Chapter 20 - Colonial policy and administration (SECTION 4)

Question 1

In what ways did Britain remain committed to maintaining a presence in the Middle East after WW2?

Answer 1

1) Britain was fearful about the Soviet Union’s ambitions in the Middle East.
2) Britain still had 10,000 troops in the Suez Canal zone, control over Aden and Cyprus as well as air-bases in Iraq.
3) Britain financed the army of Jordan.
4) Britain had to negotiate with the Arab League in order to ensure that they resisted communism.

Question 2

When did Colonel Nasser come to power and how did he do so?

Answer 2

1) 1952: Colonel Nasser comes to power after overthrowing King Farouk in a military coup (King Farouk renounced the Anglo-Egyptian treaty).

Question 3

What did the British agree with Egypt in 1953?

Answer 3

1) 1953: Agreement over Sudan. British government made an agreement with Nasser regarding the steps to Sudan’s independence.

Question 4

What did the British agree with Egypt in 1954?

Answer 4

1) 1954: Agreement over Suez Canal. Britain agreed to phased withdrawal from troops in the Suez canal zone.
2) The Egyptians in return allowed Britain free access through the canal, respected the independence of the Suez Canal company. 3) Britain were keen to make the agreement because they could not afford to maintain their bases against guerrilla attacks and they wanted to ameliorate Arab relations.

Question 5

1) What agreement was made between the British and other middle eastern nations?
2) What role did Egypt play in this?

Answer 5

1) 1955: Baghdad agreement. Britain made a treaty with Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq and Persia to repel Soviet threat in the Middle East.
2) Nasser refused to join and encouraged Jordan not to sign. Instead Egypt signed an arms deal with Czechoslovakia and an alliance with Syria.

Question 6

1) What did Britain and America propose to do with Egypt in 1956?
2) How did this end up?

Answer 6

1) 1956: plans for Aswan High Dam: Nasser planned to develop by construction of new dam on the River Nile.
2) Britain and the USA offered to pay for it, but withdrew financial aid due to Nasser’s association with communist powers.

Question 7

What did Egypt do in 1956 that shocked and angered the British and French in particular?

Answer 7

1) 1956: Nationalisation of the Suez Canal: In retaliation to fund them dam, Nasser seized control of the Suez Canal Company (which Britain owned 44% of) and publicly denounced British imperialism. Popular move throughout the Middle East

Question 8

What was the background to the Sèvres protocol?

Answer 8

1) Anthony Eden (PM) wanted to remove Nasser because he made agreements with the USSR and was a staunch advocate of Egyptian nationalism.
2) Britain and France were both united in their desire to remove Nasser. France were angered due to their shares in the canal being lost and also because of Nasser’s encouragement of Algerian nationalism.
3) Israel also wanted to weaken the power of its Arab neighbour.

Question 9

What was finalised in the Sèvres protocol?

Answer 9

1) A secret plan was hatched between Britain, France and Israel by which:
- Israel would invade Egypt on October 29th 1956.
- Britain and France would demand ceasefire and withdrawal of troops in the Suez Canal zone.
- Britain and France would then invade the Suez canal zone on October 31st to ‘defend it’.

Question 10

What happened during the invasion of the Suez Canal Zone?

Answer 10

1) Israeli’s invaded Egypt through Sinai.
2) Egyptians refused to agree to a ceasefire.
3) British and French paratroopers invaded Suez zone.
4) Egyptian resistance was fierce and Nasser called for ships to be sunk to block the Suez canal.
5) Britain was met with international disapproval of their actions. Both the USA and USSR condemned British actions. Kruschev even threatened to bomb London.

Question 11

Why did Britain have to withdraw troops from the Suez region and hand over to the ‘police action’ to the UN?

Answer 11

1) Britain had miscalculated the international reaction. They had embarked on military operations without informing the USA.
2)n They didn’t realise the change in the change of world power - the USA and all but 2 Commonwealth nations condemned the attack.
3) An aggressive guerrilla campaign forced Britain to withdraw 80,000 troops from a base on the Suez canal.
4) Soviets threatened to nuke London and Paris.
5) Shortage of oil and withdrawal of international investment in trade with Britain led to a sterling crisis. USA only agreed to financially assist Britain if the removed troops.
6) Britain announced ceasefire within 5 daya.

Question 12

In what ways was the Suez crisis a blow for the British?

Answer 12

• Never again would Britain seek to act alone in imperial or international affairs with the approval and consultation with the USA.
• Nationalists knew that if they pushed Britain enough they could achieve independence.
• Pro-British regimes in the Middle East were embarrassed and weakened. Jordan denounced Treaty with Britain.
• Trigger of imperial decline.

Question 13

In what ways was the Suez crisis not so bad for Britain?

Answer 13

1) Relations with the USA were rapidly restored. Britain became an important ally during the Cold War.
2) Britain continued to dominate the Sheikhdoms in the Arabian Gulf.
3) Britain still had great military presence in the Middle East and around the world until the late 1960’s, and they also had nuclear weapons.

Question 14

How did British power in the Middle East weaken from 1956-67?

Answer 14

1) Iraq left the Baghdad pact in 1959 after the monarchy was overthrown in 1958.
2) British Middle Eastern base in Cyprus was granted independence in 1959.
3) By the mid 1960’s, Britain only controlled air bases in Libya and retained a protectorate over a few Sheikdoms in the Persian Gulf, Aden and South Arabian Federation.
4) British rule was increasingly resisted by local nationalists and they evacuated Aden in 1967

Question 15

What were the British government’s ambitions for its relationship with the old dominions? What was the reality?

Answer 15

1) They regarded the Dominions as their most reliable friends.
2) However, the Dominions had their own interests and were prepared to assert separated identities.
3) The ANZUS military pact was formed between Australia, NZ and the USA in 1951 which implied that the USA had taken over Britain’s responsibilities in the Pacific.

Question 16

What was the new Commonwealth that Attlee hoped to build?

Answer 16

1) An association of free, independent states which would transcend race, colour and belief.
2) Envisaged the new Commonwealth serving as an effective vehicle of British influence.
3) It was seen as a way of surrendering the costs of formal control whilst maintaining informal ties which would help protect Britain’s global economic interests and influence.
4) It liked to think of the Commonwealth as a family of friendly nations around the world which could lend to critical support and mediate over disputes.
5) It was body of ‘free and equal’ states with no legal obligation to another but united by their history.

Question 17

What were some of the problems with trying build this ‘new’ commonwealth?

Answer 17

1) India, Pakistan and Ceylon did not share the enthusiasm of the white Dominions for the great power pretensions of Britain.
2) Members of the new commonwealth enjoyed no natural unity and its members had little in common with each other.
3) Britain could not offer enough reward for association in the form of trade, investment and defence.
4) Talk of a racial partnership did not appeal with white South Africans who had implemented the policy of apartheid in 1948. Given SA’s strategic and economic importance, Attlee’s government toned down its criticism of Nationalist policies. However, the SA policies remained an embarrassment for Britain and at odds with the idea of the new commonwealth.
5) Different governments throughout the Commonwealth.

Question 18

What compromised had to be made to prevent the collapse of the ‘new’ commonwealth?

Answer 18

1) Before 1948, Dominions had been required to recognise the British Crown as their head of state.
2) In 1947-8, Britain had made no effort to bend the rules to allow Eire or Burma to become republics and states within the commonwealth.
3) India’s determination to be a republic in 1948 was a major concern.
4) India was a potentially vast trading partner and a seemingly vital ally in a continent where communist influence was advancing rapidly.
5) A compromise was finally worked out whereby republican Indian would remain in the Commonwealth, accepting the British monarch as ‘Head of the Commonwealth’ rather than as head of India.

Question 19

In what ways did the Sterling Area tie Britain to its former colonial possession more than its imperial ties?

Answer 19

1) Likely like that they would look to the USA for an economic partnership.
2) Almost all dominions and several independent nations used the pound sterling as the basis of their currency and banked their overseas earnings in London. The area helped to maintain the value of the pound.
3) Britain remained the most important market for members of the Sterling Area.
4) For many countries, they had to support Britain economically because of the tied currencies.
5) In 1947, various measures tied the sterling area members to a common trade policy, obliging them to purchase more of their imports from Britain.
6) Became more of a closed economic block.
7) With 1/4 of the world’s population and trade, it exceeded its main rival of the dollar area.

Question 20

What was the British government’s hopes for its African colonies regarding development?

Answer 20

1) The British hoped that they would supply them with mineral wealth and a source of men for its armed forces to replace the Indian army.
2) 1950 - estimated that Africa could provide 400,000 troops for an imperial army.
3) Development of colonial economies would boost the purchasing power of colonial consumers thus helping to compensate British industry for markets lost during WW2.

Question 21

1) What was done by the British to encourage development of African colonies?
2) What is meant by the term ‘the second colonial occupation’?

Answer 21

1):
- Labour politicians had long talked in vague terms of ‘developing’ the colonies.
- Attlee’s colonial secretary was determined to aid British colonies as he regarded colonial economic and social development as the crucial precondition for progress to self-government.
- Colonial and Development Welfare Act of 1945 allocated £120 million over 10 years to assist the colonies’ development - much more substantial amount of money compared to previous acts.
- 1948 Act established the Colonial Development Corporation and the Overseas Food Corporation to improve living standards in the colonies.
2) Where the government interfered in areas of economic life and scores of British expects descended on Africa with schemes for agricultural improvement. Known as ‘economic colonialism’. Britain wanted to create a ‘third force’ in world politics.

Question 22

When and why was the Tanganyika Ground Nut Scheme launched and what were its consequences?

Answer 22

1) Launched in 1948 as an attempt to reduce the deficit of oils and fats in Britain.
2) Consequences:
- Cost Britain £36mil and failed to provide oil for Britain and employment in Africa.
- Spectacular example of economic mismanagement.
- Upset many of the local vested interests on whose support British colonial rule depended.

Question 23

What did the Labour government claim about its own colonial rule? What was the reality though?

Answer 23

1) Claimed to have abolished old style capitalism imperialism.
2) However, far from helping the colonies’ economic development, it actually exploited its colonies. For all they were worth restricting investment, controlling their trade and the prices of their main commodities and rationing they goods they could purchase from Britain.
3) Between 1945-51 the colonies were forced to lend Britain more money than Britain actually invested in the colonies.
4) Attlee’s government allowed the British dependencies to be exploited more than at any time since they were established.

Question 24

How did the Labour government reform Britain’s colonies in West Africa and why?

Answer 24

1) Britain was aware that WW2 had led to a need to widen representative government and develop timetables for self rule.
2) Tried to convey the idea of working in collaboration with nationalists to prepare colonies for independence.
3) System of universal suffrage to elect an assembly was introduced in the Gold Coast after riots.
4) Nigeria pressed for more political participation. Nigeria and Gold Coast seen as exemptions due to their size and educated elites taking on governmental responsibilities.

Question 25

What was the result of the political reforms that Attlee’s government introduced?

Answer 25

1) Helped to create the conditions in which colonial politicians would have the means to organise on a large scale and ultimately drive out British rule.
2) In Labour’s defence, the move towards African independence was gathering momentum and there was little any government could have done to prevent it.

Question 26

1) How was the British rule of Malaya organised?
2) Why was Malaya important to the British government?

Answer 26

1)
- In 1945, Malayan peninsular consisted of 9 states each rules by a sultan under British protection.
- Britain had allied itself with the Malayan elite.
2)
- Economically important, produced 1/3 of the world’s tin and huge amounts of rubber, the bulk of both products being sold to the USA. Therefore an important source of dollars.

Question 27

What political reforms did the Labour government propose for Malaya and why?

Answer 27

1) Wanted to create a more viable political unit.
2) 1948, grouped the states and settlements into the Federation of Malaya.

Question 28

What was the Malayan emergency?

Answer 28

1) Malayan communists, exploiting the Chinese community’s disaffection and encouraged by communist success in China itself, stirred up strikes and violence.
2) A state of emergency was declared and thousand of British troops were sent to Malaya.
3) In 1951, more than 1000 civilians and members of the security forces were killed.
4) Conflict dragged on until 1957 when Malaya given independence.