Chapter 5 - Attitudes Towards Imperialism In Britain

Question 1

Why did the British government not have an active or interventionalist role in the empire before the mid-nineteenth century?

Answer 1

Slow communications
Lack of institutions to deal with the empire
Lack of commitment to intervention

Question 2

What concerned politicians the most?

Answer 2

Freedom to trade and access markets

Question 3

What was the communication limited to?

Answer 3

Telegraph + Letters

Question 4

What economists theory did the government follow?

Answer 4

The invisible hand by Adam Smith

Question 5

Who was Benjamin Disraeli?

Answer 5

Conservative Party leader + Prime minister 1868

Question 6

what did Disraeli say about the colonies?

Answer 6

“Those wretched colonies will all be independent in a few years and they are a mill-stone around our necks”

Question 7

Who was William Ewart Gladstone?

Answer 7

Prime minister + Exchequer 4 time
Leader of Liberal Party 1868

Question 8

What did Gladstone promise?

Answer 8

“to abstain from any territorial acquisitions and from contracting any new obligations”

Question 9

Why did in 1865 the Parliamentary Select Committee recommend withdrawing from Britain’s West African settlements?

Answer 9

It was too costly

Question 10

Who was an exception to this?

Answer 10

Goldie was allowed a charter for Niger in 1884

Question 11

Why did the British government adopt more imperialist policies from 1870 onwards?

Answer 11

• Economic competition with France + Germany
• Long depression made export markets more attractive
• Difficulty with European + American export tariffs
• Charted companies increasingly needing intervention

Question 12

What did Disraeli now claim the Conservative party to be?

Answer 12

The ‘party of empire’

Question 13

What did the Liberals say about Disraeli’s imperialism?

Answer 13

It was dangerous and he was accused of stirring up jingoism

Question 14

What’s jingoism?

Answer 14

Encouraging and celebrating British imperial gains, boasting about Britain’s power

Question 15

What action did D do in 1875 to support his pro-imperialist stance?

Answer 15

Got a private loan from the Rothschild family to buy £4 million worth of Suez Canal shares

Question 16

What three events did he do in 1877?

Answer 16

1. Named Queen Victoria Empress of India
2. Annexed the Boer Republic
3. Sent General Gordon into Sudan

Question 17

What country did he annex in 1878?

Answer 17

Afghanistan

Question 18

What did Gladstone claim he had to do after D’s policies?

Answer 18

‘Pick up the pieces’

Question 19

What caused the Boers to be independent in 1880?

Answer 19

Boers moved to throw off B control

Question 20

How long did the First Boer war last?

Answer 20

1 year
(1880 - 1881)

Question 21

What event stopped G from sending more troops, time or money in SA?

Answer 21

The defeat at Majuba Hill

Question 22

What did G think about withdrawing Anglo-Egyptian troops from the Mahdist Rebellion in Sudan?

Answer 22

The Sudanese are ‘rightly struggling to be free’

Question 23

What did this clearly show?

Answer 23

The difference between Liberal and Conservative colonial policy

Question 24

But what place was G especially interested in?

Answer 24

Egypt

Question 25

Why?

Answer 25

Needed it for a safe passage to India Arabi Pasha's uprising threatened security of Suez + investment

Question 26

What did the Berlin Conference 1884 -1885 do?

Answer 26

Somaliland + Bechuanaland become protectorates

Question 27

Who were left in power in Bechuanaland?

Answer 27

The local Tswana rulers (suggests G was reluctant to take more management + costs of empire)

Question 28

Where else was G hesitant to intervene?

Answer 28

New Guinea Taken over by Germany 1884

Question 29

Who instead took part of it back?

Answer 29

Thomas MacIlwraith - Premier of Queensland Took south-eastern zone Australia financed the development of B New Guinea

Question 30

When did G resign?

Answer 30

1885

Question 31

What Act did he oversee?

Answer 31

1884 Parliamentary Reform Act (it extended the vote to 5.5 million men)

Question 32

What then returned under Lord Sailsbury's conserv govt?

Answer 32

Imperialism

Question 33

Who did G also have sympathy for?

Answer 33

Irish independence

Question 34

What did he make when he returned as PM in 1886?

Answer 34

Home Rule Bill for Ireland

Question 35

Was it successful in going through parliament?

Answer 35

No Attempted 1886 + 1893

Question 36

Why had the public had more opinions of the empire between 1860s +70s?

Answer 36

Growing of popular press

Question 37

What did the stories emphasise?

Answer 37

Heroism, exoticness, national one-upmanship

Question 38

What act increased national literacy?

Answer 38

The Education Act of 1870

Question 39

What acts made the public more politically aware and extended the vote?

Answer 39

1867 and 1884 Reform Acts

Question 40

What PM used this imperialist fantasy for their own gain?

Answer 40

Disraeli

Question 41

What was the earliest influence the media had when reporting about the empire?

Answer 41

1857 Indian Mutiny

Question 42

What was another influential event?

Answer 42

Cawnpore

Question 43

What happened in Cawnpore?

Answer 43

When B troops approached rebel-held Cawnpore 1857, the people killed 200 captive women + children then threw them into the river

Question 44

Who was seen as a national hero in the media?

Answer 44

Major-General Henry Havelock He recaptured Cawnpore + Lucknow When he died a statue was put in Trafalgar square

Question 45

What event was supported by reporters and praised G for intervention?

Answer 45

Arabi Pashas Revolt

Question 46

What author wrote about imperialist themes?

Answer 46

H. Rider Haggard

Question 47

What novel was put in a magazine between 1886 and 1887?

Answer 47

She - HRH About man + woman who go into Africa find a lost kingdom ruled by Queen Ayesha

Question 48

Where were children exposed to imperialist literature?

Answer 48

The Boys own paper - had stories of bravery across the globe School books

Question 49

What club was made for boys?

Answer 49

The Boys' Brigade - offered military training + reminded boys what it meant to be part of the 'glorious' empire

Question 50

What did the B see the empire as?

Answer 50

'Empire of races' where B people were superior

Question 51

What did the B think extending the empire would do?

Answer 51

It would 'civilise' indigenous peoples

Question 52

What reinforced the idea that B had an 'imperial duty' to control overseas territories?

Answer 52

Publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species 1859

Question 53

What did quasi-scientists view it as?

Answer 53

They applied it to humans and justified it by using examples of North American indigenous people disappearing, and the Maoris and Aborigines

Question 54

What also enforced the B Victorian superiority?

Answer 54

Exhibitions

Question 55

What were successful exhibitions in London?

Answer 55

The Great Exhibition of 1851 1862 International Exhibition Africa Exhibition 1890

Question 56

What did they have in them?

Answer 56

28,000 exhibitors from 36 countries Displayed arts, industry and technology

Question 57

What were 'living exhibits'?

Answer 57

People from the colonies displayed in the exhibits

Question 58

Where was an example of 'living exhibits' being used?

Answer 58

The 1886 exhibition 'Indian craftsmen' were probably prisoners who were trained as part of a project to 'reform the criminal castes'

Question 59

What did the Africa Exhibition show?

Answer 59

Celebrated explorers + colonisation Showed trophy cases of axes, shields + spears It stimulated scientific + anthropological interest and justified B presence

Question 60

How did Missionaries contribute to the spreading of imperialism?

Answer 60

Talked about their conversion stories at Sunday schools and in pamphlets David Livingstone was famous for this work