The interwar period
The inter-war years period was something of a theoretical highpoint of Empire. Britain had been on the winning side of World War One and had been awarded a number of German and Turkish Colonies as League of Nations Mandates to govern. Of course, Britain had been fundamentally weakened by the four year long devastating war, but the relative decline in British power had not yet been fully appreciated by most people. Indeed, Britain held a huge British Empire exhibition in 1924 to celebrate the power and opportunities within the Empire. On paper, the British Empire appeared at its zenith, in reality it was going to be all down hill from here.
Source: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/colonies1924.htm
Reflective Question:
-
How did the consequences of war change the position of the British Empire?
-
What was the effect of the nationalist movements on the British Empire.
-
Why were the British losing control?
Easter Rising and
the Irish War of Independence
Although World War One appeared to go successfully for the British and seemed to confirm the value of Empire, it also revealed the first, very real cracks. The largest of which appeared in Ireland. Ireland had long posed fundamental problems to Britain. Technically, it was not even a colony it was regarded as part of Britain itself - although many Irish regarded this as an unwelcome absorption imposed unwillingly upon them.
In 1916, a small scale insurrection, the Easter Rising, in Dublin was put down with comparative ease by the British forces. However, the political consequences of Britain's reaction to the uprising by ordering the execution of its protagonists for treason resulted were profound. Many Irish who had been ambivalent or non-committed towards the Rising were outraged at the harshness of the penalties. The British over reaction created a new slate of martyrs for the Republican cause and helped turn the event into a catalyst for future demands of self-government and independence.
Radicalised by Britain's over-reaction to the Easter Rising, Ireland was a powder keg of tensions when World War One came to an end. Attempts to impose order backfired in large swathes of the country as popular opinion indignantly fought back. This picture shows an armoured Rolls Royce and British soldiers at Kenmare in County Kerry in 1921. Unlike World War One, it was not clear who friends and enemies were. This was very much to become a war for hearts and minds, but Britain's heavy handed tactics backfired dramatically.
On 6th December 1921 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was agreed and signed by the Irish delegates without consulting their colleagues in Dublin. Under the Treaty, Southern Ireland – henceforth the ‘Irish Free State’ – became a self- governing dominion. In contrast to the 1920 legislation, it was now given complete independence in its domestic affairs: powers to levy all taxes; regulate foreign trade; raise an army; and considerable freedom of foreign policy. From a nationalist perspective, its main defect was that Ireland did not become a republic; it remained within the Empire with the Crown still head of state.
Source: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/timeline.htm
The 'Middle East'
question
Britain's pre-eminent position in the Middle East was expanded yet further due to the First World War although only in a manner which would cause all sorts of complications and difficulties in the future. The British effectively promised all things to all allies in their war effort against the Ottomans. They promised the Arabs that they would be rewarded for their support in fighting the Turks, they promised Zionist jews that they might be rewarded with a homeland in Palestine in return for their support and help during the war and they had promised their French and Russians allies that they would divide the region up into spheres of influence and control between the three powers. These complicated and contradictory promises could not be honoured without disappointing some of the recipients. The hodge-podge result was that France was given primacy over Syria and Lebanon whilst Britain was given an arc of influence from Iraq to Palestine. Britain decided to allow Jewish settlement west of the River Jordan but on a voluntary basis and without displacing the existing arab population (at least in theory). Hashemite kingdoms were established in Trans-Jordan and Iraq with British advisers and military support. Tensions in Palestine between the Arab population and Jewish zionists would steadily increase in the inter-war years with the British supposedly maintaining the peace but with increasingly strained difficulty over the years. Nazi persecution of the Jewish population in Germany only sought to increase the flow of Jews seeking to escape the increasingly vicious Nazi regime. Palestinian Arabs were increasingly concerned at why they should make way for problems and difficulties originating in Europe. This was a problem that would not find a satisfactory answer and would only increase in complexity and violence as the years went on
Source: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/timeline.htm
Gandhi
Gandhi actively supported the British in World War I in the hope of hastening India's freedom, but he also led agrarian and labor reform demonstrations that embarrassed the British. The Amritsar massacre of 1919 stirred Indian nationalist consciousness, and Gandhi organized several satyagraha campaigns. He discontinued them when, against his wishes, violent disorder ensued.
His program rested on four tenets: a free, united India with Hindus and Muslims allied; the acceptance of the doctrine of nonviolence; in India's villages, the revival of cottage industries, especially of spinning and the production of handwoven cloth (khaddar); and the abolition of untouchability (see caste). These ideas were widely and vigorously espoused, although they also met considerable opposition from some Indians. The title Mahatma [great soul] reflected personal prestige so high that he could unify the diverse elements of the organization of the nationalist movement, the Indian National Congress, which he dominated from the early 1920s.
In 1930, in protest against the government's salt tax, he led the famous 200-mi (320-km) march to extract salt from the sea. For this he was imprisoned but was released in 1931 to attend the London Round Table Conference on India as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. When the Congress refused to embrace his program in its entirety, Gandhi withdrew (1934), but his influence was such that Jawaharlal Nehru, his protégé, was named leader of the organization.
Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi.aspx#4