imperialist attituds (1857–1914)

What view did many British people have about the level of civilisation of the peoples of Africa and India?

Less civilised than Britain and Europe. Backward and more primitive.

What religion were most people in Britain in 1857?

Christian (Protestant)

What was the attitude of Missionaries towards the people of Africa and India?

Saw them as people to be converted and saved.

Which two political parties dominated British politics from 1857-1914 and what were their attitudes towards the Empire?

Liberals – Wished to consolidate empire, develop the existing colonies and helping them towards self-government. Conservatives – Disraeli portrayed the Conservatives as the ‘Party of Empire’. Wished to enhance and extend Empire.

Who was Prime Minister and which party was in power from 1868-74, 1880-85 & again in 1892-94?

William Gladstone – Liberals

Who was Prime Minister and which party was in power from 1874-80?

Benjamin Disraeli – Conservatives

Which political party and which three Prime Minsters dominated British politics from 1905-1922?

Liberals. Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman (1905-08), Herbert Asquith (1908-16) & David Lloyd George (1916-22).

What was the ‘Midlothian Campaign’ and how did it link to British Foreign policy?

Gladstone in four speeches (1878-80) charged Disraeli’s government with financial incompetence, neglect of domestic legislation, and mismanagement of foreign affairs. This carried the Liberals to victory in the 1880 election.

What is ‘Jingoism’?

Empire related patriotism, encouraging and celebrating British imperial gains, boasting about Britain’s power.

What does it mean in 19th century politics to play the ‘Imperial Card’?

Using empire as a means of gaining public support and winning an election

What does in mean to be an ‘Imperialist’?

supporter of Empire and someone who wished to see the British Empire expanded and made stronger.

Why did the 1867 & 1884 Reform Acts change how the political parties acted?

They enfranchised (gave the vote) to more working class men. (1867 increased the men allowed to vote by around a million to 1.5 million; 1884 expanded the vote to 5.5 million more men).

What was Sir Bartle Frere sent to Africa to do in 1879?

Establish a British confederation over Southern Africa.

How would the 1870 Education Act have made an impact on public opinions regarding the Empire?

increased literacy rates which made the public more politically aware. Their interest in empire increased as they were able to access newspapers and literature on Empire. Disraeli used this to promote empire and the Conservatives.

Which group were raising the awareness of the Empire in the minds of the British people during the 1860s and 70s due to the publication of their stories?

Explorers such as Sir Richard Burton

Who was H. Ryder Haggard?

An author who published the imperialist novels such as ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ (1885) and ‘She’ (1887) which was about two British people going to Africa and encountering a lost kingdom.

What atrocity was reported to have taken place in Cawnpore in 1857?

200 captive British women and children were hacked to death by Indian hired butchers and their bodies were thrown down a well

Who was Major-General Henry Havelock?

He was in charge of the British forces which retook Cawnpore in July 1857 and Lucknow in September 1857. The press turned him into a hero.

How did the Pall Mall Gazette, The Evening News and Daily Telegraph report Arabi Pasha’s revolt in Alexandria in 1882?

They reported that Muslim mobs were massacring Europeans and ‘all the Christians they could find’. This increased public pressure on Gladstone to intervene in Egypt.

What were ‘Boy’s own papers’?

First appeared in 1879, comic book portraying soldiery and bravery across the globe. Readers were encouraged to lead ‘manly and Christian lives’.

What was the Boy’s Brigade?

club (1883) which reinforced imperialist values by offering military training and reminding young men what it meant to be part of the ‘glorious’ British Empire.

What is Eugenics?

The idea that humans can be improved through selective breeding.

How did Herbert Spencer use Darwin’s theory on evolution?

Argued in favour of Social Darwinism. This meant that white races were naturally superior to other races and applied Darwin’s arguments on evolution to apply to human societies, social classes and individuals.

What was the British public attitude towards General Charles Gordon?

He was seen as a martyr to Empire after dying in the siege of Khartoum in 1885.

What celebration took place all over the empire in 1897?

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Do the celebrations that accompanied Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee prove that the Empire was popular with its inhabitants?

No, the pomp and ceremony of the Jubilee did not accurately reflect their views

How did the British population greet the outbreak of war in South Africa in 1899?

The public greeted the outbreak of war with enthusiasm.

Who won the ‘Khaki Election’ of 1900 and what did this prove?

The Conservatives won which showed there was a general support of Empire.

What does the term ‘High Imperialism’ mean?

Context: Cecil Rhodes, Lord Curzon, Lord Alfred Milner, Joseph Chamberlain). A belief in the inherent superiority of the British Empire and its right/duty to expand and exert global influence.

What was Imperial Preference?

To increase trade within the Empire by abolishing free trade and placing tariffs on trade outside the empire.

What was the Round Table movement founded in 1910?

An imperialist pressure group founded by Alfred Milner which was promoted using funds from Cecil Rhodes (who had died in 1902).

Who was Leo Amery?

Conservative politician and admirer of Joseph Chamberlain. He was an ardent supporter of tariff reform and imperial federation.

According to Rudyard Kipling what was the ‘White man’s burden’?

The burden of white people to control the affairs of less civilised non-white people.

What was Empire Day (first celebrated in 1902)?

A day designed to celebrate Empire

Who was John A. Hobson and what were his views on the British Empire?

An economist and social scientist who argued that Empire only benefitted a small rich, elite group who were able to shape imperial policy. He wrote Imperialism in 1902.

Who was Wilfred Scawen Blunt and what were his views in the British Empire?

diplomat and poet who, in imitation of Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, in 1899 penned the line ‘The white man’s burden, the burden of his cash’.

Who was William Digby and what were his views in the British Empire?

writer and propagandist who had served in India and set up the Indian Political and General Agency in London in order to raise awareness about Indian grievances in the British Parliament and press in 1888.

How did Emily Hobhouse’s reports change some opinions?

She reported on the concentration camps in the Boer War which brought considerable criticism from Irish and Liberal MPs, the Church and other parts of Europe

What were issues with ‘National Efficiency’ that were exposed by the Boer War?

Up to 40% of British recruits had been tested and found to be unfit for military service. In Manchester, 8,000 out of 11,000 would-be volunteers were turned away. This exposed the damning health of the working class in Britain.

How did the Liberal reforms starting in 1906 attempt to deal with the issue of National Efficiency?

Free school meals (1906), A children’s welfare charter (1907), Old age pensions (1908), Unemployment and health insurance (1911).

Who was Alfred Harmsworth and what was revolutionary about his Daily Mail?

Established in 1896, he helped create ‘tabloid journalism’. It was deliberately aimed at the lower-middle class market and sold at a cheap price. During the Boer War, it sold 1 million copies a day and was unashamedly pro-Empire.

Who were Gilbert and Sullivan and how did they portray the Empire?

They wrote operas which often conveyed a patriotic and imperialist message in humorous ways.

Who was Edward Elgar?

composer who aimed to capture the ‘nobility of empire’. He wrote an ‘imperial march’ for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee and ‘The Dream of Gerontius’, inspired by General Gordon.

Who was Robert Baden Powell and what organisation did he create?

soldier and a ‘hero’ of the Boer War who set up the Boy Scout movement in 1908, followed by the Girl Guides in 1912.