British Empire 1914-1947

• what was the relations with the White Dominions during WWI?

  • The Imperial War Cabinet was created in 1917 to coordinate the Empire's military strategy
  • Australia and New Zealand (Anzacs) had heavy losses in the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli (in Turkey). Australia rejected conscription in 1916 snd 1917
  • Canadians has heavy losses in the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge (in France) and expanded its wheat exports to Britain. There were protests against their involvement in French Quebec in 1918
• Who was Edwin Montagu?

  • Secretary of State for India when the 1919 Government of India Act passed
• Who was Lord Linlithgow?


  • Viceroy of India, actively promoted increased increasing the franchise in the 1935 Government of India Act
  • believed that peicemeal reform would weaken the nationalist movement, however this had the opposite impact as they didn't believe that the reforms went far enough
  • There was increased levels of civil disobedience which caused Linlithgow increase to suppression and to monitor members of the INC and to censor the press
• Who was Donald Cameron?

  • Governor of Nigeria
  • focused on making Nigeria more profitable for Britain -did this by increasing exports of groundnuts and palm oil and building infrastructure like railways and harbours to increase economic activity
  • supported moves towards the trusteeship style of rule and allowed Nigerians to work in the civil service, his vision of political reform was limited and slow
• Who was Philip Mitchell?

  • Governor of Uganda, later Governor of Kenya
  • Oxbridge education
  • grew the Makerere College in Uganda and worked to create an elite of Ugandans with formal university education
  • said independence in Kenya wasn't possible in the near future, fed nationalism in Kenya
• Who was Andrew Cohen?

  • Head of the Colonial Office's Africa division and later Governor of Uganda
  • public school / Oxbridge education
  • Sympathetic of African nationalists and tried to build relationships with them
  • Encouraged white settlers in Northern Rhodesia to share their wealth with the Africans
• Who was Ralph Furse?

  • Responsible for improving the recruitment and training of colonial administrators
  • 1930, reformed the Colonial Services by centralising and standardising recruitment and training putting a larger emphasis on interviews - this increased the quality of recruits
• What territories did Britain gain after WWI?

  • The League of Nations divided the "mandates" taken from the German and Ottoman Empire among the allies. Britain gained:
  • A Grade mandates, capable of independence in near future: Palestine and Syria
  • B Grade mandates, guidance before independence: Tanganyika
  • C Grade mandates, incapable of independence: New Guinea and Samoa
• Who is Gandhi?

  • ..
• What was the timeline of Irish Independence?

  • Home Rule discussions ended due to WWI leading to 1916 Easter Rising where Irish rebels attacked the British Army, Dublin shelled in response and 66 executed and thousands arrested
  • Brutality of this caused nationalists to aim for independence, not just Home Rule. A guerilla war by the IRA followed. in 1921 the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed creating the Irish Free State
  • 1922, the Catholic Irish Free State given Dominion status (Protestant counties remained British authority) and independent in 1937 after the 1931 Statute of Westminster
• What was the economic impact of WWI on Britain?

  • 10% of Britain's overseas investments were sold off to fund the war effort
  • exports fell by 15% and rivals replaced British exports
  • unemployment rose
  • debt rose by over 1000x and in the 1920s 44% of government spending was on war debts
  • 1929 Great Depression hit Britain hard and had to abandon the Gold Standard
• what was the relations with India in WWI?

  • over 1.4 million Indian soldiers fought for the British overseas (the Western Front, German East Africa and in Egypt and Gallipoli). 1915, sepoys guarding the crew of a German ship (SMS Emden) rebelled in Singapore
  • Provided significant financial support. Income taxes in India rose by 10% during the war
  • 1917 Edwin Montagu, Secretary of State for India, proposed the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms which committed to increased self-government, this introduced the dyarchy
• what was the position of India in the inter-war years?

  • WWI Indian nationalists made demands for more independence, 1917 Montagu Declaration- calling for increased self-government, then the 1919 Government of India Act (dyarchy and franchise)
  • 1919 Rowlatt Acts (imprisonment without trial), led to more protests and Amritsar Massacre (General Dyer ordering firing on protestors, killing 379)
  • INC's civil disobedience (fasting and not paying taxes) more following 1930 Round Table Conferences opened negotiations. 1935 Government of India Act: franchise: 35m, dyarchy ends
• What was the position of India during and after WWII?

  • 1939, Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared war on behalf of India without consulting INC, the INC then refused to support the war unless given independence- this was refused ...
• what were the domestic attitudes towards Empire at this time? 1/2

  • 1924, Wembley Exhibition, advirtised the Empire, fun fair, showed an minature of Empire (got 17 million visitors)
  • 1938, another one in Glasgow had similar number of visitos
  • 1926, The Empire Marketing Board (headed by Leo Amery) promoted Empire goods through ads and posters (became more active through the Great Depression)
  • 1931, Noel Coward's song "Mad Dog's and Englishmen" had a self-mocking tone but mocked other races
• what was the economic impact of WWII?

  • Domestically, rationing persisted to the 50s and many buildings were destroyed in the Blitz. Overseas assets were sold off and debt to the US was accumulated through lend-lease loans for the war effort
  • Trade was disrupted in the British sea by German U-boats and trade ships in East Asia were captured by the Japanese
  • There was a balance of payments and debt crisis
  • attempts were made to improve trade in Empire with Tanganyika Groundnuts experiment and the Colonial Welfare Acts of 1940 and 1945
• What was the purpose of the Commonwealth?

  • ...
• How was independence gained in Iraq?

  • The League of Nations gave Britian a mandate over Iraq, British rule saw large scale push back with protests in 1920 in Baghdad, 10,000 Iraqi and 1,000 British soldiers died.
  • 1921 Cairo Conference, agreed to provide some self determination but British control remained
  • 1932 Iraq got independence on the condition that Britain could still use their military bases
• What was the economic impact of WWI on the Empire?

  • India, had inflation and shortages but because British manufactures focused more on the war effort, India's domestic industry benifited in comparison
  • Canada, benifited as they exported more wheat to Britain and began to export to the US
  • Australia and New Zealand, hit hard by the war as they relied on their exports being sold to the British market
• Who was Muhammad Ali Jinnah?

  • Muslim leader that supported an independent Pakistan...
• Who was Chandra Bose?

  • Joined the Indian Nationalist Army (INA) fighting alongside the Japanese against the British...
• Who was Nehru?

  • Indian nationalist who focused more on politics and modernisation and industrialisation
  • Would become India's first Prime Minister...
• How did Egypt gain independence?

  • 1919, large protests demanding Egyptian and Sudanese independence in response the British exiled the main Egyptian nationalist leader, Saad Zaghlul
  • Caused weeks of strikes, demonstrations and attacks on British facilities. In 1922 Britain was forced to accept Egyptian independence (Sudan remained in the Empire) and Zaghlul became its first Prime Minister as long as British interests in Egypt were protected
  • A later treaty allowed presence of British troops in the Suez Canal Zone
• What was trade and commerce like in the inter-war years?

  • 1920s: Britain tried to recreate its pre-war economy (little protectionism). returned to the Gold Standard to stabalise its international trade. EXCEPTION: 1929 Colonial Development Act which gave funds to support colonial development projects, invested in Sudanese cotton scheme
  • 1929, Great Depression: imports from Empire increased. Britain had to abandon the Gold Standard again but was able to use the Sterling Area within the Empire
  • 1932 Ottowa Conference instituted imperial preference.
• What was the role of Sinn Fein and the IRA towards Irish independence?

  • the nationalist party led by Eamon De Valera had won a majority of Irish seats in the 1918 General Election and established an Irish Assembly - giving a political front to the independence movement
  • the IRA fought against the British sent Black and Tans
• what was India's economy in the inter-war years?

  • Great Depression, agricultural prices collapsed as people couldn't afford to buy it. British taxes remained a burden
  • Britain restricted India's money supply to avoid the devaluation of the currency. This secured the value of Britain's assets but caused Indians to starve
• Significance of the 1943 Bengal Famine


  • over 3 million died
  • Britain's "denial policy" saw boats with rice and other foodstuff confiscated in fear of the Japanese Army taking the resources if there was an invasion
  • economist Amartya Sen mass deaths came about as a combination of wartime inflation and British economic policies
  • Churchill quoted as saying that the famine occured as Indians were "breeding like rabbits"
  • Was at first subject to war time censorship but was later reported on in The Guardian
• what is the significance of trusteeship?

  • proposed post WWI in the Versailles talks (President Wilson arguing for self-determination). aimed to work with indigenous people, stimulate economic growth and work towards self-rule in Africa
  • 1927, Colonial Secretary Leo Amery wrote a white paper arguing that settlers in East Africa should be involved in the trusteeship (undermining the original aim of protecting African interests).
  • 1931, then Colonial Secretary, Sidney Webb, established the idea of "dual mandate" as a middle ground between East Africans and settlers
• What is the significance of the 1931 Statute of Westminster?


  • Marked the shift where the Empire was transformed into a Commonwealth of Nations
  • Dominions now had the right to change their constitution and the right to withdraw from the Commonwealth
• How did Britain get control over Palestine?

  • In 1914, Britain promised independence of Arab lands under Ottoman rule, including Palestine, for support against Turkey
  • 1915, Britain and France conspired to divide up the Middle East through the Skyes-Picot Pact, undermining the Hussein-McMahon that promised to uphold Arab self-determination
  • 1917, Balfour Declaration promised British support for a 'national homeland' for Jews in Palestine, attempt to win American support. This caused rise in anti-British sentiment for Arabs
  • 1920, Britain gets mandate of Palestine
• How did Britain start to lose control of the Palestinian mandate?

  • Ethnic tensions undermined the High Commissioner's attempt for a representative body with both groups. Palestinian Arabs (renter farmers) were evicted from land by wealthier Jewish settlers (help from National Jewish Fund)
  • 1933, Nazi persecution sped up migration to Palestine. 1936, 20,000 British troops sent in to settle rioting, repression continued with hangings
  • 1937, Peel Report recommended partitioning Palestine
  • 1939, to avoid losing Egypt to Italy, Britain didn't partition- both angered at British
• How did Zionist paramillitary groups push Britain out of Palestine?

  • Formed the paramillitary groups the Haganah and the Lehi (Stern Gang)
  • Lehi aimed to remove the British through violence, involving bombings and assassinations
  • The conflict became too expensive for Britain to control so left the mandate to the UN in 1947
  • 1948, Lehi was responsible for the Deir Yassin massacre, which was a central component of the Nakba
• what were the domestic attitudes towards Empire? 2/2

  • promoted through education with SOAS (formed in 1917) made to create new breed of colonial administrators. 1919 Cambridge created a professorship for Imperial History. Secondary education taught imperial figures and pro-imperial writers (Rudyard Kipling)
  • The BBC, under its first director (John Reith) took a pro-imperialist stance showing many imperial events, 1932 George V's Christmas Day speech message to the Commonwealth
  • Films: The Four Feathers (1939) backdrop of Empire as adventerous and Britain having a positive impact
• what were the domestic attitudes towards Empire

  • after wwi Empire was more presented as a family of nations as there was increased emphasis on self-determination
  • there were still informal links with Empire, seen with missionaries talking of their experiences of Empire in church, relatives emigrating to Australia or elsewhere, former soldiers serving elsewhere in the Empire
  • Empire Day celebrated throughout the colonies and Commonwealth, with presentations of their local culture
• What were the representations of Empire during WWII?

  • the Ministry of Information produced short films to challenge racism in Britain
  • West Indies Calling, a BBC film in 1943 showed the efforts of different ethnicities in the war effort