British Empire Research Paper

Before the nineteenth century, Britain had relatively little to do with Africa, besides naval outposts and the slave trade (1562-1807.) (David 2011) By the 1870’s only ten percent of Africa was under a European nation’s control, yet in 1900 European countries controlled ninety percent of Africa. (David 2011) The British Empire experienced a sudden shift to imperialism in the 19th century in order to compete as a world power against other European nations. Britain was effectively able to run their African colonies with limited resources and manpower through a system of indirect rule. The British colonial model was ultimately defeated in Africa because a shift of ideals after World War Two and African nationalism.

·Who: The British in control of Egypt, commanded by General Sir John Maxwell and Major-General A. Wilson (150 dead) VS the Turkish commanded by Djemal Pasha (1400 Dead).

The British originally came in as a decent sized company in East India, but when the sepoys attacked that company, England sent their whole army and navy to get the sepoys under control, but while doing that they also took over all of India. Although economically and socially the Indians did benefit in some ways, the British established a massive infrastructure by controlling India and having a huge political, economic, and social impact on India that helped them more than it helped the Indians.

However, the plan did not go according to plan for the Ottomans, because once many Europeans started investing in the Middle East and its commerce, access to credit became much easier, which rather helped lead to the decline of the empire. When the Ottoman empire was experiencing financial problems, these Europeans would step in and aid the Ottomans through methods such as loans. However, when the Ottomans could not pay back the loans, events such as the British occupying Egypt would result. Hence, the issue was the loss of economic sovereignty in the Ottoman

For approximately two hundred years Britain ruled over India, allowing them almost no control of their own country. This is what imperialism was like for many countries. Initially India was colonized for its natural resources by the East India company but the companies hold on India became compromised after the sepoy rebellion in 1857 so the English government took control in a time of crisis. After decades of British Imperialism India finally gained independence in 1947. Brittain helped develop India by creating a government, education, and millions of jobs, however they negatively affected India by using the government and its powerful army to control and suppress the Indians along with Britain's unfair policies which

From the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 to the start of the American Revolution in 1776, many important colonial events occurred. Britain was left in extreme debt after the war, and relied on taxing the colonies to pay it off. The British government also began to establish trivial, and even sometimes cruel, acts and laws to keep the colonies in line. The colonists soon became fed up with all of the taxation and the “virtual representation” that they were receiving. British imperial policies from 1763 to 1776, such as taxation and spiteful laws, forced the colonists to increase their opposition to British rule and unite under the commitment to republicanism.

Meanwhile, the British and the French were colonial powers which prior to the start of the Second World War, had empires which were large and expansive. They had colonies in the Carribean, in Africa, as well as in Asia. Whilst both countries came out of the war as victors, they had suffered embarrassing early defeats to Japan and Germany respectively, which was a knock to colonial prestige (Nairn, 2003, p.3). The post-war scenario was one in which colonies like Indochina and India rose up to demand independence and the right for self-determination from their previous rulers. It was clear to many in this time period that the traditional system of empire was finished, and with it the power of previous colonial rulers (Hyam, 2006, p.239). Britain and France, not surprisingly, were unwilling to let this happen. When Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, they saw this as a threat to their already diminishing empire, as not only would it lead ‘inevitably to the loss one by one of all our interests and assets in the Middle East’ (Hyam, 2006, p.227), it would also lead to an increase in distance between their

Queen Elizabeth I was born to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn on September 7, 1533. The King’s termination of his marriage to Katharine of Aragon, made the birth of Elizabeth illegal. Kraus, D. 2011 Pg. 7 Elizabeth’s early years were full of conflict as the King worked to have Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth known, which meant that he had to strip his daughter Mary, by his Catholic wife Katharine, of her label as princess. Vanhoutte, J. 2007, Pg.4

Assess the significance of the role of individuals in bringing about the expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period 1870-1981

Assess the significance of strategic factors in bringing about change in relation to expansion and dismantling of the British Empire in Africa in the period c1870 – c1981

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States”(The Declaration of Independence). The American Colonies wanted to break away from Britain and they did this by using a waging war. The colonists thought of the King of Britain as an unfit ruler who made poor decisions.

During the War of Independence, British loyalists were threatened badly by American. British loyalists supported the idea of John Lock that people should have natural rights and government power should be limited. Loyalists prefer to have a peaceful protest to avoid the violant act that can raise tyranny. They protest the Brituish government act such as the Stamp Act and the Coercive Acts. However, they also believed that if the American gains their independence from British, they will lost the economic benefits from commerce of British. Loyalists consist of people from different social strata. American colonists seized British loyalists properties, and British loyalists who were refused to give up will be forced to exile from America. Some

Finally, the most important reason to British imperialism was their desire to advance economically. Their economy was primarily based on trade, and because colonies could be added as a form of imperial control, it only furthered and expanded trade. Because such countries as Germany and France began to rise to power, Britain was confronted with competition, so they felt that they had to take the African land first. The British feared that as the other countries began to become stronger and more stable, they would steal their markets, so that is how the scramble for Africa starts. As for the Suez Canal, it became extremely important for money making

Unfortunately, this pristine army was used entirely as a British commodity, without any Egyptian permission. The new army was composed of mostly high to upper class citizens. These citizens were chosen either because they had enough money to leave Egypt, or they were rebellious. The citizens were shipped to a British camp in Cairo where they were stripped of their money and clothes. They were given one uniform, a rifle, and a pair of shoes. The following day they would begin learning deadly techniques for battle. Throughout this process, the Egyptian citizens thought that they would be used for defensive purposes. Little did they know that the British were planning to use them to do their "dirty work" in battles that were totally non-Egypt related The Egyptians could do nothing to avoid this unfair ruling by the British. If decolonized, Egyptians could be rid of this problem and live in love, not fear.<br><br>Oddly enough, the only things that the British improved in Egypt were the health care, education, and improved farming methods. This improvement was not for the Egyptians however, but for the traders and merchants which stayed in Egypt while crossing the Suez Canal. Although the Egyptians did not benefit from these improved resources, they were still expected to pay for it in the form of taxes. <br><br>The economy of Egypt, according to the constitution of 1971, is one based on socialism, with the people controlling all means of production. The progress of

The aims of the British to assume power over Egypt many centuries ago has influenced how the East perceives the West, and how this has led to the eastern communities’ response to colonialism as a whole. This hierarchical approach led the way to British dominance, and the loss of identity for Egypt. The more control taken by the British, the more British Egypt became. The whole issue of colonialism was formed around the Western idea of power, money and business and the need to accumulate wealth. Traditional responses to colonialism can be seen within Palace Walk (1991). Firstly the response of Ahmed was to support the nationalist movement by payments to the cause. However, Ahmed did assume that his time was