Relations with indigenous people

• Relations with indigenous peoples

  • protest and conflict
  • colonial activity
  • the development of nationalist movements
• Ireland

  • Religious divide between the six predominantly protestant counties of the north and the rest of the country, which was majority Catholic
  • threatening to wreck the 1912/13 Home Rule Bill granting Irish self - governing
  • March 1914, British soldiers at the Curragh in Kildare refused to take action to enforce Home Rule on the hostile North
• Ireland

  • Conflict occurred as both sides armed themselves; the 'Ulster Volunteers' vs the 'National Volunteers' in the South
  • There were three deaths and many casualties in July 1914 and Home Rule has to be suspended for the duration of the war
  • Protest escalated during the war and a southern pro - independence organisation
  • Sinn Fein ('We Ourselves'), organised an unsuccessful rising in Dublin 1916, which was severely repressed
• Ireland

  • 1919, the frustrations caused by the delays to Irish Home Rule led members of Sinn Fein, who won a majority of the Irish seats at Westminster
  • In 1918 general election, to establish Irish assembly in Dublin. Declared an Irish Republic and their Irish Republican army (IRA) began a guerilla war against the British
  • Who reinforced the Royal Irish Constability with the 'Black and Tans' - oppose them
• The Black and tans

  • were a force of temporary policeman who were recruited to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)
  • Many were British First World War veterans and the improvised uniforms they initially were, composed of a mixture of British Army Khaki and RIC uniforms of rifle green, gave them their nickname
• The Black and Tans

  • The Black and Tans became infamous for their violence and attacks on civilians and civilian property
• Ireland

  • Conflict ended in 1921 with the signing of the Anglo - Irish treaty, which created the Irish Free State, as a self - governing Dominion within the British Empire
  • Six Northern counties promptly used their legal right to 'opt out'
  • Conflict was not over since Eamon de Valera, one of the principal Irish leaders, refused to obey the treaty
  • partly because of it involved splitting the country
• Ireland

  • Brought further Irish civil war, ended in 1923 with the defeat of Valera was still not satisfied
  • Southern Ireland was treated as a Dominion, gaining equality of status in the 1931 Statute of Westminster
  • Valera was still not satisfied, however and his protest continued
  • Refused to attend the Imperial Conference of 1937 and drew up a new constitution
  • Effectively turned Ireland into a republic
• Ireland

  • Eire - Ireland turned into a republic
  • Adopted a position of neutrality in WW2 (only commonwealth country to do this)
  • 1948 separated itself entirely from the rest of Britain in the Republic of Ireland Act
  • Irish had certainly shown that British imperialism could be successfully challenged
• Amritsar massacre

  • British government claimed that 379 were killed and 1200 wounded in this massacre but the Indian National Congress put the number of deaths as high as 1000
  • with over 1500 wounded
  • Dyer was censured and he resigned but public opinion in Britain was divided and some prominent Britons spoke out in his defence
• India

  • Further protest was evoked when the 1919 Government of India Act failed to satisfy the nationalist demands for independence and fear of further uprisings led to the recommendations of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts
  • Which allowed for political cases to be tried without juries and provided for the internment of suspects without trial
  • Produced a state of extreme tension, particularly in the Punjab region
• India

  • Conflict came to a head in the 1919 Amritsar massacre in the Punjab after rioting had brought British deaths and near breakdown of civil order in the region
  • British Army troops, General Reginald Dyer, fired indiscriminately into a crowd containing a mixture of Indians
  • who had gathered to protest at against the arrest of two nationalist leaders and sikh pilgrams
  • who had gathered in the public gardens of Jallianwallah Bag adjacent to a sacred site, the Golden Temple, in order to celebrate the Sikh new year
• India

  • Bloodbath provoked a huge reaction: Indian Congress politicians claimed that the way the British had dealt with protest
  • by shooting into the crowds, showed that the British possessed no moral authority to rule
  • The action also galvanised Gandhi's Non - Co - operation Movement of 1920 - 22
• India

  • Further conflict with Chauri Chauri incident of 1922
  • In Gorakhpur district of the United province, violence erupted among a large group of protesters participating in the Non - Cooperation Movement and the police opened fire
  • Demonstators attacked and set fire to a police station, and three civilians and 23 policemen were killed
• India

  • Indian National Congress called for an end to the Non - Cooperation Movement on the national level as a direct result of this incident
  • Outbreaks of conflict and protest continued for a further 25 years, erupting in what was to become an increasingly political campaign for independence
• India

  • Gandhi's belief was non violence
  • Muslim League, founded in 1906 became more militant in 1930s
  • EG non violent campaigning however easily contained by British (the failure of Gandhi's 1942 Quit India Campaign)
• India

  • Violence between Hindus and Muslims because of Britain's divide and rule policies, fought for ascendancy and rejected the British offer of Dominion status
  • put forward by Stafford Cripps in 1942
  • India finally received its independence in 1947 amidst scenes of mounting communal violence
  • 400,000 died during the conflict that had led to partition
• Quit India movement, 1942

  • All India Congress proclaimed a mass campaign of civil disobedience in 1942 demanding British withdrawal from India
  • British supported by All India Muslim League, Princely Satates and many businessmen) responded by imprisoning almost the entire INC leadership until 1945
  • Small scale violence took place around the country but campaign failed
  • due to heavy handed suppression its weak coordination and lack of clear cut programme of action
• Middle East

  • Egypt was a countryside revolution of Egyptians and Sudanese against the British occupation in 1919
  • after British exiled the nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul and other members of his party
  • widespread civil disobedience, rioting, demonstrations and strikes in all classes of society
  • attacks on British military bases, civilian facilities and personnel
  • Egyptian villages were burnt and railways destroyed 800 Egyptians killed and 1,600 wounded
• Middle East

  • Following 'Milner report' Egypt gained independence in 1922, relations remained strained
  • Britain refused to recognise full Egyptian sovereignty over Sudan, or to withdraw all its forces
  • Further treaty in 1936, Britain remained troops in Suez area
• Haganah - unconditional Jewish militia in Palestine (1920 - 48) became the national army of Israel after the partition of Palestine in 1948
• Stern Gang - Militant Zionist terrorist organisation . Fighters for the Freedom of Israel founded in 1940 by Avram Stern
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876 - 1948)

  • Prominent member of the Congress party and an active member of the Muslim League which he led from 1913
  • Initially favoured Hindu - Muslim political co - operation
  • Resigned from Congress party in 1920
  • Not agreeing with non - violent protest
  • 1940 arguing for a separate Muslim state
  • Appointed as the country's first Govenor General in 1947
• Subhas Chandra Bose (1897 - 1945)

  • Indian Congress politician
  • President in 1938 and 1939 but broke with the Congress leadership over support for the British in 1939
  • Place on house arrest by British but escaped and fled to Germany
  • 1943 established Indian National Army in Japanese held Sumatra
  • Intended to lead the forces to free India but he died in a Japanese plane crash in August 1945
• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

  • Son of wealthly Brahmin lawyer
  • Educated in Britain and returned to India in 1912 and joined Indian National Congress in 1919
  • Became strong ally of Gandhi
  • Elected as INC president in 1928 and imprisoned during the anti salt campaign
• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

  • Supported Britain in 1939, he gave reluctant support to Gandhi's 1942 'Quit India' campaign
  • Imprisoned until 1945
  • Became president in 1946 and India's first prime minister in 1947 at independence
  • He died in office
• Indian Nationalism

  • Indian Congress Movement, already well established before WW1, grew in post years in reaction to Britain's failure to offer Indians a satisfactory constituitional arrangement in 1918
  • After 1918 the movement fell under the leadership of Gandhi
  • Peaceful protest and civil disobedience EG boycotting elections in the 1920s
• Indian Nationalism

  • Jawaharlal Nehru fellow lawyer and became close ally and friend of Gandhi
  • Two leaders' views on India's future were very different: Nehru sought modernisation and industrilisation
  • Gandhi an agricultural, rural based society
  • Nehru also diverged from Gandhi over his support for British in WW2
  • Only reluctantly pulled into Gandhi's 'Quit India' campaign from 1942
• Indian Nationalism

  • Nehru's rival for the leadership of the Congress party in the 1930s, Subhas Chandra Bose
  • wanted the INC to adopt a more militant line
  • 1939, Bose allied himself with Britain's enemies, Germany and Japan
  • 1943 formed the Indian National Army
• India Nationalism

  • All India Muslim League, promoted nationalism in the inter - war years
  • India Muslim League formed in 1906 and working in co - operation with Congress
  • relegated to junior partner in the nationalist struggle
• India Nationalism

  • Under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership it grew more vociferous in its representation of India's substantial Muslim minority
  • Jinnah disagreed with Gandhi's tactics and campaigned for the establishment of safeguards for the Muslims in the movement for independence
• India Nationalism

  • Muslim Nationalist Choudry Rahmat Ali proposed the name 'Pakistan' in 1933
  • League was not initially united in its desire for partition and Jinnah rejected the idea of an independent Pakistan until 1940
• Bolshevik = Revolutionary Bolsheviks formed the majority of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (later known as the communist party) Which, led by Lenin, took power in Russia in 1917
• Harry Thuku (1895 - 1970)

  • Born into a influential Kikuyu family
  • Missionary educated
  • Joined the Kikuyu Association
  • However left disillusioned with the organisation's reluctance to use direct and illegal methods to resist British rule
  • 1921 helped found East Africa Association
  • Imprisoned in 1922 for his involvement in a demonstration which turned violence
  • Released in 1931 and in 1932 he became president of the Kikuyu Central Association
• West Africa

  • Colonies of Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast had legislative council by 1914
  • powers were limited and African representation limited
  • Prompted a group of political activities from all these territories to hold a meeting in Accra to found the National Congress of West Africa in 1919
• West Africa

  • meeting in Congress of West Africa 1919
  • activities were dominated by the educated elite in Gold Coast
  • Movement supported by black middle class lawyers, teachers and doctors and lots were European educated
• West Africa

  • Congress' demands for greater representation were initially ignored
  • Some concessions were wrested from Britain in the 1920s
  • Nationalists were outnumbered by appointed Africa Chiefs from the inferior of the colonies of the legislative council
• West Africa

  • West African student's Union (WASU), founded in 1925 helped bring together students from various West African countries
  • studying in London
  • Time of political flux in Europe and growing nationalism in India
  • Inspired greater radicalism among its members
  • Included Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah from Gold Coast
  • Both whom were to become significant post - war nationalist figures
• West Africa

  • WW2 acclerated these trends, brought faster economic development to the West African colonies
  • 1945 Pan African Congress convened in Manchester, Engalnd which called for the 'autonomy and independence' of black Africa
• East Africa

  • Harry Thuku developed the first East African political protest movement
  • Initially involved in the formation of the Young Kikuyu, non militant, organistion set up to recover Kikuyu lands that had been lost when Kenya became a British Crown colony in 1920