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EIT Week 8- Empires at War (WW1 viewed as conflict that required whole…
EIT Week 8- Empires at War
Imperial territories not governed in uniform manner
British Empire 1914- 11.5 million square miles- 410 million subjects
French Empire 1914- 4 million square miles- 60 million subjects- 2nd largest empire in world at this point- governed from Paris- Algeria wasn't a colony- technically and legally part of France
WW1- 'Clash of Empires'
'A war of multi-ethnic, global empires'- Robert Gerwarth and Erez Manela in
Empires at War
Growing importance of the Empire to notions of Britishness- symbol of power, authority and British values- 'Empire Day' first celebrated in 1904
The French 'civilising mission'- framed according to democratic ideals of the French Republic
WW1 viewed as conflict that required whole empire
India- 800,000 soldiers
Black Africa- 1 million workers
Australia- 332,000 soldiers
Canada- 458,000 soldiers
New Zealand- 112,000 soldiers
South Africa- 76,000 whites and 50,000 black workers
British generally used colonial peoples outside European theatre of war- Indians thought in Togoland, Cameroon and German East Africa- 100,000 colonial troops killed in German East Africa
Use of conscription and voluntary enlistment
French colonial troops generally served in Europe- 500,000ish
Severe punishments given out for refusing to go to war- burn crops and villages- corruption was rife
Some races thought to be better suited to combat than others- prejudices could be based on ethnicity, politics and nationality
'Tirailleurs Senegalais'- soldiers from France's black West African colonies
German Somoa went to New Zealand
France took over Syria and Lebanon as mandates
Britain took control of German East Africa
British and French empires expand to greatest extent
Britain gained Iraq and Palestine as 'mandate' territories and shared portions of Cameroon and Togoland with France
German New Guinea went to Australia
German South-West Africa went to South Africa