Foreign policy in the '50s and early '60s

Question 1

Why was the British Empire not as strong as it used to be?

Answer 1

The idea of an empire where one group is stronger than another was no longer appropriate especially as this was what Hitler believed and this was fought against
Many countries now wanted independence

Question 2

What was the ‘top down’ approach to decolonisation?

Answer 2

Suggested by Ovendale which maintains that decolonisation was the choice of imperial powers like Britain

Question 3

What was the ‘bottom up’ or ‘grassroots’ approach to decolonisation?

Answer 3

Approach by Coleman which believes in nationalist movements in imperial countries as more important

Question 4

When was the Mau Mau rebellion?

Answer 4

1952

Question 5

What caused the Mau Mau rebellion?

Answer 5

British colonial settlement in Kenya pushed the Kikuyu (largest ethnic group) off their land and the Kenyan people pushed for land rights for the Kikuyu
When British refused to listen, Mau Mau group formed which took more militant action and attacked white farms and livestock

Question 6

How did the British respond to the Mau Mau rebellion?

Answer 6

Declared a state of emergency which lasted until ‘60 and launched counter-attack on rebels, set up prison camps which heated some of them to death

Question 7

What are the death figures of the Mau Mau rebellion?

Answer 7

British figures say 11,000 Africans were killed but Kenyan figures think it’s more 90,000
160,000 were detained in appalling conditions without trial
over 1,000 were systematically hanged
Only 32 white deaths in 8 years of fighting

Question 8

What impact did the Mau Mau rebellion have on Britain?

Answer 8

Severely damaged Britain’s reputation abroad and helped in Kenya’s fight for independence which was achieved in 1963

Question 9

When was the Malayan Emergency?

Answer 9

1947-1960

Question 10

What caused the Malayan Emergency?

Answer 10

The British post-war constitutional proposal for Malaya didn’t take into account the complex ethnic mix of Malaya, it protected the Sultans and angered the communists
Malayan National Liberation Army launched guerrilla offensive attacking rubber plantations
Had support by poor Chinese vagrants

Question 11

What was Britains’ response to Malaya?

Answer 11

Britain introduced Briggs plan meaning curfews and detainment with trial, build towns to fence in Chinese so they couldn’t support the Malays, denying rebels food and manpower
British army in Malaya was mostly made up of National Servicemen so young force

Question 12

When did Malaya gain independence?

Answer 12

1957

Question 13

When did Harold Macmillan make Wind of Change Speech?

Answer 13

1960

Question 14

What was the message of the wind of change speech?

Answer 14

He was saying that the British govt. weren’t going to stop countries from gaining independence
Indicated recognition for the need for decolonisation and were no longer going to try and crush rebellions e.g. Mau Mau

Question 15

What influenced Macmillan to make this speech?

Answer 15

Economic, political and moral factors along with fear of impatience of nationalist movements and if he delayed decolonisation it would have caused more bloodshed

Question 16

Who was Iain McLeod?

Answer 16

Colonial Secretary and supported Macmillan’s view on decolonisation

Question 17

What happened to Ghana (Gold Coast) after the war?

Answer 17

A constitution was introduced to give more voice to local opinion + to bring the country under one legislature
This made local chiefs fear that they now needed political influence to maintain power, they were fearful of western style democracy

Question 18

Ghana and the nationalist movement

Answer 18

Nationalist movement stirring through colonial govt. which grew bigger during the war and took more control
Resulted in inflation and food shortages and forced the main crop cocoa to be destroyed as it was diseased
Farmers angry as they believed it could still produce

Question 19

Who was Kwame Nkrumah and what did he do?

Answer 19

Set up Convention People’s Party and began mobilising trade unions and farmer’s unions organising strikes and demonstrations.
An elected assembly was set up in response + despite Nkrumah’s imprisonment the CPP still did well in election and had to be let out to fulfil his role
He cooperated with Britain and Ghana achieved independence

Question 20

When did Ghana achieve independence?

Answer 20

1957

Question 21

What led to demands for independence in Nigeria?

Answer 21

Was a huge British colony with a mix of cultures and the new constitution wanted to bring all the different groups of people together but proved difficult to agree on power sharing method
Demands grew for a more representative arrangement which led to demands for independence

Question 22

When did Nigeria gain independence?

Answer 22

1960

Question 23

Nigerian civil war

Answer 23

Started soon after independence granted as groups competed for land and power
1967 independent republic of Biafra was declared but over 1 million people died from fighting and famine
Photos of this spread around the world yet it continued

Question 24

Britain’s response to Biafra?

Answer 24

Britain refused to recognised Biafra and continued to supply Nigerian leader with weapons to fight Biafran’s
1970 Biafra collapsed and became part of Nigeria again

Question 25

Kenya 1963

Answer 25

Come back to

Question 26

What was included in the Future Policy Study?

Answer 26

Outlined core policy to be NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), inc. 12 countries and was based on the fact that if one country was attacked, the others would step in to defend it
Also inc. strengthening the commonwealth

Question 27

What did Dean Acheson say about Britain?

Answer 27

‘Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role’

Question 28

The formation of the EEC

Answer 28

French Foreign Minister, Schuman, wanted coal and steel community in ‘50 which would integrate heavy industries of Germany and France, enabling quick economic recovery and bond between former enemies
Strongly supported by US and UK

Question 29

Why didn’t Britain initially become involved with EEC?

Answer 29

Left wing suspicious of free market principles behind Common Market
Right wing saw traditional links with Australia etc. as more important than new links with Europe
Some saw it as a continental European issue and B saw that they ‘won the war’ so different to Germany and France
B valued special relationship with US far too much

Question 30

Messina conference 1955

Answer 30

International conference where EEC began to take shape, was a British representative present, was there to encourage and observe rather than to join

Question 31

Treaty of Rome

Answer 31

1957 and marked the launch of the EEC and was primarily based on rela with F and G
Charles De Gaulle said he wanted to keep out ‘les Anglo Saxons’

Question 32

Who were the six founding members of the EEC

Answer 32

France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

Question 33

What was the European Free Trade Association?

Answer 33

1959 created link between Britain, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, alternative to EEC
Often referred to as ‘outer seven’ rather than ‘inner six’ of EEC

Question 34

Why did Macmillan request to join the EEC?

Answer 34

In 1961 because the EFTA couldn’t match the growth of the EEC
Fundamental reason was economic, he wanted to boost industrial efficiency with greater competition and stimulate economic growth

Question 35

What was USA’s view on Britain joining the EEC?

Answer 35

Keen for it to happen as Britain could become a vital link between USA and Europe

Question 36

Why was Britain’s application so long and complicated?

Answer 36

Because of its commitments to other relationships e.g US and commonwealth so new negotiations had to be drawn e.g New Z’s lamb exports in Britain would have to stop under EEC but strong relationship with commonwealth so this had to be renegotiated, these were largely negotiated under Heath

Question 37

Rejection in 1963

Answer 37

Application looked close to successful but last minute Charles De Gaulle vetoed Britain’s application unless Britain would cut ties with US
Macmillan broke down in tears

Question 38

Britain’s relationship with the cold war

Answer 38

Britain and US were allies in Cold War, opposing USSR and spread of communism, had substantial amount of troops stationed in West Germany
Had entered Korea in 1950 to support US and to try and stop the spread of communism

Question 39

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 39

USSR tried to station nuclear weapons in Cuba which was only 90 miles off the coast of Florida so US set up naval blockade to stop Soviet ships from reaching Cuba
Tense negotiations followed and people were scared of nuclear war
Agreement reached where Russia would withdraw weapons from Cuba if US withdrew weapons from Turkey

Question 40

What was Macmillan’s relationship like with the US presidents?

Answer 40

Had a good relationship with Eisenhower and Kennedy
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Kennedy kept Macmillan informed of events but Britain were described as ‘bystanders’ in the crisis

Question 41

Why was Britain’s ‘special relationship’ put under strain?

Answer 41

Due to Suez Crisis, failure of EEC entry and the Burgess and Maclean affair
Britain was in difficult position as still dependent on US and militarily overstretched

Question 42

What was the Burgess and Maclean Affair?

Answer 42

Burgess and Maclean were high ranking officers in British intelligence that defected to Soviet Union in 1951
British spies had been leaking vital info to Moscow and this deeply worried the Americans who were reluctant tp trust Britain with intelligence secrets

Question 43

Nuclear deterrent after the war

Answer 43

Tory govt. continued the policy that B should develop its own nuclear deterrent which was crucial if B was to retain its status as an important power in the world
So Churchill first tested this in 1952

Question 44

What was the Mutual Defence Agreement?

Answer 44

Where the USA agreed to share nuclear technology with Britain so Britain abandoned its own rocket projects, Blue Streak in 1960
When it became clear that Britain would not have an independent nuclear deterrent, the pro-nuclear part of the Labour Party become more sceptical

Question 45

When was the Korean War?

Answer 45

1950-53

Question 46

What happened with the Korean War?

Answer 46

After WWII north of Korea occupied by USSR and south occupied by US
1950, Soviet forces and China invaded the south
UN condemned the action and sent troops from over 20 countries, B sent 90,000

Question 47

How did the Korean War end?

Answer 47

Fighting was heavy and ceasefire agreed in 1953 after 1,000 British soldier had died
Agreement was that Korea would be split into communist North and capitalist South Korea

Question 48

What impact did the Korean War have on Britain?

Answer 48

Proved Britain’s desire to continue to be a major power in world affairs, despite major economic restraints