Major - foreign policy

Question 1

What caused the Gulf War?

Answer 1

2-4 August 1990, Iraq - under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain - invaded and annexed the Middle Eastern state of Kuwait, which was both oil-rich and a Western ally in the region.

Question 2

How did America respond to Hussain’s actions?

Answer 2

Bush immediately deployed forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene

Question 3

How did Major solidify the “special relationship” in his response to the Gulf War?

Answer 3

Committed the largest amount of troops of any European country

Question 4

How was Major successful in the domestic aspect of the Gulf War?

Answer 4

Kept the opposition leaders regularly informed on the war, ensured political consensus.

Question 5

How else did Major successfully handle the Gulf War?

Answer 5

The conflict had full UN backing
Kept the mission about expelling Iraq from Kuwait, the conflict was kept short - did not lead to a long-term destabilisation.

Question 6

How was Major potentially unsuccessful in handling the Gulf War?

Answer 6

By not pushing into Iraq did they miss an opportunity to legitimately remove a brutal dictator? Prolonging the later conflict of the Iraq War of 2003

Question 7

What did the IRA do in early 1991?

Answer 7

Fired mortar bombs at Downing Street from a parked van

Question 8

What happened in the NI conflict in March 1993?

Answer 8

A boy of 3 and another of 12 were killed and 50 people injured by bombs left in litterbins in a shopping mall in Warrington Cheshire.

Question 9

When was the Downing Street Declaration?

Answer 9

1993

Question 10

What did Major negotiate in NI in 1994?

Answer 10

A ceasefire

Question 11

When and what was the impact of the Mitchell Report?

Answer 11

1996, established the most important principle upon which any future peace process should be built: decommissioning

Question 12

How was Major successful in his approach to NI?

Answer 12

He began to establish the basis on which ultimately the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 would be built on.

Question 13

How was Major unsuccessful in his approach to NI?

Answer 13

The ceasefire was frequently broke between 1996 and 1998

Question 14

When was the Maastricht Treaty?

Answer 14

1992-3

Question 15

What were the terms of the Maastricht treaty?

Answer 15

Full European integration
Common European foreign policy
European Central Bank
Single European Currency by 1999 (Britain would have an “opt-out” clause)
EEC to be renamed European Union

Question 16

How did Major pass the Maastricht Treaty?

Answer 16

November 1993 - attached it to a formal vote of confidence in the government. Any Tory revels who voted against it would have brought down the government.

Question 17

What did Major do in July 1995?

Answer 17

Major called a snap leadership contest, which he easily won, defeating Eurosceptic John Redwood by 218 votes to 89 (22 abstained from voting)

Question 18

How was the Maastricht Treaty unsuccessful?

Answer 18

The 1995 contest showed that over 100 Tory MPs were not committed to his leadership
major’s decisive leadership made Eurosceptics feel railroaded into European integration
By not calling an election, the Treaty lacked legitimacy in many people’s minds
Furthered division over Europe.

Question 19

What conflict was going on in Bosnia during the early 1990s?

Answer 19

Fighting largely focused around religions and ethnic rivalries between Muslim Bosnians and Christian Serbs

Question 20

How had the situation escalated in Bosnia by 1995?

Answer 20

The international community was becoming increasingly concerned that Serbs were attempting the genocide of the Muslim Bosnians.

Question 21

How did Major respond to the Bosnian crisis?

Answer 21

Major contributed to a series of massive NATO aerial attacks on Serbian forces in August-September, codenamed ‘Operation Deliberate’.

Question 22

When and what was the Dayton Peace Agreement?

Answer 22

December 1995 - Warring parties in Bosnia agreed to Keep to designated areas. Major was one of the signatories following his commitment to the NATO operation.

Question 23

How was Major unsuccessful in his approach to the Bosnia crisis?

Answer 23

Had Major been to slow - war had been raging since 1992, could the Genocide of thousands of Bosniak have been avoided - in 1995 more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys killed and 25,000 - 30,000 expelled.

Question 24

What did the Downing Street Declaration do?

Answer 24

British government announced that its sole concern was to acede to the democartically expressed wishes of the people there
Accepted that it was only the people who could unite Ireland
If a democratic settlement was achieved then the South would drop.its traditional claim that NI was part of the republic