The Influence of World War I on Britain

After World War I, the British Empire completed its last large-scale overseas expansion. With the approval of the League of Nations, Britain entrusted Palestine and Iraq, which originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, while the former German colony Tanganyika, southwest Africa (now Namibia) and New Guinea were also included in the territory of the British Empire (in fact, southwest Africa was under the jurisdiction of South Africa and New Guinea was under the jurisdiction of Australia). However, Reinland occupied by Britain after World War I and West Germany after World War II were not considered as part of the empire.

The British Empire refers to a global empire centered on Britain, which reached its peak in the early 20th century, with a population of 400-500 million, accounting for a quarter of the world population at that time and a territory of about 33 million square kilometers. By the middle of the 20th century, especially after the end of World War II, with the rise of the global nationalist movement, British colonial rule was in a serious crisis. In this case, Britain was forced to allow the vast colonies to be independent or semi-independent. In order to continue to play an important role in the former colonies, the British government initiated and supervised the establishment of a so-called peace organization-"Commonwealth", which was joined by most countries that were independent from the former British colonies. But there are also a few who have not joined.

The formation of the British Empire was the result of more than 300 years of trade, immigration and military conquest. During this period, there were also peaceful commercial diplomatic activities and the shrinking of the empire. The empire covers seven continents and four oceans, including Antarctica. It is described as an "empire where the sun never sets", reaching its peak between 1890 ~ 1900.

This empire helped spread British technology, business, language and management model to all parts of the world. Imperial hegemony helped Britain achieve amazing economic growth and gave it a greater say in international politics. Although most people in overseas colonies (except some dominions) have no right to decide the policies and future of their governments, democracy in Britain continues to deepen.

From the colonial point of view, the British empire can be said to be a mixture of good and evil people. Colonies obtained advanced science, technology and investment from Britain, which promoted economic development and improved living standards, and also obtained the legal framework of Britain and English, the international common language. Before the colony became independent from the empire, Britain tried to leave its parliamentary democracy to the colonial people, although it was not always successful. After independence, most British colonies chose to stay in the Commonwealth.

But at the same time, the British colonial policy was not altruistic. In fact, British colonization was entirely based on its own interests. Britain left a better infrastructure for the colonies, but that was mainly to facilitate the export of goods from these colonies to Britain to meet their local needs, or to facilitate the delivery of British industrial products to the colonial market. Most white dominions can further develop infrastructure to achieve a balance of economic production, but the imperial colonies in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia are often only suppliers of raw materials (or single agricultural products) needed by industry, which is not helpful to the economic development of these countries after independence. In addition, in order to ensure the stability of its rule, Britain adopted a colonial policy of "divide and rule" and encouraged people of different nationalities, languages or religions in the colonies to fight against each other, which made Ireland, India, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Iraq, Guyana, Fiji and other countries face different degrees of racial conflicts after independence.

The earliest user of the word "British Empire" is considered to be john dee, the astrologer and mathematician of Queen Elizabeth I.

Background: British colonialism

The expansion of Britain and France

Since William I landed from Normandy and conquered England in 1066, England has been actively participating in the affairs of the European continent for hundreds of years. By the end of 14, the development of foreign trade from wool trade to Europe has become the most important national policy of Britain.

This period was the beginning of England's foreign conquest, including the expansion of Wales in 1282 and the conquest of Ireland in169. England's temporary control over Scotland was interrupted in 13 14, and the real reunification of the two regions will be achieved peacefully by way of succession to the throne in 1603. Although the monarch of England lost the territory of Normandy in 1204, the ruler of England still owned a large piece of land in France through marriage and inheritance until he finally lost it in 1453. From then on until 1563, the English monarch only owned the port of Calais, a strategic place in northern France, but even the port of Calais fell after that.

Development of overseas empires

Overseas British Empire-here refers to the British ocean exploration and immigration or colonization outside the British Island and the European continent-can be traced back to the pioneering ocean policy adopted by henry vii from 1485 to 1509. On the basis of the wool trade established in Richard, henry vii established a modern British maritime trade system, which greatly developed Britain's shipbuilding industry and navigation technology. This system also created conditions for the establishment of trading institutions in the future. Trading enterprises such as Massachusetts Bay Company and British East India Company made important contributions to the overseas expansion of the British Empire. Henry vii also ordered the construction of Britain's first dry dock in Portsmouth to strengthen the construction of the then small British navy. On August 5 of the same year, he declared Newfoundland a British colony in St. John's harbor. 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh declared Virginia a British colony in Anacker. However, both groups are very short-lived. Due to lack of food, bad weather, shipwrecks and the invasion of unfriendly indigenous people in the American continent, England soon had to give up these two colonies.

Stuart dynasty

1588 (during Elizabeth I of Tudor dynasty) defeated the Spanish Armada and formally established England's position as a maritime power, although the failure of several wars with Spain in 1590 temporarily frustrated England's ambitious overseas colonization plan. 1604, James I of the Stuart Dynasty finally signed the Treaty of London with Spain, officially ending the hostility between the two countries. 1607 Britain established its first permanent overseas colony in Jamestown, Virginia. In the following three centuries, Britain expanded its overseas sphere of influence and consolidated its domestic political development. 1707, the parliaments of England and Scotland merged in London to form the Parliament of Great Britain.

Colonization of the United States

The embryonic form of the British Empire was formed at the beginning of17th century. At this time, Britain has established many colonies in North America, including the future United States of America, Atlantic provinces of Canada and some small islands in the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados.

The Caribbean, which is rich in sugar cane, is highly dependent on slave labor. It was the most important and profitable colony in early England. The colonies in the southern part of the American continent provided tobacco, cotton and rice to Britain, while the northern part produced fur; Economically, they are not as beneficial to England as Caribbean islands, but the vast cultivated land attracts many English immigrants.

The American empire in Britain gradually expanded through war and colonization. For example, through the victory of the Anglo-Dutch War, England won the new Amsterdam (today's new york). The developing American colonies continued to explore westward in search of more cultivated land. Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, and occupied all areas of New France in 1760, which gave Britain greater control over North America.

Subsequently, Australia (discovered in 1788, originally a penal colony) and New Zealand (became British territory in 1840) became another destination for British immigrants. At the same time, the indigenous populations in Australia and New Zealand have also been reduced by 60% to 70% because of wars and diseases for more than a century. These colonies later gained autonomy and were exporters of wool and gold.

Free Trade and "Informal Empire"

/kloc-in the 0/8th century, the original British colonial system began to decline. During the Whig Party's long-term control of domestic political power (17 14 to 1762), the importance of empire to Britain gradually decreased until a series of measures to reverse this neglect of colonies (mainly including collecting more taxes from colonies) triggered the American War of Independence (1775 to/kloc-0).

This period is sometimes called the "First British Empire", that is, the expansion of Britain in America from 17 to 18 century. Britain's expansion in Asia and Africa from the18th century is called the "Second British Empire". Britain's loss of control over the United States shows that colonies do not necessarily have a decisive impact on the British economy: Britain still dominates the main trade between the United States and Britain after giving up its defense and administration of American colonies.

Mercantilism is a theory of economics, which refers to the struggle for wealth between countries. This is the characteristic of Britain's first overseas colonial expansion. But now in Britain, mercantilism will soon give way to the laissez-faire economic liberalism of Adam Smith and others.

The experience Britain learned from colonial independence in North America is that trade can still bring economic prosperity even without colonial sovereignty. This is why Britain is willing to grant self-governing status to Canada, Australia and other white colonies between 1840 and 1850, because whites in these countries are regarded as "motherland" people living in colonies. On the other hand, Ireland's fate is completely different. Incorporated into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 180 1.

During this period, Britain also announced the abolition of the slave trade (1807), and soon imposed this ban on other countries. By the middle of19th century, Britain had basically eliminated the slave trade on a global scale. Slavery itself was abolished in the British colony in 1834, and the situation became stable until around 1920.

The end of the old colonial and slavery system was implemented together with free trade, and the principle of free trade reached its peak around 1840, which was marked by the abolition of British corn laws and navigation law. Free trade completely opened the British market, which also prompted other countries to open their markets in the middle of the19th century.

Some people think that the rise of free trade only reflects Britain's economic status and has nothing to do with any philosophical point of view. In fact, Britain is always more keen to force other countries to implement a certain policy than to implement the same policy itself. Although Britain lost 13 American colonies, Napoleon's final failure on the European continent in 18 15 established Britain as the most successful international power. When the industrial revolution made Britain an undisputed economic power, the Royal Navy dominated the ocean. Britain, which has always kept its distance from continental European affairs, is also proud of its expansion plan aimed at expanding its economic and political influence. This overseas expansion is an "informal empire" established through free trade and strategic advantages.

From the Vienna Conference of 18 15 to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Britain is the only industrialized power in the world and a producer of 30% of the world's industrial products (1870). As a "world factory", Britain can produce industrial products so effectively and cheaply that the prices of its domestic products are still more competitive than those of foreign local products after being shipped abroad. As long as the political situation in overseas markets is stable, Britain can still benefit from free trade even without formal colonial rule.

The British empire is in Asia

1757 The victory of the battle of Plasi gave the British East India Company the right to rule the Indian state of Bengal, although the famine aggravated by excessive taxation in 1770 caused controversy in Britain. By the19th century, the East India Company almost controlled the whole of India. 1857 After the Indian national uprising, the territory under the jurisdiction of the company was handed over to the Queen's Government for management. Queen Victoria was declared Queen of India on 1876.

Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Myanmar and Malaya were also included in the sphere of British influence in Asia. After winning the Opium War, Britain took Hong Kong from China.

Britain's interest in China originated at the end of 18, and Britain became a tea importer in China. Tea imports have led to a huge trade deficit in Britain, so Britain hopes to balance its expenses by exporting opium from India to China, although this violates China's ban. The two opium wars triggered by opium trade ended in the victory of Britain.

After the Opium War, Britain maintained a complicated relationship with China. Although Britain acquired Hongkong, the trade between Britain and China was mainly conducted through several open ports in China. So what Britain wants to see is an independent China, because the collapse of China means that other western powers may carve up China with Britain and challenge Britain's privileged position.

At the same time, Britain does not want to see an overly powerful China, because it means that China will cancel or demand renegotiation of some originally signed treaties. This attitude explains Britain's seemingly contradictory China policy: on the one hand, it helped the Qing court suppress the Taiping rebellion, on the other hand, it joined forces with France to launch the second opium war.

The peaceful disintegration of Britain under British rule.

As the first industrialized country, Britain can regard the whole world as the source country of its raw materials and the export market of industrial products. However, with the industrialization of other countries, this situation gradually changed in the19th century, and more and more countries sought to protect their raw material supply and export markets. By AD 1870, British industrial products were facing strong competition from other countries.

The rapid industrialization of Germany and the United States has enabled them to quickly catch up with Britain and France, two old capitalist countries. For example, by 1870, Germany's textile and metal industries had surpassed Britain in organizational structure and technical efficiency, and had already defeated similar products from Britain in the German domestic market. By the end of 19, Germany even began to produce these products for the "world factory" of that year.

Although intangible exports (such as banking services, insurance and shipping) helped Britain avoid a trade deficit, its trade volume fell from a quarter of the world's total trade volume in 1880 to a sixth in 19 13. Britain not only lost in the competition in industrialized countries' markets, but also its products were not dominant in underdeveloped countries' markets. Britain is even losing its dominant position in trade with India, the United States, Latin America and the African coast.

1873-96 The economic depression has aggravated the business difficulties in Britain. The deflation caused by the business recession has further increased the pressure on governments of various countries, forcing them to encourage and foster domestic industries, and finally leading European powers to gradually give up the principle of free trade (Germany 1879, France 188 1 give up free trade).

As a result, the domestic and export markets are shrinking. Therefore, European and later American government and business leaders began to regard overseas colonies as their new markets: these overseas colonies will become the export markets of the suzerain, and they will be protected by trade barriers, so that the goods of other countries cannot compete with the products of the suzerain. Meanwhile, they are still cheap sources of raw materials. Although Britain insisted on free trade until 1932, it also participated in the struggle for overseas colonies to prevent those areas that had been affected by it from falling into the hands of other industrialized countries.

Britain and New Imperialism

During the period from 1870s to 19 14 when World War I broke out, the policies and ideologies of European colonial expansion were called "neo-imperialism". The most obvious trend in this period is that European powers "empire for the sake of empire", contending for and consolidating their own colonies overseas, and directly colonizing other nations regarded as inferior nations under the premise of racial superiority theory.

During this period, the total area of overseas colonies of European powers reached 23 million square kilometers. Until the1880s, few Europeans set foot in Africa, but during this period, Africa became the main target of imperialists. But the expansion in other areas is also very frequent, especially in the coastal areas of Southeast Asia and East Asia: in these areas, the United States and Japan have also joined the ranks of competing for colonies.

1875 is considered as a watershed for Britain to enter the new imperialist era. This year, the British government headed by Benjamin Disraeli bought shares in the Suez Canal from the debt-ridden Egyptian ruler Ismail. From then on, Britain consolidated its control over the canal, which had a decisive influence on the trade between Britain and India. 1882, the struggle between Britain and France for Egyptian territory ended in the victory of the British.

For centuries, the fear of Russia's gradual expansion to the south also influenced British policy: Britain took control of Cyprus in 1878 as a stronghold to protect the Ottoman Empire; Before that, Britain also participated in the Crimean War from 1845 to 1856, and tried to invade Afghanistan. All these actions are aimed at preventing Russia from further expanding southward, and ultimately threatening the British occupation of India. Britain launched three bloody wars against Afghanistan, but none of them succeeded. The resistance of the local people and the complex terrain defeated the British goal. 1842 the first anglo-Arab war was the most painful military defeat suffered by Britain in the Victorian era. The whole British army was defeated by the Pashtuns in Afghanistan supported by the Russian Empire. 1880 the second anglo-Arab war was also a painful energy. British troops were defeated in Kandahar, surrounded in Kabul and finally retreated to India. 19 19 the third anglo-afghan war caused a tribal uprising in Afghanistan, completely defeated the British troops who had just experienced the first world war and drove them out of Afghanistan forever. After a completely unnecessary failed attempt to invade Tibet in 1903, Britain's adventure in the interior of Asia was completely over.

At the same time, many influential politicians and businessmen in Britain believe that the formal empire is extremely important, especially for British goods whose share in the world market is declining. /kloc-in the 1990s, Britain adopted a new policy wholeheartedly and soon became an important predator of tropical African colonies.

The reason why Britain adopted the neo-colonial policy may be to seek a larger overseas market for British products and investments, or it may be regarded as a strategic pre-emptive measure to prevent the existing trade channels from being destroyed by other big countries, or to allow other countries to obtain more export markets under the increasingly closed international trade situation. At the beginning of 1900, Chamberlain tried to amend Britain's trade barrier bill, which met with great opposition and was finally forced to give up. This shows how much the British support the principle of free trade even if Britain's interests are damaged. Some historians also believe that Britain's neo-imperialist policy is actually a manifestation of its declining influence, not the result of its rising influence.

The evolution of Indian colonialism is enough to warn us that the economic competition between western capitalist powers before the new imperialist era should not be regarded as the only reason for Britain to strengthen colonial control. 1858 India officially became a part of the British Empire, with the purpose of consolidating British rule over India, which was also a direct response to the Indian mutiny. One of the reasons for India's mutiny is that Indian conservative forces oppose many British policies in the Indian subcontinent.

The plunder of Africa

1875, the two most important colonies of European countries in Africa were Algeria and Cape Colony. But by 19 14, all African countries except Ethiopia and Liberia had become colonies of European countries. This change from an "informal empire" that only controlled colonies economically to direct control of African colonies was actually realized through Britain's naked plunder of these African regions that were originally influenced by Britain.

When France, Belgium and Portugal colonized the lower Congo River, they actually threatened Britain's penetration into tropical Africa. The Berlin Conference from 1884 to 1885 tried to mediate the contradictions among the great powers, and put forward the standard of "actual occupation" to determine the ownership of the colonies of various countries. The adoption of this standard meant that European countries attacked the local tribes and people in Africa more unscrupulously in order to obtain a larger area of "actual occupation".

1882 British military occupation of Egypt (the most direct reason is to protect the Suez Canal) also established British control over the Nile region. This further led to the British conquest of Sudan from 1896 to 1898 and the Fashoda incident involving Britain and France in September 1898.

From 65438 to 0899, Britain completed its full occupation of South Africa. This military action first began with the annexation of Cape Verde from 65438 to 0795. After invading Transvaal, a gold mining area in South Africa originally ruled by the Dutch, and the neighboring Orange Free State, the British South Africa Company, which was in charge of South Africa affairs, went further north and named the occupied area Rhodesia after Sir Cecil Rhodes, a wealthy Cape businessman.

The British victories in South Africa and East Africa prompted Sir Rhodes and British Ambassador to South Africa alfred milner to propose the establishment of a British colonial empire "from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo" in Africa. They hope to achieve this goal by building a railway connecting the Suez Canal and South Africa's mining areas. However, due to Germany's colonization of Tanganyika, the British colonies in Africa were divided into two parts. Before the end of World War I, only telegraph lines were opened between African colonies, and railways could not be built.

Although it is the most active advocate of free trade, Britain, full of contradictions, not only became the largest overseas empire in 19 14, but also benefited the most from plundering Africa. From 1885 to 19 14, Britain put about 30% of the African population under its rule, while France only ruled 15% of Africans, 9% of Germans, 7% of Belgians and 1% in the same period. The population of a British colony in Nigeria is150,000, which is the total population of all French West Africa and all German colonies.

Self-government of white colonies

Along with Canada (1867), Australia (190 1), New Zealand (1907), Newfoundland (1907), South African Union (19/kloc). The leaders of these new countries, together with British politicians, attended the colonial conference held regularly since 1887 (called the imperial conference after 1907).

The British Foreign Office is mainly responsible for the diplomatic relations between the self-governing territories. Although Canada established the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1909, its relations with other imperial countries are still through the British Governor in Canada and the High Commissioner in London (Canada appointed its own High Commissioner for the first time in 1880, and Australia followed suit in 19 10) and the British overseas relations. Britain declared its participation in the First World War on behalf of all the autonomous governments of the Empire.

The autonomous territories do enjoy a lot of freedom in foreign policy, as long as their policies are not obviously contrary to Britain's own interests: the Canadian Liberal Party government signed a bilateral free trade reciprocal agreement with the United States in 19 1 1, but it was not passed because of the opposition of the British Conservative Party.

In terms of national defense, the original practice of bringing the defense of Dominion into the military framework of a single empire proved difficult to maintain after 1900, because Britain began to assume greater responsibility for the defense of the European continent at this time, and at the same time faced the threat of the rise of the German navy. 1909, the British empire decided that every dominion should have its own navy, which violated the agreement of 1887, that is, Britain promised Australia to export manpower to the British navy in exchange for the British fleet stationed in the Pacific region.

The influence of World War I

After World War I, the British Empire completed its last large-scale overseas expansion. With the approval of the League of Nations, Britain entrusted Palestine and Iraq, which originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, while the former German colony Tanganyika, southwest Africa (now Namibia) and New Guinea were also included in the territory of the British Empire (in fact, southwest Africa was under the jurisdiction of South Africa and New Guinea was under the jurisdiction of Australia). However, Reinland occupied by Britain after World War I and West Germany after World War II were not considered as part of the empire.

Although Britain won the war and gained new colonies from it, the huge expenditure of the war made it impossible for Britain to continue to bear the huge financial expenditure needed to maintain an empire. Millions of people died in Britain and countless assets were destroyed. As a result, the debt is high, the capital market is chaotic, and the number of British officials in overseas colonies is scarce. At the same time, the nationalism of both the old and new colonies is on the rise, which is further fueled by the participation of the empire and the strong racial discrimination felt by non-white soldiers in the war.