Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Faught, C. Brad. The New A-Z of Empire: A Concise Handbook of British Imperial History. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011. ***** Begin Content ****** TYNDALE UNIVERSITY 3377 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2M 3S4 TEL: 416.226.6620 www.tyndale.ca Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Faught, C. Brad. The New A-Z of Empire: A Concise Handbook of British Imperial History. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011. C. Brad Faught The New A-Z of Empire A Concise Handbook of British Imperial History I.B.TAURIS Published in 2011 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2011, C. Brad Faught The right of C. Brad Faught to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978 1 84511 870 9 (hb) ISBN: 978 1 84511 871 6 (pb) A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset in Minion Pro by Ellipsis Books Limited, Glasgow Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Contents Preface .... vii Acknowledgements .... x Timeline .... xi Entries A-Z .... 1 Bibliographical Note .... 288 Index .... 291 Timeline 1867 Confederation of Canada 1869 Suez Canal opens 1875 Disraeli purchases for the British government 45 per cent of Suez Canal Company 1877 Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India 1879 Zulu War 1881 First Boer War 1882 British occupation of Egypt 1885 General Gordon dies at Khartoum 1895 Jameson Raid 1899-1902 Second Boer War 1901 Queen Victoria dies 1901 Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed 1902 Cecil Rhodes dies 1910 Union of South Africa proclaimed 1914-18 First World War 1921 Cairo Conference on the future of the Middle East 1922 Chanak Crisis 1924-5 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium, London 1926 Balfour Definition of Dominion status 1931 Statute of Westminster 1939-45 Second World War 1947 India gains independence 1956 Suez Crisis 1956 Sudan gains independence 1957 Ghana gains independence 1960 Nigeria gains independence 1961 Tanganyika gains independence 1962 Uganda gains independence 1963 Kenya gains independence 1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) gains independence 1982 Falklands War 1994 Apartheid ends in South Africa 1997 Reversion of Hong Kong to the Peoples Republic of China xii A Abdul Rahman, Tunku, Putra al-Haj (1903-90). As a nationalist leader in Malaya* beginning in the mid-1940s, Abdul Rahman helped bring about Malayan independence in 1957. He served as Prime Minister until 1961 and then, as chief architect of the federation of Malaysia*, remained in the same office until retiring in 1970. Further Reading Putra Al-Haj Abdul Rahman Tunku (1984). Malaysia: The Road to Independence (Petaling Jaya, Pelanduk Publications) A.J. Stockwell, ed. (2004). Malaysia (London, Stationery Office) Abdullah bin al-Husayn (1882-1951). Emir of Jordan from 1921 to 1946 under a British mandate, Abdullah subsequently became King of Jordan after its independence in the latter year. A controversial figure in the Arab world for his apparent pro-Western views and his willingness to discuss the partition of Palestine*, Abdullah was assassinated in 1951 by a disaffected Palestinian. Further Reading Joab B. Eilon (2007). The Making of Jordan: Tribes, Colonialism and the Modern State (London and New York, I.B.Tauris) Mary C. Wilson (1990). King Abdullah, Britain and the Making of Jordan (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) 1 Aboukir Bay, Battle of. In 1798, Napoleon exported French Revolutionary fervour to Egypt in an attempt to use the country as a staging base to launch an invasion of British India. Nelson* - ennobled later that year and rising fast in the estimation of his countrymen - attacked the French fleet at Aboukir Bay, just off Alexandria. Here, in August, his captains, or ‘Band of Brothers,’ routed the French, with just two of their thirteen vessels escaping destruc- tion. Nelsons sole captain lost was George Blagdon Westcott of HMS Majestic. The short-lived French occupation of Egypt ended formally in 1802. Further Reading Robert Gardiner, ed. (1997). Nelson Against Napoleon: From the Nile to Copenhagen, 1798-1801 (London, Chatham) Andrew Lambert (2004). Nelson: Britannia’s God of War (London, Faber and Faber) Achebe, Chinua (1930-). One of the first African writers to be known in Britain, Achebe was born in colonial southern Nigeria*, the son of a teacher at an Anglican Church Missionary Society school. He earned a BA at University College, Ibadan, and not long afterwards, in 1958, published his first novel, Things Fall Apart. The book was an indictment of the impact of British Imperialism on his Ibo (Igbo) people, which proved especially resonant in the run-up to Nigerian independence two years later. The book proved to be perhaps the most important text in early African nationalist literature. Further Reading Chinua Achebe (2006). Things Fall Apart (London, Penguin) Catherine L. Innes (1990). Chinua Achebe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) Aden. An ancient port at the entrance to the Red Sea, Aden became the most important coaling station on the route to India* following the opening of the Suez Canal* in 1869. Located directly across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa, the port functioned also as an important trade entrepot and jumping-off point for expeditions to the interior of the African 2 continent. Controlled by Britain from 1839 as part of India, it became a Crown Colony in 1937. Thirty years later the British pulled out in the face of a protracted insurgency. Further Reading Peter Hinchcliffe (2006). Without Glory in Arabia: The British Retreat from Aden (London and New York, I.B.Tauris) Roxani Eleni Margariti (2007). Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade: 150 Years in the Life of a Medieval Arabian Port (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press) Afghan Wars. Three wars fought over a span of about eighty years in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at the conclusion of which Afghanistan achieved independence. Remote and mountainous, Afghanistan nonetheless was at the centre of the so-called Anglo-Russian Great Game*. Ever concerned about the security of India, Britain was especially aware of the exposed Northwest Frontier and the possi- bility of a Russian incursion there. Successive Afghan governments were measured by the strength of their pro-British stance, and when found wanting, intervention was the result. The first of these took place from 1839 until 1842. The second and most famous of the Afghan wars occurred during 1879-80 and made the reputation of General Frederick Roberts*. Finally, in 1919 and following the unrest of the recent Russian Revolution, the British intervened a third time. In 1921, a definitive treaty was signed, which settled Afghanistan’s borders and recognized its independence. Further Reading Edward Ingram (2001). The British Empire as a World Power (London, Frank Cass) Karl E. Meyer (1999). Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia (Washington, DC, Counterpoint) African National Congress. Founded in 1912 by John Dube and Solomon Plaatje, among others, the ANC developed into the chief political voice 3 of black South Africans, achieving national power ultimately in 1994. After the National Party’s victory in the 1948 election, the ANC committed itself to fighting apartheid* at home and endorsing democratic socialism abroad. Nelson Mandela* had helped form the ANC Youth League in 1944. Fifty years later in post-apartheid South Africa*, he was elected the first black President in the country’s history. During those years the ANC had carried out domestic resistance in the face of severe repression, doing so with the assistance of an influential international campaign to discredit and boycott the white South African regime. In 1992, apartheid was ended and two years later, multi-racial elections were held. Further Reading Saul Dubow (2000). The African National Congress (Stroud, Sutton) Morgan Norval (1993). Politics by other Means: the ANCs War on South Africa (Washington, DC, Selous Foundation Press) Alberta. Named for a daughter of Queen Victoria, Alberta, located in Canada’s west, was made a province within the Canadian Confederation in 1905. Alberta’s territory first belonged to the Hudson’s Bay Company under its 1670 Royal Charter. Beginning in 1870, the Canadian government controlled it as part of the Northwest Territories until the attainment of full provincial status thirty-five years later. The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway* opened up Alberta to agricultural production from the 1890s, a thriving economic base buttressed by the discovery of oil in 1914 and later natural gas. Its scenic beauty of rolling grassland and craggy mountains, along with abundant natural resource wealth, made Alberta one of the most desirable and prosperous provinces in Canada by the second half of the twentieth century. Further Reading J.E Conway (2006). The West: The History of a Region in Confederation (Toronto, James Lorimer) Donald G. Wetherell (2000). Alberta’s North: A History, 1890-1950 (Edmonton, University of Alberta Press) 4 All India Muslim League. The principal nationalist organ for Muslims within British India, it was founded in Dhaka (located today in Bangladesh) in 1906, initially as a body concerned with the protection of Muslim rights. Gradually the League’s purpose changed to one of Indian independence, first in cooperation with the Indian National Congress*. Muhammad Ali Jinnah* became the Leagues President in 1916, but after increasing strain with Mohandas Gandhi* he broke with Congress in 1920. In the 1920s and 1930s various attempts were made to encourage Hindu-Muslim amity, espe- cially as Britain began to devolve power. In 1940, the Leagues Lahore Resolution made clear its commitment to an independent Muslim state of Pakistan. Gandhi disagreed wholly with a two-state solution, but the British became convinced that Partition was the only way forward that would satisfy Jinnah and the League, and at Indian independence in 1947 such was achieved. Further Reading Ayesha Jalal (1994). The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) Nadeem Shafiq Malik, ed. (1997). The All India Muslim League: 1906 47 (Lahore, National Book Foundation) Allenby, Edmund H.H., 1st Viscount Allenby (1861-1936). A soldier and administrator, Allenby gained fame for his command of British forces in the Middle East, beginning in 1917. Born in Suffolk, he was educated at Haileybury* and Sandhurst and then served in Africa, including as a cavalry commander in the Second Boer War*. During the First World War* Allenby was given command of the Egyptian expeditionary force charged with rooting out the Turks and putting an end to the Ottoman Empire’s control of Palestine*. A bear of a man, he proved himself highly skilled at directing mobile warfare and captured Jerusalem in December 1917. Subsequent vict- ories over the Turks enabled the success of the Arab Revolt, whose leading inspiration was Colonel T.E. Lawrence*, and the eventual imposition of Anglo-French Imperial rule in the region. Promoted Field Marshal in 1919, he was appointed High Commissioner in Cairo that same year, remaining in the position until his retirement in 1925. 5 Further Reading Matthew Hughes (1999). Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917-1919 (London, Frank Cass) Lawrence James (1993). Imperial Warrior: The Life and Times of Field-Marshal Viscount Allenby, 1861-1936 (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) Amery, Leopold (Leo) C.M.S. (1873-1955). An Imperial statesman of firm views and pugnacious style, Amery was born in India and educated at Harrow and Oxford*, after which he became a barrister. The Boer War* galvanized his interest in Empire and he became a great admirer of Viscount Alfred Milner* and a member of his ‘kindergarten’ of Imperial thinkers and men on the spot. Amery gained a public profile by editing and contributing much of the content of The Times History of the War in South Africa (1900-9), and shortly thereafter in 1911 was elected to Parliament as a Conservative where he would serve for the next thirty-four years. As a member of the Cabinet Secretariat, Amery’s drafting of the Balfour Declaration* in 1917 on the establishment of a Jewish national home’ in Palestine marked the beginning of a sustained period of close involvement in Imperial questions. As First Lord of the Admiralty (1922), Colonial Secretary (1924-9), Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (1925-9), and Secretary of State for India* and Burma* (1940-5), Amery established a reputation as a strong advocate of the Empire’s gradual transition to Commonwealth, symbolized by India’s move to independence, which culminated in 1947. Further Reading John Barnes and David Nicholson, eds (1980). The Leo Amery Diaries. 2 vols (London, Hutchinson) Wm. Roger Louis (1992). In the Name of God, Go! Leo Amery and the British Empire in the Age of Churchill (New York, Norton) Amin, Idi (c.1925-2003). One of the most brutal of post-colonial African leaders, Amin ruled Uganda* from 1971 to 1979. Born around 1925, prob- ably in Kampala, Amin was raised a Muslim. In 1946, he joined the King’s African Rifles* as a cook. He rose through the ranks, a trajectory that continued after Ugandan independence in 1962. In 1968, he was promoted 6 to major general, and soon thereafter President Milton Obote* appointed him Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces. A rift between Amin and Obote sparked a coup in January 1971. Obote’s regime was toppled and Amin embarked on a mostly scandal-ridden eight years of tyranny during which it is estimated 300,000 Ugandans died. Forced from power in 1979 - largely through the intervention of Julius Nyerere* of Tanzania* - Amin spent most of his remaining years in exile in Saudi Arabia, dying in ignominy in Jeddah in 2003. Further Reading Tony Avirgan (1982). War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin (Westport, CT, L. Hill) Bob Measures and Tony Walker (1998). Amins Uganda (London, Minerva Press) Amritsar Riots. Site of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion, Amritsar was situated within British Indias Punjab province (in today’s Pakistan). In 1919, India* experienced severe rioting, which was linked to emergent nationalism. At Amritsar in April a large crowd gath- ered in protest even though political demonstrations were prohibited. The unarmed crowd was fired upon at the command of the dyspeptic Brigadier- General Reginald E.H. Dyer. Almost 400 protestors were killed and more than 1,200 wounded. The episode became instantly notorious, and in the minds of nationalists such as Gandhi*, evidence of British Imperial oppres- sion. Dyer was later censured officially and resigned his commission. Further Reading N.A. Collett (2005). The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer (London, Hambledon and London) Denis Judd (2004). The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj (Oxford, Oxford University Press) Anderson, Sir H. Percy (1831-96). A civil servant, Anderson was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford*. Appointed Junior Clerk, Foreign Office, in 1852, he developed an expertise in African affairs 7 and from 1883 was head of the African Department. A member of the British delegation to the Berlin West Africa Conference* of 1884-5, he was the best-informed British official there and was a critical presence then and in later European negotiations during the partition of Africa. He insisted that Britain’s strategic interests in the East depended upon a strong position in Africa, and he consistently attempted to use King Leopold of the Belgians to advance the British cause against the French. Appointed KCB in 1890 and Assistant Under-Secretary in 1894, he died two years later. Further Reading Wm. Roger Louis (2006). ‘The Scramble for Africa: Sir Percy Andersons Grand Strategy’, in Ends of British Imperialism: the Scramble for Empire, Suez and Decolonization (London and New York, I.B.Tauris), 51-74 Thomas Pakenham (1991). The Scramble for Africa: White Mans Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (New York, Avon Books) Anglo-Irish War. In the same month that the world focused its attention on the Paris Peace Conference, the final violent encounter between Britain and Ireland commenced. Agitation for Irish independence had continued from the Rising in 1916 and in January 1919 the Dail issued a declaration of inde- pendence. Violence soon became endemic between the recently formed Irish Republican Army* - especially its ‘Flying Columns’ - and the Royal Irish Constabulary, along with the Auxiliaries and the ‘Black and Tans,’ the latter an ill-disciplined and infamously brutal force established by Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill*. The guerilla conflict was made official in March 1921 when the Dail - still unrecognized by Westminster - issued a formal decla- ration of war. Amid increasing bloodshed and mutual atrocities, a truce was reached in July, which in turn led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December and the establishment of the Irish Free State*. The war made it clear that Irish political and military leadership revolved around two charis- matic figures, Eamon de Valera* and Michael Collins*. Further Reading Roy Foster (1990). Modern Ireland: 1600-1972 (London, Penguin) 8 William H. Kautt (1999). The Anglo-Irish War, 1916-1921: A People’s War (Westport, CT, Praeger) Anguilla. A tiny Caribbean island inhabited by English settlers from 1650. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) recognized it as a British possession. Linked constitutionally for many years to St Kitts and Nevis*, since 1980 Anguilla has been a British Overseas Territory and thereby one of the last outposts of Empire. Further Reading Brian Dyde (2005). Out of the Crowded Vagueness: A History of St Kitts, Nevis & Anguilla (Oxford, Macmillan Caribbean) Simon Winchester (2004). Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire 2nd edn (London, Harper Perennial) Antigua. An island in the Caribbean Leeward chain, Antigua was colo- nized by the English beginning in 1632, some 140 years after being claimed for Spain by Columbus. Slave plantation sugar cane dominated its economy from the latter seventeenth century until the 1834 abolition of slavery* throughout the British Empire. Antigua served as an important Royal Navy base in the eighteenth century and was used by Nelson* many times, the last coming in 1805 not long before the Battle of Trafalgar*. Later part of two successive island federations, Antigua gained its complete independ- ence from Britain in 1981. Further Reading Brian Dyde (2000). The History of Antigua: The Unsuspected Isle (London, Macmillan Caribbean) J.R. Ward (1988). British West Indian Slavery, 1750-1834: The Process of Amelioration (Oxford, Oxford University Press) Apartheid. An Afrikaans word meaning ‘apartness,’ apartheid was used by the mainly Afrikaner* National Party to define its policy in the 1948 South African election campaign in which it came to power. Laws entrenching racial segregation along the lines of what was customary in the Transvaal 9 were passed progressively by the new government and implemented nation- wide. Beginning in the 1950s, apartheid was condemned internationally. In 1961, Commonwealth Prime Ministers led by John Diefenbaker of Canada* publicly opposed the policy and demanded that it be modified. In response, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd vowed to remove the country from the Commonwealth, which took place later that year. The apartheid laws remained in force until 1992. Further Reading T.R.H. Davenport (1995). South Africa: A Modern History (Toronto, University of Toronto Press) Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore (2004). Africa Since 1800 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) Arabi Pasha (Ahmed Urabi) (1841-1911). The leader of the revolt against Khedivial Egypt, which led to the British bombardment of Alexandria in the summer of 1882 and the country’s subsequent occupation. Born into a family of means and university educated, Arabi later entered the Egyptian army where he rose through the officer class and was known as both a fiery orator and a strong Egyptian nationalist who despised the Turkish and European presence in his country. In 1879, Egypt’s protracted financial crisis caused the Anglo-French backers of the Khedive Ismail’s regime to depose him from power and replace him with his son, Tawfiq. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Nubar Pasha, was an Armenian Christian, and other minis- terial posts were likewise occupied by foreigners. Egyptian nationalists, Arabi among them, bridled at these foreign intrusions. In October 1881, Colonel Arabi led a massive street demonstration in Alexandria denouncing the manipulation of Egypt by foreigners. The British and the French waited to respond until January 1882, when they threatened Arabi and his supporters that should the disturbances continue they would intervene militarily on behalf of the Khedive’s embattled regime. Arabi was unintimidated by the Anglo-French threat. Tensions rose apace. The British Mediterranean Fleet arrived off Alexandria in July just in time to be told that fifty Europeans had been slaughtered in the city by Arabi-inspired nationalists. Citing the massive financial investments in Egypt and the security of the Suez Canal, 10 the Gladstone government acted, authorizing an attack on Alexandria. In the ensuing bombardment over 1,000 Egyptians were killed. Arabi fled, but in September he was engaged at his main base of Tel-el-Kebir, where his forces were decisively defeated. He was sent into exile in Ceylon* for the next nineteen years, before being allowed to return to Egypt in 1901, where he died ten years later. Further Reading Peter Mansfield (1971). The British in Egypt (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) Thomas Mayer (1988). The Changing Past: Egyptian Historiography of the Urabi Revolt, 1882-1883 (Gainesville, FL, University of Florida Press) Arden-Clarke, Sir Charles N. (1898-1962). Colonial governor. Arden- Clarke presided over the Gold Coast*, which, as Ghana*, was the first British African colony to gain independence, in 1957. Arden-Clarke was born in India*, the son of a Church of England missionary. Educated at the Rossall School in the tradition of colonial service made aspirational by fellow alumnus Lord Lugard*, Arden-Clarke served in the First World War* - including a stint fighting against the Communists in Russia. Afterwards, he declined a scholarship to read classics at Cambridge and, in 1920, joined the Colonial Service*. He served as a district officer in Northern Nigeria* and then in the secretariat in Lagos before being trans- ferred to Bechuanaland* where he became resident commissioner in 1937. Five years later he took up a similar appointment in Basutoland*. In 1946, Arden-Clarke was knighted and sent to Sarawak* as governor. Three years later he was appointed governor of the Gold Coast. He served in this capacity until its independence in 1957. These eight years saw Arden- Clarke reach the summit of his gubernatorial career, embodying the modern colonial administrator who was increasingly conversant with (African) nationalism and able to work well with those - especially Kwame Nkrumah* - who agitated for independence. When it came, such was the respect accorded Arden-Clarke by the new Ghanaian government, he was asked to become the country’s first Governor-General. Temperamentally unsuited to the job, however, he served only briefly before retiring to England where 11 he became a well-consulted advisor on African and colonial affairs in the years prior to his death in 1962. Further Reading A.H.M. Kirk-Greene (1999). On Crown Service: A History of HM Colonial and Overseas Civil Services, 1837-1997 (London and New York, I.B.Tauris) David Rooney (1982). Sir Charles Arden-Clarke (London, R. Collings) Ashanti. Owing to its key position along the main trade routes through West Africa to the Gold Coast, this area and its Asante-speaking people were known to the British since the eighteenth century. Invaded by a British force fighting under Sir Garnet Wolseley* in 1873 in order to stamp out slavery and human sacrifice, the Ashanti were temporarily defeated. British interest was renewed in the 1890s by the outbreak of a gold rush. A British Protectorate was proclaimed in 1896 and the Ashanti king, Pempeh I, exiled. In 1900, a revolt was precipitated when the British governor, Sir Frederick Hodgson, made an ill-advised demand to sit upon the Ashantis revered symbol of kingship, the Golden Stool. The revolt was put down, however, and the Ashanti kingdom was incorporated into the Gold Coast colony, and then after independence in 1957 as a province of Ghana. Further Reading Robert B. Edgerton (1995). The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast (New York, The Free Press) Alan Lloyd (1964). The Drums of Kumasi: The Story of Ashanti Wars (London, Longmans) (Webster-) Ashburton Treaty. Named for Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, the treaty ended some of the disharmony in Anglo-American relations remaining from the War of 1812*. In 1842, the new British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, dispatched Ashburton as a special envoy to the United States. He negotiated an end to the right of maritime search - about which the Americans had objected vociferously - and, among other things, the treaty signed that year set the border between the USA and Canada* as the forty-ninth parallel. 12 Further Reading Howard Jones (1977). To the Webster-Ashburton Treaty: A Study in Anglo- American Relations, 1783-1843 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina) H.V. Nelles (2004) A Little History of Canada (Toronto, Oxford University Press) Attlee, Clement, 1st Earl Attlee (1883-1967). The first British Labour Prime Minister to hold office with a Parliamentary majority, Attlee governed from 1945 to 1951, during which time he oversaw India’s independence. Born in London and educated at Haileybury* and Oxford*, Attlee became a barrister, served in the First World War, and then in 1922 was elected Labour MP. He served in Parliament for the next thirty-two years. From early in his Parliamentary career Attlee took a strong interest in Imperial affairs, and in 1935, after becoming Labour Party leader, began to champion the cause of Dominion* status for India.* From 1942 to 1943 he served as Dominions Secretary in Churchill’s* wartime coalition government, and the experience of it made plain to him the necessity of Indias independence. Once in power he guided the Indian Independence Bill through Parliament and in 1947 appointed Lord Mountbatten* Viceroy in order to supervise Britain’s with- drawal from India, which culminated on 15 August. To his critics, Attlee was never sufficiently committed to the British Empire. He responded that in the age of the airplane it was simply no longer possible to maintain a sea-based Empire. He argued, instead, for a Commonwealth* of loosely joined states with the British sovereign as ‘Head’. In 1949, such a plan was formalized in the London Declaration*. Further Reading Jerry H. Brookshire (1995). Clement Attlee (Manchester, Manchester University Press) R.D. Pearce (1997). Attlee (London, Longman) Auchinleck, Sir Claude J.E. (1884-1981). Field Marshal, and the penulti- mate British Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army*, Auchinleck was a career soldier who began his service in the Punjab in 1904. During the First World War* he served in the Middle East, and then between the wars returned 13 to India* where he was an instructor at the Staff College at Quetta and in 1938 chaired a committee that formed the basis of the Chatfield Report, which re-made and enlarged the British Indian Army. Service in the Middle East and North Africa followed during the Second World War*, as did brief service in 1941 as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. A severe disagree- ment with Churchill* in 1942 over his strategy in North Africa led to Auchinleck’s return to India and the next year his re-appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army. Auchinleck objected strongly to the policy of partition adopted by Lord Mountbatten*, the last Viceroy, and in protest resigned from his command just months before Indian inde- pendence in 1947. Further Reading Niall Barr (2004). Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein (London, Jonathan Cape) John Keegan, ed. (1991). Churchills Generals (London, Cassell) Australia. The first Englishman to sight what was later named Australia was Captain James Cook* in 1770. In 1788, the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in order to establish a British penal colony and European settlement of the island continent commenced. Annexation by Britain occurred in 1817. The exploration of Australia continued apace, as did agricultural production, especially sheep farming, and the exploitation of gold. In 1850, the Australian Colonies Act gave effective self-government to the colonies of New South Wales*, South Australia*, and Van Diemen’s Land* (Tasmania). Federation, modelled on the Canadian example of 1867 and spurred by French, German, and US Imperialism in the South Pacific, arrived in 1901 when the original three ‘states’ were joined by Western Australia*, Victoria*, and Queensland*. Canberra was agreed as the federal capital in 1909. The Northern Territory* became a federal responsibility in 1911, remaining so until achieving self-government in 1978. Australia gained autonomy within the Empire through the Statute of Westminster* in 1931. The last consti- tutional vestiges of the country’s colonial past were removed in 1986 with the passage of the Australia Acts. 14 Further Reading Geoffrey C. Bolton, et al. (1986-90). The Oxford History of Australia, 5 vols (Melbourne, Oxford University Press) Deryck M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward, eds (2008). Australia’s Empire (Oxford, Oxford University Press) 15 ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. 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