Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The British Empire : Attitudes towards imperialism in Britain (Attitudes…
The British Empire : Attitudes towards imperialism in Britain
Attitudes to empire: the British government
Pre 1850s
British government did not pursue a very active or interventionist role in empire before the mid-19th century
partly because of the distances involved in an age of slow communication - because of a lack of institutions to deal with the Empire and from a general lack of commitment to intervention itself
in the first half of the 19th century successive governments had resisted calls to secure new territories - withheld charters from commercial colonising companies
in 1865 a Parliamentary Select Committee recommended withdrawal from Britain's West African settlements on the grounds of cost
Conservatives - Disraeli 1852 - recognised that the colonies would be a weight around the empire's neck
Government resists calls for expansion because it was expensive
1870s Shift
Concerns about the ambitions of other European powers - as other nations grew stronger industrially Britain found itself facing greater economic competition
European and American protective tariffs made it harder to flood the Western hemisphere with British manufactured goods
Party-political conflicts begin
Party political conflict
Disraeli and the Conservatives
In the 1870s Disraeli began to assert the Conservatives were the 'party of empire'
presented this new perspective in his Crystal Palace speech in 1872
Disraeli's new-found enthusiasm for the empire was partly a way of winning support from an electorate that had been much enlarged by the 1867 Reform Act
Conservatives had not won an election since 1841 and playing the 'imperialist card' payed off when the party secured victory in 1874
In the eyes of the Liberals Disraeli's 'imperialist' talk was dangerous and he was accused of stirring up jingoism
Disraeli lived up to his imperialist stance by buying £4 million worth of shares in the Suez Canal in 1875 (Rothschild Family money)
Steered the Royal Titles Act through the House of Commons = bestowed the title of 'Empress of India' on Queen Victoria in 1877
Act was to embed British rule over India and was taken further by appointing Robert Lytton as Viceroy
Disraeli and Lytton sought to consolidate the Raj by attempting to turn Afghanistan into a client state
Lytton lanced an invasion in Afghanistan in NOVEMBER 1878
almost 10,000 losses before victory was secured the strategically significant north-west frontier
Disraeli embarked on a similar statement of intent seen in Afghanistan, in South Africa by annexing the Boer republic of the Transvaal in 1877
He also launched war on the Zulu tribes in 1879 ( - 1880) - Bartel Frere - was a failure
British troops where humiliated as Isandlwana in January 1879 before securing victory at Ulundi
Conservatives were defeated in April 1880 and there was a return of a Liberal government
Gladstone and the Liberals
Highly critical of gladstone's foreign and imperial policies
First Boer War 1880 -188:
British forces were defeated and Majuba Hill in FEBRUARY 1881 and Gladstone declined to commit further troops, time or money to uphold Disraeli's ambitions
Mahdist Rebellion (Sudan) 1884:
Gladstone urged for the withdrawal of Anglo-Egyptian troops and reflected that the Sudanese are 'rightly struggling to be free'
He became embroiled in Egypt for the sake of safe passage to India and also a result of public pressure
Arabi Pasha' uprising in 1881 threatened the security of the Suez Canal, European lives and investment in Egypt
1882 = Khedive Tewfiq was installed as ruler
Was forced by the Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885), which started the formal land-grabbing across Africa = conversion of Somaliland and Bechuanaland into protectorates
However local Tswana rulers were left in power in Bechuanaland - suggest Gladstone was reluctant to take further management or costs
Same hesitancy can be seen when Germany claimed the Pacific Island of New Guinea in 1884 - Gladstone resisted intervention
Thomas MacIlwraith (Premiere of Queensland) ordered the occupation of the island's south-eastern zone establishing British control
Parliamentary Reform Act 1884 = extend the vote to 5.5 million men
Resigned in JUNE 1885 and support returned to the Conservative government of Lord Salisbury
He returned as Prime Minister in 1886 and introduced the Home Rule Bill for Ireland = promoted separate legislation upon domestic affairs while still remains part of the UK - failed to pass it through parliament twice ( 1886 + 1893)
Attitudes to empire: the British public
1860s and 1870s the Empire began to fire public imagination:
The result of reporting in the growing press - saw the values of stories of the exotic , heroism and national oneupmanship
Education Reform Act 1870 increased national literacy rates
Extension of the vote in 1867 and 1884 Reform Acts made the public more politically aware
Early 1857 the press began to show its power in influencing public attitudes in its reporting of the Indian Mutiny
The British were horrified and the stories of massacre such as at Cawnpore
thrilled by stories of brave soldiers - Major-General Henry Havelock (who recaptured Cawnpore in July 1857) was turned into a national hero
1882 Arabi Pasha's revolt in Egypt captured the intent of reporters:
By incensing the public against the 'wickedness' of the rebels the press made Gladstone's decision to intervene much easier
Imperialist literature made appearance in bookshops whilst younger Victorians were regaled with tales of adventure in the new comic genre
The Boy's Own Paper first appeared in 1879 and featured stories portraying soldiery and bravery across the globe
School books reflected similar themes of positivity while clubs and associations (Boys Brigade (1883)) came about reinforcing imperialist values by offering military training and reminding men what it meant to be apart 0f the 'glorious ' British Empire
The Impact of Empire at Home
By the 1870s stories of explores and missionaries were being read in the British newspaper , and heroic tales helped to reinforce the idea of British benevolence and superiority
The British saw the empire as an ' empire of races' and believed themselves infinitely superior to other races and indigenous people
Accompanied by the belief that bringing these uncivilised people into the Empire could civilise the indigenous peoples
Imperial Exhibition
The view that the white races were naturally superior was encouraged by the publication of Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species' (1859)
Quasi-scientists justified their views by pointing to the disappearance of the 'weak' North American Indians, Maoris and Aborigines
British society's physical and social superiority was reinforced by a series of popular exhibitions - Great Exhibition in 1851
A Nubian village featuring both animals and humans collected in Sudan was put on display at London's Alexandra Palace in 1886