literature ................................................................................ 66 Epitaph and Legacy .......................................................................................................... 68 ii ©2009 The Teaching Company. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire Scope: Between the 17th and 20th centuries, Britain built the largest empire in the entire history of the world. It developed gradually and without prior planning, mainly through the initiatives of chartered trading companies such as the East India Company and the Virginia Company. Some colonies were devoted primarily to white settlement, and earlier indigenous populations were displaced or destroyed. These colonies included America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Others were sites from which lucrative raw materials could be drawn, such as the sugar islands of the West Indies (Barbados and Jamaica), and whose labor was provided largely by slaves. Others again were areas in which the British presence was numerically small but powerful enough to ensure law and order over large areas that had previously been torn by perpetual warfare, such as India. This great empire received its worst setback in the 1770s and 1780s when the English colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America rebelled under the leadership of George Washington and the Continental Congress, defeated the greatest military power of the day, and established their independence as the new United States of America. This catastrophe did not lead to the breakup of the rest of the empire, however. On the contrary, Britain became more powerful than ever and was able, 20 years later, to defeat the immense threat presented by Napoleon. In the 19th century, for the first time, the empire became something ordinary Britons might take pride in, especially once politicians like Benjamin Disraeli recognized the political benefits of jingoistic patriotism. Missionaries eager to convert the “heathen” spread out to Africa, India, and China. The most famous of them, David Livingstone, made few converts but did excellent work in exploring south central Africa and its river systems. Others challenged traditional customs in India such as sati (widow burning) and may have helped provoke a dangerous rebellion, the Indian Mutiny of 1857. In the mid-20th century, the empire broke up with surprising speed. The white settler colonies were already self-governing by then. The British Labour Party was ideologically opposed to imperialism, and it granted independence to India and Israel when it took power in the late 1940s. After that, both the major British parties, fully aware of a shift in world opinion in favor of self-government and away from empires, granted independence to the remaining African colonies, avoiding the kind of bitter rebellions France endured in the last days of its empire in Algeria and Vietnam. Although it has disappeared as a formal entity, however, the British Empire’s legacy is immense. English is the dominant language of the entire world, and British ideas of justice, political stability, and human rights have spread around the world. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 1 Lecture One The Sun Never Set Scope: Between the 17th and 20th centuries, Great Britain built the greatest empire in the history of the world. It dominated large parts of America, Africa, and Asia and turned Britain from an isolated island at the edge of Europe into the world’s first superpower and the world’s first industrial nation. Generations of ambitious young Britons went to the colonies in search of adventure and fortune. They encountered alien societies and exploited them, but an intellectual minority also studied them and helped to develop such new disciplines as anthropology and comparative religion. By the time Britain took over the colonies of the defeated Central Powers at the end of World War I, the imperial edifice was crumbling. Doubts about the right to rule, combined with anticolonial movements, created political pressure for independence. This pressure became overwhelming once Britain was weakened by World War II. The empire fell with astonishing speed, but its effects—and the effects of its ending—are still felt throughout the world. Outline I. The British Empire was not purpose-built, and at different times very different motives impelled Britain’s acquisition of foreign territories. A. B. C. II. In a A. B. C. D. In the 16th century, English monarchs and merchants envied Spain’s gold- and silver-rich New World possessions. 1. Privateers like Sir Francis Drake plundered Spanish ships and raided Spain’s colonies in the Caribbean. 2. England’s victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 marked its maturing as a naval power and raised the possibility that it too could create overseas colonies. Some of England’s early colonizing ventures were for profit, others for religious sanctuary. 1. The Virginia settlers were disappointed not to find gold and silver but discovered that tobacco could also be profitable. 2. West Indian sugar plantations were far more valuable than mainland settlements into the 18th century. 3. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony founders aimed to build ideal Puritan settlements. 4. William Penn aimed equally for religious liberty and prosperity. England’s first ventures into the Indian Ocean imitated those of Portugal and were directed at the spice trade. 1. India was dominated by the Mughal Empire in the 17th century, and the East India Company sought trading rights, not territory. 2. English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders (with royal backing) battled for local supremacy and for Indian and Far Eastern kings’ favor. long series of 18th-century wars, England and France struggled to seize each other’s overseas colonies. British superiority at sea gradually gave it an advantage over France and enabled it to gain a stronger colonial position. Two battles in the 1750s augmented British colonial power and diminished that of France: at Plassey in India and at the Heights of Abraham in French Canada. An unforeseen consequence of the British conquest of Canada was that American colonists felt less need of protection from the French. This does not explain the American Revolution but was certainly a precondition. Britain’s loss of its American colonies by 1783 was a jarring reversal to their power and prestige but did not prove to be a mortal wound. III. Britain consolidated its power over India and other colonies in the 19th century and undertook to modernize and Christianize them. 2 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. Where the first generation of “nabobs” had plundered India, the second and third generations brought internal peace and regular administration. 1. They tried to suppress customs they found abhorrent, such as sati (widow burning). 2. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 taught the British that such projects could be hazardous. White settler colonies like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada prospered as producers of farm exports and minerals. 1. 2. 3. Canada refused to join the United States in revolution. The Durham Report (1839) granted Canada a high measure of self-government and was a model for the other “white dominions.” The colonies provided a safety valve for Britain’s excess population and received steady drafts of immigrants. C. Only in the late 19th century, during the “scramble for Africa,” did the British Empire become an object of national pride. IV. Britain’s role in the two world wars weakened it and forced it to give way to new superpowers. A. The Australians and New Zealanders at Gallipoli thought they had been unnecessarily sacrificed by blundering British generals. B. Outrage at the Amritsar Massacre (1919) and growing doubt about Britain’s right to dominate other peoples spread, along with postwar disillusionment. C. Independence-movement leaders like Mahatma Gandhi in India exploited Britons’ troubled consciences. D. The Irish War of Independence (1916–1922) brought strife to the heartland of the empire. E. By 1945, Britain was clearly the inferior of the United States and the Soviet Union and could no longer convincingly play the role of world power. 1. Clement Attlee’s Labour government disavowed the imperial role and gave independence to India, Pakistan, and Israel. 2. His successors, Labour and Conservative alike, found themselves bound to follow suit in an international atmosphere now hostile to empires. F. Despite all this, the British Empire’s legacy is immensely influential in matters of language, politics, sport, and ideas. Suggested Reading: Chua, Day of Empire. Ferguson, Empire. James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Mead, God and Gold. Questions to Consider: 1. Which was more important in the development of the British Empire: the search for wealth or the search for power? 2. What attitudes are necessary among colonizers? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 3 Lecture Two The Challenge to Spain in the New World Scope: For five centuries after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the kings of England struggled to maintain a foothold in France. By the time they lost the last of their continental possessions in the 1550s, however, a more attractive alternative had been discovered: America. English monarchs and merchants looked with envy at Spain and Portugal’s great empires in the New World as treasure fleets brought back thousands of tons of silver and gold. English adventurers like Sir Francis Drake preyed on the Spaniards with the approval of Queen Elizabeth I. English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 demonstrated the importance of sea power and emboldened England to plan New World colonies of its own. In 1607, the first permanent English settlement got a foothold in Virginia. The Virginia settlers were disappointed to discover no precious metals, but they soon realized that growing tobacco for export was almost as lucrative. Outline I. Throughout the Middle Ages, England’s kings were preoccupied with securing their rule at home and trying to dominate France. A. The Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) was a protracted and unsuccessful attempt to dominate France. B. The War of the Roses (1455–1489) demonstrated the weakness of the monarchy at home. C. Henry VII brought internal civil strife to an end, while his son Henry VIII enriched and strengthened the monarchy by seizing church properties during the Reformation. D. A dynastic alliance with Spain ended with the death of Queen Mary I in 1558. II. English politicians and merchants envied Spanish and Portuguese domination of the New World. A. With the Treaty of Tordesillas (1493), the pope drew a vertical line through the New World, declaring all lands east of it Portuguese and all lands west of it Spanish. Other Europeans were forbidden. B. Annual silver and gold shipments from America to Europe contributed to Spain’s great power. C. Royal Charters gave monopolies to groups of traders, enabling them to pool resources and share risk. But they were strictly trading ventures, not colonizers. D. English sailors in the 16th century learned the techniques of blue-water sailing, on which the empire would depend in the coming centuries for fishing, trading, and privateering. E. English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 demonstrated the quality of British ship design and seamanship. III. A century after the Spaniards, England founded colonies of its own in the New World. A. Early ventures like Sir Walter Raleigh’s Roanoke Colony (1585) failed. B. The Virginia Company’s colony at Jamestown, planted in 1607, survived difficult early years before prospering as a tobacco plantation. C. European observers disagreed about whether or not tobacco had medicinal benefits. King James I wrote a pamphlet condemning it, despite the revenue it brought to his government. D. In Virginia, land was plentiful but labor was scarce, which prompted the importation of indentured servants. Many died in the unhealthy climate, and all were subject to severe discipline. IV. By the beginning of the 17th century, English sailors and traders were traveling to every part of the world, even though England’s colonial possessions were still minuscule. Suggested Reading: Black, The British Seaborne Empire, chap. 1. Crosby, Ecological Imperialism. Kelsey, Sir Francis Drake. Vaughan, American Genesis. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. Why did England begin its overseas venturing so long after Spain and Portugal? What motives inspired these early voyages? 4 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Three African Slavery and the West Indies Scope: After early experiments with indentured servants, Virginia tobacco planters and West Indian sugar planters began to import slaves from Africa. Africans were better adapted to the climate than the fever-prone English and with no prospect of freedom could not become the older planters’ rivals. British slave traders established stations on the west coast of Africa and bought their human cargo from African chiefs or obtained them by raiding inland villages. A triangular trade in slaves, sugar and tobacco, and finished goods developed. The Navigation Acts, passed in the mid- 17th century, built up the merchant navy by making sure that all this trade was confined to English and colonial shipping. Meanwhile, as Spanish imperial power declined, Britain began to challenge it directly in the Caribbean, notably by seizing Jamaica in 1655. Outline I. English settlers developed profitable sugar plantations in the West Indies, despite intermittent conflicts with Spain, the Netherlands, and France. A. England’s first colonies in the West Indies were islands Spain neglected to settle: Barbados (1627), St. Christopher (1624), Nevis (1628), Antigua (1632), and Montserrat (1632). They straddled and threatened Spain’s main trading routes and lived by the rule “no peace beyond the line.” B. The first settlers cultivated tobacco, indigo, and cotton. C. In the 1640s, Barbados switched to sugar cane, a volatile but extremely profitable business that needed more capital and a larger work force. D. After midcentury, African slaves began to replace indentured servants as large plantations displaced small farmers. E. Jamaica, captured from Spain in 1655, was a much larger and potentially more profitable colony. 1. A poorly led and fever-wracked English army seized the island after failing to take Hispaniola. 2. Its proximity to major Spanish colonies made it a center of English buccaneering for the next 35 years. F. The planters tried to hold on to English traditions and to assert their political rights. 1. Plantation owners resisted eating tropical food that grew in abundance, preferring imported English salt beef and salted New England fish. 2. They refused to obey imperial trade rules unless they enjoyed representation in Parliament. II. Slave trading was highly profitable, and in the 17th century almost no one had any moral qualms about it. A. England, the Netherlands, France, and Spain established slave “factories” along the western African coastline. 1. King Charles II gave monopoly slaving rights first to the Company of Royal Adventurers, then to the Royal African Company. 2. By the 1670s, about 7,000 slaves per year were being shipped to the West Indies. B. African chiefs bartered human captives for metal goods, firearms, alcohol, and gunpowder. In the 1670s, slaves cost about 3 pounds in Africa but sold for about 15 in the Indies. C. Conditions on slave ships led to epidemics, uprisings, and a high mortality rate. On arrival, the survivors were stripped, greased, and paraded naked for auction, then branded by their new owners. D. Slaves were subjected to harsh discipline. 1. Masters could flog, mutilate, and even kill them without suffering prosecution. 2. Slaves were forbidden to learn many skilled crafts. E. Slave rebellions were frequent but rarely succeeded. 1. Ethnic and linguistic divisions discouraged unified resistance. 2. Jamaica lent itself more readily to uprisings because of its size and its Maroon (escaped slave) population. III. The Navigation Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1661 encouraged the growth of the English merchant navy while excluding the Dutch and other rivals. A. The acts specified that all English colonial produce should be carried in English ships, whose crews were at least three-quarters English. B. Three midcentury trade wars against the Dutch established English naval superiority in the Caribbean. C. An earthquake in 1692 destroyed Port Royal, Jamaica, the buccaneers’ base. Religious observers regarded the event as a sign of God’s wrath on a wicked place. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 5 Suggested Reading: Burn, The British West Indies. Cruickshank, The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. Dunn, Sugar and Slaves. Klein, The Middle Passage. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. Why did slavery replace indentured servitude as the principal form of labor in the English West Indies by 1700? How were the English able to rival and then displace Spain and the Netherlands in the Caribbean? 6 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Four Imperial Beginnings in India Scope: India and the Far East were sources of silks and spices and an exotic drink called tea, which could not be made or grown in Europe. A slow and costly overland trade to India persisted through the Middle Ages. When Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed into the Indian Ocean in 1497, however, he showed the possibility of cutting out the middlemen. The sea trade, dominated at first by the Portuguese and Dutch, was soon invaded by Britain’s East India Company. The Islamic Mughal Empire was the Indian subcontinent’s greatest political power in the 17th century. As Mughal authority began to decline after 1700, however, the British involved themselves in local Indian power struggles, first to ensure uninterrupted trade, then to combat other European challengers. Outline Mughal Empire dominated northern and central India throughout the 17th century. I. The A. To secure the imperial throne, Mughal emperors had to fight their brothers. They rewarded their loyal servants (nawabs) with lands in return for the promise of military service. B. Jahangir (r. 1605–1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1627–1658) brought Persian influence to India. C. Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) tried to centralize power and promote Islam, counter to his predecessors’ policy of religious tolerance. D. After Aurangzeb’s death, local Indian princes, previously Mughal vassals, began to rule on their own account, and Persian invasions devastated the empire in the 18th century. II. The A. Vasco da Gama and other Portuguese explorers and traders had learned how to sail to and from India with the British East India Company, founded in 1600, established itself in India despite Portuguese and Dutch opposition. annual monsoon shift. B. The East India Company’s first voyages were to the East Indies for the spice trade, rather than to India itself. Its first director, Sir Thomas Smythe, was determined to trade peacefully if possible and to avoid politics and war. C. The Amboyna Massacre of 1623 diverted the company to India, where it prospered, trading silver for spices, textiles, indigo, and tea. D. The company, rechartered in 1661, built trading centers at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. E. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 ended the Anglo-Dutch wars. 1. The foundation of the Bank of England (1694) strengthened the connection between the London merchants and the English government. 2. Union with Scotland (1707) created Great Britain as a stronger political and economic unit. III. The Anglo-French wars of the mid-18th century were played out in India as well as Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. A. Joseph Francois Dupleix of the French East India Company demonstrated the superiority of European-trained armies over those of India in the 1740s and 1750s, became a king maker in the Carnatic, and threatened the British by seizing Madras in 1746. B. Robert Clive, an East India Company clerk, distinguished himself in local conflicts against French and Indian antagonists. By escaping from Madras in 1746, and then holding the fortress of Arcot in 1751, he rescued the company from disaster. Suggested Reading: Carrington, The British Overseas. Farrington, Trading Places. James, Raj. Wolpert, A New History of India. Questions to Consider: 1. Why did a trading company gradually become involved in Indian politics in the 18th century? 2. How did the distance between Britain and India affect the work of the East India Company? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 7 Lecture Five Clive and the Conquest of India Scope: As the British East India Company competed against its French counterpart, it recognized the advantage of taking over the country around its factories. Now that the Mughal Empire was weakened, local princes threatened the company’s position, as Siraj ud-Daulah showed when he seized Calcutta in 1756 and imprisoned the British residents in the notorious Black Hole. Robert Clive’s triumph at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, despite the British being outnumbered more than 10 to 1, gave the company control over the whole of Bengal and laid the foundation for British domination of all India. The nabobs of the following generation were Englishmen who exploited this new situation to make themselves fabulously wealthy, often at the expense of the Indian princes and people. One of them, Warren Hastings, was impeached by Parliament in a case that prompted the British government to intervene directly in the company’s rule. Outline I. Clive’s exploits in the late 1750s transformed the East India Company into the most powerful political force in India. A. The nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, seized Calcutta in 1756 and imprisoned the British residents in the prison now known as the Black Hole. B. Clive asserted British supremacy in Bengal: He won the Battle of Plassey, deposed Siraj ud-Daulah, and made Mir Jafar the new nawab. C. Mir Jafar’s gifts made Clive immensely wealthy. The company also profited from access to Bengal’s revenue. D. Despite his reputation as greatest of the nabobs, Clive tried to restrain company servants from plundering the country. 1. He cautioned against being drawn more deeply into the power politics of northeastern India, preferring to be a protector rather than a ruler. 2. Continued company depredations contributed to the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770–1773. II. Warren Hastings, Clive’s successor, made a fortune in India but was impeached by Parliament for acting like a despot. A. By the Regulating Act of 1773, the British government appointed a council of state and a supreme court to supervise company affairs in India. B. Warren Hastings was the first governor-general under the act; he centralized the tax-collection system and increased the company’s efficiency. C. He directed company forces to intervene in conflicts in Bombay and Madras and extorted heavy indemnities from client princes to pay for these expensive campaigns. D. Whig politicians, notably Edmund Burke, impeached Hastings in 1787 for his behavior and for threatening the principles of English law. 1. Burke argued that no Englishman should be able to hide behind “geographical morality” and that what was wrong in England was equally wrong in Asia. 2. Hastings defended himself as acting in the interest of the company and in the manner of other Indian rulers. 3. The House of Lords exonerated Hastings, but not until 1795. III. The Earl of Cornwallis, defeated at Yorktown but not disgraced, became governor-general of India in 1786 and introduced wide-ranging reforms. A. He argued that the company should pay its employees in India high salaries to discourage corruption and trading on their own accounts. B. He introduced British common-law concepts of private property to Bengal, imposing them over the older customary system and winning the loyalty of the local landholders and Hindu bankers. C. He reorganized the army on strictly racial lines, making Indian sepoys ineligible to become officers. Suggested Reading: Bernstein, Dawning of the Raj. Harvey, Clive. Louis et al., The Oxford History of the British Empire, vol. 2. Wolpert, A New History of India. 8 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Questions to Consider: 1. Why was Clive, with tiny forces, able to dominate the 20 million people of Bengal? 2. Which was more reasonable: Burke’s prosecution or Hastings’s defense? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 9 Lecture Six Wolfe and the Conquest of Canada Scope: During the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), Britain overpowered French armies in India and North America. French settler populations around the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes were small, but the fur trade was lucrative, and British settlers on the Massachusetts frontier suffered recurrent raids by Indians in French service. The British military attacked French Canada first at the fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, then upriver at Quebec. In 1759, British commander General James Wolfe defeated Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham and secured Quebec city. Canada became a British possession by the Treaty of Paris. To pay off its heavy war debts, however, the British government imposed new taxes at home and in the American colonies, which now enjoyed greater security than ever before. The Stamp Act, mandating one of these taxes, soon became the object of bitter colonial resentment. Outline I. France colonized the St. Lawrence Valley in the 17th and early 18th centuries. A. The St. Lawrence, the Ottawa River, and the Great Lakes gave them access to the interior of the continent and the Mississippi Valley. A profitable fur trade developed. B. Farming settlers came later to Canada and in much smaller numbers than the British further south, settling mainly along the St. Lawrence between Quebec and Montreal. C. Indians in the service of the French raided New England, causing constant anxiety. Catholic-Protestant tensions added a religious element to the conflict. II. Britain made repeated attempts to capture French Canada during the recurrent great-power struggles of the 18th century. A. British fishermen had been plying the Grand Banks for more than two centuries by the early 1700s. Britain acquired Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Hudson’s Bay by treaty in 1713. B. In 1745, a British force seized Louisbourg, the fortress guarding the St. Lawrence estuary, during the War of the Austrian Succession. 1. American recruits in the British army felt betrayed by several broken promises of the British generals. 2. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), which returned Louisbourg to France in exchange for Madras in India, further soured colonists’ mood. 3. Diplomats and politicians still thought of the Caribbean sugar islands as more valuable than this vast but mainly empty northern territory. III. General James Wolfe captured Quebec in 1759, and Britain confirmed its conquest of Canada by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. A. The French and Indian Wars began in 1754 and brought to prominence the young George Washington, a junior officer in British service. B. Wolfe had devoted his life to warfare. A sober, hard-working professional soldier, he despised the American militiamen who fought in the British service. C. The campaigns of 1758 and 1759 moved slowly but inexorably to conquest. 1. A British force recaptured Louisbourg in 1758. 2. Captain James Cook navigated British men-of-war upriver to Quebec. D. Wolfe triumphed at the Battle of the Heights of Abraham in 1759, although Wolfe and his French counterpart Louis- Joseph de Montcalm both died in the battle. E. Admiral Hawke’s victory at Quiberon Bay later in 1759 completed the British triumph. IV. Britain, heavily in debt from the war, imposed new taxes on its American colonies, which had benefited from the war. 10 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. No longer threatened by French forces to their North, the Americans felt less need for British military protection. The colonists’ angry response to the Stamp Act prefigured the conflict of the 1770s. Britain meanwhile realized the need to mollify the large French-speaking and Catholic population now under its control. Suggested Reading: Lower, Colony to Nation. McLynn, 1759. Schwartz, The French and Indian War. Warner, With Wolfe to Quebec. Questions to Consider: 1. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the French colonial position in North America before 1750? 2. Was Britain unreasonable in seeking American aid to defray the cost of victory? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 11 Lecture Seven The Loss of the American Colonies Scope: British settlers and their descendants in North America resented being taxed when they lacked representation in Parliament. A series of escalating confrontations in the 1760s and 1770s led the colonies to cooperate with one another as never before. In 1775 they rebelled under talented leaders from the elite of Massachusetts and Virginia, and in 1776 they declared their independence from Britain. British opinion was divided between those who felt their government justified in regulating colonial affairs and those who deplored its intransigence. Nearly all agreed, however, that the British army would have little difficulty in overcoming the inexperienced Americans. They were mistaken. Outline I. Britain’s American colonies prospered and expanded steadily between the early 17th and mid-18th centuries. A. The New England colonies bore the imprint of their Puritan origins. B. The middle colonies—New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—already had populations from diverse origins. C. The southern colonies were tied to the transatlantic slave trade. D. Colonial legislatures had gained leverage over royal governors because they raised money and men for the era’s recurrent wars. E. The colonies began to recognize common problems for the first time in 1754 at the Albany Conference. F. British revenue needs ended a long era of benign neglect after 1763 and provoked resistance. G. British attempts to prevent settlement beyond the Appalachians angered frontier Americans. II. British politicians were divided in the 1760s and 1770s over whether to make judicious concessions to the American colonists or to try repression. A. It was widely felt that the Americans were ungrateful for British help in the recent wars, especially as they were far less heavily taxed than Britons at home. 1. Americans abroad, including Benjamin Franklin, were slow to appreciate the intensity of opposition to the Stamp Act. 2. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 was a second American experiment in common political action. B. The theory of virtual representation was sincerely offered and was applicable equally to many parts of Britain and to the colonies. C. Lord North, the prime minister, was conciliatory at first. 1. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 bore witness to the interdependence of Britain’s colonies in America and India. 2. The Coercive Acts (1774) demonstrated British politicians’ underestimation of the degree to which the colonies shared common fears. 3. William Pitt’s argument that an American parliament might take care of its internal affairs was a minority view. III. The outbreak of hostilities in 1775 created severe logistical problems for Britain, and the revolutionaries’ French alliance in 1778 made matters worse. 12 A. B. C. D. E. F. G. Britain had to depend on the unpredictable winds and currents of the North Atlantic to move its forces. The Americans, fighting for their homes in a familiar environment, had a local advantage over the British soldiers and their German auxiliaries. The British Army’s use of 18,000 German soldiers intensified the Americans’ fear of “tyranny.” General Washington concentrated on keeping the Continental Army in existence rather than seeking decisive battlefield victories. France sought to embarrass Britain and to avenge its losses in the French and Indian War by entering the conflict on the side of the American revolutionaries. 1. The French waited for an American victory before committing themselves. 2. As soon as France entered the war, America became a secondary sphere of operations for the British as troops were recalled to defend Britain itself. The French blockade of Chesapeake Bay isolated General Cornwallis and forced him to surrender at Yorktown in 1781. Britain, still at war with France, gave generous territorial terms to the new United States in the Treaty of Paris. ©2009 The Teaching Company. IV. The loss of its American colonies was the worst military reverse in the entire history of the British Empire, but it did not bring the empire as a whole to dissolution. A. Canada and the British West Indies both declined to join the revolution. B. A large contingent of loyalists moved to British Canada or to Britain itself. C. British politicians learned the value of conciliation with English-speaking colonies in subsequent crises. D. Britain and the United States remained vital trading partners, while their mutual cultural influence spread worldwide in the following century. Suggested Reading: Louis et al., The Oxford History of the British Empire, vol. 2. Morgan, The Birth of the Republic. Shy, A People Numerous and Armed. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic. Questions to Consider: 1. Why was Britain unable to win a decisive military victory in the American war as it had recently done in Canada? 2. Did Britain act foolishly in its approach to American affairs in the 1770s, or was its conduct reasonable? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 13 Lecture Eight Exploring the Planet Scope: Trade prompted Britain to build an empire, but along the way the nation made great strides in exploration, invention, and science. Captain James Cook, for example, guided General Wolfe’s force up the narrow St. Lawrence River to its victory at Quebec and later explored the southern Pacific Ocean and the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. He used recently perfected marine chronometers made by John Harrison, superbly accurate clocks that finally enabled sailors to measure longitude accurately. Among Cook’s companions was Joseph Banks, a first-rate naturalist who identified and named hundreds of previously unknown species of plants and animals. Banks in turn organized other scientific and exploratory voyages. The acceleration of scientific knowledge in the late 18th and early 19th centuries can be linked directly to British exploration, mapping, and colonization of previously remote areas of the world. Outline I. James Cook (1728–1779) rose from humble origins to resolve several of the 18th century’s great geographical mysteries. A. Son of a Yorkshire farm laborer, Cook went to sea in the coasting trade and became a master mariner. B. He served as a pilot and chart maker in the British campaign against Quebec. C. His three Pacific voyages between 1769 and 1779 proved the nonexistence of the Great Southern Continent and the nonexistence of an ice-free Northwest Passage. 1. His use of Harrison’s chronometer enabled him to measure latitude more accurately than earlier sailors and map makers. 2. His expedition made contact with Australian aborigines and discovered strange “leaping quadrupeds.” D. By careful attention to good diet, exercise, and sanitation, he dramatically improved the quality of his sailors’ health. E. Hawaiian natives killed Cook in 1779. II. Joseph Banks (1743–1820), a brilliant naturalist who sailed with Cook, later organized the worldwide collecting of plant and animal species. A. B. C. D. E. III. The A. B. Elected to the Royal Society at age 23, Banks corresponded with Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, the taxonomist who created a system for categorizing all living things. Banks accompanied Cook’s first voyage (1768–1771) and subsidized the observation in Tahiti of a transit of Venus across the Sun. He and his assistants also gathered, illustrated, and named more than 800 species in Madeira, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. He became president of the Royal Society at age 35 and held the position for the next 42 years. He patronized and encouraged some of the leading explorers and botanists of the age, including Francis Masson, Archibald Menzies, and James Bruce (who discovered the source of the Blue Nile). As the king’s scientific advisor, he was influential in recommending leaders and scientists to accompany other voyages of discovery. Admiralty, like a variety of societies in Britain, sought practical benefits from exploration. The Royal Society for the Encouragment of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce offered a prize for the transplantation of breadfruit trees from Tahiti to Jamaica. 1. Captain William Bligh’s attempt to win the prize was interrupted by a famous mutiny in his crew. 2. On a second voyage, Bligh succeeded and won the prize. 3. Breadfruit became a food for West Indies slaves. On Banks’s recommendation, Bligh later became governor of Australia. Suggested Reading: Alexander, The Bounty. Black, The British Seaborne Empire. Horwitz, Blue Latitudes. O’Brian, Joseph Banks. 14 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Questions to Consider: 1. Why did the exploration and mapping of the Pacific take more than 250 years after Magellan first sailed there in the 1520s? 2. From the point of view of the British government, were Cook’s and Banks’s discoveries useful to the empire or merely interesting? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 15 Lecture Nine Napoleon Challenges the Empire Scope: By the late 18th century, the British Empire was one on which the Sun never set. However, between 1793 and 1815 British politicians were much more concerned with European power politics than with the colonies. The French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon created an unprecedented crisis for Britain, which was in danger of invasion and conquest until 1805. British domination of the sea offset France’s domination of the Continent, bottling up the French fleet in its ports for years at a time. The British were thus able to acquire numerous highly productive French, as well as Spanish and Dutch, colonies in the Caribbean. Britain had a far stronger banking and commercial system than any rival, enabling its government to borrow massive sums quickly and at low rates of interest. This combination of assets contributed to its ultimate victory in 1815. Outline I. Defeat in the American War did not destroy or impoverish the British Empire. A. Anglo-American trade was stronger in the 1780s and 1790s than in any previous decade. B. Adam Smith’s Enquiry into the Wealth of Nations (1776) encouraged a reconsideration of Britain’s mercantilist policy. 1. Smith argued for free trade, against restrictive monopolies, and against mercantilism. 2. Smith also witnessed the early stages of the industrial revolution and foresaw its capacity to generate immense wealth. C. Politicians also began to learn this new economic logic and to apply it to British colonial and trade policy. II. The Napoleonic Wars were conflicts of ideas as well as nations. A. The British establishment never accepted the French revolutionary principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. 1. Edmund Burke, formerly the scourge of Warren Hastings, wrote the classic conservative indictment of the French Revolution. 2. Fears that revolutionary ideas had infected the common people led to repression of English radicals. B. The Terror of 1793, followed by the rise of Napoleon, confirmed a long tradition of British political thought. III. The Germany in 1940. French Revolution and Napoleon posed the greatest threat to Britain between the Spanish Armada in 1588 and Nazi A. England faced the danger of a French invasion between 1795 and 1805. 1. Blockades and embargoes on both sides tried to force the antagonist into submission. 2. British industrial superiority and control of the sea lanes enabled it to generate new trade wealth throughout the conflict. B. The naval war demonstrated that British sea power could restrict French expansion, as when Napoleon’s army defeated an Ottoman army in Egypt (1798) but Admiral Horatio Nelson’s fleet destroyed its transports and left it stranded. C. A series of naval victories over France and its allies, culminating in Admiral Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), gave Britain overwhelming maritime dominance then and for the next century. 1. High-quality seamanship and superior gunnery proved decisive in each encounter. 2. Nelson’s death at the moment of his greatest victory enhanced his legend and inspired subsequent generations of British sailors. D. British eagerness to see a strong monarchy restored in France discouraged holding captured French colonies. E. Slave uprisings and tropical diseases made it difficult for Britain to ensure permanent dominance in the Caribbean. F. Britain did seize and hold strategic points and communications centers, such as Cape Town, Ceylon, and Mauritius. Anglo-American War of 1812 affirmed equally the permanent separation of the United States from Britain and the IV. The permanent adhesion to Britain of Canada. 16 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. Successive American incursions into Canada were defeated easily. After 1815, Britain and the United States never again came to blows. Suggested Reading: Adkins, Nelson’s Trafalgar. Black, The British Seaborne Empire. Harvey, The War of Wars. Mead, God and Gold. Questions to Consider: 1. How did Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations affect British thinking about the empire? 2. What factors guaranteed the eventual defeat of Napoleon? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 17 Lecture Ten The Other Side of the World Scope: The British Empire developed two types of colonies: In colonies like India, a tiny British elite presided over millions of natives. In colonies like America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the small indigenous population was devastated by disease and war, leaving the land open to large-scale settlement. Australia became a prison colony in 1788. After serving their sentences, many convicts were allowed to claim land and become farmers. They soon discovered that sheep thrived as well in Australia as did tobacco in America or sugar in the West Indies. Australia’s economy took an immense leap forward in 1851 when disappointed treasure seekers returning from California found gold at Bendigo and Ballarat. Meanwhile, the British government had signed a treaty with New Zealand’s Maori chiefs in 1840, guaranteeing in theory the chiefs’ rights as British subjects but unable in practice to prevent the gradual deterioration of their power and population. Outline I. The British Government established a penal settlement at Botany Bay in 1788, which formed the nucleus of the Australian colony. A. Prisoners who might earlier have been shipped to America now went to Australia instead. 1. Many of them were petty thieves, but a few were political prisoners. 2. Conditions in the prison colony were harsh. B. On their release, prisoners could acquire farmland. 1. The colony expanded rapidly when John MacArthur discovered the possibilities of sheep farming. 2. The healthy climate made the prospect of survival good for former prisoners and free immigrants. C. The spread of white settlement forced the Aborigines into increasingly arid and marginal lands. Their way of life was so alien to British immigrants that it drew little sympathy or understanding. D. Early governors battled for control in a chaotic political environment. 1. William Bligh, of Bounty fame, was the fourth governor, and he suffered yet another mutiny when he tried to suppress the rum trade. 2. Lachlan Macquarrie an army officer and Napoleonic war veteran, was a more effective governor who turned Sydney into a model city and believed in reforming prisoners. II. New Zealand’s indigenous people, the Maoris, lived in more complex societies and were more warlike than the Australian aborigines. They fought a prolonged rearguard against white domination. A. The land was biologically alien to the first European visitors, but its climatic similarity to Britain and the lack of predators meant that European plants and animals would thrive there. B. European sealers exploited the seal population until it almost disappeared in the 1820s. C. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a British civil servant, was determined that New Zealand should be a white settler colony rather than one comprised of Christianized natives. D. Subsidized immigration from England began in the 1830s. E. The Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and formal annexation by Britain could not prevent the decline of Maori power and population. III. The self-government. Australian gold rush of 1851 swelled its population and prompted the first stirrings of a movement for democratic A. Edward Hargraves, a disappointed forty-niner returning from California, found gold at Bathurst, New South Wales, in 1851. Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria became gold rush towns. B. The Ballarat Reform League protested against costly government mining licenses. A lethal pitched battle between authorities and miners in 1854 led the government to conciliate the miners rather than escalate the confrontation. Suggested Reading: Crosby, Ecological Imperialism. Hughes, The Fatal Shore. Kenneally, Commonwealth of Thieves. Pine, World Fire. 18 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Questions to Consider: 1. Does the early Australian experience suggest that English criminals could be turned into honest, upright citizens? 2. How did the first British settlers of Australia and New Zealand adapt to unfamiliar environmental conditions? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 19 Lecture Eleven Abolition of the Slave Trade and Slavery Scope: Slavery in various forms has been widespread throughout world history. The surprise is less that the British Empire used slaves than that it finally decided to abolish the system. A resistance movement began among Quakers and evangelical Anglicans in 18th-century England. It found a parliamentary champion in William Wilberforce, who helped to abolish the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, and then slavery itself throughout the empire in 1833. West Indian plantation owners, the principal users of slave labor, were compensated, and the process took place relatively peacefully, whereas America, 30 years later, was plunged into civil war over the issue. Meanwhile, the West African colony of Sierra Leone developed from a population of former slaves. A Royal Navy squadron patrolled the African coast in an effort to prevent other nations’ continuation of the slave trade, and the British government pressured the other Atlantic nations into ending it by the end of the American Civil War (1865). Outline I. The A. The earliest advocates of abolition were the Quakers, who condemned slavery from 1727. In the 1760s, Granville humanitarian and religious campaign against slavery gathered strength when it found supporters in Parliament. Sharp began to litigate on behalf of Africans in England. B. The Somersett case (1772) destroyed the legal protection given to slavery in England and encouraged a new approach to the issue. C. Sharp and others founded the Committee for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade in 1787. 1. Thomas Clarkson was his close collaborator. 2. Olaudah Equiano and other former slaves provided eloquent testimony as to the human cost of slavery. D. Antislavery philanthropists founded Sierra Leone as a home for former slaves who had fought with the British in the American Revolutionary War. E. William Wilberforce became parliamentary leader of the abolitionists. II. Abolition of the Atlantic slave trade was a crucial first step for the abolitionists. A. Parliament abolished the slave trade in 1807 despite fierce opposition from the West India lobby. B. The Royal Navy’s Preventive Squadron, nicknamed the sentimental squadron, struggled to stamp out other European nations’ slave trade across the Atlantic. 1. It had limited success in preventing contraband trade. 2. Its sailors were vulnerable to tropical diseases. C. Abolitionists continued to argue against slavery itself. The Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1823, intensified its parliamentary agitation under the leadership of Thomas Fowell Buxton. D. Slave rebellions intensified the controversy. E. Rivals to the West India traders argued that their system was inefficient, depended on British subsidies, and could not survive in the free market. III. Slavery itself was abolished by act of Parliament in 1833 and led to a transformation of the West Indies. A. Slavery was to be phased out gradually, with the owners compensated for loss of their property. B. Plantations’ productivity went down because freed slaves preferred to establish small farms of their own rather than work as laborers for their former owners. C. The West Indies lost their place as the most profitable and most coveted parts of the empire. IV. The end of slavery in the British Empire ratcheted up the moral pressure on the United States between the 1830s and the 1860s. 20 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. In the 1830s and after, American advocates of slavery began to argue that it was a positive good, morally superior to free industrial labor. Mutual suspicion between North and South forestalled a compromise. Union victory in the Civil War (1861–1865) finally ended the dispute. Suggested Reading: Craton, Sinews of Empire. Martin, Britain’s Slave Trade. Walvin, An African’s Life. ———, Britain’s Slave Empire. Questions to Consider: 1. What factors prompted the eventual abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire? 2. Why did the United States persist with slavery after its abolition in the West Indies? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 21 Lecture Twelve Early African Colonies Scope: In 1652, Holland established a farming and trade settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, as a way station for its ships en route to the East Indies. Britain seized Cape Town during the Napoleonic Wars. Tensions between the British and Dutch (or Boer) settlers, acute from the outset, intensified in 1833 when Britain abolished slavery throughout the empire. Many of the Boers, resentful at being deprived of the forced labor they had used for 200 years, decided to move into the interior of South Africa, a journey remembered today as the Great Trek. As these Voortrekkers moved north and east, they encountered fierce resistance from the expanding Zulu kingdom of Chaka and Dingaan but were able to establish two republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Britain formalized its rule over the Cape Colony, inland from Cape Town, and Natal, inland from Durban. Outline I. For nearly 200 years, the tip of Africa was interesting only as a way station to India and the Far East. A. The Dutch founded a settlement at Cape Town in 1652. 1. The Dutch Boers, many of them puritanical zealots, saw themselves as God’s chosen people. 2. They enslaved the Khoi (“Hottentot”) Africans of the Cape region. B. Britain held Cape Town between 1795 and 1802 and again from 1806 onward. C. British and Dutch settlers clashed over access to land and over the treatment of Africans. II. The abolition of slavery in 1833 prompted the 1835–1840 migration of the Boer, called the Voortrekkers, into the interior of South Africa, which brought them into conflict with the expanding Zulu kingdom. A. Between 10,000 and 14,000 trekkers left the Cape to found independent Boer republics. B. Chaka, the Zulu king (r. 1816–1828), had developed a fierce, aggressive, and expansionist empire that traumatized the interior of South Africa just before the Boer arrived. 1. The entire Zulu social structure was dedicated to war and plunder. 2. The impact of Chaka’s conquests created waves of dislocation beyond their boundaries. 3. Chaka’s half-brother Dingaan assassinated him in 1828. C. Louis Trigardt, Andres Pretoria, and other legendary Boer leaders led ox-wagon trains across the Orange and Vaal Rivers and the Drakensberg Mountains. D. Piet Retief crossed the Drakensberg and met the Zulu king Dingaan. Dingaan lured Retief to a parley, then murdered him. E. The Boers avenged Retief’s death at the Battle of Blood River (1838), which demonstrated the superiority of disciplined riflemen over a much larger Zulu force armed only with spears. F. The trekkers deposed Dingaan and helped make Mpande king of the Zulus in his place. 1. Mpande ruled for more than 30 years—one of very few Zulu kings to die peacefully of old age. 2. Christian missionaries, active in Africa as in the West Indies, found it almost impossible to make Zulu converts. 3. Zulu questions and challenges prompted the Anglican bishop of Natal, William Colenso, to rethink his own theological views. G. Britain took direct control of Natal in 1842 because of its strategic significance on the Indian Ocean but recognized the Orange Free State and the Transvaal as Boer republics. discovery of diamonds at Kimberley in 1868 gave a new economic importance to the interior of southern Africa and III. The provoked renewed conflict between Britons, Boers, and Zulus. 22 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. Disraeli’s colonies minister, Lord Caernarvon, suggested a confederation of all South African provinces in 1875 and denied that the Boer republics had been granted full independence from British sovereignty. Theophilus Shepstone arranged a bloodless coup in the Transvaal in 1877. British High Commissioner Sir Bartle Frere hoped to eliminate the Zulu kingdom. 1. He gave an impossible ultimatum to King Cetshwayo, then sent Lord Chelmsford’s force to invade Zululand in 1879. 2. A crushing British defeat at Isandhlwana was avenged by victories at Rorke’s Drift and Ulundi. 3. Bishop Colenso denounced British aggression and bloodlust. British forces endured another embarrassing defeat at Boer hands in 1881 when they refused to relinquish control over the Boer republics. 1. Paul Kruger’s force surprised the British at Majuba Hill. 2. Prime Minister Gladstone then reversed himself rather than launch a big campaign, and Transvaal regained independence. Suggested Reading: Etherington, The Great Trekds. Gump, The Dust Rose Like Smoke. Morris, The Washing of the Spears. Thompson, A History of South Africa. Questions to Consider: 1. Why did the Boers undertake the Great Trek? 2. Was Britain justified in attempting to reassert its control over the Boer republics? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 23 Lecture Thirteen China and the Opium Wars Scope: Britain’s industrial supremacy and control of the high seas led its leaders to favor free trade by the 1840s. China, by contrast, was a closed and bureaucratic society, sealed off from nearly all the political and social changes of the 19th century. British ships were only allowed to trade at Canton, and in 1839 China prohibited the most lucrative British import: opium. The British government, under pressure from the East India Company, responded with a show of military strength. China was forced to sign a treaty in 1842that gave Hong Kong to Britain as a naval station, opened up five new ports to trade, and permitted the Royal Navy to patrol Chinese rivers and coasts to suppress piracy. Although Britain never ruled China, it dominated Chinese trade between then and the end of the century. The empire’s control of China was informal rather than direct but was nonetheless effective. Outline I. Britain used its military and technological superiority to force its way into Chinese markets. A. B. C. II. The A. B. C. III. The A. B. C. The British coastal stations, or factories, in China were officially confined to one site, outside the port of Canton on the Pearl River. 1. Control of Singapore (founded by Stamford Raffles in 1819) had facilitated access for British ships sailing from India or the Cape to China. 2. East India Company traders paid bribes to the local merchants and to the Chinese emperor’s viceroy. Opium from India became increasingly popular among the Chinese in the early 19th century, although it was outlawed. 1. Opium poppies grew in Bengal, and the East India Company shipped them to Lintin Island, near Canton, where they were refined into the drug. 2. By bribing officials, British merchants were able to sell it through local mandarins. A British attempt in 1834 to win concessions from the Chinese failed. Lord Napier, chief superintendent of trade, ignored all elements of protocol at a diplomatic meeting. Chinese decision in 1838 to cut off the opium supply provoked military retaliation by Britain. Emperor Tao-kuang tried to stamp out its use in China, with the help of an ambitious administrator, Lin Tse-hsu. In a letter, Lin browbeat Queen Victoria. Chinese soldiers besieged the British merchants until, under instructions from the commissioner, Charles Elliott, they handed over 20,000 cases of opium, worth 2 million pounds. 1. Lin’s soldiers then set fire to the surrendered opium. 2. When the trade persisted despite the ban, Lin pursued the British traders to Macao and forced them to seek shelter on board merchant ships. China then blockaded all British trade in 1840, and a war began. British debated the rights and wrongs of the drug itself and the morality of fighting to force it on the Chinese. Some prominent figures, including the rising politician William Gladstone, disapproved of it. Others, including Lord Palmerston, tried to justify it as a medicine and as a valuable, revenue-raising trade item. Thomas De Quincy’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) evokes the effects of the drug. IV. Britain’s military superiority ensured victory in the ensuing war. V. A. Fifteen British ships bombarded Tinghai on Chusan Island in July 1840 for nine minutes, with shattering effect. B. To gain access to other ports and compensation for the confiscated opium, the Navy bombarded Canton in January 1841, killing 500 Chinese and suffering no losses. C. British troops at Ningpo shattered a relieving Chinese army under the emperor’s cousin in March 1841. D. The Treaty of Nanjing of August 1842 humiliated the Chinese emperor and turned four new treaty ports over to Britain. The catastrophic Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) and the decline of the emperor’s power made China vulnerable to further exploitation in the mid-19th century. A. Hong Xiuquan, educated by American missionaries, believed he was the brother of Jesus and led the rebellion against the emperor. 24 ©2009 The Teaching Company. B. Recurrent outbreaks of anti-British hostility led to further British bombardment of Chinese ports. 1. Britain responded with force—the Second China War of 1856–1858. 2. In a third show of force, British forces marched to Beijing in 1860 and set fire to the emperor’s Summer Palace. 3. Francis Doyle’s poem “A Private of the Buffs” commemorates an incident in the war and exhibits a rising form of British imperial pride. C. Britain imposed a harsher treaty on China, which made Tientsin, the port of Beijing, into a treaty port. D. Foreign officers Frederick Townsend Ward and Charles Gordon helped the emperors suppress the Taiping Rebellion. Their success effectively ended the rebellion but gave further evidence of the emperor’s dependence on outsiders’ power. Suggested Reading: Gelber, Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals. Inglis, The Opium War. Mills, Drugs and Empires. Waley, The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. Questions to Consider: 1. Was Britain’s role in the Opium Wars in any way morally justifiable? 2. Why was the outcome of the fighting in China so lopsided in Britain’s favor? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 25 Lecture Fourteen Britain—The Imperial Center Scope: Britain itself went through profound changes between its first colonial ventures in the days of Elizabeth I and the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. After civil wars in the 17th century and a prolonged struggle against the Netherlands and France, it emerged from the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 as the most powerful nation in the world. Scotland and England had been unified peacefully in 1707, and Ireland joined the United Kingdom in 1801; men from both nations contributed greatly to the building of an overseas empire. By then, too, Britain was in the midst of the world’s first industrial revolution, which made it vastly more productive and brought new men with new ideas into political life. The nation’s development of sophisticated banking and insurance techniques, its profound political stability, and its comparatively high measures of social mobility all contributed to its ability to project power around the world. Outline II. The source of support. 2. James II fled in 1688, after which Parliament invited the Stadtholder of the Netherlands to become King William III. political unification of the British Isles ended the danger that Ireland or Scotland might ally with a foreign adversary. English Civil Wars of the 17th century created a permanent role for Parliament in the constitution. it. Parliament insisted on redress of grievances before granting revenue to the king. I. The A. The Stuart kings, James I and Charles I, disputed the constitutional role of Parliament, then tried to govern without B. An escalating series of crises in the early 1640s prompted Charles I to declare war on Parliament. 1. Most of London’s merchants, and the City itself, remained loyal to Parliament and gave it a financial advantage in the Civil War. 2. Parliament’s New Model Army proved decisive on the battlefield of Naseby in 1645. C. When Charles I escaped from captivity and tried to renew the war, the Rump Parliament brought him to trial, condemned him to death, and executed him in 1649. D. Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate promoted imperial expansion but could not perpetuate itself beyond his death in 1658. E. King Charles II, recalled from exile, never forgot his father’s fate, but his brother James II was less circumspect. 1. James II’s attempt to reverse the English Reformation was catastrophic, and he alienated almost every potential A. Scotland sued for inclusion in the United Kingdom after the disastrous failure of its own colonial venture, the Darien Scheme of 1698–1699. 1. Two invasions by Stuart claimants to the throne were defeated in 1715 and 1745. 2. Scotsmen provided much of the manpower to Britain’s colonial armies. English domination of Ireland after the mid-16th century was embittered by religious conflict. 1. Cromwell’s massacre at Drogheda (1649) was taken by many Irish Catholics as symbolic of English attitudes toward their country and their faith. 2. Recurrent uprisings failed to destroy English power and influence. 3. The Act of Union (1800) made Ireland an integral part of the United Kingdom from January 1, 1801, and brought Irish members into the Parliament at Westminster. III. Britain pioneered in banking, national finance, and industrialization, while its political system gradually adapted to new realities. 26 ©2009 The Teaching Company. B. The A. B. C. The Bank of England, founded in 1694, gave the business community a stake in the regime’s survival while offering secure loans at low interest. The bank and the low-interest national debt gave Britain an immense material advantage in the sequence of 18th-century wars against France. Industrialization in the late 18th century harnessed water and steam power to manufacturing, raising the quality and quantity of goods while lowering the cost. 1. Capital generated in India and the West Indies was invested in industry. 2. Adam Smith, a Scottish economist, explained the advantage of free markets and entrepreneurial initiative. Industrialization gave new prominence to religious nonconformists and to advocates of the new evangelicalism. Their influence led to the abolition of slavery and the dispatch of missionaries to overseas colonies. D. The First Reform Act in 1832 realigned the British political system peacefully, entailing none of the chaos of the French Revolution. E. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 indicated a further shift toward free trade and away from protectionism in the interest of the old landed elite. Suggested Reading: Ashton and Hudson, The Industrial Revolution. Herman, How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Schama, A History of Britain, vol. 2. Smith, The Wealth of Nations. Questions to Consider: 1. Why was Britain able to accomplish peacefully a series of changes that had led to war and revolution in most other European nations? 2. How did changes in religious life affect British approaches to the colonies? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 27 Lecture Fifteen Ireland—The Tragic Relationship Scope: The most puzzling and tragic element of British history is its relationship with Ireland. The English had been involved in Irish affairs since the 12th century and had largely conquered and pacified Ireland by the mid-17th. By the 19th century, most British people thought that Ireland was part of Great Britain, but most of the Irish thought of Ireland as a separate nation and bitterly resented the English as alien invaders. Ireland’s widespread poverty was aggravated by a sharp religious divide; the Catholics had long been suspected by the English of being in league with France and Spain, and sometimes that was true. In 1846, Ireland suffered a catastrophic harvest failure in its one principal crop, potatoes, which threatened millions of people with starvation. The crop failure was followed by mass emigration to Canada, Australia, and America, which created large and politically important Irish lobbies abroad, unsympathetic to Britain and to the empire itself. Outline I. British involvement in Ireland had always been a source of friction, and the friction intensified after the Reformation. A. British intervention in Irish politics began in the reign of Henry II in the 12th century. B. It increased during the reign of the Tudor monarchs, with Henry VIII being the first monarch to declare himself King of Ireland, in 1541. C. In the early 17th century, militant Protestant settlements in the northern counties (Ulster) began the long history of religious division that continues up to the present. D. Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary armies in the British Civil Wars of the 1640s, suppressed an Irish rebellion in 1649–1651. 1. He massacred the inhabitants of Drogheda when they refused to surrender, the event for which he is still demonized in Irish Catholic history. 2. He paid the members of his New Model Army in Irish lands. These men swelled the Ulster Protestant population. E. Catholic Ireland supported King James II against the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689. F. The Act of Union (1800) dissolved the Irish Parliament in Dublin after another Irish rebellion. G. In the early 19th century, the Catholic majority, mostly very poor, lived on lands owned by Protestant landowners, many of whom were absentees. 1. Local agents ran the estates and profited by multiple subdivision of plots. 2. Owners often did not even know how many tenants lived and worked on their estates. 3. Tenants were vulnerable to eviction without legal recourse and with no compensation for improvements. H. The 1. The Catholic Association, founded by Daniel O’Connell in 1823, campaigned for Catholic emancipation. 2. Catholic Emancipation in 1829 gave Catholic property owners the right to become members of Parliament. 3. Not until 1869 was the Church of Ireland disestablished. II. Population growth was not matched by industrialization or agricultural diversification. A. By the early 1840s, the population was 8 million. Most, the cotters, lived on small rented plots, often housed with their farm animals in mud huts. B. Potatoes, introduced into Europe from America by Columbus, were the staple food of the rural poor. C. Potato blight—beginning in late 1845, catastrophic in 1846 and again in 1848—denied millions their only supply of food. III. Irish suffering in 1846–1849 intensified Anglo-Irish bitterness and has never been forgotten. 28 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. Many of the Irish were starving, and cholera preyed on the weakened. Emigrant ships, often overcrowded and vulnerable to epidemics, sailed to America and Canada. The survivors of this traumatic emigration created anti-English constituencies in the colonies and the United States. The British government, first under Tory Robert Peel, then under Whig John Russell, escalated public relief efforts. 1. Unsympathetic bureaucrats in England, obedient to the prevailing market theory, prevented fast, plentiful aid from being sent at first. 2. By early 1847, 3 million Irish people were on direct relief, being given food from local soup kitchens. 3. The recurrence of crop failure in 1848 worsened an already desperate situation. Protestant Church of Ireland was a standing grievance to the Catholic people, who had to pay for its upkeep. D. Irish Nationalists denounced the British response as callously indifferent. IV. Postfamine Ireland remained poor and much of it bitterly anti-English. A. The Fenians, a revolutionary group, drew on Irish-Americans’ support for independence. American Fenians launched an invasion of Canada in 1866 and another in 1870, hoping to spark an anti-British uprising there. B. The Home Rule Party under Isaac Butt, a Protestant lawyer, tried to secure independence within a British federation. C. An agricultural depression in the late 1870s led to a new wave of hunger and evictions. 1. Farming in Britain and Ireland were becoming vulnerable to American competition as the Great Plains were opened after 1869. 2. Most landlords were in debt and regarded steady payment of their tenants’ rent as vital to their solvency. D. The 1. It was led by Charles Stewart Parnell, a Protestant who favored nationalism. 2. Cambridge-educated and with an English accent, Parnell had the confidence and leadership of a born aristocrat. 3. Home Rule members of Parliament, under Parnell’s leadership, disrupted parliamentary business with filibusters. E. Parnell became a folk hero among the Irish poor for his outspoken opposition to evictions. V. By the early 1880s, another crisis was developing in Ireland. Its resolution in the period from 1880 to 1920 would have a profound impact on the destiny of the entire British Empire. Suggested Reading: Cullen, An Economic History of Ireland Since 1660. Foster, Modern Ireland. Mokyr, Why Ireland Starved. Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger. Questions to Consider: 1. Why was English mistrust and fear of the Irish so widespread for so long? 2. Was the famine of 1846–1849 the fault of the English, or was it a natural disaster? Land League (founded 1879) opposed high rents and evictions for nonpayment. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 29 Lecture Sixteen India and the “Great Game” Scope: By the mid-19th century, Britain dominated India, ruling part directly and the rest through dependent princes. The empire expanded into Burma, Sind, and the Punjab thanks to the East India Company army’s native troops led by British officers. India remained a vast, colorful, and varied collection of states, with hundreds of different languages, ethnic groups, and cultures, but it provided opportunities for wealth and adventure to all Britons able to adapt to its climate. Rigorous governors, influenced by the evangelical movement and political liberalism, tried to suppress customs they thought of as barbaric, such as sati (widow burning), and after 1813 they permitted Christian missionaries to seek converts. Fear of Russian encroachment led the British to invade Afghanistan in 1839. For the first time in the history of Anglo-India, they suffered defeat; only one survivor completed the dreadful retreat from Kabul out of a column of 17,000. Outline I. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain extended its conquests in India and tried to provide good and conscientious government. A. Since the trial of Warren Hastings, the British government had regulated the East India Company. B. Cornwallis’s Forty-Eight Regulations (1793) established the principles on which British India would be run for the next 70 years, including tax regulation and control of the salt and opium trades. C. Richard Wellesley defeated Tipu Sultan in 1799 at Seringapatam and annexed Mysore. His system of subsidiary alliances created what to India was the unfamiliar condition of widespread peace, law, and order. II. Evangelical Christians and utilitarian administrators transformed the company’s approach to India. A. The company’s Charter Act of 1813 permitted licensed missionaries to evangelize in India. B. Administrators influenced by utilitarian philosophy tried to modify the governance of India in the interest of the “greatest good for the greatest number.” 1. Governor William Bentinck urged the inclusion of Indians in the higher levels of the administration. 2. Bentinck legislated against sati (widow burning). 3. Historian and politician Thomas Macaulay wrote a revised code of Indian laws and foresaw the possibility of eventual Indian self-rule under British principles. C. British-educated reformer Ram Mohun Roy led a Hindu Renaissance to counter the missionaries’ influence. D. English became the standard language of business, law, and politics throughout India. E. The company established a school at Haileybury to prepare administrators and another at Addiscombe to train army officers. III. Fear of Russian influence, along with a desire to expand British territory, led to military ventures in Burma, Afghanistan, the Punjab, and Sind. A. The company’s army invaded Burma in 1824 and seized its coastal provinces. B. A British invasion of Afghanistan in 1838, by contrast, led to the worst defeat the British ever suffered in India. 1. Political fragmentation, forbidding terrain, a harsh climate, and fanatical opposition made the British mission impossible. 2. During a catastrophic retreat in January 1842, only one man escaped with his life. C. To restore prestige and to gain the valuable lands of Sind and Punjab (now parts of Pakistan) Britain went on the offensive again in the 1840s. 1. Sir Charles Napier conquered Sind in 1843. 2. Lord Gough conquered the Punjab in 1849 despite severe losses at the Battle of Chilianwala. Suggested Reading: Bayly, The New Cambridge History of India, vol. 2. Morris, Heaven’s Command. Read and Fisher, The Proudest Day. Wolpert, A New History of India. 30 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Questions to Consider: 1. Were the British justified in trying to wipe out practices like sati, which they thought of as barbaric? 2. What were the benefits and drawbacks of training an Indian elite to speak, read, and write in English? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 31 Lecture Seventeen Rebellion and Mutiny in India Scope: Areas of India under direct British control were probably governed better than ever before, but evangelical missionaries and reforming administrators provoked unrest by threatening tradition. Introduction of new weapons rumored to violate religious taboos in 1857 led to mutiny. Indian soldiers killed their officers, restored the old Mughal emperor, and challenged British authority across a broad area of north India. Lurid atrocity stories circulated in England. A horrified British government sent relief forces under General Colin Campbell, who defeated the mutineers and exacted a terrible vengeance. The government dissolved the East India Company in 1858 and from then on ran India directly. Westernization policies slowed, even as railroad building and economic development accelerated. Between the mutiny and 1900, a British-educated Indian elite developed whose most famous member was to be Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi. Outline I. British leaders’ cultural insensitivity provoked a mutiny in the Indian army in 1824 and a much more serious one in 1857. A. High-caste soldiers at Barrackpore mutinied against a plan to send them by sea to the invasion of Burma in 1824. B. British acquisition of Indian land continued under Governor-General James Dalhousie (1848–1856). He absorbed directly into the empire when their princes died without heirs, disallowing the longstanding practice of adopting heirs. C. By the 1850s, British officers spent less time with their soldiers than in the early days of the raj and were slow to react to rumors related to their weapons and supplies. 1. 2. D. The 1. 2. 3. 4. Sepoys believed that new cartridges for the Lee-Enfield rifle, which had to be bitten before use, were smeared with beef grease (taboo to Hindus) or pork fat (taboo to Muslims). Further rumors alleged that ground-up animal bones were mixed in the flour and cows’ blood in the salt, that all the soldiers were to be converted to Christianity, and that the caste system was to be abolished. mutiny began at Meerut in May 1857, then spread to Delhi. A group of sepoys refused to use the cartridges when the new guns were issued. They were humiliated on parade, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, stripped of their uniforms, and put in leg irons. Their comrades burst open the jail, liberated them, and killed the local British officers, along with their wives and children, while they were at church. They marched on Delhi, then almost empty of British troops, and seized the city, declaring 82-year-old Prince Bahadur Shah the restored Mughal emperor. II. News of adequate communications. the uprising led to similar outbreaks across northern India, but the rebels did not develop a unified command or A. The rebellion affected a 200-mile-wide area but did not spread to the southern provinces. None of the three centers of British authority—Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras—was affected. B. Caste distinctions and Muslim-Hindu tensions inhibited strong unity; neither was there any emotional tradition of a united India. C. The Britons at Canpore were massacred, whereas Lucknow, besieged, held out for months. 1. The Canpore garrison resisted a sepoy siege for 18 days. 2. Two hundred women and children were imprisoned at the bibighar (former home of an army officer’s mistress), then massacred by local butchers and their dismembered bodies thrown down a well. 3. Lucknow, defended by Sir Henry Lawrence, held out for nine months despite the death and near starvation of two-thirds of the residents. III. Britain put down the rebellion with ferocious efficiency, under the leadership of General Colin Campbell, a successful veteran of the Napoleonic and Crimean wars. 32 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. Atrocity stories, circulated widely in Britain, provoked calls for merciless vengeance from distinguished and normally mild citizens like Charles Dickens and the Reverend Charles Spurgeon. 1. 2. The Victorian ideal of defenseless womanhood made the killings seem particularly horrible. The sense of betrayal by native troops whose loyalty until then had always seemed certain intensified the British troops’ anger. B. When British troops recaptured Delhi, Canpore, and Lucknow, they killed all the defenders, took no prisoners, and looted everything they could move. 1. Suspected rebels rounded up later were often killed without trial. 2. Condemned men in Canpore were forced to clean up the blood of the slain women and children before being killed. 3. Some were hanged and shot, others blown from the cannons. C. When the governor-general, Lord Canning, issued an order urging restraint to prevent indiscriminate retaliation, he was bitterly criticized in Britain and given the derisive nickname “Clemency Canning.” IV. After the mutiny, the prime minister, Lord Palmerston, dissolved the East India Company, and the British government took direct control over the subcontinent. A. A more cautious army policy was designed to forestall possible future uprisings. B. Westernization policies for the Indian people themselves were largely abandoned, although an elite minority among the Indian population continued to receive Western educations. C. British Liberals like Gladstone looked forward to the eventual self-government of India, whereas Conservatives like Disraeli anticipated a sustained British presence. Suggested Reading: Bayly, The New Cambridge History of India, vol. 2. Edwardes, Red Year. Embree, 1857 in India. Wolpert, A New History of India. Questions to Consider: 1. Would Britain have avoided the crisis of 1857 if its policies had been less culturally insensitive? 2. Why was the British response to the rebellion so ferocious? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 33 Lecture Eighteen How Canada Became a Nation Scope: Canada, with its mixed French and English population, stayed loyal to Britain during the American War of Independence. A 12,000-strong American army invaded Canada during the War of 1812, but Anglo-Canadian forces defeated it. Eventually, however, the Canadians found that they too disliked being governed from the other side of the Atlantic without adequate representation. The British response to two small rebellions in 1837 was the Durham Report of 1839. It recommended a much larger measure of self-government for Canadians, implicitly conceding a point Britain had denied in 1775. One by one the provinces of Canada attained self-government, and they were united in 1867. Britain applied the same principle in Australia, New Zealand, and later South Africa. Meanwhile, as its frontier moved west, Canada was populated by British immigrants, especially Scots, a process accelerated by completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1885. Outline I. What we now call Canada was a cluster of independent colonies in the late 18th century. A. The migration of 20,000 exiled loyalists from the American Revolutionary War, including slaves who had fought for the British, gave the maritime provinces a stronger British character than before. B. The influx of loyalists to Quebec intensified the conflict between French-speaking Catholics and English-speaking Protestants, which persists to the present. C. The vast interior of Canada was unsettled and unexplored, except by fur trappers. D. Alexander Mackenzie pioneered the exploration and mapping of the Arctic and far west. 1. In 1789 he followed the river now named for him to the Arctic Ocean. 2. In 1792 and 1793 he traversed the Rockies and reached the Pacific, 12 years earlier than Lewis and Clark. II. The War of 1812 cemented Canadians’ loyalty to Britain and began the slow progress of nation building. (Quebec), and Upper Canada (Ontario). C. These colonies’ economies were based on export of basic commodities—wood, furs, fish, and wheat—or else on subsistence farming. D. Economic hard times in Britain brought immigrants to Canada, most of all to Upper Canada. E. Most of the Canadian west—at one point an area three times bigger than the Roman Empire—still belonged to an old chartered monopoly, the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was chartered in 1670. The company actively discouraged settlement or economic development. III. A love-hate relationship with the United States, and an awareness of the possibility of American encroachments, shaped the expansion of 19th-century Canada. A. Minor rebellions in 1837 led to a government enquiry led by Lord Durham. B. The Durham Report of 1839 established the principle of internal self-government for white settler colonies that was later adopted throughout the empire. 1. Upper and Lower Canada were unified in the hope that the French population would be anglicized. 2. Provincial governors now had to cultivate the support of representative assemblies and could not override them. C. An era of energetic railroad building began in the 1850s. D. The exhaustion of available farmland east of Lake Huron by the 1850s led to migration to the United States. IV. A transcontinental railroad, built between 1871–1885, became the backbone of the Canadian nation. 34 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. The Treaty of Ghent (1814) marked the permanent end of British-American and Canadian-American warfare. B. Five distinct political entities remained: Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Lower Canada A. B. C. Legislation unified the provinces under one Ottawa government in 1867. The Hudson’s Bay Company ceded its western lands to Canada in 1869. Conservative prime minister John Macdonald promised that an all-Canadian railway would reach the Pacific Coast by 1881, in return for British Columbia’s promise to become part of a united Canada. 1. 2. The promise was in part a reaction to completion of the first American transcontinental railroad in 1869 and fear of American encroachments in the west. It offered the prospect of commercially developing the Canadian Great Plains between Winnipeg and the Rockies. 3. Railroad patronage helped Macdonald stay in power through most of the 1870s and 1880s, despite constant allegations of corruption. D. Political difficulties included a rebellion in 1870 by the Métis (people of mixed European and Native American heritage), led by Louis Riel. Colonel Garnet Wolseley’s column, aimed against Riel, took 96 days to march from Lake Superior to the site of present day Winnipeg, which underlined the need for improved communications. E. The technical difficulties included crossing the Rocky Mountains but also the treacherously difficult swamplands north of the Great Lakes. F. The railroad was finally completed in 1885 at Craigellachie, British Columbia. Suggested Reading: Berton, The National Dream and the Last Spike. Gough, First Across the Continent. Herman, How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Lower, Colony to Nation. Questions to Consider: 1. Were early Canadians’ fears of the United States justified? 2. Why did Canada become a nation so much more slowly than the United States? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 35 Lecture Nineteen The Exploration and Settlement of Africa Scope: In the mid-19th century, British explorers traveled across Africa, mapping its mountains, tracing its river systems, and preparing the way for traders and colonists to follow. Among the greatest of them were Richard Burton, David Livingstone, and John Morton Stanley, who among them worked out the origins and courses of all the great rivers in the continent’s interior. They also showed how difficult it would be to settle tropical Africa unless cures could be found for malaria and other diseases. Nevertheless, the European colonial powers scrambled to conquer Africa in the last three decades of the 19th century, especially after the discovery of diamonds and gold in South Africa. African rulers who tried to stand in the way of these conquerors were annihilated by British rifles, machine guns, and artillery. Outline I. Commercial, religious, and intellectual factors motivated British exploration of the African interior. A. John Hanning Speke, encouraged by the Royal Geographical Society, discovered and named Lake Victoria in 1858 and confirmed it as the Nile’s source in 1859. B. David Livingstone, a Scottish doctor, went to Africa as a missionary but could not endure the monotony of ministering for years in one place. 1. He discovered the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River and made the first recorded crossing of sub-Saharan Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. 2. He discovered the Shire River and Lake Malawi but misjudged their potential as future European settlements. 3. He deplored the continuing slave trade, although his life was once saved by an Arab slave trader. C. John Morton Stanley’s discovery of Livingstone in Ujiji in 1871 was one of the press sensations of the century; Stanley worked for James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald. D. After his meeting with Livingstone, Stanley traced the entire course of the Congo River (1874–1877). II. Britain participated in the scramble for Africa partly to gain profitable colonies and partly to forestall its European rivals. A. General Garnet Wolseley led a murderously efficient campaign against the Ashanti kingdom (Ghana) in 1874. B. Britain made itself the dominant power in Egypt to protect its investment in the Suez Canal, its gateway to India. C. General Gordon’s adventures in the Sudan turned him into a popular hero and prompted more campaigns far up the Nile Valley. D. The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck arranged a colonial conference in Berlin (1884–1885) in the hope of preventing European wars over African colonies. E. South Africa’s Boer republics became politically important after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand of the Transvaal in 1886. III. The Leopold of the Congo. British simultaneously justified their own colonial ventures and deplored those of unscrupulous rivals like King A. Slavery and massacre were integral to Leopold’s regime. The Congo became a byword for all the evils of exploitative imperialism. B. Cecil Rhodes, by contrast, regarded his own empire-building adventures as benign. Suggested Reading: Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost. Jeal, David Livingston. Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa. Rice, Captian Sir Richard Francis Burton. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. 36 Why did David Livingstone become a popular hero despite being unsuccessful as a missionary and wrong in most of his geographical claims? Was Africa useful to Britain for itself, or were British concerns there always linked to other imperial questions? ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Twenty Gold, Greed, and Geopolitics in Africa Scope: The 1886 discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand near present-day Johannesburg transformed the Transvaal and the Orange Free State from pastoral backwaters to centers of dynamic economic activity, especially mining and railroad building. Afrikaner rulers taxed miners heavily and denied them political representation. Deterioration of British- Afrikaner relations finally led to open war between 1899 and 1902. Two white minority populations fought in a majority black country, and at first the highly mobile Boer cavalry dominated the battlefields. When a full-scale British army arrived, however, it soon won the conventional phase of the war. It then had to spend another two years tracking down militant Boer guerrillas. Its scorched-earth policy and its policy of crowding Boer farm families into disease-ridden concentration camps, moreover, offered an ominous premonition of 20th-century warfare. Outline I. Diamond and gold discoveries in Southern Africa made it the wealthiest and the most sharply disputed area of Africa. A. Cecil Rhodes, later founder of the Rhodes Scholarships, achieved fabulous wealth and power, including his own army, from his Kimberley diamond mines. B. Gold was discovered in 1886 in the Transvaal, around which mines and the city of Johannesburg grew up rapidly. 1. The ore was not rich, and mining had to be highly capitalized from the beginning. 2. About 97,000 African laborers, living in compounds, were at work there by 1899. C. “Uitlanders” (foreigners) brought capital and technical expertise. 1. Paul Kruger’s Boer republic taxed them but denied them all political rights. 2. The Boers built a railway to Delagoa Bay in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) to sidestep British commercial control. D. The Jameson Raid (1895–1896) failed to stimulate an Uitlander coup, denting British pride and prestige. 1. Boers, and British critics, believed that Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain had authorized it. 2. Britain paid reparations for the raid, which Transvaal’s President Kruger used to buy modern weapons. E. In 1898, a Boer policeman killed a British miner in Johannesburg, which led to a petition signed by 21,000 British Uitlanders demanding equal rights. II. The Boer War was fought between 1899 and 1902; it demonstrated the Boers’ skill and hinted at British vulnerability. A. After a series of ultimatums, Britain declared war on the Boer republics in October 1899, claiming suzerainty. B. The British endured a series of jarring reversals in the early months of the war. 1. Mafeking, Ladysmith, and Kimberley were besieged. 2. British forces lost three battles in one week, called Black Week, in December 1899. 3. The fighting at Spion Kop near Ladysmith led to heavy British losses. C. General Buller was relieved of command after Black Week. 1. Winston Churchill and other observers on the scene realized that Britain had underestimated the Boers’ military prowess. 2. Churchill himself was captured from an armored train but made a dramatic escape from Transvaal’s capital, Pretoria. D. Robert Baden-Powell’s defense of Mafeking became legendary and inspired him to found the Boy Scouts movement after the war. III. British reinforcements and a new commander, Lord Roberts, recovered the initiative and soon won the conventional phase of the war, after which they faced two years of stubborn guerrilla resistance. A. Roberts borrowed from the Boers’ methods and used high-speed cavalry, outflanking the besiegers to relieve Kimberly, Ladysmith, and Mafeking. The relief of Mafeking on May 17, 1900, led to wild rejoicing in Britain. B. Roberts’s army then marched on Pretoria. C. Britain responded to the Boer guerrilla campaign with a scorched-earth policy in the countryside. 1. Civilians were placed in concentration camps. 2. The camps, like the armies, were swept by infectious diseases. 3. Emily Hobhouse, an English religious and humanitarian crusader, led protests against conditions in the camps. D. The 1. Britain by then had 300,000 troops in South Africa. 2. Both sides agreed to maintain white supremacy. Treaty of Vereeniging ended the war in 1902. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 37 1. 2. Was Britain justified in its political claims over the Orange Free State and the Transvaal? Why was it so difficult for British forces to win a decisive victory in South Africa? 38 ©2009 The Teaching Company. 3. One effect of the war was to make Britain appear militarily vulnerable. Suggested Reading: Farwell, The Great Anglo-Boer War. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Pakenham, The Boer War. Reitz, Commando. Questions to Consider: Lecture Twenty-One The Empire in Literature Scope: The empire influenced British literature just as it influenced British life as travelers’ tales of triumph and disaster, as well as their newfound wealth, made their way back to England. The great themes of English literature are marriage, money, and social class. Historically it was possible to buy your way to higher social status, but it often took more than one generation—as when hard-driving tradesmen educated their sons to be gentlemen at the old universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The colonies’ role in the history of English literature was to upset the order of things by introducing new forms of wealth, by raising moral questions about the rights and wrongs of colonization, and even by asking how the members of different races should interact. Outline I. Literature from the earliest phase of the empire emphasizes the uncertainties of exploration and colonization and the hazards of shipwreck. A. Caliban, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611) is a wild man enslaved by Prospero, an exiled European king. 1. Recent critics have compared him to Native Americans who first welcomed, then were dominated by, colonists. 2. The play may be seen as an allegory of imperialism just when it was beginning. B. In the 1600s, British audiences enjoyed captivity tales, whose characters suffered shipwreck, mutiny, captivity, and persecution for their religious faith. C. Many critics regard Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the first real English novel. 1. Crusoe is a shipwreck survivor, alone on an island off Venezuela. 2. He creates a miniature England there, aided by his “Man Friday.” 3. The story was based partly on the true-life adventures of Alexander Selkirk and Henry Pitman. D. Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722) includes scenes of deportation to colonial Virginia. E. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) is, outwardly, another shipwrecked sailor’s tale. II. Nineteenth-century English fiction includes numerous characters and situations in which colonial and imperial affairs affect characters in Britain even though they stay at home. A. Jane Austen’s novels about the marriage prospects of genteel young ladies often refer to their suitors’ fortunes from the colonies or from war. 1. In Persuasion (1817), Captain Frederick Wentworth’s eligibility to marry Anne Elliott increases when he makes a fortune by capturing French ships. 2. In Mansfield Park (1814), Sir Thomas Bertram is forced to visit ailing sugar plantations in Antigua; he is a slave owner. B. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) is set entirely in England, but the plot depends on exotic colonial characters and challenges. 1. The madwoman in the attic is a Jamaican creole. 2. Jane considers marrying a fanatical missionary who aims to convert the Hindus to Christianity. 3. Jean Rhys’s The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) takes a postcolonial second look at the story. C. Henry Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1848) also has a rich half-caste woman whose marriagability is debated. New foods and a black servant are also featured. D. The plot of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861) pivots around Magwitch, a criminal who is transported for life to the Australian prison colony. III. In the later 19th century, early literature about colonial Africa emphasized its exoticism but later moved to a more serious study of the effects of imperialism. A. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (1885) follows a group of English hunters to a lost African kingdom of brutal but noble savages. B. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) investigates African exoticism in a more grim and sober fashion. Based on Conrad’s own experience in King Leopold’s Congo, it is an exploration of human greed, depravity, and the thin veneer of civilization. C. India-born Rudyard Kipling, the most celebrated of all Britain’s colonial writers, was the first English winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1907). His work both celebrates the empire and warns of its demise. D. Twentieth-century literature of empire would be far less confident but would enjoy growing contributions from colonial peoples. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 39 Suggested Reading: Conrad, Heart of Darkness. Dickens, Great Expectations. Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines. Thackeray, Vanity Fair. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. Does it matter whether or not Shakespeare and Jane Austen were thinking about colonialism? How do colonial figures upset the routine of British life, according to these novelists? 40 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Twenty-Two Economics and Theories of Empire Scope: Throughout the 19th century, advocates of the empire claimed they were bringing progress to backward peoples. Above all, however, they were making money. At midcentury, Britain strongly favored international free trade and abandoned the old Navigation Acts and nearly all other forms of protectionism. Once Germany and America began to catch up with Britain industrially, however, the advantages of free trade diminished. A new generation argued for strengthening the bonds of the empire, making it a single political unit, and perhaps even surrounding it with tariff fences. Meanwhile, critics looked on imperialism as the decadent phase of a rapacious capitalist system. As the world’s empires grew, so did speculation about the ethics and economics of imperialism, and for the first time important sections of the nation began to doubt that Britain’s role in the world was beyond reproach. Outline I. In the first half of the 19th century, Britain abandoned protectionism and promoted free trade. A. As the world’s industrial pioneer, it stood to gain more than any other nation from monopolies and abolishing tariffs. B. British manufactures were better in quality and lower in price than those of any rival, and their rail systems were among the most extensive. C. British financial services, including insurance, were the world’s most mature. D. After 1840, ocean-going steamships increased the pace and volume of trade while reducing its cost. 1. They made emigration from Britain safer than ever before. 2. Their size and speed made it possible for Britain to import low-value bulk goods in place of the early empire’s luxuries. E. From the 1860s onward, submarine cables brought all parts of the empire into rapid communication with one another. 1. They enabled the central government to increase its information about, and control over, events in the colonies. 2. They facilitated easy communication between merchants at both ends of long-term transactions. II. Britain lost its industrial and commercial lead after 1870, when new industrial giants, particularly the United States and the newly unified Germany, began to compete aggressively. A. Self-governing white colonies wanted latitude of political action but also wanted British military protection. B. The idea of a “Greater Britain” and the possibility of an imperial federation drew widespread interest in the 1870s and 1880s. C. John Seeley’s The Expansion of England (1883) urged a more unified and self-conscious imperial policy. D. Pseudo-scientific ideas about the Anglo-Saxons as a distinct race destined to rule the world became popular. E. Joseph Chamberlain, colonial minster from 1895, favored a policy of stronger imperial bonds. 1. He reversed the traditional policy of constant budget cutting. 2. He encouraged the building of African railroads. 3. His support for medical research contributed to the abatement of malaria and sleeping sickness, two of the greatest killers in the tropical colonies. 4. He was unable to prevail in promoting a policy of imperial preference. F. Newspaper editors and popular writers encouraged the idea of imperial unity. Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) played the same role in creating the British popular press that Hearst and Pulitzer played in America. III. Radical economic theorists condemned imperialism as a form of capitalist plundering and anticipated that it would provoke great future wars. A. John Hobson, a British anti-imperial economist, believed that the empire was essentially a sales operation for British manufacturers who overproduced goods and underpaid their workers. B. The Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin saw competition for colonies as one of the causes of World War I. C. Subsequent interpreters have cast doubt on these theories, which exaggerate the profitability of colonies. D. Whether the empire was economically feasible, whether it was desirable, and whether it would persist were all open to question. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 41 Suggested Reading: Carrington, The British Overseas. Ferguson, Empire. Lloyd, The British Empire. Smith, The Wealth of Nations. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. Why did the idea of free trade become so popular and so persuasive? Could Britain have prevented America and Germany from catching up industrially and economically? 42 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Twenty-Three The British Empire Fights Imperial Germany Scope: Alone, Britain’s armies could never have defeated Germany in World War I, but Britain’s command of the sea enabled it to blockade German trade, while its empire provided supplies of all kinds. Thousands of colonial soldiers fought on the Western Front, and thousands more fought in secondary campaigns in the Middle East and Africa. Already the effective rulers of Egypt, the British tried to extend their Middle Eastern influence with three campaigns against Iraq and by harassing Turkish communications in Palestine. Most of the war’s colonial soldiers were volunteers, as highly motivated at first as those from Britain itself, and they developed a reputation for bravery and ferocity. But poor treatment by British officers, racial discrimination against Indians and West Indians, and a feeling of being flung into a hopeless cause by blundering British officers—a feeling particularly strong among the Australians at Gallipoli—angered many colonial peoples and contributed to their postwar disillusionment with the idea of the empire itself. Outline I. The European powers undertook a naval armaments race in the early years of the 20th century. A. British dreadnought battleships were so much more advanced than any rivals that they made every other fighting ship in the world instantly obsolete. B. The reality and the mystique of the Royal Navy had underpinned the empire since the victory at Trafalgar, but they had not fought a worthy adversary since. In World War I, they would face a new weapon: the submarine. II. Even though World War I was fought over the issue of the balance of power in Europe, men from all over the British Empire volunteered to fight. A. B. C. III. The A. B. C. D. Colonies vied with one another to send men and supplies to aid the war effort. More than a million soldiers from India alone, all volunteers, fought in the war. Food imports, especially from Canada, kept Britain and its armies fed. Britain introduced conscription in 1916 in the face of high casualties, but most of the white dominions refused to enlist their men. Middle East became an important theater of operations for British imperial forces. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill’s hope of a quick victory over the Turks met unexpectedly fierce resistance at Gallipoli. 1. A direct naval assault on the Dardanelles in March 1915 failed to open a direct passage to Constantinople. 2. The alternative, tried a month later, was invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula, from which the army could march to Constantinople. 3. Some 30,000 Anzacs—Australian and New Zealand Army Corps—were among those who suffered severe casualties in the unsuccessful invasion. Early successes in Mesopotamia (Iraq) were followed by reverses when General Charles Townshend won a series of easy victories but then, besieged in Kut for more than a year, was finally forced to surrender. General Stanley Maude’s force finally seized Baghdad in March 1917. General Edmund Allenby’s campaign in Palestine liberated Jerusalem in 1917, prefiguring the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. 1. He commanded the last cavalry campaign in British history. 2. Among his troops was David Ben-Gurion, the Zionist leader who would later become the first prime minister of Israel. 3. In 1918, Allenby won a shattering victory over the Turks at Megiddo, site of the biblical Battle of Armageddon. 4. His campaign was aided by the work of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who helped incite an Arab revolt against the Turks. IV. British forces also attacked, and eventually seized, German colonies in Africa. A. Jan Smuts, one of the defeated Boer generals, led an Anglo–South African campaign to capture German South West Africa (Namibia). B. General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck held out against superior British forces in German East Africa (Tanzania) for three years. He was never defeated, but neither was he able to prevent British occupation of the “German East.” ©2009 The Teaching Company. 43 Suggested Reading: Black, The British Seaborne Empire. James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Keegan, The First World War. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Questions to Consider: 1. 2. Did the great powers’ greed for colonies make the First World War inevitable? Why was Britain eventually able to seize so much of the old Ottoman Empire? 44 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Lecture Twenty-Four Versailles and Disillusionment Scope: Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points included self-determination for all peoples, an end to colonial empires, and a move toward universal democracy, all supervised by a powerful League of Nations. The victorious leaders of Britain and France, by contrast, wanted to seize as many colonies from their vanquished enemies as they could get. By the actual terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Britain took over Germany’s African colonies and became the dominant power in the formerly Turkish-ruled Middle East. The empire appeared to be both larger and stronger than ever before. The war had, however, fostered a mood of disillusionment and loss of faith in the empire, especially among the white dominions. The decline in British confidence in the imperial mission, which can be seen in the best English literature of the era, was as significant in the decline of the empire as the independence movements springing up in many colonies. Outline I. Britain appeared to be stronger than ever by the terms of the Versailles treaty, but the territorial extension of the empire masked a decline in imperial self-confidence. A. Britain and France aimed to weaken Germany permanently through reparations and the carving up of its empire, so that it would no longer be a threat. B. The League of Nations, without American participation, was vitiated from the outset. The British Empire’s six votes in the League—from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India—were a sign of division, not unity. C. Britain’s contradictory promises to Arab and Zionist forces in the Middle East sowed the seeds of later dilemmas. D. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 brought British naval supremacy to an abrupt end. After the Battle of Jutland, the German High Seas Fleet kept to its harbors. II. A mood of disillusionment followed the war, evident in British literature and in popular attitudes, and auguring a decline of imperial enthusiasm. A. B. C. III. The A. B. C. A spate of antiwar literature denigrated the idealism that had led to the catastrophes of the Western Front. Robert Graves’s Goodbye to All That (1929) and Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) explored the futility, brutality, and trauma of war. A new generation of novelists, such as E. M. Forster and George Orwell, poured cold water on the idea of Britain’s civilizing mission overseas. political transformation of Britain and the rise of the Labour Party placed the future of the empire in jeopardy. The Labour Party, created by the Trades Unions Congress in 1900, was pledged to parliamentary socialism but acted chaotically on imperial questions. The Russian Revolution had a polarizing effect on British and world politics, and its long-term implications for colonial empires were also negative. After 1917, the British Empire was opposed by both of the world’s rising superpowers. Suggested Reading: Crick, George Orwell. James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Macmillan, Paris 1919. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Questions to Consider: 1. Was President Wilson naïve to believe that Britain might put aside its imperial interests at the Versailles treaty? 2. Why did the Middle East emerge as a newly important area for the British Empire? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 45 Lecture Twenty-Five Ireland Divided Scope: The great Liberal prime minister, William Gladstone, tried to persuade British politicians to grant self-government to Ireland, but both of his Home Rule bills (1886 and 1893) failed in Parliament. Home Rule members of Parliament extorted a third bill from Herbert Asquith’s Liberal government in 1914, but the outbreak of World War I postponed its implementation. 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. Afterward, however, more and more Irish Catholics came to admire the Dublin rising and to support independence. The Irish War of Independence ensued, complicated by the fact that Ulster Protestants desperately wanted to avoid independence. When the Irish Free State came into existence in 1922, a civil war broke out between those who accepted the partitioning of Ireland and those who rejected it. Outline I. Prime Minister Gladstone came to believe in Irish Home Rule but was unable to convince his parliamentary colleagues. A. Gladstone introduced Home Rule legislation in 1886, using Canada and Australia as models. B. Speaking for the Conservative opposition, Lord Salisbury used the analogy of the Indian Mutiny. C. Enough Liberals broke ranks to defeat the bill, which split the party into Home Rule and Unionist branches. D. The six Ulster counties, Ireland’s only industrialized area and the only area with a majority Protestant population, reacted to the crisis with displays of fierce pro-Unionism. E. Gladstone introduced another Home Rule bill in 1893 that passed the House of Commons but was rejected by the House of Lords. F. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith’s Third Home Rule Bill passed in 1914. 1. Irish members of Parliament held the balance of power in the Commons and insisted on Home Rule as a quid pro quo for supporting him. 2. The House of Lords’ veto power had been diminished to two years in 1910, so that the legislation, vetoed in 1912 and 1913, became law anyway in 1914. 3. However, implementation was suspended because of the outbreak of World War I. G. Militant Ulster Protestants had been importing weapons to meet the threat of Home Rule, which they intended to oppose by force. Catholic groups were also importing weapons of their own. H. Large numbers from both sides fought for Britain in World War I. II. The great shift in popular opinion. Dublin uprising of Easter 1916 failed to spark a general rebellion, but British persecution of its survivors led to a A. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) hoped to exploit Britain’s wartime vulnerability. Some of its leaders had faith in the symbolic value even of a spectacular defeat. B. The rising, though marked by poor planning, began on Easter Monday; 1,600 rebel men and women occupied the General Post Office and other strategic points in Dublin. C. British troops attacked the post office and in the space of a week bombarded it into rubble, forcing the survivors to surrender. D. Fifteen of the survivors were convicted of treason in wartime and were executed by firing squad in May 1916. Irishmen who had not risen at Easter now came to regard them as martyrs. 1. British authority in southern Ireland gradually weakened, to the extent that the government did not try to enforce its conscription statute in 1918. 2. Survivors of the uprising who had been deported to English prisons without trial were released in 1917 to appease American public opinion. E. At the general election of 1918, the Home Rule party shrank to insignificance while Sinn Féin rose and its members pledged never to sit in the Westminster Parliament. Among its 76 constituency winners, 47 were in jail. Irish War of Independence, a civil and guerrilla conflict, took place amid scenes of extreme brutality, and its ending III. The sparked an even more savage conflict among the victors over whether Ireland could be partitioned. 46 A. Sinn Féin created a government and parliament of its own under Eamon de Valera and outlawed British authority in 1919. 1. Its military force was the newly created Irish Republican Army (IRA). ©2009 The Teaching Company. 2. De Valera toured the United States in 1919 and 1920, was greeted as a liberator and national hero by Irish- Americans, and raised $5 million. B. Britain responded by recruiting former army men, survivors of the trench warfare of the last four years, whom the Irish nicknamed the Black and Tans. They victimized innocents in retaliation for IRA attacks on the army and police. C. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, ratified by the Irish Parliament early in 1922, gave southern Ireland self- government as the Irish Free State but preserved Ulster as part of the United Kingdom. Sinn Féin had made no headway in Northern Ireland. D. Antipartition diehards fought against the pragmatists for the next year but ultimately lost. E. Irish independence is a persuasive point at which to date the beginning of the end of the British Empire. Suggested Reading: Edwards, Patrick Pearse. Foster, Modern Ireland. Key, The Green Flag. Mansergh, The Irish Question. Questions to Consider: 1. Why were so many of the English reluctant to acknowledge the Irish majority’s desire for Home Rule? 2. Might Home Rule have come about peacefully if the English had been more restrained in their reaction to the Dublin uprising? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 47 Lecture Twenty-Six Cricket and the British Empire Scope: Cricket became the sport of the entire British Empire. Its origins are lost in the Middle Ages, but by the 18th century a game quite similar to the modern one was already popular in England. In the 19th century, colonizing soldiers and administrators took cricket to India, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, and South Africa, all of whose peoples became enthusiasts. In fact, one of the easiest ways to find out whether a country was once part of the British Empire is to see whether or not its people play cricket. Cricket taught British ideals of gentlemanliness to colonial people and introduced the idea of an elaborate etiquette in addition to the formal rules. When colonies began to struggle for independence, they often used cricket analogies to point out that Britain, when it resisted them, was not living up to its own ideals of fair play. The expression “that’s just not cricket” is a fairly serious condemnation of someone else’s conduct. Outline I. Anyone who loves baseball will love cricket too, but it will not be love at first sight. A. Both are bat and ball games that require split-second timing and are played in bursts of action followed by minutes of inactivity, but they have many differences. 1. The batsman stands in the middle of the field and can hit in a 360-degree radius, rather than having to hit into a fair zone of just 90 degrees. 2. He defends three vertical posts, called the wicket, rather than a home plate. 3. The bowler (pitcher) is allowed a run-up but must deliver the ball with an unbent elbow. 4. The batsman hits the ball as it rises after one bounce. 5. The fielders do not wear gloves and expect a catch to hurt. 6. The batsman, having hit the ball, does not have to run if he does not think he can reach the other wicket safely. B. Cricket has just two innings, whereas baseball has nine. 1. Each innings (yes, “innings” is singular) requires 10 outs rather than 3, and an innings can sometimes last for more than a day. 2. The length of games itself suggests a society in which leisure enjoys higher status than work. 3. It was more prestigious to play as an amateur than as a professional. 4. The British equivalent of the All-Stars game was called the Gentlemen versus the Players. C. Cricket crossed all class boundaries, unlike most other sports, which were more class specific. II. Playing cricket was one of the ways that settlers in the white colonies re-created some of the familiarity of home, whereas in the nonwhite colonies it gave the indigenous people the chance to show how British they were, or were capable of becoming. A. The Australians became fierce and able players. 1. Teams from England and Australia compete for “the ashes,” a trophy that never actually leaves England. 2. A breach of etiquette by the visiting England team of 1932–1933 caused an Anglo-Australian diplomatic incident. B. West Indians also learned to play expertly. 1. Early West Indian teams visiting Britain had to learn how to play in shoes. 2. The West Indian Marxist revolutionary C. L. R. James was also a cricket journalist and an excellent player. C. Indian princes saw analogues to the warrior virtues in the game. 1. Maharaja Kumar Shri Sir Ranjitsinghji was the greatest of the Indian Victorian players. 2. Different aspects of the game correspond to different attributes of the Hindu castes. III. English public (i.e., private) schools regarded cricket as ideal preparation for imperial service. 48 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. Games, much more than academic achievement, conferred status. Army officers and administrators explained their duties with the help of cricket metaphors, and ad hoc cricket matches consoled English garrisons all over the world. A subversive anticricket literature about schools developed at the turn of the century. 1. 2. Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky and Co. (1899) makes imperial heroes out of boys who were bad at games. C. S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy (1955) tells of how he found school cricket much worse than service in the World War I trenches. Suggested Reading: Allitt, “English Cricket and Literature.” Bowen, Cricket. Green, A History of Cricket. Nandy, The Tao of Cricket. Questions to Consider: 1. Is it reasonable to believe that national characteristics can be embodied in a game, or is that idea just wishful thinking? 2. Why did cricket transcend social class barriers, whereas most other sports reinforced them? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 49 Lecture Twenty-Seven British India between the World Wars Scope: After the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, Mohandas Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress, intensified his appeal for swaraj (complete independence). Gandhi was expert at appealing to British principles and standards. He, like most of the British-educated Indian elite, was horrified by recurrent religious sectarian violence and wanted malcontents to focus their attention on expelling the British through the peaceful methods of Satyagraha (truth force). He foresaw that religious differences would impede Indian unity. The British tiptoed toward Indian self- government, which they had conceded in principle during World War I. The Government of India Act of 1935 created a federation of Indian provinces, each with its own parliament. The predominantly Hindu Congress Party won most of these elections, which intensified Muslims’ fears that independence would leave them a vulnerable, despised, and persecuted minority. Muhammad Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, resolved that if the British did quit India, Muslims should have a country of their own: Pakistan. Outline I. For nearly a century after the Indian Mutiny, a handful of Britons continued to rule India. A. Strenuously educated at Haileybury, they were taught to be self-sacrificing and incorruptible. B. Indians were theoretically entitled to take the Indian Civil Service exam but had to go to England to take it. C. Young men, often from the British middle class, exercised immense power, sometimes over millions of people. D. At the apex of the imperial pyramid sat the viceroy, the queen’s representative. E. India industrialized slowly and remained vulnerable to famine. II. In the late 19th century, educated Indians and their British sympathizers raised the question of Indian self-government. A. The Congress movement, founded in 1885, began with the help of English sympathizers like Allan Octavian Hume and William Wedderburn. 1. Congress boycotted English cloth imports in 1905 to protest the partitioning of Bengal. 2. In 1906, Congress voted in favor of the principle of self-government for India. B. Mohandas Gandhi was the movement’s most luminous figure. 1. Educated in England, he was at first an anglicized lawyer. 2. His political formation came not in India but South Africa. 3. He hoped for British concessions as a quid pro quo for Indians’ sacrifice in World War I. 4. His turn to Indian dress was a symbolic repudiation of Britain and its civilization. C. The Muslim League, founded in 1906, aimed to make sure that an independent India, if it came, would not be Hindu dominated. III. After World War I, the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms and Gandhi’s noncooperation movement led to uneasy fluctuations in British policy. 50 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. E. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 accepted the principle of eventual self-government for India. The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 was justified by its perpetrator, Reginald Dyer, a wounded World War I veteran. 1. The British political nation split as to the rights and wrongs of the massacre. 2. Twenty years later, Dyer’s commanding officer, Michael O’Dwyer, was assassinated in London by a Punjabi radical in revenge. Gandhi’s Satyagraha (truth force) aimed to use the Britons’ guilty consciences against them. 1. He was imprisoned for six years (released after two) for his leadership of the noncooperation movement. 2. Gandhi returned to leadership in 1930 with the Salt March. 3. In 1931, Gandhi had a long personal meeting with the viceroy, Lord Irwin, and came to terms, each man being under pressure from extremists in his own camp. Gandhi went to London as negotiator for the Congress Party to create Dominion status for India. The Government of India Act of 1935 created a federation of Indian provinces, each with its own parliament, but the question of Indian self-government was not yet settled. Suggested Reading: Gandhi, The History of My Experiments with Truth. Mehta, Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Wolpert, A New History of India. Questions to Consider: 1. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Gandhi as a leader of the Indian independence movement? 2. What motivated a variety of English men and women to support the Congress movement? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 51 Lecture Twenty-Eight World War II—England Alone Scope: Antiwar feeling was strong in the 1920s and early 1930s. Only as the menace of Nazism intensified did Britain make an effort to build up its military. Early defeats in the war brought Winston Churchill to the premiership with a grim determination to prevail. Churchill, unlike many other Conservatives, had never accepted that the entire empire should eventually win independence; he regarded the colonies’ locations and resources as essential to Britain’s role as a great power. He also recognized that Britain would never be able to liberate Europe from Hitler’s grasp without American aid. He urged President Franklin Roosevelt to become directly involved in the war but found Roosevelt cautious. Sympathetic to the plight of Britain, Roosevelt was also determined not to use American resources to preserve the British Empire. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, America entered the war. Almost at once, Britain faced more mortifying reverses. Outline I. In the 1930s, Winston Churchill seemed a relic of Victorian imperialism rather than a heroic leader awaiting his supreme moment. A. He believed war to be inevitable and therefore wanted Britain to prepare for the contingency. B. He believed that the empire made Britain a great power, that it was morally defensible, and that its subject peoples benefited from its existence. C. Ironically, Hitler also admired the British Empire and speculated about preserving it through an Anglo-German alliance. D. The failure of appeasement discredited Neville Chamberlain and brought Churchill to the premiership in May 1940. He presided over the Battle of Britain, which fought the Luftwaffe to a standstill. E. Aware that Britain alone could not defeat Hitler, Churchill dedicated himself to winning American support. F. He and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter before the United States entered the war, though its language had anticolonialist overtones. II. World War II brought renewed declarations of loyalty from the colonies. Its early campaigns played out many of the old imperial themes. A. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa once again pledged to support Britain in the conflict. 1. In South Africa, pro-British sympathizers outnumbered pro-Hitler Afrikaners, and Jan Smuts once again became prime minister. 2. In India, the National Congress protested against the viceroy’s declaration of war without consultation, but more than 2 million Indians fought for Britain. 3. Even from the officially neutral Irish Free State, 43,000 men volunteered to fight for Britain. 4. Thousands of Canadian merchant seamen served on the hazardous Atlantic convoys. B. Mussolini, Hitler’s ally, invaded the British colonies of Sudan and Kenya from Ethiopia. British counterattacks in spring 1941 defeated the Italians and restored the deposed Ethiopian king Haile Sellasie. C. Italian forces in Libya attacked the British in Egypt; British counterattacks beat them back easily in December 1940. D. The desert campaign reached a climax at the Battle of El Alamein in fall 1942. III. The early success of Japanese forces in the Far East damaged the empire’s reputation for omnipotence, which it never entirely recovered. 52 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. E. On hearing the news of Pearl Harbor, Churchill realized that Britain and its empire would emerge from the war victorious. Britain sustained a jarring succession of reversals in late 1941 and early 1942, including the surrender of Hong Kong and Singapore. British forces fought a rearguard action through Burma, until Japanese troops threatened India itself. 1. The Burmese National Army under Aung San regarded Japanese forces as liberators rather than conquerors. 2. Many of the Indian troops taken prisoner at Singapore joined Subhas Chandra Bose, who proposed, with his Indian National Army, to fight for Indian independence. After decades of underestimating the Japanese, the British now began to fear that they were invincible. Japanese mistreatment of British and imperial prisoners of war was, in part, a conscious policy to degrade British and white men’s prestige in the Far East. Suggested Reading: Dower, War Without Mercy. Keegan, The Second World War. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Overy, Why the Allies Won. Questions to Consider: 1. Was Churchill’s positive evaluation of the empire still justifiable in the 1940s? 2. What factors account for Japan’s overwhelming success in late 1941 and early 1942? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 53 Lecture Twenty-Nine World War II—The Pyrrhic Victory Scope: The tide of the war turned in 1942 with a British victory over the Germans at El Alamein and an American victory over the Japanese at Midway. The German offensive against Russia stalled at Stalingrad. Churchill and Roosevelt, aware that the Soviet Union was confronting the full might of the Wehrmacht, planned and executed the invasion of Italy in 1943 and France in 1944. With each passing month, the American role in the war effort grew, forcing Britain into second place. By the time Germany and Japan surrendered, Britain was economically exhausted. A new prime minister, Clement Attlee, told a new American president, Harry Truman, that Britain could no longer accept worldwide responsibilities and that it intended to dismantle its colonial empire. It was not internal resistance that brought the empire to an end so much as changing ideas about the justification for empires and the devastating impact of two world wars. Outline I. Churchill cautioned Roosevelt not to be too hasty in planning the second-front invasion of Europe. A. Churchill persuaded the Americans to defer the invasion, first until 1943 and then until 1944. B. Stalin felt betrayed by his allies, but they knew he had recently been allied with Hitler and might turn again. C. Anglo-American interests were well served by having Stalin and Hitler weaken one another. At El Alamein the British defeated 3 German divisions, whereas at Stalingrad the Russians defeated 190. D. Britain was increasingly dependent on the United States for supplies and material, increasing friction between senior British and American officials. 1. Friction between men of all social classes increased as the American buildup in England continued prior to D-Day. 2. D-Day was ultimately led by an American general, Eisenhower. II. American armies advanced across the Pacific against the Japanese in 1943–1945, while British forces advanced through Burma. A. Orde Wingate led the irregular Chindits against the Japanese in Burma. B. Small British and Indian forces held Kohima and Imphal (Assam) in the spring of 1944 to prevent a Japanese invasion of India, although ultimately a monsoon, not a battle, defeated the Japanese. C. Lord Louis Mountbatten’s 1945 expedition coincided with the atomic bombs and was therefore unnecessary. Unmistakably, Britain had recovered its Eastern possessions because of American power. D. The war furthered the Australian tendency to seek aid from the United States rather than from Britain. III. The Labour Party won a majority of seats in Parliament for the first time in the general election of 1945, following victory in Europe. A. The mood of ordinary Britons during World War II was one of impatience with “the old gang” and a determination to undertake social transformation. 1. Colonel Blimp was the personification of everything old-fashioned, complacent, and out-of-date in Britain. 2. Press stories noted the laconic and snobbish attitude of the imperial elite and its remoteness from the colonized majority in Asia. 3. The Beveridge Report (1942) created almost millennial expectations in Britain about a reformed, classless, and socially just postwar society. 4. British military camps became centers for adult education and political debate. B. Churchill was shocked to be ousted from the premiership. The election results were announced during the Potsdam Conference, where the future of Communism was debated. C. The new prime minister, Clement Attlee, nationalized major sectors of the economy. IV. Britain under Attlee had to assess its position in a world dominated by the two new superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. 54 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. Early hopes for conciliation with the Soviet Union soon vanished, and Britain became a founding member of NATO in 1949. Development of its own nuclear weapons gave Britain the ability to make great power claims throughout the 1950s. C. Attlee informed the new American president, Harry Truman, that Britain could no longer maintain its extensive security operations throughout the world. The Truman Doctrine embodied the Americans’ determination to take over these responsibilities, first in Greece and Turkey. D. Cold War considerations, even more than the fate of the empire, dominated British foreign policy throughout the postwar years. Suggested Reading: Jenkins, Churchill. Overy, Why the Allies Won. Schama, A History of Britain, vol. 3. Slim, Defeat into Victory. Questions to Consider: 1. How did Britain come to terms with its reduced power vis-à-vis the United States in the mid- and late 1940s? 2. Why did Winston Churchill’s Conservatives lose the general election of 1945? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 55 Lecture Thirty Twilight of the Raj Scope: Once Attlee’s government decided to give India independence, it moved quickly. Lord Louis Mountbatten, India’s last viceroy, supervised the transition of power. He openly favored Jawaharlal Nehru’s predominantly Hindu Congress Party, intensifying Muhammad Jinnah’s determination to create Muslim Pakistan. Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British civil servant with no experience in India, had the all-but-impossible job of drawing a boundary through northwestern India so the majority of Muslims would be west of it and the majority of Hindus east. Population mingling over the preceding centuries meant that large minorities were left in the “wrong” place. Afraid of victimization, they became refugees as the British departed. Sure enough, horrible sectarian massacres killed as many as half a million people in 1947–1948, creating a legacy of bitterness between India and Pakistan that persists up to the present. Gandhi was powerless to stop the killing. His assassination by a Hindu extremist who accused him of making too many concessions to Muslims was an ominous symbol of the times. Outline I. India had never been a single political entity and remained diverse and decentralized in the late 1940s. A. Its population was religiously and ethnically divided, and the majority of its nearly 400 million people lived as subsistence farmers. 1. Hindus numbered around 250 million, divided into numerous castes, with about 60 million untouchables. 2. The second-largest population group was Muslims (around 90 million), but India also included minorities of Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, and other religious groups. B. India has 23 principal languages and several hundred dialects. C. About 500 semi-independent princes and Maharajas still ruled under British sufferance, and they feared losing power. D. The Western-educated political class to which Britain planned to hand over power understood Western politics but was not representative of the Indian people. E. Despite periodic disruptions and repression since World War I, Britain’s position in India had not become untenable, but Britain had lost the will to rule. II. The opposition in July 1947. British set an early deadline for their departure, and Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act with little A. Attlee appointed Lord Louis Mountbatten as India’s final viceroy. 1. He replaced General Archibald Wavell, who had been unable to get an agreement on maintaining Indian unity. 2. Winston Churchill, an opponent of Indian independence, deplored Mountbatten’s accelerated timetable. B. Jawaharlal Nehru hoped to retain Indian unity. Congress’s largely Hindu character made the prospect unlikely. C. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was determined to create a separate Pakistan for India’s Muslims, fearing that otherwise they would be a permanent and persecuted minority. 1. Parliament agreed to partition in May 1947. 2. The assets of British India were shared: 82.5% to the new state of India, and 17.5% to Pakistan. D. Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a conscientious civil servant but one with no prior experience in India, drew the India-Pakistan boundary, but its exact path was kept secret until after independence. 1. Bengal and Kashmir were both divided. 2. Gandhi appealed in vain against communal strife and massacres. III. August 15, 1947, the first day of India’s independence, was accompanied by chaos and violence far worse than any during the previous two centuries of British occupation. 56 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. About 10 million people fled from their homes, keeping only what they could carry. Between 250,000 and 500,000 refugees were killed in sectarian massacres. Nehru became prime minister of the new India and dominated its parliamentary system for the next 17 years. When the Muslim head of the princely state of Hyderabad refused to join a united India in 1948, Nehru ordered Indian troops to invade and conquer it. Jinnah became governor-general of Pakistan. 1. 2. One in 10 of Pakistan’s population from the outset were refugees. Jinnah died in 1948 and was buried in a massive mausoleum in Karachi that became Pakistan’s national monument. E. Gandhi, now 79 years old, was sickened by the bloodletting and by the new government’s persecution of Muslims. 1. He began a fast in January 1948 until the new Indian government promised a more conciliatory policy. 2. A few days later, a Hindu extremist, Naturam Godse, assassinated Gandhi at his New Delhi home. IV. Historians continue to debate the pros and cons of the British Empire in India. Suggested Reading: Edwards, Nehru. James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan. ———, A New History of India. Questions to Consider: 1. Was Indian independence inevitable at the end of World War II? 2. How might the massacres of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims have been averted? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 57 Lecture Thirty-One Israel, Egypt, and the Suez Canal Scope: Zionists had been settling and working in Palestine since the turn of the 20th century, first under the Ottomans, then under the British. The Holocaust created an immense wave of sympathy for Jews after World War II, and the idea of an independent Israel gained more credibility among the world’s governments than ever before. In 1948, Britain attempted to partition Israel and Palestine as it had Ireland and India. British forces, under attack from militant Zionist militias, were again unable to prevent postcolonial warfare. Egypt, also newly liberated from British control, led an attack on Israel but suffered a humiliating defeat. In 1952, Gamal Abd al-Nasser rose to power through an officers’ coup. Eager to defy Britain and Israel, he seized the Suez Canal. Britain, France, and Israel drew up a secret plan to recapture the canal and launched their campaign in fall 1956. American president Dwight Eisenhower, furious at not being notified, ordered the British to stop. The fact that they did stop showed that Britain was no longer a first-rate world power capable of unilateral imperial actions. I. Outline Britain ruled Palestine after World War I through a League of Nations mandate but was unable to stop the escalation of political tensions. A. The Zionist movement, founded by Theodore Herzl in the late 19th century in response to rising anti-Semitism in Europe, inspired thousands of European Jews to migrate to Palestine. B. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 made support for an eventual state of Israel official British government policy. 1. The first British high commissioner of Palestine was Sir Herbert Samuel, a British Jew—the first Jew in 2,000 years to head a government in the Holy Land. 2. As Hitler’s persecution commenced after 1933, British policy began to discourage Jewish immigration, afraid it would provoke conflict in Palestine. C. British promises to Arab leaders during World War I appeared to contradict the Balfour Declaration. 1. In 1921, Samuel made Mohammad Amin al-Husseini the Mufti (senior judge) of Jerusalem. 2. Al-Husseini set about assassinating Arab moderates, making a peaceful solution to the issue much less likely. 3. Nine thousand British soldiers were sent to Palestine in 1936 to suppress an Arab revolt. D. Britain created a Jewish brigade during World War II that became the nucleus of the Israel Defense Force. David Ben-Gurion urged Zionists to fight with Britain against the Nazis but to be ready after that to fight for Israel— against Britain, if necessary. Sympathy for the surviving victims of Hitler’s anti-Jewish policies coincided with British determination to fold up the empire in the late 1940s. II. 58 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. Holocaust survivors wanted to migrate to Palestine, but British policy was to limit and discourage them. The Stern Gang and Irgun, Zionist extremist groups, attacked the British to hasten their departure. 1. Abraham Stern, a Polish Jew and Anglophobe, began attacks on the British but was killed in 1942. 2. Irgun, led by Menachem Begin (later to be prime minister), was a more powerful anti-British terrorist group, attacking the infrastructure of British rule. 3. Irgun dynamited the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in July 1946, killing 100, including 17 Jews. The United Nations devised a two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine dilemma in November 1947 with the support of President Truman. 1. The last British forces left on May 14, 1948, and on the same day Ben-Gurion read the Israeli Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv. 2. The Soviet Union initially favored Israel as a way to weaken British influence in the Middle East. Israel’s Arab neighbors never recognized the new nation, which had to fight for its life right from the beginning. 1. 2. 3. 4. Israel surprised the world by defeating a joint attack by Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese, and Palestinians. Irgun terrorism at the village of Deir Yassin contributed to the panicked departure of thousands of Arabs from Israeli territory. More than half a million Palestinian refugees became the nucleus of an intractable political problem over the ensuing decades. A comparable number of Jews from the Arab countries fled to Israel and were integrated into the new Jewish state. III. An Anglo-French-Israeli joint attack on Egypt in 1956 was thwarted by American intervention. A. Gamal Abd al-Nasser overthrew King Farouk of Egypt in 1952 and hastened the exit of Britain from Suez. B. He tried to play the United States and the Soviet Union against one another. C. He declared that the Suez Canal was Egypt’s national asset and seized it in 1956. D. Britain, France, and Israel designed and executed a campaign to retake the canal. 1. Britain could not prevent Egypt from blocking the canal and interrupting oil shipments. 2. American president Eisenhower, furious at not being consulted, threatened Britain with economic ruin if it did not halt its forces. 3. Britain’s surrender to American pressure demonstrated the effective end of their ability to play the role of imperial power. E. Postempire Britons found the kibbutzim an inspiring example of democratic socialism in action. Suggested Reading: James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Johnson, A History of the Jews. Morris, Farewell the Trumpets. Samuel, A History of Israel. Questions to Consider: 1. Was there ever a possibility that Arabs and Israelis might have coexisted without friction in ex-British Palestine? 2. Why did Britain persist in attempting partition solutions after its experience in Ireland and India? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 59 Lecture Thirty-Two The Decolonization of Africa Scope: Immediately after World War II, it seemed possible that most of Britain’s African colonies would remain part of the empire. The Colonial Office undertook various well-intentioned schemes to strengthen the colonies’ economies and educate their elite, but few prospered. After the Suez Crisis of 1956, British policy shifted to offering early grants of independence. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, accordingly, the British departed from all of their principal African colonies, including Gold Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana. In numerous cases, the frail democracies Britain had tried to construct collapsed, leaving charismatic strongmen in charge, such as Milton Obote in Uganda and Kwame Nkrumah in Gold Coast. Rather than let the same thing happen to Southern Rhodesia, its prime minister, Ian Smith, issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, hoping that he could maintain a white- dominated country. His experiment survived until 1980, while that of apartheid-based South Africa lasted until 1994. Outline I. Between 1945 and 1956, British politicians believed the African colonies were not ready for independence. A. Economic growth projects like the Tanganyika groundnut scheme were costly and embarrassing failures. B. The Atlantic Charter and the Indian independence movement stimulated the growth of African nationalism. Most Africans acknowledged tribal rather than national boundaries. C. British forces suppressed the Mau-Mau uprising in Kenya between 1952 and 1956. 1. Jomo Kenyatta, educated in Moscow and London, was its charismatic leader. 2. The uprising terrified the minority white population. 3. White settlers began to leave rather than face the prospect of a black majority rule. D. In 1960, Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan told the South African parliament that “a wind of change” was blowing through Africa. He intended to avoid the bitterness France suffered in its agonized withdrawal from Vietnam and Algeria. II. Failure at Suez and an unsympathetic international environment prompted an almost complete British departure from Africa between 1956 and 1966. A. Lack of an educated elite made the prospects of democracy in these new nations poor. 1. The transfer of power usually took place with the outward trappings of British civility. 2. Gold Coast (Ghana) led the way, becoming independent under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah in 1957. 3. Nkrumah turned Ghana into a one-party state in 1964 and was overthrown in an army coup two years later. 4. Colonial-era boundaries often ignored tribal realities and augured civil wars, such as the Biafra War of 1967– 1969. B. Each former colony became a potential American or Soviet client in the Cold War. C. Political upheaval discouraged investment and inhibited economic growth. 1. Botswana alone of all the ex-British colonies in Africa has enjoyed an unbroken succession of free elections since its independence in 1966. 2. Unstable dictators, notably Idi Amin of Uganda, destroyed the economic infrastructure of their countries, with ruinous consequences. III. White racial supremacists in South Africa and Rhodesia tried to prevent their countries from following the trend toward unstable democracy followed by dictatorship. 60 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. B. C. D. The Afrikaner-dominated National Party won the South African election of 1948 and established apartheid. 1. The Bantustan system and the pass laws maintained high levels of white control over the African majority. 2. Atrocities like the Sharpeville massacre (1960) shocked the world. In 1965, Ian Smith announced Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence rather than follow the fate of Zambia. British sanctions did little to curb his regime. After a prolonged and bitter racial conflict, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980. Its first African premier, Robert Mugabe, preserved democracy and the rule of law at first but gradually degenerated into a tribal tyrant. Nelson Mandela, as a political prisoner, became an inspirational figure to the South African freedom movement. 1. 2. South African president F. W. de Klerk realized in the early 1990s that apartheid must yield to majority rule. He and Mandela won joint Nobel Peace Prizes, and South Africa made the transition to democracy in 1993. Suggested Reading: Dinesen, Out of Africa. Lloyd, The British Empire. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom. Meredith, The Fate of Africa. Questions to Consider: 1. Why did so few postcolonial African countries develop stable political systems? 2. Would Britain have been able to stay longer in Africa with sufficient political will, or was its mission there doomed by 1960? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 61 Lecture Thirty-Three The White Dominions Scope: Australia’s and Canada’s bonds of trade, loyalty, and sentiment with Britain were strong, but for both countries, the temptation to switch primary allegiance to America grew steadily stronger as the 20th century progressed. Canada’s proximity to the United States led in practice to a high degree of Americanization, though Canadians maintained a prickly resistance to the idea that they were really just a northern annex of the rising superpower. The possibility of a politically independent Quebec complicated political life and kept Canada a bilingual society. Australia, meanwhile, realizing during World War II that America was much more likely to rescue it from the Japanese than Britain was, allied more closely with the United States. Its fear of the “yellow peril” intensifying with the rise of communism, Australia even joined the unsuccessful American attempt to stop communism’s spread in Vietnam, in which Britain refused to participate. Canada and Australia alike took pride in having achieved independence from the British Empire peaceably, rather than through a revolutionary war. Outline A. Politicians from the principal colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia drafted a constitution in 1900. 1. It had a senate rather than a house of lords, and both houses of the legislature were elected democratically. 2. Australia’s voters supported it in a referendum. 3. The Westminster Parliament approved it the same year. B. A new capital would be created between the principal cities of Melbourne and Sydney. 1. The site of Canberra was chosen in 1908, and construction began in 1913, with a pair of American architects as chief designers. 2. The government and parliament moved there in 1927. C. Australian women were given the vote in 1909, earlier than in the United States or Britain. D. New Zealand declined to unite with the Australian colonies and achieved its own political union in 1876. 1. In 1894, it became the first nation to grant women’s suffrage. 2. It pioneered in the building of a social democratic Labour movement and the kind of welfare state that was later common in Europe. II. Australia and Canada supported Britain in the world wars but gradually recognized that America was becoming the world’s dominant power—and that it might be of more use to them. A. A bitter referendum over conscription in 1917 laid bare fault lines in Australian politics. Many former soldiers were offered farms after the war, but the hostile environment meant that few prospered. B. By the Statute of Westminster, passed in 1931, the dominions became fully independent sovereign nations. Australia and New Zealand hesitated to ratify the statute, however, because it might have left them undefended. C. During World War II, Australian prime minister John Curtin infuriated Churchill by insisting that the Australian Imperial Force be returned from Africa in early 1942 to defend Australia against the Japanese. D. Canada made vital contributions to allied success in World War II. 1. Its sailors served on merchant ships and convoy-protection vessels. 2. Its soldiers served in the great European campaigns, including D-Day. 3. Its prairies provided the food supplies Britain could not grow itself. 4. Its vast mineral deposits of oil and iron ore were developed during the war. E. Canada in World War II, like Australia in World War I, experienced a bitter debate over conscription. III. British links continued to diminish in significance for Australia, New Zealand, and Canada after World War II, while those to America increased. I. Australia became politically unified only in 1900. 62 ©2009 The Teaching Company. A. Australia attracted immigrants not just from Britain but from displaced persons camps all over postwar Europe. 1. 2. The Australian government regarded more population as necessary for national welfare and thus subsidized migrants’ passage. Not until 1967 did Australia permit the immigration of Asians. B. Australia’s postwar government aligned itself closely with the United States. 1. A passionate anti-Communist, Prime Minister Robert Menzies tried to ban the Communist Party but was narrowly defeated in a referendum. 2. He committed Australian troops to fight in Korea and then Vietnam. C. In Canada, Pierre Trudeau balanced the internal needs of English and French speakers with the external issues of Britain and the United States. As prime minister, he introduced bilingualism throughout Canada as official policy, while stoutly resisting Quebec nationalism. D. The achievements of British Commonwealth citizens remained symbolically, rather than politically, significant. News that Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander, had reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 made him an empire-wide hero. Suggested Reading: Brebner, Canada. Clarke, The History of Australia. Knightley, Australia. Lower, Colony to Nation. Questions to Consider: 1. Did Canada and Australia act rationally in reorienting themselves toward America? 2. Did they benefit or suffer from not having made a clean break from Britain earlier? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 63 Lecture Thirty-Four Britain after the Empire Scope: In the decades after 1945, Britain appeared to have three choices of primary ally: its colonies, the United States, or the rest of Europe. By 1965, the colonies were no longer an option; only the British Commonwealth remained, more a cultural and sentimental union than one of political significance. The United States, the leading power in NATO, seemed the logical choice during the Cold War, but this alliance also dwindled in importance after the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1990. In the long run, Britain recognized the need to take its place in a Europe that was becoming commercially and politically united and that had also gone through a rapid and drastic decolonization process since World War II. Britain also faced large-scale immigration from former colonies in the West Indies, India, Pakistan, and Africa. After centuries as a racially homogeneous society, Britain quickly became multiracial, with immigrant communities raising unfamiliar issues. Outline I. The Cold War and the European Union, not the empire, dominated Britain’s foreign policy after World War II. A. America maintained air and submarine bases in Britain as part of its NATO commitment. 1. British politicians nourished the idea of an Anglo-American “special relationship.” 2. American bases were the focus of antinuclear demonstrations in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. 3. Britain retained its own independent nuclear deterrent. 4. The end of the Cold War diminished America’s presence and intensified Britain’s commitment to Europe. B. Britain was slow to join the European Common Market, but by the late 1960s it had recognized the need to do so. 1. The Common Market began as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. 2. It became the European Economic Community (EEC) by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. 3. Britain joined, along with Ireland and Denmark, in 1973. 4. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 created the European Union. C. British enthusiasm for the 2003 Iraq venture suggested, perhaps, a nostalgia for imperial adventures, even under Tony Blair’s Labour government. II. Large-scale immigration from former colonies created a multiracial society in Britain after 1950. A. Labor shortages in the 1950s prompted government agencies to attract West Indian immigrants. B. Indians and Pakistanis were attracted by the prospect of higher standards of living. C. Refugees, such as the Ugandan Asians, further diversified the British population. D. Conservative politicians such as Enoch Powell, and then a fringe party called the National Front, argued for drastic immigration restrictions. E. Vulnerable to unemployment and poverty, inner-city racial minorities could be politically volatile, as the Brixton race riots of 1981, 1995, and 2001 bore witness. F. The rise of militant Islam among disaffected English Muslims contributed to the bomb attack on the London Underground in July 2005 (the 7/7 attacks). III. Margaret Thatcher, Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990, undertook a last imperial venture in the Falkland Islands from March to June 1982. A. B. C. D. IV. The A. B. An unpopular Argentinean junta gambled that seizing the islands would not provoke British retaliation and lost. The British fleet included requisitioned ocean liners and cruise ships. American efforts to prevent the conflict failed, and the war ended in a decisive British victory. After the war, Thatcher won reelection from an enthusiastic British population, which showed a residual imperial enthusiasm. movement for devolution within Britain led in the 1990s to the creation of separate Welsh and Scottish assemblies. The Scottish parliament building has been as controversial as the work done within it: It cost 10 times as much to build as predicted and was four years late. The development of both local and European political influence has diminished the significance of Westminster, the traditional heart of imperial Britain. 64 ©2009 The Teaching Company. C. Britain itself remains sharply divided between rich and poor communities. 1. Areas that thrived on the empire and its commerce endured a long and bitter decline afterwards. 2. Strong local loyalties made adaptation to changed economic circumstances slow and difficult. D. Despite the survival of the monarchy, Britain is a less hierarchical society than ever before. Suggested Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory. Johnson, A History of the English People. Levin, The Pendulum Years. Schama, A History of Britain, vol. 3. Questions to Consider: 1. How did the changing world situation affect postimperial Britain? 2. Was Britain right to dedicate itself chiefly to its membership in Europe? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 65 Lecture Thirty-Five Colonial and Postcolonial Literature Scope: The literature of the empire in the 20th century dealt in dramatic contrasts, passionate extremes, ideas about exoticism, and questions of divided loyalty. British Africa in particular gave rise to a succession of excellent novelists, all of whom struggled with questions of racial and national identity: Nadine Gordimer, the South African Nobel Prize winner whose fiction explores the lives of white South Africans and their role in the anti-apartheid movement; Alan Paton, whose Cry the Beloved Country (1948) is probably the single most widely read book about Africa of the century; and Chinua Achebe, whose Things Fall Apart (1958) evokes the arrival of the empire from an African point of view. Another Nobel laureate from the old empire is V. S. Naipaul, born to an Indian family in Trinidad, whose superb novel A Bend in the River (1979) describes the deterioration of central Africa after the colonialists depart. Among the many great novelists from India whose work was influenced by empire and aftermath, none may be greater than Salman Rushdie. Outline I. The literature of the former British colonies deals in questions of wealth and poverty, blackness and whiteness, and divided loyalties. A. All of these novels are political, and the characters in all of them ask, What should my loyalties be, and why? B. In British novels, only Britain matters; in colonial fiction, decisions made far away affect the characters’ lives. C. Colonial peoples began adapting English literary forms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 1. Thomas Mfolo’s Chaka (1915), about the Zulu chief, is one of the first black African novels. 2. Sol Plaatje’s Muhdi (1918) expresses a common ambivalence about whether the old tribal life or the new European one is superior. II. The absence of the British from former colonies, and the situations they left behind, also provoked much excellent fiction. A. South African literature of the past half century has been exceptionally rich and profound in its examination of questions of racial justice. Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country (1948) is probably the most widely read book about the entire apartheid period. B. Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe imagined the beginnings of colonialism and its impact on a farmer in Things Fall Apart (1958). No Longer At Ease (1960) follows the farmer’s grandson to the modern city of Lagos and explores his divided loyalties. C. Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel laureate, developed Paton’s themes from the white perspective in Burger’s Daughter (1980) and A Sport of Nature (1988). D. Andre Brink’s A Dry White Season (1979) looks at the same problems from the point of view of a naïve Afrikaner who gradually learns the truth of his government. III. Novelists from different traditions and different points on the political compass agree that decolonization did not solve the problems of colonialism. A. Zakes Mda explores the bitter aftermath of apartheid in the South African townships and the continuing power of tribalism in Ways of Dying (1995) and Heart of Redness (2002). B. Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul, from an Indian-descended family in Trinidad, depicts the ruinous decline of central Africa in A Bend in the River (1979). C. Salman Rushdie, greatest of the recent Indian novelists, mixes magic realism with political and religious satire. 1. Educated in England, Rushdie explores the sense of being uprooted felt by Indians in England in The Satanic Verses (1989). 2. Shame (1983) is an allegorical history of Pakistan since 1947. Suggested Reading: Gordimer, A Sport of Nature. Mda, The Heart of Redness. Paton, Cry the Beloved Country. Rushdie, The Satanic Verses. 66 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Questions to Consider: 1. In what ways can fiction raise moral questions about imperialism that conventional histories cannot reach? 2. What factors made South Africa particularly rich as a fictional setting? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 67 Lecture Thirty-Six Epitaph and Legacy Scope: Historians disagree radically in their judgment of the British Empire. For some it represents greed, exploitation, racism, and hypocrisy. For others it represents an unmatched advancement of civilization. This course has tried to take a middle position, recognizing that some of Britain’s traders, soldiers, and politicians were often unscrupulous and narrowly self-interested, but also that others, with the widest array of motives, brought education, medicine, technology, and the possibility of political stability to remote parts of the world. The moral balance sheet is complicated partly because some of the worst conflicts today can be traced back to questions Britain failed to answer, even when its intentions were benign. Whatever one’s moral judgment, it is difficult to deny that the effects of the British Empire are immense and contributed to what might be called the Anglicization of the entire Earth. Ironically, the experience of the British Empire and its ending have made it much less likely that future empires of the same kind will ever recur. Outline I. Empire building is central to world history, and it is not surprising that Britain wanted to build an empire of its own. A. Compare the British Empire to other historic empires. 1. The British, like the Romans, saw themselves as the bringers of civilization to backward peoples. 2. The British Empire achieved far greater stability and humanity than those of Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin. 3. It learned from its mistakes, especially the experience of the American Revolution. 4. For much of its history, its rulers appreciated the need to tolerate diverse religions and customs. 5. It pioneered the abolition of slavery. 6. It conceded the principle of eventual self-government for all of its colonies. B. The 1. It encountered Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and French rivals and overmastered all of them. 2. Sea power was central to its success. 3. Early on, Britain developed sophisticated forms of banking and insurance. C. Imperial service and emigration opportunities gave a stake in the empire to a large part of the British population. 1. The ideal of lifelong service inspired generations of Indian Civil Servants, who believed in the essential rightness of their mission. 2. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa offered the opportunity for a better life to generations of poor emigrants from Britain, especially from Scotland and Ireland. II. Britain’s role as the world’s first industrial nation enabled it to preserve and enlarge the empire despite the setback of the American Revolution. A. Adam Smith explained why the division of labor, mechanization, and free trade were making Britain wealthy. B. By the 1840s, Britain had abandoned protectionism almost completely and adopted free trade, which stimulated further rapid economic growth. C. Through the late 19th century, railways, steamships, and marine cables accelerated communications and greatly diminished risks and uncertainties. III. Britain’s inability to maintain its industrial supremacy presaged its eventual imperial decline. A. Germany and the United States caught up with Britain as industrial powers in the 1880s and had surpassed it by 1900. B. The highest rewards in British life did not go to industrialists but to “gentlemen,” who were educated as landowners, not businessmen. C. In the short term, the empire could shelter Britain from the effects of its uncompetitiveness. D. Class conflict in Britain led to the rise of the Labour Party, whose leaders were antagonistic to the idealism of empire. IV. The two world wars and the rise of the nuclear superpowers—both nominally anti-imperialist—left no space in the world for an independent British Empire. A. President Roosevelt was determined that the United States would not fight World War II to preserve Britain’s colonies. 68 ©2009 The Teaching Company. British Empire proved more durable than its European rivals. B. Stalin, though he built an empire in Eastern Europe, was implacably hostile to the “capitalist imperialism” of Britain. C. The Suez Crisis of 1956 showed that Britain could no longer undertake significant imperial ventures in sensitive parts of the world. D. The empire unraveled rapidly, but it left an indelible mark on our world, in which ideals of representative government, the rule of law, and the English language are almost universal. Suggested Reading: James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Johnson, A History of the English People. Lloyd, The British Empire. Marshall, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Questions to Consider: 1. Is it appropriate to moralize over the meaning of historical events? 2. What were the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the British Empire? ©2009 The Teaching Company. 69 1588 ................................................ 1600 ................................................ 1607 ................................................ 1620 ................................................ 1642–1645 ...................................... 1648 ................................................ 1649 ................................................ 1652–1654 ...................................... 1655 ................................................ 1659–1660 ...................................... 1660/1663 ....................................... 1682 ................................................ 1707 ................................................ 1745 ................................................ 1755 ................................................ 1757 ................................................ 1759 ................................................ 1763 ................................................ 1770 ................................................ 1773 ................................................ 1775 ................................................ 1776 ................................................ 1778 ................................................ 1781 ................................................ 1783 ................................................ 1788 ................................................ 1789 ................................................ 1800 ................................................ 1807 ................................................ 1805 ................................................ 1812–1815 ...................................... English defeat of the Spanish Armada indicates the maturing of English sea power. The Honourable East India Company is founded, with its monopoly on English trade to India and the Indian Ocean. First permanent English settlement is established at Jamestown, Virginia. Pilgrims make landfall at Cape Cod. The English Civil War. Taj Mahal is completed by Shah Jahan. Parliament orders the execution of King Charles I. First Anglo-Dutch naval war forces the Dutch to accept English monopoly of its own colonial trade. British expedition captures Jamaica from Spain. Death of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, and restoration of the monarchy (King Charles II). Parliament passes the Navigation Acts, confining all British and British colonial trade to British ships. William Penn founds Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia. Act of Union between England and Scotland. First siege of Louisbourg. George Washington accompanies General Edward Braddock on a failed expedition to Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Robert Clive’s victory at the Battle of Plassey makes Britain the dominant power in Bengal. English victory at the Battle of the Heights of Abraham ensures the British conquest of Canada, despite the death of General James Wolfe. Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War (the Seven Years’ War); Stamp Act Crisis begins in the American colonies. Captain James Cook’s Endeavour visits New Zealand and Botany Bay, Australia; Cook claims New South Wales for Britain. The Boston Tea Party. Outbreak of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord. American colonists issue the Declaration of Independence. American victory at the Battle of Saratoga prompts France to join the American cause against Britain. Battle of Yorktown and the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis. Anglo-Amerian Treaty of Paris acknowledges American independence. First convict ships arrive at Sydney, Australia. The French Revolution begins. Anglo-Irish Act of Union. British abolish their trans-Atlantic slave trade. Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar secures British naval supremacy over France. Anglo-American War of 1812. 70 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Timeline 1815 ................................................ 1833 ................................................ 1837–1840 ...................................... 1839 ................................................ 1839–1842 ...................................... 1846–1849 ...................................... 1851 ................................................ 1857 ................................................ 1867 ................................................ 1869 ................................................ 1873–1874 ...................................... 1874 ................................................ 1879 ................................................ 1881 ................................................ 1882 ................................................ 1884–1885 ...................................... 1885 ................................................ 1893 ................................................ 1896 ................................................ 1897 ................................................ 1899–1902 ...................................... 1914 ................................................ 1915 ................................................ 1916 ................................................ 1917 ................................................ 1918 ................................................ 1919 ................................................ 1922–1923 ...................................... 1930 ................................................ 1931 ................................................ 1939 ................................................ 1940 ................................................ 1942 ................................................ 1944 ................................................ Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire. Great Trek of the Boer “Voortrekkers” away from the British-dominated Cape Colony of South Africa. Durham Report recommends self-government for Canada (implemented in 1847). First Anglo-Chinese Opium War (to force China to import opium from British India); British invasion of Afghanistan ends in annihilation of all but one man in a column of 17,000. Irish potato crop failure leads to mass famine and migration. Australian gold rush begins. Indian Mutiny. Unification of Canada. Completion of the Suez Canal; discovery of diamonds at Kimberley, South Africa. General Garnet Wolseley defeats the Ashanti empire in West Africa. Birth of Winston Churchill. Zulu War: Battles of Isandhlwana, Rorke’s Drift, and Ulundi. Boer force defeats the British army at Majuba Hill. British gain dominance in Egypt through a victory at Tel el Kebir. Berlin Conference, supervised by Bismarck, divides Africa among the colonial powers. Death of General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan; completion of the trans- Canadian railroad; founding of the Indian National Congress by Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume. Mohandas Gandhi, lawyer, arrives in South Africa. Jameson Raid fails to provoke an uprising among Uitlander gold miners in Johannesberg. Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, celebrating her 60 years on the throne. Boer War: Early British embarrassments are avenged with a scorched-earth policy and civilian concentration camps. Outbreak of World War I. Failure of the Gallipoli campaign against Turkey. Easter Rising in Dublin by the Irish Republican Brotherhood. General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem. Armistice in November ends fighting in World War I. Amritsar massacre arouses controversy over the morality of empire in India. Anglo-Irish Treaty leads to the Irish Civil War. Gandhi leads the Salt March. Statute of Westminster establishes the principle of full equality between the government of Britain and those of the white dominions (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa). World War II begins. Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of a coalition government. Japanese seize Singapore and destroy British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse. Anglo-Indian force halts the Japanese advance into India at Kohima. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 71 1945 ................................................ 1947 ................................................ 1948 ................................................ 1956 ................................................ 1960 ................................................ 1965 ................................................ 1982 ................................................ 1994 ................................................ Defeat of Nazi Germany; the election of Clement Attlee’s Labour government. Indian partition, independence, and mutual massacres of Hindus and Muslims. British departure from Palestine and the creation of Israel; National Party in South Africa wins the election and establishes formal apartheid. Failure of the Anglo-French-Israeli Suez campaign marks the end of effective British imperial ventures. Harold Macmillan’s “Wind of Change” speech emphasizes rapid British decolonization of Africa. Ian Smith of Southern Rhodesia declares independence to prevent the creation of a multiracial postimperial Rhodesia. Margaret Thatcher’s Falkland Islands War sounds the echo of former imperial adventures. Britain supervises transition of South Africa to a multiracial democracy: Nelson Mandela wins its first election. 72 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Glossary Act of Union: The legislation uniting England and Scotland (1707); alternatively, the act disbanding the Irish parliament (1801). apartheid: The systematic separation of whites, blacks, Indians, and coloreds (South African legal term for people of mixed race) in South Africa after the National Party’s election victory in 1948. benign neglect: Historians’ name for Britain’s policy toward its colonies in much of the 18th century, which sees a lack of close regulation as desirable. Black Hole of Calcutta: A dungeon in which 146 English prisoners were confined by the Indian prince Siraj ud-Daulah in 1756, leading to the deaths of 123—an atrocity that served as a pretext for Robert Clive’s war to conquer Bengal. chronometer: An extremely accurate clock that, used in conjunction with celestial navigation, could tell blue-water captains their approximate longitude. commando: Originally, a mobile light cavalry unit in the Boer War of the kind that embarrassed Britain’s much slower units. free trade: The policy of removing tariff barriers to encourage unimpeded trade between countries; it was the dominant British trade policy of the mid- to late 19th century. Glorious Revolution: The abdication of the Catholic King James II and his replacement by the Protestant King William III and his wife Queen Mary II. It was called glorious because it was bloodless and ensured Britain a Protestant future. Great Game: Politicians’ nickname for the Anglo-Russian rivalry of the mid-19th century, played out in Afghanistan, Persia, and northwestern India. Hobson-Lenin thesis: The theory that imperialism is a decadent stage of industrial capitalism. Home Rule: The controversial policy, proposed by Prime Minister William Gladstone in 1886, of permitting Ireland to become a self-governing country within the empire. The proposal was defeated in Parliament. imperial preference: British policy that created a free-trade area inside the empire but imposed high tariffs on imports from other nations. impressment: The Royal Navy custom of kidnapping landsmen or seizing merchant seamen from other ships to serve on warships—a contributory cause of the Anglo-American War of 1812. indentured servants: Men and women whose passage to America or the West Indies in the 17th century was paid for by their employers in return for a specified number of years’ service. The system was gradually replaced by slavery. indirect rule: The policy, widely employed by the British in India, of leaving old elites in nominal control, so long as they cooperated with British policies. Maroons: Runaway slaves in Jamaica (and in Spanish Latin America) who created communities of their own and sometimes raided colonial settlements. mercantilism: The theory, strongly held in 17th- and 18th-century Britain, that the nation’s trade policy should by designed to increase its share of world trade and the acquisition of a gold bullion surplus. Mughal Empire: The Muslim empire that dominated India before the coming of the British; its most famous monuments are the Red Fort in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra. nabobs: British traders and administrators in 18th-century India who created great fortunes, not always honestly. Warren Hastings was a notorious example. nation of shopkeepers: Napoleon’s dismissive name for Britain, whose commercial and imperial power eventually contributed to his downfall. Navigation Acts: Parliamentary legislation beginning in 1651 and strengthened in 1660 and 1663 to ensure that all trade to and from Britain’s colonies was carried in British or British-colonial ships. nawab: An Indian prince. Nelson touch: The custom, among British naval captains, of unwavering aggression, engaging the enemy at all costs, in emulation of Admiral Nelson. no peace beyond the line: The English practice, common in the 16th and 17th centuries, of making war against Spain in the Americas even when the two countries were at peace in Europe. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 73 Northwest Passage: A sea route to Asia north of the Americas. Numerous British expeditions sought it but always ran into impassable ice. partition: The practice of dividing a country because of ethnic or religious differences when releasing it from the empire; this was British policy in Ireland, India, and Palestine. pass laws: South African laws under the apartheid system that regulated movements and residence patterns of Africans. prison colony: A colony founded as a place to which criminals could be sent out of England (first Georgia, later Australia). privateer: A ship’s captain licensed by his government to attack the ships of another nation even when the two are not formally at war. Sir Francis Drake is a well-known example. protectionism: The levying of tariffs against another nation’s trade goods to protect one’s own, or one’s colonies’, manufacturers. raj: A widely used term for the British Empire in India. sati: The high-caste Hindu custom of widow burning. British missionaries’ and administrators’ attempts to suppress it in the early 19th century contributed to the Indian Mutiny. Satyagraha: The Hindu idea of “soul force,” adapted by Gandhi to the nonviolent movement against the empire. scramble for Africa: The period when the European powers all competed to build colonial empires in Africa (c. 1870– 1895). scurvy: An illness contracted by blue-water sailors due to vitamin C deficiency; remedied in the 1770s by Captain James Cook, who gave lime juice to his sailors daily. sepoy: An Indian soldier in the service of the East India Company’s army (pre-1858) or the British Indian Army. swaraj: Self-government; the objective of the Indian National Congress in the early 20th century. tariffs: Taxes levied against other nations’ imports. triangular trade: The profitable Atlantic trade in the 17th and 18th centuries, in which British ships took goods from England to Africa, exchanging them for slaves; shipped the slaves to the New World; and then brought home tobacco, sugar, and so forth. two-power standard: The British Admiralty’s objective in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the Royal Navy ought to be strong enough to defeat a combination of the world’s next two strongest navies. UDI (a.k.a. Unilateral Declaration of Independence): The declaration of independence from Britain by Ian Smith, prime minister of Southern Rhodesia, and the Rhodesian Front party in 1965. Its aim was to prevent Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) from becoming a multiracial democracy like most of the other former colonies of Britain in Africa. virgin-soil epidemic: An epidemic whose victims have no prior exposure to the disease and to whom it is usually extremely deadly (as in the case of European diseases contracted by American, Australian, and New Zealand natives). Voortrekkers: Dutch-descended Boer farmers in South Africa who marched into the interior during the 1830s to get away from the Cape Colony, where slavery had been abolished in 1833. 74 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Biographical Notes Banks, Joseph (1743–1820): British scientist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage, naming and identifying dozens of new species of plants. He sailed with Cook’s Endeavour in 1768 and helped in the exploration and mapping of New Zealand and Australia. He was one of the first Englishmen to see and to write a description of kangaroos, and he catalogued, drew, and identified many new species. He was elected president of the Royal Society in 1778 and held the post almost until his death more than 40 years later. He was also head of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, which gathered arboreal specimens from all of Britain’s colonies. Chamberlain, Joseph (1836–1914): Birmingham hardware manufacturer turned reforming politician. As a radical, Liberal member of Parliament, he campaigned for universal free education. He split with Gladstone over Home Rule in 1886 and joined the Conservative Party. He was colonial secretary in the 1890s, favoring close cooperation—perhaps even a formal federation—among the white settler colonies. He declared “the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen.” He invested heavily in Britain’s African colonies and organized research into the understanding and remedy of tropical diseases. His last campaign, for tariff reform and imperial preference, marked his recognition that free trade was no longer an entirely favorable policy for Britain. One of his sons, Neville, was prime minister in the late 1930s and was discredited for his appeasement of Hitler. Churchill, Winston (1874–1965): Prime minister and probably the most famous Briton of the 20th century. Churchill trained as an army officer and served in India, where he also made a reputation as a military writer. Turning to politics, he rose rapidly in the Liberal Party and was First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I. The failure of the Gallipoli campaign led to his resignation and to service on the Western Front. Recalled to politics in the Lloyd George coalition government, he became a Conservative. Discredited in the 1930s for his warnings about Hitler’s rise to power, he was vindicated by later events, leading to his appointment as prime minister of a coalition government. Popular for stirring speeches and wartime leadership, he was nevertheless voted out of office when the war ended. He became prime minister again in 1950 but could not prevent the breakup of the empire and eventually resigned due to poor health. Clive, Robert (1725–1774): Military leader and politician. Clive went to India as a teenager as a clerk in the East India Company. His brave escape from the French siege of Madras in 1746 won him an army commission. In 1751, he achieved fame by seizing and holding Arcot against enemy counterattack. After the notorious Black Hole of Calcutta incident, Clive led a force against Siraj ud-Daulah and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey. Suddenly dominant in Bengal politics, he received “gifts” of treasure that enabled him to buy political influence at home. During a third sojourn in India, he demonstrated that a sepoy army under British officers, using British drills and weapons, could take on the declining Mughal Empire. Criticized for his immense wealth, he riposted that, in view of the temptations to which he had been exposed in India, “I stand amazed at my own moderation.” Intermittently depressed throughout his life and dependent on opium in later years, he committed suicide in 1774. Drake, Sir Francis (c. 1540–1595): English sea captain and adventurer, and hero to generations of patriotic English Protestants. Licensed as a privateer by Queen Elizabeth I, he made a daring voyage around the world in the Pelican (later renamed Golden Hind), gathering plunder en route and being knighted on his return in 1581. He was second in command of the Royal Navy fleet that prepared to resist the Spanish Armada in 1587. Before it set sail, he took a fleet into Cadiz harbor and set fire to 37 Spanish ships, causing the Armada a year’s delay. The rebuilt Armada was defeated at the Battle of Gravelines, despite outnumbering the English fleet. In 1595, Drake, on a raid in the Spanish Caribbean, suffered a series of defeats, then contracted dysentery and died off the coast of Panama. Gandhi, Mohandas (1869–1948): The spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement. Born to a prosperous family in Gujarat, he studied law in England and as a young man was highly westernized in dress and outlook. Ejected from a train in South Africa because of his race, he devoted himself to redressing the evil of racial discrimination. He first experimented with civil disobedience in South Africa. Returning to India, he became involved in the Indian National Congress. He abandoned Western dress, advocated voluntary poverty, and opposed industrialization for India. His leadership of the Salt March (1930) and the Quit India Movement (1942) kept him in the news, as did periodic imprisonment. When Indian independence became imminent after World War II, he hoped to avoid an India-Pakistan split, but the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah was equally determined to achieve it. Gandhi’s sympathy for the victims of sectarian violence and his eagerness for conciliation in part led Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse to assassinate him in January 1948. Gordon, Charles G. (1833–1885): British army officer who believed he enjoyed direct communication with God and who became a hero and martyr for his death at Khartoum in 1885. An engineer and cartographer, his first military experience was the Crimea. He became famous during the Second Chinese Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion as commander of the Ever- Victorious Army; for the rest of his life, he was known as Chinese Gordon. After service in England, he accepted a post with the Khedive of Egypt, who was attempting to extend Egyptian influence into the Sudan. Four years after resigning this position, the prime minister, William Gladstone, ordered him back to the Sudan to evacuate British and Egyptian forces. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 75 Disobeying these orders, he fortified Khartoum against an expected siege that began in March 1884. The British government, under pressure of public opinion because of Gordon’s popularity, sent an expedition to rescue him under General Garnet Wolseley. It arrived just two days too late. Lambton, John, Earl of Durham (1792–1840): British Whig politician sent to Canada in 1837 to investigate the causes of two colonial rebellions. He reported that the separation between French-speaking Lower Canada (Quebec) and English- speaking Upper Canada (Ontario) was unwise, that Upper Canada was politically corrupt, and that the two should be unified and entrusted with self-government. His 1839 report in effect established the principle that Britain’s white settler colonies would all take on the responsibility of self-government. Lambton was dismissive of French Canadians and hoped that unification would gradually cause their distinctive culture to die out. Livingstone, David (1813–1873): One of the great British explorers of Africa. Born into a poor Scottish family, he was a factory worker as a child but determined to improve himself through education. He found life as a doctor on an African mission station unendurably boring and so began to explore. He became the first white man to cross tropical south central Africa from coast to coast and the first white man to discover the Victoria Falls, which he named. His writing and speaking tours of Britain made him a popular hero even though he was often mistaken in his geographical judgments. Intolerant of weakness, he refused to admit that unless remedies could be found for deadly tropical diseases, the area would never be settled by whites. Exploring alone, and convinced (wrongly) that the Nile did not flow from Lake Victoria, he disappeared for four years; he was discovered by the Welsh-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley. A passionate enemy of the Arab slave trade in Africa, Livingstone helped direct British political energy to its suppression. Rhodes, Cecil (1853–1902): Entrepreneur of the Kimberley diamond business and the Johannesburg gold mines who conquered parts of south central Africa and named two countries after himself (Northern and Southern Rhodesia). Son of a country clergyman, he went to Africa as a teenager and began to organize the chaotically decentralized diamond miners. He founded the DeBeers Company, which has dominated the world’s diamond business ever since. He became prime minister of the Cape Colony while the private army of his British South Africa Company (founded 1889) carved out new territories north of the Limpopo River in the 1890s. Rhodes was discredited over the 1895 Jameson Raid, an attempt to provoke an uprising among British miners in Johannesburg against Boer policies. He remained politically influential until his death in 1902, not least because he was one of the richest men in the world and one of the most knowledgeable about Africa. The Rhodes Scholarships, funded by his will, were designed to bring together Anglo-Saxon leaders from all over the world at Oxford. Victoria (1819–1901): The most durable monarch in British history, who ascended the throne in 1837 at the age of 18 and reigned for 63 years. Her marriage to the strong-minded Prince Albert contributed to the royal family’s reputation for earnestness and an upright, somewhat puritanical morality (whereas under her predecessors George IV and William IV, it had been notorious for moral laxity). “Victorianism” was the outlook of many senior imperial figures who aimed to establish its principles throughout the world. Benjamin Disraeli, her adored Conservative prime minister, made her empress of India in 1876, and she took an increasing interest in the spread of the British Empire. In her final years, she was inseparable from an Indian servant, Abdul Karim, known as “The Munshi,” who became influential at her court after 1887 despite the opposition of most white courtiers, even giving her lessons in Urdu and Hindi. During the early days of the Boer War, she sent every man serving in Africa a box of chocolates to celebrate the dawn of the 20th century and told them, in a New Year’s message, that defeat was inconceivable. Wilberforce, William (1759–1833): British evangelical Christian and political campaigner from Yorkshire who achieved the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade (1807) and then the abolition of slavery itself throughout the British Empire (1833). Wilberforce had a profound religious conversion experience in 1785 and dedicated himself to the parliamentary management of antislavery legislation. West India’s merchants were well represented in Parliament and fought hard against him, alleging the inability of Africans to manage their own freedom and insisting that abolition would destroy the Caribbean sugar plantation system. Wilberforce countered with powerful moral rhetoric and skilful political maneuvering. He also favored evangelical missions to India to convert the natives, a policy later historians—and some East India Company officials at the time—saw as contributing to the Indian Mutiny of 1857. He is in many ways a paradoxical figure, deeply conservative and even favoring repressive policies at home despite his antislavery views. Wolfe, James (1727–1759): British general whose victory at the Battle of the Heights of Abraham in 1759 ensured the British conquest of Canada in the Seven Years’ War. Son of an army officer, Wolfe joined the army as a teenager and went into action for the first time at the Battle of Dettingen—the last battle in which a king of England, George II, led his own army into combat. Recalled to Britain on the invasion of Bonnie Prince Charlie, he participated in the counterattack that culminated in English victory at the Battle of Culloden. He was second in command of the British force that captured Louisbourg, the French fortress on Cape Breton Island. King George II admired his aggressive spirit and scoffed at rumors that Wolfe was mentally unstable: “Mad is he? Then I wish he would bite some of my other generals!” He was appointed commander of the British force that sailed upriver to Quebec, where his daring won a shattering victory against General Montcalm, the French commander. Wolfe and Montcalm both died in the battle. 76 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Bibliography Adkins, Roy. Nelson’s Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World. New York: Viking, 2005. Alexander, Caroline. The Bounty. New York: Viking Penguin, 2003. Allitt, Patrick. “English Cricket and Literature.” South Atlantic Quarterly 95 (Spring 1996), 385–436. Andrews, Kenneth. Drake’s Voyages: A Reassessment of Their Place in Elizabethan Maritime Expansion. New York: Scribner, 1967. The great swashbuckler is placed firmly in historical context, in a book that explains why Britain developed as a sea power in the 16th century. Ashton, T. S., and Pat Hudson. The Industrial Revolution, 1760–1830. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Bayly, C. A. The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. 2, Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Beck, Roger. The History of South Africa. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. A useful short introduction to the Boers, the Zulus, and the British, and how they found each other mutually intolerable. Bernstein, Jeremy. Dawning of the Raj: The Life and Trials of Warren Hastings. Chicago: Ivan Dee, 2000. A sympathetic account of the first governor-general of India, who became spectacularly wealthy, and his impeachment and trial before Parliament in the 1780s and 1790s. Berton, Pierre. The Invasion of Canada. Boston: Little, Brown/Atlantic Monthly, 1980. Canada’s best popular historian describes the failed U.S. attempt to conquer his country during the War of 1812. ———. The National Dream and the Last Spike. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974. How the Canadian railroad builders overcame astonishing difficulties to build their line, connect the provinces, and create a nation. Black, Jeremy. The British Seaborne Empire. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. A wonderfully readable summary of British naval history and its inextricable connection with the empire. Bowen, Roland. Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development Throughout the World. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1970. Bowle, John. The Imperial Achievement: The Rise and Transformation of the British Empire. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974. An Oxford professor’s even-handed survey the whole story and the different stages of the empire. Brebner, J. Bartlet. Canada: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1970. Rather too solid for most readers’ tastes, but at least Brebner writes with a non-Canadian audience in mind and tries to make complicated issues clear. Burley, Edith. Servants of the Honourable Company: Work, Discipline and Conflict in the Hudson’s Bay Company. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997. A glimpse into the brutally demanding way of life of Canadian voyageurs and trappers. Burn, W. L. The British West Indies. London: Hutchinson House, 1951. A spare and economical account of British ventures in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on sugar plantations, slavery, greed, and fever. Carrington, C. E. The British Overseas: Exploits of a Nation of Shopkeepers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1950. The author, himself an old buffer of the imperial type, takes Napoleon’s insult about England being a nation of shopkeepers and runs all over the world with it. Often unintentionally amusing. Chua, Amy. Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall. New York: Doubleday, 2007. A Chinese-American historian puts the British Empire side by side with its great rivals and praises it for its high degree of tolerance. Clarke, Frank G. The History of Australia. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002. Clarke, Peter. Hope and Glory: Britain 1900–1990. London: Allen Lane, 1996. Colley, Linda. Captives: Britain, Empire, and World. New York: Random House, 2002. A reminder that Britons abroad were often vulnerable and that hundreds of them spent time as slaves and prisoners in alien societies. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1899. Craton, Michael. Sinews of Empire. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1974. Crick, Bernard. George Orwell: A Life. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. Crosby, Alfred. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Cruickshank, E. A. The Life of Sir Henry Morgan: With an Account of the English Settlement of the Island of Jamaica (1655– 1688). London: Macmillan, 1935. Cullen, L. M. An Economic History of Ireland Since 1660. London: Batsford, 1972. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. 1861. Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa. 1937. New York: Random House, 1970. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 77 Dower, John W. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon, 1986. Dunn, Richard S. Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624–1713. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972. The British West India slave owners were an unlovely crowd by this telling, but they certainly had plenty to worry about and lived lives of chronic insecurity. Edwardes, Michael. Red Year: The Indian Rebellion of 1857. London: Hamilton, 1973. Edwards, Michael. Nehru: A Political Biography. New York: Praeger, 1972. Edwards, R. Dudley. Patrick Pearse: The Triumph of Failure. London: Gollancz, 1977. Embree, Ainslie. 1857 in India: Mutiny or War of Independence? Boston: Heath, 1963. Etherington, Norman. The Great Trekds: The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815–1954. New York: Longman, 2001. Farrington, Anthony. Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia, 1600–1834. London: British Library, 2002. Farwell, Byron. The Great Anglo-Boer War. New York: Norton, 1990. Ferguson, Niall. Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. London: Allen Lane, 2003. No historian alive today enjoys a better reputation than Ferguson, whose writing glitters with wonderful insight and good ideas. If you only ever read one book on the history of the British Empire, let it be this one. Foster, R. F. Modern Ireland: 1600–1972. New York: Penguin, 1989. The best one-volume history of the tormented and luckless island. Gandhi, Mohandas. The History of My Experiments with Truth. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press, 1948. Gelber, Harry G. Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals: England’s 1840–42 War with China and its Aftermath. New York: Palgrave, 2004. Glazebrook, G. P. A Short History of Canada. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1950. A basic narrative, as told by an historian who had an exaggerated sense of his subject’s importance. Its very first sentence begins, “The growth of Canada as a world power. ... ” Gordimer, Nadine. A Sport of Nature. New York: Penguin, 1988. Gough, Barry. First Across the Continent: Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Mackenzie crossed North America 12 years earlier than Lewis and Clark, over even more difficult terrain, but no one seems to have heard of him south of the 49th parallel. Green, Benny. A History of Cricket. London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1988. Gump, James. The Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Haggard, H. Rider. King Solomon’s Mines. 1885. Harvey, Robert. Clive: the Life and Death of a British Emperor. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998. ———. The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France: 1789–1815. London: Carroll and Graf, 2006. Herman, Arthur. How the Scots Invented the Modern World. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001. Special pleading of the sort made popular in Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization. Still, it is hard not to be struck by the sheer number of Scotsmen who played vital roles in British expansion worldwide, each of whom gets his due here. Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin/Mariner, 1998. The real horrors of the Belgian Congo in a brilliant nonfiction book that can hold its head high beside the immortal fictional version, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Hoppen, K. Theodore. The Mid Victorian Generation, 1846–1886. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998. A meaty summary of everything that took place in Britain over those four decades. Informative, but by no means a light read. Horwitz, Tony. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. New York: Henry Holt/Picador, 2002. In this delightful and informative work, the author revisits the places Cook visited on his voyages of exploration more than 200 years earlier and compares them then and now. Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore. New York: Vintage, 1986. By far the best one-volume history of Australia ever written, by the Australian writer and broadcaster who made his name with The Shock of the New on the history of modern art. Inglis, Brian. The Opium War. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976. James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. Superb one-volume history of the British Empire in India. ———. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. More thorough than Ferguson’s, and also excellent, though lacking some of his sparkle. Jeal, Tim. David Livingston. London: Heinemann, 1973. 78 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Jenkins, Roy. Churchill: A Biography. New York: Penguin/Plume, 2001. A veteran British parliamentarian manages to cram all you need to know about the great man into just a shade less than 1,000 pages. Compulsively readable. Johnson, Paul. A History of the English People. New York: Harper and Row, 1985. A famously quirky public intellectual turns his laser intellect onto the history of his own country and makes everything familiar seem slightly strange. Brilliant! ———. A History of the Jews. New York: Harper and Row, 1987. ———. Modern Times: The World From the 1920s to the 1980s. New York: Harper and Row, 1983. A slashing attack on conventional wisdom, but never boring, and excellent for putting Churchill, Gandhi, and others in the context of their contemporaries around the world. Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage, 1998. Our generation’s very best military historian explains the convulsion that marked the beginning of the end of the British Empire. ———. The Second World War. London: Penguin, 1989. The same author on the second and even more traumatic conflict that sealed the empire’s fate. Kelsey, Harry. Sir Francis Drake: The Queen’s Pirate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Kenneally, Thomas. Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia. New York: Nan Talese, 2006. Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. A warning that empires often fall when they try too hard to expand beyond their logical limits. Key, Robert. The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. New York: Penguin, 1972. Klein, Herbert S. The Middle Passage: Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978. Knightley, Philip. Australia: A Biography of a Nation. London: Jonathan Cape, 2000. This book concentrates on a series of revealing episodes in Australia’s history, such as cricket controversies and the Gallipoli campaign, rather than trying to tell the entire story. Lacour-Gayet, Robert. A History of South Africa. (London: Cassell, 1977). A French historian’s-eye view of British southern Africa, the good and the evil. One of few fine British Empire histories by a nonnative English speaker. Levin, Bernard. The Pendulum Years: Britain and the Sixties. London: Cape, 1970. Levine, Philippa. The British Empire: Sunrise to Sunset. Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2007. This concise and businesslike one- volume history is compact but rather bloodless, especially by comparison with Ferguson. Lloyd, T. O. The British Empire: 1558–1995. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1996. Louis, William Roger, Alaine M. Low, Nicholas P. Canny, and P. J. Marshall. The Oxford History of the British Empire. 5 vols. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1986–1999. Massive, comprehensive, and often slightly more than you wanted to know, but unrivaled for detailed explanation of the whole empire. Lower, Arthur. Colony to Nation: A History of Canada. Toronto: Longman’s Green, 1946. Not among the sprightliest books ever written, but then neither is any of the other general histories of Canada. Macmillan, Margaret O. Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World. New York: Random House, 2002. Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. Boston: Little, Brown, 1994. Mansergh, Nicholas. The Irish Question, 1840–1921. 3rd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975. Marshall, P. J., ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. A variety of historical specialists analyze the various stages of the empire in dispassionate, academic prose. Martin, S. I. Britain’s Slave Trade. London: Macmillan/Channel Four, 1999. A simplified but straightforward history of the British slave trade and plantations that would make a good introduction to the topic for teenage readers. Mason, Philip. The Men Who Ruled India. London: Jonathan Cape, 1985. The airs and graces of men who were ordinary in Britain but magnificent in remote imperial India. McLynn, Frank. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. London: Jonathan Cape, 2004. Mda, Zakes. The Heart of Redness. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. Mead, Walter Russell. God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Knopf, 2007. Explains the value of sophisticated banking systems in building a powerful nation and empire. Mehta, Ved. Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles. New York: Penguin, 1977. Meredith, Martin. The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. New York: Public Affairs Press, 2005. An unflinching account of the wretchedness and failure of postcolonial Africa by a journalist who has spent most of his life there. Mills, James H. Drugs and Empires: Essays in Modern Imperialism and Intoxication. New York: Palgrave, 2007. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 79 Mokyr, Joel, Why Ireland Starved. London: Allen and Unwin, 1983. Morgan, Edmund. The Birth of the Republic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956. Morris, Donald. The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation. 1965. Reprint, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986. A classic on the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 1870s. Morris, James. Farewell the Trumpets. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. This and the following two books comprise a three-volume history of the empire from about 1830 until about 1945, crammed with interesting details about the empire’s exotic people and places. Affectionate but never uncritical. ———. Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. ———. Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968. Nandy, Ashis. The Tao of Cricket: On Games of Destiny and the Destiny of Games. New Delhi: Viking, 1989. O’Brian, Patrick. Joseph Banks. London: Collins, 1987. Excellent intellectual biography of the naturalist by an author who is famous for the Master and Commander novels about the Royal Navy in the era of Nelson and Napoleon. Overy, Richard. Why the Allies Won. London: Random House/Pimlico, 1985. Pakenham, Thomas. The Boer War New York: Random House, 1979. ———. The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876–1912. London: Avon, 1992. Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country. New York: Scribner’s, 1948. Pine, Stephen. World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth. New York: Henry Holt, 1995. Prittie, Terence. Israel: Miracle in the Desert. New York: Praeger, 1967. As the title suggests, a slightly starry-eyed view of Israel, but good on the end of the empire in Palestine. Read, Anthony, and David Fisher. The Proudest Day: India’s Long Road to Independence. New York: Norton, 1998. Reitz, Deneys. Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War. London: Penguin, 1929. One of the greatest war books ever written, the tale of a brave 17-year-old irregular cavalryman taking on the might of the British Empire. Superb! Rice, Edward. Captian Sir Richard Francis Burton. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Viking, 1989. Samuel, Rinna. A History of Israel. London: Widenfeld and Nicolson, 1989. Schama, Simon. A History of Britain. 3 vols. New York: Hyperion, 2002. Written to accompany his rightly acclaimed BBC TV series; vivid, colorful, and full of insight into British history. Schwartz, Seymour. The French and Indian War, 1754–1763: The Imperial Struggle for North America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Excellent maps and illustrations enhance this explanation of why France was destined, sooner or later, to lose its grip on Canada to the British. Shy, John. A People Numerous and Armed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. Slim, William. Defeat into Victory. New York: D. McKay, 1961. Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. 1776. Reprint, New York: Penguin, 1982. Spear, Percival. Master of Bengal: Clive and His India. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975. An attractively illustrated history of the moody, suicidal teenager who grew up to conquer India for Britain, by a veteran historian of British India. Thackeray, Henry Makepeace. Vanity Fair. 1848. Thompson, Leonard M. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Vaughan, Alden T. American Genesis: Captain John Smith and the Founding of Virginia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975. Waley, Arthur. The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. London: Allen and Unwin, 1958. Walvin, James. An African’s Life: The Life and Times of Olaudah Equiano, 1745–1797. London: Cassell, 1998. ———. Britain’s Slave Empire. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2000. A matter-of-fact account about the slave trade and its role in stimulating imperial growth, with a good section of slave writings of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Warner, Oliver. With Wolfe to Quebec. Toronto: Collins, 1972. A detailed account of the troubled military genius who gave his life at the moment of victory and conquered Canada for Britain. Wolpert, Stanley. Jinnah of Pakistan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. ———. A New History of India. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Wolpert keeps his eyes fixed on India itself and shows how it adapted to, and ultimately rejected, the British presence over four centuries. Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic: 1776–1787. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1969. Woodham-Smith, C. The Great Hunger: Ireland, 1845–1849. London: Penguin, 1991. 80 ©2009 The Teaching Company. Useful Web Sites The British Empire. http://www.britishempire.co.uk/. Originally created for British schoolchildren but run by enthusiasts who have gathered an immense and fascinating array of materials. The Hakluyt Society. http://www.hakluyt.com/index.htm/. A history of British exploration, named after the pioneer author who commemorated the exploits of the great Elizabethan sea-dogs. ©2009 The Teaching Company. 81